the; east coast o f Africa,, announced that Arab
traders and natives acquainted with the interior
informed them that far inland there was. a. very
large la k e , or several lakes,, which some spoke
o f under one. collective title. The information
thus obtained was illustrated b y a sketch map
b y Mr. Erhardt,, and was published, in the
‘Proceeding^ o f the Ro y a l Geographical Society ’
in. 1.856, “ the most striking feature o f which
w a s a vast, lake o f a curious shape ,, extending
through. i<2° o f latitude,”
LAKE" TANGANIKA.
■4
T h e R o y a l Geographicali S o cie ty was. induced
tOi despatch an. expedition to East Africa for
the exploration o f this interesting, inland, region,
the command of. which it entrusted to Lieutenant
Richard Francis Burton.,, and Lieutenant John
Hanning, Srpeke, officers o f the. E a s t Indian Army.
Lieutenant Burton was. already distinguished
as an enterprising traveller b y his b o o k , ‘Pilgrimage
to Mekka and Medina.’ S p e k e had,
until this time, only a. local reputation, but
bore the character o f being ar v e ry promising
officer, and an amiable gentleman with a fondness
for natural history and botanical studies,
besides being an ardent sportsman and an indefatigable
pedestrian.
Burton and S p ek e ’s expedition landed at
Zanzibar on the aoth December 1856. On the
LAKE TANGANIkA. 19
« 3 6 1 February 1858, after a journey of1950 miles,
la n d at a distance o f 540 lineal geographical
»miles from the point o f departure off the Indian
»Ocean, th ey first sighted and discovered L a k e
^Tanganika. How much th ey explored o f the
¡¡lake 'isc best illustrated3 b y their well-known map;
fto which it will suffice to refer here. S p ek e first
crossed Lake Tanganika to the western side to
Kasenge, an island1, then returned b y the same
route to Kawelei, th e district or quarter occupied
at that time b y Arabs, in a large straggling
village on the shores o f the lake, in the country
o f Ujiji.
I On . the second exploration o f the lake,
Lieutenant Burton accompanied Lieutenant S p ek e
to a cove iff Uvirai, which is about thirteen
miles from the north end o f the lake. Unable
to reach the extremity o f the la k e , they both
'returned to Ujiji. Lieutenant Sp ek e was most
fanxious to proceed on a third to u r o f e xp lo itation
o f the lake , but was overruled b y his chief,
ILieutenant Burton. On the 26th o f May 1858,
ithe expedition turned homewards, arriving in
lUnyanyembe on the 20th o f June.
LAKE VICTORIA.
While Lieutenant Burton preferred to rest in
jUnyanyembe to collect the copious information
¡about the L a k e Regions from Arabs and natives,
I which we see set forth in a masterly manner in his