158 REAR-ADMIRAL F. W. BEECHEY'S ADDRESS. [May 26, 185G. 



From the Eastern Coast we have received, through the Church 

 Missionary Society, an interesting commnnication from the Eev. J. 

 Erhardt, informing us concerning a large inland sea, long known to 

 exist, and now stated to extend over nearly ten degrees of latitude 

 and four degrees of longitude, with a description of several routes 

 by which different portions of this sea are visited by parties from 

 Mombas, Tanga, Mbomaji, Kiloa, and other towns upon the sea-coast, 

 affording facilities for discovery in that quarter, which the Council 

 have not neglected. 



Lower down, upon this coast, we have received information of the 

 return of a party of Moors from the Western Coast of Africa. The 

 24th volume of our Journal contains an account of a journey per- 

 formed by a party of Moorish traders from Zanzibar to Benguela, 

 on the West Coast. This is the same party whose arrival we have 

 just announced. It appears that they left Benguela on the 9th June, 

 1853, and arrived at Mozambique on the 12th November, 1854, 

 crossing large rivers and passing many thickly-inhabited towns in 

 their way ; but they do not afford us any means of determining the 

 positions of these places. 



I must not conclude these brief remarks upon this continent 

 without calling your attention to the limited extent of our knowledge 

 of that portion of it known as Equatorial Africa. This exten- 

 sive region, occupjdng nearly twenty degrees of latitude, and 

 extending from coast to coast, with the exception of the fringe 

 of the shore on either side and the limited discoveries up the 

 Bahr el Abiad, still remains to us almost a "terra incognita." As 

 before observed, we have pushed our expeditions from time to 

 time over its borders, on the north and south and on the east and 

 west, but with sufficient success only to ascertain the general feature 

 of the country in those directions, and to inform us in what quarter 

 we may with the greater advantage direct our future movements. 

 Equatorial Africa really lies still unexplored, and yet, by information 

 from various sources, it seems to present a fruitful field to travellers. 

 The thickly-inhabited towns and large rivers mentioned by the 

 Arabs — the vast inland sea of Niassa mentioned by Erhardt — alone 

 would immortalize the discoverer who should undertake the task ; 

 while the existence of mines of copper and other precious metals in 

 that direction, if true, would bid fair to repay the toil. 



The source of the Nile, yet undiscovered, lies mysteriously hidden 

 in this vast unexplored region, and, with Niassa, asks who shall 

 unlock its mysteries? We trust that this question will not long 



