THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 119 



to assist us in the same way as Baker (God bless them), had 

 come here in a steamer, but were driven back to Khartoum by 

 sickness. Nobody had even dreamed for a moment it was pos- 

 sible we could come through. An Italian, named Miani, had 

 gone further up the Nile than any one else, and had cut his name 

 on a tree by Apuddo, at the furthest point reached by him. But 

 what had become of Petherick? He was actually trading at 

 N'yambara, seventy miles due west of this, though he had ) 

 since I left him in England, raised a subscription of 1,000 from 

 my friends to aid him in finding me." 



ALARM ABOUT PETHERICK. 



SPEKE felt some alarm about the safety of Petherick, and was 

 upon the point of going to his succor, especially as it was 

 reported he had already had one engagement with the natives. 

 But when he was about ready to start, Petherick returned to 

 Gondokoro, and the joy of meeting was complete. 



We have now followed Speke through Africa, describing all 

 the important facts and incidents recorded in his journal, but 

 before dismissing him to call up another, will present his conclu- 

 sions, which, as will hereafter be seen, were frequently at fault. 

 He says : 



"Having now, then, after a period of twenty-eight months, 

 come upon the tracks of European travelers, and met them face 

 to face, I close my Journal, to conclude with a few explanations, 

 for the purpose of comparing the various branches of the Nile 

 with its affluents, so as to show their respective values. 



"The first affluent, the Bahr el Ghazal, took us by surprise; 

 for, instead of finding a huge lake, as described in our maps, at 

 an elbow of the Nile, we found only a small piece of water 

 resembling a duck-pond buried in a sea of rushes. The old Nile 

 swept through it with majestic grace, and carried us next to the 

 Geraffe branch of the Sobat river, the second affluent, which we 

 found flowing into the Nile with a graceful semi-circular sweep 

 and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not more than fifty 

 yards broad. 



"Next in order came the main stream of the Sobat, flowing 



