Dr. Beke on the Sources of the Nile. Ill 



journey to the south. But M. Lafargue, a French traveller 

 who ascended the Bahr el Abyad in 1845, states that he was 

 informed that the main stream conies from the west at a di- 

 stance of only six days' journey south of Bari, It will be seen 

 that this information is not necessarily opposed to that of M. 

 Werne, since both arms may well exist; but it shows also that 

 we are still in ignorance with respect to an extensive and pro- 

 bably an immense division of the basin of the Nile — namely, 

 the whole of that portion of it which lies to the west of the 

 direct stream ascended by the Egyptian expeditions. In the 

 absence of any certain data, it would be mere speculation to 

 attempt to fix the waterparting in this direction, except that 

 we know that it cannot possibly lie much, if anything, beyond 

 the 20th meridian of east longitude, where the basin of the 

 Nile must necessarily be limited by that of Lake Tchad. 



We will therefore descend the main stream of the White 

 River northwards as far as 7^ 43' N. lat., where the officers 

 of the second Egyptian expedition found it to receive three 

 branches from the south and west. These tributaries were 

 considered to be of no importance, and to appear to proceed 

 only from the neighbouring marshes. But they require to be 

 more closely examined before it can positively be asserted that 

 they are not streams of some, perhaps even considerable im- 

 portance. Thence continuing to descend the river, we come 

 at length, in 9° 20' N. lat., to the great western arm, called 

 Bahr el Ghazal or Keilah, which has been already described. 

 The first exploring party was almost in doubt whether this 

 was not the principal arm of the river ; but as their instruc- 

 tions from the Pasha were imperative as to their exploring 

 the direct stream, they did not afford it that attention which 

 it evidently deserves. M. Lafargue, who subsequently en- 

 tered the mouth of this river, describes it as a magnificent 

 stream with a tolerably rapid current. 



M. Werne, in speaking of the Bahr el Ghazal, states that 

 it was described to him as coming y^om Barbary I This our 

 positive knowledge enables us to assert to be impossible. For 

 Denham and Clapperton crossed the continent of Africa from 

 the Mediterranean to Lake Tchad, in about the 15th meridian 

 of east longitude ; and we know that there does not exist on 

 their route any watercourse which might be considered as the 

 upper portion of this river. It would, however, doubtless be 

 wrong to understand the expression " Barbary " in the sense 

 in which we usually employ it; as it is not to be imagined that 

 the inhabitants of the valleys of the Bahr el Abyad and Bahr 

 el Ghazal have any actual knowledge of that portion of Africa 

 to which we give this name. We must therefore suppose that, 



