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GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. (AFRICA.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



Africa. The diplomatic negotiations concern- 

 ing the Congo Free State, first instituted by 

 King Leopold II of Belgium, have at last been 

 concluded, and this great region of equatorial 

 Africa has been recognized as an independ- 

 ent power by European governments and the 

 United States, and its neutrality guaranteed. 

 The negotiations with France and Portugal 

 were somewhat protracted on account of the 

 claims of those powers to the possession of 

 parts of the territory that it was desired to 

 include in the Congo State; especially was 

 this the case in regard to the short strip of 

 sea-coast at the mouth of the Congo, which 

 seemed indispensable to the new state. Portu- 

 gal claimed both banks of the river near its 

 mouth, by right of discovery. An agreement 

 with France was, however, arrived at on Feb. 

 4, 1885, by which that power gave up the 

 claims in question, and received recognition of 

 its right to the Kuilu-Niadi region, traversed 

 by Savorgnan de Brazza in 1882. The final 

 obstacle to the independence of the Congo 

 State was removed February 14 by the com- 

 pact with Portugal, whereby that power gave 

 up its claim to the northern bank, and gained 

 the long-sought recognition of its claim to the 

 southern bank and the district of Kabinda. 

 The new state as now organized has the nar- 

 row outlet to the sea at the mouth of the river 

 from Banana to Yabe. The boundary-lines 

 then turn inward, and the northwestern cor- 

 responds mainly with . the course of the Con- 

 go as far as Equator Station, when it passes 

 still farther northward to include the region 

 drained by the tributaries of the Congo, the 

 line to be the yet undiscovered water-shed that 

 separates the basin of the Congo from those of 

 the Benue, the Schari, and the Nile. In the 

 east the boundary follows the line of the west- 

 ern shores of the Albert Nyanza, Lutu Nzige, 

 Tanganyika, and Bangweolo. The southern 

 boundary is not fully settled, but the line turns 

 westerly from the Bangweolo, and reaches the 

 mouth of the Congo after two abrupt turns to 

 follow the boundaries of Lunda and the Portu- 

 guese colony Angola in Lower Guinea. No 

 change has been made in the boundaries of the 

 free-trade territory, as settled by the Berlin 

 conference. 



The boundaries of the Congo basin are still 

 to be settled, and much uncertainty clings to 

 its supposed tributaries, in especial the Welle 

 and the Kassai. An expedition to settle the 

 question regarding the Welle, and to explore 

 the water-shed between the Nile and the Congo, 

 has been sent out by the Vienna Geographical 

 Society, led by Dr. Oscar Lenz. 



The German explorer, Lieutenant Wiss- 

 mann, who entered the interior from the Lo- 

 anda coast in the beginning of 1884, reached 

 Stanley Pool July 16, 1885, having explored 

 the southern drainage system of the Congo, 

 and settled important points in the hydrogra- 

 phy of the regions traversed. It appears that 



the Mfini, the outlet of Lake Leopold, flows 

 into the Kwa after the junction of the Kassai 

 and the Kuango. After his arrival at the Mu- 

 kenge he located the station Luluaburg on the 

 left bank of the Lulua, where he had the vessel, 

 taken there in sections, put together, and ten 

 large boats were made. He then set out down 

 the Lulua ; 48 carriers from Angola and 150 

 Balubas, among whom were thirty women and 

 children, filled the ten boats and ten of their 

 own canoes. After a three days' journey they 

 reached the rapids of the Lulua, when they lost 

 a few of the company. On the 5th of June 

 they reached the Kassai; on the 16th they 

 passed the mouth of the Sankuru. The Kassai 

 becomes a very powerful stream, in some places 

 reaching a breadth of three kilometres. Its 

 banks are thickly populated. The region is 

 rich in ivory, and there are great forests of 

 India-rubber trees. In some places crowds of 

 hippopotami bathing in the river almost blocked 

 the passage. 



The tribes met with up to the 24th of June 

 were friendly ; but at that time the Bakoutous 

 were reached, and a series of conflicts began, 

 like those that Stanley passed through on the 

 Congo in 18V7. The Bakoutous are a ferocious 

 race ; they attacked the expedition in a fleet of 

 canoes, while the women hurled spears from 

 the shore. 



On the 2d of July the expedition arrived at 

 the junction of the Kassai and Kuango, where 

 the stream is not so deep, but has a breadth of 

 nine to ten kilometres, strewed with islands. 



The point where the Kassai flows into the 

 Congo was determined to be some 400 miles 

 below the point laid down on former maps, 

 and the rivers mentioned above as flowing 

 into the Kassai have been supposed to flow 

 directly into the Congo. The Iruki, Lulanga, 

 Ikelumba, and other rivers unaccounted for, 

 probably enter a lake or swamp in the hollow 

 of the great northern sweep of the Congo. 



Balubas, from the upper Kassai, visited the 

 station at Stanley Pool a few days after Wiss- 

 mann's arrival. They are described by Harry 

 G. Whitley, one of the Baptist missionaries, as 

 tall and well made, the men tattooed all 

 over in fine blue lines and curves, the women 

 good-looking, with smooth, wholesome skins. 

 They are sociable and jovial, accustomed to 

 dance and sing the whole night, exceedingly 

 inquisitive, but not thievish. Their ruler is a 

 woman of striking and imperious presence. 

 Their ideas of the Deity were derived origi- 

 nally from Portuguese missionaries, but are 

 confused with fetich-worship. 



Another explorer in the Congo region, Rev. 

 G. Grenfell, reports important work in the 

 exploration of the Mobangi, a northern tribu- 

 tary, which, according to his report, must be 

 one of the most important of the branches of 

 the Congo, affording a longer water-way than 

 any other yet explored, and carrying an im- 

 mense volume of water. Mr. Grenfell, who is a 

 Baptist missionary, ascended the river in the 



