Jan. 25 1877] 



NA TURE 



277 



ACROSS AFRICA^ 



OUR readers are no doubt already familiar with the 

 main results of Commander Cameron's remarkable 

 march across the continent of Africa ; many details con- 

 cerning it have appeared through various channels. 

 These, however, have only been sufficient to whet the 

 appetite of all who take an interest in African exploration 

 for the complete narrative ; this we find quite as interest- 

 ing and informing as we had reason to believe it would 

 be. Commander Cameron has not attempted 

 to produce a highly polished summarji of the 

 copious notes he seems to have taken by the 

 way ; he takes the reader along with him step 

 by step and day by day over the long and to 

 him often tedious route he had to travel, and 

 in the end the reader finds he has become pos- 

 sessed of a substantial amount of new informa- 

 tion concerning one of the most important 

 sections of one of the most inlerest'rg con- 

 tinents. 



Commander Cameron's story is so well known 

 that to summarise it here would merely be to 

 repeat what we have already given on various 

 occasions. The primary object of the expedi- 

 tion which he commanded, it will be remem- 

 bered, was to seek and succour the great 

 Livingstone, whom Stanley had just discovered, 

 aiter the explorer had been hidden in the 

 centre of Africa for five or six years. Cameron 

 as leader, with Dr. Dillon, Lieut. Murphy, and 

 poor young Moffat, who had sold his all to en- 

 able him to find and help his uncle, set out from 

 Bagamoyo with a large following, early in 1873. They had 

 only got as far as Unyanyemb^ in October when they 

 were sadly surprised by the bearers of Livingstone's 

 remains, the great traveller having died in the previous 

 May on the south of Lake Bangweolo, almost on the 

 same day as his enthusiastic nephew perished on the 

 threshold of his search for his uncle. Under the new 

 circumstances Lieut. Murphy decided to return, Dillon 

 was compelled by the state of his health to 

 accompany him, and Cameron resol\red to pro- 

 ceed alone to take up and continue the work 

 of his immortal predecessor. By doing so, he 

 rightly believed he was carrying out the spirit 

 of his instructions. Dillon's sad end, a few 

 days after he left Cameron, is already known 

 to all. 



Cameron's route may be divided into four 

 sections. First, from the coast to Ujiji ; second, 

 the survey of Lake Tanganyika ; third, his 

 journey to Nyangwd, on the banks of the broad 

 Lualaba ; and fourth, from Nyangwd, south, 

 and west, to the west coast. The first part of 

 this route is already to a considerable extent 

 familiar to those who have read the narratives 

 of Burton, Speke, and Stanley. Nevertheless, 

 it will be found that Commander Cameron has 

 added considerably to our knowledge of its 

 appearance, its products, and its people. The 

 admirable series of levels which he was able 

 to take from first to last, and the results of 

 which are condensed in the section that 

 accompanies his interesting map, shows that 

 the ground rises till about the thirty-fourth de- 

 cree west, when it slowly slopes to the centre of 

 the continent, which is a wide hollow or basin, rising very 

 gradually towards the western coast, on which side the de- 

 scent is very steep. The country between the coast is 

 varied in character, sometimes level, and sometimes very 

 liilly, frequently swampy and liable to be inundated by 



the overflow of the numerous rivers which water it, but 

 very often well wooded, thickly populated, and fertile. It 

 is cut up into a number of states inhabited by various 

 small tribes independent of each other, the appearance, 

 manners, and customs of which are frequently referred to 

 by Commander Cameron. Of the Wanyamwesi, espe- 

 cially, he has much to say, for at Unyanyembd, in their 

 territory, he was detained for many weeks by fever, and 

 indeed did not reach Ujiji till February, 1874, after in- 

 numerable troubles caused by his scratch lot of followers. 



Heads of Men of Manyudma. 



and being fleeced at every hand by the chiefs through 

 whose villages he had to pass. 



Cameron was well-received and well-treated by the 

 Arab traders at Kaweld, the capital of Ujiji, and here he 

 fortunately secured Livingstone's paoers. After measur 

 ing a short base-line, he set out on March 13 to circum- 

 navigate the southern half of Lake Tanganyika. Our 

 readers will remember that Burton and Spake were able 



• "Across Africa.' 

 mandcr R.N. 2 vols 



By Vemey Lovett Cameron, C.B., D.C.L., 



(London: Daldy, Isbister, and Co., 18,7.) 



Coin- 



Tanganyika Fishes. 



to survey a comparatively small portion of the lake in the 

 neighbourhood of Ujiji, while Livingstone and Stanley 

 coasted the east side of the northern part, and a portion 

 of the north-west coast. Cameron has, therefore, by his 

 survey been able to add considerably to our knowledge of 

 this interesting lake. He sailed along the eastern side 

 of the southern half, crossed to the west just before reach- 



