March 26, I860.] NYASSA AND SHIRWA, IN EASTERN AFRICA, 89 



members on that land — would eventually be the means of suppressing slavery ; 

 for when explorers point out these sources of wealth, the merchant's cupidity 

 becomes excited, and with it means are soon devised to satisfy the desire. 



In reverting to the compliments paid him (Captain Speke) from the Chair, 

 and the acknowledgments he received from the meeting, in their unanimous 

 approbation of his appointment to the command of the Expedition, he said he 

 was highly proud of the selection the Society had made of him, and trusted 

 they would never repent having done so ; but the best security he could offer 

 them was, in saying that his interests were identical with those of the Society, 

 and that they might be sure he would do the best for them. It had been 

 truly gratifying to see the warm support he had received from the Home and 

 Indian Governments, who had really been very Hberal in support of this Expe- 

 dition to determine the source of tiie Nile, which he believed he had already 

 discovered, and was now simply going to confirm the belief. He expected to 

 have no difficulty whatever in travelling from Zanzibar by the country of the 

 Moon, and up the west side of the Victoria Nyanza to Uganda (the kingdom 

 of), beyond the Equator, to which place Arab caravans go ; but beyond that 

 point he knew there would be difficulties, which are so great as to be insur- 

 mountable to all native merchants, and, as yet, no one had gone north beyond 

 2^ north latitude ; such at least were their unanimous statements when he 

 questioned them on the last journey. Since returning to Europe he had met 

 Mr. Petherick, who, unknown to himself, and while he had been exploring 

 close to the southward of the Equator, was also travelling amongst the tribes 

 to the northward of it, and had brought back names such as he had heard of 

 and inserted in his map, as Bari and Wangara, the latter probably meant for 

 his Wanyoro. These tribes, he was informed by Mr. Petherick — quite in 

 conformity with the Arabs' accounts of them — were so hostile to one another 

 that they never mixed, and penetration amongst them would therefore be most 

 difficult. He (Captain Speke) had consequently proposed to Mr. Petherick to 

 make a combined advance simultaneously with him on those tribes which lie in 

 a short compass of two or three degrees immediately to the northward of his 

 lake, and due south of Gondokoro, the German Mission Station on the Nile ; 

 Mr. Petherick to come towards Uganda from the north, while he went north- 

 ward to the Nile, hugging any river he might find running out of the lake. 

 Now as Mr. Petherick had readily assented to co-operate with him, and as so 

 much hung upon the security or otherwise of the undertaking, he hoped that 

 that gentleman would receive the same support from the Government which he 

 had done. It was a matter of purely false economy to withhold any means, 

 now that we have the Nile's head in a corner, for searching it out ; and he 

 regretted excessively that the Expedition which was so judiciously proposed 

 by Lord Elphinstone, and which should, starting from Mombas, have travelled 

 north-westward, passing by the snowy Kenia, and made for the same point as 

 themselves, have been allowed to drop for want of a little support at the 

 critical time ; for the more expeditions are on foot at once the greater security 

 there is in travel to all, by the diversion which they create in the minds of 

 the people. 



Mr. Consul Petherick, f.r.g.s,, said that he was most happy the Govern- 

 ment had been so liberal towards the Expedition sent out by the Society under 

 Captain Speke, and hoped his travels would be successful. Captain Speke 

 had described the natives of South Africa as totally different from those with 

 whom he was acquainted to the north of the Equator. It would appear that 

 the natives to the south were better disposed towards strangers than those to 

 the north, probably because the Arabs from the eastern coast, for centuries past, 

 had been in the habit of penetrating these countries for the purposes of trade, 

 and had established posts or trading places in the interior, thus had become 

 known to the people as perfectly harmless. Now the tribes to the north of the 

 Equator had known no such trade, and they were most hostile not only to 



