THE COLONISATION OF OGOWE AND ITS MISSIONS 7 
mouths of the Congo and the Ogowe. Cape Lopez is 
named after one of them, Odoardo Lopez, who came 
out there in 1578. In the eighteenth century the 
Jesuits had extensive plantations on the coast, with 
thousands of slaves, but they were as far from pene- 
trating to the hinterland as were the white traders. 
When, in the middle of the nineteenth century, the 
French and the English combined to fight the slave 
trade on the west coast, they chose, in 1849, 
which lies north of that of Cape Lopez for the head- 
quarters of their fleet, establishing there also a settle- 
ment to which they could send the rescued slaves ; 
hence the name Libreville. That the narrow channels 
which empty themselves here and there into Cape 
Lopez bay belonged to a great river, the whites did 
not yet know, for the natives inhabiting the coast had 
withheld the information in order to keep the inland 
trade in their own hands. It was not till 1862 that 
Lieut. Serval, while on an excursion to the south-east 
of Libreville, discovered the Ogowe in the neighbour- 
hood of Lambarene. Then began the exploration, 
from Cape Lopez, of the lower course of the river, 
and the chiefs were gradually brought to acknowledge 
the French protectorate. 
When in the eighties the need was felt of finding the 
most convenient route for trade from the coast up to 
the navigable parts of the Congo, de Brazza believed 
that it was to be found in the Ogowe, since this river 
rises only some 125 miles north-west of Stanley Pool, 
and is separated from the Alima, a navigable tributary 
of the Congo, only by a narrow watershed. He even 
succeeded in getting to the Congo by this route a steamer 
which could be taken to pieces and transported by 
