The National Geographic Magazine 



southeast wind of winter than could be 

 evaporated in the closed Red Sea. 



Such return undercurrents have in 

 somewhat similar circumstances been 

 shown to exist in the Dardanelles, Strait 

 of Gibraltar, and in the Suez Canal. 



The observation at Bab-el-Mandeb 

 was difficult. The wind is strong and 

 the disturbance of the sea is consider- 

 able, while the water is 120 fathoms, or 

 700 feet, deep. But a surveying vessel 

 maintained herself at anchor there dur- 

 ing four days, and, by the aid of an in- 

 genious apparatus sent from England 

 for the purpose, clearly proved the exist- 

 ence of a current of 1^ knots flowing 

 steadily at depths below 70 fathoms out 

 of the Red Sea, while in the upper strata 

 there was a similar current flowing in. 

 In such ways is interchange of water 

 provided for by nature in places where 

 tidal action does not suffice. 



MARVELOUS PROGRESS OF AFRICA 



In what I fear is a very discursive 

 address I have not mentioned the in- 

 terior of Africa. In the first place, it 

 is a subject of itself ; and as we shall 

 have, I hope, many papers on African 

 subjects, I have thought it better to deal 

 mainly with generalities. 



Still I cannot refrain from a few words 

 to express the astonishment I always 

 feel when I hear people complain that 

 Africa goes slow. When I look at what 

 has been effected in my own lifetime, it 

 appears to me that, on the contrary, it 

 has been rushed The maps I learned 

 from as a boy showed the whole interior 

 as a blank. There are now no parts 

 that are not more or less known. The 

 great lakes have all been revealed ; the 

 great rivers have all been traced ; Euro- 

 peans are now firmly fixed with decent 

 governments in parts formerly a prey 

 to tribal wars and the atrocities of 

 the inland slave traffic. Railways are 

 running over regions unknown forty 



years ago, and one of the most astonish- 

 ing things to me is that I should be able 

 to hope now to visit in comfort and 

 luxury the great Victoria Ealls, which 

 my old friend Sir John Kirk — whom I 

 left the other day hale and hearty — was, 

 with the exception of Livingstone, the 

 first white man to see, after a long and 

 laborious journey in his company in 

 i860. 



I could not help being amused as well 

 as interested at seeing a short time ago a 

 proclamation by the government of 

 Northern Rhodesia, dated not far from 

 Lake Bangweolo, calling on all con- 

 cerned to observe neutrality during the 

 present war between Russia and Japan. 

 I think that if any one had prophesied 

 to Livingstone, as he lay in 1873 lonely 

 and dying by the shores of that newly 

 discovered lake, that such an edict would 

 be issued in thirty years he would have 

 expressed a doubt as to its fulfillment. 



To southern Africa nature has denied 

 two of the features that facilitate rapid 

 progress — good harbors and sufficient 

 rainfall — but the energy of man has done 

 wonders to provide the former where 

 possible, and will doubtless do more, 

 while I believe that the lack of the 

 latter will also be overcome in the same 

 way. The coordinated — or, in other 

 words, the scientific — observations made 

 in many other countries have pointed 

 out a possible solution. On the other 

 hand, the height of the inland plateaux 

 makes it possible for the white man to 

 live and work in latitudes which would 

 under other conditions be tropical. 



South Africa must have a great future 

 before it ; and, while some present cir- 

 cumstances may delay development of 

 its natural advantages, I am inclined to 

 think that in the long run prosperity 

 may be more solid and material for being 

 reached in the face of difficulties, as has 

 so often occurred in the history of the 

 world. 



