RELIGIOUS MISSIONS. 145 
Ouargla, in seventeen to eighteen days; then cross the Ahaggar plateau and push 
on through the desert to the Soudan. Meanwhile the noted traveler, Paul Soleil- 
let, has gone back again to Senegambia to make a survey for the Trans-Saharan 
Railroad in that direction. He feels confident of not only reaching Timbuctoo 
this time, but also of crossing the desert to Algeria. At the same time M. Le- 
carte has been sent out by the government to explore the regions between the 
Senegal and the Niger. In October last two Frenchmen, MM. Zweifel, and 
Moustier, starting from Treetown in Sierra Leone, succeeded in crossing the coast 
range and discovering the ultimate sources of the Djoliba branch of the upper 
Niger, near the village of Kulako. Many travelers, including Caillié Mage, 
Winwood Reade, Solleillet, etc., had previously attempted this feat, but all failed. 
The French also intend to explore the Gamba River thoroughly and open it for 
trade. For this purpose a river steamer is now being built in England, which is 
tobe 105 feet long, sixteen broad and eight deep, with engines of thirty horse 
power and a speed of nine knots. .As this boat is intended to carry sixty tons 
weight on five and one-half feet of water it will be able to ascend the river for 
nearly 200 miles from its mouth and open up the hitherto unexplored regions near 
its sources. 
RELIGIOUS MISSIONS. 
The French and English missions in the lake regions must not be omitted in 
an account of African exploration. Advices received by the Archbishop of 
Algiers state that the Catholic mission under Father Livinhac, in Uganda, on the 
north shore of the Victoria Nyanza, still enjoys the protection of King Mtesa, 
but that the Church Missionary Society’s station at Rubaga, the capital, has been 
abandoned by the Rev. Mr. Wilson and his assistants on account of difficulties 
with the king. Two members of the second expedition of the London Mission- 
ary Society to Lake Tanganyika have reached the station at Ujiji, but the third 
had died ex route. They traveled on a new road from Mpwapwa to Urambo, the 
capital of King Miramboo, Stanley’s friend and the foe of the Arabs, whose death 
has been positively asserted recently. The English missionaries at Ujiji have ex- 
plored parts of the lake, and Mr. Hore, the scientific member, asserts that the 
Lukuga is the real outlet. The Jesuit missionaries to the Tanganyika have also 
arrived at Ujiji, where they were well received by the English and Arabs; their 
leader, M. P. Pascal,‘however, died on the way. Their new superior, P. Deniand, 
has since circumnavigated the lake, and they have now gone on to Ulundi, 
on the north east shore, where the chief of Bikari has offered them land for a 
station. ‘The reinforcements for this mission, comprising twelve missionaries 
from Algeirs and six former Papal Zouaves, have passed through Ugogo. 
