GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



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GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



Africa. The young Scotchman, Joseph Thom- 

 son, has returned from his expedition to Vic- 

 toria Nyanza, and has given in outline an ac- 

 count of the remarkable results of his work. 

 He arrived at Zanzibar in February, 1883, and 

 set out for Kilimanjaro, which he ascended to 

 the height of 8,700 feet. Finding that he had 

 fallen upon the track of Dr. Fisher, who had 

 aroused the hostility of the natives, the wild 

 and warlike Masai, he was obliged to abandon 

 his plan of passing to the southwest of the 

 mountain, and returned toTaveta. From here 

 he chose a route passing to the east of Kili- 

 manjaro, and advanced for the second time on 

 the Masai country. After getting past the Ma- 

 sai of Lake Naivasha, he started, on the 6th 

 of October, with thirty men, for the district of 

 Lykipia and Mount Kenia. Passing out of the 

 meridional trough or depression that extends 

 for many hundred miles southwest from the 

 Red Sea, ending in Tanganyika, and abounds 

 in charming lakes, the party ascended to the 

 plateau of Lykipia, which they found occupied 

 by the Wa-Kwafi. The landscape, with its 

 splendid forests of coniferous trees, was more 

 suggestive of middle Europe than of equatorial 

 regions. A magnificent chain of mountains, 

 extending from north to south, and rising about 

 14,000 feet, were crossed and named the Aber- 

 dare range. After the greatest trials, Mount 

 Kenia was reached. It is a volcanic cone, 

 whose uppermost 3,000 feet are characterized 

 by glittering facets of snow. Measuring nearly 

 thirty miles in diameter at its base, this extinct 

 volcano rises from a thorn -clad plateau 5,700 

 feet in altitude. Up to a height of 15,000 feet, 

 the angle is very low ; but from here the mount- 

 ain suddenly springs into a peak, the sides of 

 which are so steep that the snow can not lie 

 on many places. The unclad parts, showing 

 through the white snow as black spots, give 

 the summit a speckled appearance, and hence 

 its Masai name of Donyo Egar6. Mr. Thom- 

 son next proceeded to Lake Baringo, a glitter- 

 ing, isle-besprinkled sheet of water, surrounded 

 by wonderful mountain scenery, evidently of 

 an entirely volcanic nature. Here he rejoined 

 his caravan, and resumed, on the 16th of No- 

 vember, with about one hundred men, his 

 journey toward Kavirondo and Victoria Ny- 

 anza. In the large town of Kwa-Sundu, on 

 the river Nzoia, he encamped most of his men, 

 and proceeded with a small party. On the 

 10th of December he reached Victoria Ny- 

 anza, forty-five miles east of its outlet to the 

 Nile. Both the fertile country of Kavirondo, 

 a part of which lies where Victoria Nyanza is 

 placed on our maps, and the regions nearer the 

 lake, were densely populated. Thus Mr. Thom- 

 son succeeded in giving a definite place on the 

 map to Mount Kenia and Lake Baringo, and in 



correcting former ideas of the location and form 

 of Victoria Nyanza. Besides, he has had an 

 opportunity to study some of the most remark- 

 able negro tribes. At the base of Mount El- 

 gon, forty miles north of the northeast coast 

 of the great lake, he discovered a large number 

 of caves cut into the compact volcanic rock, and 

 occupied by whole tribes and their cattle. They 

 were very high, and extended into utter dark- 

 ness; their present inhabitants had no tradi- 

 tion as to their origin. They are hardly more 

 than 150 miles from the English station in 

 Uganda. Probably the most interesting feat- 

 ure Mr. Thomson met with was the cattle- 

 breeding Masai, through whose country he 

 passed during the first part of his journey. In 

 physique, language, and religious beliefs they 

 are quite distinct from the Bantu or negro 

 stock farther south. Their customs are very 

 remarkable. During the greater period of 

 their lives the unmarried men and women live 

 together in a kraal in an indescribable man- 

 ner. The men are warriors; the women at- 

 tend to the cattle and perform household du- 

 ties. Their diet is very strict. For several 

 days milk is their only food ; then follows a 

 period in which only meat is eaten. They 

 drink the blood of the bullock; but spirits, 

 beer, tobacco, and vegetables are strictly for- 

 bidden. The Masai man first marries late in 

 life; then he goes no more to war, and is al- 

 lowed to indulge in vegetable food and all kinds 

 of drinks. Corpses are never buried. They 

 are not a very tractable people, and it is diffi- 

 cult to cultivate friendship with them ; but 

 when once made it is genuine. Mr. Thomson 

 made his way through all the wild tribes with- 

 out the loss of a single man by violence, or the 

 necessity of shooting a native. With broken 

 health, but cheerful and good-humored, he 

 emerged from the wilderness on the 2d of 

 April, 1884, having completed nearly 2,000 

 miles of travel, and returned to England. 



The mountain -range of Kilimanjaro is the 

 subject of a scientific expedition undertaken 

 by Mr. H. H. Johnston, under the auspices of 

 several societies. In the middle of June, 1884, 

 the exploring party, consisting of 120 men care- 

 fully selected by Sir John Kirk, the Consul- 

 General of Zanzibar, had reached Uvura, a 

 station on a plateau, 5,000 feet in altitude, one 

 of Mount Kilimanjaro's buttresses. Uvura will 

 be the starting-point for future investigations, 

 and the traveler has succeeded in obtaining 

 ground at a moderate price. The plateau is 

 beautiful, the sides being furrowed by pro- 

 found ravines, the beds of wild torrents de- 

 scending from the snow-clad summits. The 

 natives have caused one of these streams to 

 traverse the plateau, furnishing the expedition 

 with ice-cold water. The climate is that of 

 southern Europe, without the fervid midday 



