and gulped by the exhausting sand of Nubian deserts, supporting all
losses by evaporation and absorption, the noble flood shed its annual
blessings upon Egypt. An anomaly among rivers; flooding in the driest
season; everlasting in sandy deserts; where was its hidden origin? where
were the sources of the Nile?

This was from the earliest period the great geographical question to be
solved.

In the advanced stage of civilization of the present era, we look with
regret at the possession by the Moslem of the fairest portions of the
world,--of countries so favoured by climate and by geographical
position, that, in the early days of the earth's history, they were the
spots most coveted; and that such favoured places should, through the
Moslem rule, be barred from the advancement that has attended lands less
adapted by nature for development. There are no countries of the earth
so valuable, or that would occupy so important a position in the family
of nations, as Turkey in Europe, Asia Minor, and Egypt, under a
civilized and Christian government.

As the great highway to India, Egypt is the most interesting country to
the English. The extraordinary fertility being due entirely to the Nile,
I trust that I may have added my mite to the treasury of scientific
knowledge by completing the discovery of the sources of that wonderful
river, and thereby to have opened a way to the heart of Africa, which,
though dark in our limited perspective, may, at some future period, be
the path to civilization.

I offer to the world my narrative of many years of hardships and
difficulties, happily not vainly spent in this great enterprise: should