Aug. 31, 1876] 



NATURE 



373 



STANLEY'S AFRICAN DISCOVERIES 



■jV/r R, STANLEY, in the work he has already done, has 

 ■^*^ made a substantial contribution to African geo- 

 graphy, and the last letters from him which have recently 

 appeared in the Daily Telegraph raise eager hopes that 

 shortly we shall hear of his having accomplished work of 

 even greater value. We do not propose to recapitulate 

 the narrative with which most of our readers must be 

 familiar from the interesting letters in the Telegraph, but 

 briefly to point out, with the aid of the accompanying map, 

 how much Mr. Stanley has in these letters added to our 

 knowledge. Of course our map does not pretend to rigid 

 accuracy, its object being simply to show Mr. Stanley's 

 route, the amended outline of the Victoria Nyanza, and the 

 main features of the country traversed by him. It is not 

 our desire to take up space with conjectural geography, 

 nor to reconcile Mr. Stanley's statements with those of 

 previous travellers, nor to discuss what is likely to be the 

 tendency of future discoveries. All this seems to us 

 unnecessary at present, as there is every probability that 

 we shall not have long to wait for accurate and full in- 

 formation from the various travellers that are now in the 

 field. 



One of the most satisfactory parts of Mr. Stanley's 

 work is undoubtedly his circumnavigation of the Victoria 

 Nyanza, and the filling in of its outline with something 

 approaching to accuracy. Previous to Mr. Stanley's visit 

 we were dependent mainly on conjecture for the configura- 

 tion and dimensions of this important lake, supplemented 

 by the observations at one or two points of Speke, on 

 whose name Mr. Stanley's discoveries have shed addi- 

 tional glory. Anyone comparing the map which we 

 have drawn up from Stanley's information with that of 

 Speke will be able to see how much the latest traveller 

 has done. The outline of the shore all round is given 

 with what we must regard as a fair approach to accuracy, 

 to be supplemented ere long, we hope, by careful survey. 

 The long branch lake on the north-east has been cut off, 

 probably to become a separate lake or marsh further 

 east ; the eastern shore has been brought considerably 

 westwards, while the southern and western shores have 

 received important modifications. The " numerous 

 islands " of Speke's map have many of them been visited 

 and most of them been seen and named, and are found 

 to extend almost all round the lake at a short distance 

 from the shore. The names at least of many of the 

 tribes that inhabit the shores and the islands have been 

 obtained, and not a few details concerning their customs 

 and physique. Stanley's account of his visits to Mtesa 

 are in the highest degree interesting, and cannot but 

 raise our admiration of the excellent diplomacy of the 

 determined commissioner of the Telegraph and the 

 Herald. As to the extent of the lake, the conjecture that 

 it is about 1,000 miles in circumference is probably not far 

 from the mark ; from the observations of Stanley its height 

 above sea level is calculated to be 3,800 feet, very near to 

 one, at least, of the observations obtained by Speke. 



Probably after the circumnavigation of the Victoria 

 Nyanza, the most satisfactory piece of work done by Stanley 

 has been the tracing of a large portion of the lacustrine river 

 Kagera, the same which Speke had under 'an apparent 

 misconception named the Kitangule. Stanley during his 

 circumnavigation ascended the mouth of the river and 

 found it to enter the lake about twenty miles further north 

 than was conjectured by Speke. What is, however, of 

 more importance, is the careful exploration of this curious 

 river further up its course, confirming and extending the 

 discoveries previously made by the careful Speke. Speke's 

 Lake Windermere has been found to be only one of a 

 series of at least seventeen lakes, which are in reality one, 

 which are fed and drained by the river Kagera, and which 

 Stanley with considerable reason regards as "the real 

 parent of the Victoria Nile," and along with the Shimeeyu I 



River on the south, the main feeder of the Victoria 

 Nyanza, Stanley's account of his exploration of this 

 laice-river is of such importance that we shall quote his 

 own words : — 



" While exploring the Victoria Lake I ascended a {^^ 

 miles up the Kagera, and was then struck with its great 

 volume and depth— so much so as to rank it as the prin- 

 cipal affluent of the Victoria Lake. In coming south, and 

 crossing it at Kitangule, I sounded it and found fourteen 

 fathoms of water, or 84 feet deep, and 120 yards wide. 

 This fact, added to the determined opinion of the natives 

 that the Kagera was an arm of the Albert Nyanza, caused 

 me to think the river worth exploring. I knew, as all do 

 who understand anything of African geography, that the 

 Kagera could not be an effluent of Lake Albert, but 

 their repeated statements to that effect caused me to 

 suspect that such a great body of water could not be 

 created by the drainage of Ruanda and Karagwe, and 

 that it ought to have its source much further, or from 

 some lake situate between Lakes Albert and Tanganyika. 

 When I explored Lake Windermere I discovered, by 

 sounding, that it had an average depth of 40 feet, and 

 that it was fed and drained by the Kagera. On entering 

 the Kagera, I stated that it flashed on my mind that it 

 was the real parent of the Victoria Nile ; by sounding I 

 found 52 feet of water in a river 50 yards wide. I pro- 

 ceeded on my voyage three days up the river, and came 

 to another lake about nine miles long and a mile in width, 

 situate on the right hand of the stream. At the southern 

 end of this lake, and after working our way through two 

 miles of papyrus, we came to the island of Unyanyubi, a 

 mile and a half in length. Ascending the highest point 

 on the island, the secret of the Ingezi or Kagera was 

 revealed, Standmg in the middle of the island I per- 

 ceived it was about three miles from the coast of Karagwe, 

 and three miles from the coast of Kishakka west, so that 

 the width of the Ingezi at this point was about six miles, 

 and north it stretched away broader, till beyond the 

 horizon green papyri mixed with broad grey gleams of 

 water. I discovered, after further exploration, that the 

 expanses of papyri floated over a depth of from 9 to 14 

 feet of water, that this vegetation, in fact, covered a large 

 portion of a long shallow lake ; that the river, though 

 apparently a mere switt-flowing bi'dy of water, confined 

 seemingly within proper banks by dense tall fields of 

 papyri, was a current only, and that underneath the 

 papyri it supplied a lake varying from five to fourteen 

 miles in width, and about eighty geographical miles 

 in length. Descending the Kagera again some five 

 miles from Unyanyubi, the boat entered a large lake 

 on the left side, which, when explored, proved to 

 be thirteen geographical miles in length by eight in 

 breadth. From its extreme western side to the mainland 

 of Karagwe east was fourteen miles, eight of which was 

 clear open water ; the other six were covered by floating 

 fields of papyri, large masses or islands of which drift to 

 and fro daily. By following this lake to its southern 

 extremity I penetrated between Ruanda and Kishakka, I 

 attempted to land in Ruanda, but was driven back to the 

 boat by war-cries, which the natives sounded shrill 

 and loud. Throughout the entire length (eighty miles) the 

 Kagera maintains almost the same volume and nearly the 

 same width, discharging its surplus waters to the right 

 and to the left as it flows on, feeding, by means of the 

 underground channels, what might be called by an ob- 

 server on land seventeen separate lakes, but which are 

 in reality one, connected together underneath the fields of 

 papyri, and by lagoon-like channels meandering tortuously 

 enough between detached fields of this most prolific reed. 

 The open expanses of water are called by the natives so 

 many " rwerus," or lakes ; the lagoons connecting them 

 and the reed-covered water are known by the name 

 of " Ingezi." What Speke has styled Lake Winder- 

 mere is one of these " rwerus," and is nine miles 



