GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



a couple of feet. Every year numbers of men 

 and animals, who venture on this treacherous 

 shell, find their grave in the waters below ; 

 the crack through which they fall closes over 

 again instantly, so that the most experienced 

 eye cannot detect the spot of their tomb. The 

 water of this remarkable hidden sea is bitter 

 and viscous, and so salt that the hand, when 

 dipped into it, comes out encrusted with white 

 crystalline particles. These chotts occupy, with- 

 out doubt, the bed of the ancient lake of Tri- 

 ton, and indicate a gulf of the primeval ocean 

 of Sahara. Captain Roudaire, for this survey, 

 was awarded a gold medal by the Paris Geo- 

 graphical Society, the grand medal being given 

 to Commander Cameron for this trans-conti- 

 nental expedition through Africa. 



Captain Roudaire, in this careful final survey 

 of the depression of Mel'rir, has ascertained 

 the extent of the surface lying below the low- 

 tide mark of the Mediterranean and its bounda- 

 ries. The surface which can be inundated 

 contains about 16,700 square kilometre!*. Nar- 

 row bars separate the depressions of Djerid 

 from Rharsa, and the latter from Mel'rir. The 

 chott Djerid, which is full of water, covered 

 with the solid saline cake of varying thickness, 

 whose surface is actually above low-water 

 mark, would empty its aqueous contents into 

 the Rharsa and Mel'rir basins which are 24 and 

 27 metres below low tide if a cutting were 

 made through the isthmus of Djerid, whose 

 highest point has an absolute elevation of 45 

 metres. Then a channel cut through from the 

 chott of Fejej to the Gulf of Cabes, 20 kilome- 

 tres long the highest point in the intervening 

 isthmus being 47 metres would inundate the 

 entire region from Cabes to Chegga. 



Commander Cameron proposed, before the 

 British Association, a plan for the exploration 

 of Central Africa, through the means of trading 

 societies similar to the Hudson's Bay and East 

 India Companies. A system of central stations 

 should be established 200 or 250 miles apart. 

 The stations would be useful in map-making ; 

 in obtaining meteorological, botanical, and zoo- 

 logical information, and knowledge of the com- 

 mercial resources of the surrounding districts ; 

 accustoming the neighboring peoples to civil- 

 ized social order ; suppressing the slave-trade, 

 and diverting the resources employed in this 

 traffic to the development of the legitimate 

 wealth of the continent. The Seyyid of Zan- 

 zibar might protect such societies, since Euro- 

 pean opinion opposed granting and supporting 

 special commercial privileges. He called at- 

 tention to the great productivity of the regions 

 of Central and Eastern Africa, which could 

 supply the starving millions of India with corn. 

 Belgium has, at the call of King Leopold, con- 

 tributed 12,000, and Portugal 20,000, for 

 the exploration of Africa ; and the British pub- 

 lic should do its part toward civilizing that 

 continent. The more rapidly the light of civili- 

 zation is introduced the more speedily will the 

 slave-trade and domestic slavery become ex- 



tinct. In a public meeting called to consider 

 steps for the civilization of Africa, Commander 

 Cameron declared that Africa was one of the 

 most fertile countries in the world ; coffee 

 grows wild; India-rubber is produced in large 

 quantities, notwithstanding the Seyyid of Zan- 

 zibar has diverted some of the capital of his 

 subjects to the slave-trade. He had seen five 

 and six villages depopulated to furnish a mis- 

 erable string of 50 slaves, the rest of the in- 

 habitants being killed, or driven into the jun- 

 gles to starve. Domestic slavery would be 

 more difficult to repress than the slave-trade, 

 since ilavery was an ancient custom of the 

 people. The Archbishop of York stated that 

 20,000 slaves are annually exported from the- 

 single port of Quiloa, being brought princi- 

 pally from the west of Lake Nyassa ; while for 

 every 1,000 slaves secured, for labor, 1,450 per- 

 ished, or were sacrificed in their capture. He 

 denounced the treaty with the Seyyid, which 

 allowed slaves to be imported for domestic 

 purposes, and stated that 20,000 are imported 

 yearly, when the domestic demand cannot ex- 

 ceed 4,000. 



The Livingstonia Mission of the Scottish 

 Free Church is established on the third plateau 

 of the Shire hill, at the elevation of about 3,000 

 feet, a site free from malaria, and where the 

 thermometer ranges from 70 to 80 in the 

 shade. Water-courses are numerous in the 

 surrounding country, and fine trees and a rich 

 vegetation distinguish that district from the 

 rest of the region, which produces only stunted 

 trees, mostly acacias. The mountains are steep 

 and covered with trees. The natives are in- 

 telligent and peaceful. Their average height 

 is 5 feet 6 or 8 inches ; their proportions, head 

 21f inches in circumference, chest 34 inches. 

 They are well built, active, and supple. They 

 use the bow and arrow, cultivate corn and 

 pumpkins, and are fond of the malt liquor 

 made from millet, called pombe. They work 

 iron, and are very skillful in basket-making, 

 and in weaving bark and cotton cloth. The 

 elder women are disfigured by tattoo marks, 

 and wear lip-rings. Smoking is universal ; 

 the pernicious Indian hemp is smoked as well 

 as tobacco. 



The exploration of the interior of Africa was 

 energetically commenced this past year; but 

 delay and disaster have attended many of the 

 expeditions, and death has made sad havoc 

 among the ranks of the explorers. The one 

 great achievement of the year the following 

 by Stanley of the Congo's course, from the 

 point where Cameron abandoned it last year, 

 down to the sea was accomplished, amid in- 

 cessant perils, with an amount of quickness of 

 resource, energy, and endurance, possessed by 

 few travelers. Dr. E. von Bary proceeded to 

 Jebel Hogar in the Tualeg country ; but in the 

 midst of his labors this accomplished explorer 

 died, from the effects of the deadly climate. 

 M. V. Largeau visited the same place, on his 

 way across the desert to Timbuctoo; after long 



