Proceedings of Learned Societies. 383 



of the Moon," which appeared in a sketch-map published by Capt. 

 Speke, surrounding the northern end of Tanganyika, Capt. Burton 

 showed to be a mere invention, and stated that in a later map of 

 Speke's presented to the Society those mountains were no longer 

 depicted. Many years ago Mr. Macqueen received from a native of 

 Unyamwezi the statement, " it is well known by all the people there 

 that the river which goes through Egypt takes its source from the 

 lake ;" and even Capt. Speke, on his return from his first journey, 

 recorded that a respectable Arab trader had informed him that he 

 saw a large river which he was certain flowed out of the northern 

 end of the lake, for " he went so near its outlet that he could see 

 and feel the outward drift of the water." Mr. W. S. W. Vaux has 

 advanced the opinion that the drainage of Tanganyika is to the 

 north, and Mr. John Hogg and Dr. Beke have also written to the 

 same effect ; Mr. Hogg pointing out that Tanganyika corresponded to 

 the Zaire, or Zembre Lacus, or Western Lake-reservoir of Ptolemy. 

 The level of Lake Tanganyika was given as only 1844 feet above 

 the sea-level ; this would be fatal to the supposition of its water 

 falling into Lake Luta Nzige and the Nile, if there were not great 

 doubts of its correctness. The thermometer used in making the 

 observations by the author and Capt. Speke was a most imperfect 

 one, and liable to an error which would make a difference of 1000 

 feet. The levels of Victoria Nyanza, Luta Nzige, and the Nile at 

 Gondokoro, as given by Capt. Speke and Mr. Petherick, are also 

 equally irreconcileable with the connexion of Victoria Nyanza with 

 the Nile. The principal alterations which the author would intro- 

 duce into Capt. Speke's map were as follows : — 1. Draining Lake 

 Tanganyika into the Luta Nzige. 2. Converting the Nyanza into 

 two, three, or a larger number of lakes. Captain Speke saw only 

 50 out of the 450 miles circumference of the lake ; the rest was 

 all hearsay, and, according to Speke himself, Nyanza meant 

 equally a pond in the palace, a piece of water whether pond or 

 river, and the Nile itself. He travelled in the conviction that the 

 lake was on his right, but he never verified that conviction. Irungu 

 of Uganda expressed to Speke surprise that the traveller should have 

 come all the way round to Uganda when he could have taken the short 

 and well-known route, via Masai-land and Usoga, which would be 

 straight across the lake as depicted on Speke's maps. 3. Detaching 

 from the Nyanza'waters the Bahari-Ngo which drains the mass of high- 

 lands between the equator and 3° S. lat., and sends forth the Asua 

 Biver, which the author believed, together with Miani and Dr. 

 Peney, to be the trunk-stream of the White Nile. The author con- 

 cluded by expressing his conviction that the " great Nile problem," 

 so far from being " settled," was thrown farther from solution than 

 before. The exploratory labours of years, perhaps of a whole gene- 

 ration, must be lavished before even a rough survey of the southern 

 Nilotic basin can treat the subject with approximate correctness of 

 detail. " Mais les sources du Nil, sont elles decouvertes ?" inquires 

 Malte-Brun. " Nous ne le croyons pas." No geographer does, no 

 geographer can, believe in the actual " settlement" of the Nile 

 sources. That the Tanganyika is the Western " top-head," not 



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