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				<title>Letter to The Duke of Wellington</title>
                <title type="alternative">Letter to The Duke of Wellington, [March 1860?]</title>
				<author xml:id="DL">Livingstone, David, 1813-1873</author>
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			<publicationStmt>
				<authority>Livingstone Online</authority>
				<pubPlace>London</pubPlace>
				<date>2009-01-16</date>
				<publisher>Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL</publisher>
				<idno type="LEAP-ID">liv_001556</idno>
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				<bibl xml:id="shelfmark">Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain); Library, Y 224.11</bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="ccnumber">Letters, 1012</bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="recipient"><persName>Wellington, The Duke of, 1807-1884</persName></bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="date"><date when="1860-03">[March 1860?]</date></bibl>
				<bibl xml:id="where">[Kongone Harbour]</bibl>
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				<language ident="en">English</language>
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			<handNotes>
				<handNote xml:id="hand01">Scribe: Unknown</handNote>
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			<change>
				<date>2009-01-16</date>
				<name xml:id="SM">Sharon Messenger</name>Initial Transcription by Sharon Messenger
			</change>
			<change>
				<date>2009-02-21</date>
				<name xml:id="CL">Chris Lawrence</name>Proof by Chris Lawrence
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	<pb n="0001" facs="liv_001556_0001"/><!--pb/@n='1'-->
<lb/><p rend="no-indent"><hi rend="underline">A Letter from <persName>David Livingstone</persName> to the Second <persName>Duke of Wellington</persName></hi>.</p>
<lb/><p rend="no-indent">(Both the address at the head of the letter and the signature at 
<lb/>the foot have been removed). </p>
<lb/>
<lb/>
<lb/><p rend="no-indent">My <persName>Lord Duke</persName>, </p>
<lb/>
<lb/><p><space extent="2" unit="chars"/>I have refrained from writing to thank you for your bountiful 
<lb/>supply of Filters, because until now I had nothing of interest to 
<lb/>communicate. We are now returning from tracing this river up 
<lb/>to its point of emergence from the hitherto undiscovered <placeName>Lake 
<lb/>Nyassa or Nyinyesi</placeName>. We had a march of 250 miles on foot in the 
<lb/>hottest period of the year - that called in <placeName>West Africa</placeName> the "smokes" 
<lb/>when instead of scraping all together as you poor English farmers 
<lb/>do - tens of thousands of acres of tall grass are burned off and 
<lb/>the atmosphere takes on somewhat the appearance of a <placeName>London</placeName> fog. 
<lb/>But the discovery is worth all our toil and is of more importance<choice><reg/><orig>.</orig></choice> 
<lb/>than at first sight appears, for we have opened 
<lb/>
<lb/><space extent="10" unit="words"/><space extent="2" unit="chars"/>unknown
<lb/><space extent="10" unit="words"/><space extent="2" unit="chars"/>superior
<lb/><space extent="4" unit="chars"/>(these lines are missing: they are on <space extent="3" unit="words"/>as there
<lb/><space extent="5" unit="chars"/>the back of where the address should be)<space extent="1" unit="words"/><space extent="2" unit="chars"/>and cut off
<lb/>the crops, and instead of the unmerciful toil required in <placeName>America</placeName>
<lb/>one sowing of foreign (probably American) seed, already introduced 
<lb/>into many districts by the natives themselves, serves for three 
<lb/>years crops even through the plants are burnt off. There may 
<lb/>be evils to counterbalance these advantages but I am as yet 
<lb/>ignorant of them. </p>
<lb/><p>Well, the <placeName>Shire</placeName>, a branch of the <placeName>Zambesi</placeName> which I did not 
<lb/>contemplate ascending is easily navigable for a steamer at least 
<lb/>one hundred miles from its confluence. Then we have 33 miles 
<lb/>of cataracts and above them the river is itself again right into 
<lb/>the Lake in Lat. 14° 23′ South. Above the cataracts the land 
<lb/>is arranged into three terraces of various heights from 1200 
<lb/>feet to 3000 feet. On these we have changes of climate within 
<lb/>a few miles of each other. On the last or 3000 terrace rises 
<lb/><placeName>Mount Zomba</placeName> which we ascended and found to be between 7000 and 
<lb/>8000 feet high. In the lower terrace, or <placeName><choice><reg>S</reg><orig>s</orig></choice>hire valley</placeName> which 
<lb/>resembles exactly the valley of the <placeName>Nile</placeName> at <placeName>Cairo</placeName>, it was hot and 
<lb/>stiffling (sic).<!-- CODIC: this sic is in transcription--> One day took us up 3000 feet - pleasantly cool 
<lb/>and great abundance of running rills of deliciously cool water. 
<lb/>On <placeName>Zomba</placeName> it was cold, but even here there is cultivation. On the 
<lb/>lower terraces cotton is cultivated very extensively but chiefly 
<lb/>of the <choice><sic>indiginous</sic><corr>indigenous</corr></choice> variety which feels more like wool than cotton 
<lb/>and requires to be sown annually. Well these climates would keep 
<lb/>Europeans in health, and we flatter ourselves into the belief 

	<pb n="0002" facs="liv_001556_0002"/><!--pb/@n='2'--> 
<lb/>that we can cure fever quickly even in the lowlands without in 
<lb/>general loss of strength to the patient. I long greatly to see 
<lb/>some of our own honest poor out here. They would do good to 
<lb/>themselves, and help to free our country from the stain of 
<lb/>dependence on slave labour. Beyond this part we have the land 
<lb/>between the Lakes - <placeName>Shirwa</placeName> or <placeName>Tamandua</placeName> and <placeName>Nyassa</placeName> 
<lb/>(2 half-lines missing from obverse of signature) <space extent="3" unit="chars"/>a narrow isthmus
<lb/><space extent="13" unit="words"/>trade from the 
<lb/>central regions must cross the isthmus in order to get past the 
<lb/>Lakes without embarking on <choice><sic>ether</sic><corr>either</corr></choice>. We met a large slaving party 
<lb/>there - the most blackguard looking lot I ever saw - they had an 
<lb/>immense number of slaves. On learning that we were English they 
<lb/>slipped off by night, probably thinking the same of us as we 
<lb/>did of them. The Lake at its southern end is 8 or 10 miles 
<lb/>broad. It had a heavy swell on it though there was no wind and as 
<lb/>it gives <choice><sic>of</sic><corr>off</corr></choice> a large river like the Shire, which never varies more 
<lb/>than 2 or 3 feet from the dry to the wet season, it must be a large 
<lb/>body itself. But we could not explore it, for we had left <persName>Mr. 
<lb/>Macgregor Laird's</persName> sham vessel in a sinking state, and had to hasten 
<lb/>back to it. Funnel, Furnace, Deck and bottom all became 
<w>honey-<lb break="no"/>combed</w> after only 12 months wear - this is not the only hindrance 
<lb/>and annoyance this gentleman has inflicted on us. </p>
<lb/>
<lb/><p>Many thanks for your kind present of Filters. I entrusted 
<lb/>my naval officer with the duty of selection but fear that he took 
<lb/>all <del type="cancelled">that</del><!-- TRANSC: Typed over word with 'x's --> he could get hold of. We have still abundant and they 
<lb/>are very useful. </p>
<lb/>
<lb/><p rend="right"><space extent="3" unit="words"/>(signature missing)</p>
<lb/>
<lb/>
<lb/>
<lb/>
<lb/><p rend="no-indent">The letter is crossed "Dr. Livingstone's letter, March 1860".</p>
			
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