Miscellaneous desk
< January 31	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	February 2 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

February 1

"Muankengap" in German East Africa

I was introgued by a query on the Taxacom mailing list (for discussion for biological taxonomy), asking for the modern name or coordinates of a place called Muankengap:

This was a collecting locality for aquatic invertebrates appearing in several places in a 1910 publication by von Daday on Rotifera and once in a 1911 work by Tollinger and Annunziata on diaptomid copepods. The place seems to have been at a swampy area on the shore of the Nyassa See (Lake Malawi), most likely (?) in what is now Tanzania.

My own searches have proved fruitless. Can anyone do better? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 10:15, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not yet. I have just found out that the 1911 publication is by Maria Annunziata Tollinger (so not "and"), Ursuline canoness in Innsbruck, cf. this article on her father. Her 1911 work on diaptomids is here, "Muankengap" is referenced on p.46. Of the other places mentioned there, "Wiedhafen" is Manda (Tanzanian ward). I haven't been able to find "Muasik" yet, nor any of the rivers. Tollinger references Eugen von Daday (1908, p.37, 49 and 214), which can be found here, in Hungarian, and apparently not helping much further. It seems that Daday did not travel to German East Africa either, but received samples from correspondents. There are numbers following the localities (21 or 22 for Muankengap), but I couldn't find an explanation for these. --Wrongfilter (talk) 14:13, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Not easy. My best guess so far (based on looking around the lake on some maps) is Mwamgongo, but I couldn't find any actual evidence. —Kusma (talk) 14:44, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Mwangongo is phonetically promising, but on the map it lies on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. ‑‑Lambiam 20:26, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Oops, the lakes look too similar when you don't know them. —Kusma (talk) 20:45, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Daday's 1910 magnum opus, Untersuchungen über die Süßwasser-Mikrofauna Deutsch-Ost-Afrikas (E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart), mentions Muankengap 32 times, but all after the first one refer to the first, in a list of sites: "90. Sumpf nahe dem Nyassa bei Muankengap. 1899, 25. Apr."^[1] The next item is the only site sampled on the same date: "91. Sumpf nahe dem Nyassa bei Muasik. 1899, 25. Apr.", so it is reasonable to think that Muankengap and Muasik are not far apart. I think Nyassa refers to Lake Malawi, aka Lake Nyassa, but I see no other clues for the precise location. ‑‑Lambiam 20:21, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)The Hungarian source says "tócsa a Nyassa-tó közelében", google translates that as "puddle near Lake Nyassa". DuncanHill (talk) 20:23, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This apparently refers to the same water sample as Daday (although dated 24 April) and calls the locality "Muankenya". This in turn leads me to this which refers to a census of huts near Muankenya im Bezirke des unteren Lufirio (in the district of the lower Lufirio). That should be the Lufilyo River which enters Lake Malawi/Nyassa at its northernmost tip (actually marked Lufirio on this map. --Wrongfilter (talk) 22:12, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Finally, the first map in this blog entry, hand-drawn by a missionary, shows a place named "Mankendyas" near the mouth of the Lufira. Obviously there was a lot of variation in the transcription of local place names. --Wrongfilter (talk) 23:09, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, all. Excellent work! I have made a Wikidata item, Muankenya (Q132032147), capturing the scant information we have on the place, including estimated coordinates; please feel free to add to it Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:55, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have a question about the fantasy movie called Legend_(1985_film)

In the 1985 fantasy Tom Cruise movie called Legend_(1985_film), were real White_horses used on set with the scenes with the Unicorns? 173.180.228.11 (talk) 20:26, 1 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As anyone who ever sat a horse knows, they are called greys, so technically, no. MinorProphet (talk)

And as anyone who ever read our article knows, there really are white horses. However, the ones used in the film are indeed "greys": their skin is clearly dark rather than pinkish. Matt Deres (talk) 17:37, 2 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the question is asking if it is computer effects or real horses. It is real horses with rubber horns. The horns visibly wobble as the horses move. It is rather unconvincing. There are many other poor special effects, such as the flying fairy which is clearly a light bulb on a string. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 14:12, 6 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]