688 : General Notes. [September, 
indicated points to the quarter in oge Piaggia places his ae toh lake. It is ye im- 
ee ae that there may be in the southern part we are consid- 
unlike that of re Chad, and that consequently no aD 
reias of the fre fet from the southern hill ranges finds its way north.” 
The voyage of the Henry Venn was made under the ae 
of the English Church pres eo Society, their agent, Ae 
Ashcroft, being in command. The vessel was built OT for 
the navigation of the Niger. She is. 120 feet long, 15 feet beam, 
6 feet deep and draws 3 feet 6 inches of water on an even keel, 
with about 60 tons of cargo aboard. After being occupied for 
some time on the Lower Niger it was not until the flood season 
of last year that she undertook the ascent of the Binué, and sailed 
on that duty from Lukoja at the mouth of the river on July 8, 
1879. 
As far as Djen the river is well known from the previous expe- 
dition of 1854. This point was reached on the 20th of August. 
The river banks here are about six feet high, the river rather 
shallow. The people were friendly. A very picturesque range 
of mountains runs parallel with the river here, about two to three 
miles distant, inhabited, it is said by Herr Flugel, by cannibals, 
On the 22d they reached Gamadge, on the left bank, a mile or 
two beloa Mount Gabriel, to the west. Mount Gabriel is about 
five hundred feet high and is covered by very high grass in which 
the few bushes and trees standing on its sides are nearly hidden. 
The banks of the Binué are frequently higher than the adjacent 
country which: sinks to the foot of the mountains, and is often 
swampy and covered by the waters in the time of floods.’ The 
men came out in great force here armed with shields and spears, 
and bows and arrows. They salute here by holding up the right 
arm and putting the left on ‘hie stomach, 
On arriving a few hours later at a small place called Iangai, they 
dispatched messengers to the King of Bassama, and on the 
the King’s son arrived with presents of a cow and a bullock. He 
seemed “a nice quiet sort of person,” but the men who accompa 
nied him were wild and fierce, and during the two days they re- 
mained here many threatening demonstrations were made. On 
be 25th they continued up the stream, passing several small 
owns. “The people did not seem to like the look of the steamer; 
$ was mòre than they could understand all at once.” “ This par 
of the country is very thickly populated, and it would not take 
many visits to make very good friends of these people. The cuf- 
rent is very rapid just above here; river varied in width; for the 
distance of 500 yards it narrows to about 250 yards Wide. then — 
opens out again to 509 or 600 yards; very few trees about here, 
only a few monkey-bread trees. Came in view of several new 
ranges of mountains, at a distance of from eight miles, the nearest, 
__ 1 An interesting note on this characteristic feature of arian » Geography is pra 
by Herr F me Pe etermann’ $ Mittheilungen, April, 1880, p. 
