al 



792 



llEPOKT — 1884. 



i^ 



•which is far from being a matter of concern to them alone. They dwell witli 

 emphasis on the probable consequences of the rapid progress of tlio religion ot 

 Maliommed among the African races of the northern equatorial zone. ^'atiT.. 

 tribes, hitherto without moral or political cohesion, ai'e being knit togethi'v on 

 the Western Sudan, tho Upper Niger, and the Gambia, with a rapidity wliicli 

 endangers the peaceful advance of European commerce. It is, of course, to Ije 

 expected that this movement will in time reach the populous basm of the Con?o, 

 and we have had too recent evidence of the fanaticism it is capable of inspiriii". 

 not to perceive here a moral element which may greatly affect white settlements 

 and missionary enterprise in Central Afrit-a hereafter. Any political changes 

 ■which would substitute larger units of territory, and definite bouiidarii's, atA 

 permanent names, for the present fleeting landmarks and multiplied tribal de.si;.T,ii- 

 tions which confuse our maps, would in one sense be welcome. In the nieantiiut' 

 Central African exploration is daily revealing to us the unsuspected wealth of that 

 Dark Continent in all that can tit it for destinies more noble than it has yet been 

 called to fulfil. 



9. Although the Upper Congo from Stanley Falls to Stanley Pool has now been 

 so often travelled that it may be regarded as ])retty well known, this by no means 

 excludes the pos?<ibility of many geographical corrections. For instance, a maji 

 issued as lately as July 18S3 by the International Congo Association, lays down 

 its lower course between the Equator and 4' South latitude, nearly 100 miles more t . 

 the west than is shown in the best modern atlas. As regards its tributaries mucb 

 remains to be learned. Mr. Stanley has discovered two new hikes. Tlie labours i.f 

 that energetic traveller, M. de Brazza, have, to a great extent, cleared iiji the 

 geography of the region included between the Congo and the OgoAve frjni tlu- 

 Equator southwards, and there are now said to be twenty-two trading staticcs in 

 this part of the country; 've are not informed what commerce exists. Higher n]<, 

 but still to the north, Mr. anley has ascended the Aruwimi about 100 miles, with- 

 out having solved a question of no little interest, namely, whether it is identical 

 with the "VVelle, and takes its rise in the same watershed which feeds the White Nile, 

 or whether we liave not, beyond its sources, a drainage system as yet untraced, but 

 which may connect together a number of rivers who.se relations to one another 

 and whose final outlet are alike unknown. Lupton Bey reported nearly two year;- 

 ago that a very large lake had been visited by one of his native subordinates west 

 of the Aruwimi, and it is, in his opinion, ])robable that the AVelle Hows into it, 



The southern basin of the Congo has been crossed from J.oanda to Nyansrwt- 

 through a new country by the late Dr. Pogge and Lieutenant Wissmnnii. tlie latter 

 of whom has inscriljed his name en the roll of great African travellers by continuin.' 

 his journey across the continent by way of Tabora, or Unyanyembe, to Zanzibar. 

 It is worthy of note that he brings confirmation of the often reported existence of 

 a dwarfish race, the "Watwa, on the upper waters of the Sankiiru, not a new fact 

 in African ethnography, because we have long been familiar witli the diiuimitiTe 

 Bushmen (>f the Cape of Good Hope ; but interesting, like the fair-coinplexionnl 

 natives seen by Stanley and Johnston, asevidenceof the diversities of origin, charac- 

 ter, and capabilities, which better acquaintance with the African people is likely tj 

 disclo.'e, and which has at all times been a potent factor in human progress. It i< 

 scarcely necessary to refer hereto the laborious work of Mr. (''ust on the Modern har- 

 guages of Africa as a treasury of information. It may be said in military phrase that 

 the east and west of Africa are in touch. Stanley was able to despatcii letters i:i 

 December last, via Xyangw^, to Karema from his most easterly station on the 

 island of Waua-llimini, Stanley Falls. We can better ajipreciate the teemin;: 

 life of these I'lquatorial regions, when we read that his little expedition of thite 

 steam launches encountered, on November 24 last, a flotilla of over a tliotisaii<l 

 canoes {plus dp viille ranots), which had just before devastated the villap- 

 of^ Mawembt^, murdering all tht> men, and carrying off the women and 

 children into slavery. They did not molest him, and all up this great river the 

 natives, with few exceptions, were found on this last occasion eager to contract 

 alliances (ratified by the exchange of blood), desirous of his jirotection, and cravinsr 

 »■ white resident to instruct them. 



