Feb. 1, 1889.] 4:05 [Phillips. 



From Poata da Lenha to in' Boma the river contracts and is obstructed by 

 several large islands. 



At "Fetish Rock" the Congo storms over reefs and expands to 1500 

 metres in width. 



At m'Boma the river is fifty metres deep, and is 4700 metres in width : 

 here it is divided by islands into two arms. 



m'BOMA 



May be considered as the interior port, or, as a Belgian writer has well ex- 

 pressed it, as "the Antwerp of the Congo;" the tide here is only six 

 or seven centimetres. Here is stored all the merchandise sent from Ban- 

 ana to be distributed in the interior, and here come the natives for traffic. 

 It is at present the capital of the State and the centre of the commerce of 

 the Lower Congo. The Dutch, English, French and Portuguese trading 

 houses have large establishments here, employing about thirty whites and 

 600 blacks. A flourishing mission has been founded here by the Roman 

 Catholic Church. In 1886 the Congo Independent State installed a postal 

 service. It has also erected here an iron pier, well equipped with cranes 

 for loading and unloading cargoes with the greatest facility. The govern- 

 ment storeliouses are connected with the wharves by a railroad. A Bel- 

 gian commercial company, " les Magasins Generaux," is now building 

 at m'Boma a huge hotel and spacious storehouses where all articles of 

 consumption may be obtained at reasonable prices. 



Passing up the stream, twenty kilom. after leaving m'Boma, the pano- 

 rama changes, lofty and well-wooded mountains appearing on the right 

 bank, while those on the left are barren and dry. Here terminates the 

 alluvial basin. Above the large island, " Des Princes," the islets have 

 disappeared, and the river shows only a vast expanse of tranquil water, 

 from 500 to 2000 metres wide, whose banks reach sometimes to an eleva- 

 tion of 350 metres. The navigation becomes more difficult, owing to an 

 augmentation in the strength of the current and the more frequent appear- 

 ance of rock-reefs and rapids. 



Seven hours' journey from m'Boma appears Noki, a Portuguese com- 

 mercial centre and the last that belongs to that nation on the left bank 

 of the Congo. Here is the frontier marked out by the Congress of Berlin ; 

 from this point both banks of the river belong to the Congo Independent 

 State up to Manyanga, where the French possessions begin. 



Along the river between m'Boma and Noki are about thirty factories, 

 all substations of houses established at m'Boma. 



Passing "Ango-Ango," "Fuka-Fuka" (wliere there are commercial 

 houses), Underbill (where there is a Protestant mission), Matadi is 

 reached. At this point begins land transportation for goods, etc. From 

 here will start the railway line which is to connect the Lower Congo 

 with Leopoldville, on the Stanley Pool. 



Large ocean steamers can come to Matadi without breaking cargo. 



PnOC. AMER. PHIL08. SOC. XXVI. 130. 3g. PRINTED SEPT. 11, 1889. 



