The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1872-11-01

When the first intelligence from DIR.
Livingstone was received through the
medium Of his discoverer, there were
grave doubts in the minds of many
whether the whole affair might not be
an imposition. II is fair to the enter
prising correspondent who accomplish
ed the relief Of the explorer to say that
there 10 no longer room for doubt. No
one vino had seen Livingstone's dispatch
es has any suspicion that they are other
than what they are represented to be,
and it remains only to examine the
statements in regard to the sources of
the Nile, to solve which problem was the
object of the long and laborious wander
ings of the Scotch geographer. For
even he is not infallible. He has not
traced the Nile through its whole ex-
tent, so as to be sure that his theories
are absolutely correct. Many of those
who have studied the question refuse
altogether to accept his conclusions.
But he has exposed the errors Of some
who have preceded him, and has given,
in clear and distinct form, the reasons
which bring him to his present judy.
ment. We will endeavor to explain
briefly the question which will soon be
debated holly by the partisans of the
several discoveries.
Cap's. Spoke and Grant, following
up large river which they presumed to
be the Nile, came to large lake, which
they partially explored. P, ssing to
another point they came to body of
water, which they supposed to be part
Of the same lake. In this manner they
explored considerable portion of the
country, between degree north and 8
degiees south of the equator, and fan.
cied that they had discovered great in
land sea, covering twenty thousand
square miles. This lake they named
the Victoria Nyanza, and proclaimed it
the source of the Nile. Upon all mod
ern maps this lake is laid down. Capt.
Sir Samuel Baker, a few years later,
adopted the error of Capt. Spoke, if
error it is, and discovered the Albert
Nyanza, which was then, and is now, Of
unknown extent, but is undoubtedly a
very large lake. The Albert lake he
to be a second source of the
Nile. The mistakes attributed to these
explorers by DR.. Livingstone are two.
fold in their character. In the first
place, he has established that the Vic
toria Nyanza is not one great inland sea,
but collection of several large lakes
and, secondly, he contends that neither
the Victoria or the Albert Lake is the
true source Of the Nile, but that they
are merely the sources of tributaries.
We may illustrate both the alleged er.
rors by imagining what might have hap
pened when the continent Of America
was bowling wilderness" If an ex.
plorcr, starting from New York, h d
in northwesterly direction un.
til he reached Lake Ontario, had sailed
across it, thence struck into the interior,
still proceeding northwest, until he
reached the coast Of the Georgian Bay,
and thence again to the northern coast
Of Lake Superior; if, following Supe-
thence proceeding southwesterly to the
southern end of Lake Michigan, and af
Ter another land journey reaching the
southern shore of Lake Erie, he had
inally arrived at the pc mt of starting,
ne might have concluded that he had |
travelled around one fresh water sea of |
enormous extent, instead of several
treat inland lakes. This seems TO have
,een precisely what Spoke and Grant
lid. And it is not little curious that
'peke himself at different times calcu.
ated the altitude of Victoria Nyanza
cry differently, three several observa.
ions at various points giving him alti.
udcs of 3,740 feet, 3,30S feet, and 1858
BET, without giving suspicion that he
ad been measuring the height of three
everal lakes. The other mistake which
attributed to former explorers is as if
apt. Spoke, searching for the sources
T the Mississippi, had followed the Ohio
} its sources, and as if Sir Samuel Ba.
er had sailed up the Missouri TO its
ead.waters, both leaving the real great
.ream still UNEMPLOYED. The extreme
limit of the Victoria Nyanzais
l three degrees Of southern latitude,
ut DR.. Livingstone claims to have gone
, 10 and IL degrees south. His reasons
n believing that he examined the true
lie basin are chiefly the general lay of
le land and the size of the river which
E traced SO far. 1t could belong, he
to no other river than the
lie. But we must wait until he recti
IS our maps before we can learn with
,ything like accuracy the geography
Africa, and meanwhile we expect a
Try lively opposition to DIR. Living.
ones theories by the friends of former
tplorers whose hasty conclusions are SO
gorously attacked.-Appleton's journal. !