The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-07-26


Nyan a had been found by Spoke to be one OF them,
1t was reserved for Baker to discover Albert Ny
ANA as the other. and perhaps the most extensive
a. the two Baker set out In 1861, without avowng
his intention to seek for the OF the Nile but
with the cherished hope, to use his own words, "as
the insignificant worm slowly bores its way into the
hardest oak, even 80 hoped by perseverance, to
reach the heart OF Africa He employed the first
year In exploring oil tho Nile tributaries from
Abyssnia, and thence descended the hanks OF the
Blue Nile to KhartoOm, and left this city
on the 18th OF December, 1854. arriving at
Gondokoro after fcrty-Gve days voyage on the
water After almost incredible suTerings and long
marches southwark through a land OF misery and
malaria, to which his party constantly ex-
posed on the fatal banks OF the White Ne-wcak,
tottering and exhausted with more than twelve
months anxiety, toll ami sickness, suddenly upon
reaching some rising ground,
THE GREAT RESERVOIR or THE MILE
burst upon his astonlshed and delighted vision
"Far below his view point, some fifteen hundred feet
beneath precipitous cliff OF granite. lay my prize
so hardly sought bounaless sca-horizon south
ana southwest; while west the faint blue noun
tains, of abon thousand feet above the water
level, hemmed In the glorious eXpanse Of waters"
Such In his own vivid picture OF Albert NyauZa
whose waves were rolling upon beach OF sand
beneath the discoverer's gaze, and whose pleasant.
waters he drank with gratitude. Speaking 81 his
discovery, the modest Baker said :-"For myself
claim no honor as the discoverer OF q source, as
believe the mighty Nile may have a thousand
sources. The birthplace OF that great river is the
vast rock basin Of the Albert Nyanza. In those
profound depths bosomed In the mountain range
OF Equatorial Africa, In n region OF ten months
rainfall, every drop Of water, rom the passing
shower to the roaring mountain torrent, is stored
In that great reservoir Of nature SO vast is its vol
ume of water that no single stream appears to in
nuence its level Even the great river, from the
Victoria (Nyanzal Lake enters the great reservoir
absorbed without perceptIblc current" Sir
Samuel determined the elevation OF the Albert
Nyanza to be 2,72O feet. But Mr. Buchan, the emil
nent secretary OF the Scottish Meteorological
Society, afterwards corrected the barOmetric
height from Bakers observation. ana reduced it to
$500 feet which must now be regarded as its most
accurate measurement.
''PToIEMY's WESTERN LAKE RESERVOIR OF THE
NILE"
TO Captains Burton AMI Speke companions in eX-
exploration IN the years 1857 and 1888, is due the
honor of finding another grand receptacle Of water
which forms the interesting and as yet, but
imperfecty discovered Lake Tanganyika. This
magnificent lake. draining large and nigh table
land and mountainous region, has been proved to
have no immediate connection with Lake Nyassa
on the southeast. nor with the Indian Ocean on the
east nor yet with Lake Albert Nyanza or Lake Vic
toria NyanZa on the north. Nor has any cOnnec-
ton been established between Tanganyka and the
Chambezi River, on the southern side OF the lake.
Lake Tanganyka was found to be fresh water, and
to receive the streams Of the Rusis on the north,
the Marungu on the south, and other smaller
streams. 1t is impossible to suppose that the evap-
exceed, the immense tropical rainfall which fills
its caverns and BEDS ana the conclusion is there
FORE Irresistible that must discharge ITSELF its
resteyn side into some Ytoer hdcig general inert
diOndI course.
The great question which remains for Livingstone
to settle Is this -
DOES TANGANyIKA LAKE CONNECT WITH TIE NILoTIo
BAsINS
Pt0emy the wonderful Greco Egyptan geog-
rapher A. d. 1885, viewing this matter almost in the
light of Burton's researches, had located just such
a lake as Tanganyika on his maps, and given it con-
nection with the head waters Of the Nile. II Is true
that the Ptolomean chart and geography recognize
two principal lacustrne reservoirs OF the Nile but
they also speak OF Others and 1t is mighty probable
their author alluded to the Identical Lake Tangan
yka of our explorers. To clear up this difficulty
two things must be settled. The first and
Tanganyika. Burton Fixed this altitude above the
seal at about eighteen hundred feet, and nearly all
writer's and cartog raphers since the date OF his
discovery have blindly and undiscrmnatngly re-
peated him. II Lake Tanganyka is only 1880 feet
above the sea and Albert Nyanza $3.50 feet, 1t Is
clear that the former cannot discharge itself into
the valley Of the Nile and the basin OF the Albert
Lake without running over seven hundred feet up
hill. The conclusion, therefore. reached by those
who accept Burton's figures OF 1900 feet for Tan
ganyika is that this lake empties itself by a
westerly channel-way into the upper water
Shed of the Congo River, and thence
into the Atlantic Ocean. There is, how.
ever, no logical necessity for such a conclusion,
nor any known fact to countenance 1t, when we
remember that Burtons figures are not relied
upon, even by himself The method Of determn
ing the height pursued by all these explorers has
been by noticing the point of the thermometer ut
which water boils. Speaking of the particular
elevation and drainage OF Tanganyika, Burton
says very pointcdly:-
"An objection to the theory that the Tanganyika
Lake drains into the Luta NZige at once suggests
itself, and It would he fatal if reliance could be
placed upon 1t. allude to the levels. Lake Tan
ganyika is allowed but ,s44 feet. Captain Spoke
page 332 of the Journal of the Royal Geographic
cal Society, vol. xxxiii) argues that the Luta
Nzge Is 2,16l feet, or upwards OF three hundred
feet above the Tanganyika. But his B. r. (bong
point observation was made at Paira n station
distant from the stream, and even to obtain that
altitude he was obliged to add the mean OF certain
differences, 36s feet; this emendaton is not gener-
ally accepted. During our exploration OF flanagan
yika the state Of our vision would, am convinced.
explain greater difference than the fraction OF n
degree. without reference to variation of haro-
tric orr t1prmOmptpr had nj from,
first to last one degree 81 $50 feet On return
to Konduchi n harbor on the eastern coast, our
Il. p. (boilng point thermometer boiled ut IA F.
This alone would give difference OF 200 feet NJ
A. Findlay in his able paper Offset read before the
Royal Geographical Society. says:-A single on
servation Of Captain Spoke, with what he described