Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1857-09-17
African EXplol ations.

FROM present Indications not many years
can elapse ere the veil which has hitherto en-
veloped in darkness, so far as the civilized
world is concerned the major part of the Af-
rican continent, will be completely lifted. and
the character of it's innnermost recesses become
known Africa seems now to be the favorite
field of Operations upon which the energies
and resources of geographical and scientific
explorers are expended, and their labors are
already being well repaid The recent dis.
coveries Of DR.. Barth, DR.. Livingstone, Lieut.
Burton, Mr.. Andersen and others, have added
largely to our knowle ledge of the geography,
the natural history, and the people of Africa
But there yet remains a vast " undiscovered
country (which the foot of the intelligent
traveller has not yet penetrated, whose mys-
teries geographers will be the more anxious and
determined to reveal, in consequence of the un-
expecledly favorable accounts which the latest
African explorers give of the CHARACTERISTIC
OF the country, and the ability Of European
constitutions to conform to the exigencies Of
the climate. The number of scientific expo-
rers will he increased, and Africa will not
mnch longer remain a led book to commence
and civilization
In this furor for Africa discovery, the old
problem oil the source of the river Nile, which
has been handed down to US from the ancients.
still continues to excite the highest ambitions
of adventurous explorers. Although the Eu.
glish traveller, Bruce distinguished himself by
the discovery Of the sourcs of the Blue Nile,
as it is called, there yet remains another or
Western branch called the White Nile, which
is evidently the Nile proper and whose source
is as yet unknown. From an article in the
New York Herald, containing information up
on the subject derived from the proceedings of
the Paris Academy of Sciences, we gather
some interesting facts in regard to the various
expeditions which have attempted to explore
the White Nile to its source
According TO the French savans, it was
French mathematician named Fourier Secre-
tary of the Academy of Sciences, who first
thought of q voyage of discovery being under
taken upon the White Nile; attention being
first directed to the matter by DAnville,
French geographer, in l745, 1t was not un-
til twenty years after Napoleon's expedition to
Egypt, however, that the project was seriously
thoughto of. 1889. Mehemet Ali the Viceroy
of Egypt, was induced by the French Consul
to dispatch an expedition for this purpose
One of his officers, Selim Blimbachy, was
placed at the head of the expedition, which
consisted of seven armed vessels and four hun
dred men. His instruments being defective,
and himself possessing but few qualifications,
Bimbachy traced the course of the White
Nile only as far as the sixth degree Of Moth
latitude.
This expedition cast but little additional light
upon the population of the country, its pro-
ductons and climate, and Mehemet A Ii short
" after ordered another expedition. Mr..
D'Amaud, French engineer, who is still in
the service of the Egyptian government was
APPOINTED commander, and the expedition PEN
etrated as far as deg. AZ minutes north lat
i,ude, thus trayersing distance Of over three