104 KEPOiiT— 1866. 



sinia, from June to September. The supply of water from tlie gi'eat White Nile 

 lakes is constant, for they are fed by a ten months' rainfall over the high lands 

 near the equator. It is this ready flow which prevents Egypt fi-om becoming a 

 desert, and it is great enough to overcome the gi-cat absorption in the extensive 

 sandy regions which intervene. When no rain faUs in Abyssiuia, the supply from 

 the lakes keeps up the flow of the Nile until the rainy season comes round again. 

 On the other hand, the fertilizing soil which annually overspreads the Delta is due 

 exclusively to the rich sediment brought down by the Abyssinian tributaries. 



Ohservations on the Character of the Negro Tribes of Central Africa. 

 By Sir Samuel Bakee. 

 In this discourse the author passed in review the various tribes he had visited 

 on his journey to the region of the Equatorial Lakes of the Nile, and in a series 

 of sketches illustrated the principle that the character of the tribes depended on 

 the physical conditions and productions of the locality they inhabited. He said 

 that true negroes commenced, in ascending fi'om Egypt, at 15° north latitude. 

 The first tiibes he met with were those inhabiting the region of morasses extend- 

 ing on each side the White Nile to about 5° N. lat. These were the lowest, both 

 in corporeal condition and moral character. Their forms were emaciated _ and 

 filthy ; they went without clothing, had no religion, and their cookery consisted 

 in grinding the bones of animals between stones to make soup of No iron ore 

 was found in this region, and consequently they were deprived of the great 

 civihzing advantages attendant on the art of working this metal. Other tribes 

 farther south who practise this art have been helped by it to attain a considerable 

 degree of culture. The iron weapons of the Latooka tribe are of exquisite work- 

 manship, and the Unyoro people have even invented a kind of hoe, which Euro- 

 peans might imitate to their advantage. All the tribes who are thus favoured live 

 m the elevated lands near the equator, and the iron-dust which supplies them with 

 the metal is found in the mountains. The presence of the Tsetse fly has a remark- 

 able indirect influence on the civilization of the tribes. This fly is most capricious 

 in its distribution — present in one area of the country and absent from another. 

 Wherever it is present no cattle can be kept ; consequently the natives are 

 deprived of this civilizing influence, for the possession of cattle elevates the 

 character of a tribe in various ways ; it promotes industry, ensures a supply of 

 nourishing food, and, by the necessity of defending the herds against all comers, 

 developes a warlike spirit and organization. The Unyoro people, under the in- 

 fluence of these local advantages, have become the most advanced nation in 

 Central Africa ; they are well clothed and clean in their persons, courteous and 

 dignified in demeanour, and susceptible of enlarged political organization. The 

 speaker pointed out, in a clear manner, the way in which the tribes of Central 

 Africa may be brought imder the influence of European civilization and into an 

 intercourse" which would be beneficial both to us and to them. He showed that 

 formerly a considerable trade existed between the east coast and the Equatorial 

 Lakes, and that the line of trade extended south and north along their shores. 

 Ptolemy was indebted for his knowledge of these lakes to the traders of his time. 

 A trade with Europe might be developed along this line ; but before any bene- 

 ficial intercourse can be commenced the internal slave-trade must be extinguished. 

 He ga^•e his view of the negro character in general, and stated, as his conviction, 

 that it was improveable only vmder the wise and considerate guidance of the white 

 man. Coumierce, properly conducted, would idtimately civilize the negroes of 

 these rich countries of Central Africa. 



On the Lahe Kura of Arabian Geographers and Cartographers, 

 By Charles T. Beigs, Ph.D., F.S.A., F.E.G.S. 

 In Lelewel's ' Geographie du Moyen Age/ there is a map, said to be taken from 

 an Arabian work a.d. 883, in which a lake, named Kura-Ka^■ar, giving rise to the 

 Nile, is found situated on the equator. This has been adduced as a proof that the 

 Arabians 1000 years ago possessed a more accurate knowledge of the upper waters 

 of the Nile than geographers of the present century previously to the recent disco- 



