Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/369

 where birds without number, of a thousand different hues, presented varied changes of color as they flew amongst the arborescent plants.

At this prodigality of nature the doctor was reminded of the superb kingdom of Adamosa. "We are now drawing near the traces of modern discovery," he said. "I have caught up the missing trace of the travelers; it is by a happy fatality, my friends, that we are enabled to connect the labors of Captains Burton and Speke with the explorations of Doctor Barth. We quitted England to find a Hamburgher, and we shall soon reach the extreme point attained by that adventurous professor."

"It appears to me," said Kennedy, that between the two discoveries there is a vast extent of country, if one may judge from the distance we have traveled."

It is easy to calculate; take the map, and see what is the longitude of the southern point of Lake Ukéréoné attained by Speke."

"Close upon the 37th degree."

"And the town of Yola, which we shall see to-night, and to which Barth penetrated—how is it situated?"

"On the 12th degree of longitude nearly."

"That makes it twenty-five degrees, which, at sixty miles each, is 1,500 miles."

"A nice journey," said Joe, "for people who walk."

"That will nevertheless be accomplished. Livingstone and Moffat are always advancing towards the interior; the Nyassa, which they have discovered, is not very far distant from Lake Tanganyika, found by Burton; before the end of the century these immense tracts will be explored. But," added the doctor, as he consulted the compass, "I regret that the wind is carrying us so much towards the west; I would have preferred to go northward."

After twelve hours' progress the "Victoria" arrived at the boundary of Nigritia. The first inhabitants of this territory, the Chouan Arabs, were feeding their horned flocks. The vast summits of Mount Atlantika appeared above the horizon, mountains which no European foot had ever trodden, and whose altitude is estimated at 7,800 feet. Their western slopes determine the direction of the streams of this part of Africa to the ocean. They are the "Mountains of the Moon" of this region.