The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-27 00:00:00

Royal Institution.

There was a very crowded audience at theweekly
meeting of the members of the Royal Institution
yesterday evening, to hear Mr. Baker give an ac-
count of his exploration of the sources of the Nile.
His narrative was for the most part a repetition of
the paper recently read by him at the Geographical
Society, but it entered more fully into some per-
sonal details. After some introductory remarks on
the importance of the Nile to Egypt, and on the
unsuccessful efforts that have been made at various
periods to trace it to its source, he stated that one of
the objects he had in view was tit) give assistance to
Capts. Spoke and Grant, who had undertaken to
trace the Nile to its source by proceeding from Zan-
zibar, on the eastern coast of Africa. He gave a de-
scription of the character of the population of Kar-
-toun, who, he said, are the most infamous wretches
on the face of the earth--plunder, murder, and slave-
catching being the business of their lives. Ile was
accompanied on his expedition by Mrs. Baker,
And he took with him an equal number of horses,
camels, and asses to try their relative powers of en-
durance, but they all died nearly at the same time,
soon after his departure from Gondokoro, having
been attacked by the fly. At Gondokoro he was re-
joiced by the arrival of Speke and Grant, though
somewhat disappointed at the same time at their
having, as he supposed, accomplished the object
which it was his ambition to be the first to achieve.
His hopes, however, revived on hearing from those
travellers that they had not been able to trace the
river from its outlet from the lake Victoria Nyanza
all along its course to Gondokoro,having been com-
pelled to leave the stream at Karuma Falls, where
it took a course directly westward. From Captain
Speke, however, he heard that the natives had in-
formed him the river proceeded westward until it
emptied into a lake larger than the VictoriaNyanza,
and that it issued again at a short distance north-
wards and continued its course to Gondokoro. Mr.
Baker determined to continue his exploration and
to pursue the route indicated byCaptains Speke and
Grant. Soon after he had been left by those travel-
lers difficulties arose enough to dishearten any man.
All his men mutinied and threatened to shoot him,
and positively refused to go any further south. He
was obliged to humour them, and, accompanied by
a party of traders, he proceeded eastward for a dis-
tance of 100 miles. During this journey he en-
countered many dangers, and was continually appre-
hensive that his mutinous attendants and the traders
would conspire together to murder him. A fortu-
riate event for him, however, occurred at Latuka,
where the traders, joined by many of his men, at-
tacked a warlike tribe, who inhabited the mountains,
for the purpose of capturing slaves and carrying off
their cattle. The natives, however, made a vigorous
defence, and pursued their assailants to the edge of
a precipice, over which they were hurled and killed.
After this adventure the men who remained with
him became more subservient, for they attributed
the destruction of their comrades and the traders to
the evil eye they imagined Mr. Baker possessed.
The Latukans proved very friendly, and provided
for the wants of the travellers, and with their assis-
tance they arrived without much further difficulty
at Karuma Falls, having taken a south-westerly
direction. From Latuka to the falls, the country,
though within. two degrees of the equator, is finely

diversified with mountains, valleys, and streams,
the country presenting throughout beautiful land-
scapes, and the mountains reaching a i elevation
of 5,000 feet. On crossing the river Karuma
Falls all kinds of obstructions were placed in Mr.
Baker's further progress by the King Karnuta, who
watched the movements of the party with the
utmost suspicion. They were forced to make a
, 10 days' journey to his capital to obtain an inter-
. view, and then a sympathetic system of plundering
, commenced which threatened to deprive Mr. Baker
of everything he possessed. The King gave false
, accounts of the distance from the lake, which he
represented to be three months' journey to the
• west ; but more correct information was obtained
from some traders in salt who had come from the
lake, and said it was distant only 10 days' journey.
Mr. Baker determined to make a last effort to obtain
the King's permission to depart, and offered him his
sword, which the King had often anxiously wanted
to get. This offer won the King's heart, and he
became suddenly as friendly as he had before been
hostile, but he said, as a token of mutual friendship,
they must drink each other's blood. It was in vain
that Mr. Baker remonstrated, but the matter was
compromised by having the ceremony performed by
deputy ; Mr. Baker's head man and the principal
chief acting on behalf of the two principals. The
arms of those men were bared, a lancet was applied,
and they licked each other's blood. The King then
appointed a number of men to escort the party to
the lake .; but before Mr. Baker's departure he made
the parting request that he would give him his wife.
Mr. Baker felt so indignant that he drew a pistol
and threatened to shoot the King if he dared repeat
the request ;* but his Majesty treated. the matter
very coolly. He said it was the custom of his coun-
try to ask a friend at parting to leave him his wife,
and he offered to give Mr. Baker another wife in
exchange. They parted friends, and Mr. and Mrs.
Baker pursued their course westward. They were,
however, so oppressed with fatigue °and the heat that
it was with the utmost difficulty they could continue
their journey. Mr. Baler suffered from a coy de
soleil, which rendered her senseless, and She was car-
ried on a litter in that state for some days. At
length, on the 14th March, their guide told them
that on the following day they would see the lake.
Mr. Baker was so much excited at the prospect of
realising his ardent hope that he could not rest. He
said he had often dreamed that he was searching for
the sources of the Nile, but that he had always
failed, and he could scarcely conceive that he was
then within a few hours of actually accomplishing it.
On the next day's journey a lofty hill was before
them, and he hastened on to the summit, from which
he was delighted to behold the long-expected lake.
Distant mountains could be just seen across the
large expanse of water from a height of 1,500 feet,
and to the south no land was visible. Mr. Baker
hastened down the mountain, and, rushing into the
lake, he drank from the source of the Nile. The
lake extends from 2 deg. north latitude to 2 deg.
south latitude, or about 260 miles, and at the
southern extremity it bends towards the west, but
how far it reaches in that direction is unknown. It
is a much larger lake than Victoria Nyanza, and
from its comparatively low pDsition it collects the
water from an immense tract of mountainous coun-
try. Mr. Baker called it appropriately Albert
Nyanza. He procured a boat and coasted along the
eastern shore until he came to Magunda, where the
river from the Victoria Nyanza falls into the lake,
as Captain Speke had anticipated, from the in-
formation he received from the natives. Mr. Baker
and his party ascended that river in their boat un-
til they came to a magnificent waterfall which
barred their further progress by water. This is the
only waterfall in the whole course of the Nile, and
he called it the Murchison Falls, in honour of the
the president of the Geographical Society. From the
high land in the neighbourhood of Magunda, the
outlet of another river, a little further north, was
perceived, and that, there could be no doubt, was
the White Nile. Mr. Baker observed that it is im-
possible to say which is the source of a river that
has so many large affluents as the Nile, but there
could be no question that the Albert Nyanza is one
of the principal sources, and that it is owing to the
immense body of water it contains that the river is
not dried up either by absorption in passing through
the Nubian desert, or by the evaporation of an
equatorial sun. Mr. Baker went along the banks of
the river to Karuma Falls, and thence to G ondoroko,
homewards. The narrative of his perilous adven-
tures and of his final success was received by the
audience with frequent applause, and not the least
weariness was expressed, though the lecture ex-
tended far beyond_the usual time.