But Baker’s position of Vacovia proves that he actually was there, and the general correctness of his outline of the east coast from Vacovia to Magungo also proves that he navigated the lake.
Stanley says: “When we turn our faces northeast we say that Baker has done exceedingly well; but when we turn them southward our senses in vain try to penetrate the mystery, because our eyes see not what Baker saw. With Lieutenant Stairs, Mounteney, Jephson, Surgeon Parke, Emin Pasha, Captain Casati, I look with my own eyes upon the scene. I find Baker has made an error. I am somewhat surprised also at Baker’s altitudes of Lake Albert and the Blue Mountains and at the breadth attributed by him to the lake. The shore opposite Vacovia is ten and a quarter miles distant, not forty or fifty miles. The Blue Mountains are nothing else but a west upland, the highest cone or hill being not above six thousand feet above the level of the sea. The altitude of Lake Albert by the aneroid and the boiling point will not exceed two thousand three hundred and fifty feet.”
Last of all, away to the southwest, while Baker has sketched his infinite stretch of lake, there rises, about forty miles from Vacovia, an immense snowy mountain, a solid, square-browed mass, with an almost level summit between two lofty ridges. If it were a beautifully clear day he should have seen this, being nearer to it by thirteen geographical miles than Stanley was.
“About the lake discovered by me in 1876 I can learn very little from the natives,” says Stanley. “At the Chief of Kavallis I saw two natives who came from that region. One of them hailed from Unyampaka and the other from Usongora. The first said that the Albert Lake is much larger than that near Unyampaka. The other said that the southern lake is the larger, as it takes two days to cross it. He describes it as being a month’s march from Kavallis. Their accounts differ so much that one is almost tempted to believe that there are two lakes, the smaller one near Unyampaka and connected by a river or channel with that of Usongora.
“My interest is greatly excited, as you may imagine, by the discovery of Ruevenzori, the snowy mountain, and a possible rival of Kilimanjaro. Remember that we are in north latitude, and that this mountain must be near or on the Equator itself; that it is summer now, and that we saw it in the latter part of May; that the snow-line was about estimated at only one thousand feet below the summit.
“Hence I conclude that it is not Mount Gordon-Bennett seen in December, 1876—though it may be so—which the natives said had only snow occasionally.
“At the time I saw the latter there was no snow visible. It is a little further east, according to the position I gave it, than Ruevenzori. All questions which this mountain naturally give rise to will be settled, I hope, by this expedition before it returns to the sea.
“If at all near my line of march, its length, height and local history will be ascertained. Many rivers will be found to issue from this curious land between the two Muta Nziges. What rivers are they? Do they belong to the Nile or the Congo? There is no river going east or southeast from this section except the Katonga and Kafur, and both must receive, if any, but a very small supply from Mount Gordon-Bennett and the Ruevenzori. The new mountain must therefore be drained principally south and west—if the south streams have connection with the lake, south; if west, Semiliki, a tributary of Lake Albert, and some river flowing to the Congo must receive the rest of its waters. Then, if the lake south receives any considerable supply, the interest deepens.
“Does the lake discharge its surplus to the Nile or the Congo? If to the former, then it will be of great interest to you, and you will have to admit that Lake Victoria is not the main source of the Nile. If to the Congo, then the lake will be the source of the river Lowa or Loa, since it is the largest tributary to the Congo from the east between the Aruwimi and Luama.”
Of the many geographical discoveries that have resulted from the expedition just completed, the following may be noted as among the most prominent: The snowy ranges of Ruevenzori, the Cloud King, or Rain-creator; the Semliki River, the plains of Noongora, the salt lakes of Kative; new peoples, Wakonyu of the Great Mountains; dwellers of the rich forest regions, the Awamba, the fine-featured Wasonyora, the Wanyora bandits, and then Lake Albert Edward, the tribes and shepherd races of the Eastern Uplands, then Wanyankori, besides Wanyaruwamba and Wazinya.