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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



of tanning hides, of spinning, weaving, mat-mak- 

 ing, cotton-dyeing, are widely diffused among 

 them, and many of their products are remarkable 

 for their fineness and strength. The negro is but 

 poorly endowed with the inventive faculty ; but 

 he learns quickly, and, when directed by Euro- 

 peans, he is hardly inferior to our own laborers 

 and artisans. The really dreadful trials endured 

 by the carriers employed by Grant, Stanley, and 

 Cameron, show that they readily undergo the 

 greatest toil in consideration of a recompense 

 that is often ridiculously small. The energy dis- 

 played by Livingstone's servants, when they car- 

 ried down to the coast the body of their master, 

 embalmed in salt, shows that they are capable 

 of a devotedness bordering on heroism. Hence, 

 agricultural and manufacturing industry would 

 find here ready to hand all the necessary raw 

 material, cheap labor, and coal for mechanical 

 motors ; and production would go on under con- 

 ditions infinitely more favorable than are to be 

 found in countries where slavery still exists in the 

 transition state, as in Cuba and Brazil, or where 

 coolie labor is employed. 



Central Africa, which till lately was supposed 

 to be a hopelessly barren region, on the contrary 

 presents, in its atmospheric phenomena, its fauna 

 and its flora, an exuberance of life and force un- 

 equaled in India or Brazil. The quantity of water 

 which here falls to the earth is greater than in 

 any other region. The sun, in passing alter- 

 nately from one tropic to the other, produces over 

 this region a zone of clouds from which are pre- 

 cipitated fertilizing showers of rain. The result 

 is a vegetation resembling that of the Carbonifer- 

 ous period ; and as was the case in those remote 

 geological ages, the great herbivores — elephants, 

 rhinoceroses, hippopotami, the last survivors of 

 the ancient world — here abound. The quantity 

 of ivory exported from Africa represents an annual 

 destruction of 30,000 elqihants. In its hydro- 

 graphic features, too, this region is unparalleled 

 anywhere on the globe. In order to form some 

 idea of the hydrography of Central Africa, let us 

 in the first place glance at the great lakes. 



On quitting Lado, in latitude 5° north, and as- 

 cending the Nile, we pass through a mountainous 

 region, which gives to the stream the Arabic 

 name it here bears, Bahr-el-Djebel — the river of 

 the mountains. Rapids in the stream interrupt 

 navigation in the vicinity of the Egyptian station 

 ofDuffli. Above Duffli, in a vast fissure extend- 

 ing southward as far as Lakes Tanganyika and 

 Nyassa, lies Lake Mwootan, which the English 

 have named Albert N'yanza, after the late prince 



consort. According to the recent explorations 

 of the Italian engineer Gessi, Colonel Gordon's 

 lieutenant, this lake is situated at an elevation of 

 670 metres. It is about 220 kilometres in length, 

 and from 35 to 90 kilometres in width. On the 

 east it is bounded by the heights of Unioro, ver- 

 tical cliffs of granite, gneiss, and porphyry, at- 

 taining an elevation of 300 metres, and on the 

 west by the Blue Mountains, whose peaks rise 

 1,800 metres above the surface of the lake. Lake 

 Albert lies so low within its rocky shores that 

 most of the rivers which enter it form magnificent 

 waterfalls. Toward the south it terminates in a 

 vast swamp, which Gessi was unable to penetrate. 

 But toward the north that traveler made a dis- 

 covery of very great importance, if his conjecture 

 should happen to be correct. Just at its exit 

 from the lake the Nile bifurcates, one branch tak- 

 ing a southwesterly direction. This branch is 

 supposed to be the lei or Ayi, which, after flowing 

 through the couutry of the Niam-Niam, rejoins 

 the main river at the point where it forms the 

 marsh of floating islands. If this is so, it might 

 be possible to escape the rapids at Duffli, and 

 establish an unbroken line of navigation from the 

 Mediterranean to the Albert N'yanza. This would 

 be of incalculable advantage for commerce and for 

 civilization. In consequence of the almost entirely 

 pacific annexations effected by Sir Samuel Baker 

 and Colonel Gordon, Egypt now extends as far as 

 Lake Albert, and thus becomes one of the largest 

 empires in the world. From the foot of this lake 

 to Alexandria is a distance of about 30° of lati- 

 tude, or 3,000 kilometres. This is equal to four 

 times the length of France from Dunkirk to the 

 Pyrenees. 



Some 40 miles in a straight line from Lake 

 Albert lies the Victoria N'yanza, or Ukerewe, the 

 great inland sea of Africa. Its superficial area is 

 84,000 square kilometres — equal to the area of 

 Switzerland, with Lombardy and Venetia. Lake 

 Victoria is dotted with large islands. On the 

 west it is bounded by the Alpine region of Uganda 

 and Karagwe, which divides it from the Albert 

 N'yanza, and on the east by Ugejeia and Ururi. 

 To the north lies the country subject to King 

 M'tesa, whose capital, Dubaga, occupies an ad- 

 mirable situation overlooking the blue waters of 

 Murchison Bay. M'tesa has always kindly received 

 the European travelers who have visited him, and 

 has even made a request for missionaries and 

 artisans to introduce among his people the civili- 

 zation of Europe. Nevertheless, I have heard it 

 asserted by the Marquis de Compiegne — the other 

 day so unfortunately slain in a duel at Cairo — 



