208 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



The main argument in favour of the Lake repre- 

 senting the great reservoir of the White River was, 

 that the "principal men" at the southern extremity 

 ignored the extent northward. " On my inquiring 

 about the lake's length the man (the greatest traveller 

 in the place) faced to the north, and began nodding his 

 head to it ; at the same time he kept throwing forward 

 his right hand, and making repeated snaps of his fingers 

 endeavoured to indicate something immeasurable ; and 

 added, that nobody knew, but he thought it probably 

 extended to the end of the world." Strongly impressed 

 by this valuable statistical information, my companion 

 therefore placed the northern limit about 4°-5° north lat., 

 whereas the Egyptian expedition sent by the late Moham- 

 med Ali Pacha, about twenty years ago, to explore the 

 Coy Sources, reached 3° 22' north lat. It therefore ought 

 to have sailed fifty miles upon the Nyanza lake. On the 

 contrary, from information derived on the spot, that expe- 

 dition placed the fountains at one month's journey — 300 

 to 350 miles — to the south-east, or upon the northern 

 counterslope of Mount Kenia. Whilst marching to the 

 coast, my companion — he tells us — was assured by a 

 " respectable Sowahili merchant, that when engaged in 

 traffic some years previously to the northward of the 

 line, and the westward of this lake, he had heard it 

 commonly reported that large vessels frequented the 

 northern extremity of these waters, in which the officers 



Kilimanjaro, that it has no connection whatever with any lake or river to 

 the south of the Equator, and that the swelling of the river Mle proceeds 

 from the tropical rains of the northern torrid zone, as was stated empha- 

 tically to Julius Csesar by the chief Egyptian priest Amoreis 2000 years ago. 



In nearly 3° N". lat. there is a great cataract, which boats cannot pass. 

 It is called Gherba. About half-way (50 miles) above, and between this 

 cataract and Robego, the capital of Kuenda, the river becomes so narrow as 

 to be crossed by a bridge formed by a tree thrown across it. Above Gherba 

 no stream joins the river either from the south or south-west. 



