The leading fact in regard to the position of Victoria Nyanza in the general hydrography of Central Africa is that by none of its affluents is it connected with any of the other great u equatorial” lakes. Tanganyika lies in a trough about 1400 feet lower. Between the Victoria and Lake Nyassa (Zambesi system) there is a stretch of 500 miles; and, though a large lake, part of which Stanley saw in 1876, and named Gulf Beatrice, lies to the west, it forms in all probability a distinct basin.

In 1875 Stanley proved that the only outflow from Victoria Nyanza was by the Ripon Falls on the north side of the lake. These falls (named after Earl de Grey and Ripon, president of the Royal Geographical Society in 1859) were discovered July 28, 1862, by Captain Speke, but from native accounts he was led to believe that other streams (such as the Luajerri) issued from the lake. The Nile, as it drops about 12 feet over the rocks, has a breadth of 400 to 500 feet, divided into several sections by a number of wooded isles. For the next 300 miles the Victoria Nile or Somerset River, as this section is called, has all the character of a mountain stream racing swiftly along a rocky channel often walled in by cliffs (at times 180 feet high) and broken by picturesque islands and countless rapids. At first for 117 miles its course is north-northwest, but reaching the Khor Kafu (on which Mruli stands), about l o 38' N. lat. and 32° 20' E. long., it takes the north-east direction of this channel, and it is not till 2° N. lat. that it again turns north-west towards the Albert Nyanza. About 52 miles below the Ripon Falls, Long, who in 1874 boated from Urondogani to Foweira, describes himself as having passed through a lake 20 to 25 miles broad; but this expanse, which appears in text-books and maps (sometimes as two lakes, Kaja and Ibrahim Lakes), may have been the result of a mere temporary overflow. At Karuma, below Foweira, the river falls over a wall-like ledge of rock 5 feet high which extends right across its bed. But the great feature of the Victoria Nile is the Murchison Fall, about 2° 18' N. lat. and 3Γ 50' E. long., where the river rages furiously through a rock-bound pass, and plunges at one leap of about 120 feet into a gloomy abyss. Below this point, continuing between steep forest-covered hills, it gradually calms down into a stream so slow and steady that at certain seasons it is only from the scarcely perceptible drifting of the little green water-plants, called Pistia Stratiotes, z that the flow can be observed. About 20 or 25 miles below the fall it enters the north end of the Albert Nyanza.

This lake was first reached by Baker on March 14,1864, near Vacovia on the east coast, a small village of fishermen and salt-makers. From a granitic cliff 1500 feet above the water he looked out over a boundless horizon on the south and south-west, and towards the west descried at a distance of 50 or 60 miles, blue mountains about 7000 feet high. The Albert Nyanza was consequently entered on his map as a vast lake extending from 2° S. lat. to 2° 50' N. lat., or a distance of about 380 miles. But the circumnavigation of the lake by Gessi Pasha (1876), Mason Bey, and Dr Emin Bey leaves no doubt that its real dimensions are—length 97 miles, average breadth 22 miles, and area about 2000 square miles. The western shore is in its northern half overhung by lofty and precipitous mountains, but farther south is formed by a wide forest-clad plain. At the south end the water is very shallow and encumbered by a vast stretch of ambatch forest. Instead of the lake being, as Baker contended, one of the great sources of the Nile, its functions are those of a large backwater. Of course a considerable amount of drainage must reach it from the surrounding high grounds, though the lakeward slopes are not very extensive; but none of its tributaries appear to be of much importance as feeders of the main stream. Along the western shore the depth is from 15 to 20 feet.

Escaping by an island-studded channel from the northwest corner of the Albert Nyanza, the Nile, which now takes the name of Bahr al-Jebel, or River of the Mountains, continues to flow in a general northward direction. From Magungo to Dufile (Dufli), 128 miles, its course is wonderfully smooth, and forms a series of lake-like reaches. Below Dufile the high lands close in upon the river, which, from a width of a mile at Dufile, narrows to 400 or 500 yards, and rushes through a gorge. Near Mugi (50 miles below Dufile) are the formidable Yarborah rapids. From Kiri (Kerrie)—an Egyptian fort on an eminence 1500 feet high on the left bank—the river is again navigable, but flows with so strong a current that Mr Felkin’s boat took only three and a half hours to reach Bedden, a distance of some 30 miles. At Bedden a line of hills runs right athwart the channel, which is divided by an island of great beauty. An iron rope ferry was established by Gordon at this point, and without it the river could not be crossed. Between Bedden and Rejaf (12 miles) the hills give place to park-like plains dotted with large trees. About 15 miles below Rejaf, Gondokoro is passed on the right hand, and there the traveller may still see the ruins of the old mission church, the earthworks of Baker’s camp, and the lemon grove from which the fruit has been distributed throughout the equatorial provinces. At this point the river, about 656 feet wide, is divided by a large island. Eight miles farther down lies Lado (often spelled Lardo) on the left bank, a well-built Egyptian town with houses of burnt brick and a considerable area of cultivated land watered by shadûfs. With the hill to the west of Lado, variously called Nyerkani and Luyola, the mountainous region ends, and the river enters on a vast plain. The affluents which it has hitherto received are for the most part short and individually insignificant Ichors (temporary streams), but two at least deserve a few words of description. TheUnyama, joining the river opposite J. Kuku or Neri, 10 miles below Duffle, is a perennial stream rising in the prairies between Fatiko and Unyoro, and winding through a lovely country for about 80 miles. The Asua (Atza of the Madi), whose mouth is 20 miles farther down on the same side, is about 120 paces broad, and flows through a rocky bed 15 feet deep. As it receives nearly the whole drainage of the Madi and Shua countries and various districts farther east, it becomes in the rainy season a deep and furious torrent. The Atabbi or Atappi (the main drain of the western face of the Shuli mountains) reaches the Asua a short distance above the mouth.

The great plain which the Nile enters below Lado, about 5° N. lat., slopes so gradually towards the north that the river falls only 300 feet in a stretch of more than 650 miles between Gondokoro and Khartoum. As the river has gradually raised the level of both bed and banks, an overflow takes place, and lagoons or side channels (may ds) are formed wherever the bank breaks down; and as these, from their position, naturally act as settling-ponds they get rapidly silted up.

Up to about 7° 25' N. lat., in spite of this condition of things, the Nile maintains a fairly definite course, with a considerable depth of water in its main current, but at this point it splits up into two branches as if to form a delta. The left branch, which retains the name Bahr al-Jebel, but which may be conveniently distinguished by the Denka name of Kir, continues in the line of the river, and the right branch, or Bahr al-Zerâf (Giraffe River), tends rather more towards the east. After flowing respectively about 160 and 140 miles, they reach the Bahr al-Ghazâl, slowly gliding east with a slight deflexion to the south. The whole region is a vast expanse of low swampy lands crossed by secondary channels, and flooded for many miles in the rainy season. At the junction of the Bahr al-Ghazâl and the Kir the permanently submerged area is usually named Lake No on our maps, but the Arabs simply call it the confluence—Mokren al-Bohιir. The scenes presented by this portion of the Nile are of the most peculiar description. The dark and ill-smelling water shows no sign of motion. On all sides stretch monotonous reaches of omm sùf (i.e., woolly) grass ( Vossia procera) and papyrus, rising 20 or 30 feet above the water so as often to close the view like a stone wall; the level of the plain is broken only at intervals by little mounds of earth, tenanted for the most part by white ants, and covered with a clump of brushwood or trees; the moisture in the air is so excessive that gunpowder left in the guns overnight is reduced to a paste; mosquitoes and other swamp flies swarm in myriads. And yet touches of beauty are not wanting. Water-lilies (Nymplιeea stellata and Nympheea Lotus)— white, blue, and crimson—often adorn the surface of the stream; multitudes of water-fowl, from the familiar Egyptian duck and the pelican to the rare and odd-looking Balaenicevs rex (abfi markιib), breed among the reeds, and at night the scene is lit up by a very firmament of fire-flies.

Previous to 1863 both the Kir and the Bahr al-Zerâf had been navigable within the memory of man. But when the Tinné expedition passed down the river in March of that year, the White Nile, the united current of the Bahr al-Jebel and the Bahr al-Ghazâl, was found to be blocked by an accumulation of vegetable flotsam, and it cost the crew two days’ hard labour to take their vessel through a channel partially cleared by their predecessors. The obstruction rapidly increased, and thirty vessels had to be employed for five weeks to open a permanent passage. In 1865 Baker found a dam about f of a mile wide already overgrown with reeds and grass so as to form a continuation of the surrounding country. Matters went from bad to worse, and the White Nile, the Kir, and the Bahr al-Zerâf were all rendered impassable till, in 1874, Ismael Ayub Pasha cleared the main route by the White Nile and the Kir. But in 1878 again the whole Nile rose to an unusual height (the banks at Lado, 15 to 20 feet above the mean level, were overflowed), and enormous quantities of vegetable debris were carried off by the current. A formation of bars on an unprecedented scale was the result, and communication between the upper and lower Nile was not restored till 1880.

If the Kir and the White Nile, with their comparatively strong current, were thus obstructed, it was natural that the more sluggish Bahr al-Ghazâl should contain more extensive though less compact accumulations. In 1881 Gessi Pasha spent three and a half months on a part of the voyage usually performed in five hours, and lost half of his men by starvation. Between the mouths of the Kir and Bahr al- c Arab there were twenty distinct dams.

Sir Samuel Baker asserted in 1874 that from the equator to the Mediterranean not a drop of water reached the Nile from the west,—the Bahr al-Ghazâl being only a channel of stagnant pools and marshes (Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1873-74, p. 148). But if their total contribution be of little moment in comparison with that of their eastern rivals, the western affluents are exceedingly numerous, and drain a wide extent of country. Their relative importance has been shown by Schweinfurth, Junker, Emin Bey, &c. One or two—the Rodi (Lau) and the Rohl—join the Bahr al-Jebel in its passage through the plain, but by far the greater number converge to the Bahr al-Ghazâl. At its lowest state, just before the commencement of the rains, this river had in 1881 a depth varying from 20 to 25 feet, though in many places no perceptible current. It is generally navigable to Meshrat-el-Rek, about 200 or 220 miles above the mouth of the Kir, and in the rainy season even small steamers may ascend its tributary, the Dyur or Jur, as far as Wau. In exceptionally dry seasons the channel at Meshrat-el-Rek is so utterly desiccated that drinking-water can be obtained only by digging. One of the main feeders of the Bahr al-Ghazâl is the Bahr al- t Arab, which is formed by the drainage of southern Darfùr, has a breadth—about 10° 20' N. lat. and 25° 20' E. long, (before it receives any of its right hand affluents)—of 360 feet and a depth (in December) of 4 feet, and never quite dries up even in the heat of summer (Felkin, Uganda, ii. 239). This is the only considerable accession from the north: the rest of the affluents, an almost countless host if all the small headstreams be included, have their rise in the range of mountainous country which stretches, from the Blue Mountains of the Albert Nyanza and their southern continuation, in.a general north-east direction as far as 25° or 26° E. long., and forms the watershed between the Nile basin and those probably of Lake Chad and the Congo. Flowing in many cases for 400 or 500 miles, these streams in the upper part of their course are of considerable volume and of much importance in the economy of the countries which they traverse.

About 95 miles below the junction of the Kir, and 30 below that of the Bahr al-Zerâf, the White Nile receives its first great affluent from the east. The Sobât, as it is called, has its headwaters (largely unexplored) distributed over a wide area—the southmost rising possibly as far south as 4° N. lat. in the hilly country of Atuka, the eastmost in Kaffa, and the northmost about 9° in the Berta mountains. On one of them there is probably a considerable lake: first inserted as Baro Lake on our maps by Petermann on the report of a slave dealer, it was expunged by Matteucci; but Schuver claims to have seen it from the mountains to the north, and proposes to call it Haarlem Lake. The Sobât proper is navigable from June to November as far as Nasser (180 miles), an Egyptian port established by Gordon in 1874, and even, it is said, for three days farther, though it divides into four branches a short distance above this point. Junker, who visited Nasser in 1876, found the river 15 to 20 feet deep, flowing at the rate of 80 paces per minute between banks high enough to prevent any general inundation. At the mouth of the Sobât there is an Egyptian post of the same name (see Zeitschr. der Ges. f. Εrdk., Berlin, 1877).

The northward progress of the White Nile for the next 300 miles is through a great plain stretching from the spurs of the Abyssinian highlands in the east to the hilly districts of Takalla and Kordofan in the west, and consisting almost exclusively of red and other sandstone, often flat as a pavement. Escaping from the swampy region, the river again forms a well-marked channel, with regular and sometimes high banks. Throughout the whole distance indicated a striking confirmation of Baer’s law is afforded,—the fairway or deeper side of the stream generally keeping to the eastern shore. About 60 miles below the Sobât mouth lies (on the right bank) Fashoda, an Egyptain town founded in 1867 on the site of Denab, the old “capital” of the Shilluks. In the neighbourhood of Mahadat Abu Zaid (about 13° 5' N. lat.) begin the Sunt Islands, so called from the Arab name for the Acacia nilotica, a tree characteristic of the White Nile.

At Khartoum (Khartùm), in 15° 37' N. lat., the "White Nile is joined by its greatest eastern confluent the Blue Nile (Bahr el-Azrak). This river has its head reservoir in Lake Tana (Tsana), which is so situated that the lines of 12° N. lat. and 37° 2' E. long, cut it into four nearly equal portions. The height of the lake is 5658 feet (Rohlfs). From east to west the breadth is about 40 miles, and the area...

The highest mountain peaks are—Dodabetta, 8760 feet; Kudiakad, 8502; Bevoibetta, 8188; Makurti, 8402; Dâvarsolabetta, 8380; Kunda, 8353; Kùndamoge, 7816; Utakamand, 7361; Tâmbrabetta, 7292; Hokabetta, 7267. There are six well-known passes or ghats ∖>γ which the district communicates with the neighbouring provinces, viz., the Kιimir, Segùr, Gùdalur, Sispâra, Kotâgiri, and Sundapatti, the first three of which are practicable to wheeled traffic. The chief rivers are the Moyâr, Paikâra, and Calicut, none of which are navigable within the district. The only-lake of note is an artificial one, Utakamand (7220 feet above sea-level), which is nearly 2 miles long. The forests consist of fine timber trees, such as sal (Shorea robusta), kino (Pterocarpus Marsupium), jack (Artocarpus integrifolia), blackwood (D alber gia latifolia), and teak. Eucalyptus and Australian wattle have been extensively planted in the higher grounds of the Wainâd. The hills were first explored by British officers in 1814, and in 1821 the first English house was built on the plateau.

The population of the district in 1881 was 91,034. The only town with more than 5000 inhabitants is Utakamand, with a population of 12,335. The most interesting of the hill tribes are the Todas, who regard themselves as autochthonous. They are a tall, well-proportioned, and athletic race, but indolent and dirty. Their sole occupation is cattle herding and dairy work. They practise polyandry, a woman marrying all the brothers of a family. In religion they follow a species of Hinduism, and also worship their dairy buffaloes. The race seems to be gradually dying out, and in 1881 only numbered 675. The most numerous as well as the most wealthy and civilized of the hill tribes are the Badagas. They are occupied in agriculture, dress after the fashion of the natives of the plains, and are fond of ornaments. They profess Hinduism, and in 1881 numbered 24,130. The Kotas, another hill tribe (1065 in 1881), follow agriculture and various handicrafts. They perform menial offices for the Todas and Badagas, and, like the latter, pay a gudu to the Todas. They worship “ideal” gods, which are not represented by any image. The Kurumbas, or shepherds (3185 in 1881), are the most uncivilized of the hill tribes, and officiate as priests to the Badagas. Besides cultivating on a small scale, they collect various sorts of jungle produce, which they barter on the plains for grain and cloth. The Irulas (946 in 1881) live on the lowest slopes and forests, extending from the base of the Nilgiris to the plains. They are an idle and dissolute tribe, although in physique adapted to hard manual labour.

The ordinary crops grown on the Nilgiri Hills include wheat, barley, and other cereals, oilseeds, and nearly every variety of English vegetables and fruits. The commercially important products are coffee, tea, and cinchona. Coffee cultivation was introduced about 1844. One of its chief seats is the beautiful Ochterlony valley. The Madras Government commenced the experimental cultivation of cinchona on the Nilgiris in 1860, and in 1882 the receipts therefrom amounted to over £50,000. Several private cinchona gardens have been laid out, owing to the success of the Government experiment. There are 190 miles of road, bridged and available for wheeled traffic. The climate of the Nilgiri Hills is almost unrivalled for equability of temperature. The average