Nebraska advertiser., 1870-02-03
DIR. I.irinesnne,s Trnrels.

Historians tell Us that Alexander
sighed for new worlds to conquer. 1t
was an easier thing two thousand
years ago to find new worlds ~ but
even now there are worlds" enough
to try the energies Of 3 hundred kings
like him Of M9eedon, We would set
them 70 conquer p9upeTism in Eng
land; or to make Ireland OOntented
under British rule. We would COM
mission them to hunt after the North
Pole, or to trace out the Northwest
Passage /; to test the existence of an
Antarctic continent, or to fertiliZe the
interior of Australia; to teach Mexico
the beauty of peace and industry, or
Greece the superiority of law and or
der over brigandage and tdien6ss.
These would all be greater labOrs thar
the march Of a cOnquering army from
the BOsphOrus to the Indus. To Eng
lishmen, such lessons seem to come of
themselves, and the fierce restlessness
of our Norman blood finds a vent for
its energies in a thousand harmless
ways, that not only extend the repu-
tatiOn of our name, but really add
"new worlds" to those already
known, Africa has long been q most
attractive field to men to whom the
tameness of modern civilization is as
the Dead Sea apples--fair to the eye,
but ashes to the taste. Even before
the time of MungO Park, our country
men had sought to explore the barren
sands of African deserts, and to lift
the veil of the unrprOachable Isis; but
from the time Of that gallant traveller
down to his latest successOr-he, too
ScOtchman-the sources of the Nile,
the course of the Niger, the Noun
tains Of the Moon, and the Gardens
of the Hesperides have been the OBJ
ject of many q venturesOme journey,
and have been sought at the cost of
the pilgrims life.
We hope better fate has been re-
served for DR.. Livingstone. Once he
has crossed that still only half-explOr-
ed continent, and in his second great
journey he seems to have almost
solved an enigma that has been the
study of geOgraphers, from the days
of HerOdOtus. He has been away
nearly four years, travelling through
that vast district which lies to the
north of the territories watered by
the Zambesi, and, according to the
latest letters, dated July, 1868, he has
succeeded in discovering what he be-
lieves to be the ultimate Oources of
the Nile, between 10o and 120 south,
nearly in the position assigned to
them by PtOelmy. He writes: "It
is not one source from a lake, but up
wards of twenty Of them. Lake Lii
emba has four rivers flowing into It.
One / measured, and found It TO be
about one hundred yards wide, waist
deep, and flowing fast in September; :"
that is to say, four months after the
rains. These must be about four
hundred miles south of the most
sOutherly portion of the Victoria
NyanZa, hitherto supposed to be the
source Of that enigmatical river of
Egypt. Arab accounts gathered by
DR.. Kirk, ut Zanzibar, describe the
lakes mentioned by Livingstone as of
considerable size, ''from five to ten
days march in length, and oYerhung
by high mountain slopes, which open
out in bays and valleys, or leave great
plains, which, during rainy season,
become flooded, SO that caravans
march for days through water knee,
deep seeking for higher ground on
which to pass the night"
Every African traveller meets with
something new, and DIR. Livingstone
seems to have come upon the primi-
tive homes Of the TroglOdytes. In
the postscript to his dispatch to the
Earl of Clarendon, he says: A large
tribe lives i'm underground houses in
Rua. Some excavations are said to /
be thirty miles long, and have run
ming rills in them. A whole district I
can stand a siege in them. The writ |
ings therein, l have been told by |
some of the people, are on wings Of
We hope the Doctor will |
succeed in reaching this place, for /
this gigantic human warren must be
an extraordinary sight, and the /
wings of animals-he does not say
wings of birds"-must be curious
printers "copy" as the blade-bOnes
on which MahOmet is said to have
written part Of his Koran.
1t must be remembered that these
of DR.. Livingstone's arc
sixteen months old, aud as he was
proceeding RorthWards, through a
country where pillar-pOsts have not
yet penetrated, il may be long before
we hear from him again. If he pre-
serves his health, the next news pro-
Dably will come through Egypt, and
record his meeting with Sir Samuel
Baker, now working sOuthwards to-
wards the same part Of Africa. We |
never need despair Of our country so
Ong as she has sons like Livingstone
md Baker, to whom danger and
are only things to be over
come and If we do not indulge in
Jueh rapturOus language about them
Is the President Of the Geographical
Society, it is not because we honor
Nd admire them less, but because !
hey are only samples OF. what many
ire doing on scene that is not quite
70 romantic or celebrated as the fnte-
'ior Of Africa. London Weekly Times.