TBANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 747 



Frencli have been liusy on tlie Ogorvi. The Marquis de Compeigne in the year 

 1874 saw enough to make it probable that the great body of water which it 

 carried to the sea was drained from no very distant area. They must, however, 

 continue to look for the reports of the intelligent French ofhcers under Count de 

 Brazza before they coidd trace the course of the river for any great distance in- 

 land. Some particulars of the so-called Congo country had been acquired by Mr. 

 Grandy, who traversed part of it when under the auspices of the Royal Geographi- 

 cal Society ; but, at the sole cost of Dr. Young, he went in 1874 to seek for Dr, 

 Livingstone, who it was imagined would probably come out that way. The news 

 of Livingstone's death rendered further progress unnecessary. Painstaking work 

 characterised the endeavom-s of Mr. Walker to explore the Okanda in 1866, and 

 the same must be said of Lieutenant Serval previously, in 1802. Both France and 

 Germany had vied with each other in projecting scientific discoveries in these 

 regions under Compeigne, March, and Gussi'eldt, but that success had not attended 

 them which they could have desii-ed. The great discovery of the diamond fields, in 

 1869, had a tendency to eclipse the work done by such travellers as Elton, Vincentj 

 Erskine, Mohr, Motfatt, and Mackenzie, but nobody who had watched the qviestion 

 could fail to see what March had done, for instance in his searching for gold, or 

 what the influence of John Mackenzie had been for good amongst the Bamangwato 

 people. The results of Livingstone's travels were summarized. The discoveries of 

 Speke, Sir Samuel Baker, Grant, Stanlej', Cameron, and others, were also noticed. 

 The work of Stanley, he said, was to clear up several gaps in the explorations of 

 Burton, Speke, and Grant, and thenceforward to timi his attention to the waters of 

 the Lualaba. He visited the Victoria Nyanza, and examined its western boundarj-, 

 and spent some time at the capital of Uganda. Shortly after he discovered Lake 

 Alexandra, and then fell back on Lake Tanganyka. Passing to the spot described 

 by Cameron as the Lukuga, he proceeded in a north-westerly du-ection until he 

 finally found himself embarked upon the greater venture — his descent of the 

 Lualaba. He overcame obstacles of everj- kind, and made that remarkable voyage 

 to the sea which they would always think on with amazement. Later work of 

 great value has been done upon the lakes Nyanza and Tanganyka, and oiu- last 

 intelligence is extremely "\-aluable and interesting. 



3. On a recent Visit to tlie Gold Mines of the West Coast of Africa. 

 By Commander Cameron, R.N. 



4. An Account of a recent Visit to Dahomey. By the Rev. J. Milum. 



