Fune 18, 1885 | 
NATURE 
155 
ing contrivances in many ways. His flotilla of steamers, 
some of them most ingeniously contrived for the special 
navigation of the Congo, may be said to have been 
everything to him in carrying out his work; and the 
Congo Free State may be fairly set down as another 
“triumph of steam.” Mr. Stanley claims for the Congo 
Free State an area of over amillion square miles and a 
population of 42,608,000. As to the area, that is probably | 
not far out; but the population seems to us excessive. 
Mr. Stanley reaches this great figure by generalising the 
density which he finds on the banks of the river itself. 
Between Stanley Pool and Stanley Falls, a distance of 
about 1000 miles, and including part of the Biyerré and | 
Kwa Rivers, he finds a population of 806,300, and takes 
for granted that a similar density will prevail throughout 
the whole of the Congo Basin. 
along the river banks, and it would be very unsafe to 
calculate on finding regions at a distance from rivers 
equally well populated. Throughout the whole of the 
million square miles claimed by the Congo State only a 
few lines of exploration have as yet been run, though we 
This is very unlikely. In | 
uncivilised countries the population naturally crowds itself | 
| 
| of the river to the Likona tributary in 1° S. lat. 
know that as a whole it is probably the best-watered 
region in Africa, and possibly therefore the most thickly 
peopled. But the tendency among African geographers 
recently has been to reduce previous estimates of the 
population of Africa, and instead of 200 millions it is 
thought that 170 millions is one more likely to be nearer 
the mark. But all estimates, except for districts that have 
been settled for some time, are necessarily conjectural ; 
| and even for Morocco the greatest difference exists 
between the estimates of different travellers. 
On the Lower Congo the Free State has been able to 
secure only 2 comparatively narrow strip of territory on 
the north bank—enough, however, to give it the right of 
free navigation between the sea and Vivi, where the first 
series of cataracts begin. From Vivi upwards to Man- 
yanga the State possesses territory on both sides, when 
France comes in and claims the whole of the right bank 
Thence 
_the Free State expands into boundless and unknown 
regions, which we hope it will do its best to explore and 
open up to science as well as to commerce. The aim in 
the north has been evidently to draw the boundary of the 
souUuT 
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Fic. 1.—Politiza: Divisions of the Congo Basin. 
State between the basins of the Nile and the Congo. 
western basin of the Upper Nile, no doubt, is fairly well 
known, but the region between that and the Upper Congo is 
just that part of Africa about which we know scarcely any- 
thing. The boundary on this side, therefore, has been 
drawn with the freedom of conjecture. All the rivers 
that are not known to send their waters to the Nile must, 
in Mr. Stanley’s opinion, come down to the Congo, or, at 
least, ought to do so, and are made to conform with Mr. 
Stanley’s idea of what is right and proper, in the large map 
which accompanies his work. In spite of Dr. Junker’s 
discovery of the water-shed which separates the Nepoko 
from the Welle, they are both made to send their waters 
southward to swell the magnificent Aruwimi. This may 
be so ; only actual exploration will decide the matter. It 
is mainly to settle this question that Dr. Lenz is preparing 
to proceed to the Upper Congo as leader of an expedition 
into the region that lies between that region and the 
Upper Nile tributaries. And here we have one very 
beneficial result of the work which Mr. Stanley has done 
on the (Congo. His numerous stations form so many 
The | 
| dition into the interior. 
starting-points for further exploration. They can be 
easily and rapidly reached from the West Coast, and 
through the agencies at their command, all the men and 
goods obtained necessary for the conduct of an expe- 
If every station on the river 
were made the basis of further exploring work, one of the 
greatest blanks in our knowledge of Africa would soon 
be filled up. In the interest of the enterprise itself 
this must be done. If the manifold products of the 
wonderful land over which Mr. Stanley is so en- 
thusiastic are to be brought down to the river for 
shipment to the upper terminus of the future railway that 
is to convey them past the cataracts, it is evident that 
station after station must be pushed on into the interior. 
Among the white ewp/oyés of the Association are many 
men of education and intelligence ; and while their first 
duty is to look after the interests of the “Free State,” 
these interests, instead of suffering, are likely to be ad- 
vanced by a scientific knowledge of the country around 
the States. Already good meteorological work has been 
done at Vivi by Dr. Danckelmann, whose recently published 
