“The celebrated African traveler Dr. Livingstone relates by letter: ‘The luxuriant valley of the Shire River is marshy and abounding in lagoons, in which grow great quantities of the lotus plant. The people were busy collecting the tubers, which when boiled or roasted, resembled chestnuts. Another part of the valley abounded in elephants. Herd upon herd appeared as far as the eye could reach; and noble animals they were. We sometimes chased them in our little steamer. The upper part of the valley is well peopled, and many of the hills are cultivated high up. But never having seen Europeans before, they looked on us with great suspicion.’”
—Scientific American, January 1860
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