Vol. XIX, No. 3 



WASHINGTON 



March, 1908 



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A JOURNEY THROUGH THE EASTERN 

 PORTION OF THE CONGO STATE* 



By Major P. H. G. Powell-Cotton 



MY principal quest in my recent 

 journey to the Congo State was 

 the northern white rhino, known 

 only by a single specimen, shot by its dis- 

 coverer, Major Gibbons, and eventually 

 sent to America. My search for the ani- 

 mal, and for a couple of elephants stand- 

 ing as near 12 feet in height as possible, 

 occupied five and a half months. During 

 this time I made the Congo stations along 

 the Nile my headquarters for short expe- 

 ditions westward into the plain. All 

 these posts are malarious and swarm 

 with mosquitoes— Kiro, the most pic- 

 turesque of them all, being literally in- 

 fested. In fact, the Enclave generally 

 must rank among the most unhealthy dis- 

 tricts of Central Africa ; in one year the 

 death-rate among the Europeans rose 

 to over 20 per cent. 



On my arrival at L,ado, the chief sta- 

 tion on the White Nile, in the latter part 

 of December, and throughout the first 

 fortnight of January (the dry season), 

 the heat was intense, the thermometer 

 standing as high as 104 in my tent at 

 2 p. m. Once away from the Nile, the 

 scarcity of water proved a great diffi- 

 culty. Stagnant pools in the river beds, 



fouled by man and beast, and these only 

 at rare intervals, formed the sole supply. 

 In the rainy season so much of the coun- 

 try lies under water that traveling is 

 almost impossible. Owing to the flatness 

 of the thorn-dotted plain, Lado Hill 

 forms a conspicuous landmark for many 

 miles. This district is peopled by the 

 Bari, a peculiar feature of whose huts is 

 the floor, sunk 18 inches below the sur- 

 face of the ground — a method of con- 

 struction which appears particularly 

 curious in view of the heavy rainy season. 

 As my caravan moved farther south- 

 ward I was struck by the numerous 

 ruins of villages and almost continuous 

 stretches of what had once been culti- 

 vated ground. It was evident that at no 

 very distant date, probably before the 

 dervish raids had devastated the coun- 

 try, it must have supported a considerable 

 population. Much of the ground had 

 been terraced and cleared of stones. The 

 village sites were marked by numerous 

 circles, some 6 yards in diameter, formed 

 of wide, thin stones set upright and 

 standing some 18 inches to 2 feet above 

 the surface. The top of each of these 

 stones was nicked to receive the end of a 



*An ad'iress tn the Royal Geographical Society, and published in this Magazine through the 

 courtesy of the Geographical Journal (London). 



