TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 175 
Dr. G. Nachtigall’s Explorations in Africa, 1869-74. 
By E. G. Ravenstew, F.R.GS., PSS. 
The German Emperor haying resolved to forward to the Sheikh of Borneo a 
number of valuable presents, in recognition of the kindness shown by that poten- 
tate to several German travellers who had visited his country, Dr. G. Nachtigall, 
at that time body-physician to the Bey of Tunis, volunteered to accompany them. 
A long residence in Northern Africa, and a thorough knowledge of the language 
and the customs of the country, peculiarly qualified him for the duty he had under- 
taken. Furnished with mercurial barometers, aneroids, a hypsometer, and ther- 
mometers, he left Tripoli on the 18th February, 1869, and, following the usual 
road vid Sokna, arrived at Murzuk on the 27th March. The caravan trafic between 
Marzuk and Borneo having been interrupted in consequence of raids undertaken by 
the Welad Sliman against Bilma, and there being no immediate prospect of its 
being resumed within a reasonable period, Nachtigall determined to employ his 
enforced leisure by paying a visit to Tibesti, an oasis of the Eastern Sahara 
inhabited by the Tibbu Reshade, and never previously visited by a European. He 
left Murzuk on the Gth June, and after thirty-six days’ journey reached Tao, the 
first inhabited spot of that oasis. At the time of Nachtigall’s visit most of the 
inhabitants had retired to the hills or to Bardai, a fertile valley beyond the lofty 
mountain-range which intersects Tibesti from north to south. The traveller’s 
reception was by no means favourable; but he nevertheless persevered, and passing 
a remarkable extinct crater and a mountain pass 6700 feet in height (the highest 
mountain of the district attaining an altitude of 7900 feet), succeeded in making 
his way to Bardai. But there he nearly fell a victim to an infuriated mob, and 
only owed his life to the kindness of one of the most influential chiefs of the 
place. Kept a close prisoner and unable to explore the country, Nachtigall, after 
a month’s detention, sought safety in flight, and, after undergoing indescribable 
hardships, reached Marzuk in safety on the 8th October. On the 18th April 
he was able to start for Borneo, the capital of which he reached on the 6th July, 
1870. The Sheikh received him with the greatest kindness, and facilitated his 
proposed geographical researches in every way. Nachtigall first directed his steps 
to the N.E., to Borku, a district to the south of Tibesti, andalso not before 
yisited. This journey resulted in the remarkable discovery that Lake Tsad at some 
former period discharged a river in a north-easterly direction, which emptied itself 
into a vast lake, at that time filling the depression of Bodele. Numerous ske- 
letons of fishes, &c. testified to the existence of this ancient lake ; and even now, 
after unusually heavy rains, Lake Tsad is stated to discharge a river in that direc- 
tion. After his return to Kuka, Nachtigall started for Bagirmi, to the exploration 
of which he devoted the time between the 27th February and 9th August, 1872. 
He unravelled the complicated hydrography of the Shari and its tributaries, and 
added much to our knowledge of the heathen tribes dwelling in the far south, a 
savage though industrious race, who are constantly exposed to the slave-hunting 
raids of their Mohammedan neighbours. Nachtigall himself witnessed some of the 
most horrid scenes of the traffic in human beings, and does not hesitate to charge 
the Turkish authorities in Tripoli and Fezzan with conniving at it. In the begin- 
ning of March, 1873, he finally left Kuka for the purpose of returning to Europe 
by way of Wadai, Dar Fur, and Nubia, and this o ect he will in all probability 
accomplish ; for when last heard of, on the 13th March, 1874, he was already at 
the capital of Dar Fur, and money forwarded to him from Khartum had safely 
reached him. 
On Sir John Glover's Expedition from the Volta to Coomassie. 
By Surgeon-Major 8. Rowz, G.M.G., Chief of the Staff to the Expedition. 
The author gave a description of the position and political relations of the tribes 
in the eastern division of the Gold Coast Territory intended to be raised and 
trained by the Glover Expedition; also of the Trans-Volta tribes, and a short 
attack of the Ashantees on Krepee in 1869, and the capture of the German mis- 
sionaries. He referred to the treaties made in 1869 by British authorities with the 
