264 The American Naturalist. [March, 
The Bissougas.—E. Stallibras (Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc.) gives an 
account of the Islands of Bijouja, or Bissouga, situate upon the West 
African coast, in the deltas of the Jeba, Bolola, and Cassini rivers. 
The largest of these, Orango, is twenty miles long by ten in width, 
and others are Kanabek, Formosa, Corbelha, and Karashe. All these 
consist of decomposed volcanic soil, and are thickly covered with 
wood. Other islands near the Jeba mouth are Bissao, Bassis, and 
Jatt, while near that of the Bololo are Bissagua, Biafares, Bulama, &c., 
many of them at present unexplored. 
The Portuguese established a fort on Bissao Siok 1703, but it was 
afterwards abandoned. In 1792 the English established a colony at 
Point Beaver, but it proved a complete failure. After this they started 
a colony upon Bulama, but the islands were by the arbitration of the 
United States adjudged to Portugal, and the English leftin 1868. The 
present condition of the islands, according to our author, is not flour- 
ishing, yet they have a submarine cable. 
Stanley’s Discoveries.—The letters of Mr. Stanley, published 
in all the papers, have made the principal points of his discoveries 
during his last expedition so familiar to every one that it seems super- 
fluous to go over the same ground. Yet there is something strangely 
fascinating in the encounter, ‘at the head of the Albert Nyanza, and 
on the eastern flank of the Semliki, which connects that lake with the 
smaller and more southerly one which Stanley would have us call the 
Albert Edward, of a snow-capped mountain, believed by its discoverer 
to be the same as the almost fabulous Mountains of the Moon. Whether 
subsequent researches will confirm or invalidate Stanley’s conclusions 
in this matter remains to be proved, but in the meantime we can 
certain that another peak of 15,000 feet in height is added to those 
which recent years have revealed in the heart of Africa, and also that 
another affluent of the great river has been discovered. 
The Congo Railway. in a recent issue of 
the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, given some inter- 
esting particulars regarding the Congo Railway, which is to commence 
at Matadi, a point that can be reached by steamers, and will finish at 
Ndolo, above the uppermost rapid. The cost of this railroad is said 
to have been most liberally estimated, yet will not exceed £ 1,000,000. 
The most formidable difficulties are encountered in the first twenty-six 
kilometres of the road, the total length of which will be 435 kilometres. 

The Italian Protectorate.—In the partition of the coasts of 
Africa among the European powers, with undefined claims €x- — 






