306 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



trade in slaves, though still considerable, has 

 greatly decreased. 



The* French have also made a farther advance 

 into the Algerian desert, having placed a fort at 

 the fountain Hassi-el-Heirane, some distance 

 farther toward Tual than the post established 

 the previous year. 



Results of observations by Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs 

 as to the origin of the water that comes to the 

 surface in parts of the Sahara are summarized 

 in the " Geographical Journal " : 



The rainfall in this great desert is, on the whole, 

 very scanty, and there are localities in which it does 

 not rain for years. Yet even in such districts oases 

 with perennial wells and springs are by no means 

 rare. In explanation of this singular fact Dr. Rohlfs 

 points out the very great importance of Dr. Nachti- 

 gal's discovery of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, which in for- 

 mer times was an outflow of Lake Chad toward the 

 northeast, and in connection with which even now 

 large quantities of underground water flow in the di- 

 rection "of the Great Desert, providing such widely 

 extended regions of the southern Sahara as Egei, 

 Bodele, and Borku with a plentiful supply of water. 

 Kohlfs finds that the northern boundary line of the 

 tropical rains of the central Soudan regions runs from 

 the oasis of Air to the Belkashiferi well (Bihna-Ohad 

 route), and thence along the northern boundaries of 

 Wadai, Darfur, and Kordofan; and he gives reasons 

 for concluding that many of the oases north of this 

 line derive their underground water supply from the 

 Soudan, as the Bahr-el-Ghazal districts do. The oases 

 of the northern Sahara . . . obtain most of their water 

 from the neighboring mountain ranges. . . . About 

 the oases to the west of the Nile Kohlfs is not pre- 

 pared to say whether they are in any connection with 

 the Nile. To decide this important question, he rec- 

 ommends comparisons between the different levels of 

 the wells and springs of the oases in question and 

 the rise and fall of the Nile. There remain those 

 oases that are in the very center of the great desert, 

 such as Bilmar, Kawar, Wanjanga, Kufra, and others. 



The Lukuga, an outlet of Lake Tanganyika, 

 has been traced to its ending by explorer Del- 

 commune, who traveled down its bank from 

 Kolumbi to its embouchure in the Congo. It is 

 not navigable, by reason of its frequent rapids, 

 having a fall of 321 metres in a course of 400 

 kilometres. The divide between the Ubangi and 

 the Mongalla was explored for the first time this 

 year by Capt. Schagestrom, of the marine of the 

 Congo State, who confirmed the opinion of Ho- 

 dister that the Mongalla drains an extensive 

 region, while the territory of the Ubangi is very 

 limited. According to his observations, the 

 whole basin of the Mongalla is farther east than 

 has been represented. 



The Lubudi river, an affluent of the West 

 Lualaba, was explored by a Belgian expedition 

 under Lieut. Francqui. He thinks it has a 

 longer course than the Lualaba, though it is 

 much smaller than that river at their junction. 

 He has followed the Lualaba from its source, 

 and round that it is not the stream crossed by 

 Capello and Ivins in south latitude 13, which 

 may be the Lubudi. This is a wide, shallow, 

 rapid stream, receiving some important tributa- 

 ries and flowing through a fertile and fairly well 

 peopled region. The Lubende occupy the right 

 bank; to the west are the Baluba-Lukela, and 

 above them the Samba, belonging to the Lunda 

 family. 



Mr. Crawfurd, a missionary stationed at Lofoi 

 in- the Garenganze country, has made two jour- 



neys to Lake Mweru over new routes. Near the 

 eastern edge of the Kundelunga plateau he vis- 

 ited the rock refugees of the Va-Lamotwa, whose 

 retreat is carefully concealed amid a labyrinth 

 of rocks. A lower plateau intervenes between 

 the former and the low land bordering the lake. 

 The shores are more irregular than they appear 

 on the maps. Crossing in a boat, Mr. Crawfurd 

 passed the two mouths of the Luapula, the 

 smaller being 592 yards wide, and the other, 

 which is called Mifimbo, three times that width. 

 East of the Luapula are 5 good-sized islands. 

 The name Mweru means " white," and Luapula 

 " great wave lasher." 



A party led by Count von Gotzen in East 

 Africa discovered from Mount Gurui a large 

 lake to the southwest, which seems not to have 

 been described before. It was called the Lake 

 of Umburre. 



G. F. Scott Elliott, who has been exploring 

 the Ruwenzori region, arrived at the foot of the 

 mountain April 1. He says : 



The only unknown parts of this route, so far ;is I 

 know, are the course of the Kagera and some portions 

 of Ankole. The former river is a deep, rapid current, 

 full of hippopotami, and varying from 80 to 130 yards 

 in width. The current at Kitangule is some 2i 'miles 

 an hour, but higher up, at Kitoboko, it is probably 4 

 miles an hour. It has a very winding course as tar 

 as Butunguru, but after this point becomes much 

 more direct. Butunguru marks the termination (if an 

 enormous alluvial plain, which is obviously the an- 

 cient level of the Victoria Nyanza, and, after it. 

 enters the mountains of Karagwe, which are con- 

 tinuous with the Kuampala range, and with one break 

 extend almost to the shores of the Albert Edward. 

 The plain above alluded to consists at Kitangule of 

 30 to 35 feet of apparently very rich alluvial soil; it 

 appears to slope gradually to the Victoria, and ends 

 in a succession of neavy forests or swamps, which are 

 under water in the wet season, until finally the open 

 water is reached. In Ankole the most interesting 

 feature I found was a series of large lakes (Mbiro 

 Nyanza), 5 in number, on or very near the co 

 of the Kuizi ; this river is quite different in character 

 to the Kagera, and more like the river marshes of 

 Buddu and Uganda. It rises among the hills at Ka- 

 tara, forms the Wamaganga swamp mentioned by 

 Stanley, and then passes through a plain 8 to 15 miles 

 broad (the break alluded to above), flows close to the 

 lakes Mbiro Nyanza, and. after passing through Kaki, 

 enters the Victoria Nyanza between the Narudiigavu 

 and the Kagera. It does not join the Ka^ 

 shown on most maps. . . . The numerous valley,-- in 

 these Ankole and Karagwe mountains are of a most 

 curious character. They are deep, well-like trenches 

 (perhaps 1,500 feet deep on an average), and form u 

 most intricate meshwork. A large number of vil- 

 lages are scattered on the hillsides, but more often at 

 the bottom of these valleys, but the country as a 

 whole suffers from lack of water. The hills are cov- 

 ered with short grass, and should, I think, prove good 

 grazing ground for sheep and cattle. 



The greatest want of all these countries is a ready 

 and cheap means of communication with the coast. 

 My reason for the roundabout route followed was to 

 see whether the Kagera WHS a navigable river, but so 

 far as I can see it is not of great promise in tin 

 spect. As far as Butunguru it is a deep, broad stream, 

 without rocks or rapids, and lighters could be brought 

 to this point by steamer easily enough, the only 

 culty being the rapidity of the current, nuni' 

 bends, and the extraordinary number of hippopotami. 

 Of these latter I have seen 8 or 10 together fre- 

 quently, and one finds them every mile or so along 

 its course. Above this point there are rocks and a 

 current so strong as to make navigation very difficult. 



