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				<title>Letter to Thomas Milne</title>
                <title type="alternative">Letter to Thomas Milne, 28 October 1859</title>
				<author xml:id="DL">Livingstone, David, 1813-1873</author>
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			<publicationStmt>
				<authority>Livingstone Online</authority>
				<pubPlace>London</pubPlace>
				<date>2007-10-22</date>
				<publisher>Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL</publisher>
				<idno type="LEAP-ID">liv_001497</idno>
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				<bibl xml:id="shelfmark">National Library of Scotland; MS. 10768, ff. 39-40</bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="ccnumber">Letters, 0956</bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="recipient"><persName>Milne, Thomas</persName></bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="date"><date when="1859-10-28">28 October 1859</date></bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="where">River Shire, Eastern Africa</bibl>
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				<language ident="en">English</language>
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				<handNote xml:id="hand01">Scribe: Unknown</handNote>
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			<change>
				<date>2007-10-22</date>
				<name xml:id="SM">Sharon Messenger</name>Initial Transcription by Sharon Messenger
			</change>
			<change>
				<date>2007-11-03</date>
				<name xml:id="CL">Chris Lawrence</name>Proofed by Chris Lawrence
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	<pb n="0001" facs="liv_001497_0001"/><!--pb/@n='39r'-->
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<lb/><p rend="no-indent">Please present my kindest salutations to <persName>M<hi rend="sup underline">rs</hi> M</persName>. I remember her kindness 
<lb/>with gratitude. Remember me also to other friends. My wife is at <placeName>Kuruman</placeName><reg>.</reg></p><anchor xml:id="p39r-01"/>
<lb/><p rend="center"><space extent="1" unit="words"/><space extent="2" unit="chars"/><placeName>River Shire, Eastern Africa</placeName>
<lb/><space extent="3" unit="words"/>28 October 1859 </p>
<lb/><p><hi rend="underline">Private</hi></p>
<lb/><p>My Dear <persName>M<hi rend="sup underline">r</hi> Milne</persName>
<lb/><space extent="4" unit="words"/><space extent="2" unit="chars"/>As we have not yet 
<lb/><choice><sic>recieved</sic><corr>received</corr></choice> any letters from home since 
<lb/>our departure in 1858 I take advantage 
<lb/>of this and skip over apologies to those 
<lb/>of my friends whom I have neglected<reg>.</reg>
<lb/>But I may say to you and <persName>M<hi rend="sup underline">rs</hi> M.</persName> that 
<lb/>I have not been idle, nor have I felt 
<lb/>at ease when I remembered my duty to 
<lb/>you. I have been employed in 
<lb/>work which I did contemplate on 
<lb/>leaving you. The naval officer 
<lb/>with whom I was furnished was 
<lb/>possessed with the idea that instead 
<lb/>of coming to seek the elevation of the 
<lb/>African and <choice><sic>developement</sic><corr>development</corr></choice> of the 
<lb/>country. <choice><reg>H</reg><orig>h</orig></choice>e was about to discover 
<lb/>the ten lost tribes, as if of all things 
<lb/>in the world we had not plenty 
<lb/>of Jews already. I was soon forced 
<lb/>to send this visionary away and do 
<lb/>the work myself. <choice><reg>T</reg><orig>t</orig></choice>hough I assure you 
<lb/>I would as soon drive a cab as a 

	<pb n="0002" facs="liv_001497_0002"/><!--pb/@n='39v'--> 
<lb/>steamer. We have but lately begun 
<lb/>our proper work. <choice><reg>A</reg><orig>a</orig></choice>nd I am happy to 
<lb/>tell you that our prospects brighten 
<lb/>where I never contemplated exploring. 
<lb/>We <del type="strikethrough">went</del> <add place="above">steamed</add> up this river over one hundred 
<lb/>miles though only three were previously 
<lb/>known to the Portuguese. We have 
<lb/>also traced it on foot another hundred 
<lb/>and found that it emerges from 
<lb/>the hitherto undiscovered <placeName>Lake Nyassa</placeName>
<lb/>or <placeName>Nyinyesi</placeName>. This lake must be 
<lb/>large for it gives off a large river 
<lb/>(Shire) without diminution of more 
<lb/>than two feet during the whole year. <choice><reg>T</reg><orig>t</orig></choice>here 
<lb/>are too only 33 miles of cataracts in 
<lb/>it and a common road could easily 
<lb/>be made past them. Here you find 
<lb/>the finest cotton field in the world 
<lb/>for it is of unknown extent watered 
<lb/>by the Lakes - <placeName>Nyassa</placeName> &amp; <placeName>Tamàndua</placeName>
<lb/>and there are no frosts to endanger 
<lb/>or cut off the crops as in <placeName>America</placeName><reg>.</reg>
<lb/>Instead too of the unmerciful toil 
<lb/>required to raise the crops in that 
<lb/>country - one sowing of foreign 
<lb/>probably of American seed already 
<lb/>introduced by the natives themselves </p>

	<pb n="0003" facs="liv_001497_0003"/><!--pb/@n='40r'--> 
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<lb/><p rend="no-indent">My Address if you favour me with a letter, I don't say 
<lb/>"line" only is <persName>D<hi rend="sup underline">r</hi> L</persName> care of <persName>Admiral Sir F. Grey K.C.B.</persName><placeName>Cape of Good Hope</placeName><reg>.</reg></p><anchor xml:id="p40r-01"/>
<lb/><p rend="no-indent">serves for crops for three years though 
<lb/>the plants be annually burned down. 
<lb/>We have besides changes of climate 
<lb/>produced by the land lying in terraces 
<lb/>of different heights. The third terrace 
<lb/>is 3000 feet high - and on it 
<lb/>rises the <placeName>Mount Zomba</placeName> between 
<lb/>7000 &amp; 8000 feet in altitude<reg>.</reg><choice><reg>O</reg><orig>o</orig></choice>ne 
<lb/>days march took us from the 
<lb/>hot sultry valley of the <placeName>Shire</placeName> into a 
<lb/>cool climate, and all the terraces 
<lb/>are abundantly supplied with 
<lb/>running rills of deliciously 
<lb/>cold water. Fancy our tramping 
<lb/>in the sun when the thermometer 
<lb/>on the ground reached 126° and 
<lb/>climbing up two thousand feet 
<lb/>into air delightfully refreshing. Then 
<lb/>on to <placeName>Zomba</placeName> into the cold. I am 
<lb/>hoping that the Church Missionary 
<lb/>Society long anxious to enter <placeName>Eastern 
<lb/>Africa</placeName> will take advantage of this 
<lb/>opening. <choice><reg>T</reg><orig>t</orig></choice>hey can be away from 
<lb/>the unfriendly coast tribes at once - 
<lb/>and check the slave trade in the 
<lb/>middle of the slave market. We met 
<lb/>a large party of East coast slave 

	<pb n="0004" facs="liv_001497_0004"/><!--pb/@n='40v'--> 
<lb/>traders with an immense number of 
<lb/>slaves and elephants tusks. A more black-
<lb break="no"/><choice><sic>gaurd</sic><corr>guard</corr></choice> looking lot I never saw. When 
<lb/>they found out that we were English 
<lb/>they slipped off by night, probably thinking 
<lb/>the same of us as we did of them. 
<lb/>The policy of <persName>Lord Palmerston</persName> in 
<lb/>repressing the slave trade has given the 
<lb/>English a prestige of great value. <choice><reg>T</reg><orig>t</orig></choice>he 
<lb/><placeName>Lake Tamàdua</placeName> is about ninety miles 
<lb/>long. <choice><reg>B</reg><orig>b</orig></choice>ut no one could tell us how 
<lb/>long <placeName>Nyassa</placeName> was. We could not explore 
<lb/>it for we had left our sham vessel 
<lb/>called a steamer in a sinking state. 
<lb/>Funnel, Furnace, Deck &amp; Bottom 
<lb/>went down simulaneously after only 
<lb/>12 months wear. £1200 for 12 months 
<lb/>(extras all paid for besides), was pretty 
<lb/>fair without any whine from the 
<lb/>contractor of "doing it all for the good of 
<lb/>the cause." It has been a great hindrance 
<lb/>to us from first to last involving 
<lb/>enormous toil, and as in the Great 
<lb/><placeName>Niger</placeName> expedition, always wet. Indeed 
<lb/>we have lain for many months on 
<lb/>damp rotten cushions - but thanks to 
<lb/>God we have not lost a man yet. 
<lb/>We have had a first rate opportunity of 
<lb/>trying the remedies for fever I had opted when 
<lb/>alone &amp; have been sucessful<reg>.</reg> <persName>David Livingstone</persName></p> 
			
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