GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. (AFRICA.) 



393 



missionary steamer " Peace ' as far as 4 30' 

 north latitude, a distance of over 400 miles. 

 Measured near that point, it was found to be 

 673 yards in width, and its mean depth 25 feet. 

 He is inclined to believe that it is the lower 

 part of the Welle, whose course and destina- 

 tion have been so far vainly sought for. 



On his way up the river Mr. Grenfell met 

 with some hostility from the natives, but on 

 his return he found them friendly and gener- 

 ous. He reports that the banks are more 

 densely populated than those of the Congo, 

 and the resources of the country seemed to 

 him richer. This view finds support in Stan- 

 ley's opinion that the region north of the Con- 

 go would prove the most productive part of 

 Africa, and in Joseph Thomson's, regarding 

 the superior resources of the Niger region. 

 This would make the most valuable part of the 

 continent a belt extending from the equator 

 to north latitude 10 15'. Mr. Grenfell also 

 made excursions up other of the Congo tribu- 

 taries, the Lefini, the Nkenye, the Ukere or 

 Loika, and the Ikelemba. The waters of the 

 last were strongly impregnated with iron. 



According to the reports of the expedition 

 of the French officer Giraud, the Bangweolo 

 source of the Congo is considerably smaller 

 than it has been represented, and is of an ir- 

 regular, roundish form, with a great swamp- 

 region adjoining it on the south. 



The National Geographical Institute of Brus- 

 sels publishes " Le Congo au point de vue e"co- 

 nomique," by A. J. Wauters, giving an account 

 of the resources of the Congo basin, founded 

 on the reports of explorers and officers of the 

 association. 



The French Government is busily pushing 

 forward operations on the Senegal and the 

 Niger. An ambassador from the Emir of Tim- 

 buctoo was sent in September, 1884, to St. 

 Louis, in Senegambia, to treat with the gov- 

 ernor concerning a commercial compact, which 

 will probably result in the diversion to Sene- 

 gambia of a large part of the trade that has 

 heretofore taken the route to Morocco. 



The trading-houses that have sprung np for 

 the trade on the Niger show the rapid devel- 

 opment of business there. In 1880 Count 

 Semelle called the attention of French mer- 

 chauts to the opportunities for trade in that 

 region, where the United African Company 

 then enjoyed a monopoly. Within the four 

 following years two French companies had es- 

 tablished thirty-four stations on the Niger and 

 Benue, while there were thirty-four belonging 

 to the United African Company, and two es- 

 tablished by colored merchants from Lagos. 

 At the beginning of 1885, the United African 

 Company bought up the stations and ships of 

 the French companies, and thus set aside com- 

 petition once more. 



Joseph Thomson has returned from his ex- 

 pedition up the Niger, where he was sent by 

 the African Company to make treaties with 

 , the sultans on that river and the Benue, secur- 



ing the trade to that company. The Sultan of 

 Sokoto he describes as a man of much intelli- 

 gence, who seemed delighted at the prospect 

 of having dealings with England. The people 

 are Mohammedans, and the country seems fer- 

 tile and not unhealthful. 



Eduard Robert Flegel, the German explorer 

 of the Benue, was sent out, in the interest of a 

 German trading company, with a little steam- 

 er, the Heinrich Barth, to make arrangements 

 for securing trade on those rivers. Difficulties 

 have arisen, however, on account of the mo- 

 nopoly sought by the former company. 



The Batanga or Moanga river, just south of 

 Cameroon, was explored in March by Dr. H. 

 Zoller, who found a waterfall ten metres in 

 height about thirty-two kilometres from the 

 coast, called Neveu-du-Mont Fall. He learned 

 from the natives that water communication 

 was made from this place with the Edea by 

 means of the Nepembe creek, so that the na- 

 tives could reach Malimba in three days by 

 that route. He found the whole territory be- 

 tween Malimba and the Moango a low and un- 

 inhabited country. The work of Dr. Zoller 

 has resulted in the addition of considerable 

 territory to the German colony, including the 

 whole Cameron Range and the coast to the 

 Rio del Rey, with the exception of the little 

 domain belonging to the English mission sta- 

 tion Victoria. 



A French expedition for exploring the Al- 

 gerian Sahara journeyed in a southerly and 

 southeasterly direction to the oasis Besserof, 

 and from there, by way of Nefzaua, to the 

 Mediterranean. Numerous remains of mason- 

 work were found, indicating the existence of 

 a prehistoric people. 



Some five years ago the Geographical Society 

 of Berlin organized and sent out a company of 

 specialists for scientific research in East Cen- 

 tral Africa. It was one of the most expensive 

 expeditions ever sent to Africa, receiving an 

 annual appropriation from the Government. 

 For nearly three years its members have been 

 studying the country in the region of Tabora, 

 about two hundred miles east of Lake Tangan- 

 yika. With the exception of Capt. von Scholer, 

 the zoologist, who accompanied the expedition 

 only to Tabora, the whole company of Euro- 

 peans have lost their lives in the undertaking. 

 Dr. Bohm, the naturalist, and Paul Reichard, 

 civil engineer, the only survivors on the 1st 

 of September, 1883, had at that date reached 

 Mpala, on the western shore of Tanganyika, 

 and, passing to the southwest, reached the Lua- 

 pula on the 27th. A month later they arrived 

 at Katanga, mentioned by Livingstone, Cam- 

 eron, and Giraud. They visited the Lufira, 

 the principal tributary of the Lualaba, and in 

 January, 1884, went to Urua in company with 

 the troops of Msiri, chief of Katanga, who was 

 at war with Kassongo, chief of Urua. On Feb- 

 ruary 4 they discovered, southward from Cam- 

 eron's Kassali or Kikondscha, a considerably 

 larger lake, Upamba, which may be identical 



