THE FATE 01 AFRICAN EXPLORERS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1078, 26 July 1871, Page 2

THE FATE 01 AFRICAN EXPLORERS.

The following despatch relative to Dr. Livingstone, and originally forwarded from Zanzibar to the Foreign Office, was read at the Royal Geographical Society on the evening of May 8, being a copy of a ietter |o Consul Kirk, Zanzibar, frou\ Shereef : —I have to inform you that on the 15 th Shaban, (10th November) a messenger came from the people of Menama with letters from the Arabs who are there, and one from the doctor, and those letters were dated 20th Eegib (15th October. la answer to my inquiries, they tojd me that the doctor, was well, although he had been and he is for the present at the tovya Manakoso, with the Mahomet Iben Ghfrib, waiting for the caravans, being helpless, without means, and few followers, only eight men, so that he cannot mova elsewhere or come down. We have sent off twelve of our men with cloth, kaniki, boots, sugar, coffee, two pairs of shoes, shot, powder, soap,* and a small bottle of medicine (cayenne); All that he was in want of we have sent to him, and I remain at Ujiji (on tha lake) awaiting his orders.—-20th Shaban (15th November), 1870. At the tima the letter was written, Dr Livingstone, was, it will be noticed, at Manakoso, in the Manzema country. The Arab to whom hp addressed the letter, named Shereef, was in charge of a great quantity of men and stores sent out by our Govern-, ment at the solicitation of the Geographical Sftiety. Dr Livingstone was unable to proceed for want of stores and money, both of which have since been sent to him. In all probability he will go to Ujiji as soon as he receives the necessary assistance, and from thence he is likely to reach Zanzibar, and he might arrive in this country in five months from the time of the stores reaching him." In addition to the above despatch, letters were received from Consul Kirk, of Zanzibar, and from a native of the district of the country in which the doctor is thought to be at the present time, all detailing the safety of the traveller. The news was received with great satisfaction by. the meetipg.

Simultaneously with the intelligence of the safety of Dr Livingstone comes the news of fbe reported death of Captain Faulkner, who was prominent in the efforts to discover the long lost explorer. An extract from a despatch of Sir C. Murray, to Lord Granville, gives reason for supposing that Gaptain Henry Faulk* ner has been killed in Africa. When the expedition in search of Dr Livingstone was in preparation, Captain Faulkner offered his services, which were gladly accepted by the Geographical Society. This expedition procured for him much distinction ; and at the conclusion he determined throwing up his professional position and prospects, to set out at once into the unknown land to which his search for Dr Livingstone had brought him. A few friends shared his feelings. They and he having, at their own expense, fitted out an expedition, started together, almost iuiuterrupted series pf t 0

fortunes awaited them : their steamer proved unfit; then came sickness; and afterwards, to many of them, death. At last Captain Faulkner was left alone, seriously ill, but still hopeful of achieving some success in his enterprise. A weak tribe oppressed by a stronger enlisting his sympathies, he took up their cause, and it was while fighting on their behalf he met his death.

It is confidently stated that a Methodist chapel is about to be erected in the city of Rome. During the month of March last 108,022 bales of cotton were exported from Bombay. The census returns for London gives the population at 3,258,499, being an increase during the ten years of 447,815. The lady student who (Carried oft the chemical prize at the University of Edinburgh was the highest of 240 candidates. lHaving been declared ineligible to receive the prize on account of her sex, Sir Titus Salt sent her but she declined to accept it. Two laborers, named Weston and Hooker, both residing at Ilford, had a race on the highroad between Ilford and Cbaddle-heath, for two pots of beer. At the conclusion, Weston, who was the winner, complained of faintness, and soon .after expired. Referring to New Zealand flax, the •Jlome News says : —There is no doubt whatever that the rope-makers have taken.a liking to this fibre, and that Manilla hemp has suffered from the competition ; but it is to be regretted that supplies are likely to fall off. At the Worcester Police Court, Thomas Hardman was charged with having assaulted a young married woman named Charlotte Rogers. The prisoner met the lady outside the Shire Hall aud attempted to kiss her, and on being repulsed used violence. It transpired that the prisoner had made a bet that he would " kiss fifty girls down the street." He was committed for three weeks with hard labour. The Rothschilds are said to have lost, irom 50 to 75 millious of dollars by the result of the Franco German war. They .all believed at .first that the French would •be victorious, but two weeks after the crossed the Rhine they saw ■their mistake, and made new investments, which prevented them from losing thrice much as they would have done had 'they not corrected their blunder in time. A mechanic in New Orleans constructed a safe which he declared to be burglarproof. To convince the incredulous of the fact, he placed a one thousand dollar bill in his pocket, had himself locked inside, and declared that he would give the money to the man that unfastened the door. All the blacksmiths and burglars in the state have been boriug and Jbeating at the safe for a week, and the man is in there yet! He has whispered through the keyhole that he will make the reward ten thousand .dollars if somebody will only let him out. There is a story current in London of a merchant who constantly found his telegraphic directions anticipated by a rival firm. Tracing this to its source, he discovered that his rival, who had great confidence in his judgment, had bribed a telegraph official to give him the first sight of all telegrams. On making this (discovery, the merchant wrote privately to his agents to act always contrary to the instructions sent. Then, by a series of telegrams, he placed his rival in the Bankruptcy £ourt in three months. An amusing "printer's blunder" occurred a few days ago in a London newspaper. It had been speaking in the highest terms of a new tenor —a ram avis of a tenor, who had delighted and entranced all hearers. The criticism was gorgeous, but it ended with, "he was sentenced to three years' penal servitude, so that society will for some time be freed from the infliction of his presence " I This ja trunding assertion was simply due to the fact that the end of a police" case bad been " lifte.d," and left at the bottom of the critique to which it formed such an incongruous pendant. An extraordinary blunder some years ago occurred the same way, in one of the Scotcji papers. A couple of lines of a new paragraph, announcing the arrival of several soldiers in a district town got mixed up in a notice of birth. The result was as follows : —" At r— : street, on the —■ inst., Mrs K , of 1 sergt-ant, 3 corporals, and 15 rank and file; j)remaJure,' ?

A magistrate was in a railway carriage travelling down the line the other morning. By his side sat a lady, who, from a single glimpse of her countenance, he imagined he knew. At last he ventured to remark that the day was pleasant. " Yes," murmured the female. " Why do you wear & veil ? " inquired the dispenser of justice. <k Lest I attract attention." "It is the province of gentlemen to admire," replied the gallant man of law. "Not wheo they are married." " But lam not." " Indeed." " Oh, no, I'm a bachelor." The lady quietly removed her veil, disclosing to the astonished magistrate the face of his mother-in-law. He had business to oblige him to get out at the next station.