306 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERT. 



the Mosi provinces Tema and Jadega, I arrived 

 at Ban, the first place in the domain of the 

 Sheik Tidshani, a son of that Hadsh Omar 

 who fought so obstinately against the French 

 on the Senegal thirty or more years ago. From 

 Ban I went, November 15, to Duensa, a depot 

 for the salt trade. Before continuing my jour- 

 ney northward, I crossed a high table-land 

 southwesterly to Ban-Djagara, the seat of the 

 Sheik Tidshani. After two days' sojourn, I 

 was ordered out of the town, but received per- 

 mission to go to Timbuctoo under the Sheik's 

 protection, though through the dangerous re- 

 gion to the east of the Niger. I returned to 

 Duensa and started from there for Timbuctoo, 

 but after one day's march received an order, 

 December 8, to go back to Mosi. From Mosi 

 I turned to the southwest and south by way of 

 Sinsani Gasari in the western territory of the 

 Gurunsi, Funsi, Wa, and Bole, to Kuntampo in 

 northern Ashantee. This was March 30. I 

 had previously crossed the western Volta. 

 From Kuntampo, eight marches brought me to 

 Salaga. As my goods were exhausted, I was 

 obliged to return. If I could have had from 

 400 to 600 marks I could have gone on with 

 my explorations. " 



The territory on the lower Congo, secured 

 to Portugal by the treaty of February 14, 1885, 

 with the Congo State and the confirmation by 

 the Berlin Conference, has been united with 

 the colony of Angola as the Fourth Congo Dis- 

 trict, and is divided into five sub-districts : 

 Cacongo with the capital Landana, and Ca- 

 binda, Ambrizette, San Antonio, and San Sal- 

 vador, with capitals of the same names. 



The Swedish traveler, Baron von Schwerin, 

 has discovered the celebrated Pedra Padrao or 

 inscribed stone, which the Portuguese naviga- 

 tor Diego Cao (Cam) placed at the mouth of 

 the Congo when he discovered it. The baron 

 learned that the natives had bsen heard to 

 speak of a large " fetich stone " hidden in the 

 jungle. They stood so in awe of it that it was 

 with some difficulty that he persuaded them to 

 show him the way to it. It proved to be the 

 veritable Pedra Padrao. 



In reference to the voyages of Diego Cao, 

 the Visconde de Sanches de Baena has been 

 led by an examination of unpublished docu- 

 ments to the conclusion that he started on his 

 first voyage in 1482 and remained away nine- 

 teen months, and that it was during this voy- 

 age that he set up the Pedra Padrao. After 

 his return he was granted a coat of arms, the 

 patent of which is dated April 14, 1484. He 

 started on a second voyage in 1485 and erected 

 similar stones on Cape Agostinho and Cape 

 Cross. This differs from former accounts. 



Dr. H- Schinz, the Swiss botanist, made a 

 two years' journey, from October, 1884, to 

 October, 1886, over the German territory in 

 Southwestern Africa. His reports are of im- 

 portance as showing the extent and quality of 

 the arable lands, and his careful ethnological 

 researches are also of interest. He estimates 



the number of inhabitants under the German 

 protectorate at 250,000, about 10,000 in Great 

 Namaqualand, 120,000 in Ovaherero, and 120,- 

 000 in Ovambo. His observation of Lake 

 Ngami convinced him that the surface of the 

 lake is yearly decreasing. 



Jt is proposed to change the name of the 

 Bay of Angra Pequena to Luderitz Bay, in 

 memory of Adolph Luderitz, to whose exer- 

 tions the colonization movement in Southwest- 

 ern Africa in 1884 is due, and who lost his life 

 in October, 1886, on his way back from a 

 journey made for the purpose of examining 

 the obstructions to navigation in Orange river. 

 His memory is already honored in the colony 

 by the name Luderitz Land, which is applied 

 to the stretch of coast between Angra Pequena 

 and the mouth of the Orange. 



The New Republic founded by the Boers 

 from the Transvaal, in Zululand, includes, ac- 

 cording to the statement of the ministry in 

 Parliament, May 17, 1887, 2,854 square miles 

 (English), or 7,392 square kilometres, a much 

 smaller area than was at first claimed. The re- 

 public also failed to secure the direct connection 

 with the sea-coast, which was one of the sub- 

 jects of negotiation. The remaining part of 

 Zululand, 8,220 square miles, or 21,290 square 

 kilometres, falls under the control of England, 

 and is placed under the administration of the 

 Governor of Natal. 



The last census (1886) of the Transvaal gives 

 the native population at 299,748, 62,826 of 

 whom are full-grown men. There is a strik- 

 ing difference between these figures and those 

 of the census of 1879, which gave the native 

 population as 774,930, of whom 154,986 were 

 grown men, a difference not accounted for by 

 the fact that one district was not numbered 

 and one other but incompletely. The white 

 population, according to a church census or 

 estimate, numbers 45,000 adherents of the 

 Dutch churches and about 10.000 belonging to 

 other churches, without counting the fluctu- 

 ating population of the gold-mining districts. 



The first section of the railroad from Dela- 

 goa Bay to the South African Republic, 86 

 kilometres in length, was opened October 31. 

 This is the first step toward making the repub- 

 lic of the Boers independent of Great Britain 

 and her South African colonies. 



Asia. The explorations of this year in Asia 

 are mostly due to Russian and British officers, 

 some of whom have been engaged in defining 

 boundaries, and some in examining the re- 

 sources of the territory lately acquired and the 

 prospects it offers for business enterprises. 

 Several French explorers have also been in the 

 field, and three of them have made the difficult 

 journey across the Pamir. The French au- 

 thorities in Cochin-China are improving their 

 possessions by opening the Mekong for naviga- 

 tion. They have already succeeded in remov- 

 ing the rocks causing the rapids between Sam- 

 bor and Stung-trang, so that the stream can be 

 ascended to the Siamese borders. 



