146 Expeditions.

Source of the Nile discovered.

1858.

SirS. Baker's expedition in 1861.

State of the Sudan in 1864.

Ismail Pasha, 1863.

Scheme for railway again brought forward, 1865-66.

The sources of the Nile had long been the object of much speculation, but comparatively little had been done to solve the question. Towards the latter end of the 18th century, Bruce had tracked the Blue Nile to its origin in the Abyssinian mountains, but the White Nile remained unexplored till Speke and Grant, carrying out, in 1860-62, an expedition organised by the English Government, proved that the Victoria Nyanza, discovered by Speke* in July, 1858, was the source of the Nile.

In 1861 Sir Samuel Baker started on an expedition from Cairo via Khartum, with hopes of meeting the travellers in question, and of making independent investigations on his own account. He was successful in both ways, and his explorations resulted in the discovery, in 1864, of Albert Nyanza Lake. His description of the Sudan at this period, under the governorship of a certain Musa Pasha, gives a melancholy picture of the results of Egyptian rule. He describes the provinces as utterly ruined and only governed by military force, the revenue unequal to the expenditure, and the country paralysed by excessive taxation ; shut in by deserts, all communication with the outer world was most difficult; and the existing conditions rendered these countries so worthless to the State, that their annexation could only be accounted for by the fruits of the slave trade.

On Ismail Pasha coming to the throne in 1863, orders for the suppression of the slave trade were issued, and on Baker's return journey in 1865, he found an Egyptian camp of 1,000 men established at Fashoda in the Shilluk country for the purpose.

In 1865-6 the Khedive again brought forward the scheme for a Sudan railway, and a study of the country from Assuan to Khartum was made by Mr. Walker and Mr. Bray, but nothing came of it. About the same time Mr. Hawkshaw recommended the canalisation of the 1st Cataract, but this was strongly opposed by Mr. Fowler, who proposed, as an alternative, to construct a ship incline over land, using the mechanical force supplied by the descending water.

Ismail Pasha not only determined to extend his territories, but seemed in earnest to put down the slave trade.

# On a journey from the East Coast.