" THE ALEXANDRA NILE." 921 



" The Victoria Lake is a magnificent extent of water. I sent you some 

 time ago a chart of it, the result of our circumnavigation. It is the recipient of 

 many fine streams, two of which are very important. The Shimeeyu is two 

 hundred and ninety miles in length from its source to its exit into the lake, and 

 my -Alexandra Nile' has (as yet discovered) a length of three hundred and ten 

 miles, but perhaps as many more. The Shimeeyu might be compared to the 

 Thames, and drains off the water which falls into it from extensive plains, fo- 

 rests, and slopes of plateaus ; but the Alexandra Nile exceeds in volume even 

 in its dry season the Thames and Severn united, and the colour and clearness 

 of its depths prove that it must either take its rise far to the westward of the 

 Tanganyika, or that its course is intercepted by some lake where its waves 

 are purified. Investigating the cause, I have discovered there is indeed such 

 a lake, of considerable extent, and known by different names. 



" Speke, after visiting the outlet of the Victoria Lake and travelling some 

 distance down its shores northerly and westerly, returned home ; and soon 

 after, a fatal accident deprived the Royal Geographical Society of one of its 

 most indefatigable explorers. Sir Samuel Baker, hearing from Speke and 

 Grant of the existence of a lake west of Unyoro, proceeded to that field, and 

 fortunately discovered another magnificent lake, called by the Wanyoro, 

 Luta N'zige ; by the Waganda, Muta Mzige ; by the Wasagara, Nyanja 

 Unyoro ; by the Wanyambu, sometimes all three ; to which Baker, however, 

 very loyally gave the name Albert Nyanza. In a native canoe he explored 

 about sixty miles along the north-east coast, and found the Victoria Nile, de- 

 scending from the Lake Victoria, to form one of the feeders of the Albert Lake. 

 A little farther north the Albert Nyanza discharges all its collected affluents 

 — the Victoria Nile being one of them — into the White Nile, which in its de- 

 scent towards Egypt receives other streams more or less important. Near 

 Khartoum, the White Nile obtains an accession to its volume from the Blue 

 Nile (discovered by James Bruce), which rises in Abyssinia. If it be asked, 

 ' Why enter into these trite details ?' I reply that I write for the readers of 

 1 The Daily Telegraph ' and ' New York Herald,' who amount to about half a 

 million ; that amongst this vast number some are perhaps a little confused 

 about the geography of the Nile, knowing little of how much has been accom- 

 plished, or of what remains to be discovered ; and I believe it desirable for a 

 comprehension of the subject that these few remarks should be made. 



" After lighting upon a great gulf in the Albert Nyanza, I travelled south 

 from 0° 30' N. lat. in search of the tributaries of these two vast lakes — the 

 Albert and Victoria — and perceived that the slope of the section was more to 

 the east, towards the Victoria, and that no rivers worthy of the name, except 

 the Rusango or Mpanga, fall into the Albert Lake from the east side. Nor 

 can any stream of importance supply the Albert from the south, because the 

 Alexandra Nyanza to be described occupies too large a bed, and must be fed 

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