632 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



and Lualaba run, what is the southern connection of the Albert Nyanza ; and 

 all the important revelations — which Mr. Stanley means to make, if they are 

 not made before he reaches the spot — will have been augmented by his ac- 

 counts of that vast blank chasm in the map westward of Kilima Mnjaro, and 

 by a final declaration as to the geography of the Victoria Lake or Lakes. 



There are some, perhaps, who ignorantly say, " Well, and what then ? 

 Who will be a jot the better for knowing where these distant waters flow, and 

 whether Livingstone died beside the fountains of the Nile or the Congo ?" 

 It matters very much to the future of commerce, and to the destiny of the 

 Africans, which way these lakes empty, and whither those mighty channels 

 flow. If the Albert Nyanza and the Tanganyika waters are united, a rail- 

 way of one hundred and fifty miles is alone required to open the continent 

 from Alexandria to the parallel of south latitude. If, again, the Lualaba 

 comes into the Albert Lake, there is a water road from Ilala, where Living- 

 stone died, into Egypt, opening up three more degrees of south latitude ; 

 while, if it run westward as the Congo, the Nile must yield its ancient honour 

 to so wonderful a stream, but commerce will find a magnificent gateway at 

 Loanda. Upon the decision of these and the cognate problems rests the question 

 of the course which trade will take, and upon trade depends the gradual 

 extinction of that dreadful slave-traffic which Livingstone called " the open 

 sore of the world," an ulcer eating away the life and loveliness of this won- 

 derful continent. Lovely it is in all its wealth of splendid scenery, its majestic 

 rivers, mighty inland seas, flowery forests, and sunny mountains ; nor can 

 any large-minded man doubt that, when justice is done to its vast and patient 

 populations, the entire region will not contribute richer gifts to humanity 

 than will these industrious, glad-hearted, artistic Africans. 



