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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:limpopo:a5c3fd8dec62",
    "title": "LIMPOPO",
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    "verified_text": "limpopo, or crocodile, a river of s.e. africa over 1000 m. in length, next to the zambezi the largest river of africa entering the indian ocean. its head streams rise on the northern slopes of the witwatersrand less than 300 m. due w. of the sea, but the river makes a great semicircular sweep across the high plateau first n.w., then n.e. and finally s.e. it is joined early in its course by the marico and notwani, streams which rise along the westward continuation of the witwatersrand, the ridge forming the water-parting between the vaal and the limpopo basins. for a great part of its course the limpopo forms the north-west and north frontiers of the transvaal. its banks are well wooded and present many picturesque views. in descending the escarpment of the plateau the river passes through rocky ravines, piercing the zoutpansberg near the north-east corner of the transvaal at the toli azime falls. in the low country it receives its chief affluent, the olifants river (450 m. long), which, rising in the high veld of the transvaal east of the sources of the limpopo, takes a more direct n.e. course than the main stream. the limpopo enters the ocean in 25° 15 s. the mouth, about 1000 ft. wide, is obstructed by sandbanks. in the rainy season the limpopo loses a good deal of its water in the swampy region along its lower course. high-water level is 24 ft. above low-water level, when the depth in the shallowest part does not exceed 3 ft. the river is navigable all the year round by shallow-draught vessels from its mouth for about 100 m., to a spot known as gungunyana's ford. in flood time there is water communication south with the river komati (q.v.). at this season stretches of the limpopo above gungunyana's ford are navigable. the river valley is generally unhealthy. the basin of the limpopo includes the northern part of the transvaal, the eastern portion of bechuanaland, southern matabeleland and a large area of portuguese territory north of delagoa bay. its chief tributary, the olifants, has been mentioned. of its many other affluents, the macloutsie, the shashi and the tuli are the most distant north-west feeders. in this direction the matoppos and other hills of matabeleland separate the limpopo basin from the valley of the zambezi. a little above the tuli confluence is rhodes's drift, the usual crossing-place from the northern transvaal into matabeleland. among the streams which, flowing north through the transvaal, join the limpopo is the nylstroom, so named by boers trekking from the south in the belief that they had reached the river nile. in the coast region the river has one considerable affluent from the north, the chengane, which is navigable for some distance. the limpopo is a river of many names. in its upper course called the crocodile that name is also applied to the whole river, which figures on old portuguese maps as the oori (or oira) and bembe. though claiming the territory through which it ran the portuguese made no attempt to trace the river. this was first done by captain j. f. elton, who in 1870 travelling from the tati goldfields sought to open a road to the sea via the limpopo. he voyaged down the river from the shashi confluence to the toli azime falls, which he discovered, following the stream thence on foot to the low country. the lower course of the river had been explored 1868-1869 by another british traveller--st vincent whitshed erskine. it was first navigated by a sea-going craft in 1884, when g. a. chaddock of the british mercantile service succeeded in crossing the bar, while its lower course was accurately surveyed by portuguese officers in 1895-1896. at the junction of the lotsani, one of the bechuanaland affluents, with the limpopo, are ruins of the period of the zimbabwes. linacre (or lynaker), thomas (c. 1460-1524), english humanist and physician, was probably born at canterbury. of his parentage or descent nothing certain is known. he received his early education at the cathedral school of canterbury, then under the direction of william celling (william tilly of selling), who became prior of canterbury in 1472. celling was an ardent scholar, and one of the earliest in england who cultivated greek learning. from him linacre must have received his first incentive to this study. linacre entered oxford about the year 1480, and in 1484 was elected a fellow of all souls' college. shortly afterwards he visited italy in the train of celling, who was sent by henry viii. as an envoy to the papal court, and he accompanied his patron as far as bologna. there he became the pupil of angelo poliziano, and afterwards shared the instruction which that great scholar imparted at florence to the sons of lorenzo de' medici. the younger of these princes became pope leo x., and was in after years mindful of his old companionship with linacre. among his other teachers and friends in italy were demetrius chalcondylas, hermolaus barbaras, aldus romanus the printer of venice, and nicolaus leonicenus of vicenza. linacre took the degree of doctor of medicine with great distinction at padua. on his return to oxford, full of the learning and imbued with the spirit of the italian renaissance, he formed one of the brilliant circle of oxford scholars, including john colet, william grocyn and william latimer, who are mentioned with so much warm eulogy in the letters of erasmus. linacre does not appear to have practised or taught medicine in oxford. about the year 1501 he was called to court as tutor of the young prince arthur. on the accession of henry viii. he was appointed the king's physician, an office at that time of considerable influence and importance, and practised medicine in london, having among his patients most of the great statesmen and prelates of the time, as cardinal wolsey, archbishop warham and bishop fox. after some years of professional activity, and when in advanced life, linacre received priest's orders in 1520, though he had for some years previously held several clerical benefices. there is no doubt that his ordination was connected with his retirement from active life. literary labours, and the cares of the foundation which owed its existence chiefly to him, the royal college of physicians, occupied linacre's remaining years till his death on the 20th of october 1524. linacre was more of a scholar than a man of letters, and rather a man of learning than a scientific investigator. it is difficult now to judge of his practical skill in his profession, but it was evidently highly esteemed in his own day. he took no part in political or theological questions, and died too soon to have to declare himself on either side in the formidable controversies which were even in his lifetime beginning to arise. but his career as a scholar was one eminently characteristic of the critical period in the history of learning through which he lived. he was one of the first englishmen who studied greek in italy, whence he brought back to his native country and his own university the lessons of the \"new learning.\" his teachers were some of the greatest scholars of the day. among his pupils was one--erasmus--whose name alone would suffice to preserve the memory of his instructor in greek, and others of note in letters and politics, such as sir thomas more, prince arthur and queen mary. colet, grocyn, william lilye and other eminent scholars were his intimate friends, and he was esteemed by a still wider circle of literary correspondents in all parts of europe. linacre's literary activity was displayed in two directions, in pure scholarship and in translation from the greek. in the domain of scholarship he was known by the rudiments of (latin) grammar (_progymnasmata grammatices vulgaria_), composed in english, a revised version of which was made for the use of the princess mary, and afterwards translated into latin by robert buchanan. he also wrote a work on latin composition, _de emendata structura latini sermonis_, which was published in london in 1524 and many times reprinted on the continent of europe. linacre's only medical works were his translations. he desired to make the works of galen (and indeed those of aristotle also) accessible to all readers of latin. what he effected in the case of the first, though not trifling in itself, is inconsiderable as compared with the whole mass of galen's writings; and of his translations from aristotle, some of which are known to have been completed, nothing has survived. the following are the works of galen translated by linacre: (1) _de sanitate tuenda_, printed at paris in 1517; (2) _methodus medendi_ (paris, 1519); (3) _de temperamentis et de inaequali intemperie_ (cambridge, 1521); (4) _de naturalibus facultatibus_ (london, 1523); (5) _de symptomatum differentiis et causis_ (london, 1524); (6) _de pulsuum usu_ (london, without date). he also translated for the use of prince arthur an astronomical treatise of proclus, _de sphaera_, which was printed at venice by aldus in 1499. the accuracy of these translations and their elegance of style were universally admitted. they have been generally accepted as the standard versions of those parts of galen's writings, and frequently reprinted, either as a part of the collected works or separately. but the most important service which linacre conferred upon his own profession and science was not by his writings. to him was chiefly owing the foundation by royal charter of the college of physicians in london, and he was the first president of the new college, which he further aided by conveying to it his own house, and by the gift of his library. shortly before his death linacre obtained from the king letters patent for the establishment of readerships in medicine at oxford and cambridge, and placed valuable estates in the hands of trustees for their endowment. two readerships were founded in merton college, oxford, and one in st john's college, cambridge, but owing to neglect and bad management of the funds, they fell into uselessness and obscurity. the oxford foundation was revived by the university commissioners in 1856 in the form of the linacre professorship of anatomy. posterity has done justice to the generosity and public spirit which prompted these foundations; and it is impossible not to recognize a strong constructive genius in the scheme of the college of physicians, by which linacre not only first organized the medical profession in england, but impressed upon it for some centuries the stamp of his own individuality. the intellectual fastidiousness of linacre, and his habits of minute accuracy were, as erasmus suggests, the chief cause why he left no more permanent literary memorials. it will be found, perhaps, difficult to justify by any extant work the extremely high reputation which he enjoyed among the scholars of his time. his latin style was so much admired that, according to the flattering eulogium of erasmus, galen spoke better latin in the version of linacre than he had before spoken greek; and even aristotle displayed a grace which he hardly attained to in his native tongue. erasmus praises also linacre's critical judgment (\"vir non exacti tantum sed severi judicii\"). according to others it was hard to say whether he were more distinguished as a grammarian or a rhetorician. of greek he was regarded as a consummate master; and he was equally eminent as a \"philosopher,\" that is, as learned in the works of the ancient philosophers and naturalists. in this there may have been some exaggeration; but all have acknowledged the elevation of linacre's character, and the fine moral qualities summed up in the epitaph written by john caius: \"fraudes dolosque mire perosus; fidus amicis; omnibus ordinibus juxta carus.\" the materials for linacre's biography are to a large extent contained in the older biographical collections of george lilly (in paulus jovius, _descriptio britanniae_), bale, leland and pits, in wood's _athenae oxonienses_ and in the _biographia britannica_; but all are completely collected in the _life of thomas linacre_, by dr noble johnson (london, 1835). reference may also be made to dr munk's _roll of the royal college of physicians_ (2nd ed., london, 1878); and the introduction, by dr j. f. payne, to a facsimile reproduction of linacre's version of _galen de temperamentis_ (cambridge, 1881). with the exception of this treatise, none of linacre's works or translations has been reprinted in modern times.",
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