an sea have escaped by means of cracks ingstone and his companions a discovery produced in its surrounding boundaries, is alleged to have been made which has at some remote period, by subterranean agency. Thus the fissure of Victoria Falls has probably contributed to drain enormous valley, leaving only the deepest portion of the original sea, which now constitutes the Nyassa lake. Most of the African lakes are indeed comparatively shallow, being the residua of much larger bodies of water. The Af rican climate is therefore supposed, with reason, to have been once much moister than it is at present, and the great equatorial lake regions are gradually being dessicated by a process of drainage which has been in operation for ages. That the Nyassa lake has shrunk considerably is proved by the existence of raised beaches on its borders, and by the deep clay strata through which several of its affluents run. The character of the rocks in the central part of the continent is generally that of a coarse gray sandstone, lying horizontally, or only very slightly inclined. Within this extensive sandstone deposit is a coal-field of vast but unknown extent, the materials of which were derived from the tropical plants which grew on the low shores of the great inland sea, the basin of which must have undergone several oscillations. Africa is the grand type of a region which has, on the whole, preserved its ancient terrestrial conditions during a period of indefinite duration unaffected by any considerable changes except those which are dependent on atmospheric and meteoric influences. By far the largest portion of the vast interior has been unaffected by the great cataclysms to which the other continents have been exposed. In no part of it, we believe, has limestone with marine exuviæ been discovered; nor has either chalk or flint been met with. Its surface is free from coarse superficial drift. It exhibits no traces of volcanoes; nor has its surface been much disturbed by internal forces, although the primitive rocks have been protruded in one or two places in isolated masses, as on the shores of the Albert Nyanza and the great mountain groups of Kenia and Kilimandjaro. In the latest explorations of Dr. Liv * Address of the President of the Royal Geographical Society, May, 1864. some bearing on the vexed question of He dawned upon their benighted country, or than it can probably ever attain without the guidance of a superior race. with the causes which operate to shut it out from intercourse with the civilized world. We should be glad to avoid adverting to a subject which seriously compromises the character of a Christian Power. Dr. Livingstone accuses the Portuguese Government of a gross neg The Rovuma, a river some leagues to the north of the Zambesi, it was thought might afford an easier access to the district of the Nyassa than the Zambesi and the Shire, and conduct to a health-lect of its duty in omitting to put in force ier region, and one more promising for the laws which have been enacted for the missionary labor. Dr. Livingstone, ac- suppression of the slave-trade in its Africompanied by Bishop Mackenzie, accord- can possessions, if not of direct complicity ingly entered the Rovuma in 1861 with with its colonial officers in the iniquitous the Pioneer, which, drawing nearly five traffic. It is carried on, he says, in connec feet of water, proved too deep for its tion with the trade in ivory, and from fifcontinued navigation. The river was teen to twenty canoes have been seen on ascended for five days, when the water the Upper Zambesi freighted with slaves began to shallow, the navigation became for the Portuguese settlements. Dr. Livintricate and unsafe, and the expedition ingstone asserts that he was not only the was obliged to return to avoid the risk first to see slavery in its origin in this of being cut off from communication part of Africa, but to trace it through all with the sea. The valley of the Ro- its revolting phases. He had not only vuma seems to resemble that of the seen tribe arrayed against tribe for the Zambesi, but is on a smaller scale. The capture of slaves, but he had been in result of the exploration was that the places where family was arrayed against river was found to be unfit for navigation family and every house was protected by during four months of the year, but that a stockade. Tribes the highest in intellike the Zambesi it might be available ligence were found morally the most for commerce for the other eight months. degraded, the men freely selling their This river possesses little interest in its own wives and grown-up daughters. lower course, where it is a mile wide and On the shores of Lake Nyassa the slavefrom five to six fathoms in depth. Higher merchants were at the time of his visit up, the scenery is described by Bishop paying two yards of calico, worth one Mackenzie as extremely beautiful, con- shilling, for a boy, and four yards for a sisting of finely-wooded hills two or good-looking girl. Barbarism must be three hundred feet in height within a the inevitable condition of a land where short distance of the river. The natives such practices exist. If the statements asserted that the Rovuma issued from which Dr. Livingstone has made in the Lake Nyassa, but none had ascended the face of the world are incapable, as we stream high enough to prove it. The fear they are, of being denied, a heavy hopes founded on the appearance of the responsibility rests upon the Portuguese mouth of the Rovuma, which is without Government if it should fail to interpose a bar, were thus disappointed; and in the most summary manner, call its after four years of laborious explo- officers to a strict account, and put an ration, attended with many unforeseen end forever in Eastern Africa to a sysdifficulties, the expedition was with- tem which is a disgrace to the Portudrawn by the Government in 1862, orders guese name. These decayed settlements having been transmitted to Dr. Living- on the remote shores of the Indian stone to return to England. The dis- Ocean-the melancholy relics of a doappointment experienced in the capa- minion which was once exercised for bilities both of the Zambesi and the nobler purposes than the traffic in human Rovuma for commerce, the prevalence of flesh and blood-seem now to be kept the slave-trade, the lamentable failure of up only for the maintenance of a few the Universities' Mission, and the gener- military pensioners. The terrible lesson ally unsettled and dangerous state of the which the last few years have taught country, all contributed to influence the the world has not failed to impress the decision of the Government. The expe- most impassive of Powers. Spain, the dition, however, has made known a dis- most inveterate of European offenders, trict of boundless capabilities, together has taken the lesson to heart, and re solved to abandon forever the abomina- | is rendered so probable by Mr. Baker's ble traffic in man; and Portugal is now recent discovery of the magnificent lake alone branded with the stigma of this (the Little Luta Nzigè of Speke), which atrocious crime. We entertain no doubt he has appropriately named the Albert that the development of legitimate trade Nyanza, that a fresh interest has been with the regions in which its African imparted on the subject, for if the settlements are situated, would prove of Albert Nyanza should prove to be confar greater benefit in a material sense nected with the great Tanganyika, the than any that can possibly result to it source of the Nile is not the Victoria from the slave-trade. The capacity of Nyanza or any of its affluents, but must the eastern coast of Africa for a large be sought for in a region many degrees and lucrative trade is unquestionable, to the south of that lake, or any of its and it has, notwithstanding many dis- tributary streams. That such a concouragements, made considerable prog- nection does exist between the Albert ress within the last thirty years. In Nyanza and the Tanganyika there is the 1834 the island of Zanzibar possessed strongest reason to believe, for a party little or no trade; in 1860 the exports of Arab traders informed Captain Speke, of ivory, gum copal, and cloves, had while making a voyage on the Tanganrisen to the value of £239,500, and the yika, that the river which flows through total exports and imports amounted to Egypt issues from that lake; and a £1,000,577, employing 25,340 tons of respectable Arab merchant, who could shipping, and this under the rule of a have no conceivable motive for misreppetty Arabian Prince. Although it resentation, accompanied a statement to may be long before the natives can be the same effect made to Captain Burinduced to cultivate extensively cotton ton with such circumstantial details as and sugar for exportation, there are tend strongly to establish its probability. many valuable natural products the A large river, he said, called the Marunpreparation of which for the European ga, enters the lake at its southern exmarket requires but little industry and tremity, but on a visit to its northern no skill. The hard woods which grow end he saw a river which certainly on the banks of the Zambesi and the flowed out of it, for he approached so Shire are especially valuable; they may near its termination that he distinctly be obtained in any quantity at the mere saw and felt the influence of an outward cost of cutting, and they can be trans- current. This statement derives conported to the coast at all seasons with- siderable support from information reout difficulty. The lignum vitæ attains ceived by Dr. Livingstone from Arabs a larger size on the banks of the Zam- well acquainted with the Tanganyika, besi than anywhere else. The African who told him that a river flowed out ebony, although not botanically the same of its northern end, and they drew on as the ebony of commerce, also at the sand the Nyassa discharging its tains immense proportions, and is of a waters to the south, but the Tanganyika deeper black. It abounds on the Rovu- to the north. He was also told, in the ma, within eight miles of the sea, as does course of his first missionary travels, likewise the fustic, from which is ex- by an Arab who declared that he knew tracted a strong yellow dye. the Tanganyika well, that it was connected with another lake still further north, called Garague* (Kazague), and King Kamrasi and the natives inhabiting its banks assured Mr. Baker that the Albert Nyanza was known to extend far to the west of Karagwè. We are thus in possession of evidence from four distinct and independent sources that the Tanganyika has its effluent in the north, and is therefore connected with the Albert Nyanza. Nor can The additions which have been made to our geographical knowledge from the two expeditions of Dr. Livingstone are important and interesting. In his latest he entered and partially explored a region the hydrography of which requires to be thoroughly known before the great mystery of the source of the Nile can be considered as solved, for it is in the district of the equatorial lakes that the head springs of the mighty river undoubtedly exist, and the connection of all of these great reservoirs with each other * Missionary Travels, p. 476. we re gard the alleged difference of altitude | saw, or imagined he saw, a river at a dis(226 feet) between the two lakes as an tance of twenty miles from the furthest objection to this supposition; for when northerly point which he reached on the we know that 1° Fahr. represents an Albert Nyanza, issuing from the lake altitude of 533 feet, a difference of level and traversing the plain beyond; but which is indicated by the fractional nothing can be reasonably affirmed or part of a degree may well be attributed inferred from such distant observation. either to some imperfection in the in- The Albert Nyanza may be connected strument or to defective observation.* with the Nile by some great but hitherDr. Livingstone suggested ten years to undiscovered stream communicating ago that the parting of the watershed with the Bahr el Ghazal (the Nile of between the Zambesi and the Nile might Herodotus), and this supposition is renbe somewhere between the latitudes 6° dered highly probable when taken in and 12 south, that the two rivers rose connection with the information which in the same region, and that their sources Mr. Baker received from the people rewould probably be found at no con- siding on the shores of the Albert Nyansiderable distance from each other. za, that the lake extends to the northShould this conception be realized, a west for about forty miles, when it sudremarkable resemblance will exist be- denly turns to the west, contracting tween the two great rivers of Western gradually, and that its extent is unEurope and the Zambesi and the Nile. known. That the Bahr el Ghazal may The Danube and the Rhine have their ultimately prove to be the true Nile is sources very near to each other, but the thus rendered extremely probable, nor streams diverge, the one, like the Zam- does its mere-like character, so far as it besi, to the east, the other, like the has been explored, militate against such Nile, to the north, both raversing a a supposition. The characteristic of the vast extent of country before they pour Nile below Khartum, for a considerable their waters into the sea. This most part of its course, and for a large portion interesting problem is now, perhaps, of the year, is that of a very sluggish nearer its solution than it has ever been, stream with gigantic reeds springing out for Dr. Livingstone's instructions for of the stagnant water on each side. In his new journey of exploration are to descending the stream from Gondokoro, reach the Tanganyika, and to direct his on passing the Bahr el Ghazal, it is a particular attention to its effluent; and custom, Captain Grant tells us, for all as the distance between the two lakes boats to fire a gun as a salute: possibly a Tanganyika and Albert Nyanza cannot traditionary honor paid to the great be considerable, it is to be hoped that source of Egypt's fertility. The river, he will be able to test the correctness of which flows from Gondokoro at its junc the information which he formerly re- tion with the Bahr el Ghazal, is only ceived, as well as that given by Captains eighty or a hundred yards across, while Burton and Speke. the Bahr el Ghazal is half a mile in width, and after the junction of the two streams Captain Grant admits that there is an evident increase in breadth and width, that the water thenceforward becomes purer, losing much of its turbid appearance, and that the current is considerably increased.* The river which flows past Gondokoro, and which Captain Speke, in his map, traces from the Victoria Nyanza, is, Dr. Beke informs us, known there not as the Bahr el Abyad, or White Nile, but as the Bahr el Djebel, or mountain river. The question afterwards to be determined will be, whether the Albert Nyanza is connected with the Nile, and if so, how connected. The river which flows from the Victoria Nyanza was traced by Captain Speke for only fifteen miles, but Mr. Baker has established by personal observation the fact that it flows into the Albert Nyanza, having ascended its banks to the point where Captain Speke left it, namely, the Karuma Falls. Mr. Baker asserts that he *The observation is recorded by Captain Speke; and it may be observed that his eyesight had become greatly impaired in his first expedition. Missionary Travels, p. 477. See p. 380 of Captain Grant's Walk across Africa-a remarkable record of courageous endurance, and a most amusing picture of African manners and character. Should it be eventually found that the Tanganyika is connected with the Albert Nyanza, and the latter by its westerly or any other effluent with the Bahr el Ghazal, it will necessarily follow that the Tanganyika, or rather the river Marunga, which enters that lake at its southern extremity, will form the true head-water of the Nile, and the course of the mighty river will then be proved to extend through forty degrees of latitude, and the great lakes Tanganyika and Albert Nyanza will be but the expansion of a majestic river, the course of which from its fountain-head to its embouchure will exceed four thousand miles. tained to fall, in common, however, with several other rivers probably as large, if not larger, than itself, into another enormous lake, now denominated the Albert Nyanza; but of the effluent of this lake positively nothing is at present known, however great may be the probability that a connection between the Nile of Egypt and the lake may be hereafter incontrovertibly proved. We trust that in the above remarks we shall not be suspected of wishing to detract from the real merits of the gallant explorer, whose untimely death is so generally and justly deplored. Whatever may be the ultimate value assigned to the facts ascertained by him, there can be no difference of' opinion either as to the intrepidity of his character or on the magnitude of the exploit of the march across the continent of Africa, which he and his companion Captain Grant accomplished in the face of so many dangers, and at the cost of many sufferings and privations. The complete solution of the great geographical problem may not be given to one explorer, nor perhaps will it be accomplished in one generation; but we certainly appear to be approaching nearer and nearer to its determination. If the lake Tanganyika should prove to be connected with the Albert Nyanza, and the Albert Nyanza by its westerly or other effluent with the great river of Egypt, to Dr. Livingstone may yet be awarded the honor of being the real discoverer of the source of the Nile, the probable region of which he pointed out long before any of the expeditions from the eastern coast of Africa had been undertaken. We have, in a former number of the Quarterly Review, expressed our doubts whether the result of Captain Speke's travels could be accepted by geographers as a final solution of the great problem which has perplexed the scientific and the curious of all ages, and the important discovery by Mr. Baker of the great Albert Nyanza confirms us in that opinion; for the notion of Captain Speke that the Little Luta Nzigè (Albert Victoria) was only a backwater of the "Nile," which the river must "fill" before it could continue its course, has been proved to be completely erroneous. The Albert Nyanza is a lake of vast, although unknown dimensions, but certainly inferior neither to the Victoria Nyanza nor the Tanganyika, receiving the drainage of extensive mountain ranges on the west, and of the Utumbi, Uganda, and Unyoro countries to the east. There is even considerable reason to doubt whether the river struck by Captain Speke at Madi is even the same which he left at the Karuma Falls, for no part of its subsequent course, although indicated upon a map for two hundred geographical miles, was ever seen by him; and Dr. Peney, one of the Austrian missionaries, who resided for nine years at Gondokoro, concluded from WITH SOME THOUGHTS ON THE the results of long observation that the river which flows past that place con- I SAY the terminus ad quem, to distributes little or nothing to the flood of tinguish it from the other terminus of the Nile. The sum of Captain Speke's the railway. For though, in severe acdiscoveries, therefore, now appears to curacy, the terminus of your journey by consist in the fact that he discovered in railway can be only at the journey's his first exploratory journey the great end, in popular language the other terlake Victoria Nyanza, and in his second minus is the one from which you starta river issuing from it, which, after a not the beginning of your journey. My very lengthened course, has been ascer-present discourse shall be of the stations Fraser's Magazine. CONCERNING ROADSIDE STATIONS: QUEM." 66 TERMINUS AD |