The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-03-26
Sta nley's Exploration OF Tangan-
yika.

in our cable messages on the 18th inst, IS
printed in full in to-day's HERALD. 1t Will
be found of great and peculiar interest TO
geographers and to the thousands of readers
who, through the attention that has been
given for many years to the various prob
lens of African geography, have acquired
in them that kind Of intellectual interest
that feeds upon the unknown and the mys-
terious. This letter exhibits exceedingly
we'll the characteristic methods of the ex-
plorer, who sets out, not to sustain theory
or accumulate evidence in support OF views
on the geography of Africa formed in some
other country, but to ascertain the real
state of the facts as to mooted points as
we'll as with regard to points hitherto quite
untouched.
Readers not inspired by the wish to be
.smartly critical upon the little mannerisms
of writer, and not animated by that mere
impulse to objection which urges the bull
to try his horns on every stone wall, will
not fail to notice the careful spirit in which
our correspondent pursues his Investigations
into points that may seem scarcely worth
now, and he has discovered by some expe-
riences that no point in geographical explo-
ration that is worthy observation at all is
unworthy all the attention that is necessary
to make the observation absolutely accurate,
if that be possible 1t may very safely be
said that three-fourths Of the energy, cour-
age and skill that in the history of geo.
graphical science have been given to the
calculation Of its great problems in all quar-
tiers Of the globe have been of little value in
the advancement of knowledge because
thrown away by being applied in pursuance
of theories founded upon erroneous OBSERVE
tions of earlier discoveries in one direction
or another. How many heroic souls have
gone under in vain labors based on the
notion that our Atlantic shore was the limit
of the Oriental world, or, with that error cor
rected, that way to the Indies might be
found by doubling the northern extremity
Of this continent! Expeditions though
founded upon errors are never, perhaps,
entirely profitless for no good labor is really
lost in the world, but the same labor would
have been more fruitful if applied with the
intelligence derived from more accurate
knowledge. 1t will, therefore, be especially
agreeable, we believe, to geographers to find
that a man with some exceptional oppor-
tunities, as are now possessed by Stanley,
has acquired full conception of the great
importance of making his observations pre-
eminent for conscientious fidelity.
;pe%orca ~ <hio uho1acona habit nav
be observed in the attention given to the re-
lations of the Lukuga and Lake Tanganyika.
1t has always been doubtful point whether
the waters of Tanganyika were discharged
otherwise than by evaporation. No ex-
plorer had happened upon any stream or
service, yet the sweetness of the waters
seemed irreconcilable with the view that it
was an African Dead Sea, retaining all the
salts brought down from the drainage Of the
mountains and for ages losing only watery
particles by the distillation of the sun. Or
if it were true that this vast body of water
received all the streams that fell into
it and discharged its waters only by
evaporation, yet did not become bitter with
salts of various kinds, this seemed to point
to the important fact that it was not a lake
of great age; that its bed was of compara-
lively late formation, and that enough min
eral substances to impregnate SO vast a body
of water had not yet been carried into it by
the veins that scour the African mountains.
This view of the age Of the lake was sus-
tanned by the volcanic appearances as de-
scribed by Captain Burton. Therefore the
announcement by Cameron that he had dis
covered in the Lukuga stream by which
the waters of Tanganyika were discharged
seemed that great geographical success, the
solution of an important problem. But
Stanley's examination has proved that Cam
erons statements in regard to the Lukuga are
at most only partially true. This was rather
delicate ground for IN explorer to venture
upon who wishes not to be guilty of that
rudeness toward a gallant and brilliant
laborer in the same feld which has married
so many grand chapters in the history of
African exploration, and Stanley felt this;
but the minute and happy experiments by
which he established that the Lukuga is at
least not permanent etfluent Of the great
lake must, we believe, satisfy Cameron
himself. 1t is quite possible, indeed, that
when Cameron was there the level of Tan
ganyika was, from some reason or another, q
few inches higher than when Stanley was
there, and in that case it appears from
SANKEY'S own account that the Lukuga be-
comes an outhowing river, though when the
level falls it discharges sluggishly small
amount of water into the lake.
From SANKEY'S description it appears that
the bed of the Lukuga is little way from
the lake at point so near the lake level
that it becomes "divide," and that when
the level Of the lake is low the Lukuga flows
into it, while when it is high the waters OF