THE PRESENT STANDPOINT OF GEOGRAPHY. 399 



111 the Sahara there are more especially two districts which would 

 reward an enterprising- explorer. One has for its center the highlands 

 of Tibesti, for onr knowledge of which we are solely dependent on the 

 reports of Nachtigal and Gerhard Rolilfs. The other is the highland of 

 Ahaggar. Col. Flatters lost his life in an attempt to explore it in 18S1, 

 yet the diflficnlties can not be insurmountable. Great interest attaches 

 to a thorough examination of the Atlas Mountains, but they are still 

 rendered inaccessible in some parts by fanatical tribes. 



The second large unknown African region includes Wadai and the 

 districts lying between the scene of Junker's exploration in the east 

 and the route recently taken by M. Maistre, in his journey from the 

 Ubangi to the Shari. Wadai has only been visited by three Europeans. 

 Dr. Vogel was murdered at Wara in 1856, and his diaries have never 

 been recovered. Nachtigal crossed the country from west to east in 

 1873. Lieut. Masari did so in the opposite direction in 1880. A Euro- 

 pean traveller would doubtless meet with considerable difficulties in an 

 exploration of Wadai proper, but the outlying districts of this region 

 certainly deserve attention, and they are now much more eiisily acces- 

 sible from the Ubagni-Welle, or the upper Benue, than they were some 

 years ago. 



Far more interesting, however, is the vast region, the greater part of 

 which is unexplored, which stretches from the Upper Nile to the Indian 

 Ocean. It includes not only the territories of the Galla and Somali, but 

 also those highlands to the south of Abyssinia, where little progress 

 has been made since the visit of D'Abbadie to Ivaffa in 184o. There 

 are commercial as well as geographical motives for opening up these 

 almost uidvnown highlands. When I was at Senate, in Abyssinia, a 

 merchant arrived from Katta or Enarea with donkeys laden -with coffee. 

 I had an interesting conversation with him. Dr. Krapf acting as my 

 interpreter. The man said that he had crossed the whole of Abyssinia 

 to find a market for his goods, and that he was on his way to Massawa. 

 We afterward heard that he was robbed and murdered in the Dagonta 

 Pass; so that he never reached his market. This incident has always 

 given me a special interest in the highlands south of Abyssinia; and 

 parts of them have recently been visited by Italian travellers. Chiarini 

 and Cecchi made their way from Shoa to Kaffa, Soleillet reached Katfa 

 in 1882, Borelli explored the sources of the Ilawash in 1888, and 

 reached the Omo flowing to Lake Rudolf, and Dr. Traversi examined 

 the upper Hawash, and Dr. Stecker reached Lake Zuway. The inter- 

 esting lake district to the south of Shoa is probably most accessible 

 from the north. But assaults should be made on the southern extremity 

 of the great Abyssinian Mountain i^lateau. from the east or the south, 

 by expeditions starting from Kisimayu or Lake Rudolf. Mr. Chanler, 

 with Lieut. Hohnel and Capt. Bottego, who are at present in the tield, 

 may possibly solve the problem of the sources of the Jub, but even if 



