390 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1865. 



absence (October 1st) his men were attacked 

 by the natives, several killed, and the rest com- 

 pelled to escape down the river, leaving the 

 baron alone among the natives. They reached 

 Zanzibar on the 24th of October, and an Eng- 

 lish ship was instantly despatched to aid in the 

 rescr.a of the baron. 



lu Western Africa, M. du Chaillu, who had 

 attempted again to penetrate into the gorilla 

 country, made many interesting discoveries, but 

 while at Monavo Kombo one of his men firing a 

 gun to please the natives, accidentally shot two 

 of them, when the savages set npon them and 

 compelled them to fly into the forests, shooting 

 poisoned arrows at .them. Du Chaillu's men 

 became panic-stricken, and, throwing away his 

 apparatus and specimens, fled to the Ashira coun- 

 try. He had been wounded and was very ill, 

 but finally reached the coast and returned to 

 London. Several other expeditions are in prog- 

 ress one northward from the Gabun, under 

 the direction of a Mr. Walker ; another south- 

 ward, through the Sahara Desert, to the country 

 of the Tuaricks, by Gerhard Rohlf, of which we 

 shall know more ere long. Dr. Baikie fell a 

 victim to the African fever, when just upon the 

 point of returning to Europe. Dr. Barth, the 

 distinguished African explorer, is also dead. 

 Dr. Livingstone has published the narrative of 

 his discoveries, from 1858 to 1864, during the 

 past year, and the relation is full of interest. 

 Dr. Livingstone's brother, Charles, who had 

 resided for some years in the United States, con- 

 tributes a portion of the volume, and his descrip- 

 tions of some of the wonders of that region of 

 which the two brothers have been the principal 

 explorers, possess a remarkable freshness and 

 vividness. The Mosi-oa-tunya, or Victoria Falls, 

 were partially described in his former volume, 

 but in this they are portrayed with far greater 

 fulness, and compared with Niagara, with which 

 Mr. Charles Livingstone was familiar. In size 

 and the height of the fall, as well as the char- 

 acter of the rock over which the water rushes, 

 the African greatly surpasses the American 

 cataract, the fall being over three hundred feet, 

 and the river a full mile in width. The fall is 

 through a wide crack in the solid black basaltic 

 rock, and there is no projecting crag, so that 

 the wall of rocks goes sheer and perpendicularly 

 down from the lip of the fall. 



The party ascended the river Shire three 

 times, explored thoroughly the lakes Nya<sa 

 and Shirwa, as well as several smaller lakes, 

 and ascertained the height of many of the sum- 

 mits of the Milanje range, which, from a dis- 

 tance, overlooks the Shire and Lakes Nyassa 

 and Shirwa. Aside from this mountain range 

 there are isolated mountains nearer to Lake 

 Nyassa, four thousand feet or more in height ; 

 and above the junction of the Ruo with the 

 Shire, and the wide marshy expanse called by 

 the natives Lake Mukulu, but which the ex- 

 plorers named Elephant Marsh, looms up in the 

 distance a majestic mountain, which Dr. Living- 

 stone surnamed Mount Clarendon. Animal life 



is abundant all over this region, crocodiles and 

 hippopotami are found in great numbers in the 

 rivers and lakes, and the marshes afford feeding 

 grounds to large droves of elephants of great 

 size. At Lake Mukulu the explorers saw eight 

 hundred feeding at once. Fish of delicious 

 flavor, and water fowl in thousands, inhabit the 

 river Shire as well as the lakes, while birds of 

 prey hover over the waters, and the wading 

 birds seek their food in the marshes and near 

 the river brink. 



Dr. Livingstone departed again late in the 

 year 1865, with an ample equipment, furnished 

 jointly by the British Government and tho 

 Royal Geographical Society, for the region in 

 which he has already spent nearly sixteen years 

 of his life, in the hope of ascending nearer to 

 the equator and exploring the Albert and Vic- 

 toria Nyanza, and ascertaining definitely their 

 relations to each other, to. Lake Tanganyika, 

 and to the source of the Nile. 



In OOEANICA the explorations of the past year 

 have been rather a confirmation of past discov- 

 eries than a development of new facts of inter- 

 est. It has become settled that the interior of 

 Australia is not an arid and treeless waste^ but 

 that, though portions of it lack water, other 

 parts are traversed by large rivers and yield an 

 abundant vegetation. M. Htiber has crossed 

 the continent and explored the Upper Murray 

 and Darling Rivers, and has brought home in- 

 teresting and very full information in regard to 

 the fruits, plants, and animals of that portion 

 of Australia, as well as the natives, whose 

 habits, customs, and religious views he studied 

 with great care during a period of thirteen 

 months. The great rat of Australia (Mm Con- 

 ditor) he is the first naturalist who has fujly 

 described. He speaks of its flesh as affording 

 an agreeable diet. He also discovered several 

 new species pf birds. In a subsequent journey 

 undertaken in the summer and autumn (the 

 southern winter) of 1864, he explored very fully 

 the course of the Murray and the Darling. The 

 former takes its course in the western slope of 

 the Australian Alps, and its course is for the 

 most part due west, but under the meridian of 

 140 it turns southward, and after crossing the 

 Torrens Marsh discharges its waters into En 

 counter Bay. Its principal affluents come from 

 the left bank, and are the Mitta-Mitta, the 

 Ovens, the Goulburn, the Lodden, and Alur- 

 rumbidgee. 



The Darling or Banvon River, itself a mighty 

 stream, is also - a tributary of the Murray, and 

 receives numerous affluents. Both rivers aro 

 navigable for the greater part of their course. 

 Dr. Miiller started from Glendower, near Castlo- 

 maine, in the Victoria colony, with eight com- 

 panions, on the 3d of July, on an expedition, 

 well equipped, in search of traces of the missing 

 Dr. Leichhardt. The new colony at the mouth 

 of the Adelaide have found it necessary to 

 abandon their location, in consequence of its 

 unhealthiness, from the proximity of marshe* 

 and jungles. 



