Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-10-03


watershed extends over seven hundred
miles from west to east. Cour tless'
springs here >ooze up from the spongy
soil, spreading out, says Living
stone, to . bird's-eye view, like
the, frost vegetation on q window
pane. In passing over sixty miles of
he waded thirty-two primary
of this kind. Several of them
are covered with veritable living
bridges, the rich, dark, glossy leaved
grass with its leaves and roots felting
itself into q mat, Which, when stepped
upon yields twelve. or fifteen inches,
the water rising to that height up the
leg; holes here and there appearing
which any one might "plump
through and finish the chapter" When
the water is shallow the lotus, or sacred
lily, sends it's roots to the bottom and
spreads its broad leaves across the
floating bridge. Uniting into folr such
streams in the main these springs form
the headwaters of the Chambesi, the
bed of which Livingstone followed from
its source till it entered lake Bang
weolo, $50 miles wide and 1000 feet
above the sea, which our readers will
find set down in Keith Johnson's map,
Qs70.) Turning thence northward it
flows, under the new name of Luapula,
past the town of Cazembe-a distin-
guished chief made known to us by Dr..
LacerdA the Portuguese-into Lake
Moero, also set down in the said map.
Thence the great river forces it's way
to the north through the Rua Moua-
tains and spreads out into new lake,
called Ulenga or Kamalondo, in the
Manyema country. It is here called
the Lualaba, and has been named by
Livingstone Webb's Lake River, after
q friend. Soon after this it makes to
the west a great bend of 180 miles, and
after q further bend of 12O miles to the
north and west, with 80 miles of south.
ing next, draws round to the north.
east, receiving the Lomame OF
Lock-, Joined to which it flows
through large lake called "Lincoln''
by the discoverer. Thence the united
stream spreads out into fourth large
lake with many islands, to which Liv-
ingstone gives no name, and which he
was unable to explore, failing health
and supplies compelling his return in
1870 to Ujiji. Somewhat to the south
west from hence natives reported re-
.maIkable mound. from the =. base of
which the springs or fountains divide
into two great rivers to the northeast.
One of these, the Lufira, named by
Livingstone Bartle Frere's,S flows into
Lake Kamalondo. That to the north-
west OF the mound, or " Young's Foun-
tain, =" is considered by him to form the
upper waters of the Lomane. These
streams, with two others, which be be-
ieves to run south, are held by him to
be those mentioned by Herodotus as
flowing, one-half to the Nile and one.
half into Ethiopia. The main lacustrine
stream thus tracked for the first time
for 600 miles is held implicitly by the
great traveller to be no other than the
Nile. And this discovery he announces
a. the browning glory of his career oi
toll. Here it is unhappily impossible
for geographers to follow him. It ia
no question between gentlemen sitting
at home in easy chairs, as Mr.. Stanley
somewhat hotly puts it, and one who
has with his own eyes seen the, Nile.
As . matter, not of fact, hut of infer.
ence, it is, to say the least, as much
within the capacity of those at home;
with tho command concurrent aids
to judgment and all the light of indie.
pendent discovery, 70 Of m observer
on the spot. The simple andS Obvious
laws of nature are at ali events not ia
be gaipsaid; and the ,mere considera'
tions oflevel, unless the figures have
undergone some strange and unimagl'
nable jnggling, arefatal TO Lfvin6stone'l
darling h3potlels. j Il is difficult t<
conceive sthe traveller himself Stains
dawn 10 pen itswithout i IinisgivinR, or
second thought, that the height of th<
lower part Of Genital Lualaba, being
one inch lower BY barometer than Tan
ganyika, which be makes out to be 8,
900 feet, els about. the, attitude
aacnbed ID 0ondokoro. y Some fifteer
degrees of latitude, by his estimate
separating the Lualaba at this point
from Gondokoro, both the latitude o
which (over five degrees nortb) aud th(
elevation are fixed by full and concur
rent testimony, how is he going to &C
count Tor the river actually keeping .
dead level for a thousand miles aud up
wartl1 As for Livlngstone's river flow
ing into the Bahr-el-G -Gazal, a
has been. r suggested, not only
is the same difficulty O.
level in the way, but all evidence con
ours in representing the Bahr-el-G GAIA
as shallow, reedy stream, utterly un
equal to the reception of broad. ani
deep volume Of water like the Laulaba
in places over two miles in width. Liv
ingstone confesses himself at times tt
be haunted by suspicion that he ha6
hit upon the Congo, Which if we mis-.
take not, will be the impression O
geographers in general. for that {
stream of this magnitude can lose itsel
in some inland lake or swamp passe,
the bounds of what is probable. II
may be, of course, that Livingstone.
observation of level, as we'll as of geo.
graphical distribution, were incorrect
What instrumen nts lie had with him ap
pear to have been imperfect at the
best, besides having beer
long in use. The DO ling water
test, at no time scientifically exact i.
anything put enhanced in accuracy il
the tropics, where the pole-star, too
can be scarcely, if at all, available fol
observation, and the sun is seen under
the worst conditions for latitude. Liv
ingstone's timepieces having long beer
useless, longitude must for some time
past have become a mere matter o
dead reckoning; and with what strict
ness he had kept count of time may b,
tested by the fact Of his allowing him
self to have been three weeks out in hi,
reckoning when found by Mr.. Stanley
Refreshed as he must have been, anG
amply supplied, as he himself writes
with stores, he reports it rs his future
plan Of action 't6 go Southwest from
Unyanyembe to Fipa, near til
southeastern end of Tanganyika
from thence round to Pambett.
so as to cross the Ci'ambesi, and coast
tho southern shores of Lake Bauweelt
latitude II degrees south), md thence