There was, however, another theory. Rumors gathered from the natives pointed to lakes in the regions s. of the equator as the true sources of the Nile. To explore this country the distinguished traveler, capt. Richard Burton, accompanied by capt. Speke, started from the Zanzibar coast in 1857. Their enterprise was so far successful that they discovered lake Tanganyika, in lat. 5° s., long. 36° e., and a large crescent-shaped mass of mountains overhanging the northern half of the lake, and 10,000 ft. high, con sidered by capt. Speke to be the true Mountains of the Moon. On the shores of lake Tanganyika Burton was laid up by illness, and his companion, after surveying the northern portion of the lake, left him there to recruit his health, while he (Speke) pro ceeded northwards to discover another huge " nyanza" or lake, of the existence of which he was informed by the natives. This he accomplished on 3, 1858, when he dis covered the southern end of the Victoria Nyanza (q.v.). In his journal he says of this immense sheet of water: " I no longer felt any doubt that the lake at my feet gave birth to that interesting river, the source of which has been the subject of so much speculation and the object of so many explorers." Iu 1861 capt. Speke, taking with him capt. Grant, returned to the lake region. The -expedition approached the Victoria Nyanza again from the coast of Zanzibar; and the first place from which they obtained a view of it, during the second expedition, was the town of Mashonde on its western side. Thence they pursued their way along the shore northwards.- Crossing the equator, they reached streams which are said to flow out of the lake, and further ou, in the center of its northern coast, what they considered to be the parent stream of the Nile, 150 yards in breadth, flowing over rocks of an igneous char acter, and forming fells 12 ft. high, which capt Speke christened the " Ripon falls," in honor of the president of the royal geographical society at the time of his starting on the expedition.
In the kingdom of Karagwe capt. Speke found a very superior negro race, much better disposed to strangers than any of the tribes he had formerly passed through. The country occupied this race, and that of Uganda, stretches along the Nyanza, and covers half of its western and northeru shores, the Uganda being bounded on the e. by the main stream of the Nile. North of it lies the kingdom of Unyoro, where the dialects belonging to the language of s. Africa, and which up to this point are used by the various
tribes, suddenly cease, and give place to those of the language of n. Africa.
At Gondokoro Speke and Grant were met by Mr. (now sir Samuel) Baker, who had come from Cairo to their relief. Baker, accompanied by his heroic wife, pushed still southwards, and had the happiness of discovering, in 1864;another great lake, which he called the Albert Nyanza. In 1869 he undertook a second great expedition, of a military -character, at the expense of the pasha of Egypt, to suppress slavery in the tipper regions of the Nile: and has reduced under the sway of that ruler the whole valley of the river as far as the Victoria Nyanza. Sir Samuel returned in Sept., 1873.
Meanwhile Dr. Livingstone had been working for many years, from another quarter, at the solution of the great African problem—the true source of the Nile. In 1866 he began the great journey from which he was destined never to return. Starting from the Rovuina river, in the far s., he passed round the s. end of lake Nyassa, proceeded northward, exploring the lakes Bangweolo and Moero; and in 1869 reached lake Tan ganyika, now known to send its outflow towards the Congo, but which he sought in vain to connect with,tbe Victoria Nyanza. In 1871 he was found by Mr. Stanley at Ujiji, on lake Tanganyika, and it was then his opinion that neither Tanganyika, nor the Albert Nyanza, nor the Victoria Nyanza was the true source of the Nile, nor any of the feeders of these lakes; but that it was to be sought in a basin lying westward of them, through which flow three large rivers, all called Lualaba, and which unite to form another great lake, which he called Lincoln. Out of this a river runs northward, which he conceived to be the main branch of the Nile. Geographers at home generally believed that Living stone was mistaken, and had struck instead upon the source of the Congo; but the death ef the great traveler before the completion of his explorations left the problem unsolved. It was not until Mr. Stanley in 1876-77 followed the course of the Lualaba to its mouth that this stream was definitely proved to be identical with the Congo. Mr. Stanley's explorations in 1875, ere he struck the Lualaba, have given us more accurate information as to the size and shape of the Victoria Nyanza (see NYANZA), and as to its affluent, the Shimiyu.