RECENT GEOGRAPHIC ADVANCES 



395 



locality a section of the 

 great meridian arc along 

 30 0 east. 



Sir Harry Johnston, 

 known in the National 

 Geographic Magazine, 

 has made studies of 

 Uganda and around the 

 eouatorial lakes which 

 stand scarcely second to 

 any similar African re- 

 searches. Pishbourne's 

 surveys for the Uganda 

 Railway were prolific in 

 results, and Lieut. Boyd 

 Alexander's transconti- 

 nental journey through 

 the dense, tangled for- 

 ests between the Niger 

 and the Nile recalls the 

 thrilling experiences of 

 that great traveler, Stan- 

 ley Africanus, 30 years 

 earlier. 



Of intense human in- 

 terest are the ethnologi- 

 cal studies of the many 

 primitive peoples, whose 

 individuality is vanishing 

 under advancing civili- 

 zation. Torday tells us 

 of the people of the Ka- 

 sai basin ; of the Baboma 

 women, with elaborately 

 cicatrized faces, set ofif 

 with brass neck-rings of 

 30 pounds weight ; of 

 the alert, skilled pigmy 

 hunters ; of industrious 

 Misambu, where, wonder of wonders 

 for Africa, every one works, carving, 

 forging, weaving ; and of the high forms 

 of a pure African art apparent in the 

 carvings and textile industries of these 

 natives. 



Perchance more fascinating are the re- 

 searches of Talbot, sometime resident 

 among the Ekoi of South Nigeria. A 

 high-typed race, given to dance and 

 woodland mysteries, they are survivals 

 of Pan. The sacred Egbo (men's) and 

 Nimm (women's) clubs are as inviolate 



UN SOU, M'SIEUR?" A BEAUTlEUE LITTLE BEGGAR GIRL, 

 From "The Desert Gateway," by S. H. Leeder. Cassell & Co. 



to each sex, under penalty of death, as 

 in the dawn of mythology. Among the 

 sweet, quaint superstitions of the devoted 

 Ekoi parents is one which forbids quar- 

 reling in a household of little children, 

 who in their reincarnated state love gen- 

 tle voices, smiling looks, and winning 

 words. 



CAPE TO CAIRO RAILROAD 



Exploration and research induced trade 

 and annexation, which in turn entailed 

 colonization and governmental responsi- 



