394 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. (AFBICA.) 



with the Lake Lohemha of Cameron. If so, 

 it was incorrectly located. 



Not far from this lake, near Katapena, a 

 place where sulphur-springs are found, which 

 was besieged hy Msiri, Dr. Bohm died on 

 March 27 of an attack of fever. Reich ard 

 then started southward to find the sources of 

 the Lualaba and the Lufira, but was forced to 

 return after a few days by the hostility of the 

 Warambas, the inhabitants of Iramba. Msiri 

 also turned against him, and he was forced to 

 withdraw to the Tanganyika. Sept. 25 he ex- 

 amined the rich copper-mines near Unkaa, and 

 crossed the Lufira and the pass of the Kunde- 

 Irunde mountains. Deserted by the guides, 

 the expedition wandered for a month through 

 the wilderness, contending with hunger and the 

 hostility of the natives, till at length, on Octo- 

 ber 15, the old route was found, and the ex- 

 plorer started for the coast. A report has been 

 received that he was killed while on his way 

 by the natives of Ugogo. But the results of 

 the expedition have not been lost, since Rei- 

 chard's maps and reports have been received 

 in Europe. The region traversed formed a gap 

 between those explored by Livingstone, Cam- 

 eron, and Giraud. 



The British consul at Mozambique, H. E. 

 O'Neill, is said to have rendered great service 

 by his tireless exertions in exploring the coun- 

 try lying about him and the coasts, in which 

 he has discovered numerous bays of more or 

 less importance in a commercial point of view. 

 His observations have been made very care- 

 fully and scientifically, and will occasion im- 

 portant corrections of the map. 



A steamer has lately been placed on Lake 

 Tanganyika, the u Good News," sent out in 

 sections by the London Missionary Society. 

 The Victoria Nyanza was already supplied with 

 one, the "Eleanor," and the Nyassa with two, 

 the "Ilala" and the "Oh. Janson." 



The German Government has met with some 

 resistance from the Sultan of Zanzibar in its 

 efforts to extend a protectorate over the lands 

 discovered under the auspices of the German 

 East African Company Usagara, Ukami, Ngu- 

 ru, Usegua, and Witur. The sultan, however, 

 withdrew his opposition on the appearance of 

 some German ships of war and the reception 

 of an ultimatum from the officer commanding, 

 and he has recognized the protectorate and or- 

 dered his troops out of the disputed territory. 

 Other districts had been added to the discov- 

 eries of the company before the appearance of 

 the fleet Chutu, as far as the Rufidschi, dis- 

 covered by Count Pfeil, and by Dr. Juhlke 

 and Lieut. Weiss, some districts reaching to 

 the southern foot of Mount Kilimandjaro. The 

 sultan has claims on the latter districts also, 

 based on alleged compacts with their chiefs. 

 But for the neighborhood of the ferocious Mas- 

 sai these districts are said to be well adapted 

 for colonization. 



The Portuguese explorers, Hermenegildo Ca- 

 pello and Roberto Ivens, have traversed the 



continent from west to east, exploring the head- 

 waters of the Zambesi and the Lualaba, much 

 of the country passed over being heretofore 

 unexplored. They reported that the Cubango 

 is a tributary of the Zambesi, and the Luapula 

 the chief branch of the Lualaba, and that a 

 country called Garanganja is rich in deposits of 

 copper. Eighty of one hundred and twenty 

 men who accompanied them died on the route. 



The exploration of the Juba or Dschub river, 

 which enters the Indian Ocean near the equa- 

 tor, in attempting which the explorer Decken 

 lost his life in 1865, and which was vainly at- 

 tempted by Revoil in 1884, is to be undertaken 

 by the Italian traveler Cecchi. 



The Italian explorer Bianchi, who undertook 

 to open a direct route between Abyssinia and 

 the Assab Bay, for the benefit of the Italian 

 colony, was surprised by the Danakil when 

 but two days' journey from the Abyssinian 

 border, and he and all his companions were 

 murdered. The Italian Government, in conse- 

 quence, resolved on the military occupation of 

 Assab, and sent thither a squadron of six ships 

 and a regiment of soldiers for the better pro- 

 tection of their colonists. Bianchi's book, on 

 his journey through Abyssinia and Schoa to 

 Soddo-Galla, appeared almost simultaneously 

 with the announcement of his death. 



Much anxiety has been felt concerning Dr. 

 Junker, Capt. Casati, Emin Bey, and Lupton 

 Bey, explorers who were on their way to find 

 the course of the Welle, and were reported to 

 have been taken prisoners in the country of 

 the Mahdi ; and an expedition was projected, to 

 be led by Dr. G. A. Fischer, with the object of 

 relieving them. Later advices reported the 

 supposed prisoners safe at Lado, on the Upper 

 Nile, beyond the country of the Mahdi. 



Most of the recent explorers of the continent 

 are of opinion that its resources in most parts 

 are scarcely worth developing. Dr. Fischer, 

 in his " More Light on the Dark Continent," 

 gives some statistics. The total value of the 

 ivory export is only 800,000 a year, and in 

 not many years that will be exhausted. The 

 virgin soil of Africa can not even grow Euro- 

 pean vegetables without being heavily manured. 

 The caoutchouc of Africa is worthless for many 

 manufacturing purposes, and is also being rap- 

 idly exhausted. Coffee grows well in some 

 places, and might be made something of; but 

 even that in the Gaboon has come to nothing 

 after an expensive experiment of seven years. 

 African gum-copal is being put out of the 

 market by Australian; orchilla will soon be 

 superseded by a chemical preparation ; oil is 

 decreasing in price ; of minerals there are none 

 worthy of attention for export. Even if the 

 resources of Africa were all that optimistic 

 explorers decribe them to be, Dr. Fischer 

 maintains that they could never be developed 

 by native labor, unless that labor were forced. 

 Central Africa, he maintains, can never be 

 colonized by Europeans, while the native will 

 never work unless he is compelled to do so. 



