GEOGEAPHY ANT> A:N^TIQUITIES. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY. 



At the meeting of the Geogi'aphical Section of the British Asso- 

 ciation, in 1866, Sir C. Nicholson, the President, alhuled to the 

 discovery of the Lake Albert-Nyanza by Sir Samuel Baiter, and 

 described the nature of the problem wlaich now remained to be 

 solved in the geography of this part of Africa. This v^^as the con- 

 nection or separation of the two great inland seas, the Tangany- 

 ika and the Albert-Nj^anza. The difference of level between them — 

 eight hundred feet^ — militated against the supposition of their union ; 

 but a doubt existed as to the correctness of the levels given in the 

 case of the Tanganyika, the measurement having been made by 

 Burton and Speke, with a single and very imperfect instrument. 

 It was hoped that this point might be settled by Livingstone, the 

 last news from whom informed us of his arrival at the mouth of 

 the Rovuma River, on the East Coast, whence he was aliout to 

 travel by land into the interior. The road to tiie great southern 

 lake, Nyassa, was reported to be open, and this distinguished trav- 

 eller was, in all probability, now on his march. 



Exploration of the Sources of the Nile. — Sir Samuel Baker said 

 that, from its extraordinary fertilizing capacity in Lower Egypt, 

 the Nile had, from the most ancient times, been looked on with 

 great interest as respected its source and the cause of its periodi- 

 cally overflowing. The White Nile, which was the true Nile, 

 issued from the Albert-Nyanza Lake, discovered by Speke and 

 Grant, and that from the Victoria-Nyanza, between which a true 

 river flowed. Flowing nortliward, the Nile, properly so called, 

 traversed an enormous tract of marsh ; and for some months of the 

 year this tract was little more than a sandy, reedy plain. The 

 river was filled with vegetable matter ; but tlie junction of the Blue 

 Nile with it at a lower point somewhat purified it. The regions 

 of Lakes Victoria-Nyanza and Albert-Nyanza I'cceived an immense 

 rainfall, as did the Abyssinian mountains, whence the Blue Nile 

 flowed. In a single night, at the commencement of the rainy 

 season, the river at particular points rose to a height of thirty feet 

 in the course of a few minutes, so sudden and so copious is the 

 rainfall in those lofty regions. Tins was really the effective cause 

 of the periodical overflowing of the Nile. 



I\Ir. Paul B. Du Chaillu, at the meeting of the Geographical 

 Society, Jan. 8, 1866, read a paper "On a Second Journey into 

 Western Equatorial Africa." In 1864 he advanced eastward into 

 the Ashira country, Avhich rises by successive steps from the coast. 

 First, there is the belt of low land near the sea ; then a succession 

 of hilly ranges running north-west and south-east, with valleys 



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