GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



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that it attains the latitude of 1 S. Mason 

 Bey's survey, taken in June, 1877, is based on 

 four astronomical positions, two of them taken 

 at the southern extremity of the lake proper, 

 which lie places in latitude 1 10' N., instead 

 of 50' N., as determined by Romolo Gessi ; it 

 reduces considerably the area of the lake as 

 given in Gessi's chart. 



Captain Elton and H. B. Cotterill, the for- 

 mer of whom died on the journey, have suc- 

 ceeded in discovering a favorable trading route 

 between the north end of Lake Nyassa and the 

 coast. They came out at Ugogo, on the road 

 from Bagamoyo to Ujiji. The journey lasted 

 four months and a half, in consequence of the 

 conflicts of the Waruga and Matshinga tribes 

 with their chief, and they were unable to fol- 

 low the courses of the Ruaha and the Rufiji 

 down to the sea on the same account ; but they 

 determined that such a route can be followed, 

 and that it leads through a fruitful and whole- 

 some country, which would take a journey of 

 not more than ten or twelve days. They passed 

 a lofty range of mountains running north- 

 westward from the end of the lake, which is 

 the continuation of the Livingstone Mountains 

 and rises to the height of 14,000 feet. It is 

 called the Kondi range. Its southern slope 

 and the Uwandshi plateau of which it is the 

 border, which has an elevation of 7,000 feet, 

 is a fruitful and delightful region, well watered 

 and rich in cattle, with a climate like the tem- 

 perate zone. 



Of the unexplored central region of Africa 

 transsected by Stanley's exploration of the Con- 

 go, the largest portion, and that which most 

 excites speculation and curiosity, is that lying 

 above the equator, and comprising the north- 

 ern half of the basins of the Congo and Ogo- 

 wai, and the countries drained by the up- 

 per waters of the Niger and the great river 

 Shari, almost unknown, which empties into the 

 not yet fully known Lake Chad. The French 

 and German expeditions noticed below will 

 perhaps do much to bring to light the secrets of 

 this vast region. One of the problems con- 

 nected with it, which has attracted much at- 

 tention, is the disputed question of the issue 

 of the great river Welle, seen by Miani and 

 Schweinfurth near the Monbutto country, by 

 the former in longitude 26 30' E. between 3 

 and 4 N. It probably takes its rise among the 

 Malegga Mountains. Stanley and Cameron 

 both believed that they recognized the Welle in 

 one of the affluents of the Congo, which de- 

 bouches between longitudes 24 and 25 E., and 

 latitudes 3 and 4 S. according to the latter, 

 and between 1 and 2 N. according to the 

 former. The late Dr. Petermann agrees with 

 Stanley in his conjecture, considering the Con- 

 go to be one and the same with the Lualaba, 

 the Bahr Kulla, the Bahr Kuta, the river of 

 the Karbanda, and perhaps with the Aya. Dr. 

 Schweinfurth identified the Welle with the 

 Shari when he discovered it, and still disputes 

 Stanley's conj ecture. The natives informed him 



that the river's course was west-northwest 

 for a long distance, passing through a country 

 inhabited by people who wore white clothes 

 and prostrated themselves on the ground when 

 they prayed, who he observes must have been 

 Mussulmans. Dr. Petermann answers that they 

 may have been Arab traders, since the Arabs 

 knew the northern course of the Congo as far 

 back as the last century, and have long used 

 that route in their slaving expeditions. In the 

 notes of Miani on his sojourn in Bakangoi in 

 1872, all of which have not yet been published, 

 he gives some information which he obtained 

 from the Sultan and his subjects, to the effect 

 that there were two lakes to the southwest- 

 ward, in the direction of the spot where the 

 Congo crosses the equator, one of which was 

 called Ghango, and from the other of which 

 issue the Zaire and the Ogowai ; also that to 

 the westward of Bakangoi, beyond the Amara- 

 ka tribe, were three rivers, one of them very 

 large and named the Birma-Makongo, and far 

 to the south was a large lake, on the banks 

 of which dwelt a tribe called Ghango, situated 

 in the same spot where the natives of Many- 

 uema informed Livingstone that there was a 

 large lake. These lakes are evidently identical 

 with the Congo where it crosses the equator 

 and attains a breadth of ten miles. Miani 

 found the drainage toward the north into the 

 Welle between Munza and Bakangoi. The 

 country between the Welle and the Congo is 

 crossed by no east and west range of mountains, 

 as far as is known, but by the long meridional 

 range called by Stanley the Chain of the Great 

 Lakes. If the Welle is identical with the Aru- 

 wini of Stanley, its course must be in nearly a 

 straight line due west, unlike the tortuous 

 courses of most of the African rivers. It seems 

 unlikely that the natives would have omitted 

 to inform Miani of the connection of the 

 Welle with the lakes of which they spoke, 

 had there been any connection. Schwein- 

 furth answers the objections to the identity 

 of the Welle and the Shari on the ground of 

 the limited volume of water in the latter, and 

 the limited capacity of Lake Chad, by the 

 fact that travelers have seen the Shari in the 

 dry season only, and that by native reports 

 it overflows its banks, which are 30 or 40 

 feet high in the rainy season, and that Lake 

 Chad, which has an area equal to that of the 

 kingdom of Belgium, loses by evaporation 

 about 2 centimetres per day, besides feeding 

 by filtration a great number of springs and 

 wells to the northeast. 



The German Society for African Exploration 

 sent out two expeditions to Central Africa in 

 November to explore the basin of the Congo. 

 One starts from Loanda, under charge of Max 

 Buchner, and directs its course toward Mas- 

 sumba, and will strive to reach Nyangwe and 

 make it a base of operations. The other expe- 

 dition will attempt to reach the Congo from 

 the north, starting for Adamana and Wadai, 

 whence they will make for the Shari. This 



