DR BEKE. 



57 



pour servir,' which will be useful when a history 

 of the coast shall he written. The worst part of 

 the hook is the linguistic ; a sailor, however, 

 passing rapidly through or along a country, can 

 hardly he expected to learn much of the language. 



Meanwhile an important theory concerning 

 the Xile Sources was published by my friend, Dr 

 Charles T. Beke. He had surveyed and explored 

 (Nov. 1840 — May 1843) the Abyssinian plateau 

 and the lowlands near the Red Sea, and he had de- 

 termined the water-parting of the streams which 

 feed the Nile and the Indian Ocean (Journal Royal 

 Geographical Society, vol. xii). Whilst Bitter 

 (Erdkunde) and other geographers made the 

 White River rise between X. lat. 7° and 8° and even 

 11°, whilst Messrs Antoine d' Abbadie and Ayrton 

 were searching for the Coy Fountains in Enaria 

 and Kaffa (N. lat. 7° 49' and E. long. 36° 2' 

 9") ; and whilst Mr James Macqueen located ' the 

 sources of the chief branch of the Bahr-el-abiad 

 in about N. lat. 3° ' (Preface xxiv. Geographical 

 Survey of Africa, London, Eellowes, 1840), and 'at 

 no great distance from the equator' (Ibid. 235), 

 Dr Beke announced at the Swansea meeting of 

 the British Association, that he would carry the 

 Caput Nili to S. lat. 2°— 3° and E. long. 34°; 

 moreover that he would place it ' at a compara- 



