July 29, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



55 



far south. Ndoruma wished him to remain some time at his vil- 

 lage, and therefore Junker resolved to set up a station there for the 

 coming months. With the help of Ndoruma's people, who were 

 despatched to the work by hundreds, he was able to erect good 

 substantial dwellings, which were surrounded by a high stockade 

 to keep off the leopards which abound in this country. He staid 

 here until August, when he left his companion, Bohndorff, in charge 

 of the station, while he travelled south with only twenty bearers. 

 He crossed the Welle and traversed the land of the Mangbatu, 

 where he made friendship with the chief IVIambango, and returned 

 in December to Ndoruma. But as the best season for travel- 

 ling had approached, he did not rest, but started in January, 

 1 88 1, by a new road to the south-west, the country of the 

 A-Madi. crossed the Welle there again, and obtained, though 

 with the greatest difficulty, the necessary number of bearers among 

 the A-Barambo ; these, however, robbed him of part of his goods ; 

 and it was only with the help of Sasa, a friendly Niam-Niam chief, 

 that he safely returned to the A-Madi countiy north of the Welle. 

 At the end of April he sent Bohndorff with the baggage, under the 

 care of Sasa, into the latter's country south of the Mbomo, where 

 he was to establish another permanent station. In the mean time 

 war had broken out between the Mangbatu and Emin Bey, the 

 governor of the Equatorial Province, but by Junker's mediation 

 further hostilities were prevented. This, however, detained him 

 until the end of November, 1881. Then he made another start, 

 and was almost uninterruptedly on the way up to June, 1882, ex- 

 ploring the region south of the Welle and Bomokandi. He was 

 kindly received by the Niam-Niam chiefs Bakangai and Kana, 

 whose villages are situated south of the Bomokandi, whence he 

 turned north and reached Semio, north of the Mbomo, where his 

 station had been meanwhile established, in September, 1882. Here 

 he had the misfortune to lose a great part of his valuable property 

 by fire. Bohndorff, who had frequently been sick, wished to return 

 to Europe, and therefore Junker packed his collections and sent 

 him to the Bar-el-Gasal Province, where, in the mean while, Lup- 

 ton Bey had become governor. But at this time the Dinka tribes 

 revolted against the Egyptian Government ; and thus Bohndorff, 

 being unable to reach Meshra-er-Rek, was compelled to return to 

 Semio. This was in October, 1882, the commencement of long and 

 bloody wars in the Bar-el-Gasal territory, on which finally the in- 

 vasion of the Mahdi's troops followed. 



Before Bohndorff's return. Junker had started on an extensive 

 journey west. He reached the Welle, near the mouth of the Werre 

 and Mbima, and traversed the territory of the Bandjia, who, though 

 speaking a dialect of the Niam-Niam language, pretend to be of 

 an independent descent. The islands of the Welle are inhabited 

 by the A-Basango, who speak a distinct language. After having 

 reached Ali-Kobo, he turned north, crossed the Mbomo, ascended 

 the Shinko, and returned to Semio by way of Mbanga. He arrived 

 on May i, 1883. 



He now regarded his travels as finished, and intended to start 

 for the Bar-el-Gasal, where Bohndorff had gone a short time be- 

 fore, as Lupton Bey hoped that the route to Meshra-er-Rek would 

 be open. But, although Lupton called in all the outlying garrisons 

 on the Welle, he did not succeed in putting down the Dinka, who 

 afterwards were joined by the Nuer, Agar, and other tribes. This 

 war lasted eighteen months, and was far more bloody and exhaust- 

 ing for both parties than the later engagements against the troops 

 of the Mahdi in Emin Pacha's province. Finally the Dinka were 

 supported by the Mahdi's forces ; and Lupton, betrayed by those 

 about him, was compelled to deliver his province without resistance 

 to the emissary of the Mahdi, Emir Karm Allah. Junker says that 

 the chief cause of this surrender is to be sought in the fact that 

 Lupton had almost e.>:clusively irregular troops at his disposal, con- 

 sisting of Dongola people and Arabs of all kinds. In October, 

 1S83, the state of Lupton's troops was very precarious, and he sent 

 a letter to Junker entreating him to persuade the chief Semio to 

 collect about a thousand of his people with spear and shield, as well 

 as all those who had guns, and come to his help. He said, " I now 

 see no other way of putting down the insurrection than by the help 

 of the Niam-Niam chiefs. Do ever)' thing in your power to per- 

 suade Semio to lose no time, and send him to meet me as soon as 

 possible." 



As Junker saw the routes north closed, he resolved to go east to 

 Lado. He left Semio in November, 1883, and reached Emin at 

 Lado in January, 1884, after fifty-five days' march. During this 

 time Bohndorff was able to reach Khartum with the steamer, 

 returning thither at the end of December, but all collections re- 

 mained behind. 



Emin Pacha's province had been quiet up to the first months of 

 1884; but the successes of the Dinka were too tempting for the other 

 negro tribes, and so in the Equatorial Province the rebellion 

 assumed more formidable proportions. Emin was compelled to 

 give up all stations east of the Nile and to concentrate his troops. 

 On the 27th of May he and Junker received letters from Lupton 

 Bey and Emir Karm Allah, which contained the news that the 

 province had fallen into the hands of the Mahdi, and the demand 

 to surrender the Equatorial Province. Emin answered the Emir's 

 letter, saying that he was ready to deliver the province into the 

 hands of the representative of the Mahdi in order to prevent useless 

 bloodshed, and till his arrival he would try to hold the province for 

 the Mahdi. Meanwhile a defence was organized, and the outlying 

 stations were called in. But it was not until January, 18S5, that 

 the troops of the Mahdi attacked Emin's province. After they 

 had taken the station Amadi in April of the same year, they re- 

 treated, for unknown reasons, by forced marches, to the Bar-el- 

 Gasal region. Since that time Emin's province has been unmolested 

 by the troops of the Mahdi. On Jan. 2, 1886, Junker left Emin 

 Pacha and Casati, going south. He crossed the Mvutan Nsige to 

 Kibiro, and went to Kabrega, king of Unyoro. Here he learned 

 by letters from Zanzibar of the events in the Sudan, of King 

 Mwanga's hostility towards the Europeans, and of Dr. Fischer's 

 unsuccessful expedition sent out by Junker's brother to seek him. 

 In the mean time war had broken out between the Waganda and 

 Wanyoro, and it was not until June that he received permission to 

 enter Mwanga's capital. It took him a month and a half to cross 

 the Victoria Nyanza ; and at last Tabora was reached, whence he 

 proceeded with one of Tippo-Tip's caravans to Zanzibar. 



Thus his eventful wanderings in Central Africa were ended. It is 

 hardly necessary to mention the importance of his explorations, 

 which cover a large area, and of his interesting observations on the 

 tribes with whom he lived for so long a time. The loss of his large 

 collections will be regretted by naturalists and ethnologists, but 

 nevertheless we should be glad that the enterprising traveller suc- 

 ceeded in extricating himself from the innumerable dangers and 

 difficulties surrounding him. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Report of the Committee on Disinfectants, of the American 

 Public Health Association. Concord, N.H., Republ. Pr. 

 Assoc. 8°. 

 The report of the committee on disinfectants, of the American 

 Public Health Association, presented at the Toronto meeting in 

 October last, has just been printed. It deals with the various ap- 

 paratuses now in use in this country and Europe for disinfection 

 by means of heat, and is abundantly illustrated. The experiments 

 of this committee have demonstrated that the most efficient non- 

 destructive disinfectants are, (i) steam under pressure at no" C. 

 (230'=' F.) for ten minutes, (2) dry heat at 110° C. (230° F.) for two 

 hours (in the absence of spores), (3) boiling in water for one-half to 

 one hour. It will be seen from this that the apparatus for disin- 

 fection by heat may be divided into three classes : (i) that in 

 which dry hot air is employed, (2) that in which hot moist air is 

 used, and (3) that in which steam is the disinfecting agent. In 

 the disinfection of mattresses, feather beds, etc., where great 

 penetrating power is required, dry hot air cannot be relied 

 upon. In addition to this, there is another objection to the 

 use of this agent, — that, when the temperature is sufficiently high 

 to act as a disinfectant, certain articles are permanently injured by 

 it. The committee expresses its conviction that the use of steam, 

 and especially when superheated or under pressure, is the most effi- 

 cient agent for the destruction of all sorts of infectious material. At 

 the Boston quarantine station. Dr. S. H. Durgin, president of the 

 Boston board of health, and a member of the committee, has been 

 employing moist heat for disinfecting purposes since the spring of 



