GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS IN 1890. 



353 



pedition by furnishing them with guides who were to 

 lead the party into uninhabited deserts where, wea- 

 ried with hunger, they would fall an easy prey to the 

 contemplated attack. Dr. Zintgraff, however, saw 

 through this device, and conducted his people by a 

 series of 1'orced marches through the uninhabited 

 wastes to the north, until at last, after four days' 

 climbing over almost impassable paths, the first farm 

 village or " ringi " of Mudi, an Adamaua village, was 

 reached. After the great excitement consequent upon 

 the unexpected arrival of a white man with so many 

 armed followers had subsided, the march was re- 

 sumed by way of Takum, Donga, (where the .junction 

 with Flegel's route was effected) and Watrari to Ibi. 

 Here the River Niger Company gave the traveler a 

 most friendly welcome. After four days' stay, Dr. 

 Zintgraff traveled by way of Gashka to lola, from 

 there again via Gashka and Ashaku to Takum, whence 

 he by an easterly route again arrived in the Bali 

 country. At the beginning of January, 1890, he again 

 found himself in the Cameroons, having been absent 

 exactly one year. With regard to the orographical 

 and hydrographical conditions of the formerly un- 

 known portion of the region traversed, it may be said 

 that the country from the Cameroons up to Barambi 

 station rises only about 1,000 feet, and from there 

 stretches away in gently undulating hills of about 

 equal height up to the edge of the West African plateau. 

 Here there is a sudden rise to 4,000 feet. Up to the 

 country of the Bali the ground falls but little, and 

 then slopes away to the northwest, particularly in 

 South Adamaua. At Takum the traveler emerges 

 from a mountain range which stretches from the 

 northeast south of Jola ; west of Takum extensive 

 plains follow each other down to the Benue. The 

 grass land in the Bali region is fairly hilly and tree- 

 less ; only in the valleys of the water courses is bush 

 country found. In other parts of the crass lands trav- 

 ersed, 'the savannah is characterized by small trees of 

 about 20 fe'et high, stunted by the grass fires. These 

 trees at times grow so thickly that they offer a wel- 

 come shade for the otherwise sun-scorched lands of 

 Aclamaua. With regard to the hydrography of the 

 country, some changes are necessitated in the maps of 

 the lower Niger territories. The river valley ot the 

 Calabar reaches in fact right up to the foot of the 

 West African table-land. The Katsena-allah has not 

 a northerly, but a distinctly 'northeasterly direction, 

 and is separated from the Calabar by the border 

 lands of the plateau regions. The mountain chains, 

 which are mostly composed of crystalline slates, have 

 a general run from southeast to northwest, with trans- 

 versal valleys running north and south. The mount- 

 ain outlines in the southern portion of this region are 

 mostly roundish. But in Adamaua proper there is 

 an abundance of sharp, jagged formations, and huge 

 rock pyramids, cones, and crests projecting 300 feet 

 above their surroundings continually meet the gaze. 

 Alluvial iron ore is plentiful, and the iron industry 

 among the Bali is in a- highly developed condition. 

 The country is poor in many places between Jola and 

 Gashka, where the laterite and disintegrated quartz 

 occupy extensive wastes, which vividly recall the 

 lands 'bordering on the lower Congo. The interior of 

 the Cameroons, like the whole coast region of West 

 Africa is much poorer than East and South Africa, 

 although not barren. The elephant is the chief char- 

 acteristic of the country ; antelopes are particularly 

 numerous in the low lands of the Benue. Monkeys, 

 and above all chimpanzees, are most plentiful in the 

 deserts to the south of Takum, where the tracks made 

 by them are often very similar to the native paths, 

 and on many occasions led the expedition astray. The 

 abundance of domestic animals in the interior, the 

 great buffaloes, mancd sheep, and fowls, stands in 

 great contrast to the poor condition of the cattle-rear- 

 ing industry in the West African coast regions, and 

 the same can be said of Adamaua. There is no 

 special distinction between the population of the pri- 

 meval forest districts and that of the grass lands, al- 

 though the latter' is decidedly more developed and 



VOL. xxx. 23 A 



freer ; it is as if the boundlessness of the savannah re- 

 flected itself in the people inhabiting it. All the ne- 

 gro races in the interior of the Cameroons are fully 

 medium-sized ; indeed, among the Bali, for example, 

 the traveler meets with well-proportioned hercu- 

 lean figures. While in the forest region and among 

 the Bali clever frisures of the hair are customary, 

 the men in Adamaua mostly have their heads clean 

 shaven, while the women have a great preference for 

 towering chignons. The Bali place great value upon 

 oblong skulls and endeavor to shape the heads of 

 newly born children accordingly an ethnographical 

 peculiarity which is very seldom met with in Africa. 



The results of Capt. Binger's journey from the 

 Niger to the Ivory Coast are summed up by 

 Dr. Wichmann, in Petermann's " Mitteilungen. 

 From his observations it appears that the sup- 

 posed Kong mountains, which Mungo Park lo- 

 cated under 11 north latitude and 3 to 4 west 

 longitude, have no existence : but that the water- 

 shed, as in many other parts of Africa between 

 large river systems, is formed by scarcely notice- 

 able elevations of ground. A little to the east 

 of the largest southerly branch of the Niger, the 

 Baule, Capt. Binger crossed a small river run- 

 ning southward, which he takes to be the source 

 of the Lahu, which enters the Gulf at the Ivory 

 Coast, and two others, tributaries of the Akba 

 or Comoe. ; so that the sources of the rivers flow- 

 ing to the gulf, therefore, are three or four de- 

 grees farther north than has been heretofore 

 supposed. 



The city of Kong, or Pong, numbers 12,000 

 to 15,000 inhabitants, all Mohammedans, who, 

 however, seem very tolerant, as would be ex- 

 pected of a commercial people accustomed to 

 travel. It is a center for trade. All European 

 articles are on sale in the markets ; cowry shells 

 and gold dust form the currency. The chief in- 

 dustries are- cotton weaving and indigo dying ; 

 and horse breeding is largely carried on. 



Passing northward, the traveler entered the 

 region of the western tributaries of the Volta. 

 He found that the system of this river extends 

 considerably farther to the northwest than has 

 been supposed; its western source, the Black 

 Volta, lies near the sources of the Comoe. The 

 disturbed state of the tribes in the country of 

 Gurunsi and the suspicions of the ruler of Mossi 

 compelled Capt. Binger to abandon his plan of ex- 

 tending his surveys far enough north to connect 

 with those of Bai'th. Mossi is level and adapted 

 for grain growing and cattle raising. Horses 

 are raised, also, though the best come from Ya- 

 tenga, on the border of Massina, but donkey- 

 raising is a flourishing business. 



The whole country traversed eastward from 

 the upper Niger has no mountain chains, but 

 only isolated peaks, mostly of granite formation. 

 In the western part of the region the culminat- 

 ing point is the Natinian Sikasso, 780 metres in 

 height ; several streams flow to the Niger from 

 its northern side, and the Comoe has its source 

 on the southern side. The eastern continuation 

 of the high land forms the scarcely perceptible 

 water-shed between the Comoe and the Black 

 Volta. Toward the south the plateau gradually 

 descends ; here arise the rivers Lahu and Dabu 

 which flow into the lagoon of Great Bassam. 

 Among the isolated summits in the east is the 

 lofty granite peak Komono, 1,450 metres high, 

 which turns the Comoe from its easterly direc- 



