eems to be to secure a permanent path thither,
in order that Europeans may pass as quickly as possible through the
unhealthy region near the coast. The river has not been surveyed, but
at the time I came down there was abundance of water for a large vessel,
and this continues to be the case during four or five months of each
year. The months of low water still admit of navigation by launches, and
would permit small vessels equal to the Thames steamers to ply with ease
in the deep channel. If a steamer were sent to examine the Zambesi,
I would recommend one of the lightest draught, and the months of May,
June, and July for passing through the delta; and this not so much for
fear of want of water as the danger of being grounded on a sand or mud
bank, and the health of the crew being endangered by the delay.

In the months referred to no obstruction would be incurred in the
channel below Tete. Twenty or thirty miles above that point we have
a small rapid, of which I regret my inability to speak, as (mentioned
already) I did not visit it. But, taking the distance below this point,
we have, in round numbers, 300 miles of navigable river. Above this
rapid we have another reach of 300 miles, with sand, but no mud banks
in it, which brings us to the foot of the eastern ridge. Let it not,
however, be thought that a vessel by going thither would return laden
with ivory and gold-dust. The Portuguese of Tete pick up all the
merchandise of the tribes in their vicinity, and, though I came out by
traversing the people with whom the Portuguese have been at war, it
does not follow that it will be perfectly safe for others to go in
whose goods may be a stronger temptation to cupidity than any thing I
possessed. When we get beyond the hostile population mentioned, we reach
a very different race. On the latter my chief hopes at present rest. All
of them, however, are willing and anxious to engage in trade, and, while
eager for this, none have ever been encouraged to cultivate the raw
materials of commerce. Their country is well adapted for cotton; and I
venture to entertain the hope that by distributing seeds of better kinds
than that which is found indigenous, and stimulating the natives to
cultivate it by affording them the certainty of a market for all they
may produce, we may engender a feeling of mutual dependence between them
and ourselves. I have a twofold object in view, and believe that, by
guiding our missionary labors so as to be