I left my old
servant with a heart too full to say good-bye; a warm squeeze of his
rough, but honest black hand, and the whistle of the train sounded, - we
were off!
I had left Richarn, and none remained of my people. The past appeared
like a dream-the rushing sound of the train renewed ideas of
civilization. Had I really come from the Nile Sources? It was no dream.
A witness sat before me; a face still young, but bronzed like an Arab by
years of exposure to a burning sun; haggard and worn with toil and
sickness, and shaded with cares, happily now past; the devoted companion
of my pilgrimage, to whom I owed success and life - my wife.
I had received letters from England, that had been waiting at the
British Consulate; - the first I opened informed me, that the Royal
Geographical Society had awarded me the Victoria Gold Medal, at a time
when they were unaware whether I was alive or dead, and when the success
of my expedition was unknown. This appreciation of my exertions was the
warmest welcome that I could have received on my first entrance into
civilization after so many years of savagedom: it rendered the
completion of the Nile Sources doubly grateful, as I had fulfilled the
expectations that the Geographical Society had so generously expressed
by the presentation of their medal Before my task was done.
APPENDIX
COMPUTATION OF MR. BAKER'S OBSERVATIONS.
HEIGHTS OF STATIONS ABOVE THE MEAN LEVEL OF THE SEA DETERMINED
BY BOILING-WATER OBSERVATIONS BY S. W. BAKER, Esq.
COMPUTED BY E. DUNKIN, Esq. OF GREENWICH OBSERVATORY. Feet.
Tarrangolle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2047
Obbo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3480
Shoggo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3770
Asua River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2619
Shooa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3619
Rionga's Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3685
Karuma, below falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3737
Karuma, south of falls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3796
South of Karuma, at river level. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3794
M'rooli, river level, junction of Kafoor . . . . . . . . . . . 3796
West of M'rooli, on road to Albert lake . . . . . . . . . . . 4291
Land above lake, east cliff . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 4117
Albert N'yanza, lake level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2448
Shooa Moru, island of Patooan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2918
Gondokoro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1636
The above heights will be found to differ considerably from those given
by Mr. Baker in his letter written from Khartoum in May, 1865, and
published in the TIMES newspaper in June. This arises from Mr. Baker
having corrected his observations, whilst in the interior of Africa,
from what have since proved erroneous data: the above are the correct
computations of the same observations.
REMARKS ON THE THERMOMETER B. W. USED BY MR. S. W. BAKER IN
DETERMINING HEIGHTS. By Staff-Commander C. George,
Curator of Maps, Royal Geographical Society.
This thermometer was one of the three supplied by the Royal Geographical
Society to Consul Petherick, in 1861, and was made by Mr. Casella.
At Gondokoro, in March, 1862, it was lent to Mr. Baker, who made all his
observations with it, and brought it back safe:
