50 The Sources of the Nile. 



It is at any rato so far important that its junction with the 

 White Nile is marked, by very extensive and almost untravers- 

 able swamps. As an incoming affluent, it appeared to be 

 almost without current, but this might be owing partly to the 

 greater impetuosity of the main stream checking its course, 

 throwing its waters back, and producing the large expanse 

 of swamp. Several tributaries of various magnitude enter 

 the White Nile from the east or right bank, but these are con- 

 nected with the drainage of the mountains in that direction. 



It is quite evident from this account, First, that the principal 

 tributaries of the White Nile come in from the high lands 

 surrounding the Lake Victoria Nyanza, near the equator. 

 Secondly, that the mountain chain to the east includes the lofty 

 snow-covered mountains, probably volcanic, described by the 

 German missionaries, and probably continued as a coast range, 

 passing to the south and east of Nyanza. Thirdly, that the 

 main sources of water supply are not far from these high moun- 

 tains, but proceed from lower intertropical and sub-equatorial 

 ranges separating the plateau from the lake system of Tangan- 

 yika, described by Captain Burton. All the chief swamps, the 

 deltas, and the complicated channels are spoken of by Captain 

 Speke as coming in from the west and south, while only three 

 or four complete rivers enter from the east ; and, moreover, 

 both the main river entering the lake, and the stream emerging 

 from it towards the north, appear to be very much larger and 

 more rapid than any other tributaries. Fourthly, that there is 

 a certain obscurity still left as to the river (not the swamp) 

 called Bahr-el-Ghazal, both as to direction and importance, for 

 it is possible, though perhaps not very likely, that this stream 

 comes in from the far west. Fifthly, that the old question of the 

 existence of a chain of mountains crossing the African continent 

 is almost revived by this recent discovery of Captain Speke, 

 although it had been more than questioned by most modern 

 geographers. It is still possible that the great abundance of 

 running water feeding the lakes may come from such mountains, 

 and may be the result of a long line of slopes stretching away into 

 the interior of the continent. But though possiblo, all analogy 

 and probability are opposed to this assumption; and it is much 

 more likely that the apparent chain is a termination northwards 

 of tin; plateau which dies away in the great Sahara. 



The native tribes met with by Captain Speke, on the north 

 side of the lake, seem to be connected with Ethiopia ethnolo- 

 gical ly, but oiler many points of great interest. They are even 

 regarded as descendants of the ancient Ethiopians, and they 

 bain a cutions tradition of their ancestors being half black, 

 half white, and having half their hair crisp and woolly, and the 

 other half straight and lank. There is no doubt that this rela- 



