360 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN 1867. 



The attention of geographers has been di- 

 rected for the past two or three years to the 

 journeyings of Mr. Gerhard Rohlfs, a young 

 German explorer, a pupil and friend of Earth, 

 who, under the patronage of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society of London, and the German 

 Geographical Institutes of Goth a and Berlin, 

 has heen engaged in traversing the regions of 

 Central Africa. Mr. Rohlfs reached England, 

 on his return voyage, in July, 1867. 



Two previous tours of exploration in Central 

 Africa, though they had failed in accomplishing 

 the objects he desired, had qualified the trav- 

 eller, beyond any of his predecessors, for the 

 work undertaken in this journey. He was 

 thoroughly conversant with Arabic as well as 

 with many of the African languages; he knew 

 very fully the habits and customs of the African 

 monarch s, their tendencies to delay, their curi- 

 osity and greed, their weak and strong points. 

 He knew, too, the climate and its effects upon 

 Europeans, and, with a vigorous constitution, 

 great powers of endurance, and considerable 

 medical skill, he considered himself able to en- 

 dure all that might befall him. He was well 

 provided with instruments of compact form for 

 making astronomical, barometrical, and therm o- 

 metrical observations. It was his hope, in setting 

 out from Tripoli, May 20, 1865, to penetrate to 

 "Wara, the capital of the kingdom of Waday ; but 

 though he was finally disappointed in this, he 

 has explored more new territory and explored 

 it more thoroughly and satisfactorily than any 

 previous observer. His first plan in this jour- 

 ney was to go from Ghadames to the plateau 

 ofHaggar, and from thence to some point on 

 the upper waters of the Kwarra or Niger. The 

 war among the Tuarick tribes rendering this 

 impossible, he made his way to Murziik, the 

 capital of Fezzan, by a new route, and after a 

 detention of five months there, which he im- 

 proved in learning the history of Fezzan and 

 the details of its conquest by the Turks, he en- 

 tered into negotiations with the Tibbtis, the 

 people occupying the country between Fezzan 

 and Bornii, for protection in a journey to Wara, 

 the capital of Waday. Failing in this, he sought 

 and obtained a safe-conduct to Kuka, the capi- 

 tal of Bornii. The Tibbiis, Mr. Rohlfs says, are 

 not, as has generally been "Supposed, either 

 Arabs or Berbers. They belong to the negro 

 races, as their language proved. The presence 

 among them of some persons of fair complexion 

 is due to the intermingling of Arab blood, from 

 their proximity to the Arab tribes of the Sahara. 

 They are for the most part Mohammedans. 



The route from Murziik to Kuka has been so 

 often travelled by explorers, that Mr. Rohlfs 

 could add little to the knowledge we already 

 have of it. One discovery which he made was 

 singular enough. Bilma, a town laid down on 

 all our maps of this route, is not the name of 

 any town in the kingdom of Kawar, in which it 

 is usually located. The town which occupies 

 its place is Garo, but it is not. as usually sup- 

 posed, the capital of Kawar. Kalala, some dis- 



tance south of it, is the capital. The inhabitants 

 are about equally Tibbiis and Kanuri, but are 

 subject to the Tuaricks. Mr. Rohlfs was de- 

 tained two months in Kawar, and suffered 

 greatly from the heat, which readied 144 5' 

 F., but he was able to acquire much informa- 

 tion in regard to Kawar and Bornii, as well as 

 to make careful observations in regard to the 

 zones of transition from the desert and from 

 Soudan. He arrived in Kuka in June, 1866, 

 where he was received kindly by the Sheikh 

 Omar, who has ruled Bornii since 1835, and has 

 greatly extended his dominions. The traffic in 

 slaves is still carried on there extensively, but 

 aside from this the old Sheikh is by much the 

 best of the rulers of Central Africa. He demand- 

 ed permission from the Sultan of Waday for Mr. 

 Rohlfs to visit that kingdom; but the Sultan, 

 who had caused the assassination of Vogel, the 

 countryman of Rohlfs, would make no reply, 

 and, after waiting six months, Mr. Rohlfs re- 

 luctantly found himself compelled to relinquish 

 his purpose and turn his face westward. He, 

 however, obtained very full and definite infor- 

 mation in regard to Waday and the murder of 

 Herr Vogel. He also, during this period of de- 

 lay, visited Mandara, now a province of Bornii, 

 and which he ascertained to be marshy, and 

 not, as Barth had supposed, mountainous. The 

 mountains south of Mandara he regarded as a 

 favorable situation for a mission station. From 

 Kuka, on the 13th of December, 1866, Rohlfs 

 proceeded to Yakoba, a city of 150,000 inhabi- 

 tants, the capital of Bautshi, a province of the 

 great Fellatah empire. His account of Yakoba 

 is very full and of great interest. In his journey 

 thither he passed through the province of 

 Kalam, which bears the name of Bobero on all 

 our maps. This name he ascertained was that 

 of the 'grandfather of the reigning governor or 

 sultan of the province. The country around 

 Yakoba is mountainous and of Avonderful 

 beauty. On the north, south, and west, are 

 gr-anite summits over 7.000 feet in height. At 

 Yakoba the traveller was attacked with fever, 

 the result of his previous exposures, which did 

 not leave him until his return to Europe. The 

 climate of Yakoba he regarded as delightful. 

 The plateau on which the city stands is 3,000 

 feet above the sea, and while it produces alike 

 all the fruits of the temperate and the torrid 

 zone, the range of the thermometer from Octo- 

 ber to April was only from 54 5' F., to 99 5' 

 F., and from July to September it is lower, in 

 consequence of the rains. May and June are 

 the warm months, but even in those the heat 

 is not excessive. From Yakoba Mr. Rohlfs 

 made his way on the 19th of March to the 

 Benue River, the main affluent of the Kwarra, 

 reaching its banks near the isle of Loko, south- 

 west of Yakoba. Traversing the provinces of 

 Bautshi and Zeg-Zeg of the Fellatah empire, 

 he rested for a few days at the large city of 

 Keffi-Abd-es Sanga, a city seldom if ever before 

 visited by Europeans. He found the inhabitants 

 here, as nearly everywhere in the Fellatah em- 



