GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



401 



way of the entrance to Thibet are due to the in- 

 terested fears of the Lamas or governing class, 

 who now possess the monopoly of the com- 

 merce, that their revenues would be destroyed 

 if the markets were opened to foreign traders. 

 The jealousy of the Chinese authorities has its 

 grounds in political and commercial motives, 

 and is in no way due to religious prejudice, 

 since the people are Buddhists. The principal 

 wealth ot Thibet consists in her flocks and 

 herds. From ancient times she has been known 

 as the best wool-growing country in the world, 

 and now produces the wool of the finest quali- 

 ty. The principal exports to India at present 

 are coarse blankets and carpets, wool, yak- 

 tails, borax, musk, and rhubarb. The country 

 abounds in minerals ; but they are not worked, 

 except gold, which is made into rude ornaments. 

 The gold-fields run along the base of the south- 

 ern watershed of the iSanpoo. A still more 

 important export than the others is brick-tea, 

 which is obtained from a coarse-flavored leaf 

 grown in Sze-chuen, which is preferred by the 

 Bengalese, as it is by the inhabitants of the hill 

 countries and the Punjaub, to the bitter-tasted 

 products of the valleys of the Himalayas and 

 Assam. The taxes and profits from the sale of 

 this tea are one of the principal sources of rev- 

 enue to the Lhassa Government and the offi- 

 cial class. A trade route over the Himalayas 

 would not only be an outlet for the valuable 

 products of the Thibetan highlands, but would 

 open up the great province of Sze-chuen also, 

 with its silk, tea, amber, jade, musk, rhubarb, 

 and cinnabar. The Thibetans are a peaceable, 

 well-instructed, and commercially inclined peo- 

 ple. The route to Lhassa and China by way 

 of Darjeeling is now the best, and will be so 

 until a railway shall be built up the Assam 

 Valley. 



AFRICA. The French expedition to the Ogo- 

 w6, under Savergnan de Brazza and Dr. Ballay, 

 has succeeded, by the exercise of courage and 

 perseverance, in making some geograpical dis- 

 coveries of unusual value. This party set out 

 from France in the summer of 1875, and at the 

 commencement of 1876 were ascending the 

 Ogow6 River in canoes to Lope". After explor- 

 ing the country of the Fans, they advanced to 

 the village of Doum6, about 50 miles south of 

 the equator, where the course of the river is 

 northwestward. Brazza was obliged to return 

 to the coast on account of illness, but rejoined 

 the party in the following spring, and advanced 

 to the Poubara Falls, in latitude 1 45' south, 

 where the river is an insignificant stream com- 

 ing from the south. Having thus finished their 

 explorations of the Ogow6, Brazza boldly re- 

 solved to penetrate the unknown interior. 

 Journeying to the eastward, they crossed the 

 water-parting, and followed the course of a 

 stream which led them to a largo and unknown 

 river called the Alima, which flows eastward 

 and is undoubtedly an affluent of the Congo. 

 Leaving this river, they traveled northward, 

 crossing several streams which flow to the east, 

 TOL. xix. 26 A 



and striking another large river on the equator, 

 which is called the Licona. At a place called 

 Okango, 80 miles farther north, they were 

 obliged to turn back again on the llth of 

 August, 1878, reaching Gaboon on the 80th of 

 November. The distance between the Ogowe* 

 and the Alima is about 50 miles ; the country 

 is crossed by ridges of hills with easy passes. 

 This region was devastated by famine. The 

 tribes on the Alima, whose breadth was about [ 

 160 yards and its depth 16 feet, were ferocious 

 and predaceous, attacking them from every vil- 

 lage. The cupidity and impudent behavior of 

 the blacks gave the travelers constant trouble 

 from the beginning to the end of their three 

 years' explorations. The course of the Ogowe" 

 may bo divided into three sections the mid- 

 dle one flowing parallel to the equator, the 

 lower one inclining about a degree and a half 

 to the southward, and the upper one trending 

 northwestward and making about the same an- 

 gle with the middle course. After Brazza had 

 settled in the negative the question of a con- 

 nection between the Ogow6 and the great lakes, 

 and, in spite of his diminished supplies, had 

 determined to leave the river on an exploring 

 expedition into the interior, he found himself 

 obliged, from the deceitful and thievish char- 

 acter of the hired porters, to purchase forty 

 slaves to carry the baggage. "With these they 

 were enabled to traverse the countries of the 

 Oudoumbo, Umbete, and Batek6, and pursue 

 their explorations until shortness of provisions 

 and the reduction of the stock of merchandise 

 obliged Brazza to send Dr. Ballay and Quar- 

 termaster Hamon back to the Ogowe", and the 

 approach of the rainy season compelled him for 

 the sake of safety to follow not long after. The 

 new country explored by Brazza extends about 

 160 geographical miles south of Lope and 240 

 miles to the eastward, reaching half way to 

 where the Zaire crosses the equator. The 

 point where he abandoned the Ogow6 was as 

 much as 150 miles beyond the farthest point 

 attained by Dr. Lenz, and 75 miles beyond that 

 reached by Marche the year before. When 

 the French and Portuguese expeditions started, 

 forth on their explorations, the secrets of the 

 interior, the problems of the Congo and the 

 lower lake region, had not yet been unsealed 

 through the labors of Cameron and Stanley. 

 When Brazza arrived at Lope in the beginning 

 of 1876, near which place Marche and Com- 

 pidgne had been obliged to resort to arms to de- 

 fend themselves against a murderous attack of 

 the natives three years before, he resolved to 

 enter this dangerous region without an escort. 

 This proved the best and safest course. Ho 

 gained the good will and confidence of the Os- 

 syeba, whose incessant feuds with the Adonma 

 and the Okanda are prompted by jealousy of 

 their commercial operations up and down the 

 river, as they themselves possess no skill in 

 navigation. In June, 1876, he was in Doume', 

 in the country of the Adouma, in company 

 with the Austrian traveler, Dr. Lenz ; and here 



