Through Unknown African Countries The First Expedition from Somaliland to Lake Lamu

Abstract

THE region of Africa to the south of Eastern Abyssinia has been long regarded as of exceptional interest, both by the naturalist and the novelist. So early as 1847, when most geographers still believed that the snows of Kilima Njaro were a traveller's tale, and before Kenya had been seen by a European, Captain Short returned from the Juba, and asserted the existence of snow clad mountains away to the westward. According to the statements of some native traders to the court of Abyssinia, the bamboo forests of the same region were inhabited by tribes of dwarfs; and these reports were published by Captain Harris in 1844, long before the measurements by Schweinfurth, the skeletons sent home by Emin, and the discoveries of Stanley had called prominent attention to the pigmy races of Equatorial Africa. At a subsequent period, the late M. Abba die placed a great mountain in the same unvisited district, exaggerating its height, as he recently naïvely remarked, in the hope of calling attention to it. Suahili traders also reported the existence in this region of two great lakes, of which the larger was sometimes called Samburu, and at others was confused with Baringo; it was the hope of reaching this lake region that led to the expedition of Burton and Speke, which came to such a disastrous end at the landing-place near Berbera. The excitability of the Somali, and the fascination of the discoveries made in East Africa south of the equator, subsequently diverted attention from this region, and it was not until 1888 that the first Europeans reached it. Teleki and Höhnel then entered from the south, and found, as reported, that there were two great lakes: the larger was named by its discoverer Lake Rudolf, apparently on the principle of Oliver St. John's dedication of his memoirs to Cromwell, who, by persuading him to travel, had given him the leisure in which to write them. After Teleki's return, several attempts were made to reach the twin lakes from the north, along Burton's projected route. But it was not until 1895 that success was gained by the expedition described in this volume. Through Unknown African Countries. The First Expedition from Somaliland to Lake Lamu. By A. Donaldson Smith, Hon. Member of Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil. Pp. xvi + 471, with illustrations and five-sheet map. (London: E. Arnold, 1897.)