242 Dr Beke on the Sources of the Nile 



to think of laying down the course of this river with any- 

 thing like precision. Still, its head may, without the slightest 

 straining, and indeed with every appearance of probability in 

 its favour, be hypothetically placed where we have already 

 determined the position of the source of Ptolemy's second arm 

 of the Nile to be, namely, in about T N. lat. and 39° E. long. 



In support of this hypothesis, the following important in- 

 formation has to be adduced. It was obtained many years 

 ago by the late Captain David Seton, the East India Com- 

 pany's resident at Maskcit, from some persons of respecta- 

 bility at that place, who were well acquainted with the part of 

 the African coast to which it relates, and it is to the follow- 

 ing effect : — " That a river of immense extent, known to the 

 natives in its neighbourhood by the appellation of the Neelo 

 (Nilo), and said to have its source in common with the Egyp- 

 tian river of that name, discharges itself into the Indian Ocean 

 in about 0° 5' N. lat. ; and that near to its mouth it is called 

 Govind Khala."* 



This information was forwarded by Captain Seton to the 

 Government of Bombay ; and, in consequence. Captain Smee 

 and Lieutenant Hardy of the Indian Navy were sent, in the 

 year 1811, to search for this river. They found it to be iden- 

 tical with the Rio dos Fuegos of the Portuguese, which is 

 also known by the name of Rogues' River.t At its mouth is 

 a town or village named Juba Irunjba, which is called Jubo 

 by Father Jerome Lobo, who visited it in 1614 •,% and from 

 this place the river derives also the appellation of the Juba 

 River, or, as it is written in the Portuguese maritime atlas, 

 constructed, in 1546, by Joao Freire,§ " Rio de Jugo." By 

 observation. Captain Smee and Lieutenant Hardy determined 

 the mouth of this river to be, not in 0° 5' N. lat., but in 0° 17' 

 S. lat. ; the error of 22 miles committed by Captain Seton's 

 native informants with respect to its position, being one that 

 persons unaccustomed to make accurate observations may 

 easily be supposed to have fallen into. || 



* Trans, of Bomb. Geogr. Soc, 1841-44, pp. 31, 32. 



t Ibid., p. 32. I A Voyage to Abyssinia (London, 1735), p. 9. 



§ In the possession of the Viconde de Santarem, in Paris. 



U Trans, of Bomb. Qeogr. Soc, p. 32. 



