John Hanning Speke
Published: 2016-09-12
Total Pages: 754
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Excerpt from Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile On the east coast, near Zanzibar, We find the rains fol lowing the track of the sun, and lasting not more than forty days on any part that the sun crosses whilst the Winds blow from south-west or north-east, towards the regions heated by its vertical position. But in the centre Of the continent, Within 5 of the equator, we find the rains much more lasting. For instance, at 5 south lati tude, for the whole six months that the sun is in the south, rain continues to fall, and I have heard that the same takes place at 5 north; whilst on the equator, or rather a tri e to northward Of it, it rains more or less the whole year round, but most at the equinoxes, as Shown in the table on the following page. The winds, though some what less steady, are still very determinable. With an easterly tending, they de ect north and south, following the sun. In the drier season they blow SO cold that the sun's heat is not distressing; and in consequence of this, and the average altitude of the plateau, which is 3000 feet, the general temperature Of the atmosphere is very pleasant, as I found from experience for I walked every inch of the journey dressed in thick woollen clothes, and slept every night between blanketsfx' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."