chap, xviil] THE NILE CLEARED OF ITS MYSTERY. 473 
supported us in sickness, and guided us through all 
dangers. There had been moments of hopelessness 
and despair; days of misery, when the future had 
appeared dark and fatal ; but we had been strengthened 
in our weakness, and led when apparently lost, by a 
hand not unseen. I felt no triumph, but with a feeling 
of calm contentment and satisfaction we floated down 
the Nile. My great joy was in the meeting that I 
contemplated with Speke in England, as I had so 
thoroughly completed the task we had agreed upon. 
Silently and easily we floated down the river; the 
oars keeping us in mid-stream. The endless marshes 
no longer looked so mournful as we glided rapidly past, 
and descended the current against which we had 
so arduously laboured on our ascent to Glondokoro. 
As we thus proceeded on our voyage through the 
monotonous marshes and vast herds of hippopotami 
that at this season thronged the river, I had ample 
leisure to write my letters for England, to be posted on 
arrival at Khartoum, and to look back upon the results 
of the last few years. 
The Nile, cleared of its mystery, resolves itself into 
comparative simplicity. The actual basin of the Nile 
is included between about the 22° and 39° East longi¬ 
tude, and from 3° South to 18° North latitude. The 
drainage of that vast area is monopolized by the 
Egyptian river. The Victoria and Albert lakes, the 
two great equatorial reservoirs, are the recipients 
of all affluents south of the equator; the Albert lake 
being the grand reservoir in which are concentrated 
the entire waters from the south, in addition to 
tributaries from the Blue Mountains, from the north 
of the equator. The Albert N yanza is the great 
basin of the Nile ; the distinction between that and 
the Victoria N’yanza is, that the Victoria is a reser¬ 
voir receiving the eastern affluents, and it becomes 
a starting point or the most elevated source at the 
point where the river issues from it at the Bipon 
Falls : the Albert is a reservoir not only receiving 
