character. Granting, with Mr. Macqueen and Major Burton, that the swelling of the river Nile proceeds from the tropical rains of the northern torrid zone, as was stated emphatically to Julius Cæsar by the chief Egyptian priest Amoreis two thousand years ago, what is there to remove the greater part, almost the whole, of the upper hydrographical network of the Nile from the sphere of their action? There is every reason to believe that Lake Victoria extends north of the equator, and whether it is prolonged far away by a chain of lakes or morasses to the north-west of the equator, or whether the lakes and morasses of the great African watery plateau are in that direction, local and isolated, still it is certain that they would burst their limits at the time of the tropical rains, and pour down their waters by a thousand rivulets to the tributaries of the Bahr al Ghazal, coming from the south-west. Those which come from the south-east, being influenced by other phenomena of varying monsoons and melting of snow, would cause those divergencies in the rising of the White Nile which have puzzled Major Burton, but their influence upon the great point in question-the supply of the mass of affluents from the south-west-is very trifling. Add to which, Sir R. I. Murchison has shown that the periodical overflow of the waters, in whatever directions, from the great central and intertropical watery plateau of Africa, is explicable by the fact that, at certain seasons of the year, differing, of course, in different latitudes, the rainfall of several months would at last so supersaturate the interior plateau-lands and lakes as to produce periodical annual discharges, the exact epoch of which at different places can only be determined by further observations.

In the words of the present vice-president of the Geographical Society, if it should eventually be proved that the Lake Nyanza (Victoria) contributes its annual surplus waters to the White Nile, so may it then be fairly considered as the main source of the great river; the more so when we see that its southern end is farther to the south, or more remote from its embouchure, than any other portion of the Nilotic water-parting. On the other hand, the high mountains which flank the great stream in the east, and probably supply it with some of its waters, may, by other geographers, be rather viewed as the main and original source.

These are the only remaining portions of the great problem which have to be worked out a problem which it has been the desideratum of all ages to unravel, and one which, according to Lucan, made Julius Cæsar exclaim that to gain this knowledge he would even have abandoned the civil war

Spes sit mihi certa videndi

Niliacos fontes bellum civile relinquam (LUCAN, lib. x.)—

a problem which Nero sent his centurions to determine, and which, by the last discovery of Captain Speke, seems certainly now to approach nearly to a satisfactory solution.

It is indeed to solve this interesting problem-which, like the relics of our lost countrymen in the Arctic regions, were, before the voyage of the Fox, reduced to within limits that any practical geographer could have put his finger upon the spot, and notwithstanding the planting of the French tricolor flag at the rock Bora-that Captains Speke and Grant have started once more to Eastern Africa under the best auspices. Her

Majesty's government and the Royal Geographical Society have both acted liberally in supporting this expedition. Captain Speke's instructions are to make the best of his way to the point whence he before turned back, at the southern end of Lake Victoria, and thence to explore to its northern extremity, seeing whether or no it has a northern outlet. If there should be no connexion between the Victoria-Nyanza and the Nile, he is to use the best of his judgment in prosecuting his search to the sources of the latter; and, finally, he is to endeavour to reach Gondokoro, the missionary settlement formerly occupied by Knoblecher, and stated to be in latitude north 4 deg. 25 min.

Mr. Petherick, her Britannic Majesty's consul at Khartum, having at the same time volunteered his services to proceed up the Nile to explore its sources, and also to aid the expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, gone by way of Zanzibar, by meeting it, if possible, on its way from Lake Victoria to the Lower Nile, the president and council of the Royal Geographical Society have countenanced an application to geographers and the public generally for funds, an application to which we willingly give all the publicity in our power, and to which we cordially invite co-operation.

As a disquisition such as we have ventured to enter upon is not easily followed without the assistance of better maps than are yet generally attainable, we will give a tabular statement of the results, which may assist in rendering the present state of the question regarding the sources of the Nile clearer :

First source of the Nile. Bah ral Aswad, "Black River," Atbara, and Takkazye. The Nile of Elmazin, of Cantacuzene, and of Albuquerque. (A view of the subject now utterly exploded.)

Second source of the Nile. Bahr al Azrak, "Blue River." Both affluents-the Abiyad, "White," and the Tacuy. Nile of the Jesuits, of Bruce, and of Mr. Cooley. (Exploded.)

Third source of the Nile. Saubat, or Sobat, with both affluents, Godjeb or Uma (M. d'Abaddie), and Bari, Berri, or Tubiri, or Tubari. (The first exploded, the latter still possible, more especially if the Bari and Tubari are the same as the Tumbiri and Tubiri.)

Fourth source of the Nile. The Misselad. Nile of M. Brun-Rollet. (Not likely, from the limits of the watery plateau to the west, to be the most remote source of the Nile.)

Fifth source of the Nile. South-west lake, or lakes and morass on the Central African elevated watery plateau. Ptolemy's western lake reservoir of the Nile. (Unexplored.)

Sixth source of the Nile. Tumbiri of Krapf, Tubiri of Werne, Tubesi of the King of Bari. Nile of Krapf and Macqueen. Patico of Miani. Viewed as a tributary to the Tubiri and not of the Saubat. (Possible.) Seventh source of the Nile. Lake Victoria, or Nyanza, and its southerly tributary, the Kitangure. (Most probable of all.)

Eighth source of the Nile. From Lake Tanganyika, Beke's western lake of Ptolemy. (Not at all probable, or this would be the most remote, and hence the true source of the Nile.)

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

THE MORMONS, AND THE COUNTRY THEY DWELL IN.*

He was

M. REMY started from San Francisco, in California, for Sacramento, where he proposed to himself to make his arrangements for penetrating into the country of the Mormons, on the 18th of July, 1855. accompanied by a friend, of the name of Brenchley. The expenses entailed by these preparations were very great, and the expedition of five months' duration involved, we are told, an expenditure of 40,000 francs, or some 16001. sterling. The costume adopted was that of gold seekers, in search of "placers;" it was supposed to be the one least likely to attract the cupidity of Indians and of other prowlers.

From Sacramento to the foot of the Sierra Nevada the soil was everywhere dried up and covered with fine dust. But few flowering plants remained here and there, struggling against the general aridity. The mules gave no end of trouble at starting: some bolted, others rolled baggage and all in the dust, and some fell down helpless. As they approached the mountains the country became more wooded. At American Fork-their first station-the innkeeper's daughter accompanied herself on the piano, kicked a Yankee's hat off the table, and got a kick in return, while a "doctor" attended to the bar, and a well-dressed guest used his fingers for a kerchief. There was also a Frenchman-a M. Vaillantof the party, not less of a character than the Californians. He had, according to his own account, been governor of the Society Islands and of the Elysée National, in charge of a mission to New Zealand, discoverer of the gold in Australia, and inventor of a shell which would have reduced Sebastopol in a few hours.

From American Fork, by Monte Christo (mines now abandoned), the country kept improving. At Texas Hill they turned off to visit "Vaillant-ville," the gold diggings of the above-mentioned gasconader. But the exile had a good heart, and he treated the travellers with boundless hospitality. Beyond this, the Mormons had a placer called Mormon Island, with a considerable village, and a handsome iron bridge over a river. The reception that awaited them here was the very reverse of what they had experienced at Vaillant-ville; no one condescended to attend to them. The repast was execrable, and the beds were too short and too Like all young communities with whom wealth is easily obtainable, all the Californians seemed to think about was pleasure. Soon

narrow.

Voyage au Pays des Mormons: Relation, Géographie, Histoire Naturelle, Histoire, Théologie, Maurs et Coutumes. Par Jules Remy. Two Vols. Paris:

E. Dentu.

March-VOL. CXXI. NO. CCCCLXXXIII.

S

tufts of pine gave a more alpine aspect to the scenery, and a series of little valleys led the way to Placer-ville, a new creation, but a town of some importance, and well peopled. It is better known to the Californians by the name of Hang-town, from two Frenchmen having been hung there. The population is about three thousand. The Americans have a daily paper, but most of the public-houses are kept by Frenchmen.

Beyond Placer-ville, or Hang-town, the ascent of the Sierra Nevada commenced, the hills being clothed with vast pines, some of which were twenty-six feet in circumference. The aspect of the country and the temperature began to improve with the ascent. Nothing could be more delightful than bivouacking out in an open glade, by the side of a pellucid stream, and surrounded by the most beautiful flowering plants; crowds of little squirrels were peeping at them all the time. Before attaining the crest of the chain, some nine thousand feet in elevation at the point where they crossed, the temperature had become too low to be any longer agreeable; but the descent was rapid, being at the onset nearly one thousand feet perpendicular, and difficult alike for mules and pedestrians, for there was no riding down such a steep declivity. At the base was a pleasant valley, watered by a rivulet, bordered by poplars and willows, and only one hut, where an aged couple used to provide refreshments for wayfarers. But they had just been murdered, and the place was deserted, the furniture tossed about, and the floor stained with blood. Such is the uncertainty of life in the outskirts of California! But we are, in reality, no longer in California; once the Sierra Nevada crossed, and the traveller may follow as he likes Carson River, Mud Lake River, Walker's River, or Humboldt River; they all terminate in great rock and mountain-bound lakes, which, like the Great Salt Lake and the Utah Lake, constitute isolated hydrographical basins in that vast territory which lies between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, and which is neither California nor precisely the United States, but is now the Mormon state of Utah.

many

Beyond the mountains the road lay through alternate plain, mountain, and forest. They met some Americans, a few Pah-uli Indians, bears, and One large snake struck our traveller on the forehead, but no deer. bad consequences ensued. At length they reached Carson Valley, and farms, huts, and cattle began to make their appearance. There were also hostelries, with little groups of Indians, armed with bows and arrows, at the portals. The road was good and level, and followed the reedy banks of the river. This was the Mormon colony of Carson's River, with a population of about five hundred souls. There was said to be a cross road hence to Great Salt Lake of thirteen days-the ordinary road took thirty-five. There are some remarkable hot springs in the same vicinity, which extend over a space of about an English mile.

The little oasis of Carson's River and its Mormon colony was succeeded by an arid, rocky region, where wrecks of waggons and skeletons of animals, as usual, marked the route. There was little vegetation, but some water, many hares and antelopes, some bears, and at night the cayotes or jackals of Utah (Canis latrans) made a most discordant music. When they woke up at their open-air bivouac an Indian was leaning listlessly on the baggage. It was always thus; one or many of these wild men of the plain travelled without speech or footfall, came no one knew

whence, and went no one knew where. It was not, however, very agreeable; bears and wolves made a noise but kept their distance, the Indians silently joined the party, and sometimes as silently left it, not always without abstracting property of greater or less value. Yet a little farther on a "Doctor" Winter, son of a Frenchman by a Dutch woman, lived alone among the Pah-uli, who have the credit of being well-behaved and peaceable for Indians. If the arid country they were now travelling in contrasted painfully with the beautiful and varied vegetation of the Sierra Nevada, on the other hand they enjoyed a sky constantly serene, and an atmosphere so limpid, they say, that it was delightful to breathe it. Our party took it quietly; very differently to what Americans would have done, and, we think, far more sensibly. The heat was now great, the soil waterless, and they were never sure as to what might be their fate in the evening, so no matter if they had travelled even only three hours, and sometimes even only two hours and a half, and they came to a clear rivulet or a pleasant pasturage and a refreshing shade, there they bivouacked for the night, M. Remy botanising, not a very laborious task, as his collections seem generally to have been limited to three or four species. Mr. Brenchley looked to the luggage and broken ropes and straps, and George, a shipwrecked sailor, who had volunteered his services, slept them out. By such a considerate mode of travel they, at least, did not strew the road with mules and bullocks perishing from thirst and fatigue, nor did they run the risk of leaving their baggage a prey to the Indians and their carcases for the cayotes and eagles, which attended upon their movements as stormy petrels do upon the wake of a ship, sure that something or other in their way would be left in the trail. The dry atmosphere would also compel them to bathe even whilst beautiful serpents swam with them all around, their graceful heads and necks just raised out of the water.

Now and then there was a lone hostelry by the wayside, or they met a convoy of emigrants or a group of Indians, and once there was even a town-it was called Ragtown-on the way, but it consisted of only three huts. One was occupied by a storekeeper, another by a blacksmith, and the third by a Pole. There is, however, a square and sundry streets marked out, and Ragtown, situated as it is on the confines of a desert of some forty miles' extent, will become a place of some importance if the present highway continues to be the one selected by emigrants from the United States on their way to the gold diggings. They breakfasted on a barrel of oysters at this city in embryo, and an aged Indian, whom they invited to dine with them, was so overwhelmed by the honour done to him, as actually to shed tears! There are tender points even in the most rugged natures.

Hence they advanced into the Utah wilderness. The soil was arid, hard, and sandy, the highway only to be distinguished by bones and wreck. There was no bivouacking on this waterless plain, so they had to wend their way all night, and the next day they struck Humboldt River, which, coming from the west, loses itself in the same sandy desert as Carson's River, which flows from the east. The pasturage was here thin and saline, and there was no shelter from the intensity of the sun's rays. Nor was the river tempting. Its waters were whitened with natron, myriads of poisoned fish floated on the surface, musk-rats as