MR STANLEY'S MISSION.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2613, 24 May 1877, Page 2

MR STANLEY'S MISSION.

Discovery of a New Nyanza.

Tiie Alexandra Nile.

Ujur, Aug.- 10,1876,

Ismjgil, Khedive of Egypt, is reported to have said that all travellers up the Nile generally returned with the statement that a new source of that river had been found. The publisher of the jest, no. doubt, thought. that his Highness was poking good fun at the discoverers. Whether it were the case or not, I must inform his Highness, through the columns of The Daily Telegraph and New York Herald, that he can pride himself upon being 1 a Sovereign of a stream the sever;il sources of which still task the best abilities and qualities of explorers to discover them; that his grand river has not one but several origins ; that one-main feeder was discoveried by James Bruce, and called the Blue Nile, that another was found by Speke and Grant, and christened the Victoria, and that a third was made known by Sir Samuel Baker and named by him the Albert Nyanza, but that these gentlemen did not exhaust the list of the sources of the Nile. Perhaps the enclosed map which I send you of a new fountain will compel his Highness to exclaim, " What do I. see now ? Another source? Can it be possible that the problem has not yet been exhausted ?" Could ancient Nilus reply to him, I could fancy the stream saying, " How many of my sources did thy grim grand sire Mohammed Ali, or his sons, Ibrahim and Ismail, discover, and how far hast thou investigated me, with all thy power, who .shouidst have bad the greatest interest in knowing whence I came, and what waters I brought so far to irrigate thy peopleP Ingrates of Egypt! which of ye all have thought it wortn while to find out whence I came, that ye might honor me as I deserve? If by special favor I whisper-a few of my secrets to strangers from afar, and permit them to view my wondrous and sweet fountains and flowery beds, what is the credit to tfaee.P If thou art envious of like distinction, then seek me at my many homes under the Equator." If his Highness will accept my answer I respectfully beg him to glance over the accompanying chart, and To read the few remarks I have now the honor to make respecting the river known as the Kagera, Ingezi, Kitangule, or Nawaranga, which, according to the natives of ICaragwe and Uganda,- is called the Daughter.of the Biyer: at Jihja, the Victoria Nile^ , i ' .Fepple differj it appears, as to the exact signification of the "source" of a river, and travellers jealous of their fame for discovery have sometimes assisted to make the meaning more uncertain. Stayat'homes,. on whom devolves the duty of toning down the exuberant gratulations of travelleris, are generally agreed that it is the main head, origin, or extremity, whence the initial supply is obtained in a spring, fountain, marsh, lake ; or it may be that the river is created by a series of these; but generally one main tributary is followed to its extreme end, and that, whatever, it be, is called the source of the river. Spake, if I remember rightly, asks somewhat impatiently in one of his books, " What should be called the source of a river—a lake which receives'the insignificant stream flowing into it, and discharges all by one great outlet, or the tributaries which the lake collects, or the clouds which supply these tributaries with water ?" .In my opinion, if we go on at this rate, we might procee.d still further, and ask, " Or the moisture and rapours which the clouds absorb, or the ocean which supplies these vapours and moisture ?'* If these questions are permitted, why should explorers go to such trouble to discover sources of rivers when every child is perfectly well acquainted with the origin of all of them ? If we remember the true signification of " source," it is easy to understand why Bruce, Speke, and Baker all returned home each with a new source of the Nile, and why I now send you the survey of- another. Speke and Baker both' write ' about " Reservoirs of the Nile " in their books. Speke, while accompanied by Grant discovered the Victoria Lake and the Victoria Nile. The Victoria Lake is a magnificent extent of water. I sent you some time ago a chart of it, the result of our circumnavigation. It is the recipient of many fine streams, two of which.are very important. The Shimeeyu is 290 miles in length from its source to its exit into the lake, and my " Alexandra Nile" has (as yet discovered) a length of 310 miles, but perhaps as many more. The Shimeeyu might be compared to the Thames, and drains off the water which falls into it from extensive plains', forests, and slopes of plateaus ; but the Alexandra Nile exceeds in volume even in its dry season.the Thames and Severn united, andthe colour and clearness of its depths prove that it must either take its rise far to the westward of the Tanganika, or that its course is intercepted by some lake where its waves;are purified. Investigating, the cause, I have discovered there is indeed such a lake, of considerable extent arid known by din^ewnt naines^ ; ■ Speke, after visiting the outlet of the Victoria Lake and; travelling some distance down its shores northerly and westerly, returned home ; and; soon after a fatal accident deprived the Boyal Geographical Society of one of its most:indefatigable explorers. Sir Samuel Baker, hearing. from Speke and Grant of the existence of a lake west of TTnyoro, proceeded to that'field, and fortunately discovered another magnificent lake, called by tho Wanyoro Luta N'zige; by the Waganda, Muta Mzige; ,by the Wasagara, Nyanja Unyoro; by the Wanyambu, sometimes -all three ; to which Baker, however, very loyally gave; the name Albert Nyanza. In a native canoe he explored about 60 miles along north-east coast, and found the '.Victoria Nile, descending from the Lake Victoria, to form one of the feeders of the Albert Lake. A little farther north the Albert Nyanza • discharges all its collected affluent's— the Victoria Nile being one of them—into the While Nile, which in its descent towards Egypt receives other streams more or less important. Near Khartoum the White Nile obtains an accession to its volume from the Blue Nile (discovered by James Bruce), which rises in Abyssinia. If it be asked, ■" Why enter, into these trite details ?" I reply that :I write for the readers _of The Daily Telegraph and New York Herald, who amount to about half a million ; that amongst this vast number spine are perhaps a little confused about the geography of the Nile, knowing little of how much has been accomplished, or of what remains to be discovered; and I'

believe it desirable for a comprehension of the subject that these few remarks should be made. , .

After lighting upog a great gulf in the Albert Nyanza, I travelled South from Odeg. 30min. N. Jat. in search of^the tributaries of these two vast lakes—the Albert and Victoria—and perceived that the slope of the section was more to the east, towards the Victoria, and that no rivers worthy of the name, except the Busang© or Mpanga, fall into the Albert Lake from the east sider Not can any stream of importance supply the Albert from the south, because the Alexandra Nyanza to be described occupies too large a bed, and must be fed from the section separating the Tanganika and Albert, as the Albert is from the Victoria. If any important affluents supply the Albert other than the Victoria Nile, they: must be searched for on the south*west and west side of .Lake Albert, by means of a vessel launched on its waters, or by a journey overland. If a feeder be found on that side so large as to exercise an important influence on the lake, or such as would add greatly to the White Nile itself, did not Lake Albert intercept its course, it is obvious that such a river al«o shgafcl be taken into consideration when speaTmg of. " the sources of the Nile."

Lake Albert, receiving bo grand an affluent as the Victoria Nile, has been called by Baker a reservoir of the.Nile ; but, in my opinion, this noble lake deserves a yet higher title, as I shall presently show. It is proved by my explorations that Lake Victoria is also a reservoir of the Kile, but I shall demonstrate that Lake Victoria deserves a prouder name, distinct and separate from that given to Lake Albert. Permit me to place in order a few questions and answers. What supplies the White Nile with water ? Lake Albert, of course, principally. What supplies Lake Albert? The Victoria Nile principally (so far as is yet known). Whence proceeds the Victoria Nile? From the Victoria Lake ? What supplies the Victoria Lake? The "Alexandra Nile," principally. Whence proceeds the Alexandra Nile? From the Alexandra Lake. What supplies the Alexandra Lake? The Upper Alexandra Nile and other streams not yet known. It is clear, then, that the Egyptian Nile is the issue of the united Blue and White Niles, that the White Nile is the issue of Lake. Albert, that the Victoria Nile is the issue of Lake Victoria, and I have found that the Lower Alexandra Nile is the issue of Lake Alexandras..

Thus it will be seen that I hare given higher title* to these lakes than mere reservoirs, for, without the source of supply, what would the reservoir become ? Indeed, in strict and sober fact, these several lakes are accidents of- Nature, intercepting the course of the river from the Alexandra Nile downwards, disparting the river into several streams, the White Nile, Victoria Nile, and Alexandra Nile. A parallel case is presented by , the Lualaba, discovered by Livingstone, which may be described* in like manner as the above., The Chambezi feeds Lake Bemba; Lake Bemba. creates the Luapula; the" Luapula supplies' Lake Mweru; Mweru creates W ebb's Lualaba; Webb's Lualaba, supplied by other tributaries, supplies the Lower Lualaba. Or, in other words; the Lower Lualaba is the issue of Webb's Lualaba; Webb's Lualaba.is the issue of Lake Mweru ; the Luapula is the issue of Bemba. These lakes are accidents of Nature,, as also the Nile Nyanzas, and present so many inter* ceptions or basins in the course of the river. I send you a' survey of the above, and request its" publication, not only to illustrate the course of the Alexandra Nile, but because (if natives are to be believed)' the Alexandra Lake serves a double purpose. It is a basin for the reception of many tributaries, and has three outlets, one north of UguTu by the Buvuvu into the lower Alexandra Nile ; the second south of Ugmvu into the same river, by the Kagera; the third by means of a marsh or an ooze into the Kivu Lake, whence the. Eusizi takes its rise, which Eusizi empties into Lake Tanganika.

Perhapi it will be asked by the carious why I have distinguished th« diieoreriet illustrated above by the name of Alexandra. I shall forestall this question with the following candid explanation. Captain John Manning Speke and Captain James Grant, both British officers, while on their way to Uganda to search for. the outlet of the Victoria Lake, crossed this Tery river, the Alexandra Nile. What they thought about it Ido not know. I have not their books at hand; but it appears that, seeing this rirer flow in a contracted channel (160 yards width of open, swift, deep water), being perhaps ignorant of its depth, and holding another grand object in view, their actions being governed at the time by the sole hope of discovering the Victoria Nile, they did not pay that attention' to it which they would have devoted had their mission been of a more general character. It cannot be disputed, then, that those - two distinguished British officers were the first who saw this river. Had Speke lived I believe he would have returned to this'- interesting region, for I hear from King Eumanika he had, such an intention. Had he been PeHf mitted to come back—to pound off a? it were aqd to. unite the fragments of discovery he had made—the natives and his amiable friend Rumanika would have pointed out to him the "Daughter of the Victoria Nile.". Cn casting his thoughts around for a name to dignify these new discoveries, what one more graceful, more ennobled by gentle virtues, illus--1 trious descent, and proud position, could he have found to immortalise them than that of her Royal Highness Alexandra, Princess of Wales ? British officers first saw the river. The Daily Telegraph, an .English journal, contributed one-half of the funds by means of which these, latest discoveries have been made.. I, therefore, in the-name of the English and American interests I represent here,. venture , .to request through your columns that the name of her Eoyal Highness the Princess of Wales be allowed to designate my discoveries of the new Lafce and Eiver, - which link what has preceded, and are, I trust, worthy to stand with such honoured achievements as those which the names of Albert and Victoria now commemorate

tor ever.

I have been rery deliberate, yon will admit, in making up and sending you this letter/ but I had strong reasoqs for it.. I am too far from the telegraph wire to corTecfc an error, and I hare no ambition to - be charged with baring made a rash state, ment, though I corered my offence with the excuse that the " satires told me"." I raluo native and Arab information only as being a suggestire guide to a trareller, not to be understood, by any means, as, conreying accurate and exact knowledge, Eren the most intelligent of Arabs, Wanguana, Wasawhili, and Central Africa

natives, as if originally they were taken out of the same matrix, have a terrible. passion for exaggeration. If the explorer is unable to visit the scene personally, he may perhaps be excused—after sifting evidence, comparing information acquired in different localities, and weighing" with judgment and a sense of distrust every particle of intelligence—for publishing geographical news on native authority. It was not until after marching from the confluence of the Ruvuvu and the Kagera to Ujiji, circumnavigating the Tanganika, and hearing Wazige and Warundi bear witness to the. same facts, that I found courage to publish what I had not personally exhausted. . I will give you in brief* three instances of black people's mendacity, which will prove to you that the be9t weapon an explorer can arm himself with is distrust.

Manwa Sera, Captain in the AngloAmerican- Expedition, during a casual talk with me, related : " Master, when I was in Karagwe, some five or six years ago, I went to the top of a high mountain near Rumanika's, and I saw an enormous lake to the west of me. I should say it would take three days to reach it. I coaffinofarsee the other side of this lake." All" was related slowly, as if he weighed well each word, with great "gravity, and a certain dignity as of truth, but these were the facts as viewed by the Ex-, plorer : A lake existed six or seven hourB 1 inarch from Rumanika's ; length of lake, 13 miles ; greatest breadth, eight miles; name of lake, Jhema Rweru.

Next, Baraka, a smart young fellow, a soldier in the Anglo-American, Expedition, reported as follows: " Speak of Ruanda! Do I not know Ruanda and all the countries round about ? Who is he that has gone.further than I have? Have J not been to Ankori P Yes; I have carried things of ornament to the King of Ankori. Ruanda is yellowand flat. It is like a plain—extends away, away westward—a plain, -in truth ! " Again, however, these are the facts as ascertained, by your Explorer : Ruanda is exactly the opposite of what Baraka said. The view of Euanda from Karagwe is of a succession of lofty mountain ridges, separated by deep broad valleys. Your Explorer pointed out the strong contrast between fiction and ,fact to Baraka. Baraka laughed, and impudently showed Ifis ivories. Next: A Mgwana, a long time resident within a-few hundred yards of the mouth of the Rusizi, spoke as follows to Livingstone and myself in 1871: " White men, you want to know all about the Rusizi. I know all- about it. I came from JVTukamba's yesterday. This river Rusizi goes out of the lake. I tell you true, quite true." Meantime facts were as follows: The Rusizi flows into the Lake Tanganika, and not out; and the light-hearted Mgwana told an unnecessary untruth.

A native of Central Africa rarely, however, wilfully lies about a matter that does not concern his interests. Ignorance in most cases is the cause of wrong information from him, and lack of acquaintance with details gives a vagueness and, uncertainty to what is told. But if half-a-dozen of them can be examined upon "a subject the traveller can generally pick out much reliable information. The Waganda, Warundi, and Wazige are very intelligent, especially the first named. A young Waganda, who had travelled in Karagwe, and went with me to the Albert Nyanza, has oftentimes astonished me by his remarks upon the Alexandra Nile, which he called the Kagera. I fancy if the Geographical Society had heard him, they would have voted him a silver medal for Ms intelligent observations. As my conversation with him was very interesting, I will give you his own words, "as nearly as I can remember, what he -Tqlunteered about the Kagera.. He said one morning :; " Master, Sarabuzi, my chief, ha 3 sent me to you with his salaams, arid he says that the best way for you to go to Muta Nzige (Albert Nyanza) is by the Kagera." « 11 Why," I asked, "is Kagera the best wayP": ; • ' -.■■ - ■''■ ■' .' 'i ' ' ". Because," replied he, " Kagera conies from Muta Fzige." ' V Nonsense," I rejoined; " Muta Nzige is far below the Nyanza of Uganda; and how can a river ascend a hill? " ♦'Master, you white people know a great deal j but will you tell me where the Kagera comes from ? "., "I cannot tell you, because I have not aeen it yet, and I don't know anything of the river except what I have seen of it at the mouth." " Master, there is no river like the Kagera. We Waganda call it < the mother of the waters.' Where can the Kagera come from if it does not come from Muta Nzige ? Look at its waters. It is water of a Nyanza, and so much water as is in it cannot come from any mountain. Everybody says it comes from the Muta Naige." . /■• , • •,• When I turned my back upon the Albert Nyanza.l felt possessed somewhat by this young man's remarks u*pqn the Kagera. From a score of persons, on the ■way to the Kagera, I'heard enough to create in me a keen desire to view and examine this river. I have already told y^kj obtained soundings of 70, 80, up to 12(Tfeet of water in its bed ; that it had a swift current, and a width of from;lso to 200 yards. From Rumanika—that gentle and most pleasant pagan, whom, however, I found more easy to, eon vert to a geographer than to a Christain—l obtained every assistance, and was thus enabled to explore thoroughly the singalar body of water called Ingezi," which is a shallow Jake five -fa ten, and even 14 miles wide, through which the Alexandra JN ile continues its resistless course with.a depth of from 40 to 60 feet.. . " .

Ypu can see oninyvmapjby the position of the Mount of Observation, that I was enabled, after continuing my journey from Rumanika's, to obtain a pretty clear view of a good deal of the unexplored course of the.Alexandra Nile. What I could nofc see, because of the mountains of Ugufu, was. Akanyaru, or Nyanza Oha-< Ngoma; but my guides assisted me to understand tolerably well the position of the lake. Akanyaru was a larg^e. lake, and very wide. It required two days to cross it. A mountainous isiand was sjtuajie^ in the middle of it, where: yoyacjers to Ruanda from Ugufu generally rested one night, arrivipg the next day in Ruanda. But though! Ugufuiis really a large island and very mountainous, no native speaks of it as an island. It is separated on the north: side from Kishakka by the Ruvuvu outlet, from Uhha and Urundi ;onth6 south by the Kagera, and from Jiuanda on the. west side by the Alexandra Nyanza. The pourse of each affluent from the lake was taken, by com-pass-bearings both at the Mount of Observation and at Kenza, where I obtained confirmation of what my guides had told me. The natives much confused me when

i speaking of Kivu Lake, sometimes poinfc- :. iug it out in the direction of the Alexan--1 dra Nyanza, and again using the name of i Nyanza Cha-Ngoma; others called it by the name of Mkinyr.CTa: They sometimes i represented it as very large, and occasionally attempted to give an idea of its ' extent by stating that it required'so much time to cross it in a canoe. Countries situated along its shores were also named, which, being noted down, have assisted me to compare the information of natives of Kishakka with that furnished by Wazige and Warundi. Warundi on the Tanganika say that Kivu Lake is connected with Akanyaru by a marsh; that it would require a day's march along this marsh (10 or 15 miles) to proceed from Kivu to Akanyavu, and that the Uusizi flows from the southwest corner of Kivu to Tanganika. Moreover, the Wazige who live on the Rusizi are very accurate in describing the names, of the streams flowing into it, and unanimously agree with the Warundi that it is an issue of Kivu or Kovoe Lake. They also confirm the Warundi, that Unyambungu is on the .south-west side of Kivu. Having ascertained so much with precision, it became easy then to connect together the fragmentary information obtained from North Uhha, West Us.vi, and Kishakka, where the name Kivu is not generally known, and the locality of Unyambungu renders the * solution of the difficulty conceivable. Mkinyaga is north-west of Unyambungu, .and, to. a person in north Uhha, with his face turned north, Mkinyaga is said to be left of Kivu, being therefore situated west of that lake. Mkinyaga is a large country extending to south-west Ruanda until a three days' march would take a person to the Albert Nyanza. Wbfen hearing of Mkinyaga Lake, we must understand it to be Akanyaru or the Alexandra Nyanza, which last comprehends and replaces all the native titles of the lake. Yet here, within two degrees of longitude, where seven countries meet, representatives of these nations are unable to give a clear and connected account of this most interesting region. The cause of this ignorance arises from the peculiar character of the Northern Warundi and and Wa-Ruanda, who are a jealous, treacherous and vindictive people. If an explorer could cross the country of Urundi, arid enter Mkinyaga, he would meet with a different race with whom it would not be difficult to establish amicable relations; but unless he had balloons at his disposal I am unable to see how he could reach Mkinyaga from the east or the south. Were the Warundi, or the Wa-Ruanda anything in disposition like' the natives we have come in contact with between here and Zanzibar, the task were easy to push one's way direct to the utmost regions of the Nile ! We have met tribes who sternly exacted tribute, and we have paid it and passed on our way, and we have encountered others who compelled us to. fight our road through them; but fcere are two nations .(not tribes) of one peculiar distinct breed, who are neither subject to the power of sweet persuasion with gifts of sugarcandy, knick-knacks, and 1 gaudy cloths ; nor to be forced from the disagreeable position they assume with a few dozen Sniders. Heaven- knows the original jrogenitors of these fierce men. I had half a mind once to make an alliance,' with the bandit Mirambo, and; with the addition of. a thousand Brown Besses, drag the secrets of the Nile by force to the light of day. But I could not seriously entertain such an idea. Besides, the name of the amiable Princess of Wales could never be taken to cover such a slur as this would have been on my search for the sources of the Nile. No. I live in the hope that our Expedition will yet; visit this section without violence, from the fact, if trae, thatMkinyaga can be reached from North Manyerna—that the people of Mkinyaga are traders, and convey articles of trade from Manyema to Ruanda. All this, however, can only be settled at Nyangwe, whither I propose going now. I have two j reasons for passing- round about this way, since the direct road is closedi First,it has become firmly impressed oh my mind that the principal river supplying the Alexandra Nyanza rises in North Manyema, north-westward of Lake. Tanganika. Secondly/I do hot forget that the purpose of this enterprise of The Daily Telegraph Land New York Herald was to unite the discoveries of Speke into one whole, to finish .Baker's and Burton's exploration, and finally to take up the work left incomplete by the lamented death of Doctor Livingstone. Lieutenant Cameron, animated by his honest ambition to traverse Africa rather than to complete the work of his predecessors, has crossed the Lualaba, and proceeded to Lake Lincoln, thence he went, I am told, ia a south-westerly direction with a company of Portuguese traders, probably to Ambriz or St. Paul de Loanda, by which he has .left the question of the Lualaba much where Livingstone placed it. For the problem in- dispute was, "Is the Lualaba.the Nile or the Congo P" . Livingstone thought it to be the Nile, the Geographical Council thought it to be the Congo. The only possible way to resolve the doubt is to travel down the Lualaba along the right bank to a known point. - You will thus perceive I have two brilliant fields before me and the prospect of entering either one of them causes me to thrill with delight;, though merely anticipating what lies ahead. " Shall I search for the head of the Alexandra Nile, or shall I continue along the right bank of the Lualaba ? " such is : the alternative which agitates the silent hours of night with me. Shall I, after arriving at Nyangwe, strike north-easterly, and take •this coy and maiden Nile-fountain by surprise where she first issues from her oozy bed in the angle of some dewy valley, and trace her thence through all 'her' sportive career, amid flower-decked lakelets or the breadths of ever-vernal papyrus; or where she rushes with fresh-born vigour and youthful ardour by fragrant meads and forest-clad slopes to the three blue Nyanzas, to meet her kindred gathered from all points of the compass as tributebearers to King Nilus the Lord of Floods? Or shall I worship at the shriqe of the-majestic Lualaba ; view with awe and reverence his broad glassy bosom; watch him unfold his strength, and launch himself against rocks with angry roar until the. woods and valleys resound with the, name of this terrible monarch ; witness him receivinghishomase,from, otherpotentates of less 'renown* and follow his waves tb.rou.gb, the dark unknown land to, where, he "finally discharges \ his flood to the ocean P Both courses , are equally enticing, both present splendid openings for geographical research ; [ but which I shall adopt will be best L known after I reach Nyangwe, ■ In the meantime^ I lay at the^feet of

the good and exalted Princess of Wales an explorer's tribute-vall that he has discovered, measured, and surveyed of the Alexandra Nile-—for ever to bo *ssoc:ated with the Victoria Nile. Henhy M. Stanlkt.