2 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



coast increased, and as they passed from one tribe to another, until at length it 

 was transformed into open hostility. 



The course of the Ogoone can be divided into three nearly equal parts — the 

 upper, the middle and the lower. The middle follows very nearly the equatorial 

 line ; the two others incline about a degree and a half toward the south ; the 

 one toward its source, the other toward its mouth. The baggage of the party 

 was transported by canoes, and at times in the arms of the natives. The Inen- 

 ga conducted the expedition to the middle portion of the river, where, reaching 

 the territory of the Okanda, they refused to proceed further. 



A first halt was made at Lope, a large town upon the middle section of the 

 river. From this point M. de Brazze made an excursion by land into the coun- 

 try of the Faus, with whom he established friendly relations. He went as far as 

 Dorane, a point well advanced on the upper section of the river, where he was 

 joined by Dr. Ballay in August, 1876.. Here M. de Brazze, overcome by his long 

 voyage on foot, was taken seriously ill. When he became restored to health he 

 proceeded to collect in person all the articles of trade they had started with, for 

 the purpose of obtaining with them the necessaries of life in the interior of Af- 

 rica. This caused much delay, and he did not rejoin his companions at Domne 

 until April, 1877. When ready to set out the natives raised new difficulties. 

 They accused the whites of bringing into the country dangerous maladies ; de- 

 manded enormous prices for tranportation of baggage, and finally insisted upon 

 a share of the merchandise itself. The situation was critical, and a collision was 

 averted only by an expedient. They filled secretly a certain number of cases in 

 such manner as to leave a stock of empty ones, sufficient in outward appearance 

 to satisfy the rapacity of the natives. The full cases were taken off by Dr. Bal- 

 lay and M. Hamon, while M. de Brazze, with some of the soldiers, remained be- 

 hind and feigned a close guard upon the empty ones. 



When he thought that his companions had reached the limits of the advance 

 territory, M. de Brazze, with his soldiers, embarked in a canoe, and after many 

 dangers, joined the expedition at the falls of Poubara, above which the Ogoone 

 is reduced to a insignificant stream of water. 



The expedition might have terminated here, for the question as to whether 

 the river afforded, as had been believed, a means of communication with the 

 great interior lakes was decided in the negative. 



But the courageous explorers were not content with this. After several day's 

 rest, and in spite of their poor state of health, and the reduced condition of their 

 supplies, they resolved in March 1878, to leave the basin of Ogoone, and pene- 

 trate farther still into the interior. The last experiment they made here in the 

 employment of the natives proved disastrous. They were twenty days in making 

 ten kilometres, and several of their cases of merchandise were pillaged. 



At this point they were driven to the purchase of a sufficient number of 

 slaves to carry their effects, in order to free themselves from the exactions of the 

 natives. 



