8 



SCIENCE, 



LVol. V., No. 100. 



in session at Berlin, to establish, if possible, 

 the political status of the association. Many 

 hope that it will ratify the purpose of the 

 association to establish free navigation on 

 the Kongo. The Germans also demand free 

 navigation with international control of the 

 Niger, but are opposed b}^ the English, who 

 claim the exclusive jurisdiction and control, 

 although expressing themselves as ready to 

 grant the free navigation of the river to all 

 nations. 



The French, under De Brazza, have opened a 

 line of Atlantic communication with the Kongo 

 by the River Ogowe, near the equator, with 

 stations on the Ogowe and the Kongo ; thus 

 obtaining an outlet from the valley of the 

 Kongo, north of the territory claimed b} T the 

 Portuguese. The stations of the French are 

 generally on the north side of the Kongo, while 

 those of the International association are upon 

 the south. 



It now seems as if the vallej' of the Kongo 

 would be the most densely populated part of 

 Africa. Its climate and soil are favorable for 

 white labor. The great drawback is the falls 

 near the mouth of the river ; but, to the eleva- 

 tion of land which produces these falls, it owes 

 its favored position. A railway is proposed 

 from Stanley Pool to Boma, a distance of two 

 hundred miles, — the head of navigation from 

 the ocean. The Niger and the Benue are 

 both navigable from their sources far into the 

 interior, and consequently the land in the 

 immediate valley of these rivers is low and 

 unhealthy ; while south of the valley of the 

 Kongo the country is probably broken and 

 mountainous, and therefore less fit for culti- 

 vation. 



The maritime nations of Europe are seeking 

 for the trade of Africa, but there seems to be 

 nothing to warrant expectations of a large 

 traffic with central Africa at once. The tribes, 

 though numerous, are small and have few wants. 

 One or two generations must pass before the} T 

 can become even partiall}- civilized, and acquire 

 the needs of civilized life. Emigration from 

 Europe must be slow, as Africa is not so well 

 adapted as America and Australia to European 

 emigrants ; and not until America is densely 

 populated will the overflowing emigration 

 from Europe seek the heart of Africa. But 

 the time will come when it will be densely 

 populated, and its long rivers, its many 

 and great falls, its immense lakes and high 

 mountains, become the resort of a vast popu- 

 lation. 



Gardiner G. Hubbard. 



Washington, Dec. 26. 



LAKE MISTASSINI. 



Paragraphs are going the rounds of the news- 

 papers, representing that a great lake has recently- 

 been discovered in Canada, larger than Ontario, and 

 perhaps as large as Superior itself. If this were true, 

 it would certainly he a matter of great interest, and 

 would naturally lead to the inquiry, how it happened 

 that far-off Lake Superior should have been mapped, 

 with an astonishing approach to general correctness of 

 outline, as early as 1672, while this new lake remained 

 to be discovered more than two hundred years later, 

 notwithstanding the fact that it is at a comparatively 

 short distance from a region where the Jesuits and 

 fur-traders had many posts at the time the Lake 

 Superior map was made. 



The immediate cause of the paragraphs in question 

 was undoubtedly a communication made to the geo- 

 graphical section of the British association, at its late 

 meeting in Montreal, by the Kev. Abbe Laflamme, 

 and the reference to this communication by Gen. Sir 

 J. H. Lefroy, in his opening address before the section 

 as chairman of that body. In this address Gen. 

 Lefroy gives the impression that the discovery of this 

 lake is something new and startling. He says, "That 

 it should be left to this day to discover in no very 

 remote part of the north-east a lake rivalling Lake 

 Ontario, if not Lake Superior, in magnitude, is a 

 pleasant example of the surprises geography has in 

 store for its votaries" (Proc. royal geogr. soc. for 

 October, 1884, p. 585. ). On referring to the communi- 

 cation made to the section by the Kev. Abbe Laflamme, 

 it does not appear, however, that there was any suf- 

 ficient authority for this statement on the part of the 

 chairman of the section; and, as the matter is one of 

 considerable interest, it may be worth while to look 

 a little more carefully into what is known about the 

 lake in question. 



The facts here to be presented will show that we 

 in reality know no more about the size of Lake Mistas- 

 sini than we did two hundred years ago; the reverend 

 abbe himself, in his communication, doing little more 

 than to say that there is in north-eastern Canada a 

 lake whose dimensions are unknown, but which 

 some persons believe to be of great extent ; an ' old 

 trader,' whose name is not given, ' seeing no reason 

 to doubt' that it is 'but little inferior in size to 

 Lake Superior.' There are several statements in the 

 reverend abbe's communication to which exception 

 might be taken; but it is sufficient to call attention 

 to his mistranslation and misconception of the original 

 account of the lake by Father Albanel, who says that 

 it is reported that twenty days would be required to 

 make the tour of it (pour enfaire le tour). This the 

 Kev. Abbe Laflamme has translated, ' twenty days to 

 walk around it;' thus showing a singular misconcep- 

 tion of the nature of the only possible means of ex- 

 ploration and communication in a region like that in 

 question. 



This lake, called by the first explorer of that region, 

 Father Albanel, ' le lac des Mistassirinins,' lies on the 

 north side of the watershed between the St. Lawrence 

 and Hudson's Bay, and is represented on nearly every 



