Geography of the Gaboon . 
53 
and difficult to find, averages between sixteen and 
forty-eight feet; and, in the dry season of 1862, the 
vessel ran up sixty English miles. 
Before M. du Chaillu’s expeditions, “ the rivers 
known to Europeans/.’ he tells us in his Preface 
(“ First Journey,” p. iv.), “ as the Nazareth, Mexias, 
and Fernam Vaz, were supposed to be three dis¬ 
tinct streams.” In 1817 Bowdich identified the 
“ Ogoowai ” with the Congo, and the Rev. Mr. 
Wilson (p. 284) shows us the small amount of know¬ 
ledge that existed even amongst experts, five years 
before the “ Gorilla book” appeared. “From Cape 
Lopez, where the Nazareth debouches, there is a 
narrow lagoon running along the sea-coast, and very 
near to it, all the way to Mayumba. This lagoon 
is much traversed by boats and canoes, and, when 
the slave-trade was in vigorous operation, it 
afforded, the Portuguese traders great facilities 
for eluding the vigilance of British cruizers, 
by shifting their slaves from point to point, and 
embarking them, according to a preconcerted 
plan.” 
M. du Chaillu first proved that the Ogobe 
was formed by two forks, the northern, or Rembo 
Okanda, and the southern, or Rembo Nguye. 
The former is the more important. Mr. R. S. N. 
Walker found this stream above the confluence to 
be from 1,800 to 2,100 feet wide, though half the 
bed was occupied by bare sand-banks. Higher up* 
