Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, Including a Sketch of Sixteen Years’ Residence in the Interior of Africa, and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loanda on the West Coast, Thence Across the Continent, Down the River Zambesi, to the Eastern Ocean. Presentation copy to Dr. Green from the author and his wife. London: John Murray, 1857. [Rare Books Division]

“The Victoria Falls, of the Leeambye or Zambesi River, Called by the Natives Mosioatunya (Smoke Sounding)”

We proceeded next morning, 9th August, 1860, to see the Victoria Falls. Mosi-oa-tunya is the Makololo name, and means smoke sounding. . . . We embarked in canoes. . . . We landed at the head of Garden Island, which is situated near the middle of the river and on the lip of the Falls. On reaching that lip, and peering over the giddy height, the wondrous and unique character of the magnificent cascade at once burst upon us. It is rather a hopeless task to endeavour to convey an idea of it in words. . . . The depth of the rift was measured by lowering a line, to the end of which a few bullets and a foot of white cotton cloth were tied. One of us lay with his head over a projecting crag, and watched the descending calico, till, after his companions had paid out 310 feet, the weight rested on a sloping projection, probably 50 feet from the water below. . . . Into this chasm, of twice the depth of Niagara-fall, the river, a full mile wide, rolls with a deafening roar; and this is Mosi-oa-tunya or the Victoria Falls. . . . The whole body of water rolls clear over, quite unbroken; but after a descent of ten or more feet, the entire mass becomes like a huge sheet of driven snow. . . . On attaining a height of 200, or at most 300 feet from the level of the river above the cascade, this vapour becomes condensed into a shower of perpetual rain. . . . The morning sun gilds these columns of watery smoke with all the glowing colours of double or treble rainbows. [This description of the falls is from Livingtone’s Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi (1865), pp. 250-57.]

“The Pit at the Extremity of the Hopo”

The hopo consists of two hedges in the form of the letter V, which are very high and thick near the angle. Instead of the hedges being joined there, they are made to form a lane of about fifty yards in length, at the extremity of which a pit is formed, six or eight feet deep, and about twelve or fifteen in breadth and length. Trunks of trees are laid across the margins of the pit . . . and render escape almost impossible. The whole is carefully decked with short green rushes, making the pit like a concealed pitfall. As the hedges are frequently about a mile long . . . a tribe making a circle three or four miles round the country adjacent to the opening, and gradually closing up, are almost sure to enclose a large body of game. . . . The Bakwains often killed between sixty and seventy head of large game at the different hopos in a single week, and as every one, both rich and poor, partook of the prey, the meat counteracted the bad effects of an exclusively vegetable diet. [p. 26]

“Lake Ngami Discovered by Oswell, Murray & Livingstone”

Twelve days after our departure from the waggons at Ngabisane we came to the north-east end of Lake Ngami; and on the 1st of August, 1849, we went down together to the broad part, and, for the first time, this fine-looking sheet of water was beheld by Europeans. The direction of the lake seemed to be N.N.E. and S.S.W. by compass. . . . It is shallow, for I subsequently saw a native punting his canoe over seven or eight miles of the northeast end; it can never, therefore, be of much value as a commercial highway. [pp. 65-66]

"Bechuana Reed Dance, by Moonlight"

[Livingstone describes another dance] The people usually show their joy and work off their excitement in dances and songs. The dance consists of the men standing nearly naked in a circle, with clubs or small battle-axes in their hands, and each roaring at the loudest pitch of his voice, while they simultaneously lift one leg, stamp heavily twice with it, then lift the other and give one stamp with that; this is the only movement in common. The arms and head are thrown about also in every direction; and all this roaring is kept up with the utmost possible vigour; the continued stamping makes a cloud of dust ascend, and they leave a deep ring in the ground where they have stood. If the scene were witnessed in a lunatic asylum it would be nothing out of the way, and quite appropriate even, as a means of letting off the excessive excitement of the brain . . . [p. 225]

“Reception of the Mission by Shinté”

17th, Tuesday.—We were honoured with a grand reception by Shinte about eleven o’clock. . . . The kotla, or place of audience, was about a hundred yards square, and two graceful specimens of a species of banian stood near one end; under one of these sat Shinte, on a sort of throne covered with a leopard’s skin. . . . One of the trees being unoccupied, I retreated to it for the sake of the shade. . . . We were now about forty yards from the chief, and could see the whole ceremony. The different sections of the tribe came forward in the same way that we did, the head man of each making obeisance with ashes which he carried with him for the purpose; then came the soldiers, all armed to the teeth, running and shouting towards us, with their swords drawn, and their faces screwed up so as to appear as savage as possible, for the purpose. . . . When all had come and were seated, then began the curious capering usually seen in pichos. A man starts up, and imitates the most approved attitudes observed in actual fight. . . . This over, Sambanza, and the spokesman of Nyamoana, stalked backwards and forwards in front of Shinte, and gave forth, in a loud voice, all they had been able to learn, either from myself or [other] people . . . the wish to open the country to trade; the Bible as a word from heaven; the white man’s desire for the tribes to live in peace. . . .Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women, clothed in their best, which happened to be a profusion of red baize. . . . A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and four performers on the piano [marimba], went round the kotla several times regaling us with their music. The drums are neatly carved from the trunk of a tree. . . . When nine speakers had concluded their orations, Shinte stood up, and so did all the people. He had maintained true African dignity all the while, but my people remarked that he scarcely ever took his eyes off me for a moment. [pp. 291-94 ]

"Female Elephant Pursued with Javelins, Protecting Her Young"

She often stood after she had crossed a rivulet, and faced the men, though she received fresh spears. It was by this process of spearing and loss of blood that she was killed, for at last, making a short charge, she staggered round and sank down dead in a kneeling posture. I did not see the whole hunt, having been tempted away by both sun and moon appearing unclouded. I turned away from the spectacle of the destruction of noble animals, which might be made so useful in Africa, with a feeling of sickness, and it was not relieved by the recollection that the ivory was mine, though that was the case. I regretted to see them killed, and more especially the young one, the meat not being at all necessary at that time; but it is right to add, that I did not feel sick when my own blood was up the day before. We ought perhaps to judge these deeds more leniently in which we ourselves have no temptation to engage. Had I not been previously guilty of doing the very same thing, I might have prided myself on superior humanity, when I experienced the nausea in viewing my men kill these two. [pp. 562-563]

Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and Its Tributaries, and of the Discovery of the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa, 1858-1864. London: John Murray, 1865. [Rare Books Division]

"Bird's-Eye View of the Great Cataracts of the Zambesi (Called Mosioatunya, or Victoria Falls) and of the Zigzag Chasm Below the Falls Through Which the River Escapes"

We proceeded next morning, 9th August, 1860, to see the Victoria Falls. Mosi-oa-tunya is the Makololo name, and means smoke sounding . . . We embarked in canoes . . . We landed at the head of Garden Island, which is situated near the middle of the river and on the lip of the Falls. On reaching that lip, and peering over the giddy height, the wondrous and unique character of the magnificent cascade at once burst upon us. It is rather a hopeless task to endeavour to convey an idea of it in words . . . The depth of the rift was measured by lowering a line, to the end of which a few bullets and a foot of white cotton cloth were tied. One of us lay with his head over a projecting crag, and watched the descending calico, till, after his companions had paid out 310 feet, the weight rested on a sloping projection, probably 50 feet from the water below . . . Into this chasm, of twice the depth of Niagara-fall, the river, a full mile wide, rolls with a deafening roar; and this is Mosi-oa-tunya or the Victoria Falls. . . . The whole body of water rolls clear over, quite unbroken; but after a descent of ten or more feet, the entire mass becomes like a huge sheet of driven snow. . . . On attaining a height of 200, or at most 300 feet from the level of the river above the cascade, this vapour becomes condensed into a shower of perpetual rain. . . . The morning sun gilds these columns of watery smoke with all the glowing colours of double or treble rainbows. [pp. 250-257]

"Pandanus or Screw Palm, Covered with Climbing Plants, Near the Kongone Canal of the Zambesi"

The first twenty miles of the Kongone are enclosed in mangrove jungle; some of the trees are ornamented with orchilla weed, which appears never to have been gathered. . . . In some spots the Milola, an umbrageous hibiscus, with large yellowish flowers, grows in masses along the bank. Its bark is made into cordage, and is especially valuable for the manufacture of ropes attached to harpoons for killing the hippopotamus. The Pandanus or screw-palm, form which sugar-bags are made in the Mauritius, also appears, and on coming out of the canal into the Zambesi many are so tall as in the distance to remind us of the steeples of our native land . . . [p. 19]

“Dance of Landeens, or Zulus, Arrived at Shupanga to Lift the Annual Tribute of the Portuguese”

The Landeens or Zulus are lords of the right bank of the Zambesi; and the Portuguese, by paying this fighting tribe a pretty heavy annual tribute, practically admit this. Regularly every year come the Zulus in force to Senna and Shupanga for their accustomed tribute. The few wealthy merchants of Senna groan under the burden, for it falls chiefly on them. They submit to pay annually 200 pieces of cloth, of sixteen yards each, besides beads and brass wire, knowing that refusal involves war, which might end in the loss of all they possess. [p. 30]

“Women with Water-Pots, Listening to the Music of the Marimba, Sansa, and Pan’s Pipes”

A band of native musicians came to our camp one evening, on our own way down, and treated us with their wild and not unpleasant music on the Marimba, an instrument formed of bars of hard wood of varying breadth and thickness, laid on different-sized hollow calabashes, and tuned to give the notes; a few pieces of cloth pleased them, and they passed on. [p. 63]

“Mamvira Cataract, The First or Lowest of Murchison’s Cataracts”

On the first ascent of the Shire our attention was chiefly directed to the river itself. The delight of threading out the meanderings of upwards of 200 miles of a hitherto unexplored river must be felt to be appreciated. All the lower part of the river was found to be at least two fathoms in depth. It became shallower higher up, where many departing and re-entering branches diminished the volume of water, but the absence of sandbanks made it easy of navigation. We had to exercise the greatest care lest anything we did should be misconstrued by the crowds who watched us. After having made, in a straight line, one hundred miles, although the windings of the river had fully doubled the distance, we found further progress with the steamer arrested, in 15E 55' south, by magnificent cataracts, which we called “The Murchison,” after one whose name has already a world-wide fame, and whose generous kindness we can never repay. The native name of that figured in the woodcut is Mamvira. It is that at which the progress of the steamer was first stopped. The angle of descent is much smaller than that of the five cataracts above it; indeed, so small as compared with them, that after they were discovered this was not included in the number. [p. 78]

“Gang of Captives Met at Mbame’s on Their Way to Tette”

Next forenoon we halted at the village of our old friend Mbame, to obtain new carriers. . . . After resting a little, Mbame told us that a slave party on its way to Tette would presently pass through his village. . . . [W]e resolved to run all risks, and put a stop, if possible, to the slave-trade, which had now followed on the footsteps of our discoveries. A few minutes after Mbame had spoken to us, the slave party, a long line of manacled men, women, and children, came wending their way round the hill and into the valley, on the side of which the village stood. The black drivers, armed with muskets, and bedecked with various articles of finery, marched jauntily in the front, middle, and rear of the line; some of them blowing exultant notes out of long tin horns. They seemed to feel that they were doing a very noble thing, and might proudly march with an air of triumph. But the instant the fellows caught a glimpse of the English, they darted off like mad into the forest . . . The captives knelt down, and, in their way of expressing thanks, clapped their hands with great energy. They were thus left entirely on our hands, and knives were soon busy cutting the women and children loose. It was more difficult to cut the men adrift, as each had his neck in the fork of a stout stick, six or seven feet long, and kept in by an iron rod which was riveted at both ends across the throat. With a saw, luckily in the Bishop’s baggage, one by one the men were sawn out into freedom. [pp. 355-57]

"Near the Cataracts of the Rovuma"

Previous reports represented the navigable part of this river as extending to the distance of a month's sail from its mouth; we found that, at the ordinary heights of the water, a boat might reach the obstructions which seem peculiar to all African rivers in six or eight days. The Rovuma is remarkable for the high lands that flank it for some eighty miles from the ocean. The cataracts of other rivers occur in mountains, those of the Rovuma are found in a level part, with hills only in the distance. Far away in the west and north we could see high blue heights, probably of igneous origin from their forms, rising out of a plain. [p. 441]

"View of Quillimane and of the ‘Pioneer'"

Quillimane must have been built solely for the sake of carrying on the slave-trade, for no man in his senses would ever have dreamed of placing a village on such a low, muddy, fever-haunted, and mosquito-swarming site, had it not been for the facilities it afforded for slaving. [p. 445]