40 



NA TURE 



{May 12, 1887 



the Congo, and Lake Chad. Dr. Junker said little of 

 himself and his own work on Monday night ; he spoke 

 mainly of the Mahdi rebellion and of his friend Emin 

 Pasha. By the aid of the fine large maps which were 

 shown (one of them drawn by Schweinfurth), and the few 

 details which Dr. Junker did give, the audience ob- 

 tained a fair idea of the extent and value of his 

 work. Dr. Junker, who was born in 1840, and had 

 an excellent scientific training at St. Petersburg, 

 Gottingen, Berlin, and Prag, first went to Egypt in 1875, 

 and between that and 1879 travelled extensively in the 

 region of the Western Nile tributaries, as far as the 

 Tondi and Wau affluents of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. On 

 Monday night, however, he confined himself to the 

 journeys of the last six years, which have been spent in 

 exploring the Niam-Niam and Monbuttu countries, set- 

 tling the problem of the course of the Well^-Makua, and 

 endeavouring to ascertain the watershed that divides the 



basin of the Congo from that of the Nile and Lake 

 Chad. Dr. Junker's journeys have gone far to solve this 

 problem, and to settle that the Well?-Makua discharges 

 its waters into the Congo through the Mobangi, which 

 has been explored by Mr. Grenfell. As will be seen 

 from the map, the region traversed by Dr. Junker is 

 a complicated network of rivers, which it will take 

 many journeys to unravel and chart with accuracy. To 

 reach the field of his last six years' exploration. Dr. 

 Junker went up the Bahr-el Ghazal to Djur Ghatta, and 

 hence across the various southern affluents of the Ghazal 

 to Dem-Zebehr, and then southwards to the town of 

 Ndoruma, the powerful prince of the Niam-Niams. 

 Junker's considerate and generous treatment of the 

 natives gained for him a welcome wherever he went. 

 Ndoruma may be said to have been his head-quarters, 

 where he built his houses and planted his gardens, 

 though he himself could not rest there for many weeks ; 



he was always eager to be on the march into new fields. 

 While he was away exploring, his assistant Bohndorff 

 occupied himself in preparing the natural history 

 specimens collected ; and it is sad to think that all 

 this labour has been lost, as, partly owing to a fire and 

 partly owing to the depredations of the Mahdi's people, 

 none of these collections have reached Europe. After 

 being established at Ndoruma, Dr. Junker made a journey 

 of four months to the southwards, to the Monbuttu 

 country, crossing the Welld at two points. The details as 

 to his discoveries on this and on subsequent journeys he 

 reserves for the book which he hopes to write when he 

 finds leisure. His next journey was in the same direction, 

 to the country of the A-Mahdi, on the Upper Welld, where 

 he was detained several months. In November 1881, 

 Junker was able to carry out his project of visiting the 

 country of the Bakangai. From this time he was 

 almost constantly on the march, and until June 

 1882 he was exploring the countries on the south of 



the Well^. He made the acquaintance of many 

 peoples whose language, manners, and customs differ 

 essentially from those whom he had previously known. 

 He was well received by the Niam-Niam princes, 

 Bakangai and Kanna, to the south of the large river 

 Bomokandi. Women are very differently treated among 

 the Niam-Niams or A-Sandeh from what they are 

 among the Monbuttus ; among the former they are simply 

 slaves, whereas among the latter they are in many re- 

 spects treated on a footing of equality with the men. 

 The Monbuttu women paint and tattoo their bodies in a 

 most elaborate fashion, which Dr. Junker described in 

 detail. When he left Prince Kanna and the southern 

 A-Sandeh, Junker returned to the Monbuttu country, 

 and spent some days at the station of Tangasi with 

 the Italian traveller Casati. He then traversed the 

 A-Bangba and Momfu countries to the south of the 

 Well^, crossed again the Bomokandi, and discovered 

 the Nepoko, which he is inclined to identify with the 



