The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-10-22
= EEBRIBE EXPLORER.

>ririIs The time will come. however
hen he will find that he can not inter
lrre with the work Of theoretical geogra
pliers without arousing their just iudig
nation. The theorists had decided tina
Sp-ke's Lake should be cut up into ;
cluster of smaller lakes, and had mad,
some beautiful maps in accordance will
that view. Stanley has deliberately re
fused % iind these lakes, and has ever
had the impudence to make a map OF hi.
own, which fully Substantiates what the
obstinate Speke said he had seen. Not
\ content with taking this unwarrantable
liberty, lie has totally ObIiterated Lake
! BarinSO. Tli, lake was a peculiar pet
Of the map makers. They placed il
/ northeast of the Victoria Lake. and gave
| it really beautiful coast line. Some
! times they connected it with its larger
neighbor by n narrow strait, and some
times they took the upper end of the
| SObat River, and inserted it into the
northwest corner of the lake. In fact
they did everything for that lake that
liberal-minded map makers, with plenty
of blue ink and abundant skill in draw
ing wavy coast lines could have done.
And now Stanley deliberately denies
that any such lake ever existed. Has he
no regard for vested property in maps!
Is he wholly destitute of all reverence
for the learned men who have taken so
much trouble in bringing Lake Baringo
to the notice of the public? iIfhe thinks
he can pursue his present course without
earning the serious displeasure of all
''arm chair" geographers he is very much
mistaken.
This man has, however, only just be
gun the course of exploration which lie
has proposed TO undertake. He intends
TO survey the Albert Lake: Lakes Bang
weolo and Moezo, which Lacerda ana
Monteiro discovered, but which the map
makers refused TO have anything to do
with until DIR. Livingstone certified to
their respectability: and also Lake
kamolondo and Lincoln-two lakes
which nobody ever saw, but which Liv-
ingstone, who was always extremely lib
eral with his lakes when he made con
iectural maps, placed in eligible situa-
tions in the nnexplored regions of Cen
trail Africa. The four latter lakes have
been Very well received by the theoreti-
cal geographers, and the RoyalGeOgraph-
ical Society has even taken the trOdble
to move Lake lincoln several hundred
miles out of the position given to it by
DIR. Livingstone, merely in order TO place
it III more convenient locality, and to
make room for a nice large river further
west. Now, there is every reason to
suppose that if Stanley is not killed or
does not die Of fever, he will create an
enormous amount OF disorder with these
lakes. lie is quite capable Of draining
Lakes Lincoln and kamo!ondo With a
single scratch Of his ! RI, ;.hd he would
not hesitate tospoiI the graceful outlines
of Lake Moezo. When a person who
avowedly relies simply uron lis own OBJ
servations is set loose in a country full
Of theoretical lakes, it is impossible TO
say what mischief he viii not do. The
only course for the map makers to pur-
sue will be to calmly ignore Stanley's
assertions, precisely as they have always
ignored the assertions of the early POr
tugese explorers. 1t was considered an
intoerable piece of impudence for Pa
piSts like LacerIa, Monteiro and Silva
Porto to interfere with German, English
and Scotch map publishers, and if Stan
ley shows like impudence, he will very
possibly be treated with like disdain.
But this pestilent American represen-
tative of an American newspaper will
also undoubtedly NEEDLE with the the
Oretical rivers Of Central Africa. No
man can look ut n recent map of Africa
without admiring the free and graceful
way in which the rivers OF which
Schweinfurth and Livingstone obtained
clinpses are made to curve hither and
thither. and are finally brought triumph
antly into Lake Tsad, the Albert Lake.
or tine Atlantic Then, too. there are
the upper courses Of the OgObai and the
Congo which have afforded the oppOrtu
nifty for some of the incest and most i'm
aginative map drawing which has yet
been offered to the public. Ii is tOler-
. able that n prosaic explorer should in
terfera with the labors of men Of culture
and imagination ~ destroying their IA
voritc rivers. . Hv twisting them in such
a way that their -Wn authors could not
recognize thaml This, however, Stan
ley will 90 without the slightest hesita-
ton. IL he j. not willing to see what the
map-makers have created. Argument is
lost upon such a man. Like Bruce and
Caillie and Speke, he will maintain that
rivers and lakes exist where he found
them. No matter how much trouble
geographers may have taken TO tell him
lust what TO find and where to find il. he
will pursue his own way, refusing to find
anything of the sort. II such men are
to be permitted to roam over Africa with
pen and ink and paper at their com
mand, the map-makers might as well
abandon the field at onee.-Es1C York