920 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



which I send you of a new fountain will compel his Highness to exclaim, 

 1 What do I see now ? Another source ? Can it be possible that the problem 

 has not yet been exhausted ?' Could ancient Nilus rep»ly to him, I could 

 fancy the stream saying, ' How many of my sources did thy grim grandsire, 

 Mohammed Ali, or his sons, Ibrahim and Ismail, discover, and how far hast 

 thou investigated me, with all thy power, who shouldst have had the greatest 

 interest in knowing whence I came, and what waters I brought so far to irri- 

 gate thy gardens and fields, and sustain thee and thy people ? Ingrates of 

 Egypt ! which of ye all have thought it worth while to find out whence I 

 came, that ye might honour me as I deserve ? If by special favour I whisper 

 a few of my secrets to strangers from afar, and permit them to view my 

 wondrous and sweet fountains and flowery beds, what is the credit to thee ? 

 If thou art envious of like distinction, then seek me at my many homes under 

 the Equator.' 



" If his Highness will accept my answer I respectfully beg him to glance 

 over the accompanying chart, and to read the few remarks I have now the 

 honour to make respecting the river known as the Kagera, Ingezi, Kitangule, 

 or Nawarango, which, according to the natives of Karagwe and Uganda, is 

 called the Daughter of the River at Jinja, the Victoria Nile. 



" People differ, it appears, as to the exact signification of the ' source' of 

 a river, and travellers jealous of their fame for discovery have sometimes as- 

 sisted to make the meaning more uncertain. Stay-at-homes, on whom de- 

 volves the duty of toning down the exuberant gratulations of travellers, are 

 generally agreed that it is the main head, origin, or extremity, whence the 

 initial supply is obtained in a spring, fountain, marsh, lake, or it may be that 

 the river is created by a series of these ; but generally one main tributary is 

 followed to its extreme end, and that, whatever it be, is called the source of 

 the river. Speke, if I remember rightly, asks somewhat impatiently in one 

 of his books, ' What should be called the source of the river — a lake which 

 receives the insignificant stream flowing into it, and discharges ail by one 

 great outlet, or the tributaries which the lake collects, or the clouds which 

 supply these tributaries with water ?' In my opinion, if we go on at this 

 rate, we might proceed still further, and ask, ' Or the moisture and vapours 

 which the clouds absorb, or the ocean which supplies these vapours and 

 moisture ?' If these questions are permitted, why should explorers go to such 

 trouble to discover sources of rivers when every child is perfectly well ac- 

 quainted with the origin of all of them ? If we remember the true significa- 

 tion of ' source ' it is easy to understand why Bruce, Speke, and Baker, all 

 returned home each with a new source of the Nile, and why I now send you 

 the survey of another. Speke and Baker both write about ' Reservoirs of the 

 Nile ' in their books. Speke, while accompanied by Grant, discovered the 

 Victoiia Lake and the Victoria Nile, 



