May 23, 1859.] DISCOVERIES OF BURTON AND SPEKE. 307 



men with whom he conversed, the whole region to the northward 

 of the mountain in question, i. e. beneath and to the north of the 

 Equator, is an extensive marshy plateau, intersected by some large 

 and innumerable smaller streams, all feeders of Lake Nyanza, we 

 have only to suppose that at the close of the rainy season the great 

 discharge occurs, and we then have in these data strong grounds 

 for believing, that the theory which I ventured to propound to this 

 Society as the best explanation of the overflow of the Zambesi of 

 Livingstone, as well as of the Congo and other African rivers, will 

 also be found to be applicable to the Nile. 



In concluding this notice of the labours destined to clear up the 

 problem of the real sources of the Nile, I must express my thanks 

 to Mr. Macqueen for his eiforts to collate all the data concerning the 

 ascents of the White Nile from the expedition sent by Mahomed AH 

 in 1839 to that of Don Angelis, which Bnm-EoUet accompanied in 

 1851, and when the party reached 3° 50' north latitude, 31° east lon- 

 gitude. Adding to information obtained from natives and Arabs, 

 and citing Lucan and other ancient authors to the same effect, Mr. 

 Macqueen contends that a lofty mountain to the south-east of the 

 cataracts of Garbo, the last station of Brun-Eollet and his com- 

 panions, which must be Kenia, is the chief feeder of the "White 

 Nile, and that the river Tubesi, spoken of by the African King of 

 Bari, is really the Tumbiri heard of by Dr. Krapf. 



Now, even if this view be sustained, it seems to me to be quite 

 compatible with the fresh knowledge obtained by Captain Speke, 

 and his inference, that the Nyanza is the chief feeder of the White 

 Nile. For the southern extremity of this great inland lake is but 

 2i^ south of the Equator, whilst its western shore is probably not more 

 than 1 50 miles from the lofty mountain of Kenia. Hence, seeing that 

 Nyanza is about 4000 feet only above the sea, and that the eastern 

 mountains, under the Equator, are much higher, there is every 

 probability that this vast sheet of water may be fed from the east 

 by streams flowing from Kenia, as it is ascertained to be supplied 

 from the south-west and west by other rivers flowing from the 

 mountains, which separate this high sheet of water from the 

 depressed Lake Tanganyika.* 



If then it should eventually be proved, that the Lake Nyanza 



* Mr. Edw. Heneage informs me that Botero, in his ' Relationi Universali * (Venice, 

 1640), says that the eastern Nile flows out of a lake 220 miles long, situated under the 

 Equator ; and he places the sources of the western branch of that river about S. lat. 9^, 

 close to the sources of the Zaire or Congo, and what may also be intended for the origin of 

 the Zambesi. 



