704 EEPORT— 1897. 



was the home of one of the oldest civihsations, and though on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans were at work for 

 centuries, it has only been within the memory of many of us that the centre of the 

 continent, from the Sahara to the confines of Cape Colony, has ceased to be an 

 unexplored blank. This blank has been filled up with bewildering rapidity. Great 

 rivers and lakes and mountains have been laid down in their main features, and the 

 whole continent, with a few unimportant exceptions, has been parcelled out among* 

 the Powers of Europe. But much still remains to be done ere we can form an 

 adequate conception of what is in some respects the most interesting and the most 

 intractable of the continents. Many curious problems still remain to be solved. 

 The pioneer work of exploration has to a large extent been accomplished ; lines 

 have been run in all directions ; the main features have been blocked out. But 

 between these lines the broad meshes remain to be filled in, and to do this will 

 require many years of careful exploration. However, there still remain one or two> 

 regions that afford scope for the adventurous pioneer. 



To the south of Abyssinia and to the west and north-west of Lake Rudolf, on 

 to the Upper Nile, is a region of considerable extent, which is still practically 

 unknown. Again, in the Western Sahara there is an extensive area, inhabited 

 mainly by the intractable Tuaregs, into which no one has been able to penetrate, 

 and of which our knowledge is extremely scanty. Even in the Central Sahara 

 there are great areas which have not been traversed, while in the Libyan desert 

 much remains to be done. These regions are of interest almost solely from the 

 geographical and geological standpoints. But they deserve careful investigation, 

 not only that we may ascertain their actual present condition, but in order, also, 

 that we may try to discover some clues to the past history of this interesting 

 continent. Still, it must be said that the great features of the continent have- 

 been so fully mapped during the last half century that what is required now is 

 mainly the filling-in of the details. This is a process that requires many hands 

 and special qualifications. All over the continent there are regions which will 

 repay special investigation. Quite recently an English traveller, Mr. Cowper, 

 found not far from the Tripoli coast miles of magnificent ruins and much to correct 

 on our maps. If only the obstructiveness of the Turkish officials could be over- 

 come, there is a rich harvest for anyone who will go to work with patience and 

 intelligence. Even the interior of Morocco, and especially the Atlas Mountains, 

 are but little known. The French, both in Tunis and Algeria, are extending our 

 knowledge southwards. All the Powers who have taken part in the scramble for 

 Africa are doing much to acquire a knowledge of their territories. Germany, 

 especially, deserves praise for the persistent zeal with which she has carried out 

 the exploration of her immense territories in East and West Africa. The men 

 she sends out are unusually well qualified for the work, capable not simply of 

 making a running survey as they proceed, and taking notes on country and 

 people, but of rendering a substantial account of the geology, the fauna, the flora, 

 and the economic conditions. Both in the French and the British spheres good 

 work is also being done, and the map of Africa being gradually filled up. But 

 what we especially want now are men of the type of Dr. J. W. Gregory, whose 

 book on the Great Rift Valley is one of the most valuable contributions to African 

 geography ever made. If men of this stamp would settle down in regions like 

 that of Mount Ruwenzori, or Lake Rudolf, or the region about Lakes Bangweolo 

 and Tanganyika, or in the Atlas, or in many other regions that could be named, 

 the gains to scientific geography, as well as to the economical interests of Africa, 

 would be great. An example of work of this kind is seen in the discoveries made 

 by a young biologist trained in geographical observation, Mr. Moore, on Lake 

 Tanganyika. There he found a fauna which seems to afford a key to the past history of 

 the centre of the continent, a fauna which, Mr. Moore maintains, is essentially of a salt- 

 water type. Mr. Moore, I believe, is inclined to maintain that the ancient connection 

 of this part of Africa with the ocean was not by the west, as Joseph Thomson surmised, 

 but by the north, through the Great Rift Valley of Dr. Gregory ; and he strongly 

 advocates the careful examination of Lake Rudolf as the crucial te.st of his theory. 

 It is to be hoped that he, or someone equally competent, will have an opportunity 



