in the Mountains of the Moon. 249 



longer be delayed, and that the saying, Nili qucerere caput, 

 will at length lose its force as a proverb. 



At the time when the foregoing pages were written (May 

 27th), I was far from imagining that the prediction contained 

 in the concluding sentence was so immediately in the way of 

 being fulfilled. The Rev. Dr Friedrich Bialloblotzky, a 

 scholar well known in the literary world, has just undertaken 

 the enterprise of seeking for the sources of the Nile, in ac- 

 cordance with the views which have thus been enunciated. 

 This gentleman quitted England for Germany on the 24th 

 of last month (June), and on the 5th instant he addressed a 

 letter to me from his birth-place, Patten sen, near Hanover, 

 announcing his departure for the east coast of Africa, by the 

 way of Gottingen, Vienna, Constantinople, and Alexandria. 

 He has, however, since been induced to proceed direct to 

 Alexandria by the way of Trieste. According to the plan of 

 operations agreed on before the traveller left London, he will 

 proceed from Alexandria to Aden, where he will embark for 

 Monbtisa (Mombas), an island on the east coast of Africa, in 

 about 4° S. lat. ; and at Monbasa, or in its vicinity, he will 

 make arrangements for travelling into the interior with a 

 native caravan, or otherwise, as may be found most expe- 

 dient. 



The establishment of the Church Missionary station at 

 Rabbay-Empia, on the main-land close to Monbisa, may 

 confidently be expected to afford extraordinary facilities to 

 the traveller for bis journey into the interior. In the last 

 reports, dated June 1847,* received from the two worthy mis- 

 sionaries stationed there, the Rev. Dr Ki'apf and Mr Reb- 

 mann, the following passage occurs, which is deserving of 

 being brought prominently forward in connexion with Dr 

 Bialloblotzky' s expedition : — " Were we assisted," writes Dr 

 Krapf, " by one or two other missionary brethren, we might, 



* Church Missiunary liecurd (January 1848), vol. xix., pp. 11, 12. 



