44 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIII. No. 311 



it is capable of sustaining a dense population. North and south 

 of this belt there are two other belts of nearly equal width. 

 In each of these belts there are wet and dry seasons, with abun- 

 dant rain for the crops. The heaviest rainfall in the north belt is 

 in June, while in the south belt it is in December. The rainfall 

 gradually grows less toward the north, and also toward the south, 

 until it ceases in the Desert of Sahara on the north, and the Des- 

 ert of Kalahari on the south. On the edge of each of these deserts 

 are Lake Chad on the north, and Lake Ngami on the south. 

 North of the Desert of Sahara, and south of the Desert of Kala- 

 hari, there is an abundant rainfall, a healthy climate, and fertile 

 soil. Morocco, Algiers, Tripoli, and Egypt, on the IVIediterranean, 

 are in the north region ; and Zulu-Land, the Orange Free State, 

 and Cape Colony, in the corresponding region of the south. 



That portion of Africa north of the equator is three or four times 

 greater than that south, and the Sahara Desert and Lake Chad are 

 several times greater than the Kalahari Desert and Lake Ngami. 

 The Sahara Desert, the waterless ocean three times as large as 

 the Mediterranean, extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red 

 Sea, broken only by the narrow valley of the Nile. It is inter- 

 spersed with oases, and with the valleys of many dry streams, with 

 some mountains 8,000 feet. It has the hottest climate in the 

 ■world. Travellers tell us, that, in upper Egypt and Nubia, eggs 

 may be baked in the hot sands ; that the soil is like fire, and the 

 wind like a flame ; that in other parts of the desert the sand on the 

 rocks is sometimes heated to 200° in the day-time, while in the 

 following night the thermometer falls below freezing-point. In 

 crossing the desert the traveller will hardly need a guide, for the 

 road is too clearly marked by the bones and skeletons that point 

 the way. 



Lake Chad receives the drainage of a considerable area of coun- 

 try. In the dry season it has no outlet, and is then about the size 

 of Lake Erie. In the wet season it is said to be five times as large. 

 Its level rises by twenty or thirty feet until it overflows into the 

 Desert of Sahara, forming a stream which runs northward for sev- 

 eral hundred miles, and is finally lost in a great depressed plain. 

 In the southern part of Africa the level of Lake Ngami rises and 

 falls in a similar manner. 



Through the great equatorial belt runs the Kongo, one of the 

 •wonderful rivers of the world. The more we know of this river 

 and its tributaries, the more we are impressed by its greatness and 

 importance. Its principal source is in the mountain-range which 

 separates Lake Nyassa from Lake Tanganyika, between 300 and 

 400 miles west of the Indian Ocean ; thence it runs southeriy through 

 Lake Bangweolo. On leaving this lake, it takes a north-west course, 

 running from 12° south latitude to 2° north latitude, thence running 

 south-westeriy to the ocean, nearly 3,000 miles. The river Sankuru, 

 its principal tributary, empties into the Kongo some distance above 

 Stanley Pool on the south. The mouths of the Sankuru were dis- 

 covered by Stanley, who was struck by the size and beauty of the 

 river, and by the lakes which 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, Wissmann 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 

 flows into the Kongo, on the westerly side of the continent, a little 

 south of the equator. An expedition organized by the Kongo Free 

 State steamed up this river in the winter of 18S7 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," Oct. 

 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 opposition of hostile natives. Here it was only 66 

 miles from the westernmost point on the Welle reached by Junker, 

 and in the same latitude, each stream running in the same direc- 

 tion, 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 or 1,500 miles. 



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 surplus population 

 to emigrate to America. In Africa the colonies must depend upon 

 the home country, and open new fields for manufactures and com- 

 merce. These countries realize the necessity of creating new mar- 

 kets, if they are to continue to advance. They know that in equa- 

 torial Africa there are more than 100,000,000 people wanting every 

 thing, even clothes. 



The whole coast of Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlan- 

 tic and Indian Oceans from the Red Sea to the Isthmus of Suez, 

 is claimed by European nations, with the exception of two or three 

 small inhospitable and barren strips of coast. England occupies 

 Egypt, and will hold it for an indefinite period. France has its 

 colonies in Tripoli, Algiers, and Morocco, and on the Atlantic coast 

 its factories in Senegambia. It seeks a route from Algiers across 

 the desert to Lake Chad, and from Senegambia up the Senegal by 

 steamer, thence across the country by rail to the head of naviga- 

 tion on the Niger, and down that river to Timbuctu. 



England occupies Sierra Leone, the Gold and Slave Coasts, the 

 delta and the valley of the Niger, and its branch the Benue. It has 

 factories on these rivers, and small steamers plying on them, and 

 seeks Timbuctu by the river Niger. It controls almost the entire 

 region where the palm-oil is produced. 



Timbuctu, long before Africa was known to Europe, was the 

 centre of a large trade in European and Asiatic goods. Caravans 

 for many hundred years have crossed the Desert of Sahara from 

 Timbuctu north to the Mediterranean, and east to Gondokoro, 

 carrying out slaves, gold, and ivory, and bringing back European 

 and Asiatic goods. Sandwiched between the English possessions, 

 Liberia struggles for existence, its inhabitants fast degenerating 

 into barbarism. 



Joining the English possessions on the Gold Coast, two degrees 

 north of the equator, are the German possessions of Kamerun, 

 with its high mountains and invigorating breezes ; but the land at the 

 foot is no more favorable to the European than the Guinea coast. 

 One or two hundred miles in the interior of this part of the conti- 

 nent, the land rapidly rises to the tableland of equatorial Africa, 

 rich and fertile, resembling the valley of the Kongo, possibly hab- 

 itable by Europeans. 



Next the French occupy the Ogowe, its branches, and the coast, 

 and claim the country inland to the possessions of the Kongo Free 

 State. Under M. Brazza, they have thoroughly explored the coun- 

 try to the river Kongo, and have established factories at France- 

 ville and other places. 



The Kongo Free State comes next. It holds on the coast only 

 the mouth of the river, its main possessions lying in the interior. 

 Belgium is the only country that has planted colonies inland. Like 

 all the interior of equatorial Africa, the valley, of the Kongo is well 

 watered, has continuous rains. The land is rich and fertile, but it 

 is practically inaccessible, and before any colonies can flourish, or 

 any extensive commerce can be carried on, must be connected by 

 railroad with the ocean. The Compagnie du Congo has just com- 

 pleted a survey for a railroad on the south side of the Kongo, from 

 Matadi, opposite Vivi, to Stanley Pool. It did not encounter any 

 unusual difficulties, and has submitted the plans and projects to the 

 King of Belgium for his approval. 



South of the Kongo Free State are the Portuguese possessions of 

 Angola, Benguela, and Mossamedes. Portugal, the first country to 

 circumnavigate Africa, and the first to colonize it, has for several cen- 

 turies had factories, and carried on a large trade with Africa, ex- 

 changing clothes and blankets for slaves, gold, and ivory. The Por- 

 tuguese claimed the valley of the Kongo ; but their claim has been re- 

 duced, and is now bounded for a considerable distance on the north 

 by a line running due east, and west on the 6th parallel of south 

 latitude. They have good harbors at Loango Po, Benguela, and 

 Mossamedes, on the Atlantic coast, and the best harbor of Africa 

 at Delagoa Bay on the Indian Ocean. The territory they claim will, 

 I believe, prove to be the most valuable in Africa. It is well 



