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 the illness of Burton, they reached Kawelé, on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, January 1858; here great difficulties were experienced with the native chief, Kannina, whose protection was only to be bought by heavy tribute, and who threw all possible obstacles in the way of their navigation of the lake. Both the explorers were for some time completely disabled, Burton from fever, Speke from ophthalmia; but on 3 March 1858 the latter embarked in a canoe, and crossed the centre of Lake Tanganyika, east to west, from Kabogo to Kasenge. At the latter place he noted, and subsequently put down in his maps, what he believed to be the western horn of the Mountains of the Moon encircling the north of the lake. At Kasenge Speke was given by the Sheik Hamed a full description of the Lake Tanganyika, but his efforts to secure the loan or purchase of a dhow proved unavailing, and he recrossed and joined Burton, 31 March. Both travellers now in company made a partial examination of the lake from canoes, but before it was completely navigated they were compelled, owing to Burton's ill-health and the fact that their supplies were running short, to return to Kazé, where they arrived towards the end of June, having adopted a slightly more northerly route than that by which they came. Here Speke persuaded Burton to permit him to make an attempt to visit the larger northern lake (Victoria Nyanza), while Burton remained at Kazé, making the necessary arrangements for their return journey.

On 9 July 1858 Speke, with thirty-five followers, provided with supplies for six weeks, left Kazé, and, marching due north for twenty-five days, arrived 30 July at a creek forming the most southern point of the great lake, and on 3 Aug. he secured his first complete view of it, and named it Victoria Nyanza. After taking compass bearings of the principal features of the lake, and securing such information as he was able to get on the spot, he started on his return 6 Aug. and rejoined Burton at Kazé 25 Aug. He immediately expressed his belief that he had discovered the source of the Nile, but on this point his fellow traveller was sceptical, and a coolness between the two explorers, arising in the first instance from this difference of opinion, subsequently increased and destroyed their old friendship. The expedition now returned to Zanzibar, and Speke, leaving Burton, still sick and unfit to travel, at Zanzibar, availed himself of a passage home offered in H.M.S. Furious, and arrived in England 8 May 1859. He there communicated with the Royal Geographical Society, lectured at Burlington House on the discovery of the two lakes (Tanganyika and Victoria Nyanza), and practically arranged with Sir Roderick Impey Murchison [q. v.], president of the Royal Geographical Society, the plans of a new expedition which he was to lead. Burton's arrival on 21 May and Speke's somewhat unnecessary haste in announcing the results of the expedition accentuated the already strained relations between the two travellers. The rupture became complete when Speke, in two articles in ‘Blackwood's Magazine,’ openly assumed the main credit of the expedition and expressed the view that the Victoria Nyanza was the source of the Nile. These articles were answered by Burton in his book, ‘The Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa,’ in which he criticised Speke's Nile theory and ridiculed his imaginary discovery of the Mountains of the Moon. Both travellers received from the French Geographical Society the medal awarded for the most important discovery of the year.

Speke was almost immediately engaged in preparations for the new expedition, of which, through the support of Sir Roderick Murchison, he was given the command. He started from England 27 April 1860, with Captain James Augustus Grant [q. v.] (1827–1892), an old friend and officer in the Indian army. The objects of the expedition, which was organised by the Royal Geographical Society and supported by the government by a grant of 2,500l., were to explore the Victoria Nyanza and to verify, if possible, Speke's view as to that lake being the source of the Nile. The expedition also received from the home government assistance in the passage by sea; the Indian government granted arms, ammunition, and presents for chiefs in the interior, and the Cape parliament gave 300l. and the services of ten men from the Cape mounted rifle corps. The route taken was in the first instance the same as on the previous occasion, and the party, consisting of 217 persons, bearers and armed men included, left Zanzibar on 25 Sept. 1860, and arrived at Kazé on 24 Jan. 1861. To this base of operations Speke had sent on beforehand a considerable quantity of cloth and beads. Very great difficulty was now experienced in making a further forward movement, owing to the scarcity of carriers, warfare between the Arabs and natives, and the extreme rapacity of the small chiefs through whose country it was necessary to pass. From July to September Speke was seriously ill, and in September Grant, while leading a separate portion of the caravan in the territory of the chief Myonga, was attacked and plundered. Rejoining each