the Atbara river and the sea, a distance of 1,700 miles, has been illustrated by Sir Henry Holland. The phenomenon of its being confined to this northward course is due to the fact that the flanking higher grounds, ranging from south to north, do not afford, as in Southern Africa, lateral valleys which lead to the sea. The other generalizations which have been established by Speke and Grant, independently of the true source of the White Nile, are:

1. That the hypothetical chain of mountains which have been called the Mountains of the Moon, and which Ptolemy spoke of as traversing the equatorial regions of Africa from east to west, have no such range as theoretically inferred by Dr. Beke. According to our travelers, they are simply a separate interior cluster of hills, from which some small feeders of the Lake Victoria Nyanza proceed. In fact, the "Montes Luna" of Burton and Speke occupy the higher part of the central watershed between North and South Africa. Now, as they supply the Victoria Nyanza, and, consequently, the Nile, with some water, they may possibly send contributions to the Congo, in the west, while to the south there seems now little doubt that their waters flowed into the lake Tanganyika of Burton and Speke, and thence into the Nyassa of Livingstone, as had been, indeed, inferred on what seems to me, very sound reasons, by Mr. Francis Gallon.

2. That the inhabitants of the kingdoms of Karagwe and Uganda, in the central and equatorial parts of Africa, are much more civilized and advanced than the people who live to the north, on the banks of the Nile, between the Lake Victoria Nyanza and Gondokoro, the latter being for the most part these naked barbarians, probably the anthropophagi of Herodotus, who have doubtless been the real impediments during all ages to explorations up the stream, or from north to south.

3. We learn that an acquaintance with the language of the natives on the east coast enabled the travelers to hold converse with many individuals in all the tribes and nations they passed through until they reached the above mentioned northern barbarians, whose language is quite distinct from any dialect of Southern Africa.

4. From the notes of Speke on the geographical structure of the countries he passed through, I infer there is no hope of any portion of those regions proving to be auriferous. I direct attention to this fact, since an erroneous notion has crept into the public mind, derived probably from the possibly gold bearing character of some mountains extending southwards from Abyssinia, that a gold region existed near the sources of the Nile.

In this address I cannot pretend to do justice to the many writers from the early days of Herodotus to the later period of Ptolemy, as well as to those modern authors who, referring to those ancient works, or obtaining information from the natives, have assigned the origin of the Nile to lakes in the interior of Africa. In the fifteenth volume of our journal, Mr. Cooley collated with ability all the knowl

edge to be obtained on this subject when he wrote, 1845.) He speaks of two vast lakes-one 300 leagues long; but their size and positions were very indefinitely assigned.

Again, in the library of the Propaganda Fede, in Rome, there is an old missionary (?) map of Africa of the sixteenth century, in which two lakes are marked as being the sources of the Nile, and as lying south of the Equator. Our attention was called to this old map by my friend Gen. J. von Catignola, who took a small copy of it, and which is placed in the records of our Society.

As to

Dr. Beke, in addition to his actual discoveries in Abyssinia, for which he obtained our gold medals, has in our time, and from an original point of view, theoretically anticipated that the sources of the White Nile would be found near to where they are now fixed. But all the speculations of geographers as to the source of the Nile remained to be confirmed or set aside by actual observation. the Mountains of the Moon of Ptolemy, it is still open to us to doubt whether that geographer had any sound basis for his statement; for, amid the mountains of tropical Africa, we may hesitate to apply that designation with Burton and Speke to their central group north of Lake Tanganyika; or, on the other hand, to agree with Dr. Beke in considering as such a north and south chain on the east, which, as he supposes, unites the lofty mountains of Kilimandjaro and Knenia with Abyssinia. Even these two views need not exhaust this prolific subject of theory, while they may serve geographers a good turn as useful stimula to future explorers. In dwelling on the fact that all efforts to ascend the Nile to its source have failed, I must do justice to those geographers who have shown the way as to the desirableness of exploring the interior of Africa from the coast near Zanzibar and Mombas. First, we have to bear in mind the efforts of those enterprising German missionaries, Krapf and Refman, who, advancing from Mombas to the foot of the great mountain Kilimandjaro, announced the startling phenomenon (Erhardt sustaining it with a rough sketch map) that these very lofty mountains, though under the Equator, were capped by snow. The truth of this observation has since been completely realized by the actual surveys of Baron von der Decken and Mr. Richard Thornton, as well as by subsequent ascents by the former to the height of thirteen thousand feet.

Next, our associate, Colonel Sykes, earnestly advocated the operating from Zanzibar as an excellent base for all geographical researches in the adjacent continent. I must further state, that as early as 1848, Dr. Beke projected an expedition to the Zanzibar coast, of which Dr. Bialoblotzky was to be the leader. As great prejudices then existed against these suggestions, though I warmly encouraged them in an anniversary address, on account of the supposed inevitable loss of life to any European who should sojourn there, the more we have to thank those of our associates who advocated a line of research which has led first to the expedition of Burton and Speke, and eventually to the discovery of the source of the true White

Nile. I may also say, with some pride, that from first to last the council of this Society has vigorously sustained East African expeditions, whether in southern or northern latitudes, and I am well entitled to say that in the absence of our persistent representations to Her Majesty's Government, for whose support and countenance we are, indeed, deeply grateful, the discoveries of Livingstone, and of Burton and Speke, and the great recent discovery of Speke and Grant, which now occupies our thoughts, would not have been brought about in our day. (Cheers.)

In the remainder of his address the President referred to the explorations of Dr. Livingstone in Southern Africa, of Dr. Henshin in Abyssinia, of Von Beurman in the neighborhood of Lake Tsad, and to the ascent of Kilimandjaro by Baron von der Decken, and to the departure of M. Jules Gerard and M. du Chaillu on new expeditions. In describing the recent explorations in Australia, Sir Roderick spoke in high terms of the valuable labors of Landsborough, McKinlay, and Walker, who had dissipated the delusion that the interior of the continent was an arid waste, and had demonstrated that tropical Australia is admirably fitted for Colonization by Europeans.

-000

[From the Missionary Magazine, June 6.]

MISSIONS IN AFRICA.

Africa may be said to be the most recent field of missionary operations. Though it is long since the first missions were planted on its southern and western borders, yet till within recent years no attempt has been made to search its entire coasts, much less to

penetrate far into the interior. An approximate survey of the present advance of missionary effort is given in the following paper:

Beginning with West Africa, we find that the worst abominations of heathenism still run riot in vast territories. The sacrifice of human life continues. In the town of Coomassie, West saw men and women sacrificed to celebrate the funerals of the rich; the description of an execution by cruel tortures that took place in a street bearing the name of "Never-dry-from-blood," is horrible beyond conception.

The latest reports from Dahomey are still more heart-rendering. Sierra Leone lies before us in brighter light, though it shines upon many graves. The work of God had even in 1853 become so strong that a bishop was appointed for this colony in England. He and three of his successors have already fallen victims to the fatal climate, and a fifth has recently landed on the same shores.

How noble Bowen wondered when he arrived, in 1857, at the stately churches and glebes, and at the rush of the negroes to

church and school. Half of the preachers and the Christians of the different evangelical churches were negroes; 10,685 Methodists, and 2,187 Free Methodists, with about 24,000 Episcopalians, were united like brothers. The colony can now be hardly called a mission, but a church, and a living one.

The congregations evinced great zeal in repairing the churches and in collecting the stipends for their ministers; (amounting to £1,000 annually;) the schools, high as well as low, enjoy the same improvement.

The (American) colony Liberia has nearly worked its way to the same height. Even in the year 1854, a foreign bishop said with truth, “I have never seen people with such a love for order; no rude language is to be heard here. The Sabbath is kept strictly, and the churches are filled with attentive listeners."

Here, also, as at the mission of Cape Palmas, the congregations have advanced considerably in independence of foreign preachers; young congregations will, therefore, be less likely to suffer from a change of pastor, in consequence of the climate.

Liberia, it is known, is an institution of American free negroes, who organized themselves into a republic in 1847, and now 16,000* in number exercise a Christian influence over 480,000 natives, who are scattered along a narrow shore of about 250 leagues in extent. Bishop Payne held the first synod of the Episcopal Church, in April, 1862, and reorganized the church through the whole colony. Bishop Burns in the same way exercises a particular care over 1,400 members of the Methodist church. A college, in charge of the Presbyterians, educates the future officers of the State, as well as an increasing number of efficient preachers. American Lutherans also take part (1860) in the great work, and are admitted, more especially among the Congo negroes that are flocking in. This free State, formed in such a peculiar manner, according to the American code, retains some degree of uncouthness, as the majority of the population consists of ignorant heathens. The visible progress is on that account the more praiseworthy, and has cost but little in comparison with Sierra Leone.

We can only briefly mention that the Methodist Mission at the Gambia, (with 813 church members,) is about to be joined by a French Mission at the Senegal, in the north, under the protection of a Governor, with truly evangelical principles, and that the work on the river Pongas in the south, carried on by church missionaries from Barbadoes (320 church members) is spreading in spite of many sacrifices.

The mission of Basle at the Gold Coast, commenced in 1829, lost twelve laborers by death, in a short time, after which the surviving missionary Ries renewed the mission in the year 1844, on a fresh foundation. There have, indeed, been numerous victims

* 14,000 Liberians and 250,000 natives would be more correct.

that no maps older than three hundred years gave any trace of this great lake; but he had since learned that it was not only clearly marked in an Arabian map of Africa, over one thousand years old, but that Ptolomy was the first geographer who gave an account of these sub-equatorial lakes. Many travelers, in all ages, had tried to ascend the Nile, but none of them reached beyond the third parallel of northern latitude, or within four or five hundred miles of Lake Nyanza. It would please them all to know that their chief patron (the Queen) took the greatest possible interest in this marvellous achievement of human enterprise. Her Majesty had specially congratulated him most graciously on the subject during her visit to the International Exhibition building, a few days since.

The Prince of Wales, their vice-patron, evinced no less interest in the discovery than her Majesty, and it was only through a most pressing engagement that his Royal Highness was not present that evening.

The King of Italy had sent through the Marquis d'Azeglio two gold medals specially struck in honor of the occasion for presentation to Captains Speke and Grant, accompanied by a most flattering letter, which he would read to them. The French Geographical Society having given Capt. Speke their gold medal for his discoveries in the Lake Nyanza district in 1858, Capt. Speke had shown his sense of the honor done to him by naming the principal channel leading from the Lake after the Emperor Napoleon. He would take up their time no longer, but at once introduce to them Capt. Speke, who would, on behalf of himself and his companion, Capt. Grant, read to them a paper on the "Nile and its Tributaries."

On coming forward, Capt. Speke met with a most flattering reception, the whole meeting rising and cheering loudly. When silence was at last restored, Capt. Speke said that before reading his paper, he begged to introduce to them a little boy belonging to one of the most intelligent of the equatorial tribes. It was through the friendliness and fidelity of a man of this tribe that he was able to complete his great work, and he thought it only just that the Government should educate some of the most intellectual of this race, and send them back to their native country as consuls, to assist in spreading our commerce and civilization throughout Eastern Africa. The little fellow, a fine boy of about fourteen, is an excellent specimen of the intellectual black type, his nose being as straight and his forehead as high as those of a European, although his woolly head and dark skin were thoroughly characteristic of his African blood. He seemed in no way disconcerted at his reception, and was as cool and collected as if he had attended the meetings of the Society all his life.

Capt. Grant had a similar companion with him.

Capt. Speke commenced his paper, "The Nile and its Tributaries Compared," by describing the Lake Nyanza the principal head of the Nile. This lake is situated in latitude three degrees south,