president's address. 259 



of the immense lake Tanganyka, and by his more exact examina- 

 tion of the extensive river system of the Lualaba, under consi- 

 derable difficulties ; thus correcting previous misconceptions, and 

 ascertaining, to a moral certainty at least, the identity of that 

 river with the Congo, and the physical characteristics of the whole 

 region. 



Previous to this, we heard of Mr. Stanley's daring march 

 from the coast to the Victoria JSTyanza, which he was able to map 

 out almost completely for the first time. He has demonstrated 

 the vast proportions of this inland sea, besides having also the 

 honour of discovering in its affluent on the south-east that which 

 may prove to be the ultimate and most southerly source and 

 actual fountain-head of the wonderful Mle. During my succes- 

 sor's term of office we may confidently expect to learn that here, 

 in this mighty lacustrine system of Central Africa, the geogra- 

 phical riddle which has perplexed the wisest since the days of 

 Herodotus has at length been solved ; and that, too, by the un- 

 daunted courage and patient determination of men of the English 

 race, whether it be by Mr. Stanley or by Colonel Gordon com- 

 pleting the work of Captains Speke and Grant, and of Sir Samuel 

 Baker. At the Newcastle meeting of the British Association in 

 1863 the intrepid explorer Captain Grant explained what seemed 

 then to be the true solution of the great river's immemorial 

 mystery. Within the next few months it can hardly fail, but 

 that the curtain will be lifted up for all future time. 



I greatly rejoice that by missionaries of the Christian churches 

 the work of exploration will be further carried on. The Church 

 Missionary Society, especially, has established a prosperous sta- 

 tion at Mombasa, on the East Coast, to which Mr. Forster, until 

 lately in medical practice at Cullercoats, volunteered his services, 

 and has now gone out. It has been enabled, by Christian zeal 

 and liberality, to accept at once, in a practical manner, the invi- 

 tation of the King of Uganda conveyed in Mr. Stanley's letter ; 

 and in God's providence it may yet come to pass that M'tesa 

 may be, like the Kentish Ethelbcrt, or even our Northumbrian 

 Oswald, the honoured introducer of Christian civilization into 

 his part of Central Africa. Even in an address like this it may 



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