May 9, 1859.] OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 213 



ward, had been clearly stated by Dr. Krapf, who gave every particular con- 

 cerning them. He should like to know whaj; the natives had said was to the 

 northward of the large lake ; did they say the rivers ran out from or into 

 the lake ? How could the Egyptian officers be mistaken ? 



Captain Speke replied. They were not mistaken ; and if they had pur- 

 sued their journey 50 miles farther, they would undoubtedly have found 

 themselves at the northern borders of this lake. 



Mr. Macqueen said that other travellers, Don Angelo for instance, had 

 been within one and a half degree of the Equator, and saw the mountain of 

 Kimborat under the Line, and persisted in the statement, adding, that travellers 

 had been up the river until they found it a mere brook. He felt convinced 

 that the large lake alluded to by Captain Speke was not the source of the 

 Nile : it was impossible it could be so, for it was not at a sufficiently high 

 altitude. 



The paper presented to the Society, when fully read in conjunction with 

 the map, will clearly show that the Bahr-el-Abred has no connection with Kili- 

 manjaro, that it has no connection whatever with any lake or river to the 

 south of the Equator, and that the sw^elliug of the river Nile proceeds from 

 the tropical rains of the northern torrid zone, as was stated emphatically to 

 Julius Cassar by the chief Egyptian priest Amoreis 2000 years ago. 



In nearly 3° N. lat. there is a great cataract, which boats cannot pass. It 

 is called Gherba. About half-way (50 miles) above, and between this cataract 

 and Robego, the capital of Kuenda, the river becomes so narrow as to be 

 crossed by a bridge formed by a tree thrown across it. Above Gherba no 

 stream joins the river either from the south or south-west. 



Colonel Sykes, f.r.g.s., thought the difficulties raised by Mr. Macqueen 

 quite reconcileable with the facts stated by Captain Speke, as resulting 

 from his and Captain Burton's explorations, for every great river had more 

 than one source. He illustrated his observation by a practical reference to 

 the human hand and arm ; supposing the latter to be the main stream, the 

 fingers might form the sources, all converging at the wrist to one great whole. 

 The only question, therefore, was, which of those branches should be con- 

 sidered the chief source of the river ? But each might be equal in size and of 

 equal distance from the point of junction. The fact was, they were all sources. 

 Captain Speke described a range of mountains running, not from east to west, 

 but from north to south across the Equator. This range had necessarily a 

 double watershed to the east and to the west. The rivers observed by Krapf 

 and Rebmann ran down to the eastward, but other rivers (describing them on 

 the map) ran down to the westward. Consequently there were two directions 

 in which the waters run from exactly the same locality. What, therefore, could 

 be more reasonable than to suppose that the water parting to the westward 

 should run into the lake mentioned by Captain Speke ? And as this lake 

 was at an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea, and the depression of the 

 country was from the lake towards the north generally, as indicated by the 

 course of the Nile, which had been traced up to within 3J° of the Equator, 

 it is more than probable that the lake was one of the chief sources of the 

 Nile, and that other neighbouring sources would be found in the snow-peaks 

 of Kilimanjaro and Kaania, forming parts of the range of mountains spoken of 

 by Captain Speke. Mr. Macqueen spoke of the improbability of there being 

 snow-capped mountains upon the Equator, as their elevation must necessarily 

 be above 1 7,000 feet ; but we are not justified in impugning the accuracy of 

 the statements of Krapf and Rebmann. Under religious impulses, their 

 vocation as missionaries was the promulgation of truth, and we cannot sup- 

 pose them capable of inventions for which there w^as not any motive. 



The origin of Pliny's associating the source of the Nile with the Moun- 

 tains of the Moon, would seem to find an explanation in the name of the 



