Africa^ its Past and Future. 105 



into the Kongo some distance above Stanley Pool on the south. 

 The mouths of the Sankuru were discovered by Stanley, who 

 was struck by the size and beauty of the river, and by the lakes 

 which probably connect it by a second outlet with the Kongo ; 

 but he little realized the magnitude of the river. Even before 

 the journey of Stanley, Portuguese explorers had crossed several 

 large streams far to the south of the Kongo, — the Kuango, the 

 Kassai, and the Lomami, — and explored them for several hun- 

 dred miles, but were unable to follow them to their mouths. In 

 1885 and 1886, Wissman and the Belgian explorers sailed up the 

 Sankuru to the streams discovered by the Portuguese. The next 

 largest branch is the Obangi, now called the Obangi- Welle, 

 which Hows into the Kongo on the westerly side of the conti- 

 nent, a little south of the equator. An expedition organized by 

 the Kongo Free State steamed up this river in the winter 

 of 1887 and 1888, and solved the problem so long discussed, of 

 the outlet of the Welle. The expedition left the Kongo in the 

 steamer "En Avant," October 26, 1887. It passed several 

 rapids, and steamed to 21° 55' east longitude, when it was 

 stopped by the " En Avant " running on a rock, and the opposi- 

 tion of hostile natives. Here it was only 66 miles from the west- 

 ernmost point on the Welle reached by Junker, and in the same 

 latitude, each stream running in the same direction, leaving no 

 room to doubt that the two waters unite. 



The Little Kibali, which rises a little to the west of Wadelai in 

 the mountains of Sudan, is the initial branch of this river, which 

 bears successively the name of " Kibali " " Welle " and " Doru," 

 and empties into the Kongo under the name of " Obangi," after 

 a course of 1,500 miles. 



The discharge of water from the Kongo is only a little less 

 than that from the Amazon, and is said to be three times as great 

 as the discharge from the Mississippi. Grenfel, the English 

 missionary and traveler, says there is no part of the Kongo basin 

 more than one hundred miles from navigable water. What the 

 railroad does for America, the steamboat will do for the Kongo 

 Free State on its seventy-two hundred miles of navigable water. 



Appropriation of Africa by Europe. 



The English, French, Germans, and Belgians have within 

 a few years planted colonies in Africa. They believe it is 

 more for their interest to colonize Africa than to permit their 



