dh. keapf's monkey-kiver. 



217 



distance of these peaks from the coast, as given by Dr. 

 Krapf, must be considerably reduced, and little autho- 

 rity can be attached to his river Tumbiri.* The site, 

 supposed by Mr. Macqueen ("Proceedings of the Geo- 

 graphical Society of London," January 24th, .1859), to 

 be at least 21,000 feet above the level of the sea, and 

 consequently 3000 or 4000 feet above the line of per- 

 petual congelation, would admirably explain the two 

 most ancient theories concerning the source of the 

 White Eiver, namely, that it arises in a snowy region, 

 and that its inundation is the result of tropical rains. 



It is impossible not to suspect that between the upper 

 portion of the Nyanza and the watershed of the White 

 Nile there exists a longitudinal range of elevated ground, 

 running from east to west — a " furca " draining north- 

 wards into the Nile and southwards into the Nyanza 

 Lake — like that which separates the Tanganyika from 

 the Maravi or Nyassa of Kilwa. According to Don 

 Angelo Vinco, who visited Loqueck in 1852, beyond the 

 cataract of Garbo — supposed to be in N. lat. 2° 40' — 

 at a distance of sixty miles lie Robego, the capital of 

 Kuenda, and Lokoya (Logoja), of which the latter re- 

 ceives an affluent from the east. Beyond Lokoya the 

 White Nile is described as a small and rocky mountain- 

 river, presenting none of the features of a stream flowing 



* The large river Tumbiri, mentioned by Dr. Krapf as flowing towards 

 Egypt from the northern counterslope of Mount Kenia, rests upon the sole 

 authority of a single wandering native. As, moreover, the word T'humbiri 

 or T'humbili means a monkey, and the people are peculiarly fond of satire 

 in a small way, it is not improbable that the very name had no foundation of 

 fact. This is mentioned, as some geographers — for instance, Mr. Macqueen 

 (" Observations on the Geography of Central Africa :" "Proceedings of the 

 R. G. S. of London," May 9, 1859)— have been struck by the circumstance 

 that the Austrian Missionaries and Mr. Werne (" Expedition to discover the 

 sources of the White Nile, in 1840-41") gave Tubirih as the Bari name of 

 the White Nile at the southern limit of their exploration. 



