The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1876-01-20


The New York Herald, of Nov.r.,
20, contains letter from Stanlar 81
African explorer. It was written y, =. .ue
banks Of the Victoria Niyansa - .s sne !.
great inland sea whose border r .uas
first determined with any deprs"" ' =
accuracy by Mr.. Stanley himself. rs 9
date of the epistle is April u. and I sao
more than seven months il ID -.
passed from hand to hand in thu c... ~.
Of the most benighted continent -
carried by a naked negro, now 81 Az Sss
nified MOslem, and again by ~
diers of the Khedive,s hundreda.os ~
before being intrusted to civilized ma;l.
To form an accurate Judgment al ~
Importance of SANKEY'S discoveriaa -
data no more extensive than that -. !
veyed in this and similar letters. -.
ten under the greatest difficulties. -.
not only difficult but an almost imncss
sible task. To judge from the Nm.
given us, his explorations seem q 49,
been crowned with a degree Of snceess
altogether unanticipated. At the ar
of writing he had thoroughly examir.S
the whole of Lake Victoria Niyanxa. "A s.
in his own opinion, had Determines 4
almost beyond reasonable doubt. q Z
the source of the White Nile. VIII i .
might be too strong an assertion ID rtats
that this mystery Of centuries, the or;5;n
OF the Nile, has at last been made pls2n i.
it is certain that Stanley has done 49,
to examine the Lake and its outlets th..
any other man, and consequently k
may very Justly take the honor cls;re6
for him by the Herald-as the leadirr
authority on Central African eeoers.
ply. By no means the only white tfsv.
eler who visited the Lake, he is, neyr.
theless, the first to bring to its examin-
alton the benefits of careful and lonc.
continued survey of all its physical IS.
culiarities.
Having already been on three African
expeditions, Stanley had the Advantages
of previous experience, and besider
this, enjoyed the benefits OF careinl
study of all published works on IL
subject, and the acquaintance and 81.
vice of many eminent African trayek
ers and geographers. Thoroughly pre,,
pared, therefore, for his work, We -
not surprised to hear of his penetr,t-
ing further and discovering more I'm
any of his predecessors. His discover.
les fix the dimensions of the Victofds =
being much more considerable than hs1s
been supposed, since it is 275 feet dss,,
and offers reservoir to the Shimeeyu
River, q stream one mile in width m
supposed to be $40 miles long. Thesss
act dimensions of the lake are mot Riy.,
en-, but body of water which Vas Oh,
served by Spoke, and supposed to con
stitute the whole Lake, Is proved by
Stanley to be merely an estuary Of IL
true Niyanza, sixty-five miles long By
twelve broad. The Albert Niyanzs
still remains for Stanley to conquer,
and no doubt, in due time, we win hear
from him again. He is in the region q
the Niles origin, and, from his wall
known courage and perseverance,, W
have good grounds for believing thst 10
will not return until the problem Of ths
Nile-a mystery since the days Of Pto1e-
my-is as plain fact as the origin d
the Mississippi. He is liable to make
mistakes and hurried statements, such
as the one in this letter about the
"tide" in Victoria Niyanza, when 4 b
extremely improbable that there should
be such . thing; but this and IL Ia
are venial errors, to be corrected ~
time and more extended ObseEvatioa.
OF course he had numerous adventure
with the natives, fought battles with
them, and killed some Of them, but
these are circumstances which TN =
the lot of every African traveller ~
are therefore little remarkable. The
principal interest of his narrative hes h
the geographical discoveries. and ~
scientific world will Their efore wait With
Impotence for further Developments.
st. Loais Globe.