GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



305 



on the Calabrian back currents, locally termed bas- 

 tard L are found, extending from the shore outward 

 for over half a mile. These currents always run in 

 the opposite direction to the tidal streams, and are 

 obviously extremely useful to navigators ; they show 

 very clearly on a small scale the influence of certain 

 forms of coast line upon the arrangement of tidal 

 currents, an effect very often so disguised as to be 

 scarcely recognizable, as, for example, in the English 

 Channel. The whirlpools of Scylla and Charybdis 

 arc probably whirls set up at the interfaces between 

 the fxtxf'U'd-i and the tidal streams. But, unlike the 

 Corryvreckan, they are by no means easy to locate. 



Africa. Agreements were entered into this 

 year by which the boundary lines of the Congo 

 State were more definitely settled. The agree- 

 ment made in Loanda in June, 1893, as to the 

 line between the Congo State and the Portu- 

 guese territory from the Kwango to the Kassai 

 was ratified at Brussels, March 24, with few 

 changes. The provisional line followed the 

 eighth parallel from the Kwango to the Kwilu, 

 and the latter river to the seventh parallel, 

 which was then followed to the Kassai. Some 

 changes were made in the final arrangements, in 

 order to follow the courses of streams or to leave 

 large settlements wholly on one or the other side 

 of the line. 



An agreement between Great Britain and 

 King Leopold as to the boundary between the 

 Congo State and the British territory was con- 

 cluded May 3, at Rome. The Congo State aban- 

 dons its claim to 14,000 square miles between 

 Lake Bangweolo and the Luapula river. A line 

 of delimitation is to be drawn from Cape Akalun- 

 ga, on the southwestern shore of Lake Tanganyi- 

 ka, to the debouchure of the Luapula from Lake 

 Mweru. King Leopold granted to Great Britain 

 the lease of a strip of territory 15-J- miles broad, 

 188 miles in length, and 2,910 square miles in area, 

 between Tanganyika and Lake Albert Edward. 

 These lakes could be connected by a railway 

 over this strip ; and, moreover, the Congo State 

 agreed to the construction of a line of telegraph 

 through its territory by authority of the British 

 Government, to connect British territory in Cen- 

 tral Africa with the British sphere of influence 

 on the Nile. On the east, the line is to follow 

 the thirtieth meridian as far north as the 

 watershed between the Nile and the Congo, and 

 then follow that watershed. This involves, the 

 surrender by England of its claim to a terri- 

 tory of 9,950 square miles drained by the 

 head streams of the Welle, Ubangi, and the 

 Aruwimi. 



Then Great Britain leased to the King, for as 

 long as he should be sovereign of the Congo 

 State, 42,790 square miles of territory bounded 

 on the east by the Nile, on the west by the 

 watershed of that river and the thirtieth meri- 

 dian, and on the north by the tenth parallel, in- 

 closing Wadelai, Dufile, Kirri, at the head of 

 Nile navigation, Lado, and Fashoda. When the 

 lease should lapse, the Congo State was to re- 

 ceive a strip of land 15 miles wide, connecting 

 lake Albert at Mahagi with the Congo basin. 

 The State also received a lease of a larger por- 

 tion of territory adjoining that which was 

 leased to the King, and west of it, bounded by 

 the twenty-fifth and thirtieth meridians, the 

 watershed of the Nile and the tenth parallel, the 

 lease to be in force as long as the State should 

 VOL. xxxiv. 20 A 



remain under King Leopold or his successors as 

 an independent State or Belgian colony. 



But, on Aug. 14, King Leopold entered into 

 an agreement with France not to occupy the 

 territory leased to him by Great Britain farther 

 to the north than 5 30' north latitude ; and, in 

 consideration of this, France agreed to an ex- 

 tension of the northern boundary of the Congo 

 State the northern line to follow the valley of 

 the Mbomu from its junction with the Ubangi 

 to its source, and thence the divide between the 

 Congo and the Nile to the eastern limit of the 

 State, 30' east longitude. England, on her side, 

 in consequence of a protest from Germany, has 

 given up the lease of the strip of territory be- 

 tween lakes Tanganyika and Albert Edward. 



The boundary between the British and Italian 

 protectorates in eastern Africa was defined by 

 agreement in May. It begins at Jildesa on the 

 west, passes in a southeasterly direction past 

 Darmi, Jig-Jiga, and Milmil to the eighth par- 

 allel, which it follows to the forty-eighth me- 

 ridian, then turns northeast to the forty-ninth 

 parallel, and follows that to the Gulf of Aden. 



Another agreement, made at Berlin, Nov. 15, 

 1893, defines more clearly the line between the 

 British and German spheres of interest in the 

 basin of the Niger-Benue. As with the other 

 boundaries recently agreed upon, no attention is 

 given to the tribal relations of the natives whose 

 lands are assigned. Adamaua, a tributary 

 province of Sokoto, and the powerful kingdom 

 of Bornu, are each divided between England and 

 Germany. The line starts from a point on the 

 coast at the mouth of the Rio del Rey, and 

 passes in a northeasterly direction, making a 

 bend at Yola, which is left within the British 

 sphere, and then passes on to Lake Chad, which 

 it strikes in longitude 14 east. The territories 

 east of this line are to be in the German sphere 

 of influence, but " it is agreed that the influence 

 of Germany in respect to her relations with 

 Great Britain shall not extend eastward beyond 

 the basin of the river Shari," and that " Darfur, 

 Kordofan, and Bahr-el-Ghazal, as defined in the 

 map published in October. 1891, by Justus Per- 

 thes, shall be excluded from her influence even 

 if affluents of the Shari shall be found to lie 

 within them " thus virtually drawing an east- 

 ern boundary to the German sphere. 



The position of Yola, the capital of Adamaua, 

 was definitely settled by the observations of 

 Uechtritz and Passarge, who visited the Hinter- 

 land of the Cameroons with a view to extending 

 German influence over the Shari. They also 

 found new routes across the divide between the 

 Benue and the Logone. Yola appears to lie 

 about 30' east of the position heretofore as- 

 signed to it 12 47' east and 9 16' north. 



Timbuctoo was taken possession of by Capt. 

 Bonnier, of the French army, Jan. 10, but he 

 was killed by the Tuaregs a few days later with 

 a part of his force. This important place, at 

 the convergence of the commercial routes of 

 western Soudan and the Sahara, was in former 

 years a greater market than it has been since the 

 safer routes to the Guinea coast and through 

 Senegal have been opened. The introduction of 

 English cottons has reduced the trade in native 

 fabrics; the exports of gums, ostrich feathers, 

 ivory, etc., have sought other outlets ; and the 



