Aug. 22, 1872] 



NATURE 



547 



reeils and the ambatch tree. There i^, tlierefore, no regular 

 traffic on it by boats ; some years it is completely blocked, a con- 

 trast to the Nile, which is navigable to la'ge dahabieh, all the 

 year round, between Gondokoro and Kfiartoom. It anything 

 were wanted to prove that the Gazal has no connection with the 

 southern waters of Livingstone, reference might be made to 

 several men who have been in the Ga?,al country ; but Dr. 

 Schweinfurth, who is now in Europe, would be most able to give 

 definite information. The narrative of Dr. Livingstone contains 

 some curious incidents wfiich are quite novel to me, for, in our 

 journey from Zanzibar to Egypt, when travelling on the water- 

 shed of the Nile, we never saw any race of cannibals, any signs 

 of gorilla — neither did we find that any ra:eof natives ever kept 

 pigs in a domesticated state ; they e.it one species of wild hog, 

 but no race in the valley of the Xile was ever seen to keep pigs 

 tame. Oysters must be a misprint. Taking into consideration 

 th.ise remarkable ditferences Irom the country we traverse.!, I 

 cannot but tnink that Dr. Livingstone, having no chrono'ueters 

 to h.x his longitude, has got farther to the west than he supposes, 

 and that he had got amongst races similar in most respects to 

 those on the west coast ot Africa, described by M. Da ChaiUa. 

 In conclusion, this fresh discovery of lakes and rivers by Living- 

 stone has defined a distinct new basin, and left clearer than ever 

 the position given by Speke to the Nile in 1863. Besides the 

 IWJ despatches to Mr. Gordon Bennett, we have now seen Dr. 

 Livingstone's letters to Lo-d-i Stanley, Clarendon, and Granville, 

 dated t)etween 1870 and 1872. It is much to be regretted tiiat 

 they contain so little mention of latitude, longitude, and altitude, 

 tor his vast discoveries of new country cannot be laid down by 

 our map makers with any degree of certainty — indeed, no two 

 men coald make a similar map out of all the geography he has 

 forwarded. He informs us that his drainage, from 12° south 

 latitude, has been traced by him up 104" s.iuih latitude, and that 

 he believes these waters continue to flow north, and from the 

 valley of the Nile by joining the Nile ot Speke at 9° north 

 latitude by the Bahr el Gazal. No such thing can happen, for 

 we have ample evidence, from independent sources, against the 

 doctor's tneory, besides which there are carious circumstances in 

 his letters torbidding any connection with ttie Valley of the Nile. 

 Livingstone tetis us that the natives keeo pigs, and that he h.ad 

 met with the skull of a goriUa. This shows a region distinct 

 Jrom the Nile races and the Nile animals, for nowfiei,e on our 

 route did we meet with pigs domesticated, orgorilla in the forests. 

 Though this is but circumstantial evidence, it appears strong to 

 me, and it also appears tliat he must have been farther west in 

 his longitude than he supposed. 



Sir Samuel Baker states that the Nile receives the following 

 rivers from the west, namely, "The Ve, third class, lull from 

 15th April to 15th November, also anotner smaller river, third 

 Class, full from 15th April till 15th November," and "the Ba ir 

 el < Jazal, little or no water supplied by this river." Having seen 

 this river in March of the same year, I can testify to the correct- 

 ness ot Sir Samuel's description, from tne note.s made by me 

 upon It. I'hese notes state the Bahr G.azil gave httle or no 

 water to the Nile, which was not increased much in size after its 

 junction. The Bahr Gazal was still water, and the Nile llowed 

 past it at the rate of about two miles per hour. It must be re- 

 incmberel also that this was only one branch of the Nile ; the 

 other, the Bahr Giraft'e, supplied half as much again of water, 

 and flowed at the rate of four miles an hour where it joined the 

 Nile. Another fact worth noting is, that the water of the Bahr 

 Gazal is described as being clear oy Sir Samuel — this implies that 

 the water had settled, that it was still water, and that there can 

 be no current, but if additional proof was necessary to show that 

 Dr. Livingstone's waters Irom 12" south latitude do not join the 

 Nile here, we have the crowning evidence — which Dr. Living- 

 stone is not aware ol — of the German tr.iveller, Dr. Schwein- 

 furtn, who determined the source of this Bahr Gazal at 3° or 5° 

 north latitude. Dr. Livingstone has been informed by natives 

 that .Speke's Victoria Nyanza consists of three or four lakes, the 

 Okara, Kavirondo, tne Naibish, and the Baringo ; but we know 

 from Speke's map and from his writings, that the Okaro is tfie 

 Ukereweh lake, the Naibash is the Naivfasha, on the east of his 

 lake, and that the Banngo is to the north-ea^t of his lake. Cap- 

 tain Speke tells us that he had seen quite half of the lake, as 

 laid down by liim, his longitudes and iautudes and altitudes gave 

 nun Its general outline, and wne-e he could not obtain tho^e he 

 had to content himselt witn native informacton. We, therelore, 

 think tnat his information is perfectly reliable, and that Dr. 

 Livingstone has been misintormed — at all events, the Victoria 



Nyanza discharges quite sufficient water to form a niv'g.ible 

 river from the Kipon Falls to the Mediterranean, and no stietm 

 which joins it in us course can for a moment be compared to it 

 in size. Dr. Livingstone makes a mistake as to its size ; he calls 

 it eighty to ninety yards wide, writes of it as the "little river," 

 and I cannot conceive where he got his information. Speke's 

 estimate makes it a width of 150 yards — not feet — across the 

 actual waterfall, and immediately above this, he tells us that it is 

 300 yards wide. From this we turn to the Tanganyika Lake. 

 Unfortunately, its altitude is not mentioned, so we must take it 

 for granted that Speke's measurement of 1,800 feet was correct ; 

 but Dr. Livingstone tells us that it has some influence on the 

 Nile. It is tantalising to be told this bare statement, which leads 

 us to conclude that it runs into his line of drainage, and not into 

 the Indian Gcean — as I suppose it does. However, if life and 

 health be sp.ired to the doctor he will determine this point when 

 he has visited the southern end of this lake ; and it is to be hoped 

 that he will send us despatches with more frequency, as there is 

 nothing to prevent his doing so by the hands of tue numerous 

 traders travelling between Zinzibar and Ujiji. 



Consul Petherick was then called on by the President to give 

 an account ot the Bahr el Gazal river, the great tributary of tiic 

 Nile discovered by him. 



Dr. Beke then said it was by no means pleasant for him 

 to have to recant the opinions which he had so long main- 

 tained, but he was perfectly convinced that Livingstone liad 

 not discovered the sources of the Nile. Capt. Speke made 

 Tanganyika 1,700 ft., Baker made the Albert Nyanza 2,700 ft. , 

 or, as it had been corrected, 2,500 ft. Even making an allow- 

 ance of 200 fr. or 300 ft., it seemed impossible, on account of the 

 levels, that the nver Lualaba should flow into either of those 

 Ukes. He concluded that tfie L'lalaba must either go into tire 

 Ulie or into some lake, or turn rnund to the Congo. He did 

 not, however, think it went to the Congo, owing to the ascer- 

 tained levels. It was a mortifying thing to have to acknowledge 

 tnat what he had so long contendc:d for was wrong, but the tacts 

 which had previously been maue known led to the inevitable 

 conclusion that what Livingstone had discovered was not the 

 source of the Nile. 



Sir H. Rawlinson said he was glad to have this opportunity of 

 bearing testimony to the great value which the Royal Geographi- 

 cal Society attached to Mr. .Stanley's services, and also ot ex- 

 pressing the high opinion they entertained of his merit as a 

 traveller. Livingstone had, no doubt, achieved a great geographi- 

 cal success in discovering the great intenor system of nver beds, 

 but from his letters it w,is evident tnat almost to the very last 

 he had strong misgivings about his being upon the Nile brsin. 

 Over and over again he said it had occurred to him that he might 

 have been on the Congo. What did really become of this grea-; 

 river system which he had discovered it was impossible to say 

 authoritatively. AH that conltl be said was, thit it wis a com- 

 pletely new discovery, but he trusted that Livingstone himself 

 would be the discoverer of where those great central rivers ran, 

 for he should be sorry if he did not carry o it to a successful 

 issue the great work upon which he had been so long, and so 

 honourably, and so conscientiously engaged. In a matter ol thi< 

 sort all must be conjecture, but putting all the arguments side 

 by sile, he confessed to the supposition ihat this greac river system 

 fell into a large central inland lake. He should very much doubt 

 its ever reaching Lake Chad, but tnere was a very 1 ir^je space in 

 the interior of the continent which mighi; very well be occupied 

 by such a river-stream draining all the surrounding mountains. 

 The discovery of the lake (il ihere be such a lake) into which 

 the central waters ran, would, he trusted, be the crowning .suc- 

 cess of Livingstone's African travels. He h.ad announced ih it he 

 was going to the source of those waters, and when he hait satisfied 

 himself 01 that, he would return northward, and with the supplies 

 furnished him in a great measure by Mr. Stanley, he would be then 

 in a position to loUow the system beyond a point where he was 

 previously arrested. His great ditficulty on former occasions was 

 owing to the incapacity and hostUity ol his attendants, but it was 

 most gratifying to know that he had now at his command a faith- 

 ful and ellicicut body of followers. 



Mr. Clements Markham asked Mr. Stanley whether the country 

 of Balegga, which Livingstone alluded to, was tfie same as that 

 laid dow.i in .Sir Samuel Baker's map as .Vlalegga. Bikergive 

 the name of iVIalcgga to a range ot mou.itain-, M\i Livm_;stone 

 spoke of It as a mountainous country. 



Mr. Stanley said he believed the two names referred to the 



