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GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



Dr. Emile Riedeck, we'll known to the scien- 

 tific world as a traveler and collector, is fitting 

 out an expedition for Northern Africa. It is 

 to be commanded by Herr Gottlob Adolf 

 Krause, an accomplished linguist, and its ob- 

 ject is to be the investigation of the languages 

 and social state of the peoples about the Niger, 

 Berne, and Lake Tchad. Herr Krause has 

 spent much time in Africa, and understands 

 languages and dialects spoken between Sehan 

 and the upper Senegal. He intends to follow 

 the Niger to a distance of three hundred miles, 

 and then choose some locality as the center of 

 his base of operations. His explorations will 

 include the east and central territory of the 

 Felata Fulbe, and that of the Hausea Musuk 

 tribes. 



Diligent explorations in the Welle region are 

 being carried on by travelers of various nation- 

 alities. Lupton Bey, an Englishman occupy- 

 ing the post of Egyptian governor of the Bahr- 

 Gayal district, has reported the discovery of a 

 great lake which he believes to be the basin of 

 the Welle ; and Dr. Yunker, a Russian, is ex- 

 ploring the course of the same stream. The 

 Welle was long supposed to be a tributary of 

 the Congo, and to pour its waters into Lake 

 Tchad. This is now supposed to have been an 

 error, and it is surmised that some great dis- 

 covery will soon reform our geographical no- 

 tions of that part of Africa. The Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society reports constant explorings 

 of the unknown central parts of the continent 

 farther south and east. The Belgians have a 

 station at Karema on Lake Tanganyika, and 

 travelers from the east coast are constantly 

 arriving there. An exploring party of Ger- 

 mans are at work between Karema and Tabora, 

 and the French are equally busy on Lake Bang- 

 weolo. Mr. James Stewart has constructed a 

 road between Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika, 

 and a steamer in sections is already on its way 

 to these lakes. Mr. Johnson and Mr. O'Neill 

 are making maps of the region between the 

 Mozambique coast and Nyassa. Capt. Paiva 

 de Andrada is surveying the districts about the 

 lower Zambesi, and Mr. Selons is similarly 

 engaged between the Zambesi and the settle- 

 ment of the Matabele, while Lord Mayo is en- 

 gaged with the country between Mossamedes 

 and Ovampo Land. 



Count Antonelli, a nephew of the late car- 

 dinal, has returned from his adventurous trip 

 to Assab and Shoa, and has given his country 

 an honorable rank among the many nations 

 pushing forward the work of discovery and 

 exploration. Antonelli set out from Yeila, a 

 port eighty or ninety miles south of the Straits 

 of Bab-el- Mandeb, his first object being to reach 

 the Italian traveler, Cecchi, then a prisoner in 

 Shoa. He traveled by way of Irya Somali and 

 the Darakil country, making a long detour 

 northward on the Blue Nile. He determined 

 to make an effort to open a new route to An- 

 kober by way of Assab and Aussa, an under- 

 taking which has cost several explorers their 



lives, the native tribes being fiercely hostile. 

 In spite of this hostility, Antonelli succeeded 

 in making friends with the Sultan of Aussa, 

 Mohammed Aufari, and obtained a passport to 

 the good- will of the nomad tribes in the shape 

 of a walking-stick, the mere sight of which 

 procured from the Darakils mules, guides, and 

 provisions. He accomplished the journey a 

 distance of five hundred miles in three months 

 and seventeen days. At Ankober he was kind- 

 ly received by the king, Menelik, whom he 

 found to be greatly influenced by the Italian 

 bishop Massaia. Menelik sent to King Hum- 

 bert a parcel containing specimens of the 

 products of Shoa seeds, ivory, berries, etc. 

 Count Antonelli is of the opinion that Shoa is 

 a better field for commerce than Abyssinia, it 

 being the key to districts which are very rich 

 in coffee, sugar, spices, and ivory. He is al- 

 ready planning another expedition to this im- 

 portant region. 



Dr. Lenz has given the following description 

 of the commerce of Western Africa : Morocco, 

 which is a land richly endowed by nature but 

 kept poor by misgovernment, has no export 

 trade with Europe, because the export of grain, 

 horses, cattle, and cork-bark, articles produced 

 in abundance, is forbidden. The large impor- 

 tations of sugar and candles from Marseilles, 

 and of green tea and dry goods, are balanced 

 by the re-export of the same commodities to 

 the Soudan. A caravan-journey to Timbuctoo 

 takes three months. The caravans bring back 

 mostly slaves, which find a market along the 

 Barbary coast. Timbuctoo, the emporium of 

 the Soudan trade, is visited by from 40,000 to 

 50,000 loaded camels yearly. The principal 

 standard of value there is salt, which is brought 

 in uniform cakes, weighing sixty pounds, from 

 the Sahara. They have, however, a gold coin, 

 and also Spanish dollars. For small change 

 they use cowries, at the rate of 3,000 or 4,000 

 to the dollar. The money comes from the 

 French stations on the Senegal and is ex- 

 changed mostly for India-rubber, which is ob- 

 tained in the vast mimosa-forests. The French 

 possessions in the interior are confined to a 

 series of forts on one bank of the Senegal, gar- 

 risoned with Algerian and recently also with 

 native soldiery, composed of purchased slaves, 

 who are liberated after six years of service, 

 after which they usually hire out to traders. 

 The Senegal is navigable only as far as the 

 military station Medine, sixty miles from the 

 mouth, where rapids block the passage. A 

 line of forts has recently been established 

 from Me"dine in the direction of the Niger, and 

 would be carried farther but for the hostility 

 of the negro kingdom of Segou, which has 

 been not long converted to Islam. The forts 

 are all connected by telegraph with St. Louis, 

 at the mouth of the Senegal, and work has 

 been begun on a railroad from Me"dine to the 

 Niger. The trade of St. Louis consists chiefly 

 of India-rubber and peanuts. From the latter 

 oil is extracted in Bordeaux and Marseilles, 



