6 INTRODUCTION. 



geography can never be referred to without calling to mind 

 the remarkable hypothesis by which the distinguished Presi- 

 dent of the Eoyal Geographical Society (Sir Koderick I. 

 Murchison) clearly indicated this peculiarity, before it was 

 verified by actual observation of the altitudes of the country 

 and by the courses of the rivers. New light was thrown on 

 other portions of the continent by the famous travels of 

 Dr. Barth, by the researches of the Church of England 

 Missionaries Krapf, Erkhardt, and Bebrnan, by the persever- 

 ing efforts of Dr. Baikie, the last martyr to the climate and 

 English enterprise, by the journey of Francis Galton, and 

 by the most interesting discoveries of Lakes Tanganyika and 

 Victoria Nyanza by Captain Burton, and by Captain Speke, 

 whose untimely end we all so deeply deplore. Then followed 

 the researches of Van der Decken, Thornton, and others ; 

 and last of all the grand discovery of the main source of the 

 Nile, which every Englishman must feel an honest pride in 

 knowing was accomplished by our gallant countrymen, 

 Speke and Grant. The fabulous torrid zone, of parched and 

 burning sand, was now proved to be a well watered region 

 resembling North America in its fresh-water lakes, and 

 India in its hot humid lowlands, jungles, ghauts, and cool 

 highland plains. 



In our exploration the chief object in view was not 

 to discover objects of nine days' wonder, to gaze and be 

 gazed at by barbarians ; but to note the climate, the natural 

 productions, the local diseases, the natives and their relation 

 to the rest of the world ; all which were observed with that 

 peculiar interest which, as regards the future, the first white 

 man cannot but feel in a continent whose history is only just 

 beginning. When proceeding to the West Coast, in order 

 to find a path to the sea by which lawful commerce might 



