234 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 276 



is learned. And there is this notable difference between the ' book- 

 learning ' in the public schools and the instruction in cooking and 

 sewing given in them ; viz., that while the former does good to the 

 children only, and leaves the parents where their own schooling 

 fif any) left them, the domestic arts taught are at once carried 

 home, and become a speedy and efficient means of improving, if 

 not of transforming, the household. Believing, as I seriously do, 

 that the chief cause of that destructive appetite for strong drink, 

 which we once deemed native and ineradicable in the human con- 

 stitution, is found in unsanitary conditions, especially in badly 

 cooked and improperly prepared food, I look on the public cooking- 

 school as, in a high sense, the hope of the Republic. I believe that 

 a given effort and expenditure directed to this point will accom- 

 plish a hundred times more towards eradicating intemperance than 



EXPLORATION OF THE OBANGI-WELLE. 



The incessant endeavors of the Kongo Free State to ascertain 

 the supposed identity of the Obangi and Welle have at last been 

 successful. The last issue of the Mouvt-mcnt Gcogi-aphiquc gives 

 a sketch of the result of the last expedition, which was under the 

 command of Captain van Gcle. The sketch-map below shows 

 the results of this exploration. 



On Oct. 26, 1887, the expedition started from EquateurviUe on 

 board the steamer ' En Avant," which had a large canoe from 

 Stanley Falls, capable of holding a hundred men, in tow. The 

 party consisted of Captain van Gele, Lieutenant Lienart, the cap- 

 tain of the steamer, a carpenter, seventeen soldiers, and twenty- 

 four natives. On Nov. 21 the rapids of Zongo were reached, which 

 stopped Grenfell's progress on his reconnaissance in 1884. and Vaa 



THE UPPER KONGO AND THE BASIN OF THE OBANGI-WELLE, SHOWING THE DISCOVERIES OF CAPTAIN VAN GELE. 



the same amount of effort and expenditure directed against the 

 drinking-habit, when once formed." 



Prof. William H. Brewer of New Haven answers in the affirma- 

 tive to each and all of the queries. He believes there is waste, 

 " partly through ignorance, partly because of prejudices against 

 particular kinds of food, partly because of mistaken social notions, 

 and divers other causes. Cooking is an art, and careless cooking 

 causes much waste directly, and indirectly prevents much being 

 made available that is now about wasted." As a member of the 

 Board of Health, Professor Brewer has looked into the matter of 

 kitchen garbage in several cities, and so has means of knowing that 

 people of moderate means do throw away a great deal of nutritious 

 material instead of consuming it economically. He thinks such 

 bad economy can only be bettered by education and the diffusion 

 of knowledge, especially of those kinds of sciences which are more 

 immediately pertinent. 



Gele in 1886. Here a succession of rapids was met with, which it 

 took twenty days to pass. The steamer was unable to pass the 

 first rapids, although it was at the season of high water. The 

 machinery had to be taken out, and was carried over a portage. 

 The steamer was then drawn by a tow rope up the rapids, and was 

 remounted. For eighteen miles her progress was not hindered by 

 any obstacles, but then the rapids of Bonga were reached. These 

 consist of a reef, crossing the whole width of the river, and leaving 

 only a narrow channel near the southern bank, through which the 

 steamer passed without any difficulty. After a short while a new 

 rapid was reached. Here the Obangi narrows to a width of fifteen 

 hundred feet, while it attains a depth of fifty feet. These narrows 

 were hardly passed, when the river was found to expand to si.xty-tive 

 hundred feet in width. It is studded with rocky islands, between 

 which the waters rushed towards the narrows, boiling and foaming. 

 The steamer was unloaded, and the cargo carried over a portage. 



