440 KEroRT— 1879. 



their first halt at a village called Lope. From this station Brazza set out to explore 

 the country of the Fans, a very difficult and hazardous journey. Thence the ex- 

 pedition advanced to Douru6, on the upper part of the Ogowti, where its course is 

 from south-east to north-west. Doume" is about 50 miles south of the equator. 

 After a serious illness Brazza was obliged to return to the coast, but he rejoined his 

 party at Doume" in April, 1877, and reached the Poubara Falls in 1° 45' S. Here 

 the Ogowe, flowing from the south, becomes an insignificant stream, and it was not 

 considered necessary to follow its course any farther. 



But here the most important part of M. Brazza's work commenced. He re- 

 solved, in spite of the sufferings he and his party had already gone through, and 

 the diminished stock of provisions, to leave the basin of the Ogow6, and penetrate 

 farther eastward into the unknown interior. The region they had to traverse was 

 devastated by famine, and they suffered much from hunger and thirst. After 

 crossing the water-parting, they followed the course of a stream which brought them 

 to a great and previously undiscovered river flowing eastward called the Alima. It 

 was 150 yards in width, and there can be very little doubt that the Alima is a 

 tributary of the Congo. The inhabitants proved to be hostile, a people devoted to 

 war and pillage, and the explorers were attacked from all the villages they passed, 

 and chased by canoes. Leaving the river, they took a northerly course, and crossed 

 several streams flowing to the east, like the Alima. After having crossed the large 

 river Licona, on the equator, and penetrated to a place called Okanga, some 30 miles 

 farther north, M. de Brazza found it necessary to retrace his steps on August 11, 

 1*76, arriving at the Gaboon on November 30. He described the region between 

 the rivers Ogowe" and Alima as 50 miles across, consisting of hills of moderate height, 

 with many easy passes. 



3. The Southern Oalla Country. By Rev. J. Wakefield. 



4. German Explorations in Africa. By Professor Erman. 



5. The Euphrates Valley Railway. By Commander V. L. Cameron, B.N. 



6. On Broposed Inch-Mediterranean Baihuays, ivith an Account of a Journey 

 by Land from Bagdad to Bushire. By Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. 



After discussing the routes which have been proposed for a railway to Bagdad, 

 viz. by Palmyra, the Euphrates Valley, and the Tigris (all of which are considered 

 more or less impracticable), and also alluding to a possibly feasible line, adhering 

 pretty closely to the existing caravan road which passes through Orfa, Mardin, 

 Nisibin, Mosul, and Kerkuk, approaching Bagdad eventually from the north, the 

 author described his own experiences (in company with his wife, Lady Anne 

 Blunt) of the last 500 miles of the proposed route. 



Starting from Bagdad on March 19, Mr. Blunt landed on a peninsula of the Tigris 

 called El Wudian. There are very few settlements on the left bank of the river, 

 partly on account of danger from the Persian frontier, but principally from the in- 

 different nature of the soil, which contains a good deal of saltpetre and is in parts 

 unhealthily swampy. On the third day the party left in search of a camp of Beni 

 Laam Bedouins, said to be five days' journey off in a nearly easterly direction. 



Their road lay across a very barren plain, varied only by occasional swamps, 

 and now and then a patch of spotted thistle, on which their camels fed vora- 

 ciously. The Hamrin hills are not more than fifteen miles from the river at its 

 nearest point, and run in a perfectly straight line north-west by soiith-east. There 

 is no cultivation at all away from the river bank, and but a few Bedouins were 

 met, living in groups of only three or four tents together, on account of the 

 scantiness of the pasture. They seldom had camels (for it is a poor camel country), 

 but sheep or goats, and a few half-starved cows. 



