GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY IN 1879. 



331 





ju'-lition, Dr. Pogge and Ilerr Eduard Mohr 

 aiv engaged in exploring tho Angula const, 

 while lr. l.ru/ has been obliged to abuudou 

 \pedition up the Ogowe, and return to 

 Kiimpe, exhausted by fatigue and sickness ; 

 not, however, without having concluded an 

 arrangement with the inhabitant of the Osh- 

 eba lands, who have hitherto denied passage 

 through their country. Dr. Pogge visited 

 Qui/cmena, the great camp of the Muata 

 Ynnivo, remaining from December 9, 1875, to 

 April 17th of this year. He was not allowed 

 to make an excursion to the north, but he 

 took a month's journey toward the southeast 

 as far as Inshibaraka, which is only six days 1 

 distance from tho capital, and three days' from 

 the Lubilash. Constant rains rendered travel- 

 ing difficult. Dr. Pogge obtained n great deal 

 ot Information concerning the country between 

 the Kassai and the Quango, and collected nu- 

 merous specimens of botany and natural his- 

 tory, and some skulls of Cassanda men. 



G. A. Haggenmacher's journey into the 

 Somali country, in Eastern Africa, was the 

 first one made into this region, except Bur- 

 ton's excursion in Harar in 1854. ,He depart- 

 ed with a convoy of natives and fifteen cam- 

 els, and reached a point 150 miles inland, and, 

 though attacked and plundered by the jealous 

 and pugnacious native tribes, ho gathered a 

 curious store of information concerning the 

 geography, ethnography, manners, and pur- 

 suits, of the country and the peoples visited. 



Drs. Schweinfurth and Giissfeldt made a 

 trip from the Nile to the Red Sea, visiting the 

 Coptic monasteries of St. Anthony and St. 

 Paul. Some twenty geodetical positions were 

 determined, and many unlooked-for plants 

 were found in the desert. 



Dr. Ascherson, in a visit to Wah-el-Barieh, 

 or Little Oasis, made a complete sketch-survey 

 of the route, and was able, from his friendly 

 reception by the inhabitants, to observe their 

 daily habits. He reports a custom, not prac- 

 tised in other parts of the valley of the Nile, 

 of striking firo by rubbing together pieces of 

 the date-palm leaf. 



Mr. E. Young lias navigated Lake Nyassa in 

 a steam-launch, starting from the mission-sta- 

 tion of Livingstonia, coasting along the eastern 

 side, which was only seen from a long distance 

 by Livingstone. He made the singular discov- 

 ery that the lake extends at least 100 miles 

 more to tho northward than Livingstone sup- 

 posed, and surveyed it to latitude 9 20' south, 

 that is, within a short distance of the southern 

 extremity of Lake Tanganyika, which is 2 or 

 8 to tho westward. He speaks of a river called 

 Rovuma, flowing from the northern end of the 

 l:ko, but the existence of such a second outlet 

 would demand strong confirmation. 



One of the most important exploratory ex- 

 ploits of the year has been the circumnaviga- 

 tion of Lake Albert N'yanza by Signer Gessi, 

 of Colonel Gordon's staff. The lake is found 

 to have the length of about 140 miles, and the 



width of fiO miles. Its shores are covered 

 with a thick growth of trees. Itn southern ex- 

 tremity is very shallow, containing a forest of 

 the ambatch-plant, which only flourishes in a 

 couple of feet of water. The results confirm 

 Speke's account of the size of the lake. Storms 

 of considerable turbulence stir the waters of 

 the lake in certain seasons. Colonel Gordon 

 suspects that a chain of lakes connects it with 

 Tanganyika; this is not impossible, as a break 

 in the mountains is seen in the direction of tho 

 latter lake. From Signer Gessi's sketch-map 

 of the branch of the Nile flowing out of the 

 Albert Lake, it appears that a branch stream 

 forks out not far from the outlet, and flows 

 toward the Jaie, which runs parallel to the 

 Nile for several hundred miles, rejoining it at 

 the point where the Giraffe River commences. 

 Colonel .Gordon expects that this arm will 

 prove more navigable than the White Nile ; 

 however, it must descend from the eame ele- 

 vation, and probably contains rapids not less 

 formidable than the Fola Cataract, and, besides, 

 it was crossed by Petherick in 18C2, and found 

 to be not more than waist-deep. 



Signor Gessi made the voyage in two iron 

 life-boats, rigged as cutters, and manned with 

 eighteen sailors and twelve soldiers. He left 

 Dufli March 7th, arriving at the outlet of the 

 lake on the 18th. The distance is 164 miles, and 

 for the whole distance the river is broad, deep, 

 and entirely navigable. The country is rich, 

 producing millet, sesame, honey, tobacco, beans, 

 bananas, and cattle, in abundance. The natives 

 clothe themselves in antelope and goat skins. 

 Starting cut on the lake toward Magungo on 

 the 20th of March, they were beaten back by 

 a heavy wind after sailing about two-thirds of 

 the way across, and escaped with great diffi- 

 culty being driven ashore where a party of na- 

 tives of the disbanded army of Kaba Rega were 

 waiting to attack them. In the night the storm 

 was so high that one of the boats dragged its 

 anchor, and was driven on shore, and filled 

 with water and sand ; the greater part of their 

 provisions and the instruments were thus de- 

 stroyed. Landing and constructing a barri- 

 cade, and setting up two howitzers, they wait- 

 ed for the storm to go down. Repairing the 

 boat, they succeeded in reaching Magungo on 

 the 30th of March, but, owing to the hostility 

 of the natives, were not able to land, proceed- 

 ing up the Victoria Nile and waiting until re- 

 enforcements came from Aufina. On the 12th 

 of April they set out, passing some sandy isles 

 six or seven miles from shore, which were full 

 of natives, who took refuge there from the 

 troops. The shores were low and sandy ; the 

 interior was covered with timber and luxuriant 

 vegetation. They passed three cataracts at the 

 mouth of a large river called the Tisa, which 

 never runs dry ; it is probably the Kaii^iri, 

 described by Baker. They stopped in a snug 

 harbor named by Gessi Port Schubra, which 

 probably is the Vacovia of Sir Samuel Baker. 

 Detained here by a storm for a day or two, 



