124 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
sides of the Pool, the shores dwindle down into flat 
forest land, the encircling girdle of mountains trending 
off towards the interior, and when you reach Mfwa or 
“ Brazzaville,” the coast is ‘low and nearly on a level with 
the water. It is here that De Brazza claims to have 
secured a cession of territory to the French Republic, nine 
miles in length. As you may see by the illustration, 
“ Brazzaville” consists of a very few native huts, half 
buried in bananas, and backed by thick forest.* On the 
left hand side, facing the Pool, there is a small creek, 
which might be developed into a tiny harbour, and there 
is a fine and fertile island, as yet uninhabited, save by 
“S DRAZZAVILLE.” 
chance fishermen, which might be successfully developed 
by the French; but save these two advantages, not rare 
anywhere in Stanley Pool, it is difficult to discover any 
favourable point in this situation, or even to avoid the 
conclusion that it 1s a badly chosen site for a station. 
About this low-lying part of the Pool, ague is prevalent, 
and in the rainy season I should say Mfwa would become 
a rheumatic swamp. Had De Brazza fixed his intended 
station anywhere on the high and breezy “ Dover Cliffs,” 
he would have done well, and, remember, the whole basin 
of the Pool was open to him when he first arrived, for he 
* No doubt very much changed now.—H. H. J. 
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