What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the NileSpeke, John Hanning
History
What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile
Speke, John Hanning
Horn of Africa -- Description and travel; Nile River; Tanganyika, Lake
When Sheikh Snay told us of the Ukéréwé, as he called the N'yanza, on
our first arrival at Kazé, proceeding westward from Zanzibar, he said,
"If you have come only to see a large bit of water, you had better go
northwards and see the Ukéréwé; for it is much greater in every
respect than the Tanganyika;" and so, as far as I can ascertain, it
is. Muanza, our journey's end, now lay at our feet. It is an open,
well-cultivated plain on the southern end, and lies almost flush with
the lake; a happy, secluded-looking corner, containing every natural
facility to make life pleasant. After descending the hill, we followed
along the borders of the lake, and at first entered Mahaya's Palace,
when the absence of boats arousing my suspicions, made me inquire
where the Arabs, on coming to Muanza, and wishing to visit Ukéréwé,
usually resided. This, I heard, was some way farther on; so with great
difficulty I persuaded the porters to come away and proceed at once to
where they said an Arab was actually living. It was a singular
coincidence that, after Sheikh Snay's caution as to my avoiding Sultan
Mahaya's Palace, by inquiring diligently about him yesterday, and
finding no one who knew his name, the first person I should have
encountered was himself, and that, too, in his own Palace. The reason
of this was, that big men in this country, to keep up their dignity,
have several names, and thus mystify the traveller.
I then proceeded along the shore of the lake in an easterly direction,
and on the way shot a number of red Egyptian geese, which were very
numerous; they are the same sort here as I once saw in the Somali
country. Another goose, which unfortunately I could not kill, is very
different from any I ever saw or heard of: it stands as high as the
Canadian bird, or higher, and is black all over, saving one little
white patch beneath the lower mandible. It was fortunate that I came
on here, for the Arab in question, called Mansur bin Salim, treated me
very kindly, and he had retainers belonging to the country, who knew
as much about the lake as anybody, and were of very great assistance.
I also found a good station for making observations on the lake. It
was Mansur who first informed me of my mistake of the morning; but he
said that the evil reports spread at Unyanyembé about Mahaya had no
foundation; on the contrary, he had found him a very excellent and
obliging person.
To-day we marched eight miles, and have concluded our journey
northwards, a total distance of 226 miles from Kazé, which, occupying
twenty-five days, is at the rate of nine miles per diem, halts
inclusive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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