750 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



a correction which strengthens the likelihood that it is one of the great foun- 

 tains of the Nile, and makes it certain that Speke's discovery was one of the 

 grandest ever made in Africa. Mr. Stanley calculates that the sea is two 

 hundred and thirty miles long by one hundred and eighty broad ; and in tho 

 map which he has constructed and sent homo the coast-line is studded with 

 names of districts, villages, and rivers. This map will be exhibited and dis- 

 cussed at the first meeting of the Royal Geographical Society. After ' set- 

 tling ' the south-western corner of the great inland sea, it was Mr. Stanley's 

 purpose to transport his men and stores to the Kagera or Katongo River, on 

 its western shore, and thence, crossing the Unyoro country, to address him- 

 self to the fresh task of solving the great problem of the Albert Nyanza, of 

 which only a mere fragment has been mapped. At his latest writing, on the 

 15th of May last, he reports himself as well equipped for at least two years 

 more. His next letter, if we are ever to hear from Stanley again, will be 

 looked for with anxious expectancy by the people, both of England and 

 America." 



The Royal Geographical Society has again and again noticed in a very 

 marked and flattering manner the labours of the distinguished traveller. At 

 the opening of the forty-sixth session, the chairman, Sir H. C. Rawlinson, said, 

 in the course of his address, which was received with great enthusiasm, " In 

 my anniversary address of last May, I ventured to anticipate, from Mr. Stan- 

 ley's well-known intrepidity and determination, that being once launched into 

 the interior of Africa, with means and appliances of the most extensive and 

 efficient character, it would not be long before he had resolved the doubts 

 which have existed since the first discovery of the Victoria Nyanza as to the 

 true nature of that great Nile reservoir — that is, as to whether it was one 

 large sea studded with islands, as maintained by the first discoverers, Captain 

 Speke and Colonel Grant, or whether it was a mere collection of lagoons, as 

 suggested by Captain Burton and Dr. Livingstone, on the strength of native 

 information. This anticipation has now been realised, and I am enabled, 

 through the kindness of the proprietors of ' The Daily Telegraph ' and 'New 

 York Herald,' to exhibit to this evening's meeting a complete chart of the 

 lake, as delineated by Mr. Stanley, who for the first time has almost cir- 

 cumnavigated its shores. The narrative of Mr. Stanley's cruise round 

 the northern and western shores of the lakes, which was entrusted to M. 

 Linant de Bellefonds, whom he met at Mtesa's capital on a mission from Co- 

 lonel Gordon, has been published in the columns of ' The Daily Telegraph ' 

 only this morning. The other letters, however, despatched via Zanzibar, and 

 published some weeks ago, have acquainted us with all the main features of 

 this most remarkable journey, which I proceed accordingly to recapitulate. 

 Mr. Stanley, it appears, did not follow the high road from the coast to Unyan- 

 yembe, but struck a track further to the east, probably the same by which 



