6io 



NATURE 



[April 2^, 1889 



were hung in the presence of his camp followers. This 

 wholesome example proved to be the saving of his expedi- 

 tion. He emerged from the poisoned atmosphere of the 

 forest, and says that he was amply rewarded when his 

 remaining native followers kissed his hands in grateful 

 acknowledgment of being delivered from death. 



The party proceeded on, moving with great glee across 

 the grassy slope amidst villages and cultivation, soon 

 standing upon the brink of the crags which overhang the 

 western shores of the Albert Nyanza of Baker. Here 

 fresh difficulties arose ; the suspicious natives would give 

 them no canoes, would hold no intercourse with him. 

 Emin Pasha's steamer was not in sight, and, after con- 

 sulting his officers, Stanley retired to an entrenched 

 position, sent Stairs, R.E., for his English-built boat, 

 and, terrible though this journey has been in every form, 

 the heroic Stanley won his point, and shook hands with 

 Emin Pasha on April 29, 1888, 465 days after leaving 

 Charing Cross to his relief. 



It is quite possible that he may return to England 

 by the end of May, but there are several reasons which 

 may delay him. The difficulty of providing for so large a 

 party as ten thousand followers belonging to Emin Pasha — 

 this is a most anxious charge. Again, Stanley's thirst to 

 solve the problem of the unexplored country south of the 

 Albert Lake may lead him there, and I really feel more 

 anxious about him since the arrival of his letters than I 

 felt before we heard of his safety, for he is so fearless, he 

 never sees a difficulty. 



The marvellous growth of vegetation upon Stanley's 

 route is not to be wondered at, as we know that 

 in similar latitudes, such as Uganda, Borneo, and 

 the Amazon, the same density of undergrowth and 

 forest exists. A band of moisture encompasses the 

 world at the equator, extending three to four degrees of 

 latitude on either side ; the vertical rays of the sun beat 

 down with great intensity, and vegetation is almost seen 

 to grow. In Uganda I have seen the banana trees, after 

 being felled, shoot up from their centres immediately after 

 their stems had been cut across ; the roots of the trees are 

 surrounded by spongy soil laden with moisture from the 

 daily fall of misty rain, and the powerful sun completes 

 the formation of the great forests of banana trees, without 

 the aid of cultivation, beyond the help of the decayed 

 leaves. We see the same process in the great belt of 

 forest called in India the " Terai," which extends along 

 the bases of the southern spurs of the Himalayas. Here 

 the rains which fall upon these spurs, ooze out over the 

 lands of the " Terai " and feed the roots of the magnificent 

 forest trees, forming food and shelter for the wild 

 elephant, boar, and swamp-loving creatures ; but the 

 atmosphere is almost certain death to all human beings 

 except the inhabitants. We cannot, therefore, feel any 

 surprise that Stanley and all his party suffered from 

 sickness, and wonder how any of them escaped alive. 



" Ugarrowa or Ulede Balyuz, a tent-boy of Speke's," 

 an " Arab slave-dealer," is constantly mentioned in 

 Stanley's interesting narrative. I am able to give some 

 information about this person if he be the same " Ulede," 

 one of " Speke's faithfuls," represented in the Illustrated 

 London News o{ ]\Aj' 4, 1863, as "Ulede Senior," in a 

 photograph taken by Royer in Cairo. He told me that he 

 was a native of Uhiao, was captured by the Watuta in 

 infancy, and sold as a slave to a Zanzibar trader. He was 

 engaged by Speke as a load carrier, and became my 

 valet, which he continued to be till our arrival in Cairo. 

 He was thoroughly trustworthy, as many of his race are, 

 and more intelligent than most of our men. He could name 

 accurately every march in our journey, most of the trees 

 and plants, and could tell a capital story. His career 

 has been deservedly successful, and though from circum- 

 stances he has become a well-known dealer in slaves, I 

 might ask what career is open to any young man of 

 African origin who has never received the slightest edu- 



cation. Ulede Balyuz {i.e. the Consul's boy) has done good 

 service in sheltering Stanley's sick, and in transmitting 

 the graphic despatches which we have all read with pro- 

 found interest, therefore he ought not to be condemned 

 too hastily, but rather be utilized by the Congo Free State 

 Government as the head of a district. 



The dwarfs mentioned by Stanley must be very 

 numerous, as he came upon one hundred and fifty villages 

 of them. One specimen alone was seen by Speke and 

 myself in Unyoro, and at least one perfect skeleton has- 

 been received from Emin Pasha by Prof. Flower. They 

 seem very proficient in hunting, and used every conceivable 

 device to poison the men of Stanley's party by placing 

 staked pitfalls on the path, in the manner they would trap 

 an elephant or antelope, and it appears they were only 

 too successful. 



We must wait for Stanley's return to hear more of the 

 race of Manyema. I believe this race to be the Nyam- 

 Nyam described thirty years ago by Mr. Petherick, but 

 without knowing their tribal marks and arms, this cannot 

 be decided. Meantime, these daring cruel savages have 

 shot down poor Major Barttelot, and are engaged by the 

 slave-dealers of Zanzibar to plunder, capture, and kill the 

 inhabitants, and reduce the country to a wilderness ; so^ 

 that, through Stanley's brave deeds, we have our work of 

 civilization before us. J. A. Grant. 



FURTHER NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF 

 THE EASTERN COAST OF CHINA AND 

 THE ADJACENT ISLANDS. 



TWO years ago some notes were published in NATURE. 

 (vol. xxxvi. p 163) on the geology of a portion of 

 the coast of China, compiled from a report forwarded by 

 Surgeon P. W. Bassett-Smith, R.N., of H.M.S. Rambler, 

 to the Hydrographical Department of the Admiralty. 

 Since then Mr. Bassett-Smith has extended the area of 

 his investigations both to the north and south of the 

 coastline dealt with in this report, so as to embrace the 

 whole eastern coast from Shanghai and Hong Kong ; and 

 has embodied his observations in two further reports to- 

 the Hydrographical Department. These documents, with 

 the specimens referred to in them, having been sub- 

 mitted by the Hydrographer to the Director-General 

 of the Geological Survey, Dr. Hatch, of the Petro- 

 graphical Department of the Survey, has drawn up the 

 following abstract of the reports and notes regarding the 

 specimens : — . 



Speaking generally, the whole coast between Shanghai 

 and Hong Kong consists of granite ; the high mountam- 

 ranges, especially in the south, present chiefly this rock. 

 Flanking the granite on various parts of the coast are vast 

 masses of crystalline schists (gneiss,mica-schist, &c.), parts, 

 of which are rich in metallic ores, even auriferous quartz 

 occurring, as at Chinsan, and more plentifully in the 

 Shangtung province, where it is profitably worked by 

 the Chinese. A curious conglomerate, found at Sharp 

 Point Islands, River Min, at Davis Island, Yangtse- 

 kiang, and also in the Shangtung province, is over- 

 lain by slates, probably of Cambrian age, but for the 

 most part unfossiliferous, although some fish-remams 

 and AlgcE have been found in the Shangtung province. 



In the northern part of the coast (Chusan to Shanghai) 

 there are many traces of ancient volcanic activity. Thi 

 older volcanic rocks consist of porphyritic felsites (Chin- 

 san Island, Davis Island, Elliot Island, Bonham Island, 

 and Side Saddle Island) and basalts (Changtau), both of 

 which are intrusive in the granite and crystalline schists. 

 More recent volcanic tuffs and breccias were obtained in, 

 a quarry near Ningpo. 



The Chusan Archipelago.— Oi this group of islands, 

 situated at the mouth of Hang-chow Bay, south of 

 Shanghai, the northern members have a marked vol- 



