864 General Notes. [August, 
“with little or no water. These lowlands swarm with Tsetse flies. 
The Umsengaisi is the Zingesi of the map of the Royal Geo- 
graphical Society. 
The delta and lower course of the Sabi river, which enters the 
Indian ocean about 21° S. lat., has been correctly surveyed, but 
at the cost of the lives of Capt. T. L. Phipson-Wybrants, the 
leader of the party, and of Dr. Ward Carr, F.G.S. The lower 
district, called Machanga, is occupied by the Tongas, subjects of 
mzila, whose traal is about 250 miles farther westward. The 
district around the Sabi, when the higher lands are reached, is 
exceptionally fertile. 
The Thomson expedition is safe. Mr. Thomson left Bura, 100 
miles from Mombasa, for Taveta, at the south-eastern foot of 
Kilimanjaro, on March 2oth. ‘ 
The Ma-Gwamba, or “ Knobnoses,” as the Boers call them, 
living north and south of the Limpopo, are by Pasteur Berthoud 
stated, from linguistic evidence, to be of Zulu stock, and thus not 
related to the Chuana. These Gwamba consider Umzila and his 
people to be Zulu also, and the Ba-Tonga are stated to be akin 
to the Gwamba. The Gwamba language is a sister of the Zulu. 3 
If Berthoud’s statements are true, the tribe is one of great nu- = 
merical importance. 
Herr Pechuel-Loesche, who has served for some years as sec- 
ond in command to Stanley, has given a clear description of the 
mountainous belt, 200 miles wide, which shuts the Upper Congo : 
from the coast. This range is of Cambrian age, and of slight A 
elevation, averaging 700 to 1000 feet in height, and only pe a 
and there reaching 3300. It consists of numerous paralle — 
ridges, between which run affluents of the Congo, which is the 
only stream of the region that cut across the entire system. TE A 
the Congo runs in a ravine the whole way, and its bed has a tat 
of 928 feet in about 300 nautical miles. Throughout this dis- 
tance dangerous rapids abound, but the only vertical fall is Iam 
gila, which is only sixteen feet high, and does not occupy the en- 
tire width of the stream. Some of the mountain brooks have 
cut their courses down to the level of the main river, but other 
larger rivers that flow over horizontal strata enter by a cataract 
Thus the Luenga falls from a height of more than 300 pene” 
the Luvubi from 500 feet. The Congo rises from September “es 
January, and again in April and May (the rainy season) when 
waterfalls disappear under the swollen-waters. with 
The summits of the mountains are rounded and covered kost 
grass and small bushes, but the valleys contain forests of ne 
trees. Further to the north is the great forest of Tschiy w 
Dr. Pechuel-Loesche states that the “ Makoko ” from W ion, 
De Brazza claims to have obtained a section of the Congo pene 
is certainly nothing more than a local chief. Makoko yet A 
means ‘the. ruler of the stream,” and there are several, = 
