474 
THE VICTORIA SOURCE\ 
[chap. XVIII. 
the western and southern affluents direct from the 
Blue Mountains, but it also receives the supply from 
the Victoria and from the entire equatorial Nile 
basin. The Nile, as it issues from the Albert Nyanza, 
is the entire Nile; prior to its birth from the Albert 
lake it is not the entire Nile. A glance at the map 
will at once exemplify the relative value of the two 
great lakes. The Victoria gathers all the waters on 
the eastern side and sheds them into the northern 
extremity of the Albert: while the latter, from its 
character and position, is the direct channel of the Nile 
that receives all waters that belong to the equatorial 
Nile basin. Thus the Victoria is the first source; but 
from the Albert the river issues at once as the great 
White Nile. 
It is not my intention to claim a higher value 
for my discovery than is justly due, neither would 
I diminish in any way the lustre of the achievements 
of Speke and Grant; it has ever been my object to 
confirm and support their discoveries, and to add my 
voice to the chorus of praise that they have so justly 
merited. A great geographical fact has through our 
joint labours been most thoroughly established by the 
discovery of the Sources of the Nile. I lay down upon 
the map exactly what I saw, and what I gathered from 
information afforded by the natives most carefully 
examined. 
My exploration confirms all that was asserted by 
Speke and Grant : they traced the country from 
Zanzibar to the northern watershed of Africa, com¬ 
mencing at about 3° south latitude, at the southern 
extremity of the Victoria N yanza. They subsequently 
determined the river at the Ripon Falls flowing from 
that lake to be the highest source of the Nile. They had 
a perfect right to arrive at this conclusion from the; 
data then afforded. They traced the river for a con¬ 
siderable distance to Karuma Falls, in N. lat. 2° 15'; 
and they subsequently met the Nile in 3° 32' N. lat. 
They had heard that it flowed into the Luta N zige,. 
