第96章

TheKhediveofEgyptwassincerewhenhegavemetheorderstosuppressthishorribletraffic；andItrust，fromthesimpledescriptionoftheexpedition，theworldwillacknowledgethatinthisdutyIexhibitedtheutmostleniencytowardstheruffianlylesseesoftheSoudangovernment。

IamconvincedthattheKhediveissincereatheartinwishingtosuppresstheslavetrade，butherequiresunusualmoralcouragetoenterthelistssingle-handedagainstEgyptianpublicopinion。

MISSIONARYLABOUR。

Myopinionhasbeenfrequentlyaskedonthissubject，andmanyhaveendeavouredtopersuademethatarapidchangeandimprovementofthenativesmaybeeffectedbysuchanagency。Icannotresistbyargumentsuchferventhopes；butifgoodandcapablemenaredeterminedtomaketheattempt，theymaynowbeassuredofpeaceandsecurityatGondokoro，wheretheywillhavetheadvantageofthegoodnameleftbytheexcellentbutunfortunatemembersofthelateAustrianmission。

GEOGRAPHY。

Ihavenotchangedmyopinionsthathavealreadybeenexpressedin”TheAlbertN’yanza，”exceptthat，fromthenativetestimony，IpresumetheremustbeachannelwhichconnectseitheralakeorseriesoflakeswiththeAlbertN’yanza。

Withoutaguide，itwouldbeaworkofmuchtimeanddifficultytodiscoverthetruechannelamongthelabyrinth-likeinletsthatcharacterizethevastbedsoffloatingwater-grass。

Manyyearsago，whenatMagungo，ontheAlbertN’yanza，Icouldnotatfirstbelievethattheraft-chokedentranceoftheVictoriaNileinapparentlydeadwaterwasindeedthemouthofthatimportantriver。MysubsequentexperienceinthemarshyandlacustrineBahrGiraffehasconfirmedmyimpressionsoftheextremedifficultyofdecidinguponthenon-existenceofachanneluntilafteralengthenedinvestigation。

IcannotconceivethattheLualabaofLivingstonecanbeincludedwithintheNileBasin。LivingstonedecidedtheleveloftheTanganyikalaketobewithin72feetofmyleveloftheAlbertN’yanza。WiththesameinstrumentshedeterminedthealtitudeoftheLualabatobelowerthantheAlbertN’yanza，thusshowingtheimpossibilityofaconnectionbetweenthatriverasanaffluentwiththelake。

IwillnotpresumetoassertthattheLualabaisasourceoftheCongo，asIhaveastrongobjectiontogeographicaltheoriesorassertionsunlessprovedbyactualinspection，butifLivingstone’sobservationsforaltitudearecorrect，itisimpossiblethattheLualabacanbeconnectedwiththeNile。[*]

[*Footnote：Mr。Stanley’sdiscoveriessincethiswaswrittenhaveconfirmedmysuppositions。]

Dr。Schweinfurth’sdiscoveryoftheWelleriverflowingtowardsthewest，betweenthe3rdand4thdeg。N。lat。，isaclearproofthatnorivercanberunningfromthesouthtothenorth-easttowardstheNileBasin，otherwisetheWelleriverwouldbeintersected。

Inpage186，vol。ii。，Dr。Schweinfurth[*]writes：——”Itscourse[theLualaba]，indeed，wastowardsthenorth；butLivingstonewasmanifestlyinerrorwhenhetookitforatruesourceoftheNile，asuppositionthatmighthavesomesemblanceoffoundationoriginatingintheinexplicablevolumeofthewaterofLakeM’wootan(AlbertN’yanza)，butwhichwasnegativ

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