#MB70
Ca. 1850s
Octavo ca. 18x11,5 cm. 4 pp. Black ink on laid paper. Mild fold marks, abrasion along one edge where formerly mounted, otherwise a very good letter.
A lively letter by a British African explorer William Cotton Oswell. “In the 1850-s he explored the Kalahari desert in Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and located Lake Ngami; later he participated in expeditions to the Zambezi river with David Livingstone, and one of Livingstone's children, born in Botswana in 1851, was named William Oswell Livingstone. The species Rhinoceros oswellii was named for him (this name is no longer used in modern taxonomy). Livingstone described Oswell as having had lucky escapes, having been tossed by a rhinoceros on two occasions” (Wikipedia).
From the letter: “I am not in town more than 6 times a year‚ & I find gentlemen who sit at home in their own arm chairs are not always very prone to take opinions from Mumbo Jumbo‚ latest arrival from the Mts. Of the Moon. We are so apt to side with our own ideas that we very diligently sift other people’s to see if they contain those pearls of great price and if they don’t why they’re rubbish! You remember the story told of Lord Glenelg when Colonial Sectry‚ receiving a deputation from Natal‚ suggest his own project plans & refusing to listen to said deputation on any point. ‘Good morning‚ my Lord’‚ ‘Good morning Gentlemen - by the way‚ how is Natal?’‚ this just as they were leaving the room.”
