P OP ULAR MIS CELL ANY. 



283 



a good many uncomfortable horrors taken 

 out of our minds, by the judicious doctor. 

 " Mayfair." 



A Botanical rsurper. One of the most 

 curious instances on record of the invasion 

 of a country by a plant of foreign origin, 

 and the extermination by it of indigenous 

 species, is seen in the history of the mango- 

 tree in the island of Jamaica, as recounted 

 by Sir Joseph Hooker. It reminds us of 

 the accounts of captured tribes which after 

 being carried into their conquerors' country 

 have so increased and multiplied as eventu- 

 ally to dispossess and supplant their captors. 

 In 1782 Admiral Rodney captured a French 

 ship bound for San Domingo from Bourbon, 

 with living plants of the cinnamon, jack- 

 fruit, and mango, sent to the Botanic Garden 

 of the former island by that of the latter. 

 The prizes were presented by the Admiral 

 to the Jamaica Botanic Garden. There the 

 cinnamon was carefully fostered, but proved 

 to be difficult of culture in the island ; 

 while the mango, which was neglected, be- 

 came in eleven years as common as the 

 orange, spreading over lowlands and moun- 

 tains from the sea-level to 5,000 feet above 

 it. On the abolition of slavery immense 

 tracts of land, especially coffee plantations, 

 relapsed to a state of nature, and, the mango 

 being a favorite fruit with the blacks, its 

 stones were flung about everywhere, giving 

 rise to groves along the roadsides and 

 around the settlements ; and the fruit of 

 these again, rolling down hill, gave rise to 

 forests in the valleys. The effect of this 

 spread of the mango, Sir Joseph Hooker 

 adds, has been to cover hundreds of thou- 

 sands of acres, and to ameliorate the cli- 

 mate of what were dry and barren districts 

 by producing moisture and shade, and by 

 retaining the rainfalls that had previously 

 evaporated ; all this, besides affording food 

 for several months of the year to both ne- 

 groes and horses. 



Explorations in Central Afrka. Two 



French travelers, M. Savargnan de Brazza 

 and Dr. Ballay, have returned to Paris after 

 a three years' exploration of the Ogowe (or 

 Ogobai) River. In August, 18*75, the travel- 

 ers left Lambarene, the extreme limit of the 

 European factories, and, escorted by twelve 

 Laptots, or native African soldiers of the 



French colony of Senegal, explored the river 

 to its sources. One result of the expedition 

 is to prove that the Ogowe does not rise in 

 an interior lake. The river may be divided 

 into three nearly equal parts the upper, 

 the middle, and the lower. The middle 

 follows an almost straight east and west 

 course just south of the equator ; the two 

 others incline about a degree and a half 

 toward the south. The first halt was made 

 at Lope, a large village on the upper Ogowe. 

 M. de Brazza penetrated into the country of 

 those noble cannibals, the Fans, with whom 

 he entered into friendly relations, and suc- 

 ceeded in reaching Dume, a position con- 

 siderably advanced on the upper river. He 

 suffered seriously in this journey, and on his 

 return had to let his companions advance 

 to Dume without him ; he was only able to 

 rejoin them in April, 1877. Through great 

 hardships and dangers they made their way 

 to the Pubara Fall, above which the Ogowe 

 becomes an inconsiderable stream. 



After a few days' rest here, the explorers 

 left the basin of the Ogowe in March, 1878, 

 to penetrate still farther into the interior. 

 They traversed successively the territories 

 of the Ondumbo, the Umbete, and the Ba- 

 teke, suffering greatly on the way from both 

 hunger and thirst, for the country was de- 

 vastated by famine. A stream running east, 

 the N'Gambo, led the explorers to an impor- 

 tant river, the Alima, 500 feet wide and six- 

 teen feet deep, apparently an affluent of the 

 Congo. In attempting to descend the Alima 

 they had to run the gantlet between banks 

 lined with hostile savages. They quitted 

 the river and marched northward, crossing 

 many watercourses flowing eastward. They 

 suffered so much from hunger that the ex- 

 pedition had to be divided, Dr. Ballay and 

 one of the attendants being sent back to 

 the Ogowe. M. de Brazza went some dis- 

 tance farther northward, when hunger and 

 suffering compelled him also to retreat, and 

 he rejoined his comrade in September. On 

 November 30tb the whole party reached the 

 French settlement at the Gaboon. 



From Corisco Bay, on the west coast of 

 Africa, and a little north of the mouth of 

 the Gaboon, comes intelligence of certain 

 important explorations made by Hugo de 

 Koppenfels, who reports that he ascended 

 the Muni, the Noya, the Balinji, and the 



