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Etext prepared by Garry Gill (garrygill@hotmail.com) and the distributed proofreading team of Charles Franks (http://charlz.dynip.com/gutenberg/)
The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile
And Explorations of the Nile Sources.
by Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A., F.R.G.S.
Gold Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society.
To Her Most Gracious Majesty
THE QUEEN
I dedicate, with Her permission,
THIS BOOK,
Containing the Story of the Discovery of the Great Lake
From which the NILE ultimately flows,
And which,
As connected so intimately,
As a NILE SOURCE, with the VICTORIA LAKE,
I have ventured to name
"THE ALBERT N'YANZA,"
In Memory of the Late Illustrious and Lamented
PRINCE CONSORT.
PREFACE.
In the history of the Nile there was a void: its Sources were a mystery. The Ancients devoted much attention to this problem; but in vain. The Emperor Nero sent an expedition under the command of two centurions, as described by Seneca. Even Roman energy failed to break the spell that guarded these secret fountains. The expedition sent by Mehemet Ali Pasha, the celebrated Viceroy of Egypt, closed a long term of unsuccessful search.
The work has now been accomplished. Three English parties, and only three, have at various periods started upon this obscure mission: each has gained its end.
Bruce won the source of the Blue Nile; Speke and Grant won the Victoria source of the great White Nile; and I have been permitted to succeed in completing the Nile Sources by the discovery of the great reservoir of the equatorial waters, the ALBERT N'YANZA, from which the river issues as the entire White Nile.