402 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVEP.Y. 



hia companions, Marche, Ballay, and Quarter- 

 master Hamon, found him dangerously ill some 

 weeks after. Regaining his health, he advanced 

 with his associates (except Marche, who had 

 returned to Europe broken down by fever) to 

 the bifurcation of the river formed by the junc- 

 tion with the Passa, which comes from the 

 southwest. The Ogow6 above this point, lati- 

 fude 1 36' S., flows from the south, and is 

 named the Rebanyi by the natives. Both 

 streams are obstructed by cataracts and rapids 

 a short distance above. The fall at Poubara, 

 about latitude 1 45' S., longitude 11 5' E. 

 from Paris, is 30 to 40 metres. Three or four 

 days' march farther up the Ogowe is easily 

 fordable at low water ; and the same is true of 

 the Passa. Having thus satisfactorily solved the 

 problem of the source of the Ogowe, they were 

 attracted by the unknown interior to the east. 

 They could find no carriers to accompany them 

 into these dread regions, whose barbarism the 

 blacks depicted in the darkest hues. They there- 

 fore felt driven to the purchase of their forty 

 slaves. Leaving the well- wooded banks of the 

 river, they struck out into a sandy and waterless 

 country, intersected by deep ravines, destitute 

 of provisions, and inhabited by what were re- 

 ported to be quarrelsome and ferocious canni- 

 bals. A few miles this side of the village of 

 Obanda, which is in latitude 1 34' 59" S., lon- 

 gitude 11 59' 48" E. from Paris, they crossed 

 the water-parting. In the inhospitable region 

 which they now entered, sprinkled with sand- 

 hills, with occasional rocks jutting out, were 

 encountered the Batek6, a tribe which Stanley 

 found living on the Zaire. In the new hydro- 

 graphic basin in which he found himself, Braz- 

 za crossed four different rivers, all easily navi- 

 gable and varying from 60 to 140 metres in 

 breadth. In descending the Alima they were 

 stopped by the fierce Apfurus, and only saved 

 themselves by escaping into a marshy jungle. 

 Thirty or forty miles farther north, near the 

 Lebainguco River, the sickness of many of the 

 men induced Brazza to send them all back with 

 Dr. Ballay and Hamon, and to continue his 

 explorations entirely alone, which he pushed 

 to Okanga, 30' north latitude, longitude 

 about 12 45' E. from Paris, reaching there the 

 the llth of August, 1878. North of the Le- 

 bainguco the desolate country covered with 

 sand-hills ends, and when the Licona River is 

 reached vegetation is abundant. The country 

 of the Ashimbo, north of the equator, is cov- 

 ered with dense forests. The villages of the 

 Batk6 and Umbe'te, who occupy the arid re- 

 gion, are few and wretched. These tribes re- 

 sort to very singular tactics to ascertain the 

 disposition of strangers approaching their vil- 

 lages. The men conceal themselves behind the 

 village, leaving the women in their houses and 

 sending out the children toward the strange 

 party. If the children are not molested, they 

 lead the strangers into the village, and the men 

 come from their hiding-place and receive them 

 cordially. If, however, they attempt to lay 



hands on the children, the latter dexterously 

 elude them, while the warriors wait until the 

 foe has entered the village and scattered in 

 search of plunder, and then, descending from 

 their ambush, have them at their mercy. The 

 houses in these countries are all rectangular in 

 form, built of bamboo, and roofed with the 

 same. A multitude of petty independent chiefs 

 govern these tribes. Cannibalism is univer- 

 sally practiced by the victors in battle. On 

 the upper Ogowe they worship fetiches and the 

 skulls of their ancestors. Elephants and enor- 

 mous gorillas are found on the upper Ogow6. 

 The dominions of the chiefs were of greater 

 extent down the Alima. 



The English are much interested at present 

 in opening up the shortest routes in the lake 

 and Upper Nile regions of Africa, and in es- 

 tablishing communication between their mis- 

 sionary stations. An able and ardent young 

 explorer, Keith Johnston, was commissioned 

 by the Royal Geographical Society to explore 

 a direct route from Dar-es-Salaam, near Zanzi- 

 bar, to the north end of Lake Nyassa, and 

 then to push across to the southern end of 

 Tanganyika. These are two connections which 

 are of the highest importance for missionary 

 operations in these parts of Africa. The 

 country which he was to have traversed is 

 very interesting as a field for scientific explora- 

 tion also, and he was instructed to make as 

 complete observations as he could in the zo- 

 ology, ethnology, botany, geology, and meteor- 

 ology of these regions, and to study the phe- 

 nomenon of a sudden rise in the waters of 

 Lake Tanganyika, alleged by Stanley to have 

 taken place in recent times. Keith John- 

 ston reached Zanzibar on the 5th of January, 

 with one companion, Mr. Thomson. He was 

 able to obtain the services of Dr. Livingstone's 

 favorite attendant, Chuma, as head-man. In 

 May the party left Zanzibar : it consisted of 

 the leader and his European companion and 

 138 native attendants. Before he had accom- 

 plished one third of the distance between Dar- 

 es-Salaam and the head of Lake Nyassa the ac- 

 complished explorer fell a victim to the deadly 

 climate at Behobeho, in latitude 8 N., longi- 

 tude 38 E. The expedition proceeded tinder 

 the command of Mr. Thomson. The country 

 traversed up to the place in which the leader 

 breathed his last was of a monotonous descrip- 

 tion, consisting of level sandy plains varied by 

 marshes. The route taken was to the Lufigi 

 River, which was found to be quite unnaviga- 

 ble except for canoes, being full of sand-banks, 

 islands, and snags, although in places it is deep 

 and the current is strong. They struck the 

 Lufigi near the village of Mzetusa, from which 

 they marched in a west-northwesterly direction 

 to Behobeho. Here the country began to grow 

 much better. Thomson's plan was to proceed in 

 a westerly direction for seven days to the large 

 Khutu village of Mgunda, and then to march 

 southward for two days through the jungle to 

 the Ruaha, to ford this and reach the Uranga 



