uN 
1880.] Geography and Travels. 687 
north of the ee and megea turning north and joining the range of the 
Cameroons mountai These ranges or uplands form the northern and eastern 
watershed of the Coiro, the Oris nd the Cross rivers 
“The watershed of the Ogowé has been crossed by | the traveler I De Ea at no 
great elevation, and Keith Johnston volume 
of waters from numerous tributaries, within a radius of a few ie =P of the 
st. 
“The Cross river has been si ipposed to be a een > of the Niger, but it is more 
probable a like the Gaboon river, it will be found to = only a large estuary re- 
ceiving a number of small tributaries from snag up er 
“Tt wil! thus be seen me ge bana ea ande A iiaii ts, and possibly also 
= south- er n, are m ain es of a deis a height and therefore play an 
mportant part as gathering oe md for rainfall, and, thou ugh we ae no exact data 
as to rainfall, the mass of wate’ vhich must fall upon them is enormo 
4 The size “ot ‘in pe hima as indicated by Schweinfurth, in its dba course et = 
chief en shows the volume e Bes its highest gathering grounds. 
drainage of the western hee of ther whose eastern sides supply the Stele: 
ries of the Bahr el Gazal, must furnish a i oe efua to that stream—a volume whic 
would be sufficient to account for the difference between shorts contents of the hha pa 
as given by Schweinfurth, pad those of the Shary, as given by Major ns. t 
abi that vast ody of water which floods the depreisidn called the B aide 
sed by akg in Piel, and finds a southern outfall in the eici I shall 
presently a de 
“ According to eee Panes of Major Denham, who made his observations on the 
24th o E Taie 1824, the width of the Shary at its mouth was about a ha f a mile, 
e parn fee a 
, “When Barth crossed the Shary in 1852, a much larger quantity of water was be- 
ins discharged along its system. He crossed ne Logon, a western bra nch or ra 
ater, an te at 
em élé. . The 
erful river, ti the main seis contained more water at he tak 
Denham found s a the m outh of 
pal 
bed 
‘a 
o 
5 
1852 must have been seasons of hea vy rainfall, for Barth also ya much g reater 
epth of water in the Binué a at Tæpe, than was found by our men ap year. It is 
manifest, sae eg = acd sr em of the river Shary cunts for the drainage of 
only a portion of this v 
“ What teak; is Merk for geet rainfall on the western slopes of the ranges to the 
north of the Con ngo and the Ogowé? I think it will be seen that the exploration of 
the Binué throws some light on this question and aren in the direction of the exist- 
ace of a lake system somewhat similar to that of t 
“ The earliest maps of Africa suggest a large Pear of water in the southern half 
e area we i Bue ig 
b 
i e ) ; 
eie Lopez, places it in two degrees north. It is som mewhat remarkable that his is- 
he only antique map ol eaa itch a mpe to the Niger i te irie outlet, and although 
be falls into the common error of tting two or Dine i ivers to flow out of 
a great lake to which no Arabs had ever penetrated. These Mfu 
are well to the south and Saabs west of the Albert Nyanza, ai the direction thus 
