Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1849-04-04
SOURCES OF THE NILE--DISCovERIEs.

The last number of Little's Living Age has a n
markabiy interesting article on Wernc's expedition
TO the sources oftho Nile. This wonderful stream
our readers know has been traced To its source
which Is somewhere in the interior of Africa. TIL,
Nile has two branches, called the Blue Nile and
the w hite Nile. The source of the former of these
was discovered by Bruce, in the interior Of Abys-
sna out such wasihe popular belief the sources
OF the Nile could not be discovered that Bruce was
not believed! One of the bes, modern travellers.
who told very accurate story, was not believed
because il was incredible that the springs of the
Nile should be known. that such peculiar race
OF blacks should exist found i'm these regions
OF ancient Ethiopia
Believed or not, however, Bruce's account was
rue. lie did discover the springs ofthe Blue Nile.
put the Blue Nile was much the shortest branch.
IL bore the same relation TO the White Nile (Which
Is the real river the Upper Mississippi does to
'ne Missouri. IL is the inferior branch. The real
source OF the Nile remained to be discovered, aud
is not yet known.
The White Stream, (Nile, } whic!, is the West
er e., branch, is the largest Prior to the expedition
H nue. out by Mehemed Ali, in 1880, and in which
"e,he was passenger, the farthest point reached
up me Nile was in latitude about 10 degrees But
'"ouSh me source Is not yet exactly known, we
The equator J y"
". Verne, in this expedition, reached latitude
= degrees. or nearly 400 miles beyond theprevious-
~ asceralned limit There was an obstruction or
i IA, IN Inc stream, and it grew narrower as Mr.
verne thought but it was quite certain its sources
Were yet several hundreds of miles farther The
sources oil the Nile and Niger will probably he found
not lar apart. They said to be i'm the "Nioun-
.ains OF the Moon )" but who knows any thing of the
Mountains of the Moon2 No one There are un
hhown lahds which may yet reward some future
adventures with the fame of discovery
1t is most curious, that the lat 40 (Which Mr..
w eIne peno'rated) is several deg beyond the point
at which the headsof the Nile are placed on our COM
mon maps, while it is certain that the rea! springs
were yet hundreds of miles beyond lat.4o All our
ideas of Central Africa, (geneTaly represented as a
desert,) are deranged By the fact, that MIR. Verne
found these remote regions uxuriant in foliage, and
inhabited by dense swarms of people, The people
were, some of them, gigantic iii stature whileihey
were most savage in life.
The voyage of this Egyptian expedition was one
OF peculiar interest 1t has but recently been given
TO the English public, Mr.. Verne being German.
Blackwood's Magazine thus speaks of it:
we can conceive few things more exciting than
such voyage Mr.. Verne has accomplished, and
recorded. Starting from the outposts of civilization
he sailed into the very heart of Africa, up stream
whose upper waters were then for the first time fur
rowed by vessels larger than a savage's canoe-a
stream OF such gigantic proportions that its width,
thousand miles from the sea, gave il the aspect of
lake rather than of river. The brute creation were
in proportion with the magnitude of the water course
l. tic HippOIOtdUuS reared his huge SnOut above the
surface, and wallowed in the gullies that either
hand run down to the stream enormous crocodles
gaped along the shore; elephants played in herds
upon the pastures the tall giraffe staked among the
lofty palms snakes thick as trees lay cooled in the
Shiny swamps; and ant hills, ten feet high, tower
ed above the rushes, Along the thickly peopled
banks hordes of savages showed themselves, gazing
in wonder at the strange ships, and making ambig-
uous gestures, variously construed by the adven-
turersas signs of friendship or hostility Alternate
ly sailing towing, the wind served or not con-
sianty in sight of natives, but rarely communion
ting with them often cut off for days from land by
intermnabe fields Of tangled weeds-the expedition
pursued its through innumerable perls guar
anteed from most of them by the liquid rampant on
which it floated. Lions looked hungry and savages
shook their speers, but neither showed disposition
TO swim off and board the flotla.-- Gin. Atlas.