[Illustration: MAP _OF THE_ WHITE NILE, _laid down from the Diary of_
FERD. WERNE. by H. Mahlmann 1848.
Hillmandel & Walton Lithographers.
Richard Bentley New Burlington Street, 1849.]
EXPEDITION
TO DISCOVER THE SOURCES OF
THE WHITE NILE,
IN THE YEARS
1840, 1841.
BY FERDINAND WERNE.
From the German,
BY CHARLES WILLIAM O’REILLY.
* * * * *
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
* * * * *
1849.
PREFACE.
* * * * *
The rich contents and originality of the work before us will escape
no one who casts a glance at it, however hasty that may be. It
presents the liveliest views of the Natural Productions and People
of regions hitherto entirely unvisited. The surprising novelty
of the phenomena is described by a writer of much experience, bold
energy, and intense devotion to the land of the South. We welcome it,
therefore, as a pleasing contribution to our literature of travel,
often so insipid. The discoverer of the Source of the White Nile,
under the vertical rays of the sun in Equatorial Inner Africa, will
share the same fate as his illustrious predecessor, James Bruce,
the discoverer of the Sources of the Blue Nile, if many of his
statements should be doubted, criticised, and misunderstood.
We have, however, no pretensions to be defenders of them. Some
ten years later, perhaps, their justification, with the exception
of a few errors, may follow our Herodotean wanderer into a _terra
incognita_. Such was the case with a Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus,
James Bruce, and Mungo Park.
Two French accounts have preceded the present narrative of a German
fellow-traveller, in one of the three vast expeditions by water,
undertaken by Mohammed Ali in 1840 and the succeeding years, with
unequal success, for the discovery of the Sources of the Bahr el
Abiad. We welcomed the French accounts on their first appearance,
notwithstanding their meagreness and doubtfulness, in consequence of
their main results. At the same time we expressed our hope that we
should be better informed of these events by their fellow-traveller,
for we were already aware of the exertions of the author of the
present narrative. Everything, therefore, introductory to this Work
will be found in the undermentioned pamphlet, to which it is only
necessary here to refer to avoid repetition in a preface:—
“A Glance at the Country of the Source of the Nile, by C. Ritter,
with a Map, Berlin, 1844, and three Supplements—1st, by F. Werne,
the Second Expedition to discover the Sources of the White Nile, from
November 1840 to April 1841, pages 42-50. 2nd—On Carl Zimmermann’s
annexed Chart, to shew the Upper Country of the Nile. 3d—Dr. Girard
on the Nature of the Soil of Central Africa on both banks of the Upper
Bahr el Abiad, to the foot of the Mountains of the Moon, pages 68-72.,
principally from the mountain specimens brought home by Mr. Werne.”
We have the pleasure of possessing, in the present more accurate
statement, many new data and remarks on earlier accounts, though,
doubtless, these will bring on a controversy, for the acrimony
of which the Author has himself to blame. When, however, such
sarcasm is directed in an instructive and legitimate manner, as that
against D’Abbadie, in the convincing Appendix, (to which we must
here draw attention, in order to understand the whole,) we cannot
blame the Author, who has gained by toil and labour positive facts,
for rendering them secure, as far as possible, against malicious
presumptions and arrogant hypotheses. Science, moreover, is always
the gainer by these discussions.
The annexed Map has been newly constructed, by Mr. H. Mahlmann, with
his usual scrupulous accuracy, from the manuscript of the Journal, and
the notes of the Traveller. Though, under the present circumstances,
it leaves much here and there to be desired, yet by comparing it
with that of Bimbashi D’Arnaud’s, executed and published at
Paris in 1843, it makes a very useful addition to the Work. Still
much instructive elucidation and enlargement of knowledge might
be gained by a complete description and pictorial representation
of the wonderful collection of Natural Productions, Works of Art,
Weapons, Household Utensils, and other objects, hitherto the only
one we possess. In the annexed engraving we give a specimen of these
curiosities, collected by Mr. Werne’s care, on his journey to Bari,
and afterwards incorporated by him, in addition to his Collection of
Natural History, with the Royal Museum of this city, where they are
to be viewed, to the number of one hundred and twenty-six different
articles.
C. RITTER.
BERLIN, _July_ 27, 1848.
CONTENTS
OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1