THEy WX8:CON&SILN    JAhMNR.



bare or naked raeuqd he looked at by his ma-
jesty. As a mari of special favor, Capt. Speke
was allowed to sit during the interview. His
sable majesty #taqd at hi4m, £ pealy an hour
without speaking, and then broke the silence
with the abrupt question, "IHave you seen
me? " At the end of the second hour his dig-
nity thawed out, and he consented to receive
the Captain's presents and to hold conversation
with him.
  "It is the opinion of Capt. Speke that all
the tribes about Lake Nyanzi must be descend-
ed from the ancient Abjinians, a mixture of
Negro and Shemitic races. Of t~his double or-
igin he related a very singular native tradition,
that at one time all the inhabitants of that re-
gion were half black and half white, one side
of their heads having curly hair, the other
straight.  These tribes have no religion, and
do not believe in a soul."
  It has been suggested by two or three re-
viewers of this discovery that this same lake
was alluded to by Ptolemy, that it is found
laid down in an Arabian map of Africa over
one thousand years old; and again, that an old
Dutch atlas, printed in Amsterdam in 1688,
not only describes a lake " Zembre " in such a
manner as to render its identity with Nyanza
highly probable, but, in a reference thereto,
presents the following remarkable language:
" Out of which (some say) springqeth the Nile,"
&C. -
  But, if all these statements are true, we do
not see that they detract from the high merit
of Captains Speke and Grant, who, not content
with any mere surmises, or " some says," have
persistently applied themselves to solve the
question to the entire satisfaction of the en-
lightened world.  They have enlarged the
boundaries of absolute knowledge, and have
therefore won a valid claim to honor and im-
mortality among men. They well deserve the
flattering reception they hare received from
their countrymen, not only on account of their
crowning discovery, which reflects such honor
on England, but for the pluck, endurance and
enterprise which carried them triumphantly
through, in spite of danger and difficulty.



    EDUCATIONAL.

    The Agricultural Schools of the Country.
AS BEEN BY TUE EDITOR ON A RECENT TOUR OF
               OBSERVATION.

                 SOMBB I.

  The Agricultural College of Michigan we
had visited before, and did not, therefore, deem
it necessary to stop at Lansing at this time.
The State has wisely corrected its first serious
error by transferring the control of the insti-
tution frdm 'the' Board of Education to a new
organization entitled "The State Board of Ag-
riculture," and there is good reason to hope
that with this new *' change of base" the col-
lege may date a new and more prosperous era.
  The Act of Reorganization requires a course
of study of not less than four years, and that
"d the Institution shall combine physical with
Intellectual education, and shall be a high
Seminary of learning, in which the graduate
of the common school can cdmmence,' pursue,
and finish a course of study, terminating in
thorough theoretic and practical instruction in
those sciences and arts which bear directly on
Agriculture and kindred industrial pursuits."
  The following extract from the recent Report
of President Abbott (then Acting Secretary of
the State Board of Agriculture) will convey a
yet more complete idea of the plan of the In-
stitution. On this point he remarks:
  "d The Board refer with considerable confi-
dence to the course of study laid down in the
catalogue of the College for 1862. It enters
into no competition with that of other institu-
tions more literary in character or more full in
their mathematical or engineering courses  It
does, indeed, present a number of such studies
as serve to impart the power of communicating
ideas and extending the influence of one's ed-
ucation and experience; and a few, also, that
teach the student his own nature, and his du-
ties as a citizen. But its peculiar feature is
the prominence given to the physical sciences,
such as bear practically on the arts of life.
Botany and Horticulture, Chemistry and Ani-
mal Physiology, in place of the weeks of study



30 1



I