NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBEZI & ITS TRIBUTARIES

608 pages, wood engraved folding frontispiece - a bird's eye view of the great cataracts of the Zambezi (called Mosioatunya, or Victoria Falls), title page vignette, 35 plates and illustrations, large folding map, with the expedition's route coloured in red, bound in green calf with brown leather title labels on the spine, pebble-grained cloth sides, marbled endpapers with two book plates, all edges dyed red, contents crisp. Light rubbing along the edges and at the top and bottom of the spine, signature of a previous owner on the title page, overall a very good copy. 

In 1858 Dr Livingstone, by then at the height of his fame as an African explorer, led an expedition sponsored by the British Government to determine the navigability of the Zambezi River. It was hoped that the Zambezi would prove to be a major waterway providing navigable access to the uncolonised interior of south-central Africa. Livingstone hoped thereby to introduce Christianity and to eliminate the illicit slave trade which still continued at this time. The expedition was to be transported in a steam launch named the MaRobert which was transported in three sections from England. It proved inadequate for the task and was nicknamed the 'Asthmatic' as it made very slow way up stream. Members of the expedition were ill prepared for the rigours of the climate, the terrain, the effects of fever upon them, the difficulties of coping with the river's navigation hazards and the poor interpersonal relations of Livingstone and his brother Charles with other members including Thomas Baines. The expedition was a limited success: Livingstone 'discovered' Lake Malawi and extended British influence in south-central Africa but the obstruction of the Cahora Bassa Rapids was found to block the navigable route to the interior.