The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-12-25
DIR. Livingstone and the Sources of the
Nile.

South Central Africa called the Rua, VIII,
dwell in excavated caves, some of then
twenty miles long, and fit to contain dis
trict when besieged who have 'pictures ;
or writings y Of some kind, and who have
eyes "whose outer angle slopes inward" &
curious statement, which may mean onl,
Lat the Rua have Japanese eyes, or may
by possibility mean that these Troglodytes
have acquired from their mode of life some
physical popularity. The statement is far toe
vague for any real discussion, but it e1cites
the imagination far more than greater dis
coveries, appealing as it does to an impress
sion which has cropped out in all ages, that
men might conceivably be found differing
greatly in physique from the human stand
ard, an impression as yet supported by nc
evidence whatever of any importance, fol
Mr.. Gibson's man urang was in all proba.
bility lussus nature. .-
Let us turn to the Nile. Nearly three
years ago, nine Johanna men, who had &C.
companied DR.. Livingstone on his Journey
to determine the Nilotic watershed, appear
ed at Zanzibar with the news of the great
explorers death. The story which they
told was SO well concocted, and the evidence
adduced so very conclusive, that Dr. Kirk S
sagacity was for once at fault, and Living
stones former companion fully believed
| that his quandam leader had been brutally
murdered in Central Africa. With the de-
tails of this mendacious story the world is
now familiar. Mr. Young's search expedi-
ton relieved the public anxiety, and, sub
sequently, news from DR.. Livingstone him
self confirmed our hopes of his safety
This intelligence came from Bomba, and
was dated February, 1867; since it was re-
ceived nothing has been, until within the
last few days, known of the Doctor S
whereabouts.
Again the anxiety of the public has been
aroused, the hope deferred naturally gave
way to despair, and but few believed that
the intrepid traveller was not dead Sir
Frederick Murchison steadily refused his
| countenanee to this fear, and by a number
of letters to the public press, suggesting
from time to time certain hypothesis to
account for his friends prolonged silence
sought to dissipate the doubts and to sus-
tain the hopes of all who felt all interest in
the travellers welfare. But as month after
month rolled by, the confidence of the pub
lie visibly lessened until the number of
those who really believed in Livingstone S
safety had become small indeed. Sud
denly, however, telegram was received
stating that DR.. Livingstone had been heard
of and that he was not only alive and well,
but had found what he believed to be the
sources of the Nile. The news thus flashed
home to us from India has been verified
No wonder that Sir Roderick Murchison
and the Royal Geographical Society were
jubilant; for not only had extracts
from Doctor Livingstone's letters been
sent from ZANZIBAR by DR.. Kirk. but
while the meeting was in progress Lord
Clarendon sent the full despatch which he
had received from the Consul explorer him
self. This despatch, to say nothing of the
letters, cleared up all doubts, and the Won
derful sagacity of Sir Roderick Murchison
again received the testimony of proof
Nothing probably, in the history of geo.
graphical enterprise was ever regarded with
more sincere satisfaction by tho whole ma
ton than this conclusive intelligence rela-
tive to the salty of the greatest of our ex-
plorers.
But our delight at the prospect of seeing
DR.. Livingstone again in the flesh must not
be allowed to overshadow the intense in
terest attaching to his discoveries. AL
though in July, 1S6S,-the date of his last
DESPATCH DR.. Livingstone had not even
seen Lake Tanganyika, and of course could
not positively testify that the lake drained
into the Nile, he had yet found sufficient
evidence, to say nothing of native infor-
nation, to justify the opinion that not only
lakes contribute thei quota of waters to
the ''river of Egypt" If this opinion
should prove to be correct, he will have
solved the great problem Of monern geog-
y,
in the foremost rank OF. geographers of all
ages. Ptolemy's mysterious knowledge
will prove to have been something real, and
Defoes Imagination will be regarded as
having been strangely prophetic. In order
to appreciate what DR.. Livingstone has
done, or is doing, it must be clearly under
stood what he was sent to accomplish. The
dispute between Captain Burton and Cap
tain Spoke relative to the drainage of Lake
Tanganyika could not be settled except by
personal investigation. Burton believed
that this lake flowed into the Nile, but in
such case Spoke Victoria N'yanza would
not be the ultimate source of the river
The latter therefore maintained with rather
ingenious logic that the Tanganyika drain
ed southwards, probably into the Nyaosa,
and thence into the Zambezi. Moreover,
when Burton and Spoke were on the lake
its altitude was fixed by them at I ,s44 feet,
and if this were correct, it would be impes-
sible, supposing other observations to be
correct also, for the Nile to receive the wa
tiers of the Tanganyika. Baker made the
elevation of the Albert N'yanzs to be 9, 720
feet, and as his observations were care
fully tested on his return to England, their
accuracy may be relied on. But Speke's
thermometer-withw which his observations
were taken-read 81 A. instead of212o when
brought down to the coast again, and Mr.
Findlay has always argued that 1000
feet should be added to the altitude at
which Captain Spoke fixed the lake. This
would give it an elevation of 1874 feet;
and as Sir Samuel Baker had shown the
Albert N'yanza to be but 2,720 feet,
the Tanganyika would be 1874 feet higher
than the Nilotic reservoir, and the physical
difficulty which seemed to intervene be-