THE AFRICAN REPOSITORY. Vol. xxxix.] WASHINGTON, JULY, 1863. [No. 7. The Great Geographical Discovery of the Sources of the Nile solved. REMARKABLE NEGRO RACES AND DISCOVERIES. "It has been given to the present age," says the 'National Intelligencer,' to solve this interesting geographical problem, as also that of the northwest passage; one by one of the great riddles of Tellus have been guessed, until only a few years ago, one of the most industrious of American travelers could say that since Columbus first looked upon San Salvador, the earth had but one emotion of triumph in her bestowal, and that she reserved for him who shall drink from the fountains of the White Nile. "It has been to Captain Speke, an Englishman, to realize this unusual emotion, as from the depths of an unknown land, he cries 'Eureka.' As might have been expected, new achievements form no exception to the general rule, which demands enthusiasm, combined with fortitude, as the condition of success in any undertaking of high enterprise. In a letter to Sir Roderick I Murchison, received by the last mail from Europe, the fortunate discoverer writes: 'I said I would do it, and I have done it.' The Victoria Nyanza is the great reservoir of the sacred Bahr-el-Abiad, (White Nile.") Speke and Grant started from Zanzibar with seventy men, but by sicknes and desertion have been reduced to seventeen. The Egytian Correspondent writes to the Boston Daily Advertiser, May 30, 1863: Captains Speke and Grant have discovered the answer to a question which has perplexed the world ever since the time of Herodotus. "With regard to the sources or the Nile," said the Father of History, more than twenty-three hundred years ago, " [ have found no one among all those with whom I have conversed, whether Egyptians, Libyans, or Greeks, who professed to have any knowledge, except a single person," whose story was untrustworthy. Cæsar is reported to have said that he would abandon war-like pursuits, if he might have a certain hope of seeing the sources of the Nile. Horace alludes to "Fontium qui celat origines and Tibullus, still fourteen hundred years ago, adds: "Nile pater, quanam pos um te dicere causa, Aut quibus in terris occuluisse caput." It was long since ascertained by travelers ascending up the stream of the Nile that near Khartum, in north latitude 15° 37', its waters divide into two branches, called respectively the White Nile and Blue Nile. Below this confluence the Nile flows fifteen hundred miles into the Mediterranean, and (with the exception of a single unimportant tributary) it receives nowhere a single drop of water, while it is a fruitful source of supply to numerous works of artificial irrigation. The sources of the Blue Nile, three springs in north latitude 10°, were ascertained by the Portuguese Jesuit, Father Lobo, and afterwards by Bruce; but those of the White Nile have hitherto defied discovery. Browne penetrated as far as north latitude 7°; Linant Bey, in 1827, not quite so far; Mr. Hoskins and Col. Leake, baffled in their efforts, declared that an armed force would be necessary to subdue the great extent of country through which the river passes. Werne went as far as 4° of north latitude and M. Brunt Rollet nearly as high. The former was obliged to return by reaching shoals which could not be crossed by his boats, and he dared not leave them. The river where his explorations ceased was three hundred and twenty-three feet wide, "broad, surrounded by high reeds; the banks (he says) seem to be of a soft, green color, formed by pale green aquatic plants-lilac, convolvulus, moss, water thistles, and a kind of hemp-in which yellow ambac trees flourish, hung round with luxuriant deep yellow creepers." The river seemed to stretch SSW. The latest expedition in this direction to discover the source of the Nile is that of Capt. Petherick, as a volunteer of whose party our fellow-citizen, Dr. Brownell, of Connecticut, lost his life last year in the manner heretofore recorded. Dr. Brownell's death occurred in north latitude 15°. The fate of Petherick and his companions is unknown. Meanwhile Captains Speke and Grant entered the interior of Africa from the eastern coast, and left Zanzibar, September 25, 1860, to prosecute discoveries in the interior. On the 13th instant we printed an account derived from Mr. Goodhue, United States Vice Consul at Zanzibar, stating that they had last been heard from April 11, 1862, (a year ago, that is) in latitude 1° 30′ south; that they had been thwarted in their progress down a river which they had discovered, and which they believed to be the first certain branch of the Nile. [From the New York Herald, June 6.] According to the limited explanations as yet made by Mr. Speke, the Nile springs from a Lake Victoria, which he professes to have circumnavigated and found to be very extensive. A dispatch to the Egytian Spectator, dated Khartum, March 29, 1863, summarizes the facts in these words: "Speke and Grant, the intrepid English travelers, overcoming all obstacles, crossing under' the line, (of the equator,) reached Gondo-Koro, or Kondogoro, and thence are now approaching this place. It seems almost a dream. Their portfolios undoubtedly contain the solution of the greatest problem that has puzzled us from the remotest antiquity." The Gondo-Koro here alluded to is a place some five degress (less some minutes) from the equator, in the northern hemisphere, and about the same latitude south of the lake, which he says is the fons et origo of the Bahr-el-Abiad or White Nile. It must be understood that Captain Speke entered Africa from the eastern coast, some two years ago, and closed his examination by coming down the Nile. This is in substance about all the intelligence which has reached us up to the present time. But we can scarcely overrate the value of such a geographical and scientific triumph. From the earliest days of the history of civilization, the vexed question of the Nile's true source has perplexed mankind. Herodotus, called "the Father of History;" Diodorus Siculus, Seneca, Tibullus, Horace, Pliny, Strabo, Solinus, and others have all had their different theories concerning the origin and virtues of this sacred stream. "With regard to the sources of the Nile," said Herodotus, over two thousand years ago, "I have found no one among those with whom I have conversed, whether Egyptians, Libyans or Greeks, who professed to have any knowledge." Horace speaks of its hidden origin; and old Tibullus even pertinently asks; Nile pater quanam te dicere causa? And if we could add anything to the honor and veneration in which the hidden source of this stream was held by the ancients, we would add the tradition attributed to Cæsar, that he would give up all warlike pursuits, could be only secure the first view of the virgin waters of the Nile. We cannot well conclude this cursory review without referring more particularly to the letter of Sir Roderick I. Murchison. He first sets all doubts at rest concerning the fate of Mr. Petherick by stating that "he is alive and well," and that he had effected a junction with Captain Speke and Grant at Gondokoro, on the White Nile, on the 23d of February. He then quotes the following expressive and triumphant words from Capt. Speke, addressed to himself: "I said I would do it, and I have done it." The Victoria Nyanza is the great reservoir of the sacred Bahr-el-Abiad, (White Nile,) "The discovery of Speke and Grant," adds this distinguished geographer, at the close of his letter, "by which the southermost limit of the basin of the Nile is determined to be four degrees south of the Equator, is the most remarkable geographical feat of our age; and is, indeed, an achievement of which all our countrymen may well be proud." [From the London Times, May 22] Nearly two thousand years ago a Roman poet availed himself of a geographical fact to give effect to a mythological story. He was describing the confusion produced in the universe when the horses ranaway with the chariot of the Sun, and he stated, as an incident of the panic, that the river Nile fled in dismay to the “extremities of the earth, and there hid its head," "which," he adds, “remains hidden to this day." Those verses of Ovid have been read by thousands, who probably never gave much thought to the veritable information which they recorded. Yet we learn from these few words that in the days of Augustus not only was the source of the Nile unknown, which was not at all extraordinary, but that the fact of its being unknown was regarded as a wonder, which is very extraordinary indeed. Why, if we come to think about the matter, should the Romans have troubled themselves about the sources of the Nile? They were certainly no such geographers as to be provoked by the obscurity of a single problem in the science. Their impressions of the earth's surface and of the distribution of its territories were loose and fanciful in the extreme. It is a natural thing for us to take an interest in such a question, because we believe that we are acquainted with the configuration of the globe, and are always ready to dispatch an expedition of discovery to any point unvisited or unknown. We construct maps of the bottom of the sea, and of the face of the moon, so that it is not surprising we should be curious about the source of an African river. But why should the Romans, who knew not much more of geography than they did of electricity, concern themselves about a particular watershed in the mountains of Abyssinia? The Nile was a great river, no doubt, and a sacred river, but other rivers were as great, and many rivers were sacred. The sources of all of them were probably alike unknown; but in no case, except that of the Nile, was this highly natural ignorance ever made the subject of observation or explained by a special fable. To understand this anomaly we must go back to early history. The Nile was not only a great river, but it was an Egyptian river, and the land of Egypt was not as other lands. It was the country of wonders, associated by its annals and its antiquities with every form of civilization. With this country, too, the Nile was actually identified; in fact, the river constituted all the country that was habitable. What, therefore, Egypt was to the world, the Nile was to Egypt, and to the world also―a species of natural marvel. The priests of Egypt were learned; they knew that their great river had never been tracked to its source, and they communicated this information, along with the rest of their learning, to others. So everybody who had heard of anything had heard of this, and Ovid turned the story to account, and his readers accepted the illustration just as if the source of all the other rivers of the world had been so regularly ascertained that the Nile remained a remarkable and almost miraculous exception. To complete this story, let us now add that the very people who first published the problem are now the most rejoiced at its solution. The source of the Nile, it is believed, has been ascertained at last by the discoveries of Capt. Speke and Capt. Grant, and the interest taken by the Egyptians in the announcement is extraordinary. The Viceroy considers that his reign has been rendered memorable by this success, and the whole population is in a state of excitement at the intelligence. As The particulars of the discovery will soon be made known to us, but it is one of the curiosities of this most curious subject that what has been discovered is simply what might have been presumed, or as we may almost say, what had been predicted beforehand. the Nile is ascended, a mountainous country is reached, and in these mountains the Nile clearly originated. That much was known always; and not much more, except the exact point of the stream's origin, can be known now. The story told by Herodotus is exceedingly simple and natural. He says that, as to the sources of the Nile, he never found any man, either Egyptian or Libyan, or Greek, who professed to know where they lay. The stream, he states, had been tracked a long way beyond the con fines of Egypt, but it was a stream still, and the country above was such a torrid desert that nobody knew anything about it. In |