DECEMBER 29, 1899. ] 
which drains the southern provinces of Abys- 
sinia. Unfortunately the Abyssinians had 
become well aware of their movements, 
-and an Abyssinian Ras, Uoldu Ghirgis 
stood in battle array on the north bank 
ready to stop them. Turning away to the 
west through the mountains the Italians 
managed with great difficulty to escape 
their enemies, and, though hampered by 
constant attacks from the natives, succeeded 
in reaching the Omo again, and in descend- 
ing its left bank to Lake Rudolf. It was 
thus shown that the great Abyssinian River 
Omo flows neither into the Nile as had 
been conjectured by some geographers, nor 
into the Juba, as had been supposed by 
others, but constitutes the principal feeder 
of the internal basin of Lake Rudolf. That 
a large river entered this Lake at its 
northern extremity was well known from 
former explorations. But noone had shown 
its identity with the Abyssinian Omo, 
which was thus fully established. On 
August 30, 1895, the Italian travellers found 
themselves at the north end of Lake Rudolf 
in occupation of the cabin of Dr. Donaldson 
Smith, the American explorer, who had 
been in the same spot about a year before 
them. 
The chief object of the second Bottego 
expedition had thus been accomplished. 
The Omo had been traced to its outlet in 
Lake Rudolf. Besides this many miles of 
fresh country had been traversed, and a 
new and most interesting lake discovered— 
not only discovered, but carefully measured 
and mapped, as will be seen by the charts 
attached to this volume. 
Had the voyagers gone home by the 
usual route through British East Africa, or 
returned by the way they came they would 
have been allowed the credit of having 
done excellent work. But they were still 
ardeut for further discoveries. 
In the first place a side-excursion was 
made by Bottego and Vannutelli to Lake 
SCIENCE 
953 
Stephanie. The river Sagan, which drains 
Lakes Margherita and Ciamo, and which 
they had struck on their former route to 
Burgi, was found running into the head of 
Lake Stephanie. It was a good elephant 
country, and 14 elephants were killed in 
five days. The tusks together with the 
ivory previously procured were sent off to 
Lugh by a Somali caravan. On October 
18th the whole party was again assembled 
at Bumé, at the northeast corner of Lake 
Rudolf. 
Here it was resolved, on consultation, 
that Dr. Sacchi should proceed home via 
Lugh with ivory and the scientific collec- 
tions already accumulated, while the re- 
maining members of the party should con- 
tinue their explorations. Dr. Sacchi reached 
Ascebos safely, but on returning to Lake 
Margherita to fetch some ivory placed in 
eache there, was unfortunately killed in 
an encounter with the natives some four 
months later (February 7, 1897). 
Before leaving Lake Rudolf the remain- 
ing explorers resolved to make it quite cer- 
tain that no river flowed out on the western 
side of the lake. The western bank of 
Lake Rudolf was, therefore, carefully ex- 
amined as far south as about 3° N. L., 
where the river Tirgol flows from the west 
into the lake. Beyond this it had been 
already ascertained that there was no water 
issuing out of Lake Rudolf, which is, there- 
fore, a closed basin, and has no connection 
with the Sobat and so with the Nile, as had 
formerly been supposed possible. 
Starting again from the north end of 
Lake Rudolf on December 13, 1896, the 
travellers proposed to make their way home 
through Abyssinia, little aware of the un- 
fortunate series of events which had taken 
place between that country and Italy. 
Leaving the large northeastern gulf of the 
lake on their right, they arrived shortly 
on the river Sacchi, as they proposed to 
name this stream after their lost’ com- 
