The Sources of tlie Nile. 49 



receiving streams from the south., and pouring them into the 

 Victoria by a channel, which also in its course receives the 

 drainage of several other lakes. The river thus fed is a con- 

 siderable stream before emptying itself into the Victoria. It 

 runs through a deep ravine, eighty yards wide, and flows at 

 the rate of five miles an hour. The sources of these feeders 

 are said to be in an extensive tract of mountain-land, situated 

 north of the great lake of Tanganyika, described by Captain 

 Burton, and receiving very large supplies of rain, which may 

 probably be periodical. These mountains do not seem to have 

 been visited. 



Should this view be correct, it would seem that the main 

 chain crossed in travelling from the coast turns round, and 

 extends westward, representing, in fact, the chain, though 

 probably of no great elevation, so often described as the 

 "Mountains of the Moon." Captain Speke reports that in 

 the year 1862 there were 238 days in this district on which 

 rain fell, and the high lands would seem to supply at all seasons 

 a very large body of water to the elevated lakes terminating in 

 the Victoria Nyanza. The eastern side of the lake is said to 

 consist of low hills intersected with deep ravines, and a large 

 island is spoken of by the native traders as existing in another 

 and smaller lake in this direction, from which salt is procured. 

 The waters of all the lakes are sweet. 



From the great lake thus fed by numerous streams, entering 

 by innumerable channels, the White Nile issues. It proceeds 

 from a point situated midway along the northern shore. The 

 stream, as it emerges from the lake and enters on its course, 

 first leaps over a vast heap of plutonic rocks, falling about twelve 

 feet into the plains below. From this point, called by Captain 

 Speke the Eipon Falls, the Nile has cut a channel through 

 sandstone hills for some distance, and continues to run towards 

 the north with great impetuosity. It loses itself for a time in 

 marshes of vast extent, which present the appearance of a lake 

 (like the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and other swamps much further to 

 the north), receiving at various points tributary streams of 

 considerable magnitude. It remains, however, a navigable 

 stream for some distance, until it again falls in a large cataract 

 into a district sloping rapidly to the west, where the river once 

 more flows with great rapidity. Here, however, Captain Speke 

 and his companions were compelled to leave it, owing to the 

 troublesome character of the people on the banks. After 

 joining it again at Madi, the travellers found the course to 

 continue as before, receiving the important branch called the 

 Asoua on the right bank, and the Bahr-el-Ghazal, at some 

 distance beyond, on the left. The latter is a very large branch, 

 and may perhaps be a more important affluent than is supposed. 



VOL. iv. — NO. i. E 



