The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-12-13

On the 18th ultimo the Royal Geographical
Society recommended its meetings in London.
for the season, Sir Roderick Murchisog presid-
ing. l5st st M 5sisls 7nes aas
Captain Burton read paper ssOn the pres
ent state OF knowledge respecting the Source
of the Nile" in which he called in question
many OF the statements and inEerences that
had been made by Capt. Speke. He denied,
In the first instance, the existence of SO large
a lake as the Victoria Nyanza where Captain
Speke had described it TO be, and consequent
ly he disputed that the Nile took its source
from the lake. He assigned several reasons
for dlsbelieying that there was such lake,
He, asserted that the level of the lake was not
sufficiently high Ior the source OF so large a
river, and from the testimony of the Arabs,
road passed through what was said to be the
centre OF the lake. Another reason why he
thought the Nyanza could not be the source
OF the Nile was that the periods ofthe alleged
elevation ofthe water did not correspond with
the overflow of that river. The word Nyanza
is applied by the African tribes to any body of
water. Nyaza and Nyanza being indifferently
used with the same sgnihcatiOn. The Mount
tains of the Moon, which were laid down in
some of Capt. Speke's early maps, has, he said !,
really no existence, or at least there was no
range of mountains of such magnitude as
had been described. The lunar mountains
were represented to be of the form Of a horse
shoe, and to enclose the north end of the Lake
Tanganeika, some OF the mountains said to be
tep thousand feet high. He did not deny that
there were some hills in that direction, but
they were not continuous, and Capt. Burton
contended that from the north of that lake
river flows into other lakes to the northwards.
and finally into the Nile; the Lake Tangan-.
eika, situated much farther to the northwest,
being the source from which the chief waters
OF the Nile are derived He denied however,
that that or any river took its source from a
lake, the real sources of the Nile being the
rivers that fed the lake from which the stream
issues Captain Burton said he was far from
wishing TO detract from the great merit which
was due to Captain Speke as an intelligent
and adventurous explorer, but he thought it
was desirable that future exploration should
be made to settle the question of the sources
of the Nile, which he considered had not yet
been determined. He inclined to think that
lake situated to the nor theast of the reported
Victoria Nyanza Is the source of the White
Nile, and the Assnara, which flows from it,
was q tributary, when it is, in fact, the main
stream. 5saf ~ b86l,s IT..
Dr. Livingstone confirmed some of Captain
Burton's views respecting Tanganeika. He
said when travelling to the westward of that
lake he saw several rivers flowing towards 1t
from high plateau upwards Of 1000 feet high
He agreed with Capt Burton as to the gener-
al signincation of the word Nyanza, and he
said he had intended to call the lake Nyaza
by that name, but finding the latter term had
been used, he did not wish to change it. The
north of Lake Nyaza had not been explored,
owing to the borders being in possession Of
hostile tribes; but DR.. Livingstone consider
ed it not improbable that a river flowed from
it into the more northern lakes. He was OF
opinion that the Nile originated from several
lakes in that part of Africa, and that it could
not be traced to any one source. e ~
Mr. Galton defendnd the statements .of
Capt. Speke, and contended that the objection
to the lake Nyanza being the source of the
Nile, founded on its low level, was removed
by the knowledge of the fact that the instru-
ment with which the level was taken was very
imperfect, and could not be depended upon.
A letter from M. du Chaillu to Sir Roderick
Murchison was read, in which he stated that
he was about to proceed to the interior of AT
rica. He purposed pursuing the line Of the
equator, until he came to some large river
flowing northwards, which he intended to fol-
low till it reached the Mediterranean, and he
hoped in that manner to come to the source
of the Nile. He was taking with him one
hundred people, forty Of whom would be en-
ployed in carrying his guns and ammunition
of which he hoped to make great use. He
said he had caught three gorillas, which he in
tended TO have sent alive TO this country, but
two of them had died. The other had been
shipped to England, and he hoped it would
arrive safely. He had forwarded also some
fine skeletons of gorillas and many other spe-
cinens of natural history.