The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-11-19
TIE MAPPING OF AFRICA.
sriNIEY'S REPORT CRITTCdLLY RE-
yIEWED M Az ENPERT
The IlnrnveiIing Of the Old GeoEr hphtcal
Mystery of LIKE Victoria Nynnzn' the
Discovered source OF the River Nile.

To THE EDITOR OF rHR GEoaRAPH1CAL
MAuAzINE-Sh heartily conRrs'ul t. tne
TnUy Ieicgrdph upon the choice Of its liant
commissioner. and only hope that tue later
m, succeed In carving out the grnnd explora-
ton which he has 80 wori hily begun.
Nevertheless. IL Ia my duty to warn your read
ers, as did nearly three yeas ago, against ac-
. steme mis- put forward 10y Mr.. Henry y. stanley
In the Duly Telegraph GOT. ID and IL, 1919. he
much Saeriness II mind and bodv and ms'nre
reflection combined with further experehce,
may introduce important qualifications Into tho
more perm nent record 81 travel.
AZ length after ten years we are str,nning the
viii not write tie word Nyanza OF Neey-
ANA, because the latter forms are hardly IN &C
cordance with the rule OF the great South-Atri-
Stanley, although strong In the vcrnaeular,
proved in his nrst work How Found LIVING
stone tns, sf n ust g moi be relied UPON
Far more competent scholars, Messrs. WaNeheld
and New, prefer 90 'iite the word wanna; even
IL sthe same with "Nkali" for NIX halt nor
must we accept "Itura" unit We are enabled to
docldr whether 1t Is tho Utatutu' OF Capt.
spekp's brst map, a nnme which afterward unac-
countably disappeared from the charts: We
groves" twice mentioned "a growing in sweet
water and, far more impor ant point, we can
not for momenf admit the dotum, am
sorry to cay that, II am right Spoke Ia about
fourteen miles wrong In his latitude along the
observa ions have been carefully checked by the
hignest possible authority. Lieut.. Cameron. X.
N, and the gallant young onlcer found them
generally right within IA mile. In the same para
graph MIR. STANLEY seems not only to trust In
aneroids, b Il ala to think that tie longitude Is
an easier matter To settle than the latitude
while ne has evidently not reflected upon the
immense and variable am 1unt ~ mirase and
refraction which would result from using at
noon the Sc, horizon ~ quiet lake" situated
directly u der the equator.
The Victoria Nv MA, | have said, Il now as
suming an iLtellicihle topoi rHphicH shape. We
hear nothing OF the three great outlets the Ma
poleon hAnnel, the Luaj ciri, and the Mwerango
Hon Ilana
urcd our ,us. We read for the first Time OF
the import mt northeastern inhuent, the
Ugoweh, and OF the great sOutheastern feeder,
the Iiwumbu Mon ngan-Shlmyu Thes ALSO
lutte gains to geOgr. pny. one pf them numbering
setio exoiorer. We md Militia or Malta con-
verted from an island TO a hendland by Mr.
stanley VINO approach ed 1t from the east, where
IA Spekr's terminus Muan1a llSjSi, W. : to west:
and the re- ID r uf my Lake REGIONS" (vOl. H.. D.
2lD VIII remember the doubts concerning is
tnsular nature, wuicb the accounts Of he Arabs
nwoke in my mind. From information WIS
able to state that the ~ zlrah," on ambiguous
term, meaning tuu llly insula md peninsula can
scarcely he called an island and In my mp
Mazita - dotted toward the mainland We are
alsO relieved from having TO believe in n sheet
Of water whose level W nearly 500 feet higher
III the sontn ti,7lO fecO tn IN the north (5,SS
feeD MY friend Gait. {. George las ably shown
DiflD Telegraph, Oct. IS the provisional value
OF the last neas .remeu!s, and this prsctsed cat
feeU agrees closely With Capt. Speke's that Il
must create favorable Impression on scientific
Reogiaphers.
plusSed by the staten ent q the Angln-Ameri-
can Expedition that during hfN-eig days their
DIaNe !, u , noht' ti'c Lazy Nnce, utu SURVEYED
over lou miles Of lake shores And the edi-
toriAl article tOct. ~ adds that the "sea OF
rhomooidal ont inc" measured about 81 miles
long by some lSO broad. or course these are
round numbers and general assertions nut
they are not the less puzzling Mr.. stanley after
leaving cehy and embarking on the lake,
bends for a short distance to the cast and then
turns directly northward thus cutting "a a
huge eastern sliJ. at least one third. from Capt.
course nearly cor esponds with the line which
laid down IN 1889 " Journal x. q. g, vol. AK"
The whole Western and southern SHORES must
remain as they were, for here we have the careful
! titudes ana longitudes Of the Speke and Grant
Expedition tlSJItB and, finally the northern
cannot, accord ne to the explorers observations,
be removed fur north. Yet Mr.. Stanley gives his
lake LOO miles, when the whole circuit Of Capt.
Speke's Is only 80 miles direct geographicaD.
aud the area OF the new Nyanzn 2,5l5 square
miles go and 1907, nearly ,uu Is that Of the old.
tto,Uo'. Here, then, is something wrong. unless
the explO er, Including every little projection
ana tnuentalion Of The shore, bends, caves,
inlets, creeks bays. oapes, and deoouchures OF
rivers" prolonged to l,UJ miles what his map
reuuces, we wills y, to so
Sir. S1anlev has successfully proved versus
Major Long. that the Nyanz Is even larger than
made 1t IN 1889 ESQ oy 50 miesl II has become.
In fact, one Of the finest Of inland seas in the
woru put he has oy no means been eq ally
successful in establishing the theory that Capt.
Speke's Nyanza is a Ike aud not lake rosion.
He tells us badly. - lh,y Che natives OF anu
wanda gave US all tue information We desired
IA very usual phenomenon among Asiattcs and
Africans. iafin-o," he cOntInues,:' they said,
II the name Appded to the people Of URana to
Hdutu, u dls rlct Of Ugeyeya, and the bay on
lake nor diu they know, nor had they he,rd OF
any lake, rce or small, Other than the NyanzI."
II. Wake ell md c. New tls65 ana 1866 81 and
the 3al ar "a I'm tine Second sea- alias the
Bar ari va Uk6rh (Sea OF UkA A. laid down ny
the Two Latter gentlemen, arc NOT To be disposed
OF by the chHLce words Of a few blacks. Mr..
Stanley evidently knows nothing about the Ba-
TinGo, eXcep. what he has seen IN Ctot. Spoke's
map, the work, may sa twitho II Ind ,cretion,
Of my friend ar. Ireia"ney saunders. In an ear
lef let or OF more sober Vie, th- traveller tells
us, ." have questioned the natives Of Uchat bi
closely upon the subject I Issue. hut no one
satisfy me-thOdga t4ey peak positively
whether the leke l. one piece II wafer ur more
l hear multitude of strange names, but
whether they are OF countries ~ lakes II Il I'm
possible t. divine, for the peoples knowledge
OF geography Is naturally very supeT0c JI."
Every African travelled well knows that tue
t1oes with lew exceptions are Ignorant, except
by nearsay, If the lands ying a few marches
from their doors ana experienced men att.c
freely accept as truth All taat MIR. Stanley sees,
but by no means ali that he hears. Inde sd the
share Of the Nyanza itself must gre lily vary
with the seasons. he traveller Informs u.s.
The descent to the lake L. 50 gradual that ex
pect 10 nnd upon sounding 1t, ~ intenc to do,
tha', though II c Ne's vast area, 1t Is very shall
low" Ana in another place We are assured,
In lrambl, be ween ,igungO remDo Q'hemOO)
anu Mpmbltl, we came upon what must have
been In former times an arm Of the Victoria
NydnzH. II /. c4ll, q the LImanber Plain, after
aIiver of tndt nane aud Is about ~ miles in
wid,h. Its atituae Is 3,715 feet above tue sea,
ana but few feet above (rean below the Vic
tOrid Ny NJ. We were fortunate In crossing
the broad, shallow stream in the dry season, for
d hing the Maska or rainy season, the pl In Is
converted into a. vide l,ke." what more do we
want To snow thai this ia a lake or a lagoon
Tegiunl
Ii appears to me, then, that the controversy
which has lasted Tor SO many years can hardly
be held finally settled. The Nvanza mas certain
ly been proved TO be a vast sweet water sea, hut
the coll Cuon Of minor features cannot be said
dennitively 10 have Disappeared On the contrary,
when the whole re.ipn nas been Carefully sur
Veyed, we shall probably find large and wooded
tracts Whicn, In the vet season, cause the lands
about the .stern-head reservoir OF the Nile
much To Iesem1le Tue ports Is in9 near its mouth.
OF the Tang niika We q n only repeat that tue
mass OF evidence, - II lies before us, suggests a
dead lake during the aries, drained at times Of
food by a northern affiuent feeding the 4" Luta
kzige," and ny a western outlet, the Lukuga,
falling INTO the Lualaba. The Litter question
may even now be settled by the gallant Lieut..
Cameron, concerning whom we may safely quote
the old saw, paint ds HOuu,iles bOnnes nOtIDsies.
Ill tdings ~ last even In Africa, and the long
silence Uf the las. IA )utus fry entitled US ~
hope, even as we Wish, fur the best.
RICHARD +. BURTON.
ATHEN4EUA CLUB, Oct. 10, 1870