The New York herald., 1877-11-19
BURTON ON STANLEY.

ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCE AND
COURSE OF THE CONGO or LUALABA-TAN-
GANYIKA AND IT'S oUILETs-A PATHOLOGICAL
QUESTION.
From the Athen@um, Nov. 81
TRIESTE, Oct 10, 1877.
VIII you kindly allow space for few lines con-
cernng the TWO last splendid exploratory feats oy
| Cameron and StanleyY Tho especial Commissioner" !"
indeed, noby aided by his public spirited private sup
porlers, has achieved OF those exceptional sue
which must be rich in results, are all geo.
| ographica achievements OF the highest order The
vast cannibal regions with their desperate tribes
who, for SO many ages, made tho vast central
belt Of Africa between latitude 10 deg. north
and latitude 10 dog. south q hopeless white blank
| have at last been stormed The thin req line
threading the forthcoming map will determine the
attest sequence for the future stations modern
anu commercial version OF the "Apostles' Street,
proposed third OF a century ago by d.. Krapi Tho
Identity OF the Luaaba and tho lkutu va Kwaneo
being now established this magnificent sweep OF the
many named stream, this enormous segment OF a
circle extending to north latitude deg, this
new road l.4OO miles long, becomes both a
base and objective Tor future operations The old
| Ncgroid Igdoms OF the Moslcm Sudan, Dar-F6r
| (Darourl Oar Fcrit, Dar-Wada, the grave OF the
martyr yogel, and the "rakrur" region, extending
westward to Born1, will now readily be connected
with The Congo basin by perpendicular lines driven
from the north southward. The revival OF interest
in African geography which has lately dstin suished
Portugal will presently enable explorers to push
IRON the south northwa,d From West Equa-
tprial Africa The future traveller can trend
eastward with. a full knowledge of his goal;
and his interesting task will be 10 lay down tie limits
oJ the Ogowe basin which apparently parts the Congo
from the Chadd, or Eastern Niger. Stanley's march
thus ushers in another and the latest era OF modern
African discovery, and venture to hope that no
prejudice prepossesson will be allowed to under
pregnant geographical feat Of the neteenth
century.
Allow to note, en- PEASANT, that am som owhat
scandazed 10 English writer's already ncglcctng
the Of an honored Englishman. While notcing
the Identity the Lualaba and the Congo, why quote
as the srneorctical discovcrers" OF the fact Drs
Kiepert and Benin, of the Mntheilun0enS These Ger.
man gentlemen certainly understood the market
value Of self assertion but why niorse thor preten
sions to the injury OF Sir r. l. Murchisona Our old
President, nearly scorc OF years ago. was tho first
to suspect that the Nile Of his friend Livingstone
'Crophi- Mophi" and ali-was the Lualuba; that the
Lualaba was the Congo, aud that tho Congo drains
Lake Tauganyika.
For some months have proposed writing to you
upon the subject of Cameron's mastery discoveries
when love, tho" of Midian," drew Off
tered peculiar charms. Reviewers to have agreed
lot TO important passage In "Across Arica
(voL l, p. 1885, probably because it occupied only
two modest lines 'We wore now CROSSING" says the
traveller after he had passed the station of Jewe III
Singa rock Of soft grass, the watershed bet wecn
the the Ruff those OF the Nilc aud Congo"
His map shows distinctly that setting out from Speke
Gult in the vctorial Nyanza, and ascending for
200 miles its tributary, tho Shmiyu River discovered
by Stanley in 1875, thence passing southwark 10 the
Luamberrl western fork, and finally reaching tho
head of the Nyankum swamp Hnd, in
south latitude deg. nin., the very
limit of tho Nile basin. II lies between
Mgunda Mk'hali, the nery nelo Tor plantationb and
Unyamwezi the "moon land and the altitude OF the
plateau about four thousand feet above the level
suggested the exaggerated oros snow mountain lko
KIma- -naro, in which shape has been preserved for
all ages by Ptolemy. need hardly remind you that
tus great Wd:serschside between tho Giant Of tho
Egypt and the Giant OF Angola, which must pro-
visionay be accepted as the "Caput Mil, was dis.
covered by the expedition led by me between 1856 and
1869; that allowed by tate to see tho Nile
small-a gift granted, all know to the ancients
and that At the time and long aiterward we were Ut
| terly ignorant OF our discovery's worth.
In the Daily Telegraph March 29 1877, &c. regu
larry forwarded to me by the Kindness and courtesy OF
| Mr.. EDWARD Arnold, G. s. l.. Stanley ventured, |
| think uuwisely, to propose u "new Nile source" !"
| THIS was tho ktangue or Kagera River, with its
..broad," the Akanyaru water, whch he renamed tho
| Upper and Lower Alexandra Nile and the Alexandra
| Lake. Captains Speke and Grant had already rccog-
nized the the most important oil the " VIc-
toria) Nyauza lnnuents, without, however, proposi
It as the Nlehead. We have read much OF late con
cernipg the sourccs'' versus "rescrvoirs" and the
General ounion seems TO DO that the ormer must pe
sought n the limits OF the hydrograph,c basins which
| are most distant from the debouchures But III SO
doing We must consider, not only tue absolute mile
length OF the bed and tho volume OF water which It
caries but also the direction, the symmetry OF tho
axis aud general conformation of The upper Sec
| ton Hence the primary river valley may be Inferior
IN dimensions % the secondary and we derive the
Mississippi from the ufucnts o the RESERVOIR Lako
| Itaska, not from tns Missouri Yeliowstonc Lastly
this pragmai,cai multiplication OF only
10 bring in "scofie anu to justify his sharp and
telling sneers at sensational geography" and 'geo.
| graphIcal cbarlatanism.n
So much for the Nile source; and for the
raporah. Kazeh," in my aay the headquarters OF
Arao trade, occupies the western bourne OF perhaps
The mightest water parting 70 tho word 10 Tho
| winch l described ('Lake Regions" vol. l., p 395)
as the man drain Of the Mscne region, tue Western
admirable fer,lilly" To the westsouthwest flows the
Vale (Kwae. or partridge y Nullun made by Cameron
su,n ins n01a s waters uo tho M Sasaraz The latter
feeds the Tanganylka, and tue lake reservoir
Both assume from their birth The generally atiiu.
/ uinal direction OF the Congo basin, ana both
tnke their r,s. as far as We know, nearly degree
further than tho meridian that bisects The Cnam-
bese River. The latter, both 10 volume OF water and
absolute length OF the channel, IS undoubtedly lar
|
only begins iurher 10 The east, forming counter
the Nile source, IL makes Inc ranganyika bear
to the Congo the same relationship which the Vic
toriu Nyanzi bears TO the Nilc and, finally, with re-
gard uue axal direction, II forms tho primary Congo
| Vaney, of which The ChamDe2o would be u secondary
| feature.
Stanley, we see DAILY Telegraph March 70, 1870,
accepts the Luguga, Cameron's great '1nd,' as an
eiilutnt, but iutcrmitting and NJ tunes, iniowing;
he consoles tho gallant young dscoverer by assur-
ing nim ina, although the ranganyika has no outlet
the term Is generally understood, tue LuSusa Will,
alter some hvc years p form an issue oi great MAJ
DItude and real force" am not yet fully convinced
/ OF the orroetncss of my theory-namely tuat the
Tanganyika, with its brackisn bays observed by v-
tugsIont is dead water during the dries and lake
with two outlets after the annual rams, northern
/ to the Mwutaa (ADeru Niyapzi and western TO tho
Congo-anotner striking instance, II trae OF the nov
elites proverbiay supplied by Africa Stanley and
Cameron both against II. On the other
hand, Sir Samuel Baker's solid statcments by
/ means "faucful IDEAS" are equally strong.
Ii is deeply TO be regretted that signor Romoo Gessi
white circumnavigating tApr, 1870 The Mwutan, oy
orders OF Colonel Gordon neglected, Win True un-
scientific incurousness to land AZ The souhcrnmost
extremity The hill range appeared to break there,