June 13, 1878] 



NATURE 



177 



On the last-named lake, notwithstanding the labours of 

 Burton and Speke, Livingstone, and Stanley himself, and 

 even of Cameron, there was not a little to do to complete 

 our knowledge. Then there was much room for additional 

 work in the interesting country lying between Tanganika 

 and the Lualaba at Nyangwe, where Livingstone has 

 left an everlasting memory as "the good old white 

 man." Last of all there was the mile-wide Lualaba 

 itself sweeping past Nyangwd, "north, north, north," 

 into the great unknown, perhaps to the Nile, perhaps to 

 some great lake, perhaps bending west to the Atlantic ; 

 though there could be little reasonable doubt that if a 

 boat could run the gauntlet of the natives, it would find 

 itself ultimately on the estuary of the Congo. These 

 were the geographical problems to be solved, and Mr. 



Stanley solved them, and he only took two years and a 

 half to do it. 



Until he reached Ugogo, nearly half way between 

 Bagamoyo and Lake Tanganika, Mr. Stanley kept not 

 far from the caravan route westwards, well known to all 

 readers of recent African travel. Turning suddenly 

 northwards, he made straight for the Victoria Nyanza, 

 over a rugged table-land, interspersed with plains, and 

 with at least one wide desert, and many villages. In 

 about 5^° S. lat. he came upon some tiny streams which 

 he ultimately found to be the head waters of a river 

 of something like 300 miles long, that runs into Lake 

 Victoria as the Shimeeyu, and which is undoubtedly 

 the furthest south source of the Nile. Camping at 

 Kagehyi, on Speke Gulf, Mr. Stanley in his trim boat. 



Cataract on Lower Livingstone. 



the Lady Alice, circumnavigated the Victoria Nyanza, 

 defining every creek and gulf, and proving it to be one 

 great lake with an area of 21,500 square miles, an alti- 

 tude of 4,168 feet, and with border-soundings of from 

 330 to 580 feet. The lake is bordered with islands all 

 the way round, is much indented with creeks and bays, 

 receives numerous tributaries from all sides, and its 

 shores and many of its islands are thickly inhabited. 



Mr. Stanley next set himself to the task of doing for 

 the Albert what he had done for the Victoria Nyanza, 

 but in this he was baulked by the timidity of the escort 

 furnished him by his warm friend Mtesa, King of 

 Uganda, on the north of the latter lake. He was only 

 able to stand on the precipitous shore of what he named 

 Beatrice Gulf. From what he then saw, combined with 

 the information gleaned at the court of King Rumanika, 

 he has plotted on the map accompanying his work the 

 vague outlines of a new lake, to which he attaches the 

 name of Muta Nzig^, somewhat to the south of the 



Albert Nyanza. The latter he locates in accordance with 

 the recent circumnavigation of Col. Mason, with the pro- 

 viso that after all there may be a connection between the 

 two. If Mr. Stanley has not yet solved this problem, he 

 has at least opened up a very interesting one, which pos- 

 sibly the Egyptian pioneers may unravel. Coming south 

 to the coast of Ruminika, King of KaragAve, the gentle 

 friend of Speke and Grant, and now of Stanley, he was 

 able still further to add to our knowledge of a region 

 teeming with interest, and again to open up problems 

 which successive explorers must solve. We have now 

 some idea of the great affluent of the Victoria Nyanza, 

 Avhich, issuing from Lake Akanparu, flows north through 

 a long series of swampy lakes before it turns east to feed 

 the great reservoir of the Nile. About Lake Akanyaru 

 itself we know but little. Mr. Stanley, in the maps 

 which accompany his work, no longer makes a long river 

 flow from the west to feed it, though a considerable 

 stream comes south from the Ufumbiro Mountains. 



