What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile

by John Hanning Speke

[72] Since writing this, as I have had more insight into Africa by travelling from Kazé to Egypt down the whole length of the Nile, I would be sorry to leave this opinion standing without making a few more remarks. Of all places in Africa, by far the most inviting to missionary enterprise are the kingdoms of Karagué, Uganda, and Unyoro. They are extremely fertile and healthy, and the temperature is delightfully moderate. So abundant, indeed, are all provisions, and so prolific the soil, that a missionary establishment, however large, could support itself after the first year's crop. Being ruled by kings of the Abyssinian type, there is no doubt but that they have a latent Christianity in them. These kings are powerful enough to keep up their governments under numerous officers. They have expressed a wish to have their children educated; and I am sure the missionary need only go there to obtain all he desires on as secure a basis as he will find anywhere else in those parts of Africa which are not under the rule of Europeans. If this was effected by the aid of an Egyptian force at Gondokoro, together with an arrangement for putting the White Nile trade on a legitimate footing between that station and Unyoro, the heathen would not only be blessed, but we should soon have a great and valuable commerce. Without protection, though, I would not advise any one to go there.

Now, for the use of commercial inquirers, I may also add, that it may be seen in my 'Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile,' that the kings of these three countries were all, more or less, adverse to my passing through their countries to the Nile; but they gave way, and permitted my doing so, on my promising to open a direct trade with this country and theirs by the channel of that river. I gave them the promise freely, for I saw by the nature of the land, subjected as it is to frequently recurring showers of rain all the year round, that it will be, in course of time, one of the greatest nations on the earth. It is nearer to Europe than India; it is far more fertile, and it possesses none of those disagreeable elements of discontent which have been such a sharp thorn in our sides in India—I mean a history and a religion far anterior to our own, which makes those we govern there shrink from us, caused by a natural antipathy of being ruled by an inferior race, as we are by them considered to be. These countries, on the contrary, have no literature, and therefore have neither history nor religion to excite discontent should any foreigners intrench on their lands. By this I do not wish it to be supposed that I would willingly see any foreign European power upset these Wahuma governments; but, on the contrary, I would like to see them maintained as long as possible, and I seriously trust some steps may speedily be taken for that most desirable object. Should it not be so, then in a short time these kingdoms will fall into the hands of those vile ruffian traders on the White Nile, in the same way as Kazé has been occupied by the Arabs of Zanzibar. To give an instance of the way it most likely will be effected, I will merely state that the king of Unyoro begged me repeatedly to kill some rebel brothers of his, who were then occupying an island between his palace and the Little Luta Nzige. I would not do it, as I thought it would be a bad example to set in the country; but some time afterwards I felt sorry for it, for on arrival in Madi, where I first met the Nile traders, I found that they were in league with these very rebels to dethrone the king. The atrocities committed by these traders are beyond all civilised belief. They are constantly fighting, robbing, and capturing slaves and cattle. No honest man can either trade or travel in the country, for the natives have been bullied to such an extent that they either fight or run away, according to their strength and circumstance. That a great quantity of ivory is drawn from those countries I must admit, for these traders ramify in all directions, and, vying with one another, see who can get most ivory at the least expense, no matter what means they employ to obtain their ends.

At the same time, I have no hesitation in saying that ten times as much merchandise might be got at less expense, if the trade were protected by government means, and put on a legitimate footing. Those countries teem with cattle. The indigenous cotton is of very superior quality. Indigo, sugar-cane, coffee, tobacco, sesamum, and indeed all things that will grow in a tropical climate, may be grown there within 3° of the equator, in luxurious profusion, and without any chance of failure owing to those long periodical droughts which affect all lands distant more than 3° from the equator.

When I was sailing down the Nile, I could not help remarking to all the pashas I visited how strange it appeared that men so civilised as they were should be living in such a barren, hot, and glaring land as Egypt, when the negroes on the equator were absolutely living in the richest and pleasantest garden in the world, so far as nature has made the two countries.

Now, though I have dwelt so markedly on the surprising fertility of Uganda and Unyoro in particular, I do not wish it to be supposed that I consider those countries alone to be exclusively rich, for I believe there is a continuous zone of fertility stretching right across Africa from east to west, affected only by the nature of the soil. In advancing this argument, I hold that the greatest discovery I have made in Africa consists in my positive knowledge regarding the rainy system of Africa; and to exemplify it irrespectively of my meteorological observations, I will state emphatically that as surely as I have determined the source of the Nile to lie within 3° of the equator, and that it cannot emanate from any point farther south, because all the lands beyond that limit are subject to long periodical droughts—so certain am I that the Tanganyika is supplied from the same source, or rainy zone, though draining in the opposite direction. Again, to its west also, from the same source of supply, the head-waters of the Zambézi take their origin. Still farther west, the fountains of the Congo must have their birth. Again, farther west still, the Chadda branch of the Niger can alone be thus supplied, and the same must be the case with the Gaboon river.

To carry this argument still farther, I would direct attention to the periodical conditions of the Blue Nile and Niger rivers. Both of these rivers rise in high mountains on the coast-range, at about 10° north latitude, but on opposite sides of the continent. They are considered large rivers, but only in consequence of their great floodings, when the sun, in his northern declination, brings the rains over the seats of their birthplaces; for when the sun is in the south they shrink so low that the waters of the Blue river would never have power to reach the sea were they not assisted by the perennial stream of the White Nile.

The most important exploring expedition that any one could undertake now, would be to cross Africa from east to west, keeping close to the first degree of north latitude, to ascertain the geological formation of that parallel. Within the coast-ranges, in consequence of the great elevation of the land, the temperature is always moderate, and it is proved to be much more healthy than any of those parts of Africa subjected to periodical seasons. Next to this scheme, I would recommend this fertile zone to be attacked from Gondokoro on the Nile, and from Gaboon (the French port) on the equator. The Gondokoro line, being known to a considerable extent, is ready for working, and only requires government protection to make it succeed; but the other line from the Gaboon should first be inspected by a scientific expedition.