April 26, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



325 



STANLEY'S DISCOVERIES. 



The accompanying map of the Aruvimi River has been com- 

 piled from two sketches, — one pubUshed in the Mouvement Gh- 

 g7'aphique ; the other, in Nature, — both being extracts from a 

 map accompanying Stanley's letter. The original will presumably 

 be published in the " Proceedings of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety." The names of places appear still somewhat doubtful, being 

 differently given on the two sketches. 



Stanley's discoveries form a most important addition to our 

 knowledge of Central Africa. It appears that Mr. Wauters's hy- 

 pothesis of the connection of the Nepoko and Aruvimi was well 

 founded, as the former is an important tributary of the Aruvimi. 

 It remains an open question whether there is any connection be- 

 tween the Aruvimi and the Mootan Nzige, the southern of the two 

 large lakes. Mr. Wauters presumes that the Lunda (or Lenda), 

 the southern tributary of the Aruvimi, may be the outlet of that 

 lake, but we have to await more detailed reports before we will be 

 able to form an opinion on this point. The tributaries which Mr. 

 Stanley describes in his map have probably been drawn according 

 to reports received from natives. 



As to the river itself, the Aruvimi is, with its windings, about 

 800 miles long from its mouth in the Kongo to its source almost 



It is a most remarkable fact that the source of the Aruvimi is in 

 so close proximity to the Albert Nyanza. Another fact of great 

 interest Mr. Stanley refers to, — the existence of a snowy moun- 

 tain which may rival Kilima Ndjaro (19,000 feet), in the neighbor- 

 hood of Mount Gambaragara, or Gordon Bennett, between Albert 

 Nyanza and Muta Nzige. This may be Mount Gordon Bennett it- 

 self ; but Mr. Stanley does not think so, and he is supported by the 

 few data which he furnishes. It would be quite in accordance 

 with what we find in other parts of the world that a group of high 

 peaks should be found together. 



One other point of geographical interest is Mr. Stanley's obser- 

 vation that the Albert Nyanza is rapidly decreasing in size. A 

 century or perhaps more ago, the lake must have been twelve or 

 fifteen miles longer, and considerably broader opposite Mbakovia^ 

 than it is now. With the wearing-away of the reefs obstructing 

 the Nile below Wadelai, the lake has rapidly receded, and is still 

 doing so, to the astonishment of Emin Pacha, who first saw Lake 

 Albert seven or eight years ago. _ It is to be hoped that Mr. Stanley 

 will find time further to investigate this subject, as well as to ex- 

 plore the country between the Albert Nyanza and Muta Nzige, 

 settle the position and outline of the latter, and ascertain precisely 

 to what river system it belongs. 



The abruptness with which the forest comes to an end and the 



MAP SHOWING STANLEY'S GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 



on the edge of Albert Nyanza, though the course in a direct line is 

 probably not more than 400 miles. The banks of the river, 

 covered with forest from the Kongo to the Nepoko, are uniformly 

 low, here and there rising to about 40 feet. Above the Nepoko, 

 hills begin to crop up more frequently, palms are more numerous, 

 and the woods show the tall white-stemmed trees so characteristic 

 of the slopes of the lower Kongo. While there are rapids at 

 several places above Yambuga, above the Nepoko navigation be- 

 comes much more difficult, and rapids more frequent, while two 

 considerable falls are met with. The land rises steadily, until, 

 about 400 miles above Yambuga, the river is contracted into a 

 rushing stream about 100 yards wide, banked by the steep walls of 

 canon, the slopes and summits of which are clothed with wood. 

 Whatever changes the face of the land may show, the forest covers 

 peak, hill, ridge, valley, plain : everywhere it is continuous, never 

 broken, except at such clearings as man has made. Mr. Stanley 

 very graphically compares the country traversed by his expedition 

 to the long glacis of a fort rising from the Kongo to a height of 

 from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. Down the slope flows the Aruvimi, one 

 of whose feeders runs almost within sight of Albert Nyanza, to 

 which there is a sudden drop of 2,900 feet. 



The main Ituri, at the distance of 680 miles from its mouth, is 

 125 yards wide, 9 feet deep, and has a current of 3 knots. It ap- 

 pears to run parallel with the Nyanza. Near that group of cones 

 and hills, affectionately named Mount Schweinfurth, Mount Junker, 

 and Mount Speke, Stanley would place its highest source. 



rich grass-lands begin, about eighty miles from Albert Nyanza, is 

 another point deserving special attention, and can only be explained 

 when we have accurate observations of the rainfall and other con- 

 ditions that go to form climate. 



The character of the forest is entirely different from the open, 

 woods, with scanty underwood, of the more southerly parts of 

 Africa. According to Stanley's description, they resemble in char- 

 acter the South American forests. Stanley says : " Take a thick,. 

 Scottish copse, dripping with rain ; imagine this copse to be a 

 mere undergrowth, nourished under the impenetrable shade of an- 

 cient trees ranging from 100 to 180 feet high ; briers and thorns, 

 abundant ; lazy creeks meandering through the depths of the jun- 

 gle, and sometimes a deep affluent of a great river. Imagine this 

 forest and jungle in all stages of decay and growth, — old trees 

 falling, leaning perilously over, fallen prostrate ; ants and insects, 

 of all kinds, sizes, and colors murmuring around, monkeys and 

 chimpanzees above, queer noises of birds and animals, crashes in 

 the jungle as troops of elephants rush away ; dwarfs with poisoned 

 arrows securely hidden behind some buttress or in some dark recess ;: 

 strong brown-bodied aborigines with terribly sharp spears, standing 

 poised, still as dead stumps ; rain pattering down on you every other 

 day in the year ; an impure atmosphere, with its dread consequences,, 

 fever and dysentery ; gloom throughout the day, and darkness al- 

 most palpable throughout the night : and then, if you will imagine- 

 such a forest extending the entire distance from Plymouth to Peter- 

 head, you will have a fair idea of some of the inconveniences en- 



