The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-26
SOLVED A VEXED QUESTION.
African Explorers Tell at Last Where
the ONO River Empties.
New York Sun.

4NSW 1Ofh SuIl.
According to a dispatch from Rome to
the London Times, the Italian Geographical
Society on Sept. 10 announced the scientific
results of the Inflated Bottego expedition
to Lake Rudolf and Stefanie, south of the
western part of AbysSinia and to the val
ley of the upper Nile. A few months ago
this expedition was almost annihilated by
Gala natives and it's leader was among the
slain; but the results of its explorations
were preserved, and they are among the
most important achieved by African
plorers in recent years The routes of the
party covered about 3, 700 miles of travel, of
which fully One-half were through regions
hitherto unknown to explorers.
The chief discoveries, which are very
briefly summarized in the dispatch, will
arouse general desire for the details of
these important contributions to geographic
Information. Only a line is given to the
most important among them, and that is
that the large ONO river has been found
to empty into Lake Rudolf. If the evidence
of this statement is conclusive, it settles
a long vexed geographical problem.
The ONO river rises among the noun
tains on the southern border of Shoa, the
ancestral kingdom of King Menelek. Until
now no one has been able to tell exactly
where its waters went to. For some time
Captain Cecchi, the Italian explorer, was
q champion of the idea that the ONO finally
turned to the east and sent its waters
down the Jub river to the Indian ocean.
Then Borelli followed the ONO down stream
to sixty degrees twenty minutes north lat
titude, whence he gave the river wester-
ly direction for 135 miles, and then a south
erly turn; and the natives told him it emp
tied into Shamburu lake. Then Count
Teleki and Lieutenant Won HOhnel diScoV-
cred the large Lake Rudolf, and they said
it must be identical with BorelliS Lake
Shamburu; and they found the Nianam riv-
er flowing into the northern arm of the
lake, and, from native information, they
believed that they fixed its lower course for
forty-tive miles, and they were certain that
it was identical with the ONO. This view
was later supported by Captain Cecchi him
SELF
Still this opinion was not positively estab-
1;~I, o1 ~ II bhad 10 had
posed the river continued its course west
ward to join the White Nile, and Prof. p.
Gilbert advanced the theory that 1t flowed
far south into Victoria Nyanza though
Stanley may not have found any great river
entering that lake on the east side.
Then came the explorations of DR.. Don
aldson smith Of Pennsylvania in 1S94-95
during which he visited Lake Rudolph and
assembled its northern tributary the Ma
man, for about one hundred miles. He had
regarded the Nianam as the River ONO,
but now changed his opinion. At the point
where he turned back the Nianam was only
forty yards wide, and he could not believe
IL to be the lower course of the great ONO.
TO the north he saw lofty plateaus, and
he concluded that the .Nianam had its or
igin among them. about 120 miles north of
Lake Rudolph. He also concluded that the
ONO must flow into the Jub river.
Now comes the positive assertion from
the Bottego expedition that the ONO flows
into Lake Rud" ,ph, which would seem to
identify it with the Nianam. The party
could advance it's statement only hypothet-
ically If ii had not actually traced the ONO
from it's known source to the lake. The
particulars of the solution of the ONO prob
lem will be awaited with interest.
The expedition also explored the upper
basin of the Sobat river. the large right
tributary of the Nile, whose upper course
has been wholly unknown. though in 1876
DIR. Junker assembled it from its mouth for
a distance of 1S5 miles. The expedition also
fixed the borders of the southern range of
the Ethiopian mountains. and it discovered
q large lake known to the natives as Pa
gade. which was renamed by the explorers
Regina Margherita. All the west side of
Lake Rudolph, which no explorer has Wis
tied before was surveyed This is a fine
record of achievement, and it is hoped that
The material that has reached Italy will
be adequate for the proper mapping of the
discoveries made.