176 



NATURE 



{Jtme 13, 1878 



Africa, with special reference to the Livingstone Basin 

 and River, and the volcanic formation of the defile 

 through which the Livingstone falls into the Atlantic. 

 Until the publication of this third volume it would be 

 premature to discuss in detail the scientific results of the 

 expedition, and we shall therefore at present content 

 ourselves with briefly resuming the general results of Mr, 

 Stanley's work. 



Mr. Stanley left Bagamoyo on November 17, 1874, with 

 a force of porters, soldiers, and boatmen of about 350. 

 The expedition was thoroughly equipped for its work, 

 and it is evident that the best possible use was made by 

 Mr. Stanley of all his advantages. The objects of the 

 expedition were not rigidly defined, and generally they 

 may be said to have been to clear up the many unsolved 

 problems relating to the sources of the Nile, the great 



Scene on Lake Tanganika. 



lakes of Central Africa, and the course of the great river, 

 which, coming from the far south, passed Nyangwd, and 

 flowed then no man knew whither. The ultimate source 

 of the Nile was unknown; the configuration of the 

 Victoria Nyanza was so uncertain, and so many objec- 

 tions had been raised to Speke's work there, that, as Mr. 

 Stanley says, there was some danger of its being swept 

 off the map entirely ; so defective was our knowledge of 



the lake, that some geographers, including the sagacious 

 Livingstone, maintained that it was not one lake but 

 many ; there was much to clear up in the region between 

 Victoria and Albert Nyanza, and our knowledge of the 

 latter was of the scantiest. The great western affluent of 

 Lake Victoria, the Kitangul^, had to be traced, and our 

 knowledge of Lakes Windermere and Akanyaru extended, 

 as well as of the stretch bet^yeen the latter and Tanganika. 



