214 REPORT— 1872. 



ment of this question, lie lost no time in preparing for the journey. Previously, 

 as lie stated, lie had not regarded the subject as of any importance, the central line 

 of drainage (;'. e. the Lualaba) having absorbed all his time and means. Embarkino- 

 in a boat, and travelling northwards from Ujiji, the two travellers hugged the 

 coast of Ujiji and Urundi, looking sharply into every little inlet and creek for the 

 outlet that was said to be somewhere. About fifteen to twenty miles were travelled 

 per diem, past lofty mountains, rising sometimes 2000 or 3000 feet above the level of 

 the lake, and camping ashore for the night. Several times they were in danger from 

 the natives, and their men had to keep watch all night, lest they should be sur- 

 prised while asleep. It took ten davs to reach the head of the lake ; on the oppo- 

 site shore a mountain-range, ever bold and high, limited tlieir western view and 

 appeared impenetrable. The lake is of very great depth : Mr. Stanley sounded two 

 miles from shore and found no bottom with 620 feet of line ; and Dr. Livingstone 

 fm'ther south, while crossing, found no bottom with 1800 feet of line. The moun- 

 tains round the northern end fold around so close, with no avenue for the escape 

 of waters, save the narrow valleys and ravines by whicli tributary streams reach 

 the lake, that were the waters to rise 500 feet above their present level, the cou- 

 iiguration of the lake would not be materially altered. The evening before they 

 saw the Rusizi, a freedman of Zanzibar declared (in answer to their questions) 

 that he had been on the river the day before, and that it ran out of the lake. This 

 information caused the two travellers to deliberate on their farther proceediugs, 

 sliould they find a channel leading into Albert Nyanza ; and they decided they 

 would in that case follow it and coast round its shores, in the liope of meeting with 

 Sir Samuel Baker. The mouth of the river was at length found ; it was in a 

 little bay about a mile in width, and was masked by a dense brake of papyrus and 

 matete cane. The entrance was not visible, and they followed some canoes which 

 were disappearing mysteriously through gaps in the brake. Thus they found the 

 central mouth, and all doubt as to whether it was an effluent or an influent soon 

 vanished, for a strong brown flood met them, which tasked all their exertions to 

 pull against. Higher up it widens into lagoons on either side. The alluvial plain 

 through which the tlusizi flows into the lake is about twelve miles wide at the 

 commencement, and fifteen miles in length, narrowing upwards to a point. The 

 mountain-ranges on either side here approximate to within two miles, the eastern 

 range passiug the termination of the western. Further towards the north-west 

 there was a perfect jumble of mountains. The chief Rubinga (near theRusizi), who 

 was a great traveller and readily discussed questions of geography with the two 

 explorers, told them that the Rusizi rose in Lake Kivo, a sheet of water fifteen 

 miles long by about eight broad, from which it escaped by a gap in the mouut.ains. 

 About twenty miles from its mouth the Rusizi is joined by the Luanda, or Ruanda, 

 flowing from the north-west; and there were besides seventeen other tributary 

 streams. Rubinga had been six days to the northward, but had not heard of a 

 large body of water, such as Lake Albert Nyanza. Baker's lake, therefore, could 

 not have the large extension southward which its discoverer had claimed for it. 

 On their return journey to Ujiji, they coasted along the western shore of Tan- 

 ganyika, visiting Uvira, where they were shown the sandy beach on which the 

 canoes of Burton and Speke had rested. A little south of this rises the lofty peak 

 of Sumburizi, 4500 feet above the lake-level. 



Dr. Livingstone ha-ving sent home no map of his discoveries, or any material 

 from which one could be constructed, beyond the descriptions in his despatches, 

 Mr. Stanley, at the request of the President, pointed out, on a map of Africa, the 

 position of the rivers and lakes, as near as he could recollect; from the map he had 

 examined while in Dr. Livingstone's company. 



On the Scope of Scientific Oeocfraphy, illustrated hy Bemarls on tJie Climate 

 of Britisli India. By General E. Steachey, F.R.S., F.R.G.S. 



_ The author contended that geography did not mean simply adventurous explora- 

 tion, the result of which seldom went beyond an account of personal adventure 

 eombined with a bare itinerary j it was a science, and although much more com- 



