My dear Dr Playfair,—We left England in April 1858, and up to this time we have not received a single private letter from home. This saves me the trouble of apologising to any of my friends whom I have neglected. So here goes into the middle of things. We have just traced this river up to its point of emergence from the hitherto undiscovered Lake of Nyassa or Nyinyessi. This discovery is of more importance than at first sight appears, for it opens a cotton-field superior, I imagine, to the American, inasmuch as there are no frosts to endanger or cut off the crops; and instead of the unmerciful toil required to raise the staple there, one sowing of foreign, probably American seed, introduced into several parts by the natives themselves, serves for three years' crops. Even when burned down, the plants spring up fresh again.