PRINCETON, N. J. Purchased by the Hammill Missionary Fund. Division Section Number. .11 Z STANFORD'S COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL FOR GENERAL READING BASED ON HELLWALD'S 'DIE ERDE UND IHRE VOLKER ' Translated by A. H. KEANE, M.A.I. ' CHUMA,' Livingstone's Servant : of the Wahiao Tribk. (From a Photograph.) Frontispiece. Chumi was released from the slave-traders on the Shire river by Bishop Mackenzie and his party, and was constantly with Dr. Livingstone during his last nine years of travel. He accompanied Livingstone's remains to England, and has subsequently served with Bishop Steere in the Nyassa country. STANFORD'S COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL BASED ON HELLWALD'S 1 DIE ERDE UND IHRE VOLKER' AFRICA EDITED AND EXTENDED BY keith Johnston, f.r.g.3. LATE LEADER OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY'S EAST AFRICAN EXPEDITION WITH ETHNOLOGICAL APPENDIX BY A. H. KEANE, M.A.I. MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS SECOND EDITION LONDON EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, S.W. 1880 Digitized by the Internet Archive i in 2015 https://archive.org/details/africaOOjohn PREFACE. In reading through Mr. Keane's excellent translation of that section of Von Hellwald's Die Erde und ihre Volker which is devoted to Africa, it soon became evident that the author had taken a more national view of our present knowledge of this vast continent than would be acceptable to English readers — German work in the field of African discovery was fully developed, the achievements of British and other foreign explorers more hastily sketched. It is not that we would undervalue for a moment the labours of Germany in Africa. Our knowledge of the immense region of the Sahara and the Sudan has resulted almost exclusively from the arduous journey ings of Barth and Vogel, of Eohlfs, Schweinfurth, and Nachtigal ; but in giving these their due share of honour, it cannot be for- gotten that we owe to the enduring toil of Livingstone, of Burton, Speke, and Grant, of Cameron, Gordon, and Stanley, the rolling back of the clouds of obscurity which, until a few years ago, hid from view all but the coast-line of the still greater expanse of Equatorial and Southern Africa. In endeavouring to give a more just apportionment of credit to the men of all nationalities that have taken part in the great work of throwing Africa open to the light of civilisation, as well in bringing up the description of each separate portion of the continent to a more uniform vi PREFACE. standard, and in giving greater prominence to those parts of South Africa in which British interests are more immediately concerned, the book has expanded till it has reached two or three times the size of the original upon which it is based. As it stands, however, it will be found to contain a toler- ably complete general view of the present state of knowledge of African geography ; the natural features of the continent, its many kingdoms, states, and colonies, with their inhabit- ants, are concisely described, as well as the productions and legitimate commerce of its various regions, and the roots and branches of its great malady, the slave trade, which affects it so deeply in every part. Two original papers have been appended. The first of these, on the classification of the African races, deals with a subject which is of the utmost consequence in the prob- lem of the future development of the continent. In this view the distinctions of race, of language, traditions, and temperament of its inhabitants, cannot be too closely studied. The second Appendix, on the distribution of rain over Africa month by month, has also a practical value in view of future exploration and survey of the continent, in pointing out those times and seasons which are most suit- able for travel and geographical work in its different regions. TL J. Kew, November 1877. INDEX MAP TO CHAPTERS and SECTIONS £itm/i/f.KRYPT XK 3, XV. 1.3, Egypt irffl be round described lender- Chu/ner fourteen . Sretion Three olid Chapter Fifteen, Sectiatxs One and Jftree. CONTENTS. ♦ GENERAL INTRODUCTION. PAGE Position and Revolutions of the Globe — Meridians of Longitude and Parallels of Latitude — The Seasons, Equinoxes, and Solstices — The five Zones — Varying length of the days and the nights . 1 AFKICA. CHAPTER I. General Remarks. Configuration of the land — Islands — Physical aspect of the interior — Rivers and Lakes — Tropical position — Inhabitants — Independent races — Culture — European and Mohammedan influences . . 8 CHAPTER EL The Regions of the Atlas. Physical aspect — Soil — Cultivation — Natural features of Algeria — The "Tell," plateaus, and Algerian Sahara — Rivers of the North- West — Climate of the Atlas Regions — Rainfall — Winds — Tem- perature and seasons of Algeria — Natural products of North Africa — Inhabitants . . . . . . .17 CHAPTER HI. The Empire of Marocco and its Inhabitants. Extent — Population — Government — The Imperial Cities of Fez, Mequinez, and Marocco — Coast towns — Inhabitants— Indigenous and foreign races — Language of the Berbers — Physical appearance of the Arabs and Berbers — Habits and Customs — The Marocco Dwars or tent villages— Food — Hospitality — The Shirfa or Privi- leged classes — Morality, vice, and crime — Jews and Negroes in Marocco — Trade and commerce . . . . .32 viii CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The French Algerian Possessions. PAGE Population — European Settlers — Products — Commercial enterprise — Cavern of Jebel Thaya — Results of the French occupation — Algiers and other towns — The Natives : Moors, Bedouins, and Kabyles 48 CHAPTER V. The Regency op Tunis. Government — Population : Arabs, Berbers, Jews — Industry and com- merce— Tunis and its Citadel — Kairwan — The towns of Susa and Sfax — Tunisian fisheries — Projected inland lake of Tunis . 59 CHAPTER VL Tripoli. Extent and general features of the country — Climate and natural products — Population — Chief towns . . CHAPTER VII. The Sahara. Extent — Its marine origin — The Sandhills or Dunes — Character of the Rock Formations and Mountain Ranges — The Table-lands — The Hofra or Depressions — The Oases — Rivers and River-beds- Lakes — The hot winds and sand-storms — Climate of the Sahara 72 CHAPTER VIII. States and Races in the Sahara. The Northern Border Land of the Sahara — Its limits on the west, east, and south — The "Western Sahara — Berber Tribes — Aderer, Tafilet, El-Juf, and other Western Districts — The Central Section of the Sahara (domain of the Tuareg) — The towns of Wargla, Tuggurt, and Metlili — The Beni-Mzab confederate Tribes — Oasis of the El-Golea — Oases of Tuat — Oasis of Ghadames — The Tuareg (Ta- warik) Tribes — The southern Tuareg country : Ahaggar and Air or Asben — The Eastern Sahara (domain of the Tibbus) : Tibesti and Kauar — The Libyan Desert . . . . .82 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER IX. Sudan. PAGE Extent — Meaning of the term — General features — Coast of Upper Guinea— Native States between the Niger and the Nile Valley . 108 CHAPTER X. Western Sudan or Senegambia. The French Settlements in Senegambia — Towns of St. Louis, Dakar, and Goree — The Dakar Negroes — The Mandingo and Fulah races — The Futa-Jallon highlands — Mage and Quintin's expedition to the Niger Ill CHAPTER XI. The Coast op Upper Guinea. From the Gambia to Fernando Po — The British Settlements on the Gambia : Bathurst ; Sierra-Leone ; Freetown — The Natives of Sierra-Leone — Slavery : its causes ; vain attempts at suppression — The Republic of Liberia — The Kroomen — Ivory Coast — French Stations — Condition of the Slaves — The Gold Coast — British Settle- ments— The Kingdom of Ashantee — Natives of the Gold Coast — Religion of the Fantees — Strange Customs of the Fantees — Chief towns of the Gold Coast — Origin and rise of the Ashantees — The river Volta— Slave Coast — Ewe Tribe — Kingdom of Dahomey : its capital, Abomey ; Sanguinary Rites ; Amazons — Lagos — the Yoruba Country — Abbeokuta — The Niger Delta — Bonny — Fer- nando Po and other islands in the Gulf of Guinea . .120 CHAPTER XII. The Niger Regions. The course of the Niger — Sego — Sansandig — Haussa and other Fulah States — From Lake Chad to the Niger — Timbuktu — The Sonrhay 159 CHAPTER XIII. Central Sudan. Extent— Political Divisions— Semi-civilised Negro states— Transition from the Sahara to the Sudan — Lake Chad and neighbouring dis- tricts— Bornu — Baghirmi and Gaberi — Natives of Baghirmi : Customs ; Religion — Wadai and its People — The Banda Tribes — Darfur — Kordofan . . . . .176 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. Regions of the Nile. PAGE From the Mediterranean to the Equator — The Nile Delta/ — Egyptian Culture — The country east of the Nile — The Atbara and the Blue Nile— The White Nile and its Tributaries . . .196 CHAPTER XV. Egypt. Political situation — Extent — Population — The Fellaheen — Kopts, Arabs, Europeans, Jews, and Gipsies — Social Progress — Spread of education — Commerce : the Suez Canal — Alexandria and Cairo — From Cairo to the Cataracts ..... 202 CHAPTER XVI. Regions of the Uppek Nile. The Nubian Desert — Khartum and neighbourhood — Senaar, between the Blue and White Nile— Valley of the Bahr-el-Abiad-The Nuehr Tribe— The Dinka Tribes — The Dyur and Bongo Tribes — The Bahr-el-Ghazal water system — The Mittu Tribes — The Nyamnyam Cannibals — The Monbuttu Country and its People — The Akka Pigmies — The Golo, Nduggo, and Sehre Negroes — Gondokoro and Lado — The Victoria Nile . . . 220 CHAPTER XVII. The Red Sea Coast. From the Arabian Desert to Perim — Conformation of the land — Suakin and the Nubian Desert — Water system — The Beni-Amer and Habab Tribes — Massowah — Berberah — Political changes — Taka and Kedaref . . . . . . .246 CHAPTER XVIII. The Abyssinian Highlands. Physical aspect of the country— Lake Tzana, the Bahr-el-Azrek and other rivers— Population— The Abyssinian Races : Tigre, Lasta, Amhara— Languages of Abyssinia— The Agau, Danakal, Gonga, Shangalla, and other Tribes— Religion— The Abuna— The Moham- medans and Jews— Pursuits— Literature — Character— Govern- ment : the present Ruler— Chief Towns— Shoa— Countries south of Abyssinia 254 CONTENTS. xi CHAPTEK XIX. Eastern Horn of Africa. PAGE Limits— The' Somali Country— Harar— Berberah— Physical aspect of the interior — Climate— The Somali tribes — Animals of Somali Land— Coast Towns— Island of Socotra— Mogdesho, Marka, Brava —Course of the Juba River— Bardera— The Galla Country— The Galla Eaces— Region of the Kilima-Njaro— Dana and Rufu Rivers —Lands of the Wanika and Wateita— Mount Kilima-Njaro — Masai country ....... 273 CHAPTER XX. The Suaheli Coast. Extent — Commercial importance — Islands — The Suaheli Race — Island and town of Zanzibar— Trade of Zanzibar— The Slave Trade on the eastern seaboard — Products of the Zanzibar Coast — Bagamoyo ; the Lufiji ; Kilwa ..... 296 CHAPTER XXI. ' The Equatorial Lake Regions. General Survey — The Regions between the East Coast and the Tan- ganyika— The various routes inland from Bagamoyo — Cameron's route to Ugogo — Stanley's route to the Victoria Nyanza — The Leewumbu — The Equatorial lake system ; Uganda and Unyoro — King Mtesa and his People — Stanley's discoveries between the Victoria and Albert Nyanza — Gessi's circumnavigation of the Albert Nyanza — Ugogo to Unyanyembe and Tanganyika — Lake Tanganyika — Tanganyika to Nyangwe on the Lualaba — Man- yuema — Urua — Ulunda, the country of the Muata Yanvo — The countries of Lovale and Kibokwe — The Nyassa and Shirwa lake region — The Rufiji, Rufuma, and Mozambique Coast — Mr. Young's circumnavigation of Lake Nyassa — Livingstonia — The Matumboka and other Tribes — The Pelele — The River Shire or Shira — The Manganja Tribe — Lake Shirwa — Country west of the Nyassa — The basin of the Loangwa — The Chambese ; Lakes Bang- weolo and Moero — Lobemba ; Urungu and Itawa — The Cazembe's country — The Copper country of Katanga . . . 307 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXII. South Africa — General Remarks. PAGE Extent and natural limits — Political divisions — Mountain ranges — Native Races : Kafirs, Bushmen, and Hottentots . . 371 CHAPTER XXIII. The South African Colonies and Free States. Cape Colony — Physical Aspect — Hydrography — Scenery and vegeta- tion— Climate — History ; the Boers ; British Kafraria — Popula- tion— Industries : Wool trade ; Ostrich -farming ; Mines — Table Bay, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth — Government of the Cape — The Diamond Fields — Natal — Maritzburg — The Drakenberg — The Orange Free State and the Transvaal — The gold-fields of the Trans- vaal— A sportsman's paradise — The plague of locusts — Natives of the Transvaal — Chief town — Climate — History ; native policy of the Boers . . . . . . . 375 CHAPTER XXIV. The Interior of South Africa. Course of the Limpopo — The Kafir Kingdoms ; Umzila'slTerritory — Land of the Matebele — Source of the Zambesi — The Victoria Falls — The lower course of the Zambesi — Portuguese possessions in East Africa : Mozambique ; Quelimane ; Sofala ; Delagoa Bay — Between the Zambesi and the Orange River — The Kalahari Desert — Bushmen — Lake Ngami and neighbourhood — Namaqua and Damara Land . . . • • . 418 CHAPTER XXV. The South African Races. The Bantu family — The Ama-Khosa and Ama-Zulu Kafirs — The Bechuanas and Damara Tribes — The Hottentots . . . 447 CHAPTER XXVI. The Regions of Lower Guinea. Definition — Extent — The Portuguese possessions on the "West Coast — Angola — Climate ; Native Tribes — Negro character — Slavery — Products and Trade of Angola — Government and chief towns — The Zaire or Congo — Loango and other Native states — Supersti- tious practices — Products — German Expeditions . , .454 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVII. Western Equatorial Africa. PAGE Region of the Ogoway and Gaboon Rivers — The home of the gorilla — The Ashira, Apingi, and other Tribes— The Mpongwe : their vices and vanities — The Fans : Grand Palavers, Ordeals — The Ogoway river system — the Bakales, Ivilis, and Okota Tribes — The Osyeba Cannibals ; the Obongo Pigmies . . . 477 CHAPTER XXVIII. The West African Archipelagoes. The Cape Verd Islands : Population, trade, produce — The Canary Group— The Peak of Teneriffe — The Guanchos — Trade and chief towns of the Canaries — Madeira : Funchal ; climate ; produce — The Azores : population ; exports .... 490 CHAPTER XXLX. African Islands in the Indian Ocean. Lemuria, a submerged Continent — Madagascar : Natural Features — Volcanic action — Mountain Systems — Soil, Rivers, Climate, Pro- duce— Inhabitants : various races ; their origin, pursuits — Go- vernment — Ruling race — Conversion to Christianity — The Comoro Group — French Settlements — Mohilla — The Seychelles andAmirante Isles— British Settlements — Reunion and Mauritius 499 APPENDIX. I. The African Races philologically classified. Language the best basis for the classification of Paces — But not of itself an adequate basis — For the Negroes proper practically use- less— General Distribution of the African Races — Prehistoric Migrations— Dwarfish and other Primeval Races — The Seven great Linguistic Systems of Africa : I. The Semitic Family ; II. The Hamitic Family ; III. The Fulah and Nuba Groups ; IV. The Negro Systems ; V. The Bantu Family ; VI. The Hottentot Group ; VII. The Malayo-Polynesian Family . . .509 Synoptical Table of all known African Tribes and Languages, alphabetically arranged ...... 533 XIV CONTENTS. II. The Distribution of Kain in Africa. PAGE General considerations — Position of Africa with respect to the Trade Winds and westerly wind currents — Winter rains of North Africa — Intertropical rains of single period — Intermitted or double rains of the West Coast — Monsoon rains of the East Coast-land — Winter rains of Cape Colony — Quantity of Rain — Time of day at which rain falls ........ 557 Index . . . . . . . . .591 MAPS AND DIAGRAMS. Index Map to Chapters and Sections To face Contents. General Political Map of Africa To face page 1 Diagram illustrating the Seasons »» >> 5 Physical Map of Africa .... ») »> 10 Map of Marocco ..... 55 >> 32 Algeria and Tunis .... J5 >> 48 Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, etc. . 5? 55 111 Gold Coast, Lagos, Niger Delta J? 95 120 ,, The Nile from Khartum to Lado, and the Bahr-el-Ghazal Water System 59 99 220 Zanzibar to the Tanganyika and Victoria Lakes ..... 99 99 296 , , The Nyassa and Shirwa Lake Region and the Mozambique Coast 95 55 353 ,, The Cape Colony .... 99 5* 375 Natal, Transvaal, and Orange Free State 99 55 401 ,, Portuguese West Africa 99 ^5 454 Ethnological and Philological Map of Africa Si 5? 509 Diagrams showing Distribution of Rain in Africa . 99 tt 555 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. * Clmma,' Livingstone's servant : of the Wahiao tribe 1 Scene in Marocco ...... Page 34 Palms on the Tensift (from a Photograph by Dr. Leared) To face page 36 Moors . . . . . . „ ,, 38 Marocco Dwar, or Tent Tillage . . . . Page 43 Bedouin Camp in Algeria . , . . . „ 56 Scene in City of Tunis . . . . . „ 59 The Bardo of Tunis ...... „ 63 Sand-storm in the Sahara . ... . . „ 72 Town of Metlili, Algerian Sahara . . . . ,,90 House Terraces in Tuggurt ..... „ 92 Tuareg Freemen . . . , . . ,,96 Oasis in the Libyan Desert . . . , . ,,104 A Pul or Pullo (Fulah race) . . . . . ,,114 Timbo, in Futa-Jallon . . , , , ,,116 Free Town, Sierra Leone ..... „ 123 Ashantee Women . . . . , . ,,146 Scene in Dahomey ...... 149 Say, on the Niger 169 Ferry on the Niger ...... 170 The Hombori Mountains ..... 171 Kabara, the Port of Timbuktu . , . . ,,172 Timbuktu . . . , . . . 173 The Nile near Assuan .... To face page 198 Street in Cairo ...... Page 209 A Cairo Barber ...... 211 Fruit Seller of Cairo ..... To face page 212 Egyptian Female Costume ..... Page 213 A Pyramid To face page 214 Temple at Philse ..... 216 Tombs of the Caliphs ...... Page 217 Kock Temple of Abu Simbel . . . To face page 218 In the Nubian Desert . . . . „ , 220 Khartum ....... Page 223 1 From a Photograph lent by the Rev. Horace Waller. xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Dinka Farmstead ..... Page 231 Bongo Woman ..... „ 233 A Mittu „ 235 A Nyamnyam ..... „ 237 Akka Dwarf ...... „ 241 The Sycamore, Eastern Abyssinia „ 257 Palace of Gondar ..... „ 269 Slave-Driving ..... „ 307 Hippopotamus Hunting . . , . „ 311 Native of Ugogo ..... „ 313 ' Kalulu,' Stanley's faithful companion To face page 316 Victoria Nyanza ..... Page 318 King Mtesa's Daughter .... „ 324 Uganda Boy ...... „ 325 The Pelele — lip-ring ..... „ 358 Table Mountain, Cape of Good Hope „ 394 "Waggon Road over the Drakenberg . „ 405 Lion Hunting ..... To face page 409 Victoria Falls : from the West End . Page 426 Victoria Falls : from the Garden Island „ 428 Camping on the Borders of the Kalahari Desert To face page 438 A Bushman ...... Page 440 Makato's Village, near Lake Ngami „ 443 Beach Hottentots at Walfisch Bay . „ 445 Walfisch Bay, with Sandhills in distance To face page 445 A Namaqua Kraal . . . . . „ 446 A Bechuana Warrior .... „ 448 Bechuana Women preparing Winter Stores Page 450 Toilet of a Bechuana Belle . To face page 450 Street in a Bechuana Village Page 451 Korana Pack Oxen . To face page 452 Hottentots ...... Page 453 Head-dress of the Ishogo, West Africa „ 482 Peak of TenerifFe ..... ., 493 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 1. Position and Revolutions of the Earth. The Earth, which forms the subject of this work, may be described as a round and opaque body balanced in space. In company with a friendly satellite, the Moon, it com- pletes, in somewhat more than 365 days, one revolution round a centre, the Sun, a light and heat giving body, itself probably but one of countless similar bodies scattered throughout the boundless regions of the universe. The Earth is technically spoken of as a planet, by which name we understand all such heavenly bodies as are dark in themselves, shining only in the borrowed light of the Sun. The period of 365 days required to complete its orbit is called a year, and is divided into twelve months, the months into weeks, and the weeks into days, one day thus forming a standard unit for the measurement of time. By a day is strictly understood the time required by the Earth to complete one revolution round its own axis in the direction from west to east. It thus appears that the Earth revolves round itself while completing its orbit round the Sun, and from this twofold motion there arises a series of phenomena, whose regular recurrence no longer causes any surprise, but which may still be here briefly described. 2. Meridians of Longitude and Parallels of Latitude. Every revolving globe necessarily possesses two oppo- B 2 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. site points which are at rest, and which, in the case of the Earth, are called the Poles. These are again connected together by the Axis, an imaginary line round which the globe itself rotates. They are known as the Arctic or North Pole, and the Antarctic or South Pole. The circle described round the middle of the Earth, at all points equally distant from either pole, and thus dividing it into two halves, is called the Equator, while the two equal portions so divided are known as the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Now, in order accurately to fix the position of the various places on the surface of the globe, we must imagine an indefinite num- ber of other circles intersecting each other in such a way that some are described as passing through both poles, and others as drawn parallel with the equator. The first series, intersecting at the poles and perpen- dicular to the equator, are all naturally of equal size, and are called the Meridians — that is, mid-day circles, all places through which any one of them passes having mid- day at the same hour. The distances between these meri- dians constitute the degrees of longitude, which thus determine the position of any given place east or west 01 any given meridian. The other set of circles parallel to the equator, and diminishing according as they recede towards either pole, in the same way determine the position of all places north and south of the equator, and are called parallels of lati- tude. Since, therefore, these imaginary meridian and parallel circles intersect each other, given the latitude and longitude of any place on the surface of the Earth, its position is at once accurately determined. The Earth, however, is not a perfectly round globe, but rather of an oblate form — that is, slightly compressed at the poles, and bulging out at the equator. Hence, not being a true sphere, it is known as a spheroid, a sphere- DAY AND NIGHT. o o like body, the exact proportions of which have not yet been fully ascertained, though at present it is believed that the diameter at the equator exceeds that from pole to pole by 2 7 miles. But, owing to its flattening at the poles, and corresponding expansion at the equator, the imaginary set of curves above spoken of are not true circles, but rather ellipses closely resembling circles. The parallels of latitude are much less affected by this circum- stance than are the meridians, which become sensibly depressed towards the poles ; but it follows that the dis- tance between two parallels becomes greater the nearer we approach the poles. The shortest degrees of latitude and the longest of longitude are accordingly found on and about the equator ; the longest of latitude and the shortest of longitude at and about the poles. The globe revolves, as stated, round the sun, which can of course shed its light only on the side turned towards it. If the Earth did not rotate on its own axis, the hemi- sphere facing the sun would be always light, and the opposite buried in eternal darkness. But in consequence of the Earth's rotation round its axis every place on its surface becomes lit up and plunged in darkness — that is, has its own day and night — alternately. Like all other true stars, the sun appears on the eastern horizon for all places on the Earth's surface, describing an apparent circuit across the sky during the day, and then disappearing again below the western horizon. When a star reaches the highest point above the horizon it is said to culminate or attain its zenith, and the sun's culminating point or zenith is called mid-day or noon. It has then reached the meridian of all places lying in the same degree of longitude — that is, crossed by any given meridian of longitude. As, moreover, every point of a parallel of latitude has a corresponding meri- dian of its own, it follows that for all places situated in 4 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. different meridians the time of mid-day is also different, varying according as the sun in its apparent course passes successively from one meridian to another. Hence, at any given moment all times of day are found on the Earth — that is to say, the time of day must continually vary from place to place as we go from west to east, or from east to west, the hour of noon being in all cases later the more to the west the place is situated. Thus mid-day is later at London than at Vienna, at Vienna than at Constan- tinople, and in New Zealand it is about midnight when it is noon in London. It follows that from place to place differences may occur not only of hours but even of a whole day. This explains the curious circumstance that any one travelling round the earth from west to east loses a day — that is, on his return he finds himself a day out in his reckoning ; while, if he retraces his steps from east to west, he finds himself conversely a day in advance. 3. The Seasons, Equinoxes, and Solstices. In its revolution round the sun the Earth's axis is not perpendicular to the plane of its orbit. It has been ascer- tained that the Earth's axis is inclined to the plane of its orbit round the sun at an angle of nearly 23-|°. The course of the Earth round the sun is called the Ecliptic, because solar and lunar eclipses occur only when the sun and moon are on the same line with the earth on the plane of its orbit. The orbit of the Earth, again, is itself not quite a perfect circle but a nearly circular ellipse, the sun being situated in one of its two foci. Erom this it follows that the Earth is not at all times equidistant from the sun ; but, since the equator and the ecliptic are inclined at an angle to one another, and must therefore intersect each other somewhere, both must necessarily have two points in common. These points are situated at the extremities of the shorter axis THE SEASONS. 5 of the ellipse. Hence, when the Earth reaches these points in its annual course, the sun is vertically over the equator, and day and night are equal everywhere on the surface of the globe. This takes place once in spring and once in autumn, hence we speak of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, which occur about the 20th of March and the 2 2d of September. The accompanying diagram represents four positions of the Earth in its orbit, each 90° apart. Since the sun can only enlighten one half of the surface at once, viz. that which is turned towards it, the shaded portions of the globe here represent the dark, and the bright the enlightened halves of the Earth. In the positions A and C the sun is vertically over the inter- section of the equator and ecliptic. In these positions the poles of the Earth are on the extreme borders of the enlightened hemispheres, and it is day over hali the northern and half the southern hemisphere at once. Every point of the Earth's surface describes half its daily course in light and half in darkness, and day and night are equal all over the globe ; hence the term equinox. The former represents the position of the vernal, the latter of the autumnal equinox of the northern hemisphere. Since the axis of the Earth is carried round parallel to itself and always pointing to the same direction in the sphere of the fixed stars, when the Earth has moved round to the position B, its North Pole and all the portion round it to a distance of 23-| degrees from it, or within what is named the Arctic Circle, remains constantly enlightened. The sun is vertical over the northern tropic or turning point, the Tropic of Cancer (from the sign of the zodiac Cancer, which is crossed by the sun in its apparent path at the summer solstice), 23-J- degrees north of the equator; and all the region comprised within 23-^ degrees from the South Pole, or within the Antarctic Circle, is in darkness during the entire rotation, or has continual night 6 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. This is called the position of the Summer Solstice of the northern hemisphere, because at this point the sun appears to be, for the time, arrested in its course before entering on its retrograde movement, and occurs about the 21st of June. At this time every point north of the equator has a day of more and a night of less than twelve hours' dura- tion, and days in the northern hemisphere are at their longest. When the earth has passed round to D, the phenomena of the position B occur again, but in exactly inverted order. The sun is then vertical over the southern turning point, called the Tropic of Capricorn (from the sign of Capricorn, or the he-goat, then crossed by the sun) ; all within the Arctic Circle revolves in continuous night, all within the Antarctic, or about the South Pole, is in continuous daylight. This is the position of the southern summer or northern Winter Solstice, and takes place about the 21st of December. All points within the northern hemisphere have then a day of less than twelve hours' duration and a longer night ; the days are then at their shortest in the northern, and at their longest in the southern hemisphere. 4. The Five Zones. The portions of the globe limited by these various parallels are called the Five Zones — the Torrid lying be- tween the tropics, two Frigid zones within the polar circles, and two Temperate between the polar circles and the tropics. 5. Varying Length of Day and Night. From the diverse relations above described of the Earth to the sun, it follows that for the different places on the Earth's surface the duration of day and night varies continually and considerably according to the time of year. LENGTH OF DAY AND NIGHT. 7 On the equator, however, day and night are always equal throughout the year. Here, in fact, there is a perpetual equinox, the equator being the only imaginary circle on the globe, one half of which is always in darkness and the other always in light. The poles, on the contrary, and their immediate vicinity have alternately six months of continuous light and six of continuous darkness. In other words, at the poles the year is made up of only one day and one night, each half-a-year long. But the dura- tion of day and night varies within the polar circles, out- ward from the actual pole, according to the latitude of each place. Hence the number of days during which the sun neither rises nor sets is here different, the longest day lasting six, five, four, three, two, or one month, as the case may be. During the rest of the time the sun remains below the horizon during nights of gradually increasing length, till at midwinter they reach periods of one, two, three, four, or five months, corresponding to the duration of the midsummer daylight. Within the temperate zones there is a constant inter- change of day and night, each place enjoying longer days and shorter nights in summer, and enduring longer nights and shorter days in winter, in proportion to its distance from the equator. A similar discrepancy attends the commencement of the various seasons, as will be more fully explained when we come to the detailed description of the various regions of the Earth. VOLUME I. — AFEICA. CHAPTEE I GENERAL REMARKS. 1 . Configuration of the Land. As seen on the map Africa presents a less shapely appearance than any other of the great divisions of the earth, Australia alone excepted. In fact its form vividly recalls both that of Australia and of South America, its contour being far less elegant than that either of Europe, Asia, or even North America. It has absolutely no pen- insulas, for the solitary eastern projection of Somali, confronted by the island of Socotra, can scarcely be regarded as anything more than an abortive attempt at such. Erom this circumstance it necessarily follows that the various bights and bays are themselves but little developed. We have doubtless on the north coast the OUTLINE OF AFKICA. 9 classic Syrtes, or Gulfs of Cabes and Sidra, and on the west coast the Gulf of Guinea. But these penetrate so little into the land that it seems almost a flattery to speak of them as gulfs. The Eed Sea alone forms a true gulf, in appearance not unlike that of California in North America; but even here the east coast belongs to the Asiatic peninsula of Arabia. 2. Islands. Africa also lacks the charm imparted by the numerous islands surrounding the shores of other continents. There are some few in the Gulf of Guinea, and the north-west coast is fringed by the Cape Verd, Canary, and Azore groups, the latter, however, so far removed from the mainland as scarcely to be entitled to be credited to this continent. The east coast is more richly endowed in this respect, and here as elsewhere the general rule is verified that the larger islands occur to the east only of the main divisions of the globe. Here it is that we accordingly meet with the vast island of Madagascar, almost a little continent in itself, and in all probability an actual rem- nant of Lemuria, that immense continent and home of the lemur and the loris, which may have formerly stretched across the Indian Ocean as far as Ceylon and even to the Keeling isles, if not still farther eastwards. However that may be, the coral reefs between Mozambique and Mombas indicate that the east coast of Africa is rising at the present time, and the same is true of Madagascar and the Seychelles, together with the sugar-producing islands of Mauritius and Eeunion. The African shore of the Eed Sea also, no less than the opposite coast of Arabia, seems to be advancing into the water, this inland sea possessing no more than an average depth of about 100 fathoms. 10 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 3. Physical Aspect of the Interior. The monotony of its coast lines seems also to be repeated in the uniform disposition of the land in the interior of this continent. The whole of Africa might strictly speaking be described as nothing but one vast table-land, varied here and there by a few more or less precipitous slopes. There are certainly some low-lying regions, and even depressions below the level of the sea, but all of them very limited in extent. The great masses of the hilly regions seem to be confined to the east coast, where an alpine range, be- ginning with the Abyssinian highlands, and rising in one or two isolated points above the level of perpetual snow, stretches southwards several degrees below the equator. A certain grandeur is also doubtless presented by the Mauritanian mountain system, while some iso- lated peaks towards the Red Sea and at the sources of the Niger and Orange rivers attain respectable eleva- tions. But on the whole in this vast continent, nearly two thirds the size of Asia, by far the most prominent feature is a moderately elevated table-land, and even the mountain ranges themselves by which it is broken present as a rule everywhere the same uniform appearance of sheer walls, with truncated summits, as follows from the nature of the sandstone of which this continent is mainly composed. This monotony of its general outlines is of course true only of its great geographical features, and not of parti- cular regions. Here we find tracts of tropical vegetation and luxuriance succeeded by wildernesses and barren wastes, hilly landscapes of varied beauty interchanging with uniform table-lands, and now and then mountain groups rivalling the sublimest aspects of Alpine scenery. PHYSICAL MAP (II Al liK A PHYSICAL FEATUKES. 11 4. Rivers and Lakes. These African highlands are furrowed by great streams, in number, however, by no means proportionate to the extent of the continent, which here again exhibits a striking poverty of natural endowments. Of these the most important are the Nile, the Congo, and the Zambesi, which, though partly rivalling in length the mightiest rivers of the earth, are far inferior to them in wealth of water. All three taken together contain a smaller body of water than the Amazon alone. On the other hand, Central Africa proper harbours a considerable number of fresh-water lakes, some of them, such as the Victoria Nyanza, the Albert Nyanza, the Tan- ganyika, and Xyassa, presenting water surfaces of imposing grandeur. 5. Tropical Position. Of all the divisions of the globe Africa is justly con- sidered as the most thorough representative of the tropical world, for it alone is situated mainly within the tropics, comparatively but small portions of it stretching beyond these limits into the temperate zones north and south. It is further to be noted that, of these two sections, the northern belongs entirely to the sub-tropical regions ; Tunis, which is about the most northern city in Africa, being situated nearly in the same parallel of latitude as St. Louis and San Francisco in America, Yedo in Japan, and Tsi-nan in China. Hence it is that in the elevated plateaux of Africa alone real cold is felt, and even here only in a moderate degree, for the latitude of Cape Town itself corresponds with that of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and Santiago, in South America, and of Sydney in Australia. 12 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 6. Inhabitants — Independent Races. The African races are in fully as backward a state of development as are the natural features of the regions occupied by them. At the mention of the word Africa we involuntarily think exclusively of the pure negro type, which, in consequence of long-established opinions, we are apt to look upon as the only occupant of this continent. And, in truth, a certain uniformity unmistakably charac- terises its inhabitants, sufficiently accounting for, if not justifying, the fact that earlier and less thorough research was satisfied with comprising all of them under the one general denomination of negroes. It remained for more recent and more accurate inves- tigations to show that the pure negro type occupies com- paratively but a small portion of Africa, scarcely spreading anywhere south of the equator. The whole country south of the negroes is mainly peopled by the Bantu tribes, differing in speech altogether from them, and including such races as the Kafirs, the Bechuanas, Basutos, etc., but not the Hottentots and Bushmen. The Hottentots form a division of their own, though now little more than the last survivors of a ruined race and people ; while the Bushmen belong to a group whose classification still remains to be satisfactorily determined. In West Africa we meet with the Fulah tribes, and north of the negroes some Hamitic and Shemitic peoples, who have migrated hither from the east. To the same Hamitic stock belong also the Gallas and the Somalis of the extreme eastern corner of Africa. Eecent investigation has thus succeeded in grouping all the inhabitants of this continent under six great divisions : four indigenous — the Fulahs, Negroes proper, Bantus, and Hottentots ; and two foreign — the Hamitic and Shemitic families. PEOPLES OF AFRICA. 13 In the islands, especially on the east coast, other races are met with, the most important of which are the Hovas or Malag ashes of Madagascar, who are unquestion- ably members of the widespread Malay family. 7. Culture — European and Mohammedan Influences. The uninhabited wastes that were long supposed to occupy the interior seem in reality to be more or less fully peopled, in some places even overcrowded. Nor do these teeming populations roam about lawlessly in unsettled regions, or in search of a precarious sustenance in temporary resting-places. Here also there are kingdoms and states jealous of each other's power and limits ; here also wars are waged for land and possessions, for dominion and influence ; for the coloured no less than the white races have developed statecraft, and can boast of a poli- tical system. They appeal to arms whenever the funda- mental principle that "might is right" finds favour in their eyes. They conclude peace and form treaties, the occasional non-observance of which certainly constitutes no radical distinction between them and the white races. Nay, more; in the very heart of the country those political revolutions are occasionally brought about that we would gladly describe as " rectifications of the frontier" were we in possession of accurate charts of those regions, or of sufficient knowledge of the events occurring in them. Here many a dark genius well knows how to turn to the best account the character and superior qualities of his race. He at times succeeds in widening the limits of his sway to an incredible extent, founding for the time being a sort of imperial rule, ever fated to be again de- stroyed by sanguinary civil strife after the strong arm has withered by which it was built up. At the same time, however, all this movement of the 14 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. African races possesses but little if any interest for us, resting as it does on a moral and intellectual basis of an extremely low order, which has achieved but feeble tri- umphs in the arts of life. Without overlooking or at all undervaluing the primitive and special culture of such negro kingdoms as Bornu and Baghirmi, it must still be confessed that there are no traces of a higher culture in Africa, except in those places alone that have felt the influence of Europeans, or at least of the Arabs. In fact, the influence of the latter is in many respects the most powerful, because the difference between their culture and that of the natives is less marked than in the case of Europeans. Herein, also, is doubtless to be sought the explanation of the astonishing spread of Mohammedanism in Africa. It has already reached the equator, and penetrated into the very heart of the country, a result that has been brought about silently and without the co-operation of special teachers ; whereas Christianity, notwithstanding the zeal of the missionaries of various sects, has been en- abled to secure the adherence of but few proselytes. And although the teachings of Islamism occupy the lowest place amongst the civilised religions of the present day, they nevertheless produce a relatively civilising effect when contrasted with the cruel fetichism of the natives. At the same time, the spread of Mohammedanism should inspire us with no exaggerated hopes for the future, as it appears that, so far, contact with foreign influences has in many respects been attended with strikingly deleterious effects on the African races. According to the various degrees of culture of its inhabitants, the learned traveller George Schweinfurth divides Africa into three domains, whose limits correspond with the movements of commerce working on the masses in the interior from its most advanced outposts all along the CULTURE AND INDUSTRIES. 15 coast. There is first of all the domain of firearms, nearest the coast, especially in the northern half of the continent, penetrating far inwards, and maintaining with Europe more or less important commercial relations. Farther inland we meet with a region which the European markets have so far been enabled to provide with cotton goods by means of native traders. Lastly, in the very heart of central Africa, and liitherto totally cut off from all contact with the European world, there is a wide- spread tract of country, in which the scanty raiment of the natives is limited to skins and hides rudely prepared on the spot. Between the two last might be formed a sort of transition territory, in which copper and glass beads con- stitute the principal articles of trade amongst the inhabit- ants. This is at the same time the chief centre of the slave trade. To these three degrees of culture correspond also the various stages of art and industry of the present African races, only here the reverse has taken place of what usually occurs elsewhere, as shown, for instance, in the pro- gress of development amongst the leading historical nations. International intercourse of every sort, commercial relations, peaceful and even warlike migrations, have a tendency to promote a higher degree of culture amongst many peoples. Others again become crushed and extinguished by contact with a civilisation of a higher order. But neither of these results do we see brought about in the Africa of the present day. European influences, instead of a fructifying and vivifying, produce nothing but a disturbing effect, as is shown in the indigenous arts of the Africans. The greater the progress at present made here and there by any African race in the path of outward culture, the less developed become their own productive powers and all the greater their dependence for the wants of a 16 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. refined existence on European arts. The restless enter- prise and industry of the white races naturally defies all native competition, and stifles all attempts at imitation on the part of the indigenous populations. A still more striking illustration of this truth is afforded by the Mohammedan peoples, who are in posses- sion of a great portion of the northern half of the con- tinent. Yet from year to year they show themselves less productive in their own arts and industries, whilst in their turn exercising on the inhabitants of the second above- mentioned domain a similar influence to that exercised by the Europeans over the Mohammedans themselves. This is best seen in the negro states of central Soudan, where, since their subjection to the yoke of Islam, a gradual fall- ing off in the progress of outward culture has clearly manifested itself, and where the last traces of all indi- genous industry threaten ere long to disappear. PLATEAU OF BARBARY. 17 CHAPTEK H THE REGIONS OF THE ATLAS. 1. Physical Aspect — Soil — Cultivation. Africa is roughly distributed into a series of partially independent physical sections. If we look at a map, we cannot fail to notice how sharply defined and cut off from the southern regions is the mountainous district occupying the western half of the north coast washed by the Medi- terranean Sea. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Cabes, or Syrtis Minor, in the Mediterranean, being inclosed southwards by a hilly range sloping off to- wards the great desert of Sahara. It comprises the main portions of the empire of Marocco, the French colony of Algeria, and the regency of Tunis, though all three of these political divisions extend southwards to some distance over the northern Sahara. The highland in question runs westwards parallel with the north coast, and long figured on the maps under the name of Mount Atlas. But in reality the Atlas is a lofty mountain chain, situated entirely within the limits of Marocco, and crossing it in a north-easterly direction. Hence it would be a mistake to include the Algerian heights in the Atlas system. Though the range running parallel with the Mediterranean coast is also described by French geographers as the Great and the Little Atlas, whoever visits both countries will find, as Gerhard Eohlfs remarks, that Algeria possesses nothing but outstretching uplands skirted by a hilly range, and that the Great Atlas is confined ' c 18 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. altogether to Marocco. This was also the opinion of the ancients, who made the Great Atlas begin at Cape Ghir in the Atlantic, and end at the present el Delr in the Mediterranean. In general the Atlas range may be said to present the form of a horse-shoe. Opening towards the north-west, one of its extremities is formed by the Eas el Deir, the other by the headland of the Ghir. The whole range gradually descends by wide terraces to the lowlands. Its highest point seems to lie a little to the south of the city of Marocco, where we meet with the Jebel Miltsin, attaining an elevation of 11,400 feet. From the northern spur of the Atlas, as far as the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the whole country in Marocco is capable of cultivation. The arable land in Algeria is called " Tell," a term unknown in Marocco, where, in fact, no such distinction is made, though neces- sitated in Algeria by the varying nature of the soil. The only unfertile tract in northern Marocco, that is on the slopes descending towards the Mediterranean, is the so- called Angad, lying south of Mount Beni-Snassen, and crossed by the Muluya. But this district is no more barren or void of vegetation than are the uplands of Algeria south of Sebdu, Saida, or Tiaret. Whenever the dew and moisture are sufficiently abundant, and occur at the right season, the whole land is at once laid under cul- tivation. 2. Natural Features of Algeria. Still more simple than in Marocco is the distribution of the land in Algeria, where three belts may be clearly distinguished — the Tell, the region of uplands or steppes, and the Algerian Sahara. The Tell begins on the Medi- terranean coast, stretching up along the whole length of the land to the foot of the Middle Atlas of French MOUNTAINS OF ALGERIA. 19 geographers. This is the most fertile portion of Algeria, producing cereals, leguminous plants such as beans and peas, vegetables, rice, tobacco, cotton, and even wine, in abundance ; in a word, in every way suited for perma- nent settlement. Here, also, we find numerous forests, planted especi- ally with noble oaks and cedars, together with luxuriant pasture lands. Many streams also (the so-called Wady or Wad), swamps, and hills, everywhere cross the Tell, which has altogether an area of about 54,000 square miles, with an average breadth of not more than 47 miles, — wider, however, towards the west than the east of the country. In this Tell, and more particularly on the coast, are naturally situated the most important cities of Algeria. As the land rises rapidly from the sea-level to a con- siderable elevation, the approach to the interior is ren- dered more than usually arduous. Parallel and close to the coast there runs a somewhat broken range of hills similar to those met with in Venezuela and California. It is this range that the French call the Lesser Atlas, or the coast mountains (les montagnes du littoral), though in reality rather a series of isolated chains, such as the Jebel Ujda, the Tessala, the Jebel Dahra (5184 feet), and the mountains of Algiers ; the Little Atlas, or mountains of Blidah (5381 feet), the Jurjura, with the summit peak of Leila Khedija1 (7572 feet), and the Great Babor (6463 feet). • This last, lying east of the city of Algiers, between the mouths of the Isser and the Kebir, is distin- guished by the name of the " Great" and " Little Kabyle." These clusters of hills are here and there varied by wide and extremely fertile plains, such as those of Metija near Algiers, and Mleta near Oran. 1 So named from the tomb of the venerated female Marabut Lella- Khedija on its summit. 20 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Immediately to tlie south of this coast range, and mostly in direct connection with it, there rises the not less elevated parallel chain, forming the proper southern limits of the Tell, and described by many French writers as the " Atlas Moyen," but which we should prefer to call the Algerian Middle Eange, and of which the mountains of Tlemcen (6017 feet), the Saida range, the mass of Uarensenis, surrounded by the Sheliff on three sides (5952 feet), the mountains of Dira-Uennugha (6109 feet), and the mountains of Setif, are the chief masses from west to east. The second belt of land, behind the middle range of the Tell, consists of monotonous table-lands (region des plateaux) producing a scanty vegetation, rising to a height of 3800 feet, interspersed with a long series of brackish lakes, or salt marshes, here called Sebkha or Shott (plural sbakhi, " marshes," and shtoot, " shores "). This region begins in the eastern part of Marocco, on the slopes of the spur of the Great Atlas, facing northwards, and reaches almost without interruption as far as Tunis. Proceeding from the frontier of Marocco we meet with the plain in which are situated the Shott-el-Rharbi (or western shott), and the long Shott-esh-Shergvn (or eastern shott), at the south- ern foot of Mount Saida ; the Saghes plateau ; that of Hodna, with the Shott-es- Saida (the happy lake), and the table-land of the Sbach, separated from the preceding one by the low heights of the Bn-Thaleb. These rocky steppes possess but few streams, and even these become dry as soon as the rainy season is over. Corn grows in some favoured spots only, but after winter has passed the land is covered with dwarf aromatic herbs and high grasses, supplying fodder for the cattle reared by the inhabitants of these regions. The herds are watered at the stagnant pools that remain in the hollows of the rocks after the wet season is over, which are named ghedir MOUNTAINS OF ALGERIA. 21 (traitor) by the Arabs, since no dependence is to be placed on their supply. In the western portion of this wilderness nothing is met with except sand-drifts. This table-land is bordered on the south by a third parallel chain, reckoning from the shores of the Mediter- ranean. It is called the Great Atlas by some French writers, by others the Chaine Saharienne. The former name, as above stated, being strictly reserved for the highlands of Marocco, we would prefer to describe the chain in question as the Sahara Border Eange. A glance at any good map will show at once that this range stretches east and west parallel with the chief spur of the Marocco Atlas, advancing across Algeria as the southern limit of the steppes, and reaching even as far as Tunis, the configuration of which country is entirely determined by the eastern offshoots of the Algerian highlands. Throughout the whole of its extent, from the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Bon in Tunis, which might perhaps be regarded as its eastern limit, this long tract of highland forms the boundary of those districts which, geographi- cally speaking, belong to the Great Sahara, and which may be looked on as its northern portion. Hence the expression Sahara Border Eange seems fully justified. In its general aspect it resembles the Algerian coast and middle ranges, not forming a continuous unbroken line, but rather a series of detached elevations, some 40 or 45 miles broad, rising here and there to considerable heights, which are usually covered with snow till the end of March. Amongst them may be more particularly men- tioned the mountains of Ksel, the highest part of the western province of Oran, having one summit rising to 6595 feet above the sea ; the Jebel Amur, farther east, and of nearly the same elevation ; and the Aures moun- tains, towards the east of the range — the Mons Aurasius of Procopius, and having the summits of Mahmel and 22 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Sheliah, or Chellia, the highest points of Algeria. Sheliah, somewhat higher than Mahmet, attains 7585 feet, or is not much less than half the height of Mont Blanc. Its northern face is deeply cut into ravines, in which torrents flow down to join the Wady Essora, and woods of holm oak cover the base of the mountain. From the summit, says M. Niel (Geographie de VAlgtrie, 1876), there opens out one of the grandest panoramas which the eye of man could behold. To the south are seen the pale, bare, and broken declivities which descend to the Wady el Abiad, and in the dis- tance the plains of the Sahara ; to the west the tops of many mountains, among which those of Jebel Tugur and of the chain of Ouled-Sultan are prominent ; to the north, beyond the wooded base of the mountain, extend the wide plateaux with their glistening shotts ; and towards Tunis the eastern Aures and Um Debben mountains are seen, cut into by deep valleys. Southwards the Sahara border range descends some- what abruptly from an average elevation of 5900 feet, while at its eastern extremity the fall is still more pre- cipitous. Here are situated the gorge of El Kantara, at the foot of the lofty Aures range, only 1697 feet, and the town of Biskra, a day's journey farther south, only 410 feet above the sea level 3. The Algerian Sahara. The third great division of the country is that of the Algerian Sahara, which, sloping southward from the border range of the high plateaus to the extreme limits of Africa claimed by France, embraces an extent not far short of that of the two former divisions taken together. The line which separates the high plateaus from the Sahara is marked along the bordering range by a number THE ALGERIAN SAHARA. 23 of points called by the Arabs " Foum-es- Sahara," or mouths of the Sahara, and follows an irregular parallel inland corresponding to the Mediterranean coast line. The fantastic descriptions of old writers, who represented the Sahara as uniformly a vast ocean of bare sand, with- out variation of level or of character, without vegetation or water, a wilderness on which one was certain to die of thirst if he escaped from the hands of savages or from the teeth of wild animals, have long been known to be inaccurate; and expeditions and journeys, undertaken either in putting down revolts of the natives, or in the cause of commerce or of science, have given us a tolerably com- plete notion of its true character. Certain points of the Sahara which are inhabited, says General Daumas, are termed Fiafi ; other habitable districts take the name Kifar, a word which signifies " abandoned ; " uninhabit- able portions are called Falat. These three names each represent one of the characteristics of the Sahara. Fiafi is the oasis round a cluster of springs or wells, to which all living things are drawn under the palms or fruit trees for shelter from the sun and the " simoum." Kifar is the plain country, generally sandy and bare, but which, after it is moistened by the winter rains, is covered with spring herbs ; hither, at that season, the nomad tribes, who are generally encamped round the oases, come to pasture their flocks. Falat, lastly, is the vast sterile and naked country, the sea of sand, the waves of which, agitated to-day by the simoum, are to-morrow rigid and still, and are easily traversed by those desert fleets called caravans. The Sahara presents now a stretch of sand, then hills and ravines, marshes and dunes ; here it has villages and populous centres, there it is inhabited only by nomads. From the bordering chain of mountains there descend to it during the rainy season numberless torrents, the channels of which, quickly dried 24 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. up by the sun's heat, form a network of ravines. The centres of population are sometimes separated by perfectly barren and waste lands of some days' march across, but in many directions lines of wells at intervals serve as camping stations, and mark out the lines of traffic. Masses of rock called gours (singular, gara), standing sometimes in an open plain swept by the winds, in a torrent bed, or in the basin of a " sebkha," diversify the surface of the Sahara. In some places these gours are disposed in long, nearly regular, and parallel chains, though their indi- vidual form may be conical, triangular, or rudely cubical. These chains of varying height have between them sandy valleys, often filled up with heaps of sand which increase, in height little by little. All the winds, says M. Largeau, help to form dunes in the Sahara, but that from the east is the most powerful in drifting the sands. The dunes, however, have no proper movement, the surface only is changed, and its contour modified by the action of the winds. Besides the ravines and torrent beds which descend southward into the Algerian Sahara from the border range of the plateaus, two great wadis, or dry channels, enter the territory from far south, and form very marked features of the region. These are the Wady Igharghar, a word which in Berber means " running water," which has its origin in the country of the Tuaregs, on the plateau of Ahaggar, between 23° and 24° S. This great dry channel descends, in an almost due northerly course, for upwards of 750 miles, to where it terminates in the Shott Melgigh, or Melrhir, one of a chain of marshes which extend along the base of the Sahara border range, eastward through Tunis to near the Gulf of Cabes, and each of which lies to some extent beneath the level of the Mediterranean. The other great dry channel, which passes through the Algerian Sahara from the south, is that RIVERS OF ALGERIA AND MAROCCO. 25 of the Wady Mia, which may be considered as a large south-western tributary of the Igharghar, joining it about 60 miles before it opens into the Melrhir. 4. Rivers. The nature of the whole of this northern portion of Africa is evidently little favourable to the formation of large streams, and along the whole length of the coast in question there is scarcely a single river possessing any special importance for the interior of the country. In Tunis and Algeria the more considerable streams mostly make their way down from the region of the steppes ; hence before reaching the Mediterranean they are obliged to find an outlet through the passes of the Algerian middle and coast ranges. The consequence is that the course of many of them, such as the Sheliff, often lies for a considerable distance parallel with the sea coast. All the Algerian streams, though large and swollen during the winter rains, shrink down to a small thread of water in summer, or disappear altogether for a time. In Marocco, with the exception of the Muluya, which also flows down from the steppes, the rivers take their rise on the north- west slopes of the Atlas, thence, of course, running into the Atlantic. Such are the Wad Kus, the Sebu, Bu- Regreg, the Um-el-Rhea (mother of herbs), and the great Tensift. Beyond this range, however, we come upon the Sus, which has a westerly course. Still farther south the maps show a Wad Nun, which however means nothing but an open plain or district ; the true name of the river here is Wad Asaka or Aksabi. Lastly, to the extreme south and beyond the Sahara border range, we have the Wad Draa, a true desert stream, one-sixth longer than the Rhine. From its source in the Atlas down to the point where its southern course is changed to a westerly one. 26 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the upper Draa is never dry even in the season of the greatest heats, though below this its waters fill the channel and reach the sea only once in the year, when the snows melt on the mountains. 5. Climate of Marocco. As a rule the climate of North Africa, though warm is healthy, more particularly in Marocco. This is partly due to the elevation of the land, the cool breezes from the Ocean and Mediterranean, and the absence of low-lying morasses, such as were so frequently met with in Algeria when the French first began to settle there. Other causes of the salubrious climate of Marocco are the rich forest lands of the Atlas slopes, which equalise the temperature, and, jointly with the snows of the mountain tops, keep the streams supplied with a constant flow of water through- out the summer ; lastly, the absence of those shotts, or shallow salt marshes and swamps, which stretch across Algeria and Tunis in an easterly direction. 6. Rainfall. There is naturally a marked difference in the mois- ture supply north and south of the Atlas. While the rainy season begins in the country north of that range in October, lasting to the end of February, it does not set in on the south side till January, ceasing during the first half of February, and extending inwards only to about 7° 40' longitude west of Greenwich. Hence it does not affect the southern part of the district watered by the Draa. In the Oasis of Tafilet rain seldom falls, and in that of Tuat scarcely once every twenty years. The rain limit south of the Atlas thus passes from 7° 40' west lon- gitude and 29° north latitude obliquely in a north-easterly CLIMATE OF MAROCCO AND ALGERIA. 27 direction, and parallel with the Atlas as far as the Figig Oasis near the Algerian frontier. The dews also are very abundant in the districts north of the Atlas and on the Atlas itself, but slight on its southern side. 7. Winds. From October to February north-westerly winds pre- vail almost exclusively, shifting most in the latter month, when as many as six or seven opposing currents succeed each other in the course of the day. In March northerly breezes prevail, after which to the end of September south- westerly and southern winds. On the Atlantic coast a very refreshing sea breeze blows inland during the sum- mer from nine in the morning till the afternoon, when the south-west wind acquires the ascendant. These south-western and southern winds often bring with them clouds of locusts, as in the years 1778 and 1780. The Atlas, however, seems to present a barrier to these voracious insects, which are met with north of that range in small and detached swarms only. 8. Temperature and Seasons of Algeria. In Algiers and Tunis the climate is exceedingly uni- form, much resembling that of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Provence, and Greece. But in the Sahara, that is south of the great Border Bange, the temperature is quite tro- pical, the heat, even in Biskra, being very oppressive and fatal to many Europeans. On the uplands of the Tell, as in central Europe, there are distinguished four seasons, succeeding each other very gently. The greatest heat lasts from the middle of June till about the middle of September, during which period not a drop of rain falls anywhere in Algeria. Then begin the beneficent autumn 28 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. and winter rains, the sun shining out very warmly at intervals, so that by the beginning of October the whole land is again clothed in the richest vegetation. The rainy season lasts till March. On the whole the climate of Algeria is healthy, always excepting the marshy districts on the coast and the low- lying oases in the south. Europeans arriving at the proper time, that is in January and February, and acclimatising themselves by habits of temperance and other precautions, may succeed in adapting themselves to a climate which, however, as a rule, does not act beneficially on European constitutions. Still there are isolated spots that can be well recommended to invalids, and the city of Algiers itself is a favourable residence for the consumptive. 9. Natural Products of North Africa. North Africa is unusually rich in natural products of various kinds. The land is at once recognised as forming part of the great African continent by the presence of such beasts of prey as the lion, the panther, the jackal, and the hyena. The last two are very numerous, but as devourers of carrion so useful, that in Algeria it is forbidden to kill them. Among other larger wild animals, antelopes, gazelles, and the mouflon, are the most important. Side by side with these are the more serviceable domestic animals — the horse, the mule, the camel, the dromedary, oxen, sheep, and goats. Ichneumons, lizards, tortoises, and leeches, are met with in great numbers, the chameleon less frequently. Among the birds are the eagle, falcon, and vulture, the thrush, the swallow which frees the country from myriads of mosquitoes, and the starling, flocks of which at some periods of the year are so large as to obscure the sun in passing. The cuckoo spends the winter in north Africa; pigeons, partridges, and quails PEOPLES OF NORTH AFRICA. 29 are abundant ; as are also the heron, pelican, and swan, besides ducks and grebe, the plumage of the latter forming an article of commerce of considerable value. The stork, which arrives about the middle of January in the Tell country and leaves in the beginning of August, builds on the terraces of the houses, the belfries of the churches, or in the minarets of the mosques, and is everywhere pro- tected and almost reverenced, as the ibis of Egypt formerly was, for the service it renders in destroying the grasshop- pers, frogs, lizards, and snakes. The vegetation bears the most striking resemblance to that of Languedoc and Provence. Here, as there, flourish the olive, laurel, orange, citron, almond, and fig-tree, myr- tle, pine, white poplar, aloe, and oleander. But the Mediterranean districts in Africa bear an unmistakably tropical character, and the climate is here warmer, the atmosphere softer, than on the opposite shores of southern Europe. Hence also, besides the European plants, there are here found many other kinds, either coming originally from the East or indigenous to this African region. The special vegetation of the tropics flourishes in the oases of the south. The mineral kingdom yields iron, lead, copper, cinna- bar, rock salt rarely, but neither coal nor any of the precious metals. 10. Inhabitants. A rapid glance at the history of this region may enable us to understand more clearly the present relations of its inhabitants. The aboriginal people of north Africa appear to have been a branch of the Hamitic stock, and though they were conquered at various times by the Phoenicians, Eomans, Vandals, and Arabs, they seem to have retained to a great extent their distinctive peculiar- ities. The descendants of these aborigines are the Berbers, 30 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. who still occupy the greater part of this area. Up to about the seventh century the Berbers appear to have formed the greater portion of the population inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean from Egypt westward to the Atlantic, but on the great Arab immigrations which then took place they were driven from these shores to the fastnesses of the Atlas, and to the deserts of the Sahara, in some parts of which they in turn pressed back the negro inhabitants toward the Soudan. At one time the Berbers professed the Christian religion, but after the Arabs had chased them from the fertile plains, they appear to have degenerated in every way, and adopting the religion of their conquerors became bigoted adherents of Mohammedanism. About the end of the fifteenth century Marocco was formed into a monarchy, which, notwith- standing internal dissensions, attained great prosperity, and before the end of the next hundred years had ex- tended its supremacy not only over a large portion of what is now known as Algeria, but southward over the desert to Timbuktu and the Niger, and even as far as the Guinea coast, where it came into collision with the Portu- guese settlements. But in the middle of the seventeenth century this empire fell to pieces, and was succeeded by that of the Sherifs of Tafilet, who conquered both Marocco proper and Fez, and uniting the whole country under one government, founded the dynasty which rules at the present time. Till 1148 Arabian princes ruled at Al- jezirah, " the island," the present Algiers, after which up to 1269 this part of north Africa as well as Spain was governed by the Almohades, at first a religious sect of Mohammedans, afterwards a warlike political power. About the beginning of the sixteenth century the Arabs, or Moors, who were driven out of Spain, settled in north Africa, and began to revenge themselves by piracy, draw- ing down an attack from the Spanish monarch Ferdinand, POLITICAL CHANGES IN NORTH AFRICA. 31 who took Algiers in 1509. One of the Algerian princes, whose territories were threatened by the Spaniards, now called in the assistance of the Greek renegade Barbarossa, who had made himself famous as a Turkish pirate chief. Barbarossa on arriving turned his bands of corsairs against his allies, and ultimately made himself sultan of Algiers. The successor of Barbarossa put himself under the pro- tection of the Ottoman court, and by the aid of the Turks drove the Spaniards out of north Africa, afterwards estab- lishing the system of military despotism and systematic piracy in the Mediterranean, which, during three centuries, sank Algeria in degradation, and drew down upon it frequent chastisements from Christian powers, ending in the French taking possession of it in 1830. 32 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL* CHAPTER lit THE EMPIRE OF MAROCCO AND ITS INHABITANTS. 1. Extent, Population, and Government. Of the four north African states, whose natural features we have above described, Marocco is the most westerly and the largest in extent. The frontier line is seldom clearly denned in Africa, so that it is scarcely ever pos- sible to give the limits of a state with any accuracy. For the most part we must rest satisfied with approxi- mate estimates, both for the area of the country and the number of its inhabitants. The area of Marocco is given by Rohlfs as 256,000 square miles, or a fourth part larger than France, and its population at 6,500,000. It forms a Mohammedan sul- tanate, the Arabic name of which is Maghreb-el- Aksa, " the far west," and the sultan, to whom we usually assign the title of emperor, would seem to be about the most absolute of reigning sovereigns. Little is known of the internal political relations, nor do they seem to possess any great interest for strangers. The country is divided into a number of governments, of which some, however, are never visited by the sultan. In fact the river Sebu forms the northern limit, beyond which he never passes except in time of war. The three cities of Fez, Marocco, and Mequinez, where he keeps court alternately, as well as the double city of Saleh- Rabat, by which he passes on his way from Fez to Marocco, are all situated south of that river. MAKOCCO CHIEF CITIES. 33 2. TJie Imperial Cities of Fez, Mequinez, and Marocco. The Italian traveller Edmondo de Amicis, one of trie latest by whom it has been visited, describes the situation of Fez as very beautiful. It stretches out between two hills crowned by the ruins of ancient fortresses. Beyond these hills the horizon is confined by a range of mountains. Through the centre of the city flows the river Pearl, dividing it into two parts — the old town on the right and the new on the left bank. The whole is enclosed by a turreted wall, which, though very old and partly in ruins, is still supported by numerous strongly -built towers. From the above-mentioned heights the eye commands the whole city, with its countless white houses, flat roofs, cupolas, and graceful minarets, interspersed with lofty palms and patches of vegetation, presenting alto- gether an extremely varied and attractive prospect. From the neighbourhood of the gates and the nearest hills the whole country round about is covered with ruined build- ings of every sort — cells of recluses, broken arches of ancient aqueducts, tombs, forts, and the like. The smaller of the two hills flanking the town is covered with thousands of aloes, many of which attain a height of eleven or twelve feet. Less favourable is the account given by de Amicis of the interior of the city, which was yet at one time known as the Mecca of the west. " To right and left are high dead walls, like those of a fortress, succeeded by lofty houses without windows, but disclosing frequent rents and fissures ; streets now ascending precipitous steeps, now leading down abrupt inclines, but always encumbered with rubbish and refuse ; numerous long covered passages, through which the wayfarer is obliged to grope his way in the dark, occasionally running into blind alleys or narrow dripping corners, strewn with the bones of ani- D 34 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. mals and all sorts of garbage — the whole veiled in a dim light, producing a most depressing effect on the spirits. In some places the ground is so broken up, the dust so thick, the stench so intolerable, the air so swarm- ing with buzzing mosquitoes, that one is fain to stop and draw breath. From time to time we hear the rumbling of a windmill, the splashing of water, the hum of the spindle, A MAROCCO FUNDUK OR INN. a chorus of shrill voices, presumedly from some neighbour- ing children's school ; but to the eye nothing of all this is anywhere visible. We approach the centre of the city ; the streets become more thronged, men gazing at us in amazement, women turning aside or concealing themselves, children shouting and running away, or shaking their fists at us from a safe distance. We come upon detached fountains richly ornamented with mosaics, noble archways and courts encircled with graceful arcades. At last we turn into one of the main streets, about two yards wide. CITY OF FEZ. 35 We become the object of general attraction, every one pressing round us, so that the soldiers, under whose escort we have been placed, find it difficult to keep us clear of the menacing crowds. Every moment we are obliged to step aside in order to make room for some Moorish cava- lier, or for an ass laden with gory sheep's heads, or it may be a camel bearing along some closely veiled Mahom- medan lady. To the right and the left are the open bazaars thronged with men, gateways and courts filled with all sorts of wares, mosques with open doors through which are visible the believers prostrate at their devotions. Here the atmosphere is heavy with a strong fragrance of aloes, aromatic spices, incense, and resin. Swarms of children pass by with scald-heads and all manner of cuts and scars ; repulsive old hags bareheaded and with ex- posed breasts ; idiots nearly stark naked crowned with garlands, with branches in their hands and incessantly laughing, singing, and dancing about. At a street corner we meet a 'saint,' an exceedingly fat man, naked from top to toe, resting with one hand on a spear covered with a red cloth and dragging himself along with much labour. He scowls at us and mutters a few unintelligible words as he passes. Soon after chance brings in our way four soldiers carrying off an unlucky wretch, hacked and covered with blood — evidently some thief caught in the act, for the crowd of children at his heels keep incessantly shouting : ' His hand, his hand, off with his hand ! ' In another street we meet two men with an open bier, on which is exposed a corpse withered up to a mummy, in a white linen sack and bound round at its neck, waist, and knees. I involuntarily ask myself, Am I awake or dreaming ? whether the cities of Fez and Paris can possibly be situated on the same planet ! " Mequinez, the third imperial city, is described by the same traveller, in contrast to Fez, as a very pleasant 36 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. cheerful place, with wide though crooked streets. The houses are not immoderately high, and as the garden walls are also low, one everywhere gets a view of the lovely hills by which the place is encircled. A grateful shade is here also given by the many trees and bowers planted not only in the courts and gardens, but even in the streets and public places. Altogether, though evi- dently fallen from its former greatness, Mequinez still breathes an air of comfort and repose, and may still boast of at least one noble building, the governor's palace, richly ornamented with mosaics, and standing by itself on a spacious though somewhat deserted site. In point of population, which however does not exceed 50,000, Marocco or Marrakesh is the second city of the empire. It is situated far to the south of Fez and Mequinez, on the Wad Tensift, and so to say at the foot of the Great Atlas. Surrounded by immense gardens, Marocco has fallen into a state of complete decay, and is now but seldom visited by Europeans. Gerhard Eohlfs passed two days here, leaving his funduk or inn only in the evening in order to escape detection. Since then the place was visited in 1872 by Dr. von Fritsch and Dr. J. J. Eein, and in the same year by Dr. Arthur Leared, not without considerable risk. " Entering the city," says Dr. Leared, " our way led through waste places and narrow winding streets, in parts much crowded. "With the exception of some spitting and hissing noises from the mob, and their generally sullen looks and muttered curses, there was little to mark my first impressions of Marocco except its likeness to the Oriental cities I had already visited. Most things, however, wore a more African tinge. The black race was more numerous here, and there were many indications that the western Arab is several degrees lower in the scale of civilisation than his eastern co-religionists." . . . "Nothing can be finer than CITY OF MAEOCCO. 37 the scenery which surrounds Marocco. Situated in an immense plain, it is flanked on the north, and for some distance towards the east and west, by a splendid wood of date-palms, to which the citizens constantly resort for the sake of enjoying the pleasant shade. It is bordered on the east by gardens, and beyond these the country is open to the foot of the Atlas mountains, portions of which grand chain reach a height of 10,000 feet. The lustre of the snow on their summits has a singularly fine effect against the deep blue background of a cloudless sky." Eound the city are walls of an average height of twenty- three feet, flanked by square turrets many of which are in a ruinous state. About two-thirds of the large area within these is taken up with gardens or covered with rubbish. The gates are placed in massive archways, and the streets leading directly from these are of good breadth, but in other parts of the town they are narrow, and, particularly in the wet season, very filthy. The houses of the superior classes are almost all Ipuilt on the same plan — that of a central courtyard surrounded by long narrow rooms, the lower stories being almost always built of tabia, or mud and straw, the upper often of bricks. The mosques are numerous, and the pride of the city is that one called El Koutoubia, or the mosque of the book- sellers, which has a minaret of 220 feet in height, the only stone building in the city. Adjoining the city on the south and facing the Atlas mountains is the walled palace enclosure of the Sultan, covering a space of about three quarters of a mile in length by half a mile in width, divided into gardens with attached pavilions, and the apartments of the ministers, secretaries, and guards, as well as the treasury. " Marocco, as regards Africa, is a cosmopolitan city. Its inhabitants include Moors, Algerians, Tunisians, Egyptians, natives of the Sahara, negroes from Sudan, and occasionally negroes from 38 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Senegal are met with. Three languages are commonly spoken : Arabic, which is most general ; Shluh, the language of the inhabitants of the Atlas and of the south • and Gluennaoui, the speech of the negroes." {Morocco and the Moors: Leared, 1876.) 3. Coast Towns. Besides these three chief towns there are some few noteworthy places on the sea coast, of which, however, the most important on the Mediterranean belong to Spain. Of these the most considerable are Mlila (Melilla), Tetuan, and Ceuta, the last situated at the eastern entrance to the Straits of Gibraltar, which here divide Europe from Africa. On the Atlantic are Tangier [Tanjd) with 20,000 inhabit- ants, El Arish, Rabat, Asamor, and Mogador. 4. Inhabitants. — Indigenous and Foreign Races. All these towns are inhabited by Arabs, Berbers, Jews, and Negroes, races which constitute the main elements of the population in Marocco. The basis or lowest stratification is formed by the Berbers, direct descendants of the old Numidians, who till about the year 650 were almost the sole inhabitants of the whole of north Africa. But about this time began those immigra- tions of the Arabs, which by means of the Mohammedan religion gave a new and special character to the social and political relations of these regions. In Marocco, however, the Berbers proper still far outnumber the Arabs, and are much more widely diffused throughout the country. The only purely Arab region is that of the coast plain which extends from Tangier to the mouth of the Wady Tensift; elsewhere only isolated PEOPLES OF MAROCCO. 39 colonies of Arabs are met with, excepting in the large towns, in which they always predominate. Two-thirds of the people of Marocco are Berbers, and they possess almost four-fifths of the land, living chiefly in tents and supporting themselves by husbandry. Eohlfs points out that the distinctions which most travellers make between Arabs and Moors are worthless. The Moors are the de- generate descendants of the Arabs who in the eighth century, after estabbsliing the kingdom of Fez, overran a large part of Spain, whence they were expelled in the fifteenth century, and differ from the Arabs, sprung from the same race, only in being essentially townsmen and traders, as distinguished from agriculturists of the plains. The Jews of Marocco are descended from those of their race who were driven at various periods from European countries, but chiefly from those who were expelled from Spain and Portugal between 1492 and 1496 ; they form a large and important section of the population, but are " browbeaten, despised, and treated with habitual harsh- ness." 5. Language of the Berbers. In Marocco the aboriginal Berber tribes have kept themselves apart, as a rule avoiding alliances with the Arabs, though in the chief towns and centres of popula- tion intermarriages between the two races are not of rare occurrence. The language of the Berbers is the Tamasirht and Shellah or Shluh, the same that the Tuareg of the Sahara call Temahag in the north, and Ta-Masheg in the south, and which is again met with to the extreme east in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. Doubtless the various dia- lects differ greatly from each other, and this could scarcely be otherwise with a language spread over a region occupy- ing about one-fourth of the whole of Africa. Still the 40 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. discrepancies are not sufficiently great to prevent the various Berber tribes from understanding each other. The Berbers of Marocco, unlike their kinsmen the Tuareg of Algeria, have no special writing system, though Berber characters are met with in Tuat, derived probably from the Tuareg, which alphabet may have formerly extended farther northwards. 6. Physical Appearance of Arab and Berber. It is their language that constitutes the most marked difference between the Berbers and the Arabs, though even here the Berbers have borrowed many Arabic words, just as the Arabs of Marocco have adopted a number of Berber terms. In all other respects the difference is but slight between the two races. The same physical build both in the lowlands and the highlands — slim, sinewy, and muscular bodies, brown sunburnt complexion, Cau- casian features, strongly curved nose, black fiery eyes, black lank hair, pointed chin, somewhat prominent cheek- bones, thin beard, — all these traits are common to both. It is remarkable, however, that, as a rule, the Arab women are smaller than the Berber, though otherwise scarcely to be distinguished externally from them. Of both it may be said that they are developed at a very early period, have full handsome forms in youth, mostly regular features, but soon change, becoming lean for want of sufficient nourish- ment, and in old age positively repulsive. 7. Social Condition of the Women. Amongst the Berbers the women take a much higher social position than with the Arabs, though the repeated statements of travellers that the Arab female is nothing PEOPLES OF MAROCCO. 41 but a maid-servant rest altogether on superficial observa- tion. In Marocco monogamy is the rule both amongst the Arabs and the Berbers. The instances of wealthy or dis- tinguished Arabs keeping up a harem are extremely rare ; while no Berber, whatever his position in society, ever marries more than one wife. Matrimonial alliances are generally settled by the parents or relatives on both sides, though marriages for love are by no means rare. This is due to the fact that all women and girls go about un- veiled, giving the wooer ample opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with his future spouse. It is also to be noticed that these love matches generally last to the end, whereas the conventional engagements are usually of but short duration. If the cause of separation lies with the wife, or if she seeks a divorce, the money must be returned that the husband may have paid his father- in-law for the wedding outfit, but not when she is put away without reason. 8. Habits and Customs. Circumcision is not practised by some Berber tribes, nor is it in Marocco looked upon as an indispensable religious rite. The wild boar also is eaten by all the in- habitants of the Bif, the mountain slopes between Tetuan and El Deir, notwithstanding the injunction of the Koran to the contrary. All the Berbers reckon by solar months, for which they have retained the names derived from the early Christians. This method of calculating time has even been adopted by the Arabs dwelling south of the Atlas. Domestic life is quite patriarchal, and extraordinary importance is attached to the various degrees of relation- ship in the family and the clan. Neither the Arabs nor 42 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the Berbers, however, possess special family names in the modern European sense, a common name being borne only by the whole sept or tribe. To this generic name every one adds for himself that of his father, often even that of his grandfather or great-grandfather. Amongst the Arabs both male and female names are taken almost exclusively from the Bible or the Koran ; but the Berbers still con- tinue to use old heathen names, such as Buko, Eokho, Atta, and the like, though of course Arabic names occur most frequently. The children receive no particular education, though every Char (village built of houses), every Dwar (village formed of tents), and every Ksor (village by an oasis), has its Thaleb or else its Faki, who conducts the school-work. The majority, however, scarcely succeed in learning by heart the chapters from the Koran required for devotional purposes, to say nothing of reading and writing. Tobacco and hashish (the tops of the hemp plant) are universally used, though in moderation ; while, with the exception of the towns and the oases of Tuat, opium has not acquired the rights of citizenship. But all the more universal is the use of wine during the vintage, and for a short time afterwards. For the vine nourishes vigorously in Marocco, and Eohlfs draws a by no means nattering picture of the excesses that prevail during the season when wine is most freely indulged in. Altogether the people of Marocco are distinguished by a lack of noble sentiments, and a degree of coarseness, amongst the Ber- bers especially of the northern slopes of the Atlas, sinking to downright brutality. 9. The Marocco Dwars. De Amicis gives us an interesting account of the Maroccan Dwars, or tent villages. They consist generally PEOPLES OF MAROCCO. 43 of ten, fifteen, or at most twenty, families, as a rule con- nected by the ties of kindred, but each with its own tent. These tents are disposed in two parallel rows at intervals of about thirty paces, in such a way as to form in the centre a sort of square open on two sides. They all closely resemble each other, consisting of a large piece of black or chocolate-coloured stuff, woven either of camel's A MAROCCO DWAK Oil TENT VILLAGE. hair or of the fibre of the dwarf palm, and supported by two strong stakes, with a cross-piece to form the roof. Their shape still closely resembles that of the dwellings of Jugurtha's Numidians, compared by Sallust to a boat turned upside down. In winter they are pegged quite down to the ground to keep out wind and rain ; but in summer a tolerably wide open space is left to admit the air, in which case there is an outer enclosure formed of rushes, reeds, and bramble-bushes. None of them exceed 44 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 8 feet in height, or 3 3 feet in length. A partition of rushes divides the interior into two chambers, in one of which sleep the parents, in the other the children and other members of the family. The fittings are of the simplest, mostly, however, including a round Venetian mirror, a reed tripod for washing, two heavy stones for grinding the corn, and an antiquated spinning wheel. A brood hen is generally enthroned in a corner all to herself. 10. Food and Hospitality. Knives and forks are still unknown luxuries, nor is even the spoon yet universally adopted. The men eat apart from the rest of the family. The general drink is water, and flesh is eaten on special occasions only, and even then but sparingly. But hospitality is everywhere observed throughout Marocco, without ostentation or cere- mony, but rather as a matter of course. In most Dwars, and almost every Char, there are some houses or tents called Dar and Gitun el Diaf, set apart for the exclusive use of travellers, who are, of course, freely " interviewed " by their entertainers, the natives knowing no delicacy or reserve in this respect. It should be remarked that the Arab tribes are far more liberal to strangers than the Berber. 11. The Shir/a, or Privileged Classes. In Marocco there is no aristocracy in our sense of the word. The most distinguished classes are the Shirfa, that is, descendants of Mohammed, and these are of course all of Arab race. They are entitled to the addition of Sidi, or Muley, to their names, terms answering to our Mr. or Esquire. The present Marocco dynasty belongs to this class. The rank of Sherif is not inherited through the female line, but whatever be the position of the wife PEOPLES OF MAROCCO. 45 of a Sherif, the issue are all Shirfa. This is true even of Christians and Jewesses, who may retain their faith, and of negresses, who, however, are obliged to embrace Islamism. The Shirfa are in Marocco everywhere a privileged class, enjoying the right of insulting others with impu- nity, for a retort would be an offence against a descendant of the Prophet, which is always looked on as an outrage against religion. Even the so-called Marabuts, or "saints," and their issue, are in Marocco held in much less con- sideration than the Shirfa. 12. Morality, Vice, and Crime. Though the tone of morality, especially in the towns, is of a low order, still crimes, such as adultery and de- bauchery, are rarely heard of. Thieving, lying, and cheating are, on the other hand, common enough, especi- ally in the case of one tribe against another, which is indeed scarcely looked on as a moral delinquency at all. Lying comes altogether so natural to the Arabs and Ber- bers, that it would be difficult to find a single individual addicted to the practice of truthfulness. The law of the strongest also, involving constant robbery and plunder, is accepted as a matter of course wherever the Sultan's forces do not penetrate. That the guest is here a sacred person is a popular delusion, for there are many places where the natives show no respect even to the Shirfa themselves. 13. Jews and Negroes in Marocco. The Jews, in the towns confined to the Milha, or special Jewish quarter, have either migrated hither directly from Palestine, or else have been driven out of Europe into this country. They are generally finer and 46 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. stronger men than the Arabs, but so filthy in outward appearance that they look to much less advantage than might otherwise be the case. The Palestine Jews speak no Spanish, but Arabic only, or else Shellah and Tama- sirht in the purely Berber districts. They may be esti- mated without exaggeration at about 200,000 in number. Of the black races Kohlfs tells us that those most usually met with in Morocco belong to the Houssa, Sonrhai, and Bambarra Negro tribes. They have contri- buted much to strengthening the Arab blood, though the two races contract alliances much less frequently in the towns than the country. There are in Marocco altogether probably about 50,000 negroes, this element of the popu- lation being constantly renewed by fresh importations from Central Africa. 14. Trade and Commerce. No native industry, properly so called, can be said to exist in Marocco. Some branches of trade, however, have retained their former excellence ; and this is especially true of the leather trade. In Fez there are also important manufactures of the red oriental caps, which take their name from this place, of the strong red woollen scarves, and costly sashes. Fez is the chief emporium, besides its important commercial relations with England, France, and Spain, keeping up an extremely active intercourse with the interior of Africa. Thither, every year, vast caravans set out, laden with the fabrics of Fez, English cloth, Venetian glass, Italian coral, gunpowder, arms, tobacco, sugar, German looking-glasses, Tyrolese boxes, English and French hardware goods, and salt, which last is col- lected on the route in the oases of the Sahara. Such a procession is a sort of movable market, where the various articles are bartered for the products of the country, such TKADE OF MAEOCCO. 47 as gold dust, ostrich feathers, white Senegal gum, gold jewellery from "Nigritia, all sorts of spices, and, lastly, for the negro slaves themselves. This lively trade with the interior is not only the most important but the oldest branch of commerce in Marocco. 48 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE IV. THE FRENCH ALGERIAN POSSESSIONS. 1. Population — European Settlers. On the eastern frontier of Marocco lies Algeria, since 1830 in the possession of the French, who in that year com- pleted the vengeance of the Christian powers against the " nation of corsairs," and dispossessed the former Dey of Algiers. In extent but little inferior to Marocco, Algeria is far less populous ; the arable land being restricted to the Tell, which forms comparatively but a small portion of the whole country. The population may be estimated at about 2,500,000, consisting, apart from the European settlers, of the same ethnological elements as in Marocco. Of relatively subordinate importance are the Jews, met with in all the towns, and the negroes, emancipated since 1848. The Berbers here again form the basis of the population, though far inferior in numbers to the Arabs. Both, however, unite in their common hostility to the European colonists, who have settled not only in the towns, but also in the Tell. This European element may amount to about 250,000, of whom one-half are Erench, and the rest principally Italians, Spaniards, and Anglo-Maltese. The Germans now number about 5000, which is less than in previous years, the tables of births and deaths showing that the climate is much less favourable to them than to the more southern European nations. The project undertaken by the Erench Government after the late war, to induce a number of emigrants from ALGERIA AM) Tl MS. COMMERCE OF ALGERIA. 49 Alsace and Lorraine to settle in Algeria, lias been attended with but partial success. Here the principal work of colonists is to bring the land, wherever arable, under cul- tivation; for which the French, as a rule, have shown themselves but little suited. Their chief aim is to get possession of the fertile tracts taken from the Arabs, in order to grow wheat or other crops on them, getting in the harvests by means of Spanish day-labourers, and spending the proceeds on absinthe and cognac. Besides this, the children of Europeans — always excepting the Spaniards and Maltese — die off in great numbers, unless sent to be brought up in Europe, as the English in India find it necessary to do. 2. Products and Commercial Enterprise. Still this dark picture has its reverse side in the general activity at present developing itself in Algeria. Every- where agricultural and commercial companies are being formed ; some of them are engaged in obtaining the "half a" and esparto grass (Lygeum spartum) used by the English in making paper, and are now constructing a long railway in order to bring this valuable plant from the uplands about Saida, where it grows, down to the coast at Arseu, and there ship it for England. The "half a" (JIachrocloa tenacissima) is a kind of grass, growing wild, especially on the southern hills of the department of Oran, where it is said to cover an extent of nearly 1 5 millions of acres, and can accordingly be produced almost free of outlay. The exportation of "half a," which amounted to 4000 tons in 1869, had increased to 45,000 tons in 1873, and to more than 60,000 in 1875, representing a value of about £350,000. Others have invested their money in the cultivation of the dwarf palm, which is here as common as grass in E 50 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. France, and by a simple process is made to yield a sort of vegetable hair for the Paris market. Others, again, are interested in trie magnificent antifebrile Eucalyptus globulus, the blue gum of Australia, which has been ac- climatised with great success, which in ten years attains an astounding size, and whose leaves and fruit possess extraordinary medicinal properties. There are, moreover, the cork-tree, the oleander (yielding a highly-prized per- fume), and many other valuable plants. More than three millions of acres are sown with wheat in Algeria ; maize is little grown, though the soil is admirably adapted for it. The Arabs cultivate several sorts of durra. Potatoes, in- troduced by the French, are now being planted more and more widely by the natives. Before the conquest the natives of Algeria, to whom wine had been prohibited by Mahomet, only grew the vine for the grapes, which they used fresh or dry ; now they cultivate it for its wine, and since the climate of the whole country, even up the moun- tain slopes to an altitude of 3000 feet, is exceptionally favourable for it, the vineyards are rapidly extending ; and whereas in 1858 there were only 10,000 acres under vines, there are now upwards of 65,000 acres of vineyard, yielding nearly nine millions of gallons of wine at each harvest. In 1844 the colonists began to grow tobacco, and its cultivation is now widespread. The first intro- duction of cotton into Algeria dates from the Arab inva- sion, and its culture was maintained for several centuries in the province of Oran, but had died out completely before the French re-introduced it in 1842. During the civil war in the United States (1863-68) the cultivation of cotton in Algeria was rapidly promoted, and the yield reached 900 tons of excellent cotton in 1866 ; but, on the cessation of the struggle in America, this industry declined. Eecent official statistics show that more than five and a half millions of acres of Algerian soil, from the Mediter- MINES OF ALGERIA. 51 ranean shores up to the borders of the high plateaus, especially in the province of Constantine, are occupied by woods, chiefly of oak, cedar, and pine. ~No country is richer than Algeria in iron, and that of a quality which compares favourably with the mineral from any of the European mines. As yet, one of the most productive and prosperous iron mines is that of Mokta-el- Hadid, 20 miles S.W. of Bona, and close to Lake Fetsara, in which upwards of 1600 miners are employed, and which, in the year 1875, yielded nearly 400,000 tons — eight trains daily carrying down the mineral to the port of Bona, whence it is exported to Europe, and even to America. Lead, copper, zinc, antimony, and mercury are also widely distributed over Algeria, and its marbles have been renowned from the remotest times ; but nature, other- wise so prodigal, seems to have denied the coal which plays such an important part in modern industries, only a few seams of almost worthless shale being found throughout its extent. Altogether the forest, as well as the mineral wealth of the country, is inexhaustible, and must ultimately attract capital in abundance to Algeria. 3. Cavern of Jebcl Thaya. Among the natural curiosities of Algeria may be men- tioned the great cave of Jebel Thaya, one of the mountains of the range which extends along the northern side of the river Seybous, between the towns of Constantine and Guelma. The entrance to this cavern, which was visited and described by Lieutenant- Colonel Playfair in 1875, is situated high up on the north-western side of the moun- tain, and opens by a spacious level passage, after which it descends at an angle of 45°, and thence extends, with many changes of level, to more than half-a-mile inward, 52 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. and 1000 feet of perpendicular depth. " Yast halls, intri- cate passages, and chambers of every size and form, are traversed. Groves of stalactites and stalagmites adorn the sides, while the lofty vaults are hung with the most ex- quisite fret- work, like the roof of a Gothic cathedral. The finest of all is the great domed chamber at the bottom, which gives to the cave its Arab name — Ghar-el-Djamaa, cave of the mosque. It is an immense, nearly circular, cavity, with domed roof adorned with the most exquisite stalagmites, like the trunks of palm trees." From the numerous Eoman inscriptions on the walls of the passage leading into it, it is inferred that the cavern was dedicated to the god Bacax, probably a local deity adopted by the Eomans, and that pilgrimages were annually made to Jebel Thaya to offer sacrifice to the god of the cave. 4. Results of the French Occupation. The achievements of the French during late years are highly noteworthy, and go far to gainsay the trite remark that they do not know how to colonise. When they first took possession of the country, they found the land marshy, subject to a changeable climate, sandy winds, heavy dews, thick fogs, and a quick succession of heat and cold. Hence they were at first mostly dependent for supplies on the home country, often at a loss for fresh meat and bread, and had even to contend with a scanty supply of fresh water. In the low lands they were exposed to the pestilen- tial exhalations of vast lakes of brackish water, whose shores were overgrown with rank vegetation, veritable hotbeds of fever and ague. On the hills it was a struggle between the sirocco accompanied by clouds of fine yellow sand, and the fierce north wind, lowering the temperature in exposed places to about 48° Fahr. FRENCH IMPROVEMENTS IN ALGERIA. 53 On their military expeditions they had to endure oppressive heat during the day, at night suddenly suc- ceeded hy severe cold. The towns, badly situated and without drains or sewers, were looked on as uninhabitable for Europeans. The consequence of all these evils was an enormous amount of mortality amongst the first arrivals. At one time it was found extremely difficult to bring up the children at all, and the number of deaths was always in excess of the births. The deaths have now, however, been reduced from 80 to 14 in 1000. Bona, situated in a marshy plain, was so unhealthy in 1834, that whole regiments were carried off or else ren- dered incapable of military service, whereas the mortality is at present not higher than in the more healthy towns of France. The swampy lands about Bufarika, behind Algiers, have been drained, and the place is now free from malaria. The draining of Lake Hallula in the plain of Metija has resulted in 34,000 acres of good land being reclaimed, and now capable of growing cotton of the finest quality. The draining of Lake Fetsara, south of Bona, is also contemplated. With ague of the worst type, which gave the former district the name of the " Cemetery of the Europeans," have also disappeared the swarms of mosquitoes which formerly rendered life almost unendurable. In recent times the extensive plantations of the Eucalyptus globulus have greatly contributed to this happy result, which has been extended even to portions of the desert itself. There the soil is of a deep chalky sand, which yields luxuriant crops wherever water can be procured for irrigation. Following the example of the Eomans, who transformed large portions of the arid plateau lands and sandy regions into tracts of surpassing fertility, and the remains of whose works are seen all over the country, the French have paid great attention to irrigation and to the sinking of artesian wells. Between 1856 and 1875 not fewer than 103 54 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. artesian wells were sunk in the Hodna plateau and in the Wady K'ir, or Kigh, in the Algerian Sahara, and it is esti- mated that these yield a total supply of 22,000 gallons per minute. Several wells were bored in 1875, especially in the Oasis of Sidi-Chelil and in the Wady E'ir, the lower portion of the great channel of the Wady Igharghar pre- viously described. One of these, that of the Oasis of El- Berd, named after General Chanzy, governor of Algeria, yields nearly 340 gallons per minute. The water of most of these wells is potable, but a few are a little saline, though not to such an extent as to influence vegetation. Their temperature varies from 70° to 80° Fahr. 5, Algiers and other Towns Algeria is divided into three departments — Algiers, Oran, and Constantine — each distributed into local, civil, and military districts, or subdivisions, as they are called. The seat of government is the capital, Algiers, magnificently situated, and with a present population of about 50,000. The gulfj, extending in a crescent for several miles, and ending at Cape Matifu, is encircled by the lovely Mount Sahel, with its peculiarly southern rosy hue, here gradually sloping down, and covered with cosy white villas nestling amidst a luxurious vegetation. The city itself is built in the form of an amphitheatre on the slope of the hill at the western side of the bay, and comprises two distinct towns — the modern or European, built on the lower slope or along the shore, with broad streets and squares, ware- houses, hotels, and barracks ; and the old or Arab town above, with narrow, winding, and dirty passages between the high bare walls of the houses, in which narrow grated slits serve for windows. The summit of the hill is occu- pied by the Kasbah, the ancient fortress of the Deys of Algiers, 500 feet above the Mediterranean. PEOPLES OF ALGERIA. 55 Algiers, the "silver city," occupies a central point on the Algerian coast, on which are situated many other im- portant places, such as the harbours of Oran, Shershel, and Mostaganem, on the west ; and Dellys, Bougie, Philippe- ville, Bona, and La Calle, on the east of the capital. The most important towns in the interior are Con- stantine, one of the old cities of Numidia, named after the Eoman Emperor Constantine the Great, who restored it in the year 313, romantically situated on an isolated rocky plateau; Gelma, Setif, Batna, Biskra, Blidah, Or- leansville, Tlemcen, and Sidi-bel- Abbes. Algiers is con- nected with Oran by means of a railway, 264 miles in length, passing by Blidah and Orleansville. Philippeville and Constantine are also united by a railway. 6. The Natives — Moors, Bedouins, and Kabyles. The government has to contend with many obstacles created by the indigenous populations. The great pro- gress that has been effected during the last forty years has hitherto affected the European settlers almost exclusively, the natives having adopted civilised ways only so far as they have been compelled by force to do so. Moham- medanism, the religion of all the Arabs and Berbers, forms such a sharp line of demarcation between them and their rulers, that it has been found impossible, up to the present, to set it aside. The Arabs, here as in Marocco, to be distinguished from the Berbers, are divided into two classes — the Moors dwelling in towns, and the Bedouins leading a nomad life. It seems utterly hopeless to expect that the latter will ever be induced to accommodate them- selves to a settled way of living. The subjoined characteristic trait will throw more light on this point than a lengthy description. The French thought the best means of inducing the Arabs to 56 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. give up their roaming propensities would be to induce the native chieftains to erect fixed residences, for the Arab has a great respect for authority, and readily follows the example of his superiors. These, on their part, were willing enough to allow the French to build settled abodes for them. So on one occasion, the sheikh being asked by the officer of engineers what he thought of a house thus constructed for him, replied, " I am enraptured. The French are in truth A BEDOUIN ENCAMPMENT. an extraordinary people ; they have done me a service for which I shall be everlastingly grateful. Since my house has been finished I have not lost a single sheep. I lock them up every evening in the house, and next morning none of them are ever missing." " How, what !" asked the officer in amazement ; " and where then do you pass the night yourself ?" " Oh, I," answered the sheikh with an air of aristocratic superiority, " you understand a man like me, a man of blood, can dwell nowhere but in a tent. ' (F. Hugonnet, Souvenir a"un Chef de Bureau Arabe: Paris, 1858, page 123.) PEOPLES OF ALGERIA. 57 These wandering Bedouins are the one great obstacle to the development of Algeria, and the only remedy seems to be to drive them by force back to the desert to which they belong. The policy hitherto adopted of endeavouring to win them over by gentle means has completely failed. The children of the wilderness are incapable of culture in our sense of the term, consequently can never become members of a civilised state as we understand it. Their whole nature rebels against it, and there is no choice left between exterminating or renouncing altogether the at- tempt to civilise them. The case is different with the Berbers, or, as they are more usually called in Algeria, the Kabyles. Although long exposed to the influence of the Arabs, hence, like them, Mohammedans and hostile to Europeans, they still possess qualities adapting them for a civilised existence. The Kabyle, though dwelling almost exclusively on the higher table-lands, driven back to these regions by the Arab invaders of the country, still leads a settled life, and is passionately attached to his native land, which he care- fully and laboriously cultivates. He grows corn and potatoes, rears fruit-trees, and plants the vine. Neither is he inexperienced in the arts of life, enjoying a thoroughly worked out political and social organisation resting on a democratic basis. In their villages (Thad- ders) private and individual property is recognised, herein contrasting favourably with the Bedouins, with whom all is held in common. The name itself (from Kabila — union) means strictly speaking a man of social habits. Their religion is void of fanaticism, and, brave warriors them- selves, they have ever remained the irreconcileable foes of the Arabs. (Henri Aucapitaine, Les Kabyles et la Coloni- sation de VAlgerie: Paris et Algier, 1864, pp. 7-32.) In Algeria they number probably some 500,000, and there can be no doubt that the future of north Africa is 58 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. in their hands. The European colonisers will before all things have to gain over this hitherto neglected Berber element of the population by again reinstating them in their rightful possession of the plains, whence they were originally expelled by the Arab invaders of the country. TUNIS. 59 TUNIS JEWS. 60 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the western part of North Africa, presents no material difference from the neighbouring Algeria either in its physical aspect or the elements of which its population is composed. Politically acknowledging a loose and almost nominal dependence on the Porte, the country is governed by the so-called Bey, who administers it with great com- placency entirely to his own personal advantage. Prom 1575 onward Tunis has been under the sove- reignty of Turkey ; but by a firman of October 1871 the Sultan relinquished the ancient right of tribute over it. According to this edict the present situation of Tunis is as follows : — The Bey receives investiture from Constanti- nople, and may neither make war, nor conclude treaties of peace, nor cede any portion of his territory, without the authorisation of the Sultan. He is obliged to coin money with the name of the Sultan, and to place his troops at the disposal of the Porte in case of war. But in the interior of his country the Bey reigns supreme. The reigning family, which has held its place since 1 6 9 1 in Tunis, is descended from Ben-ali-Tourki, originally from the island of Candia. The regency comprises forty-one tribes, and is divided into eighteen districts, the special government of which is administered by officials nominated by the Bey. In an area of about 45,700 square miles there are some 2,000,000 of inhabitants — Berbers or Kabyles, Arabs, Kulugli (the offspring of Turks and Moors), Jews, and a few Negroes. All these various races despise and hate each other mutually, and live as far as possible apart one from the other. Tims the Moors, or town Arabs, here called Radars, intermarry exclusively amongst themselves, never contracting alliances with the nomad Arabs, whom they thoroughly detest, but who are not numerous in Tunis. The same antipathy exists between the Arabs and Kabyles, the latter of whom are here sorely oppressed. PEOPLE OF TUNIS. 61 In the same way the Jews live all to themselves, holding exclusively interested and commercial relations with the rest of the people. In their dress the Tunisian Jews differ entirely from those of Algeria and Marocco. The plumpness especially of the women, the most violently contrasted colours of their dress, the assurance based on tradition that the ancient Jews wore exactly the same garb, all combine to produce the greatest astonishment and curiosity in the stranger at first sight of this costume. In point of morals, however, the Jews of Tunis occupy a very low position, lower even than that of the Franks (as Europeans are called in Mohammedan countries), who certainly cannot be recommended as models of honesty, propriety, and righteousness. But they have on the whole much improved both materially and in numbers, especially since they have been allowed to reside beyond the limits of their Ghetto, or km, as it is here called. 2. Industry and Commerce. The inhabitants of Tunis are little devoted to agri- cultural pursuits, though the land is for the most part capable of tillage. They occupy themselves mostly with horticulture and the rearing of trees, which here yield but slight returns. The olive is cultivated in the northern districts, and in Susa and Gafsa, the date {Phoenix dacty- lifera) in the southern plains, the so-called Belad-el-Jerid or " land of the date." Cattle are also bred in large numbers ; nor are the industrial arts neglected, especially in the neighbourhood of the coast, though they stand as a rule on a low level. There are manufactured silk fabrics, burnous (mantles), red caps (fez), fine and coarse woollen goods, exquisitely dyed Marocco leather, and the far-famed Tunis pottery. 62 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. 3. Tunis and its Citadel — the Bar do and Kairwan. The centre of the important trade carried on especially with Marseilles, Genoa, Leghorn, and the Levant, is Tunis, the chief town, situated in the neighbourhood of the ruins of Carthage, and the only city in the country challenging special attention. Tunis, the walls of which are nearly five miles in cir- cuit, has retained the character of an oriental city almost intact. The population numbers from 100,000 to 150,000, but the prejudice of Mohammedans against the census and domiciliary inquiries of every sort renders it impossible to give the figures more accurately. They include 30,000 Jews and 11,000 Europeans. The city stretches in a north-westerly direction along the shallow inlet of Bahira, and on the land side is completely inclosed by a strong wall pierced with nine gateways. Between this and the inner town, also encircled by a wall with seven gates, lie the suburbs of Bab Suyga to the south, Bab Jezirah to the north, and on the east the new quarter in which are to be found the custom-house, arsenal, and fashionable resorts. The streets, thronged from dawn to night with the most varied and picturesque crowds, are narrow and crooked, without signposts, names, or directions of any sort. The houses are unnumbered, nor are the streets themselves lit up by gas, oil, or other lights after sun- set. Yet they are considered perfectly safe from the attacks of thieves or marauders. But, being unpaved and otherwise neglected, they become almost impassable with mud and filth, especially after wet weather. When the houses are pierced with windows towards the street, these are always protected by gratings, the only exceptions being the two European hotels, some consulates, and a few other houses occupied by the Franks. The suburb of Jezirah is occupied by Moors exclusively. The CITY OF TUNIS. 63 kasbah, or citadel, on the west of the town, in spite of the rents in the walls of the great square central building, presents a somewhat imposing appearance from without. This impression, however, vanishes when we set foot in the interior, which offers to the eye little more than the spectacle of a vast heap of ruins, amid which the graceful minaret alone has been preserved in a good condition. THE BARDO NEAR TUNIS. About two miles to the north-west of Tunis is the Bardo, or residence of the Bey, forming a little town in itself, including palaces, guardhouses, dwellings, workshops, and bazaars, with about 2000 inhabitants. Amongst these are not only the numerous families of the nobility, but also those of the officials, about 100 in number, besides the military schools, out of which nearly all the higher government officers are taken. Tunis is connected by rail with the little port of Goletta and with Bardo, and a French company has a 64 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. concession from the Bey for the construction of a line westward to Beja. Though Tunis is the political centre and seat of government, the city of Kairwan, which lies in a barren plain near the inland lake Sidi-el-Heni, about seventy-five miles due south of Tunis, is the religious capital of the regency, and is one of the sacred cities of Islam, possess- ing one of the finest mosques in northern Africa. Neither Jew nor Christian has ever been allowed to take up his residence within its walls. It is the centre of a large caravan trade, but of the famous traffic which at one time passed between this city and the Sudan across the Sahara little or nothing is left, the trade having passed east and west to Fezzan, Ghadames, Tafilet, or Tarudant. Besides Goletta, the chief ports of Tunis are Biserta on the north coast, and Susa, Monastir, Mehdia, and Sfax, on the eastern coast. 4. The Towns of Susa and Sfax. Of the coast towns it may be sufficient to mention those of Susa and Sfax. Susa, with its walls, gates, and ramparts all in good preservation, produces a decidedly favourable impression. It boasts of several new buildings of imposing appearance, while its by no means inconsi- derable trade attracts a large number of vessels to the roads, all producing a very civilised aspect. It reckons 8000 inhabitants, amongst whom are 1000 Jews and from 500 to 600 Maltese and Sicilians. Its commercial relations are mainly carried on with Italy. Sfax, the chief town in southern Tunis, is said to have a population of 40,000, including 12,000 in the Arab quarter, amongst whom are 2000 Jews. Its trade is important, and the place is connected with Tunis by a telegraph 217 miles long, and thence with the Algerian CORAL FISHERIES OF TUNIS. 65 system and Europe. The staple products are the excel- lent dates from Jerid, the " burnous " cloth made in the Oasis of Gafsa in the south, olive oil from Sahel (the high country inland from Sfax), esparto grass from the sur- rounding wilderness, sponges from the Syrtes, and lastly the jessamine and rose oil, so highly prized in Tunis and Constantinople, from the gardens of the town itself. 5. Tunisian Fisheries. Coral is found more or less abundantly all along the coasts of Tunis, Algeria, and Marocco, as well as on the opposite Mediterranean coasts of Italy, France, and Spain; but the banks which furnish the best quality of coral are those which lie off the islet of Galita, which belongs to Tunis, and is situated about thirty miles from its north coast. In 1832, after many disputes as to the right of fishery, a treaty was concluded between France and Tunis, by which the former power obtained the perpetual and ex- clusive privilege over the coral fishery in Tunisian waters on the condition of an annual payment to the Bey. About ninety coral-fishing boats, chiefly owned by Italians who are permanently resident in Algeria, make their head- quarters at Bona and La Calle. From eighty to one hun- dred vessels are also equipped in the Bay of Naples, and arrive annually, at the proper season, on the fishing- ground, some making Biserta their station, and naying dues to the French Government. The coral of the Bar- bary coasts is principally red, but white and black, as well as the much-valued pink, are also found. A dredge, formed of two pieces of olive wood each about 6 -J- feet long, lashed crosswise and hung with unravelled bunches of hempen ropes, is dragged over the banks to entangle the pieces of coral. The produce of the coral-fishery on these coasts varies from £200,000 to £600,000 a year. F 66 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Eound the coast of Tunis are a number of lakes, which are partially separated from the sea by narrow strips of sand, and to these large quantities of fish resort for breed- ing purposes. The Biserta lake is the most important of these, and it is affirmed that every month of the year furnishes it with a different species of fish. Tunny fish, in their annual migration in May and June from the ocean to the archipelago and the Black Sea, follow either the southern or northern shores of the Mediterranean in all their windings, and advantage is taken of this cir- cumstance for their capture. A " tonnara" or series of barriers of nets, is placed off a promontory so as to pre- sent an obstruction to the advancing shoals, and their migratory instincts are so strong that they never retrace their course, but always endeavour to find a way to the east ; thus they pass from one inclosure of nets to another, till as many as 700 fish are occasionally secured in a single catch, and in a single season the chief Tunisian fishery furnishes from 10,000 to 14,000 tunny. " Sca- beccio," or tunny flesh preserved in oil, is largely used in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, and the oil extracted from the heads and refuse of the fish is much used by curriers and tanners. Sponges are found along the whole length of the coasts of Tunis, but are not of fine quality. They are fished for chiefly in the winter months, when the dense marine vegetation has been swept away by the storms of November and December, and are either obtained by spearing with a trident, by diving, or by dredging. {Report by Vice-Consul Green on the Tuni- sian Fisheries, 1872.) 6. Projected Inland Lake of Tunis. In recent years much attention has been drawn to the low-lying region of marshes which extends inwards along PKOJECTED INLAND LAKE OF TUNIS. 67 the Jerid country from the shores of the Gulf of Cabes in Tunis to the eastern part of the Algerian Sahara, through the publication of a project for submerging this district by means of a canal to be cut through the narrow belt which separates it from the Mediterranean, a scheme which has led to the examination of the marshes by several French and Italian scientific commissions, and, later, to their accurate survey by Captain Eoudaire for the French Government. The most easterly of these large " sebkhas," or marshes, is that of Fejij (meaning " dread," from its quicksands which are apt to engulf caravans deviating from the beaten track), the eastern corner of which approaches to within about ten miles from the Mediterranean. This sebkha is a branch of the extensive Faroun Jerid, or Kebir marsh, the ancient Palus Tritonis. Next to this, westward, is the Gharnis, crossing the frontier of Algeria, and beyond that in Algeria the Mel- ghir " shott," the terminal marsh of the great Wady Ighar- ghar, the level of which is about forty-five feet below that of the Mediterranean. There appears to be little doubt that these marshy depressions, which extend across a dis- tance of 240 miles, represent the relics either of a once much more extensive series of lakes or of a large gulf of the Mediterranean, which, through the operation of a gra- dual process of drying up, have been reduced to their present state. There are many evidences in support of the Arab legends which tell of former running waters and fertile lands in this part of the Sahara, and the change may in part be due to the clearing away of the forests by the Arabs on the plains and high lands subsequent to their conquest of the land ; the consequence being that the periodical rains which in earlier times fertilised the coun- try are now replaced by heavier but rarer showers, the waters of which rush down the slopes and disappear in the sands, or mix with the noxious waters of the lagoons. 68 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The admission of the Mediterranean waters over the de- pressed area of the marshes would, by affording a large evaporating surface, in the form of a great shallow lagoon, perhaps as long as Lakes Ontario or Erie, tend to give a permanent moisture supply and restore fertility to the lands round its borders. This project for submerging a comparatively small area of the interior of Tunis and Algeria, which is based on examination of the ground and known conditions, must be distinguished from an ignorant scheme recently projected in England for the inundation of the whole western Sahara, the practica- bility of which is not only not supported by any known facts, but is shown to be futile by the most superficial acquaintance with them. TRIPOLI. 69 CHAPTEE VI. TRIPOLI. 1. Extent and General Features of the Country. The eastern half of the north coast of Africa, averaging from four to five degrees of latitude in width, is divided between the two states of Tripoli and Egypt. Tripoli, which is a Turkish dependency, stretches along the whole extent of both Syrtes (gulfs of Cabes and Sidra), and reaches far inland into the domain of the Great Sahara, though its southern limits are far from being clearly defined. Here we shall deal with the coast-line alone, reserving the regions adjoining the Sahara for another chapter. Erom the Tunisian frontier there stretches eastwards a vast plain bordering the sea, and extending inland foi 50 to 100 miles. The eastern portion of the country becomes steep and rocky, forming the plateau of Barca, the old Cyrenaica, with its numerous ruined cities, and projecting in a solid compact mass into the Mediterranean. But this plateau gradually descends towards the Egyptian frontier. South of the plain just mentioned there rises an intervening bare and stony plateau or Hammada, on the south side of which the ranges of the Black Mountains, or Jebel es Soda, and Harutsh, attain an elevation of 2800 feet ; thence the country descends southwards to the oasis- land of Fezzan. 70 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 2. Climate and Natural Products. The coast plain, with a few trifling interruptions, is a barren arid waste of sands, as is also the southern plateau. Barca alone is rich in springs and woodlands on its northern border, elsewhere presenting nothing but bare rocks and treeless pastures. With this generally dreary aspect of the land, the hot dry climate fully harmonises. During the prevalence of the sultry south wind the temperature is intolerable, but the milder sea breezes occasionally temper the glowing heat. In the more elevated districts the climate is healthy, though dangerous fevers are prevalent in the south. The country is little suited for tillage, but produces fruits of southern growth, and the other vegetable pro- duce common to the whole north coast of Africa. Nor does the animal kingdom present any special features. 3. Population and Chief Towns. The population, estimated at the utmost at 1,200,000, is composed of the same elements as in the western states, but the indigenous Berber tribes are here more fused together. In the towns Turks reside, holding government -offices, and in the country there are several free tribes. The only important town is Tripoli, or Tarabulus, on the coast. Like Tunis, it is a natural mart for the pro- duce of Soudan, at the same time supplying the interior of Africa with European goods. Its population is said to be about 18,000, but the local manufactures are quite insignificant. Ostrich feathers, esparto grass, and wheat, are by far the most important items of export from Tripoli. The feather trade, as we are informed by Consul Drummond Hay in his Eeport for 1875, supplying London COMMERCE OF TRIPOLI. 71 and Paris, appears to be steadily assuming larger propor- tions. Ostrich feathers are brought to market at this port from Timbuktu, Houssa, Bornu, and Wadai, those from Timbuktu being considered the finest. The feathers from the three former regions are brought by caravans over the desert by way of G-hadames, by Ghadamese merchants, and thence to Tripoli; those from Wadai by way of Fezzan, and sometimes by Benghazi, by Tripoli merchants. Those from Houssa are brought here and sold in the skin, the others in bulk. British cloth manufactures are by far the most important article of import. Benghazi, the ancient Berenice, on the north-west coast of the plateau land of Barca, is the most important town of that part of the province, and the second port of Tripoli. The recently opened feather trade from Wadai in central Sudan to this port is becoming a large and valuable one. The export of sheep to Egypt and the sponge fishery on the coast are the other principal occupations of the place, which has about 5000 inhabitants. 72 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. A SANDSTORM IN THE SAHARA. CHAPTEE VII. THE GREAT AFRICAN DESERT, THE SAHARA. 1. Extent. According to the best and most recent geographical works the area of the Sahara is about 2,500,000 square miles, that is to say thrice the size of the Mediterranean, and ten times that of Germany. But this area will be considerably reduced if, with Eohlfs, we deduct from it the portions which are subject to a regular rainfall — a broad belt along the Atlantic coast and certain promon- tories of the fertile country in the south, usually included within its limits, but really forming no part of its domain. We should, first of all, form a correct idea of what is THE GREAT SAHARA. 73 meant by the Sahara, the best definition of which is the whole region which has no regular rainfall, and which is all but totally destitute of vegetation requiring moisture, and in which large beasts of prey cannot exist. 2. Its Marine Origin. There would seem to be no longer any doubt that this "waterless ocean" was at one time really covered with water. However, it by no means corresponds with former accounts that represented it as a wide low-lying plain; for it is, on the contrary, an elevated sandstone expanse, varied by deep depressions with a clay soil. The abundant fossils and molluscs, some of the same species as are still found alive in the neighbouring seas, are sufficient proof that this region was formerly under water. The sand heaps, or "dunes," are so universal along its northern border, that till recently the Sahara was generally pictured as one huge sea of sand. 3. The Sandhills or Dunes. The present outward form of the dunes is due entirely to the wind, and though at first sight these sands suggest the idea of their having been gathered on the bed or on the shores of a former sea, it soon becomes evident that they are nothing more than the particles of the soil which have been disintegrated by excessive and long-con- tinued drought, and which have been driven before the pre- vailing winds to accumulate in mounds over certain districts. The excessive fertility of these sandy plains wherever mois- ture reaches them by natural or artificial means alone shows that they possess all the characteristics of productive soil. They generally take the appearance of waves, as if the ocean billows had suddenly assumed a solid shape. A 74 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. bird's-eye view especially of the districts covered with sand must necessarily present this outward aspect. The dunes generally range from south to north, but the great sandy wastes extend from east to west or the reverse. So far as has been hitherto ascertained, none of these run in a northerly or southerly direction. 4. Character of the Rock Formations and Mountain Ranges. As the Great Desert is distinguished by the generally dark tone of the surrounding objects, a tone produced by outward causes, so the masses of hills and rocks invariably assume a somewhat blackish hue. But it would be a mistake on this account in all cases to attribute the stone formations to a volcanic origin. As far as our present knowledge goes, the volcanic nature of the mountains is doubtless the most general, but there are also everywhere met with lime, sandstone, and granite formations. Though, so far as has been hitherto ascertained, the Sahara ranges are much lower than those of Europe, they are by no means inferior to them in extent. The Jebel es Soda and Harutsh ranges in Tripoli, for instance, would seem to be nearly as long as the Apennines, and the plateaux of Ahaggar, closely connected with those of Adrar, Tasili, and Muydir, are as extensive as the Alps. The highest known point is the Tusside in the broad-backed Tarso range of mountains in central Tu or Tibesti, which Dr. Nachtigal estimates at about 7900 feet at least. Nothing can be imagined more utterly dreary and awe-inspiring than a mountain in the Great Desert. The bare rocks absolutely void of vegetation, the dark gloomy appearance and peculiar outlines of the masses of stone — all, much more even than the most extensive sand dunes, remind the traveller that he is in the Great Desert. THE GREAT SAHAEA. 75 5. TJie Table-lands. The greatest space in the Sahara is occupied by the more or less level table-lands. When strewn with sharp stones they are called Hammada, or Tanesruft, and Serir when covered with small pebbles. Both are always entirely destitute of vegetation. The sharp stones might almost lead us to suppose that the Hammada had never been covered with water, but the marine fossils are here also so abundant as to leave scarcely any doubt about the matter. All the Hammada and Serir are composed of clay, which has in many places become almost as hard as stone, and the presence of oxide of iron has mostly imparted a red tinge to the clay soil itself. The plains skirting the Sahara, and which begin to show traces of vegetation, are called Sahel. 6. TJie Hofra, or Depressions. In contradistinction to the elevated plateaux are the low-lying plains or depressions, generally called Hofra or Juf. The only true depressions, — that is, districts lying beneath the level of the ocean — as yet known in the Sahara, are those of the marshes in the south of Tunis, to which we have already referred, and some small portions of the oases in the Libyan desert between Tripoli and Lower Egypt. The expedition to the Libyan desert, led by Gerhard Eohlfs in 1873-74, found that the deepest part of the oasis of Siwah lies at a depth of 9 5 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, and eastward from this the small oasis of Araj is perhaps not less than 240 feet below sea-level. The areas of these isolated depressions are, however, very insignificant, and the measurements of the amount of their descent made by barometer, not by accurate levelling, must not be accepted as absolutely determined. 76 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Many of the tracts which the natives call Hofra are not true depressions as here understood, but only such relatively to the more elevated surrounding land. 7. Tlie Oases. An important feature of the desert are the Oases (sup- posed to be the Coptic Ouahe', meaning inhabited place), which are found wherever they are rendered possible by the nature of the soil in combination with water. Wherever water is found in a valley or hollow of the Sahara, even though of a brackish nature, grass grows, plants nourish, an oasis is formed. As pointed out by Barth, the most barren and unpromising-looking sands when so fertilised become immediately clothed in vegetation. But the oases take their rise and are conditioned by various causes, hence are of various sorts. There are, first of all, those due to natural surface-drainage or under- ground springs and infiltrations, such as those of the Wady Draa, supplied entirely by moisture collected from the mountains by the upper Draa and of the upper Tafilet, depending for its existence on the scanty drainage from the inner slope of the Atlas. Amongst those irrigated by underground running streams are the real Tafilet, south of Ertib, the greater portion of the northern group of oases in Tuat, and several other smaller ones south of the Atlas. Then we have oases, such as those of Ghadames and Siwah or J upiter A mm on, formed by copious natural springs ; others due to the presence of underground lakes or bodies of stagnant water lying a foot or two below the surface sand, such as that of Kauar, midway between Tripoli and Lake Chad, and many in Fezzan ; others again, where the water lies so deep (from 1 5 to 30 feet below the surface) that it must be reached by artificial means, as is the case with many also in Fezzan, in the Algerian Sahara, and THE GREAT SAHAEA. 77 elsewhere ; lastly, places where the water has to be con- veyed by artificial channels from a distance, as in Tidikelt, and some others south of the Atlas. 8. Rivers and Dried-up River Beds. The first description of oases — viz. those watered by surface streams — are found only near the base of high ranges, especially south of the Great Atlas. The bulk of the water in these rivers naturally diminishes in propor- tion to the length of its course. The irrigation of the innumerable fields through which they flow, and the enor- mous evaporation to which they are exposed in the arid wastes, are the principal causes of this. The Draa itself can only reach the ocean in spring, when swollen by un- usual rains combined with the melting of the snow on the Atlas. Other rivers, at the season of their overflow, form sebkhas, swamps, and lakes ; but the oases watered by such surface streams are, of course, the most favourably situated, and here flourish even the fruit trees of the tem- perate zone. In the whole region of the Sahara there is not a single river bed in which the water flows constantly throughout the year. Even if the Draa be considered as a Saharan river, we know that it flows constantly only as far as the point where its course changes from the south to the west ; but it filters underground the whole year. The river valley which gives rise to the oasis of Tuat, and which in the north consists of a numerous system of ramifications, has surface water only in some isolated places, while the Mia and the Igharghar, wadys with channels of enormous length, have scarcely ever any surface water. But what prodigious quantities of water must have been at some time required to form and flood such dried-up river beds as are now found in the desert ! The bed of the Igharghar, 78 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. for instance, is in several places some twelve or fifteen miles wide. Hence the obvious inference, that the climate of the Sahara must have formerly been very different from the present ; and the numerous fossil forests show plainly enough that vegetation was here at one time much more abundant than now ; hence there must have also been a greater rainfall, which would help to explain the existence of the frequently amazing length, breadth, and depth of the dry river beds. 9. Lakes. No less wonderful is the number of beds of lakes, and even lakes themselves, in the Sahara. These are met with most frequently where depressions exist, but also in other more elevated places, as is the case in Fezzan ; and we may well imagine how copious must be the underground springs that feed these lakes, in order to keep them constantly supplied with water in spite of the enormous evaporation to which they are exposed. When these lakes become dried up, they form scbhlias or marshes, which have an apparently firm surface, but a slimy swampy bed beneath. Some of them — such as those of Bilma, on the route to Bornu, near the centre of the Sahara — are so full of salt that on drying up they present the appearance of a sheet of salt. It is remark- able that on becoming dry the surface mud of the sebkhas almost always contracts into regular polygons, generally hexagonal. If the soil is very rich in salt, however, dry wave-like furrows appear, giving to some of the dry sebkhas the appearance of a suddenly petrified lake, the surface of which has been agitated by waves ; but these are much less frequent. 10. The Hot Winds and Sand Storms. The climate of the Sahara is entirely different from THE GREAT SAHARA. 79 that of any other part of the world ; but the extraordinary dryness of the atmosphere results there not from the barren soil, but from the prevailing winds, which are generally easterly, being part of the great current which shows itself most clearly as the north-east trade wind of the Atlantic. These east winds bear with them no clouds or moisture from the ocean, but only currents of dry air from Asia, which, passing also from colder to warmer regions, have their capacity for absorbing moisture increased as they advance. But even in the rare cases when breezes come from the west charged with clouds from the Atlantic, the heats are in most cases so intense that the clouds are dis- sipated before the moisture is sufficiently condensed to produce rain. At certain seasons hot suffocating winds blow outward from the sandy deserts of the Sahara, and to these the general name " Simoom" is given by the Arabs of the north coasts, from the word Samma, meaning hot or poisonous. In Egypt the hot wind is called Khamsin, meaning fifty, since it generally blows from the end of April, for that number of days, onward to the inundation of the Nile in June. In Tunis it is called " Sheely" and fills the air with impalpable sand, giving rise to much ophthalmia. The Scirocco is most frequent in Algeria in July, whence it blows northward over Italy and melts the snows of the Alps as the warm Fohn wind ; in Marocco, the hot wind (here called Shume) is strongest in July, August, and September, and passes across to Spain as the Solano ; still farther round, on the border of the Great Desert in Sene- gambia, and on the Guinea coast, the Harmattan wind, intensely dry and charged with particles of sand and dust, blows out from the Sahara at intervals during December, January, and February. Steamers running along the coast north of Sierra Leone during the Harmattan with freshly tarred rigging or newly painted bulwarks, find the side 80 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. next Africa powdered with fine sand, so that the painted parts assume the nature of sand-paper. In blowing over those portions of the Sahara which are covered with drift sand, every stronger wind raises great clouds of the finer sand. When this driving sand accompanies one of the hot winds, these together form one of perhaps the most terrible hardships that the caravans have to encounter in passing through the deserts. In travelling through southern Fezzan, Gerhard Eohlfs en- countered a sand storm from the east, in which the drift was so dense that it was impossible to see one's hand held out before the face. Such was the violence of the wind that the tents could not be pitched, and nothing could be done but to cover oneself up and lie down. Next morning the sand had covered everything an inch deep. Count d'Escayrac1 gives a vivid description of such a sand storm. " As I was travelling," he writes, " on a fine July night through the desert of the Bisharin, I was astonished at the extraordinary clearness of the unclouded starry sky. The atmosphere was perfectly calm ; suddenly it took a different aspect. In the east a black cloud began to rise with frightful rapidity, and soon covered half the heavens. Immediately afterwards a strong puff of wind covered us with sand, and threw up little stones of the size of peas into our faces. Soon we were surrounded by a dense sand cloud, and stood still in the deepest darkness. We had quickly covered up our eyes ; but in spite of that they filled with sand every time we opened them. The camels sank down on their knees and groaned, and then lay down ; and my servants, battered by the sand and gravel, did the same. I leant myself against my camel, whose high saddle afforded some pro- tection, but did not dare to lie down for fear of being buried in sand. The storm passed, and by daybreak the 1 Le Desert et le Soudan. THE GREAT SAHARA. 81 sky was again clear and the air at rest ; but the camels and their drivers lay up to their necks in sand." 1 1. Climate of the Sahara. Although in some places hotter than in any other part of the world, the climate of the Sahara may as a rule be described as very salubrious. The frequent almost absolute dryness of the atmosphere would seem to produce no ill effects on the health, acting most beneficially espe- cially on the lungs, even when in an advanced stage of disease. The great feature of the climate of the Sahara, as of all bare desert countries, is that of excessive difference of temperature between day and night. Exposed to the in- tense heat of the sun during the day, the superficial layers of sand on the surface of the rocks become heated, some- times to nearly 200° F., and the air resting upon this heated surface quickly takes a correspondingly high tem- perature. The absence of moisture in the air gives a clear sky, which promotes the rapid radiation of heat during the night till the thermometer falls not unfrequently to below the freezing-point. At Mursuk, in Fezzan, for ex- ample, the average daily range of temperature in the winter months, when it is least, is 28° F. G 82 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE VIII. STATES AND RACES IN THE SAHARA. 1. The Northern Border Land of the Sahara. The states hitherto passed in review, especially Marocco, Algeria, and Tunis, stretch southwards into a region which may be described as the border land of the Sahara. In the case of Marocco, the district in question would be that which reaches from the Atlantic seaboard to the frontiers of Algeria on the one hand, and on the other from the southern slopes of the Atlas to the parallels of latitude passing through the southern points of the great oases. In Algeria this outlying district comprises the third and most southern of the three zones into which the whole country has been divided, its northern limit being the .Sahara Border Eange. This is the sandy waste of the Algerian Sahara (Sahara algerien, or petit dAsert), here and there interrupted by fruitful oases, and the southern por- tion of which is called by the natives El Erg, or region of the sand dunes. The whole is also sometimes known as the palm country {region des palmier s), the date-palm here being the most striking feature of the vegetable kingdom. In the Algerian Sahara are the oases of El Aghuat, El Gerara, and Ghardaya, in the country of the Beni- Mzab Arabs, besides those of Tuggurt, El Wad, Wargla •(" queen of the oases "), and El Golea. In Tunis, the Belad-el-Jerid, or "land of the date," is THE GREAT SAHARA. 83 mainly comprised within the limit of this neutral ground, which is not met with farther east ; in Tripoli the Great Sahara itself reaches, so to say, to the sea-coast. Here grow various kinds of fruit, such as the degla, the hora, the hamma, and the date of Cabes, the latter of inferior quality, and used by the Bedouins in the prepara- tion of an indifferent sort of dough or paste. Mixed with barley or grass it also serves as food for their horses, mules, and camels. 2. Limits of the Sahara on the West, East, and South. The western portion of the Great Sahara, reaching from Marocco on the north to the great Senegal river on the south, and westwards to the shores of the Atlantic, has been so far but very little explored. For most of our information regarding it we are indebted to two French- men, Panet (1850) and Vincent (1860), and to the Arab traveller Bu-el-Moghdad. More to the east lay the route of Bene Caillie, who in 1828 made his way from Sierra Leone to Timbuktu, and thence across the Sahara to Tangier in Marocco. It is difficult sharply to define the limits of the Sahara on the south, but, speaking generally, they must be considered as passing north of the Senegal and Niger regions. Farther eastwards its southern frontier is formed by the so-called Fellatah states, the region of Lake Chad, Wadai, and Darfur, which, with Kordofan, bring it to the borders of southern Egypt. Across the Nile the Nubian and Arabian deserts carry it on to the Bed Sea. The northern portion of the extreme eastern region of the Sahara, known as the Desert of Lybia, was for the first time carefully explored by Bohlfs' expedition in 1873-4. Proceeding from the west eastwards, we shall now endeavour to give a more detailed account of these vast 84 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. regions and their inhabitants, deriving our information in all cases from the most trustworthy sources. 3. The Western Sahara — Berber Tribes. For the western portion we shall place ourselves in the hands of Vincent, who crossed the burning sands of the Great Desert in 1860. In the neighbourhood of the Senegal region there are numerous encampments of Berber herdsmen, for water in shallow streams and excellent pasture lands are here everywhere abundant. The men are naked from the waist upwards, with red skin, hooked nose, intelligent eye, and hair rather crisp than curly. The women go unveiled, but wear a long robe flowing from the shoulders to the ground. These Berber tribes seem to be of a very gentle dis- position, hence are reckoned amongst the Marabuts, by which in this part of Africa are understood those Moham- medans who do not bear arms, but make profession of a special observance of their religious practices. Amongst . all the Berber tribes of the western Sahara, Vincent met with no one who had at any time more than one wife, or contracted a second marriage. The women here do not submit to divorce, and evidently keep their lords well under control. The free women do not work, nor do they ever walk on foot. Hence, though the men are much sun- burnt, the women would appear almost white if their true complexion could only be seen through the thick layer of dirt that covers their skin. But they carefully guard against touching water, and a lady, questioned by Vincent on the point, had carried her precautions so far that for the space of seven years she had never once in an un- guarded moment indulged in ablutions of any sort. The food of these tribes consists in the produce of THE WESTERN SAHARA. 85 their herds and flocks. Camel's milk is exceedingly nourishing, and the sheep are wonderfully prolific. How- ever, they grow no wool, but only something resembling goat's hair. Vincent on one occasion claimed the hospi- tality of the Tiyab, formerly a warlike tribe that had since turned to peaceful ways and become Marabuts. So when the French began to drink wine the Berbers with- drew in horror from the tent. At this Vincent asked his host whether he objected to his drinking wine, to which the hospitable child of the desert nobly replied, " Should you present yourself even with vipers, the moment you enter my tent you are welcome." When the travellers approached the bank of Arguin they came upon a tribe of Berber fishermen, who ply their dangerous trade with trawling nets on a coast swarming with sharks. This bank is assuredly one of the richest corners of the world in fish, if not the very richest, and as there are natural salt beds close by, the neighbouring Cape Blanco might form an excellent fishing station. Occupying the western border of the Sahara, between 20° and 26° north latitude, lies the territory of Tiris, a vast plain of granite dotted over with hillocks, and in part covered with quartz sand, which is roved over by the Uled-Delim, a nomad tribe, pirates of the desert, and famous for the beauty of their women and maidens. And they really deserve their reputation, on account of their smooth hair, large eyes, long lashes, Grecian noses, dazzling white teeth, slim figure, and the extraordinary delicacy of their feet and hands, the nails of the latter of which are dyed a rosy colour with henna. Unfortunately the family ties are here extremely lax, and marriages are always contracted for the shortest term imaginable. Vegetation appears in Tiris only in the sandy hollows, in which great numbers of gazelles are seen. Captain Vincent counted as many as 100 of these in a single day. 86 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. During his journey farther inland Vincent approached Berber villages with several hundred inhabitants, who supported themselves on the produce of their date planta- tions, millet, maize, barley, and wheat crops, watered by shallow but extremely copious wells. {Bulletin de la SoctiU de G6ographie de Paris: 1861, pp. 5-37.) 4. Aderer, Tafilet, M-Juf, and other Western Districts. Aderer, in which are situated Shingeti and three other towns, is the most notable district in the western Sahara. It is a hilly country peopled by Berbers possessing camels, sheep, and oxen, and cultivating dates, wheat, barley, and melons. The most important town here is Shingeti, or Shinglt, where there is a depot of rock-salt, drawn from the inexhaustible beds of the Sebkha Ijil, lying a five days' journey to the N.N.E., and thence exported to the countries in the Sudan situated between the upper Senegal and the Mger, and to southern Marocco by caravans. The other settlements in Aderer, besides that of Shingeti, are Wadan and Usheft, the former of which carries on a considerable trade. The settled population pays tribute to the dominant nomads of the country, of whom the Yaya-ben-Othman are the most powerful. Though the country is high and hilly, rain occurs in some years only once or twice, in October ; and though springs are nume- rous, none are sufficiently strong to form any permanent rivulet. On the north it is enclosed by a dreary belt of sand dunes, known as Maghter or Murthir, which pro- bably unite continuously with the country of sand hills called El Erg in southern Algeria. From Aderer caravans pass northwards through the wide belt of sand hills which separates it from the extensive district of Tiris, to Tafilet, or Tafilelt, the most important of the oases in the Maroccan Sahara, exchanging salt for European goods, THE WESTERN SAHARA. 87 About 20,000 camel loads of salt are taken from Aderer every year. In Tafilet, which is subdivided into a number of dis- tricts, there are about 300 fortified villages. The chief place is Abuam, the market-place of which, called Sultu, situated outside the gates, presents a curious sight. From a distance it might be supposed covered with great mole- hills, which, when examined more closely, turn out to be an immense number of stone booths or stalls with round roofs. Three days in the week the market is held. It is the largest fair south of the Great Atlas, and here are sold, besides the European commodities from Fez, all the products of the south. Tafilet sends two great caravans yearly to Timbuktu. The population of Tafilet is very mixed, the Shirfa and Arabs being in the ascendant. Amongst the latter must be included the Beni-Mhamed, although they speak Shellah as easily as Arabic. The Beni-Mhamed, who are also settlers in the Draa and in Sus, are the chief caravan traders. (Eohlfs, Journey through Marocco : Bremen, 1869, p. 87.) The caravan route from Tafilet to Timbuktu lies to the east of that previously mentioned, crossing the dis- trict of Gidi, or Igidi, which, though covered with high sand hills, produces palms in abundance. South from this point stretches a fearful and notorious region, leading northwards to the Afelele, or Little Desert, which is varied with pretty hills and dales and an abundance of wells and even little streams. Between it and Timbuktu lies the barren district of Asawad, and to the south-east Aderar (not to be mistaken for Aderer), the hilly country of the Auelimmiden, adapted to the breeding of camels and cattle. North-west of Asawad lies El Juf, a region full of rock-salt and destitute of vegetation, known as the paunch of the desert, and de« 88 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. scribed by Barth as a great depression below the general level of the desert. This account, however, is not borne out by the description given of it by Caillie, who actually crossed it. It appears indeed to be more elevated than the Niger at Timbuktu. It is bounded on the north and north-west by the sand-hills of Ergshesh and by the plateau of Safie. Taodeni is the only village within it, and was formerly of considerable importance from its salt mines. These mines, Caillie' was informed, are three and a half or four feet below the surface of the ground. The salt is in thick strata, and is quarried in blocks, after which it is split into more convenient cakes. These mines are the wealth of the country, and were worked in Caillie's time by negro slaves superintended by Moors. The salt is taken to Timbuktu, and thence is distributed over the Sudan. To the south-west of this is the waterless district of Akela, ten days' journey in extent, and farther on in the same direction is Baghena, the southern and most favoured district of the country called El Hodh, or " the basin," since it is surrounded by a chain of rocky heights. Here the trees growing most abundantly are the gigantic baobab, or bread-fruit trees (Adansonia digitata), and the date. In the swamps are sown durrha or saba and wild rice, which spring up in the rainy season. In the sterile country of the north-west of El Hodh is the well-built but extremely insalubrious town of Walata, or Biru, the chief place of the country, with houses built of clay and stone, painted in gay colours. Walata carries on a considerable trade in gold, ostrich feathers, and honey. Between El Hodh and Aderer lies the almost un- known country of Taganet, the northern portion of which is barren and desert, but southern or Black Taganet (which, like southern El Hodh, passes out of the desert zone) has high mountains and forests, sheltering lions and THE WESTERN SAHARA. 89 perhaps also elephants. Its chief centre of population is Tishit, said to have 3000 inhabitants, which is a noted salt-mart. Another district called Taganet lies midway between Asawad and Timbuktu much farther west. All the habitable portions of these western tracts of the Sahara which we have been describing are peopled by a variety of tribes, which are frequently designated collectively as Moors. In former times the Negroes probably extended northward over this region as far as about the 20 th parallel. When the tide of Arab invasion swept along the northern coast of the continent the Berbers of the northern zone were driven before it into the desert; and during and after the religious struggles which accompanied the introduction of Mohammedanism into these regions, they became largely amalgamated with Arab elements. Thus resulted a population the basis of which is Berber, but intermingled to some extent with Negro and Arab blood. Though strings of caravans of Mohammedans pass through the western Sahara un- molested, the fanaticism of the greater part of the tribes would oppose itself strongly, it is believed, to similar traffic with Christians, so that great difficulties would attend the opening up of this region to the commerce of the world. To the east of the caravan route between Tafilet and Timbuktu we enter the domain of the Tuareg (pronounced Tuarej) or Imoshagh, occupying the central portion of the Sahara as far as the 12 th meridian of east longitude from Greenwich. This line forms the boundary line between them and the Tibbus, who occupy some parts of the eastern section of the Sahara, though the extreme east adjoining the Egyptian frontier appears to be nearly uninhabited. 5. The Central Section of the Sahara (Domain of the Tuareg). We have now to speak of the central region of the 90 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Great Desert reaching northwards as far as Algeria, Tunis, and a portion of Tripoli, and southward for 1200 miles to the fertile borders of the Sudan. METLILI FROM THE EAST. 6. The Towns of Wargla, Tuggurt, and Metlili. Of the oases of the Algerian border land, which are included in this section, that of Wargla is unquestionably the most important. It lies in 32° K latitude surrounded by sand, like a green island in an ocean of fire, and has formed part of the French Algerian possessions since the expedition of Colomieu in 1862. The town of Wargla itself lies in a low-lying dis- THE CENTRAL SAHARA. 91 trict abounding in palm-trees. The streets are so narrow- that a man on horseback could not turn round between the houses, which are built of sun-dried brick with earthen floors, and all only one story high, usually with an inscription from the Koran over the door. The market, serving also for the shambles, reeks with blood, while the flesh of camels and dogs lies in the sun, infested by swarms of flies. Hence it is not perhaps surprising that Wargla is very unhealthy and subject to fevers. Here dwell four different races on amicable terms. These are the Arabs, the Mosabites or people of Mzab, the Aratines or Aborigines, and the Negroes. The last, though fully aware that they have been emancipated by France, have never yet in a single instance claimed their freedom. The most important explorations in the Algerian Sahara and the land of the Tuareg have undoubtedly been those of the great French traveller, Henri Duveyrier. He visited Tuggurt, capital of "Wad E'ir, south of Biskra, and famous far and wide throughout the Sahara. The town is surrounded by a circular wall, and has a popula- tion of about 3000. In June 1859 he went from Biskra to the oasis of Ghardaya, taking El-Gerara on his way. This place is perched on a hill, has walls in a good condition, and houses with arcades. In the neighbour- hood he found jujube-trees and terebinths of great size, and came across flocks of ostriches. Ghardaya lies in the "VVadi Mzab, a rift in the extensive plateau or Hammada which begins about a day's journey north of this point, and stretches southward to beyond Metlili and Wargla. Not far south of Ghardaya is situated the town of Metlili. It presents a singular view, being perched on a steep hill, on the highest point of which rises a half- ruinous mosque. There are no walls, for which indeed there is no occasion, the place being protected by its 92 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. faithful allies the Shaamba Berasgha, here the dominant Arab tribe. HOUSE TERRACES IN TUGGURT. 7. The Beni-Mzab. The people of this region, at present forming the confederation of the Beni-Mzab, profess much stricter principles than the other Mohammedans, by whom, how- ever, they are looked on as a sort of heretics. Their constant feuds have ceased since the arrival of the French, to whom all the seven confederate estates pay tribute. The Beni-Mzab hold lying in abhorrence, and make a virtue of cleanliness. The women are kept in strict seclusion, and the Tolba, or lettered and sacerdotal classes, form a little world of their own, living in common and cultivating palm-gardens. THE CENTKAL SAHARA. 93 8. Oasis of El-Golea. From Ghardaya, Duveyrier went a journey of six days in a southerly direction to the oasis of El-Golea, which place he was the first European to visit. El-Golea, or El-Menia, the most southerly settlement within the border of the Algerian Sahara, with a population of from 1200 to 1300, consists of two towns, the upper built on a cliff and surrounded by a wall, the lower lying between this cliff and another little eminence. Bound about the city are some straggling plantations of date- trees. The houses consist merely of four mud walls covered with palm branches, and disposed in two or three compartments, with little courts but no terraces. 9. The Tudt Oases. South-west of El-Golea, separated from it by the Areg belt of sand hills, and within the limits of the true Sahara, is situated the cluster of oases known as Tuat, which is the Berber word for oasis. It consists of five groups, the most southern of which is Tidikelt, whose capital, In-Salah (that is, town of Salah), is the emporium of the trade carried on between Tuat and the centre of Africa, Algeria, Tunis, and Tripoli, exchanging ostrich feathers, gold dust, ivory, slaves from the Sudan, for coffee and sugar and cloth, spices from Tripoli, and knives, needles, looking-glasses, beads, etc., coming by way of Algeria. It lies at about an equal distance of 800 miles from Timbuktu, Mogador, Tangier, Algiers, and Tripoli. Tuat forms an independent confederation of from 300 to 400 little states, and stretches from north to south about 180, from east to west about 200 miles. The traffic with Algeria is indispensable to it, for it depends on that country for regular supplies of corn, flesh, and 94 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. wool. This federal union of republics, if the expression may be allowed, recognises no chief authority, nor any central government for the whole, each state forming a little government for itself. In the Berber villages demo- cratic rule prevails, while amongst the Arabs power is inherited in the families of nobles or Marabuts. Where the Negroes are in the ascendant the rule is aristocratic, in the hands of a few men of colour. The oases are thickly peopled, on which account there are numerous emigrations, natives of the Tuat being met with far and wide — in Timbuktu, Agades, Ghat, Ghadames, Tripoli, Tunis, Tlemcen, in the Western Sahara, and in all the large towns of Marocco. 10. Oasis of Ghadames. The oases just noted all lie more or less in a south- westerly direction from Biskra. In a south-easterly line from Biskra the most important oasis is that of Ghadames or Ehadames, close to the south-eastern corner of the French Algerian possessions, but politically attached to the government of Tripoli. It was visited some years ago by the French traveller Victor Largeau, who made his way thither from Tuggurt, for a portion of his route following the bed of the old river Igharghar, part of which he tells us is already filled up with sand-dunes reaching to nearly 500 feet in height. On leaving the valley of the Igharghar he took a south-easterly direction past the salt wells of Hazi-Bottin, and still keeping in this direc- tion he marched for ten days through a country into which even the Shaamba scarcely ever venture even in winter. It is a desert covered with high hills of red sand formed from the weathering of a ferruginous sandstone of which the plain farther eastward is composed. Between these great dunes the scanty vegetation is cropped by THE CENTRAL SAHARA. 95 antelopes and gazelles. The people of Ghadames form a branch of the Berber tribe called by the Arab geographers " Molathemin," or " veiled," because, like the Tuareg, they wear a bandage across the face. But they are not true Berbers, differing from them in descent, speech, dress, town life, and special taste for trade and commerce. To their commercial enterprise fully corresponds the appear- ance of the town of Ghadames itself, with its large, well- ventilated, and lofty white houses, and its streets mostly shaded from the burning rays of the sun. 11. The Tuareg Tribes. To the south of this domain dwell the Tuareg proper (often written Tawarik or Tuarick on English maps), Berber nomades, stretching from Tuat in a southerly direction to beyond the northern bend of the Mger, and from the Algerian oases and the limits of Ghadames in the north to the borders of the Fellatah states and Bornu in the Sudan. They are also frequently met with in the neighbourhood of Murzuk in Eastern Fezzan. Some of these tribes cover a wide expanse of country and are very powerful ; but they live in a constant state of hostility amongst themselves, one tribe speaking of another with great contempt. The Tuareg are of large build and well shaped, alto- gether the finest race of men in this portion of Africa. Their dress is extremely varied, the more westerly tribes wearing a close-fitting garment, while others adopt wide flowing robes. The material is mostly the dark-blue, almost black, " Kano " cotton. Characteristic of them is the " Litham " or " Tessilgemist," wound twice round the face in such a way as to cover eyes, mouth, and chin, protecting these from the blown sands of the desert, and leaving nothing exposed except the middle of the face 96 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. with the tip of the nose. The shawl is tied in a bow behind. TTTABE'G BEItBEES. The hair, either cut short or forming a pigtail, remains uncovered on top, and the beard sometimes peeps out below. Sandals are worn only on the borders of the desert. A complete leather costume seems also peculiar to some tribes. Those to the east wear a leather bag attached to a leather belt, and those in the west a dainty little pouch round the neck, in which they keep twine, thread, pens, pipe, and tobacco. Freemen carry a very long straight sword, a dagger suspended to the left wrist, a spear six feet long, often THE CENTRAL SAHARA. 97 supplemented by a musket. They speak a Berber dialect, which is said to vary very little throughout their country, and they profess Islamism, about which, however, they know very little. They are extremely superstitious, on their neck, arms, legs, breast, and waist wearing amulets and little pouches containing verses from the Koran as charms and talismans. The predominant passion is a love of finery and of women, but the tribes of purer blood are distinguished by their warlike spirit. Hence they are in a constant state of feud amongst themselves, and are everywhere feared and hated. Yet they are not naturally cruel, and treat their slaves kindly. The women go unveiled, and take part in the affairs of the community, but polygamy has unfortunately found its way into several tribes. 12. The Southern Tuareg Country — Ahaggar, and Air or Ashen. The northern portion of the broad country of the Tuareg has, as we have noticed, been described by Du- veyrier ; its southern regions have been explored by Heinrich Barth. The latter traveller, proceeding west- wards from Murzuk to the Oasis of Ghat, thence traversed the whole country from north to south in order to reach the kingdom of Bornu on the Sudan. South and west of Ghat rises the wide highland of the Asgar Tuaregs, the Tasili plateau, attaining elevations of from 4300 to 5200 feet above the sea, and which merges farther west into the alpine mass of the Jebel Ahaggar. In this mass of highlands the plateau formation is also prevalent, but here and there high red mountains with steep cliffs rise above other points. Southward still from the Asgar high- land the country rises to a second plateau, that of the country of Air or Asben, in which the mountain groups of H 98 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Timge and Baghzen rise to 5000 feet. This is a rude rocky country, full of tree-covered and pastoral valleys, the fertility of which depends not so much on the direct supply from showers which fall from August to October as on the moisture gathered into them from the mountains. The whole land has a general slope from east to west, so that the western valleys are the most fertile. One of the most beautiful among them is that of the Wadi Tegidda, lying at the northern base of the peak of Dogem, 5000 feet in height, which supports large flocks of cattle and camels, and has exceedingly luxuriant woods, especially of acacias. The valley of Tintellust, the residence of one of the sheikhs of Asben, has also an exuberantly rich vegetation. Beyond this highland southward an uninhabited and waterless plateau is again met with, and this merges gradually into a more and more habitable plain country or steppe, in which giraffes, wild oxen, and ostriches, roam in large numbers. Still farther on the pasture-grounds of the nomadic tribe of the Tagama Tuaregs, rich in herds of cattle, are crossed, and lead into the pleasant undulating country of Damerghu, on the border of the Sudan, with farm-yards and corn-fields supplying grain to the domi- nant country of Asben. The kingdom of Asben extends from about 16° to 20° 1ST. lat., and is nominally ruled over by a sultan who resides at the capital town of Agades. It is chiefly peopled by three large tribes — the Kel-owi, Kelgeres, and Itisan — partly settled in villages in the mountain valleys, partly living in movable tents made of mats. Agades was formerly a very important city of Central Africa, but was in a declining condition at the time of Barth's visit to it. At one time it was an entre- pot for the immense traffic carried on with Gagho, the ancient capital of the Sonrhai empire on the Niger, and then probably contained 60,000 inhabitants. At the time of Barth's visit (1850) it had not more than 6000. Its THE EASTERN SAHAEA. 99 trade and manufactures are now trifling in extent, and it holds little or no intercourse with the northern towns of the Sahara, though its merchants visit the markets of the Sudan, and the salt trade from Bilma in the Tebu country westward, passing through Asben, aids in sustaining its population. The language spoken in Agades, though its inhabitants are to a large extent Berber, is the same as that of Timbuktu, though there is now no communication with that city. Dr. Barth was of opinion that Agades would form a good and comparatively healthy point from which a European agent might open up relations with Central Africa. 13. The Eastern Sahara (Domain of the Tibbus). The eastern division of the Sahara is occupied, as above stated, by the Tibbus. The approach to this region is through Tripoli, whence nearly all travellers have started in making their way through Murzuk southwards across the Great Desert to the shores of Lake Chad. There are two tracks from Tripoli to Murzuk — one, the shorter and more westerly, leading more directly south through the Jebel-Ghurian, Wadi Um-el-Cheil, and the western side of the Jebel-es-Soda ; while the other is more round- about, for a great part of the way turning considerably to the east. The first was mainly followed by Barth, Overweg, and Eohlfs ; the second by Lyon, Denham, and Clapperton, Vogel and Duveyrier. Nachtigal also, the most recent traveller in these regions, has followed the longer route, which is the true caravan way, is regularly supplied with watering stations, and offers desirable resting-places in the centres of population of Beni Ulid, Bonjem, and Sokna. On the 18th of February 1869, Dr. Naehtigal (to whose leadership we will entrust ourselves mainly in the 100 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Tibbu country) left Tripoli, beginning his 36 days' march to Murzuk. The character of the desert landscape in the country which spreads out behind the coast range of hills of Tripoli is well enough known ; it rises by a steep terrace to high-lying plains dotted over with isolated mountain groups and peaks, and is cut into by numerous valleys. At Beni Ulid, about 100 miles south-east of the town of Tripoli, a pretty olive grove refreshes the eye of the tra- veller for the last time, since, on passing farther on to Bonjem and Sokna, he finds himself in the midst of a complete desert. Four long days' journey through a waterless plain, diversified only by naked hill ridges and bare undulations, are required to reach the latter place, which lies in 29° N. latitude. The Jebel-es-Soda, which has next to be crossed, forms the natural northern bound- ary of the country of Fezzan, the capital of which is Murzuk. The greater portion of Fezzan presents a melan- choly and silent landscape of the most barren desert, over which a perpetually blue sky, from which the glowing sun evaporates every little cloud, hangs heavily. In contrast to the barren Hammada, however, the cluster of oases round the capital seems like a fresh garden. The inhabitants of Murzuk live chiefly by traffic in slaves, and the products of the countries farther inland, such as salt, natron, and medicinal herbs ; the slaves, however, are the principal subjects of trade. These unfortunates are the victims of man-hunting raids made by the princes of the fertile lands of the Sudan south of the Great Sahara, and brought to one of the great slave-marts of that region — the town of Kuka, in Bornu, on the banks of Lake Chad. There the great mass of them are bought by Arab merchants, and marched by arid tracks over the desert under a burning sun for about 800 miles to Murzuk, and thence north and eastward to the Mediterranean coasts, but chiefly to Cairo. One great annual caravan from Kuka alone brings about THE EASTERN SAHARA. 101 4000 slaves ; and the whole number yearly passed across the desert by this route is reckoned at 10,000. The priva- tions and tortures endured by these troops on their long march may be conceived from Eohlfs' remark on the appearance of the caravan track: — "On both sides of the route are seen the blanched bones of dead slaves, many of the skeletons being still wrapped in the blue negro gar- ment. Any one who did not know the way to Bornu would only have to follow the bones which lie right and left of the track." The stirring life of the other oases of the desert seems to be absent in Murzuk, which is impor- tant only as a depot of trade with the interior, and in other respects is a dreary and insignificant place. From Murzuk Dr. Nachtigal made an excursion to Tibesti, or Tu, which is a hill country of the Central Sahara, lying east of the direct caravan route from Murzuk to the lands round Lake Chad, containing the highest known summit of the desert. It is inhabited by the Rcshade, one of the tribes of the Tibbu, who are notori- ous throughout the whole of North Africa for their rapacity, treachery, and cruelty. No European had ever visited their country before, all travellers having failed in their attempts, or having feared to venture into Tibesti. At the wells of Tiinimo, on the usual route southward from Mur- zuk, Nachtigal turned off to the south-east, and after a painful march through a waterless country reached the hill country of Afafi, in the north-west of Tibesti. Limestone and dark-coloured sandstone are the prevailing formations in this district, and great basalt blocks lie scattered over it. Many torrent beds have cut their way through it, and the view in these is enlivened with bright-coloured Talha trees (Acacia gummifera), the hills rising in grotesque shapes in the background. Beyond Afafi, Nachtigal crossed a bare stony and sandy plain country, on which many groups of sandstone masses rose like huge castles. In the 102 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. torrent beds alone a scanty pasturage was found for the camels, and in no direction could the traveller see any sign of inhabitants. As he approached the torrent bed called the Enneri-Tollobu, however, a remarkable change was noticed in the landscape, and a light porous stone of various colours took the place of the sand and lime stone, presenting an undulating but perfectly barren surface. On the 13th of July 1869 he reached Tao, the first inhabited place he had come upon in Tibesti. Tao is not exactly a village, but consists of a number of huts formed of mats of dum-palm fibre scattered round the vicinity of a copious spring. At the time of NachtigaTs visit, Tao, as well as all the settlements on the western slopes of the Tarso range, which crosses Tibesti from N.W. to S.E., were almost abandoned, for a famine had compelled the people to retreat up into the mountain districts, or to migrate to Bardai, the most important settlement of the country, situated in a broad valley on the eastern descent of the Tarso range, at which place the date harvest was about to begin. Tibesti is but scantily provided with food ; there are, indeed, some herds of goats, but flesh meat is only indulged in on high holidays, or when a camel happens to die a natural death. It is only after the showers which occur in autumn that the pasturage is sufficiently abundant to allow the camels to give milk. Meal is ground from the millet seed (Panicum colonum), but dates have to be brought from Fezzan and other lands, for the supply grown in the Bardai valley is not sufficient for the population. In times of great necessity the Tibbus use, as a last resource, the leaves of the dum-palm ; but these contain so little nourishment that life could not be maintained by their use alone. From Tao, Nachtigal ascended to the mountain district of Tibesti, and passed through the beautiful Zuar valley, in which water flows in abundance, vegetation is rich, and THE EASTERN SAHARA. 103 apes, gazelles, and birds enliven the scenery. The chiefs of Zuar, however, prevented his farther march south ward along this valley, and compelled him to turn back to Tao ; thence he took the route eastward over the mountains towards Bardai, passing on his way a remarkable natron bed in the form of a wide circular basin 10 to 15 miles in circuit, in the middle of which rose a conical hill with a summit crater filled with natron. The peak of Tusidde, the highest point of Tibesti, rises to an estimated height of 1200 feet above the pass to Bardai, or to an elevation of 7880 feet above the sea. Descending the eastern slopes of the Tarso for six days' march, Nachtigal at length reached Bardai ; but his reception there was anything but friendly. Mohammedan fanatics, inflamed by indulgence in palm wine, incited the people to slay the Christian dog, and it was only by the active interference of the chief, Arami, that the traveller could reach the house of his pro- tector in safety. The sultan refused to receive him ; and he saw but little of the pretty settlement of Bardai, sur- rounded by gardens and date plantations, making his escape thence and reaching Murzuk again only after terrible sufferings and privations. One of the most important districts of the central Tibbu country is that of Kauar, or Kawar, an oasis which lies due west of Tibesti, on the caravan route to Kuka. In this oasis, though it is perhaps the hottest part of North Africa, water is found on digging to some depth, and date-palms are abundant. Three or four settlements occupy the most favoured spots, and a sultan rules over the small popula- tion. By far the most important district of Kauar is its southern province of Bilma, with the village of Garu, and this on account of its rich salt mines, which supply a great part of Central Africa. These mines consist of a number of deep pits, which apparently lie upon a great bed of rock- salt. The water in them is so intensely salt, and the 104 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. evaporation so great, that in every two or three days a crust of salt of several inches in thickness forms over them, which is broken np like ice and carried away in pieces. The Tuaregs of the country of Asben, which we have previously described, come here with wheat and cloth and slaves to exchange for the salt, which they carry back through Asben and thence to the Sudan, sometimes with caravans of 1000 camels. AN OASIS IN THE LIBYAN DESERT. 14. The Libyan Desert. The great Libyan Desert, reaching almost to the Nile valley, was for the first time, to some extent, explored THE EASTERN SAHARA. 105 by the expedition sent thither in 1873-4 under Gerhard Eohlfs. It would appear to be one of the most, if not actually the most desert portion of the Sahara, the only part of it really answering to the former descriptions repre- senting it all as a vast ocean of sand. In truth, the Libyan desert is nothing but one im- mense sandy sea, intersected by lofty sand-dunes, resting on it like great solidified ocean waves. However it is not a true depression as was supposed, but, like the rest of the Sahara, a table-land. Its western limits, roughly speak- ing, are Fezzan and the great caravan highway leading thence through the oasis of Kauar (Bilma) southwards to Bornu. In the three other directions it is naturally limited — on the north by the Mediterranean sea, on the east by the Nile valley, and on the south by the more or less cultivated territories of Kordofan, Darfur, Wadai, and Kanem. This vast region, nearly as large as European Eussia, is still one of the least known portions of the Earth's surface. The orographical and geological conditions of the Libyan desert, described by Dr. Ascherson, a member of Eohlfs' expedition, are just as simple as they are unfitted for organic life. Approaching this region from the Medi- terranean coast we first come upon a limestone plateau rising rather steeply, and extending from the greater Syrtis to the Nile delta. At the north-western end it reaches its greatest elevation of about 2000 feet in Jebel Achdar, forming on its slopes, between the towns of Benghazi and Derneh, the fertile and well-watered portion of Cyrenaica or Barca. The coast belt between this and Egypt, watered by the winter rains, affords a few favoured spots in which some of the Uled Ali Bedouins of the sur- rounding country carry on a little rude agriculture; but in the main, one may say that the desert character of the plateau is maintained quite up to the sea coast, and in the 106 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. case of the shores of the Greater Syrtis, the most barren sand wastes occupy the whole sea margin. The lime- stone plateau of Libya stretches away inland as far as the 30 th parallel of north latitude, but there it sinks again into a long latitudinal depression extending from near the Syrtis to the neighbourhood of the Mle delta, and the bottom of this hollow is in several points cer- tainly beneath the level of the Mediterranean. Within it lie the two groups of oases of Aujila and of Siwah, or Jupiter Ammon, famed in ancient times, twelve days* journey apart from one another west and east. The inhabitants of these belong mainly to Berber tribes, but, like the oases themselves, present remarkable contrasts. Siwah is a little paradise ; round the dark blue mirrors of its lakes there are luxuriant palm woods, and orchards full of oranges, figs, and olives. But the people of Siwah are dull and idle, never leaving their homes ; while those of Aujila, on the other hand, like their relatives in Gha- dames, are known throughout all Northern Africa for their extended trading journeys. To the south of the depression the desert rises gra- dually again, so that in about 25° north latitude it has attained an elevation of 1600 feet above the sea. East- ward it forms a great limestone plateau, which everywhere presents a wall-like face to the Mle valley, and in this the Uah oases — Bacharieh, Farafrah, Dachel, and Khargeh — are sunk in hollows of several hundred feet in depth. For many days' march west and south of these a conti- nuous sea of sand extends to unknown limits. Far to the west, on the caravan route from Wadai" in Sudan to Ben- ghazi, there lies the Oasis of Kufarah, which no European has yet been able to reach. The character of the country in the south-west of the Libyan Desert is altogether different. Here there rises a long range of hills of lime and sand stone, which, begin- THE EASTERN SAHARA. 107 ning at a distance of some days' journey from the southern borders of Fezzan, stretches in a south-easterly direction towards the northern limits of Darfur, probably forming a continuation of the mountains of that country and those of Tibesti and Tasili, and affording habitable valleys at many points along its line. 108 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE IX. SUDAN. 1. Extent and Meaning of this Term. Forming a natural frontier to the Great Desert is that section of Africa known by the somewhat vague name of Sudan. By this term is understood the region south of the Sahara, limited on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean as far as it reaches. From the Gulf of Guinea in- land, there is no definite southern border line. It may, however, be assumed at the fifth degree of north latitude, as forming the limits of our present knowledge everywhere except in the east, where the latest discoveries in the Nile region have been extended farther towards the equator. This Nile region is generally taken as the eastern frontier of Sudan, although it properly reaches to the foot of the Abyssinian lnghlands. Hence modern maps have introduced the appropriate expression " Egyptian Sudan " for those eastern districts comprising Senaar, Korclofan, Darfur, and some others. Sudan is therefore, strictly speaking, a broad tract of country reaching right across the whole continent from the Atlantic seaboard almost to the shores of the Eed Sea, and is the true home of the Negro races. When our knowledge of the interior has become suf- ficiently extended to enable us accurately to fix the geo- graphical limits of the Negroes, it may become desirable to make the term Sudan convertible with the whole region inhabited by them. SUDAN. 109 2. General Features. The conformation of the land and other physical fea- tures of this wide domain are naturally as varied as are the races inhabiting it. Hence it will be here impossible to do more than give a general survey of these lands and peoples, still almost entirely cut off from intercourse with the rest of the world. They both form the most striking contrast to the neighbouring Sahara described in the two foregoing chapters ; but the transition from the desert to Sudan is scarcely perceptible, being effected by a tract of level pastoral steppes lying between 13° and 15° north latitude ; beyond these begins a series of uplands and mountainous districts, interrupted by a number of plateaux, and crossed by some great streams. Of these the most important are the Senegal and the Gambia in the west ; the Assinie and the Yolta in the south ; and, above all, the great river Niger, and the Shari feeding Lake Chad. 3. The Coast of Guinea. The course of the mighty river Niger forms with the sea coast an irregular triangle, and may serve as an excel- lent line of demarcation for certain territories in the wide expanse of Sudan. All the country lying west of the Upper Niger is comprised under the general name of Senegambia. The space between the two sides of the triangle belongs, at least in its northern portion, to the Fulah or Fulbe or Fellatah, but is very little known, and, with the exception of one line through it traversed by Dr. Barth, has scarcely yet been visited by Europeans. We possess accurate information of the base or coast line only, Europeans, and especially the English, having here established numerous settlements. This is called the Upper Guinea Coast, and is again divided into several 110 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. sections, as, going eastwards, the Sierra Leone and the Windward, Pepper, or Grain Coasts, where is situated the ludicrous free state of Liberia ; farther on, the Ivory and Gold Coasts, where the Negroes form the confederacy of the Eantee under British protection, while the native popula- tion of Ashanti stretches farther inland. East of it is the Slave Coast, where is situated the kingdom of Dahomey, enjoying an evil repute for the sanguinary cruelty of the people. Still east of this is the projection of the delta formed by the numerous branches of the Mger which here flow into the Atlantic. 4. Native States between the Mger and Nile Valley. East of the Niger and the above-described triangle formed by it, with the coast-line for its base, we enter the main group of the states of the Fellatah, limited eastward by the civilised negro states of Bornu and Baghirmi in the region of the great basin of Lake Chad. This vast lake is studded with islands, and does not lie, as was for- merly supposed, in the lowest level of the Sudan. It receives many streams, the largest being the great Shari from the south-east, the upper course of which has not yet been traced. Here we are in the true centre of the continent, on the borders of the state of Wadai, till quite recently entirely secluded, and which approaches on the east to the Egyptian Sudan. Instead of the waterless desert, with its dried-up river beds, scanty vegetation, wide uninhabited plains, and scat- tered nomad tribes, Sudan thus presents the picture of a richly watered, diversified, fertile, and highly cultivated land, with a varied fauna and tropical flora, wherein dwell many populous and settled nations, who have arrived at a certain degree of civilisation. SKM-(;.\I.. CA.MIUA. SIKIiliA LKONK &<: WESTERN SUDAN. Ill CHAPTEE X. WESTERN SUDAN OR SENEGAMBIA. 1. The French Settlements in Senegambia. By Senegambia is understood the region stretching from the river Senegal southwards to the coast of Sierra Leone, but without any well-defined inland frontiers on the east. Of the three European powers which have settled on this portion of the African coast, France pos- sesses the largest extent of territory. The whole of the left bank of the lower Senegal river and the coast from the mouth of that river southward past Cape Verde to near the mouth of the Gambia, is in the hands of the French. Farther south their isolated possessions are the greater part of the banks of the Cazamance river, with Carabane for the chief station ; factories on the Rio Nunez, on the Eio Pongo, and on the Mellacoree or Mal- lecory river north of Sierra Leone. Between the Senegal and Gambia, or inland from the main tract of territory belonging to them, the French also exercise a certain authority in the interior, and are now making strenuous efforts both to direct the current of trade to their settle- ments on the Senegambian coast, and to establish a con- nection across the desert between these settlements and their Algerian possessions. 2. Towns of St. Zouis, Ddkar, and Gorde. The seat of government of French West Africa is 112 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the town of St. Louis, at the mouth of the Senegal, with a population of 15,650 (in 1872), including a motley gathering of colours and vagabond elements, many volup- tuous " Signares " (half-blood negresses), and a few Euro- peans. But the chief commercial town is Dakar, on the peninsula of Cape Verde, inhabited by about 2800 Negroes, and from 200 to 300 Europeans, mostly French. This is the most nourishing of all the French colonies. About a mile from Dakar is the important fortress of Gor^e, a basalt island at the entrance to the harbour ; and on the opposite mainland, in line with these, the populous settlement of Eunsque. Goree, with its 2800 inhabitants, has more to show in the way of buildings and civilisation than Dakar itself. However, this can scarcely apply to the Negro quarter, where the huts, from 12 to 16 feet high, 10 feet broad and deep, formed like haycocks of grass and reeds, are very crowded, and oc- cupied generally by four or five persons, who share the undivided space in the interior in common. But a charm is imparted to the place by the luxuriant oleanders with their purple blossom and the yellow flowering cactuses, beautiful to the eye but dangerous to the touch, owing to their microscopic thorns and the numerous insects by which they are infested. 3. The Ddkar Negroes. Amongst the twenty odd stone buildings there are three or four so-called hotels, bearing the grand names of " Hotel de France," " Hotel des Messageries Rationales," and so on. Attached to these hotels are stores supplying every want the heart can desire, from straw hats and silk dresses to a slice of cheese. The landlords are French- men, while the waiters and salesmen are Negroes, whose habits may here be conveniently studied. In the evening WESTERN SUDAN. 113 they huddle round a coal fire in front of the hotel, and devour their evening meal, mostly of maize variously pre- pared, out of a common dish or plates made of gourd skins. The children run about quite naked, but decked with amulets and a quantity of glass beads, agates, and the like. The mothers carry their infants astride on their backs, leaving nothing exposed except the head, and in this way go about their daily occupations without paying further heed to the little creatures. Yet they are seldom heard to cry, and are quite happy and cheerful in their apparently uncomfortable position. The mothers, how- ever, Oscar Canstatt tells us, will readily part with them for a two-franc piece. For a few sous the women are easily induced to per- form their national dances in the huts. One beats away on an inverted calabash, while the others throw them- selves into the most astonishing attitudes, all the while muttering a monotonous kind of song, consisting of the incessant repetition of two or three words. This dance is called tam-tam, which is also an expression of delight uttered on receiving a gift of any sort. The Dakar Negro type is, as a rule, not very fine. They have unusually prominent lower jaws and under lips, with very little woolly hair, and a complexion neither brown nor black, but rather of a dark gray, with a dash of bronze in it. On their neck, hands, and legs they wear, mostly very reverentially, amulets, rings, coins, and every imaginable thing, but most commonly one or more little linen packages, about quarter the size of a playing card, containing a solid, thick substance sewn up in a gray linen cover, and never exposed to view. Many wear these charms fastened to a tuft of hair on the top of their heads, but others have the head shorn, with the exception of a circlet of locks. i 114 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. A FULAH. 4. The Mandingo and Fulah Races. The negroes here described are members of the Serere- Wolof {Jolofy Zolof), a race inhabiting the wide alluvial plain between the Lower Senegal and Gambia rivers, and the Faleme tributary of the Senegal. Farther on, in the hilly districts of the interior, dwell the Mandingoes, or Malinke, and the Soninke, who are justly looked on as the Jews of Africa, being mainly engaged in " exchange and barter." These races occupy the western slopes of the hills, where rise the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Niger. Formerly this mountain system was described as the Kong Mountains, a name which seems to be gradually disappearing from the map. One of its branches runs eastwards parallel with the coast of Upper Guinea ; but in Senegambia it developes into a series of plateaus, not yet sufficiently explored, on the western and northern WESTERN SUDAN. 115 borders of which dwell the above-mentioned Mandingoes and Soriinke, reaching as far as and beyond the Niger. Of these the most considerable branch are the Bam- barras, who hold themselves as far better and superior to the rest of men even in respect of language. They live on both sides of the Upper Mger, between 11° and 15° north latitude, and their land is in some places very fairly peopled. Quite distinct from these are the Fulbc, Fide, FulaJt, or Fellatah (singular, Pul, or Pullo), a race, perhaps ori- ginally of eastern origin, which in recent centuries has spread outward over the Sudan from the plateaux of the upper Senegal eastward again towards Bornu. Converted to Mohammedanism in the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury, they began religious wars on the surrounding pagans, and were successful in absorbing and incorporating with themselves the many different and distinct nationalities met with in their advance, and in founding several great empires, some of which are still, it appears, increasing in extent and power. From this amalgamation with other races, it follows that the Fellatah differ much among themselves in appearance ; some travellers describe them as true Negroes, others as having features of almost Euro- pean mould ; many have a red skin, are tall and slim, with much finer features and less woolly hair, and are much more capable of culture than are the genuine black races. Jointly with the Mandingoes they inhabit the territory of Futa-Jallon, explored by the French traveller Lambert in 1860. 5. TJie Futa-Jallon Highlands. Futa-Jallon is the well-peopled hilly land, in whose central plateau are found the sources of the Senegal, Faleme, Gambia, Eio Grande, and twenty other streams, including several tributaries of the Niger. Lambert's 116 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. route thither lay through a forest enlivened with birds of TIM BO. gorgeous plumage and watered by many streams, swarm- ing with bees and heavy with the perfume of honey. WESTERN SUDAN. 117 Many trees here attain a gigantic size, above all the mighty Bombax and the Netteh, one of the finest of the family of leguminous plants. This is spread over the whole of Sudan; its fruit resembles a bean-pod, and contains a sweet pulpy substance from April to June, affording no inconsiderable portion of their nourishment to the caravans crossing the countries where it grows. Lambert met no beasts of prey in these woods, but dog-headed apes in abundance. The mandrils (Cyno- cephahts mormon) especially showed themselves very daring. The villages of the Fulah herdsmen and of their slaves, who till the ground for their shepherd masters, occupy the highlands. Through a series of uplands and valleys Lambert made his way to Fokumba, the holy city of Futa-Jallon and the cradle of Mohammedanism in this land, and to the chief town Timbo, at the foot of a hill 1000 feet high and with 3000 inhabitants at the utmost. 6. Mage and Quintin's Expedition to the Niger. The northern parts of the interior of Senegambia are still amongst the least known regions of Africa. It is extremely difficult even for a single traveller to penetrate from Senegal to Timbuktu, the whole country being in the hands of petty Negro kings, of whom some only are on friendly terms with the French, and the majority in constant feuds amongst themselves. The encroachments of the Mohammedan zealots on the old primeval heathen- dom of the blacks has kindled the torch of war in those lands, keeping them all but completely barred from the visits of strangers, especially of Christians. Mungo Park, travelling eastward from the British factory of Pisania on the Gambia in 1795, was the first to reach the great river Niger at Sego, in the kingdom of Bambarra, and he then followed its course downward as far as Silla. In his 118 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. second journey of 1805 lie again reached the Niger in the Bambarra country, and building a boat there, embarked to explore the whole length of the great river, but never returned, having been killed by the natives, it is believed, at a narrow gorge through which the river rushes near Bussa in 10° K, 500 miles up from the Delta. In 1826 Major Laing, another intrepid British explorer, was the first to reach the famed town of Timbuktu, near the upper bend of the Mger, which Park had passed in 1806. He too fell a victim to the cupidity of one of the warlike tribes of the southern border of the Sahara, having been assassi- nated while endeavouring to make his way northward tc Marocco. Two years later, the Frenchman, Eene Caillie, travelling disguised as an Arab, after enduring excessive hardships, was the first to bring back to Europe an account of the long-sought city of Timbuktu, the rock upon which, in two or three generations past, the lives of so many brave travellers had been lost. In the years 1863-1866, the two French officers E. Mage and Dr. Quintin contrived to push forward from Senegal to Sego on the Niger. The Senegal not being navigable even for a small boat, the expedition was obliged to proceed along its banks as far as Fort Bakel, after which point they had to cross its numerous tributaries and affluents. Thus Medine was reached, the most advanced outpost of the French on the Senegal, near which place the river falls over the cataracts of Felu. From the heights of Natiaga, higher up on the left bank of the river, Mage enjoyed a magnificent prospect. Eight away to Dingira he com- manded a view of the windings of the river, the waterfalls and rapids shimmering in a silver light, and the majestic hills of Natiaga showing out in bold relief. Here the land is marvellously fertile, water everywhere abundant, and the streams swarming with fish. Nor is there any WESTERN SUDAN. 119 lack of gold and iron, while in the rapids is treasured up a vast motive power for the future. Meanwhile, however, all this lavish wealth is lost on the people, who have not yet learned even to clothe themselves with common decency. The women go half naked, the dwellings are wretched, and domestic and agricultural implements are of the sorriest description imaginable. It was only with unspeakable labour that Mage and Iris expedition succeeded in penetrating up and along the river as far as Kundiau, a veritable fortress built of stone in the midst of a country rich in gold and corn. But they had now to journey for three days across the land of Bating, a sort of desert beyond the valley of the Senegal leading through the Mandingo territory to Morena, where they for the first time met with women wearing a different and much handsomer head-dress than do their Mandingo sisters. The province of Jiangunte, with its chief town Jiangirte encircled with high walls, brought them at last to the frontiers of the kingdom of Sego, where the land became more and more mountainous. Wooded country succeeds to the plain : valleys begin to break the uniformity of the landscape, and now and then great rocks rise from the soil. Here also the tobacco fields were more frequently met with in the neighbourhood of the villages. And thus they reached Yamina, the second town in importance in the state, and soon after the capital itself — Segoo on the Niger. 120 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTER XL THE COAST OF GUINEA. 1. From the Gambia to Fernando Po. The most important points along the coast of Upper Guinea are in the hands of the English, who have here founded numerous trading stations. In these regions the development of commerce is hindered by many causes, foremost amongst which are a generally unhealthy climate, and the indolence and dishonesty of the natives. Yet, in spite of these depressing drawbacks, enormous quantities of palm-oil, nuts, ginger, pepper, and other produce of the interior, are brought down for sale or barter on the coast. There is a small but important English colony at Bathurst on the river Gambia. Besides British Combo, ad- joining Bathurst, the British possess several trading ports up the river, the principal one being that on M'Carthy's Island, 140 miles in direct distance from the coast. The river is well known upward to the rapids of Barrakunda, a distance of 3 0 0 miles, and it is navigable for tins distance from the sea. The town of Bathurst is situated on St. Mary's Isle, a sandbank on the south side of the river-mouth, separated from the continent by a tidal stream called Oyster Creek, from the quantity of oysters growing on the branches of the trees dipping into it. Its streets are laid out at right angles, but are formed of fine sand on which progression is slow. Its chief houses, the stores of the European merchants, front the river, the ground- CPU) COAST. l,A(;oS, NIC. K 1 ! DELTA &■< . ^ Seal, ofKoflioh Siamt- M.I. » ^ London: Edward Slunlbrd.&b Cluing Crou. THE GUINEA COAST. 121 floor being used for trading purposes, the upper part as residences. The Government house, barracks, and hospital are on this line, which enjoys most of the sea breeze, and between it and the water grow wide-spreading india-rubber and silk-cotton trees, affording shady retreats. A multi- tude of seemingly half-dressed black people crowd the market, and business is carried on amidst a babel of languages shouted and yelled, for representatives of many tribes come thither from long distances by the Gambia, The native dwellings are cheaply constructed of uprights fixed in the sand, covered by strips of bamboo, and roofed with palm leaves. "The tall Mandingoes, Joloffs, and men of other tribes, having laid aside their walking robes, extend their noble forms on the sand, surrounded by women and children laughing and squalling. At night they organise festivities ; drums are beaten, the elegant tom-tom is heard, dance and revelry are combined until long after midnight. And thus they enjoy life."1 Though navigable for a long distance through most fertile regions, the Gambia brings down at present only driblets of the immense produce which it may convey at some future time. Ground-nuts, hides, beeswax in cakes, and a trifle of gold dust, are the pro- ducts of the river banks, and cotton can be sent in quantity from the Gambia when its price is high at home. Three days' run by steamer southward along the coast takes us to Sierra Leone, which was united with the Gambia territory in 1875 under one colonial governor. To the eyes of a new-comer the peninsula of the " Lion Hill " appears a perfect paradise ; the land inclines gradually upward into hills about 2500 feet above the sea-level, abundantly covered with tropical vegetation. The settle- ment was first started in 1787, and in 1808 it was made into a colony, and was used as a refuge for slaves captured 1 Trading Life in West Africa, by John Whitford, F.E.G.S., 1877. 122 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. by British vessels along the coast. The descendants of these slaves form the bulk of the population. Kroomen from farther south form an independent community, and there are besides a number of natives of the countries lying between this and the Niger. The white population of the capital seldom exceeds 75 in number, and in the whole colony there are not more than 250 white people. The British Government, presumably in order to conciliate the blacks, has given them full liberty to act and speak as they please. They have accordingly attained to an unexampled degree of shamelessness, and consider themselves far superior to the whites. In order to give the principle of equality full scope, they were even conceded the right of acting on juries. Forming the great majority, they acted here as they have never failed to do in like circumstances, in North America and elsewhere. They invariably brought in the verdict against the whites and in favour of their black brethren, so that it was at last found necessary to deprive them of the privilege. Altogether the state of things in Sierra Leone is not calculated to inspire us with a very high idea of the genius of the English for colonisation. The principal place on the peninsula is Freetown, on a hill above which the Government house is pleasantly situated. The barracks lie still higher, but the merchants prefer to live in the town or its outskirts. Almost every house has its garden, in which the delicious avocada pear, orange, citron, pomegranate, mango, banana, cocoa-nut, pine-apple, and various other fruits are grown. Ginger, pepper, arrowroot, coffee, rice, palm-oil, and many other valuable products, are capable of large cultivation in the colony ; but the tillage of the land is the last resource of the people, who, if they can, lead a perfectly indolent life. Crowds of vagabond loafers abound everywhere. Owing mainly to the want of drainage, a foul malarious fog THE GUINEA COAST. 123 drawn up by the fiercely shining sun, spreads over the lowlands after heavy rains, breeding fever and death to such an extent as to have given Sierra Leone the name of the " white man's grave." FREETOWN. Sherboro Island and portions of the banks of the navigable Sherboro river 50 miles southward of Sierra Leone belong to the colony. There are five European factories on the banks of the Sherboro, each with its storehouses for " palm kernels," palm oil in casks, and salt. Everything that the negro heart can fancy is sent out to barter, and powder to devastate neighbouring tribes is a favourite medium of exchange, though towards Euro- peans the tribes of the Sherboro are peacefully disposed. 124 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The projected exchange of the English settlements on the Gambia for the isolated French settlements between that river and Sierra Leone, which might have the effect of consolidating the English possessions on the west coast of Africa, and rendering the administration easier, has not yet been carried out, nor is it very likely to be realised. The British settlements in question have certainly a population of only about 15,000, almost exclusively Negroes, but they command the trade of the Gambia, which is navigable a long way into the interior. Bathurst, the chief town, is within ten days' sail of Liver- pool, and only forty-six days' journey from Timbuktu, all favourable circumstances for the future prosperity of the place. Even now the trade on the Gambia is considerable, amounting in 1874 to about £290,000, imports and exports ; and the resources of the colony are sufficient to meet the expenses of the local administration, which cannot be said of many similar little possessions. The third European power which has obtained posses- sion of some points of this coast is that of Portugal. Nomi- nally the Portuguese claim a large extent of coast land between the Eio San Pedro (13° 7' N.) below the entrance to the Gambia river and Cape Verga, north of the Eio Pongo ; but the territories actually in their possession are very small indeed, having together an area not exceeding 3 0 square miles, and with a population of little over 9000 in 1873. The islands of Bolama and Gallinhas, the inmost of those of the Bissagos archipelago, are perhaps the most important points occupied by them. Bolama has at several periods been settled by the British, especially between the years 1842-47, but on account of the hostility of the natives the post was given up, and it after- wards passed under the nominal rule of Portugal. On the rivers of the mainland the Portuguese have stations at Bissao at the mouth of the river Geba, and the post of THE GUINEA COAST. 125 Geba higher up the same river; on the river San Do- mingo, the next north of this, they have the stations of Cacheo and Farim ; and on the Cazamance, the post of Zinguichor, adjoining the Trench settlements on that estuary. 2. Slavery — Its Causes — Vain Attempts at suppression. Amongst all the African Negroes slavery flourishes vigorously. Here it has not been introduced from abroad, but is a national institution of native growth which has existed openly from the earliest times, so that it may be said that in Africa one half of the inhabitants are the slaves of the other half. Slavery has its origin in many causes, such as the custom in war of treating all captives as slaves, and hunger, which compels many free- men to renounce their independence. Other causes of this scourge of humanity are debt ; certain crimes, such as murder and adultery ; and, lastly, sorcery, which, according to African usage, are all punished with loss of freedom. Wherever slavery prevails there flourishes the slave-trade, the demand here as in other things creating the supply. Hence all efforts hitherto made to suppress it have been very partially successful. Doubtless a vigorous blockade of the coasts might succeed in extirpating the traffic long- carried on on the western seaboard ; but it could not affect that which goes on in the interior. Here, where it is barred one outlet, it immediately opens up another. That, under all circumstances, it never fails to obtain its end, is the lesson taught us by the latest attempts to suppress it on the sea-coast. The favourable results anticipated by enthu- siastic philanthropists from these efforts have not hitherto been realised. To this day the slave trade flourishes to such an extent in the Sudan, that the chief sources of wealth of most of the states in that region are derived 126 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AKD TRAVEL. from it. The Mohammedan rulers of these countries, as well as the so-called Christians of lands farther east, if they are not immediately engaged in war, employ them- selves in making raids on the neighbouring Negro countries of the south, carrying fire and sword into these lands, and driving thousands and thousands of people away from their homes into slavery. Not only are large numbers killed or wounded in such conflicts, but all those who in the subsequent march prove too weak for the journey, or fall by the way, are put to death in the most barbarous manner. Some of those who are collected in these expe- ditions remain on African soil; many are sent out of Africa by caravans which pass overland on long journeys across the Sahara to the ports of the Mediterranean or the Eed Sea, to supply the markets of western Asia. Their fate, however, is not always a hard one, apart from their separation from home and kindred, for they are looked upon by their masters almost as members of the family, and many of them have doubtless escaped, in being made slaves, from being sacrificed at home in some sanguinary pagan rite. From this it is evident that the number of human beings brought into a state of slavery in Africa itself, by and for Africans, far exceeds that of those who have been exported by Europeans to America, though it cannot be said that in the cruelties of the transhipment, and of labour in the colonies, the European slave-dealers and slave- owners were a whit behind the Africans in barbarity. The African export slave trade was begun by the Portuguese in 1442, but until the sixteenth century, according to Macculloch, it remained of small dimensions. In 1517, however, in consequence of the representations of Las Casas, bishop of Chiapa, respecting the fearfully rapid mortality among the Indians in the mines of Haiti, Charles the Fifth permitted negroes to be conveyed to the New World from the Portuguese African possessions. THE GUINEA COAST. 127 Once begun, the exportation of these unfortunates in- creased rapidly. All maritime nations took part in the traffic. The English conveyed not fewer than 300,000 slaves out of Africa between 1680 and 1700, and be- tween the latter date and 1786 as many as 610,000 were transported to Jamaica alone. To these large num- bers must be added those who were taken to the colonies of the mainland, as well as the numbers that died in the Middle Passage. The numbers exported by the French and Portuguese were certainly not smaller. Millions, certainly, were carried over to the planta- tions of North, Central, and South America, from this region of the West African Coast, from Dahomey, and the Niger delta, as well as from Congo, Angola, and Benguela, though the centre of the traffic lay in the creeks at the head of the Bight of Benin, the Benin, Bonny, Brass, Calabar, and Cameroons rivers. In 1787 a society for the suppression of the slave trade was formed in London ; but notwithstanding the exertions of Mr. William Wilberforce, whose views were seconded in Parliament by Mr. Pitt, it was not until twenty years after this that a bill making all slave trade illegal after the 1st of January 1808 passed both Houses. With England North America renounced the slave traffic. The Spanish and Portuguese slave trade in consequence increased to a great extent, and British subjects long after continued to carry on the traffic under cover of these flags. In 1833 a grand act of the British Government set free the slaves in all parts of the British dominions, and a sum of twenty millions sterling was awarded as an indemnification to the slave-owners, perhaps the greatest sacrifice that any nation has ever made in the cause of humanity and protection of right of property. Notwithstanding the incessant vigilance of the vessels of the British Navy on the African coast, the slave trade 128 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. there has not ceased, though it has been driven to new and tortuous paths and corners. Many slaves are still collected in the barracoons along the coast, where they are held in readiness, and are shipped off quickly in a few hours of a single night. The profits of the traffic are so great, that the escape of a single slave ship balances the capture of three. 3. The Republic of Liberia — The Kroomen. In intimate association with this question of the slave- trade is the establishment of the Eepublic of Liberia on the Pepper or Grain Coast, which deserves special con- sideration as the only African negro state constituted on a European basis. As none but free blacks live here, it affords the best opportunity of ascertaining the amount of culture the Negro race is capable of when left to itself. Unfortunately the result is extremely disappointing, for they have only succeeded in converting Liberia into a caricature of a civilised state. In the year 1816 a com- mittee wTas formed in Washington with the object of restoring to their native soil in Africa those of the negroes who, on the abolition of slavery, had obtained their free- dom. In 1822 this body obtained possession of a tract of land on the Pepper Coast of Upper Guinea ; and the new colony, which was to be the refuge of the freed blacks, was named Liberia, and thither the emancipated slaves were sent, and were expected to till the soil and grow coffee, sugar, indigo, to collect india-rubber and palm-oil in a land of unbounded fertility. In 1847 the colony proclaimed itself an independent republic, and the consti- tution of the new state was an imitation of that of the United States. Some years later the new-fledged republic received an important extension through the union with it of the adjoining colony of Maryland, formed under similar cir- LIBERIA. 129 cumstances. The two together form an area of nearly 9600 square miles, and have a population of about 18,000 civilised and 700,000 aboriginal negroes. On the foundation of the colony the Americans entertained high hopes of spreading the blessings of civilisation through Western Africa by entrusting these freed blacks with the industrial and social privileges of Christian peoples. But in the course of time it became evident that these were by no means qualified to induce the aboriginal peoples to give up their native and traditional customs and usages. The incidents of the years 1871 and 1872 exhibited very clearly the deep demoralisation into which the leading men of Liberia have fallen. In place of having exercised a civilising influence on the natives, the American negroes seem only to have relapsed into barbarism. The schools are in the most deplorable condition, morality at a low ebb, and the people generally, oppressed with heavy taxes, are lazy and indolent. It is but fair, however, to note that there are individual exceptions to the general rule ; our knowledge of the country inland from Liberia, for example, as yet depends wholly upon the excellent account written by Mr. Benjamin Anderson, a native Liberian, who made a journey to Musardu, in the country of the wes- tern Mandingoes, in 1868, with the object of opening up direct trade with the interior tribes. Eecently several tribes at Cape Palmas and its neighbourhood have risen against the Liberian government, which has shown itself utterly incapable of offering any successful resistance to these attacks. In a combat which took place at Harper, in the province of Maryland, October 10, 1875, the Liberian troops were entirely defeated, flying in great disorder, and leaving three guns and all their ammunition in the hands of the enemy. Monrovia, the capital of the republic, is pleasantly situated on the rising ground of the coast, well adorned K 130 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. with trees, within the promontory of Cape Mesurado, which protects the landing-place from the full swing of the Atlantic rollers. It is a facsimile of a small town in the Southern States of America, and has its " White House " (built of red brick) and a ramshackle wooden " Senate House." Trading stores and wharves face the sea, and on each side of the grass-covered streets of the town are numbers of petty shops and small hotels ; for a life of ease and luxury is imitated in parody by the coloured freemen, and they prefer to associate idly in towns and villages rather than undertake the task of farming, though those who pay attention to growing pro- duce invariably succeed. The aboriginal people of a part of Liberia, as of the adjoining coast eastward as far as Cape Palmas, are the Kroos, whose simple costume (not far removed from the primeval fig-leaf) contrasts with that of the Ameri- canised blacks. They are robust and industrious, and have been introduced as labourers into all parts of the coasts of Equatorial Africa, where the natives themselves often look upon the least work as degrading. All vessels trading on this coast take gangs of Kroomen to do the rough work of the ship, and ships of war em- ploy them to save the white crew from too much labour in the tropical sun. Every trader, from the Gambia to the equator, annually obtains a supply, and without them the commerce of Western Africa could not be carried on. Grand Cess, on the coast immediately east of the Liberian boundary, is one of their chief villages, and is a collection of thatched huts peeping out from the border of the woods behind a belt of yellow sandy beach, on which the long Atlantic waves break perpetually in foaming lines. Mr. Whitford gives the following description of a scene at this place in engaging a gang of Kroomen : — " The report of the ship's gun arouses the inhabitants, and hun- LIBERIA KROOMEN. 131 dreds of dark forms rush at once over the bright beach to launch their canoes into the surf and through it. These canoes go bobbing up and down, dancing on the blue water. They are very light, are carved out of one piece of wood, gracefully formed like a cigar tapering at both ends, and are propelled by one or two men squatted upon their heels in the bottom of the canoe, and their well- developed muscular action swiftly urges the graceful skiff towards the steamship. It is a glorious sight to watch the race of at least two hundred canoes. The paddlers yell with ecstasy as they approach, and familiarly hail well-known faces on board. Their names are peculiar. 'Nimbly/ 'Tom Bestman/ ' Shilling/ 'Bottle of Beer/ ' Prince of Wales/ ' Gladstone/ ' Frying Gib/ and hun- dreds of others equally fantastic, conferred according to the fancy of their employers, stick to them throughout life, and their heroic deeds are sung and recited to crowds of evening parties in Kroo country." The necessary number having been selected, the rest jump overboard, even after the steamer has started at full speed, and swim a mile, or it may be two, to their canoes. Head Kroomen organise the gangs, and become responsible for the proper treatment of the " boys " when away from home. On shore or on board palm-oil vessels they only engage themselves for one year, reckoning it by the number of moons, for each of which they carefully cut a notch on a piece of stick. Though a hard-working race, they are timid and superstitious, and are naturally born thieves. They come on board ship naked, but leave it laden with everything they have been able to lay hands upon. Very interesting is the fact that these Kroo negroes, who, at a distance from their home, seem fully capable of civilisation, sink back into their former barbarism on their return to their native land. While they readily acquire foreign languages, and at times give proof of a real attachment and devotion to Europeans in foreign 132 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. countries, on returning home they take the greatest pains to forget their acquirements as soon as possible, and woe to the European that ventures into their country ! How- ever well they may have been treated, they nearly always after a few years quit the service of the whites in order to return to their barbarous condition in their native place. So little attraction has our much-vaunted civilisation for these children of nature ! The coast of Liberia is generally flat and sandy, but steep and rocky in the south-east. About 20 or 25 miles inland the country rises to wooded hills, and still farther east to mountains, between which are many fruit- ful valleys. The climate, both on the coast and in the interior, is fatal to Europeans, and dangerous even for the blacks born in the temperate zone, but not unfavourable to the indigenous population. The ground contains seve- ral minerals, especially iron and copper, and here flourish many fine and useful tropical plants, such as nut-trees and dye-woods, ebony, copal, and gum plants. Of all the varieties of the palm, that producing palm-oil (Elaeis guineensis), yielding the material of which almost the whole of our common soap is made, is the most impor- tant. It is a thick-stemmed tree, the leaves of which begin a few feet above the soil, and as it grows this first set withers and gives place to other leaves higher up, which in turn wither as the tree grows older. When it attains an age for bearing fruit its graceful leaves spread in all directions, and at the point where they branch off from the stem a huge bunch of red and yellow plums or exaggerated grapes appears, each bunch containing from 800 to 1000 oil-yielding plums, and weighing in some cases half a hundredweight. No cultivation is needed, but if the undergrowth is cleared away the oil is of finer quality. The palm flourishes for a long distance inland all round the coasts of Guinea, but FRENCH STATIONS ON THE IVORY COAST. 133 it is only in the vicinity of the villages that a compara- tively small number of the bunches are gathered and boiled to extract the oil ; elsewhere the ripe fruit drops and goes to waste. Besides many medicinal plants, rice and maize, cotton, the sugar-cane, and excellent coffee, grow freely ; while the table-lands of the interior produce wheat, barley, and oats. Of the animal kingdom, the elephant, hippopotamus, leopard, crocodile, and red-deer are now rarely met ; but the woods abound in apes, chameleons, ants, and lizards, some species of the latter being useful in ridding the houses from insects and vermin of all sorts. 4. Ivory Coast — French Stations — Condition of the Slaves. East of the Grain Coast, so called from the grain of the Meleguetta pepper plant (Amomum granum paradisii), lies the flat monotonous Ivory Coast, producing nothing but cocoa groves, affording no ivory now, and for nearly its whole length fringed by lagoons, into which flow the rivers on the coast. Here the French possess the forts of Assinie, Dabou, and Grand Bassam, one of the most im- portant gold marts, but these settlements have been unoccupied by them since 1871. On this coast the relations of the slaves present some very remarkable features. They are often seized with a weariness of existence, on being informed of which their masters present them with a flask of rum. With this they make themselves drunk, in which state the execu- tioner beats out their brains with a club. Their bodies are then left unburied, as food for the birds and beasts of prey. In Great Buba, however, the affair is not transacted in quite so simple a way. Here the master brings the despondent slave to the village elder, who urges every imaginable argument against his suicidal mania. Failing 134 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. these remonstrances, a grand " palaver " of all the elders is held, but it is rare that even they succeed in talking him over. He is then bound fast to a tree, and the whole assembly rush on him, like wild beasts. He is instantly torn to pieces, but all taking part in the ceremony pay a tribute. to the master to indemnify him for his loss, and enable him to procure another less melancholy-mad slave. Human sacrifices are regularly offered at the " Igna- men " feasts, which occur generally in October, and the slaves employed to bury a chieftain are often immolated to his manes, as was the practice of the Gaulish and other ancient peoples. Equality is recognised by the savages neither in life nor in death, which is always accompanied with superstitious practices. In Grand Bassam the hus- band enjoys the right of life and death over his wife, and Admiral Fleuriot tells of a chieftain who informed him casually and very coolly that he was in mourning for his wife, whom he had put to death. To the remonstrances of the Frenchman he contented himself with answering — " After all, what did it matter ? She was grown old, and past child-bearing." His conscience had never been troubled by the deed, and yet we are assured that there is but one moral law for all mankind. 5. The Gold Coast — British Settlements. The Gold Coast was known as early as 1366, and was settled from time to time by the French, Portuguese, Dutch, British, the Danes, and for a time also by the Brandenburgers. It consists of the outer margin of a plain of about 15 miles in average width, bounded land- ward by hills covered with primeval forest. Besides the gold, which is washed in the rudest way by the negroes from the alluvial soil, its chief wealth is the oil-palm, the product of which is constantly being exported in THE GOLD COAST. 135 larger and larger quantity, giving rise to an extraordinarily busy traffic. Up to the moment of the abolition of slavery the whole enormous quantity of the oil that was brought down to the coast was carried thither in cala- bashes on the heads of the natives. Other valuable vegetable resources are the oil-yielding ground-nut, yams, and maize. All attempts to introduce cattle and horses have as yet failed owing to the presence of the poisonous tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans). As for the climate, the earlier missionaries who settled here up to 1841 died to a man. Intermittent fevers, liver complaint, and the guinea- worm, are the scourges of the coast-land. The Gold Coast is now entirely in the hands of the English, to whom the Dutch sold their possessions here in 1872. These consisted of the important settlement of Elmina, with the Government house and a fort, and the factories of Axim, Boutry, Chama, Appam, Winnebah, and Accra. The value of the imports during late years amounted to about £700,000, and of the exports to about £650,000 a year. But the revenue being merely nomi- nal, and the expenditure considerable, the Dutch had to make up the difference when parting with an unprofitable possession, retained by them only because they were here enabled to raise black troops for service in their East Indian colonies. But the Dutch factories were inconveniently situated between those of the English, whose chief station on the Gold Coast is Cape Coast Castle. Hence it was only for the sake of rendering her possessions more compact that England was induced to purchase the Dutch factories, just as she had already purchased those of the Danes on the same seaboard in 1850. She thereby gained no material advantage, but on the contrary became again involved in a conflict with her old hereditary enemies the Ashantees. 136 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 6. The Ashantee Kingdom. The Negro kingdom of Ashantee, lying inland from the English settlements between the rivers Assinie and Volta, is now practically cut off altogether from the Coast. Here its trade has no longer an outlet except by the round- about and unsafe route leading to the French station of Assinie at the mouth of the river of the same name. It is also constantly threatened by the Fantees, the coast tribe, who have acknowledged the authority of the British, and live at perpetual feud with the Ashantees. The sanguinary war of 1873-74, following on the transfer of the Dutch settlements, resulted in the famous march of the English on Coomassie, capital of the kingdom, the burning of that town, and the complete overthrow of the Ashantee power. This Ashantee war has been so far of advantage to the Gold Coast that it obliged the English Government to change the former protectorate into an absolute dominion and to construct strategical roads in the country. Lastly, in July 1874, the country was constituted into the "Colony of the Gold Goast," and annexed to the establishment at Lagos ; and in December of the same year slavery was abolished, whereby the way was prepared for a complete revolution of the social relations. 7. Natives of the Gold Coast — Religion of the Fantees. There are several distinct tribes of natives on the Gold Coast, no less than four different languages being spoken within a tract of five days' journey in extent. The missionaries were obliged, with the assistance of Professor Lepsius of Berlin, to prepare an alphabet for these various idioms, which now boast of a copious educational literature. There are altogether twenty-seven THE GOLD COAST. 137 Christian communities, with schools attended by about 1200 scholars. But civilisation finds a great obstacle in the excesses of the natives, amongst whom rum, firearms, and tobacco were the only articles formerly taken in exchange for slaves. Hence it is not perhaps surprising that Christianity has hitherto made but little progress, and that the great bulk of the natives are still addicted to their old heathenish practices. The African lives in constant commune with the beings of another world. The Fantee, when about to take a draught from his palm-wine gourd, never forgets first to pour a little on the ground and invite his protecting deity to drink with him. Unbelief is unknown to the savage. He may neglect his gods, refuse them homage, even defy their power, but he never doubts their existence, as a matter of course attributes sickness and all other misfortunes to their offended majesty, makes them presents, and asks their forgiveness. He endows them with human tempera- ments, and holds them in the light of tyrannical chieftains or kings. He tells you that some of them are good, but not all goodness, for they are liable to take offence; that others are evil, but not altogether evil, for they may be appeased. . The African does not exactly worship the principle of evil in the same way that did of old the dwellers in the plains of Babylonia, but only to the extent of addressing more prayers and offering more sacrifices to the evil than to the good divinities, precisely as they pay heavier tribute to oppressive than to more beneficent kings. At the same time he knows nothing of true loyalty. He pays his taxes simply through fear, and it is the same with the worship of his god. His cardinal virtue is his devotion to his family, a feeling reaching beyond the limits of life and the visible world. The members of the same family, and even of the same tribe, are bound by ties of the greatest fidelity 138 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. one to the other. Towards others they may show them- selves treacherous, dishonest, and ruthless ; amongst themselves they are ever kind, loving, and true. The dead are often buried in the house occupied by them when alive. Their kinsmen do not look on them as bodies devoured by worms, but as an ethereal spirit hovering around their hearths, and still living in associa- tion with them. Hence the frequent custom of setting some food or a bowl of palm wine apart for their deceased relatives ; for the African believes that in the food also dwells a soul that the spirit of the departed can partake of, while the matter itself of their nourishment, like the bodies of men, falls a prey to corruption. Tell him that the souls of the dead dwell in spaces far removed from earth, and he laughs at you with a conscious feeling of superior wisdom, and relates of ghosts seen by him at night, and of mysterious sounds which have reached his ears. Knows he not, moreover, that the dear ones are in his midst ? Is he not persuaded that he lives in their very presence ? Hence he feels no sense of loneliness ; when he has no human fellowship the ghosts of the dead are at his side, and he sings to them of his joys and his sorrows. 8. Strange Customs of the Fantees. The following usages and practices of the West African tribes, and especially of the Fantees, are perhaps not so generally known. For the whole people, male and female, there are no names except the seven male and female days of the week. The choice being thus naturally rather limited, recourse is had to nicknames. Another original habit on the Gold Coast is the practice of pledging each other. Fathers and mothers pledge their sons and daughters, husbands their wives and wives THE GOLD COAST. 139 their husbands, with the same indifference with which our students are wont to pawn their watches. The worst feature of this arrangement is that the female so pledged remains entirely at the disposition of the receiver. If a male pledge dies, the body is made fast to the branch of a tree high up in the air out of reach of prowling beasts. As the native tribes believe in the immortality of the soul, as above stated, and are further persuaded that the deceased cannot undertake his journey to the eternal regions until his remains are buried, his relations make the most vigorous efforts to obtain the release of the body. The Fantee rejoices in the possession of two devils — Abonsam and Sasabonsam. The former rules over the wicked in heaven ; the latter, a huge monster of human shape and red colour, with long hair and in league with sorcerers and witches, holds sway on earth. Sir Sasa- bonsam dwells in the deepest recesses of the gloomy forest, generally in the vicinity of some gigantic bombax tree. The custom of celebrating the death of their friends by exceedingly riotous orgies here also prevails, and is attended with the usual often lamentable consequences. The mortality amongst children is comparatively high on the Gold Coast. 9. Chief Towns of the Gold Coast. Elmina, situated about midway in the length of the Gold Coast, was the earliest European settlement in this region, having been formed by the Portuguese before the discovery of America, in 1481 ; the Dutch admiral De Euyter took it by stratagem in 1637, and it remained the capital of the possessions of Holland on this coast till its transfer to Britain in 1873. The Baya, an arm of the 140 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. sea, enters at the landing-place of Elmina, and, running parallel with the shore for some distance, is separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of sandy soil terminat- ing in a rocky promontory on which stands the castle of St. George. The lower part of the spit is occupied by Elmina town ; the Baya is spanned by a stone bridge, and on the other side is the Garden town, a long street shaded by umbrella trees and containing the houses of the merchants, and overlooked by three little hills surmounted by forts. The population of Elmina is estimated at about 18,000 to 20,000. Cape Coast Castle lies in a gorge or chasm of a high bank of red clay covered above with jungle and fronted by a strip of white beach on which a roaring surf con- tinually breaks. Three hills behind it have three small forts perched on them, one of which serves as lighthouse and signal station. The great castle, like an old church in a rural village, stands on a slope close to the water's edge. In the native part of the town, which is believed to have about 10,000 inhabitants, filth and unwholesome- ness are the rule, naked children and lean pigs emerging from the same mud huts ; but the houses of Europeans and wealthier natives peep out pleasantly from the woods of the surrounding heights. Accra, the chief port of the eastern part of the Gold Coast, is approached in surf boats similar to those in use at Cape Coast Castle. Ships anchor abreast of the English Fort James at a distance of a mile from reefs of rock jutting out from in front of the fort. Two miles eastward is seen the large building of Christiansborg Fort, built by the Danes. Landing at the foot of James Fort a steep incline leads up to the town, which has a few good houses inhabited by merchants ; but the native houses are surrounded by garbage, which long-legged lean pigs and turkey buzzards eagerly devour, thereby acting as THE ASHANTEES. 141 the scavengers of the place. Hills rise inland at a distance of about fifteen miles, and the country between is suitable for farms and plantations. Accra women when young are noted for their beauty, and many of them migrate to ports east and west; and Accra supplies excellent coopers to the whole coast. 10. Origin and Rise of the Ashantees. The last Ashantee war has thrown more light on the relations of this negro state. Winwood Eeade tells us that the Ashantees belong to the same stock as the Fantees, their respective dialects differing but little from each other. According to the tradition, on one occasion when on a warlike expedition they were compelled by hunger to separate ; one of the tribes was supported by eating the plant fan, and were hence called Fantees, or " fan-eaters ; " the other by the plant shan, hence called Shantees, or " Shan-eaters." The initial letter a is seldom heard in the mouth of the Ashantees themselves. They were raised to the position of a powerful nation by the genius of two or three nobles, who founded the capital, Coomassie, developed the local gold mines, and extended the limits of their state to the sea-coast in the west, and eastwards to Buntuku, a half Mohammedan town never yet visited by a European. The greater portion of the Ashantee country, as well as that of the Fantees, may be described as one continuous forest. " The primeval forest," says Winwood Eeade,1 " is composed of tall and massive trees, with creepers extending like cordage from one to another, and so matting the foliage together overhead that a green roof is formed almost impenetrable to the sun. Here and there are chinks and skylights, through which the sun shoots in and 1 The Story of the Ashantee Campaign, 1874. 142 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. falls upon the tree trunks and ground in gleams and splashes of crystal light. There is not much undergrowth, for that kind of vegetation cannot exist without sunshine, and in the virgin forest is always a kind of twilight or dim. There is no danger of sunstroke in the forest, but the heat is often suffocating — a moist, dank, sunless heat. There are many hills and dales ; the hills are composed of primary rock which sometimes lines the hollows at their feet, and then bright streams sparkle along over quartz beds glitter- ing with mica like rivers of gold. But more often the valleys are marshes and beds of black mud, where grows the bamboo with its drooping branches and pale green leaves. Through the forest runs a red or yellow path, winding as a river, and joining village to village. These are usually perched on hills, are always near water, and are embosomed in broad-leaved plantain groves. But the plantations of the villages are at some little distance, and are frequently changed. The natives make a planta- tion by cutting down trees and letting them lie, but burning the branches. They sow their crops in the ashes, and in three years' time the soil is exhausted, and they have to cut a clearing again. Now, on the site of the abandoned plantation, which is freely exposed to sun and rain, springs up a thick scrubby vegetation, which I shall term jungle : it is a thick undergrowth almost impene- trable, except to the axe and the knife, but rises to a considerable height." The King of Ashantee should perhaps be called a constitutional monarch, but he has many absolute powers. On ascending the throne he is warned by his chiefs that if he does not choose to follow certain fundamental laws he will be at once dethroned ; but in details his tyrannical power is unlimited. He gives judgment in person, and is aided in this by a body of examiners who investigate circumstances and hear witnesses, bring- THE ASHANTEES. 143 ing the case to the king for final decision. Although there is a Muslem quarter in the capital, the king and his people are pagans. The Mohammedans are only the traders in the lands watered by the tributaries of the Niger. The queen-mother in Ashantee holds a higher place than the other wives of the monarch ; she is the only woman in the country who may interefere in political matters or go about at will and unveiled. The king may possess 3333 wives, but not more, though according to some reports the number is unlimited. Some of these ladies are only slaves who work in the royal plantations and provide the court with cassava and figs ; others live in well-furnished apartments, and are guarded with the greatest jealousy by 150 eunuchs, devoting themselves in true oriental fashion to the enjoyment of tobacco and palm wine. Any intrigue with the royal ladies is punish- able with death ; and the executioners of the country are busily employed from sunrise to sunset in collecting their victims, leading them for exhibition through the capital, and ultimately hewing them in pieces in presence of the king. It is a remarkable usage in Ashantee that the condemned prisoner, by calling out certain words, may secure immunity from the punishment of death and the right of protection ; to prevent the possibility of this, however, the executioners attack their victim by stealth from behind, beginning their work by driving a dagger through both cheeks, by which the delinquent's mouth is effectually gagged. When the king dies a number of his personal attend- ants put an end to themselves, so as to accompany the deceased on his journey to the land of shadows. These people are called " okras," or " souls," and wear a special gold badge or order which marks their office. At such a time, also, the most sanguinary saturnalia are celebrated. Hundreds of people are sacrificed ; and the young men of 144 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the royal house run through the capital shooting whom they will, even those of highest rank in the country. The Ashantees believe in a life after death. Their Hades, or " Sheol," is subterranean ; there the subsolar life is con- tinued for ever; the king resumes his royalty, but the slave remains a slave, so that for them death is only a change of place, and they die with equanimity. The proverb that " the Ashantee soup has too much salt in it," which is in use among the coast tribes, refers to their barbarous customs. Once a year in Ashantee the king goes out hunting in state ; but this is more a matter of form than otherwise, as the expedition is generally fruit- less. The king never goes barefoot, but always wears sandals richly studded with jewels, and in his journeys he is carried in a hammock, and is remarkable among his people for the splendour of his apparel. In time of war, however, he and his chiefs wear wide Turkish trousers of many-coloured cloth j the common people, however, wear only the tunic. On gala days the chiefs appear in the market-place of Coomassie with their arms so heavily laden with gold ornaments as to be obliged to support them round the necks of slaves. The Ashantee army is the whole nation. When the order to march is given, all the capable men join their companies and leave the town, taking provisions with them. The women then collect in the streets, and if they find any shirker, they beat him unmercifully. In battle their generals remain in the rear, and hew down any who try to retreat or escape. Coomassie, though the capital of Ashantee, is not, perhaps, its most populous centre. Before its being burned down in the late war, it was well and regularly built, with wide streets, and had from 70,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. The royal palace was a huge building of hewn stone. A great deal of cloth was manufactured in Coomassie, and was excellent in its fine texture and durable qualities. THE GOLD COAST. 145 11. The River Volia. The Volta river forms the eastern limit of the Ashantee country, but both of its banks, for a distance of about 75 miles up from the lagoon at its mouth, are embraced within the colony of the Gold Coast. This large and important river is probably destined to be a future highway of trade to the interior. It was first ascended for 60 miles in the early part of this century by Colonel Starreburg of Elmina ; Lieutenant Dolben, of H.M.S. "Bloodhound," explored 80 miles of it in 1861 ; and Captain Croft surveyed its lower course in 1872. M. Bonnat, a French merchant and explorer, led an ex- pedition in 1875 up the Volta for 200 miles. The rapid of Labelled in about 7° 30' N., is the most formidable obstruction to the passage of the river in this long dis- tance, the difference of level above and below the cataract in the dry season being about 25 feet in a distance of 700 yards. During the rains, however, in September and October, the river rises 5 0 feet, and the rapids could then be easily passed by a steamer. Kpando (6° 50' N.), not far from the left bank of the river, is the most important commercial town in the forest region through which the lower Volta passes. It was destroyed by the Ashantees in 1869, and its in- habitants were dispersed or carried off into slavery, but in 1875 it had recovered a population of 2500, and had a well-stocked market. Shea butter, palm oil, skins, cotton, rice, and native aprons, constitute the principal articles of trade. North of the seventh parallel on the Volta the river flows through a prairie country, with clumps of gum and butter trees, and abounding in antelopes, wild hogs, leopards, and monkeys. In about 8° 10' N., at a distance of 22 miles eastward from Yegiy, the highest point yet attained on the Volta, lies the L 146 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. famous city of Salaga, or Parana, the greatest commercial emporium of this part of Africa. It is described as standing on a rising ground in the midst of a vast plain. ASHANTEES. Before the Ashantee war it had upwards of 40,000 inhabit- ants, but many of its houses are now unoccupied. M. Bonnat purchased ivory here at 6d. a pound, and forty pounds of wax for 3d. Several important routes diverge from Salaga ; one leading west to Buntuku, the capital of Diaman, a country abounding in gold and ivory ; another DAHOMEY. 147 north-east to Dienne, the capital of Dagomba, said to be as large a town as Salaga itself ; and still a third to Daboya and Kong, at the foot of the mountains. 12. The Slave Coast — Ewe Tribe. East of Ashantee lies the Slave Coast, the country of the Ewe or Krepe tribes, stretching from the coast north- wards to the domain of the Wirma-Donto, and bounded on the west by the river Volta. Along the coast are several lagoons, and for a day's journey inland there extends a flat grass plain, or steppe, varied by pleasant little cocoa groves, with towns and villages. The fertility of the soil gradually increases with the number of rivu- lets and streams flowing through the plain, which in the rainy season become greatly swollen. Seen from the coast in the hazy distance, some eighty miles inland, the great Atakla raises its coffin-shaped back sheer out of the plain, with its face turned towards the rising sun, and falling very abruptly from an elevation of 1600 feet. Beyond it the land rises in gentle undulations to the hilly country at an average elevation of about 1700 feet. The negroes of this district call themselves Eweawo, that is, the Ewe people. 13. Dahomey, its Capital Abomey — Sanguinary Rites — Amazons. Their domain is bordered on the west by the king- dom of Dahomey, which bears a bad name for its whole- sale sanguinary rites and practices. The extent of this west African state was long over-estimated, and it is now known to constitute but a small portion of the great Yoruba, or Yariba, country, and appears to be every- where encircled by hostile tribes. On the east of the 148 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. coast-line, Fort-William, Porto Novo, and Badagry, are already in the hands of the Europeans. The most im- portant coast town, however, of Dahomey, is Whydah, two miles from its open roadstead. like all negro towns, it covers a great extent of land, the huts being sur- rounded by gardens, nor is there any lack of other open spaces. The capital of the interior, 7 0 miles north of Whydah, is Abomey, first reached by the British traveller Duncan in 1845, a town with a population of probably not more than 30,000, but with a circuit of from 12 to 15 miles. It is enclosed by an earthen wall some 2 0 feet high, with a very wide and deep ditch. The streets are broad and tolerably clean, the houses are all surrounded by large courts, and the public places adorned with magnificent trees. Here live the Amazons and slaves of the king, and here also he keeps his treasures. He has no special apartments, but resides now in one, now in another hut with one or another of his wives. All buildings belong- ing to the royal group of huts are enclosed by an earth wall 15 or 20 feet high, and mounted by several iron spikes or prongs, on which are stuck the heads of victims, some already blanched, some with the putrid flesh still adhering to the bones, and others still fresh and dripping with gore. Yet these constantly-recurring sanguinary rites are less the result of cold-blooded cruelty than of supersti- tious fear and pious tradition. Hence European influ- ence is already beginning to diminish the horrors of religious ceremonies hitherto looked on as essential to the welfare and prosperity of the king and his subjects. The Dahomey negroes are all fetish-worshippers, and this, like other forms of religion, has its priesthood, which is in Africa no less powerful and influential than else- where. Every conceivable object may be converted into DAHOMEY. 149 a fetish by a few magic words muttered over it by the priest. GATE OF THE GOLGOTHA IN ABOMEY. On the coast this feticism assumes the form of ophiolatry, or serpent-worship ; and in Whydah there is a special snake temple, where more than a hundred of these consecrated reptiles are preserved. The Ffons, or Dahomey negroes, are generally of 150 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. small size, but very robust. They climb the lofty palm- trees like monkeys, drink palm-wine in moderation, but are all the more devoted to the rum-flask. They are of a pleasant, cheerful disposition, very sociable, but irre- sistibly addicted to stealing. Everything in the state, including the lives and property of his subjects, belongs, strictly speaking, to the king, who inherits as the eldest born. Besides a number of ordinary troops he has a female bodyguard of real Amazons, renowned for their bravery. All the women of this corps pass for wives of the king, but they really live in a state of celibacy. These Amazons wear a blue and white striped cotton surtout of native cloth, without sleeves, and a pair of short trousers, and carry a gun and heavy cartridge-case. They are trained to be capable of enduring the greatest hardships and fatigues. Duncan describes one of the exercises to which they are accustomed. " I was conducted," he says, " to a space of broken ground, where fourteen days had been occupied in erecting three immense prickly piles of green bush. These three clumps or piles, of a sort of strong brier or thorn, armed with the most dangerous prickles, were placed in line, occupying about four hundred yards, and were about seventy feet wide and eight feet high. Upon examining them, I could not persuade myself that any human being without boots or shoes would under any circumstances attempt to pass over so dangerous a col- lection of the most efficiently armed plants I had ever seen. . . . The affair was got up to illustrate the capture of a town. . . . After waiting a short time the Amazons made their appearance at about two hundred yards from the first pile, where they halted with shouldered arms. In a few seconds the word for attack was given, and a rush was made towards the pile with a speed beyond conception ; in less than a minute the whole body had passed over this immense pile, and had taken the sup- posed town." YORUBA. 151 14. Lagos — The Yorvha Country — Ableokuta. The English have taken possession of a portion of the Slave Coast, and here is situated Lagos, the most populous town on the west coast, connected by a regular line of steamers with Liverpool, and otherwise of great com- mercial importance. It lies on an island, separated by a lagoon some fifteen miles from the mainland, here over- grown down to the water's edge by an impenetrable virgin forest. The lagoon formation renders the climate very unhealthy, producing great mortality amongst the natives themselves no less than the Europeans. The soil of the lagoon island of Lagos is sandy, covering clay ; the land is but little elevated above the ocean, and abounds in swamps. Before 1861, when Lagos was formed into a British colony, it was a filthy and savage place ; but the wretched native huts were quickly cleared away, and wide streets letting in the sea- breeze, with brick stores and comfortable dwellings above them, are now seen, with wharves running out into the lagoon. Markets have now been regulated, Houssa Zouave- dressed soldiers and a police force organised, a racecourse established, churches, schools, courthouses, custom-house, Government house, and barracks built. Where houses are not built, however, rank vegetation flourishes. The wily crocodile and voracious shark exist in the lagoon, and both seem to thrive. " The population of the town," Mr. Whitford tells us, " is estimated at about 50,000, and it is very much mixed. In addition to the original natives, many people from coun- tries bordering on the river Niger, eager to trade, have settled here. Traders from Sierra Leone, old liberated slaves, or their descendants, have also come to ameliorate their position in life, and they conduct themselves better than at Sierra Leone, for if they exhibit insolence here 152 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL they are liable to be properly punished. Various de- nominations of Christian missions have planted their Ebenezer in Lagos, and the followers of Mahomet have also established their right to benefit by the religious in- clination of the different races. Christian and Mahometan schools abound. . . . There are several followers of Maho- met wearing green turbans, to which they are entitled from having performed the pilgrimage to Mecca, crossing and recrossing the continent of Africa from Lagos to Egypt, over the Nile and across the Eed Sea to Jiddah, the port of Mecca, and then inland in Arabia the Blest to the birthplace of the Prophet." The trading stores, or factories as they are called in Lagos, belong to English, French, or German firms, and in these, guns, cloth, or " anything from a fish-hook to a cask of rum," are exchanged for palm-oil and cotton, which furnish a continual supply of cargo for homeward-bound steamers. The Guinea Coast, from Cape Palmas eastward to the Bight of Biafra, is subject to fierce short-lived hurricanes or cyclonic storms called here " tornadoes." They occur most frequently in the dry season. Mr. Whitford has given a picturesque description of one of these which occurred in the neighbourhood of Lagos. " The forenoon," he says, * had been very bright and very hot. We were seated in the verandah after mid-day breakfast enjoying the sea-breeze, when suddenly the rumble of distant thunder was heard. On looking inland towards Abbeo- kuta we observed inky clouds streaked with vivid lightning coming up rapidly against the sea-breeze. The sea-breeze ceases suddenly, and calm ensues — a calm that you can feel by the sinking of your own spirits. Presently all animals get under cover. English rabbits, in their pro- tected enclosure, scurry into their holes ; lizards catching butterflies flee out of sight ; land-crabs stop excavating YORUBA. 153 and go home. The fox-bats, asleep during the day, clinging by their claws to the branches of trees of dense foliage in the courtyard, with their bodies suspended, as is their nature, may be observed clawing a tighter hold. All labour is stopped, and everybody takes shelter. Sud- denly the sun disappears, and the ensuing darkness is appalling. The theatre of heaven bursts into tempest. Hiss, hiss, comes the lightning, flash after flash dancing over ironwork like momentary blue flames of sulphur, totally blinding you while it lasts, while the thunder so crashes that you cannot hear anything else. * The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last, And rattling showers rose on the blast.' Trees are broken, and branches fly through the air, and the roofs of many houses disappear. The weather doors and windows rattle almost to bursting. The rain is driven nearly horizontally, and a deluge covers the country. In half an hour the sun returns with his silent beams, and all nature is once more calm and bright." The country inland from Lagos is Yoruba, already men- tioned, in which is situated the tolerably well-known town of Abbeokuta, with a population of some 80,000, belong- ing to the Egba tribe. This is one of the few places in Africa where the zeal of Christian missionaries has not remained unrewarded. The Yoruba country, bounded on the north and east by the Lower Niger, has been to some extent made known by the explorations of Mr. Daniel May in 1858, and by the memorable travels and labours of Gerhard Eohlfs in 1867. Towards the end of his great march across North Africa, Gerhard Eohlfs crossed the Niger at Eabba, and passed straight through the Yoruba country to the coast at Lagos. He describes the gradual transition from open and cultivated country, resembling a great garden with its I 154 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. beautiful flowers and gay butterflies, to undulating heights in which cultivation interchanges with woods of the oil- palm. Thence, as the ocean is gradually approached, vegetation becomes more and more luxuriant, till at length a broad belt of the same dense primeval forest as we have described on the Gold Coast intervenes to separate the cultivated interior lands from the sea. Saraki, a large town with square barrack-like buildings of clay and straw, each inhabited by a number of families, about twenty miles south of the Niger at Eabba, was the first Yoruba city which he visited. Illori, a city of about 60,000 inhabit- ants, and famed as a great market throughout all West Africa, lies about thirty miles south-west of this. It is surrounded by high but ruinous walls and deep trenches, and the circuit of these is not less than twelve miles. The dwellings in Illori are all rectangularly built, with colossal roofs of palm rafters and straw thatch ; the streets are wide and interrupted frequently by little open market- squares filled with little booths. Mosques are numerous, and king and court profess Mohammedanism. The Yoruba inhabitants are of light brown colour, and have pleasant features ; all are clothed well and cleanly, some of the women even with elegance. This is remarkable as being the last point towards the Guinea Coast at which the goods coming over Africa from Tripoli, Tunis, and Egypt are met with. The Haussa merchants bring hither bur- nouses, red " torbushes," natron from Lake Chad, essences, and silks, to exchange these for European products (cloth, powder, brandy), which are brought to this point by traders from Lagos and the other settlements on the Guinea Coast. Ibadan, between Illori and the coast, is the most populous city of Yoruba, and one of the largest in West Africa, having about 1 5 0,0 0 0 inhabitants, — a very London of negroland, with long wide streets lined with booths. THE NIGER DELTA. 155 The whole of northern Yoruba has been conquered by the Fulah Mohammedans, and belongs to the great king- dom of Gando. The Sultan of Mori, at the time of Eohlfs' visit, was a man of Fulah descent, though perfectly black. His grandfather had first extended the Mohammedan power as far over the Yoruba country as this city. Oyo, a place lying south-west of Mori, is the capital of Yoruba proper, but Ibadan has sometimes been the seat of power. 15. The Niger Delta — Bonny. Our notice of the coast of Guinea may be concluded with a glance at the Niger delta and the islands of the Gulf of Guinea. The land is almost a dead flat all the way to opposite the island of Fernando Po near the head of the Bight of Biafra, facing which are the volcanic Cameroon mountains, rising to an elevation of 13,120 feet. Below Abo the Niger begins to divide itself into a number of branches, which are connected together by many channels or form backwaters, whereby the main stream is much diminished in size. It has altogether twenty-two mouths. The huts of the inhabitants of the delta are of the rudest de- scription, and the people themselves, distinguished by their dark copper colour, are a wild savage race, generally of repulsive appearance, and, notwithstanding all the in- fluence of the Europeans, more than ever addicted to the grossest superstition, human sacrifices, and cannibalism. Specially notorious is the town of Bonny, where the barbarous custom prevails of burying twins immediately after their birth. In New Calabar, Old Calabar, and Abo, not only are all twins sacrificed, but also all the children whose upper teeth first appear. In some parts of Benin it is customary to sacrifice two human beings at every new moon. The spiritual chief of these negroes is the 156 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. fetish man, who on all festive occasions takes precedence of the king himself. The juju-houses, or fetish temples, are everywhere met with. " Juju" properly means fetish, but has many other applications, and vividly recalls the " tabu" of the South Sea Islanders, and like it serves for the preservation of property. In 1859, in the public market-place of Duke Town on the Old Calabar river, human flesh was openly exposed for sale like so much beef ; and in Brass and Bonny all captives taken in war are eaten under the impression that the food is conducive to bravery, an illusion also prevalent in Australia. Both sexes mutilate themselves by gashing their face, chest, and arms. Their dress is extremely simple, even the most distinguished and richest oil-mer- chants wearing nothing but a narrow strip round the loins, and the women dress exactly like the men. In excep- tional cases they wear European clothing, like all negroes showing a preference for glazed hats and dress coats, in which they look like so many decked-out apes. Through the influence of the missionaries and traders the wholesale destruction of human life in these barbarous shores has been reduced, and in some instances abolished altogether ; but the natives still adhere to their fetish ceremonies, and there seems to be no doubt that, in spite of various treaties which have been made with them for the abolition of this fearful custom, the natives of Bonny still practise cannibalism. The juju- house, in which human sacrifices were common upon stated occa- sions, is ranged round with hundreds of human skulls, and has a central altar on which offerings are laid to pacify the evil spirit. These low-lying delta branches of the Niger and the Old Calabar and Cameroons river estuaries, each of them separated by mangrove-covered swamps, have been termed the " oil rivers " of West Africa, since it is by these that ISLANDS OF THE GULF OF GUINEA. 157 the enormous supply of palm-oil is brought down to the coast to be shipped in large steamers for Liverpool or Glasgow. The river Bonny, or Boni, one of the eastern delta mouths of the Niger, was one of the first inlets of this coast known to the Europeans, and from the sixteenth to the present century was the favourite mart of slave- ships, the number of human beings transhipped here having amounted to about 16,000 every year. The houses form- ing the present town at the mouth of the river are placed in a dismal swamp almost overgrown with rank vegetation, amidst which fevers are rife. European traders cannot reside in the town or on the beach, but live on board hulks like exaggerated Noah's arks, which are moored in the current of the river, and in these goods of every de- scription are exchanged for palm-oil, which is melted down and stored in sheds on shore, ready for shipment by the earliest steamer. At Duke Town on the Old Calabar river, and Aqua Town on the Cameroons river (so named from the Portuguese Camarao, a shrimp), trade is carried on in the same fashion. In contrast to the low mangrove swamps of the coast to north and west of its base, the volcanic Cameroons mountain rises like a gigantic pyramid from a sea-base of thirty miles, which is dotted with pretty wooded islands. Above these, valleys and chasms filled with great trees of infinite variety reach up the high land to where the soli- tary peak towers upward, altering in aspect and colour with each change of position of the sun. 16. Fernando Po and other Islands in the Gulf of Guinea. In the Gulf of Guinea, running from the north-east to the south-west, are five volcanic islands — Fernando Po, belonging to Spain, and used as a place of exile for political offenders, the largest ; Ilha do Principe, or Prince's 158 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Island ; and St. Thomas, with the little Ilha das Eolhas (all three Portuguese) ; and lastly, Annobom (Spanish), the smallest of the group. The most important of these islands is Fernando Po, with its peak 10,190 feet high, and a perfect cone in shape. It is wooded to the top, rendering the harbour of Clarence Cove the most pic- turesque point on the west coast of Africa. It is inhabited by a very peculiar tribe, the Aniyo, or " Boobies," as they are called by the English. They are of a very mild nature, though repulsive in appearance, but have a decided distaste for the least degree of civilisation. A straw hat is their chief clothing. Prince's Island is described as " a volcanic flower- garden," and the bay, on which is situated the little town of San Antonio, forms the scene of the loveliest amphi- theatre imaginable. St. Thomas, like Fernando Po, pos- sesses a lofty peak 7005 feet high, and the clean little village of Santa Ana de Chaves ; but bears an evil repute for its unhealthy climate. On the other hand, the romantic Annobom, crossed by bold rugged basalt masses of wondrous forms, is perfectly salubrious. An extinct but clearly defined crater in the interior of the island is filled by a lovely picturesque mountain lake. THE NIGER. 159 CHAPTEE XII. THE NIGER REGIONS. 1 . The Course of the Niger — Sego — Sansandig. One of the largest of African rivers, the Niger is unques- tionably the most important in the west. Eising, it is believed, in Mount Loma, a summit which stands on the plateau at a distance of about 200 miles east-north-east of Sierra Leone, and which was passed by Mr. Winwood Eeade in his journey to Falaba and Boure gold-fields in 1869, the Joliba or Upper Niger flows first north-eastward towards Timbuktu, thus reaching the Sahara and the domain of the Tuareg. Here, after flowing for some distance in a due easterly direction, it suddenly changes to the south- east, thus at last reaching the ocean at the delta described in the foregoing chapter. Portions both of its upper and lower course remain yet to be thoroughly explored. During its upper course it bears the name of the Joliba, and that of the Quorra or Kuara in its middle and lower ; but there are even other names for various sections of this river which European geographers will do best to continue still to speak of as the Niger, there being no general name for it in Africa itself. Although the river was known vaguely by report to the ancient geographers, and supposed by Hero- dotus to be a branch of the Egyptian Nile, and though trad- ing vessels had long been visiting the creeks at its mouths, no definite notion of the Niger began to be formed till Mungo Park first reached it from the west coast, and found it flowing slowly to the eastward through the kingdom of 160 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Bambarra, with a width nearly equal to that of the Thames at Westminster. In his second journey of 1805, con- vinced that the river must have an outlet in the sea, he was on his way down it in a canoe, when he was either murdered or drowned in sailing through a narrow channel of the stream at Bu?sa, in the kingdom of Gando (10° 20' N.) In 1828, Caillie descended the river from Jenne to Timbuktu, in company with a cargo of slaves in one of the fragile native canoes, which keep up a continually active trade along the whole extent of the river ; in 1830 the brothers Lander, one of whom had accom- panied Clapperton in his unsuccessful journey of 1826, landed at Badagry, and, marching overland to Bussa, took canoe there, came swiftly down the great river with the autumn floods, and arrived at the Nun mouth, thus settling the long- vexed question of its outlet. Several heroic attempts were now made to open up the new-found highway to legitimate trade, and to abolish the slave traffic by it : first, the ill-fated ascent of the river by Macgregor Laird, in 1832, with two small steamers ; and then the expedition sent out in three vessels by the British Govern- ment in 1841, which founded a "model farm" on a tract of land at Lukoja, opposite the confluence of the Binue and Niger. Such, however, was the fearful mortality among the Europeans sent thither, that the Niger schemes were abandoned till 1852, when Mr. Laird established the African Steamship Company, and built factories along various points of the river. At the present time the navigation of the Niger is regularly established ; six or seven steamers of light draught make trips from the Atlantic ports to and fro during nine months of the year to factories as far as the confluence of the Binue, and during the swelling of the river they pass still higher to stations above the con- fluence, delivering European goods, and receiving ivory, THE NIGER. 161 palm-oil, and shea butter, in return. These vessels must, however, be well armed, for the natives of the vil- lages bordering the river in the upper portion of the delta are hostile, and frequently fire upon the steamers in passing. The town of Abo, at the head of the delta, is in the very- centre of the palm-oil region. Beyond the low delta land the single river opens out in width and grandeur ; beautiful islands appear in its course, and the banks, adorned with groves of palms and sprinkled with silk-cotton trees, rise upward in undulating heights. At Onitsha, a pleasantly situated town, with cultivated gardens situated on high ground at about two miles from the left bank of the Niger (in lat. 6° 10' N.), the northern limit of the palm-oil trading region is reached, and higher up ivory and shea butter are the chief articles of trade. The shea or "tree" butter is derived from the oil or fat contained in the olive- like seeds of a tree nearly allied to the genus Bassia ; the seeds are dried and afterwards boiled to extract the butter, which is not only whiter and more solid and pleasant to the taste, than that of cow's milk, but keeps for a year without salting. Near Iddah, still higher up the stream, light red sandstone cliffs rise perpendicularly from the right bank of the river, and the view on both sides becomes enchant- ing. " Distant mountains stretch across the horizon, from north-west to north-east ; between, are great plains rising into table-land. The flat, smiling, level country abounds in forests, bounded by far-away hills ; quiet villages, con- sisting of round mud huts, cluster picturesquely over the landscape." A remarkable change for the better is also observed in the inhabitants of the country as the river is ascended : the people are more civilised, and depend on agriculture for a living ; growing indigo also, and dyeing the blue robes which they wear folded loosely round the body. Nearly opposite Igbegbe, or " Bebbe," immediately below the mouth of the Binue, at the base of the hill called M 162 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. a Patte," is Lukoja, the site of the unfortunate " model farm" of 1841. This was the residence of Dr. Baikie for seven years from 1857 onward, as consular agent for the British Government ; and since 1865 it has been an important mis- sion station under Bishop Crowther's management, as well as a chief trading place and store for the merchants of Liverpool, Sierra Leone, and Lagos, trafficking on the river. Upward from Lukoja the Niger winds through a valley ranging from ten to thirty miles in width, abounding in rich soil and cultivated levels, fringed on each side by flat-topped hills. In September and October, when the river is in full flood, it overflows the low-lying banks for several miles, giving the appearance of a great lake dis- trict. At the large town of Egga, in Gando, a full day's steaming from Lukoja, the present limit of the European traffic on the Niger is reached. The town of Egga has a population which has been variously estimated by travellers at from 18,000 to 50,000. Mr. Whitford describes it as being built on land slightly elevated above the river, but surrounded by the stream, and separated into islets at time of flooding. The whole of the land forming the town is densely covered with the usual round mud huts with thick conical roofs. The streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy, covered with refuse left for the lean dogs and turkey buzzards to clear away. There are three mosques, for the country inland from the con- fluence is Mohammedan ; and beside these sandal-makers and saddlers are busy at work. Weavers also rattle their shuttles in primitive looms, making a thick and durable cloth ; and red leather is worked up into warlike shields, dagger-sheaths, and quivers. The Binue is wider at the confluence than the Niger, and its waters are blue and clear, in contrast to those of the main river. Though this great river was ascended by Baikie and May, in 1854, to a place called Dulti, 350 MANDINGO COUNTRY. 163 miles from the confluence, attempts to open up traffic along it have as yet been unsuccessful, owing to the jealousies and suspicions of the native chiefs along its banks. "We may now pass on to glance at the Central African states and kingdoms which lie within the great Niger basin. The Joliba or Upper Niger defines for us the eastern limits of Senegambia, flowing through the domain of the Mandingoes and Bambarras, whose capital, Sego — a square town surrounded by earth walls, with two-storied white mud houses with flat roofs — is situated on its banks. A little lower down is Sansandig, which is not a great negro village in the usual sense, but rather a town of from 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants, exceptionally industrious, and very wealthy. Here money is abundant, and you may reckon by hundreds the owners of rich European stuffs, arms, precious stones, tea, sugar, and the thousand articles with which the caravans are laden that cross the desert from Marocco and the Tuat oases. There are chieftains and merchants who could, at a moment's notice, produce £50,000 or £60,000 more readily than many European bankers ; and there are great numbers of slaves also, that fruitful source of wealth in Africa. The money of the country is the cowrie, a little univalvular shell (Cyprcea moneta) found in the Indian Ocean. Whole shiploads of them arrive on the coast, especially of Dahomey, whence they reach Sego, Timbuktu, and the Haussa states, but not farther west than Sego. However, the cowrie serves only as a sort of petty cash for everyday transactions, the real " current coin" in Sego being the slave, who has here a fictitious value. In Sego we meet with representatives of all the types of Western Sudan — the pure Pul or Eulah, and all sorts of minglings with the various Moorish races, the Soninke, 164 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Malilike, Jolof, and Bambarra ; but the finest type is un- doubtedly that produced by a mixture of Fulah and Berber blood, excelling, perhaps, even the pure-blooded Fulah themselves. Between Bambarra and the inner borders of Ashantee, Dahomey, and Yoruba, lie several Negro states, known as yet only by report, such as those of Tombo, Mosi or More, and Gurma ; and of Kong and Dagomba farther south. 2. The Haussa and other Fulah States. The region, stretching from the middle course of the Niger, between Bambarra and Timbuktu eastward, across the whole extent of its basin to the upper Binue, is sub- divided into several states and tribes, all, however, appa- rently belonging to the same race. The most powerful of these Negro states are those of the Haussa, a branch of the Fulah, who are the most intelligent of all African races. Hence the more important of their kingdoms are entitled to special attention in a work of this sort. Although the Haussas probably had their origin in the east, their later conquests took a direction from west to east. It was only in 1802, however, that the warlike Othman, called Fu Dir, or the " White," founded the ex- tensive Haussa empire. At his death he divided it be- tween his two sons, Mohammed Bello, to whose share the more easterly division of Sokoto fell, and his brother, Abd-Allahi, who received the western provinces, with the capital town of Gando, territories which occupied the whole vast space along the middle Niger, and across to the basin of the Binue. Still later the Felattah con- quered and established the kingdom of Massina, which occupies a wide area on each side of the upper Niger between Bambarra and Timbuktu, and is separated on the east from Gando by a narrow belt of independent Son- rhay territory. HAUSSA STATES. 165 On the great island of Massina (or Massina proper), in the Niger, is the town of Jenne, with 8000 inhabit- ants, a chief centre of the commerce of Sudan, owing its prosperity to its trade in salt and gold. Hamda-AHahi, the capital city of Massina, lies near the right bank of the Niger, lower down ; and Yowaru, another large town of Massina, on the left bank, is nearly as large as Tim- buktu. But foremost of all stands Timbuktu, at about nine miles from the western knee of the Niger, with a popula- tion of 13,000, a famous emporium for the traffic carried on between the north and the negro states of Sudan. Although situated in the country of the Tademekket, it, properly speaking, owns no master, and keeps aloof from the constant feuds of the surrounding states. To the east, and mainly along the course of the Niger, dwell the Sonrhay negroes, reckoned at about 2,000,000, and speaking a poor and originally monosyllabic tongue. South of Timbuktu, and east of Massina, stretches the state of Gando, made up of loosely confederated tribes, situated in the region of the Niger and its tributaries, and partly belonging to the former Haussa states. This Haussa nation occupies a prominent place in North Africa, and is distinguished for its vivacity, intelligence, friend- liness, industry, and social qualities. Yet it seems un- conscious of being destined to fulfil any great mission in Central Africa. The Haussa tongue is the noblest, the most harmo- nious, the richest, and most animated in the whole of Nigritia. East of Gando stretches the kindred Fulah state of Sokoto, with its capital of the same name, reaching over an area about equal to that of the British Isles, and bordering eastwards on the negro kingdom of Bornu. To Sokoto belongs the province of Adamawa, watered by the Chadda 166 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL. or Beirut the most important tributary on the left bank of the Niger. The people of Adamawa, notably the Batta or chief tribe, are also very intelligent and indus- trious, of a yellowish - red complexion and handsome appearance. The whole of the Fulah domain occupies an extent of country about equal to the area of Austria, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Baden, and Switzerland taken together. The travels of Barth (1853) and Eohlfs (1866-67) have thrown the greatest light on the general character of the Fulah states. From the capital of Bornu, Kuka on Lake Chad, Barth went in an almost north-westerly direction across the northern bend of the Niger to Tim- buktu, while Eohlfs made his way from the same place in a south-westerly direction to Lagos. Among the hundreds of towns and centres of popu- lation scattered over the densely inhabited Felattah or Haussa states of the Niger basin, the city of Kano, the capital of a province of its name in the empire of Sokoto, is one of the most noted. Kano has about 30,000 in- habitants, carries on a great traffic, and manufactures the blue cotton cloth of the Sudan very extensively, sending every year 1500 camel loads of it to Timbuktu, Murzuk, Ghat, and even to Tripoli. Its houses are partly quad- rangular, built of mud, and provided with a flat roof, and surrounded by gardens and fields, so that the city occu- pies a great space. The numbers of its inhabitants, and its industry, are constantly on the increase. Its market, famed throughout the Sudan, is well supplied with slaves, gold-dust, ivory, salt, leather-wares, cotton, and indigo. From January till April, the season at which caravans come to Kano from all parts of the Sudan, its population is at least doubled. Yakoba, or Garo-n-Bautshi, the capital town of another subjugated province forming part of southern HAUSSA STATES. 167 Sokoto, is also a great town, with about 150,000 inhabit- ants. Eohlfs, who visited it in making his way south- westward from Kuka to the Atlantic at Lagos in 1866. describes it as surrounded by walls three and a half hours in circuit, enclosing great gardens and fields along with the houses, besides several rocky hills, and many pools. The town lies on a plateau, surrounded on the north-east and south-east by granite hills, reaching nearly 3000 feet above the sea, and forming the water-parting between the tributaries of the Quorra and Binue. The climate of this plateau would be very suitable for Europeans ; besides the fruits of the tropical zone, all the fruits of the southern temperate region flourish here, with dates, citrons, and pomegranates. Though it formerly carried on a busy trade with Adamawa in the south, and the province of Nupe in Gando westward, the commerce of Yakoba had much declined at the time of Eohlfs' visit, but a daily market is still held, and in it slaves are sold at half the price of those at Kuka, besides cattle, horses not larger than donkeys, and sheep and goats of the size of a poodle dog. Like Kano, Yakoba is also a famous place for the manufacture of cotton stuffs. The dress of its people is very varied. The better class wear a white or black "litham," like the Tuareg, with wide trousers of white or finely-checked blue cotton, a large white shirt with long sleeves, and over all an ample mantle. Most, however, go either with shirt alone or trousers alone. They shave the head and beard like the Mohammedans. This applies to the citizens only ; the country people wear nothing at all, and only the richest of them put on a shirt, or, it may be, wind a large cloth round their loins, when they come into town. Sokoto and Gando, the capitals of the two great empires, lie not far from one another near the river Sokoto, the first considerable tributary received by the Niger after 168 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. its bend through the margin of the desert. The former town, well built on an eminence over the river, has about 20,000 inhabitants. Eabba and Egga, on the Niger, are perhaps the chief among the many important trading towns of the empire of Gando, and these, as we have seen, have already been reached by direct commerce from England. 3. Earth's Journey across the Bend of the Niger to Timbuktu. After passing through northern Bornu and Sokoto, Barth reached and crossed the Niger at the town of Say, where the stream is 1000 paces broad, and flows with a velocity of twelve miles an hour between rocky banks from twenty to thirty feet above the level of the stream. Say itself forms a square, each side of which measures 2000 paces, but inside the earth wall the houses are built very irregularly, with an unusually large space set apart for the women. The heat was here so oppressive that it produced the sensation of being " throttled." After Say came Champagore, seat of a powerful Fulah chieftain. Here the people do not wear the national white tohe, or shirt, of the Fulahs, but one of a bright blue colour. Their granaries, perched upon four trestles to protect them from the ants, present rather a peculiar sight at a distance. Still keeping to the north-west, Barth arrived at a well-cultivated district, but where the Fulah alone breed cattle. Then, crossing the Sirba, a not inconsiderable tributary of the Niger, he came upon the Sonrhay village of Bossebango, where the men are inveterate smokers, and wear short blue shirts and long wide trousers. The women are of short stature, of unsymmetrical figure, and adorn their neck and ears with strings of pearls, but do THE NORTHERN BEND OF THE NIGER. 169 not wear nose-rings. Next followed Sebba, which, though capital of a Fulah province, is a wretched place of 200 mud huts. In the adjoining territory of Libtako, the last recognising the authority of Gando, the daily hardships of the journey were intensified by the troublesome flies and the leeches which, like their cousins in the Terai of the Himalayas, crept out of the grass on to the horse's legs, and plagued him so that " the blood ran down in streams." SOKOTA. Lamorde, in the district of Aribinda, and Tinge are independent Sonrhay places, whose inhabitants build very roomy houses, wear indigo blue shirts, and carry spears as their usual weapon, but swords occasionally. Here also the lower classes disfigure their features by gashing their cheeks. These open tracts were succeeded by the domain of the Fulahs of Massina. The appearance of the country from Kuka to this point had been tolerably uniform — cultivated 170 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. plains, varied by woodland scenery, arid districts, and low hills. Now, however, Barth entered a mountainous coun- HOMBORI MOUNTAINS. 171 try full of romantic beauty. This was the Hombori range, where the rocks seen from a distance resembled hands and fingers pointing upwards. The nearer he approached the more fantastic became the shape of the hills, the cliffs looking like square pillars with perpendicular walls, bold and rugged, and springing from cone-shaped rocks, so that every hill resembled a ruined castle resting on a sugar- 172 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. loaf elevation. These hills, however, did not attain a height of more than 787 feet above the plain, and Barth estimates their absolute elevation at 1500 feet above the sea-level. On leaving this picturesque hilly country he again found himself in an independent district, inhabited by the Iregenaten Tuaregs, but soon entered the Fulah territory ... KABARA. of Massina, arriving at the important town of Sukurara, in the neighbourhood of which a considerable stream reminded him that he was again approaching the upper Niger. From Saraiyamo, capital of the Fulah province of Kisso, he followed the downward course of the Niger to Timbuktu. Crocodiles and caymans are here seen in the river, and farther on the hippopotamus raising his unwieldy back TIMBUKTU. 173 above the surface. The river now assumes the appearance of a noble stream as far as Kabara, the port of Timbuktu. This place, which is at an elevation of about 900 feet above the sea, consists of from 150 to 200 mud houses with a number of reed huts, and has a population of about 2000, mostly Sonrhay negroes. The short tract between Kabara and Timbuktu is quite desert, the narrow strip of vegetation on the banks of the river, at least in the dry season, disappearing altogether after a few steps. That small tract of land bears the dismal name of " Ur-imman- dess," i.e. " he hears it not," meaning that Allah himself is deaf to the cry of anguish uttered by the solitary wayfarer when here fallen upon by robbers. 4. Timbuktu. Timbuktu, with regular streets in the better quarters, and the stately dwellings of the wealthy merchants from Ghadames, presents an imposing appearance. There are nearly a thousand clay houses, some low and unseemly, others rising to two stories and exhibiting considerable architectural adornment, and many huts of matting. The mosque of Sankore is a most imposing edifice in the north of the city ; the " Great Mosque " is also an immense building of stately appearance. The settled population does not exceed 13,000, but in the "season," from No- vember to January, the number of strangers attending the market increases it by from 5000 to 10,000. As Tim- buktu produces nothing itself, it is indebted for its very existence entirely to the trade carried on at this market. But little field produce is raised by the inhabitants them- selves, most of the supplies and provisions being brought down the Niger. The elegant and tasteful leather work and leather embroidery, which are the only articles pro- duced on the spot, are the work of the Tuareg women. 174 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Three great highways of trade converge at Timbuktu, the two caravan routes crossing the desert from Marocco and Ghadames in the north, and the upper Niger itself, bringing the produce of the south-west to this great emporium. The chief articles of trade are gold and salt, the latter indispensable commodity being nowhere found in the cultivated regions of Sudan. A considerable traffic is TIMBUKTU. also done in the guro or kola nuts, fruits of the Sterculia acuminata and macrocarpa, which supply the place of the coffee berry, though even this plant seems to be indigenous to many parts of Sudan. The only articles of European trade that find their way to Timbuktu are Manchester cotton goods, red cloth, looking-glasses, cutlery, and tea, to which the Arabs are very partial. THE SONRHAY. 275 5. The Sonrhay. East of Massina and Timbuktu, and stretching thence across the northern bend of the Niger to as far as the borders of Air or Asben, live the Sonrhay people, the descendants of the inhabitants of the vast empire which flourished during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Their number is still estimated at upwards of two millions. The city of Gao, or Gagho, situated on the left bank of the Niger, where the sandy downs of the desert merge into arable lands and rice and tobacco fields, and for six centuries the most flourishing place in all Negroland and the capital of the Sonrhay empire, was represented at the time of Barth's return journey along the Niger by a village of about four hundred huts in the midst of over- grown ruins. IT 6 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE XIII. CENTRAL SUDAN. 1. Extent — Political Divisions. This region, situated between the Fulah states on the west and the so-called "Egyptian Sudan" on the east, is occupied by the negro kingdoms of Bornu, Baghrirmi, and Wadai. Bornu, the neighbouring state to Sokoto, is pro- perly conterminous with the basin of Lake Chad, that great lake of Central Africa, for somewhat more accurate infor- mation concerning which we are chiefly indebted to the most recent explorers, Eohlfs and Nachtigal. Bornu is a lovely and fruitful kingdom, considerably larger in extent than England, decked in all the splendour of the tropical world ; but also subject to all its inconveni- ences. It is inhabited chiefly by the Kanuri race, which has a language of its own, but is otherwise mixed with a great deal of slave and foreign blood. Like all the other states in Central and Egyptian Sudan, Bornu has adopted Mohammedanism, though many heathen lands stretch south- wards from it, about which we are still almost in complete ignorance. Kanem, an undulating but generally sandy country lying on the north-east side of the Chad, is partly depend- ent upon Bornu. Only that portion of it which lies close to Lake Chad is well peopled by the Kanembu, the original owners of the soil, allied to the Tebu who are scattered over the northern regions of Kanem ; but mixed up with the Kanembu are numbers of immigrant Arabs, and other foreign peoples. BORNU AND BAGHIRMI. 177 Baghirmi, bordered on the west by Bornu and a por- tion of Lake Chad, may be described as the land of the Shari, by which river it is watered. This would seem to be the most considerable stream in Central Africa that does not reach the sea. It flows into Lake Chad from a south- eastern direction, but has not yet been traced to its source, nor has Dr. NachtigaTs conjecture been yet confirmed, that its true upper course is the Welle, which we shall again meet in the north-western parts of the great equatorial lake region. The natives of Baghirmi are distinguished by their handsome appearance, warlike spirit, and industrious habits, but are otherwise bloodthirsty and cruel. North-east of Baghirmi lies the sultanate of Wadai, the northern parts of which are watered by the periodi- cally flowing stream of the Batha. Till quite recently Europeans have been barred all access to this country. The brave Edward Vogel paid with his life his daring attempt to penetrate into Wadai, and Dr. Nachtigal, to whom geography is so deeply indebted for his discoveries in Central Africa, was the first to succeed in crossing the country to Darfur on its eastern border, and collect reliable information on this region. 2. Semi-civilised Negro States. Both Bornu and Baghirmi present a surprising picture of a remarkable state of Negro civilisation. This culture may in many respects seem somewhat eccentric and even barbaric ; still it cannot be denied that we here meet with entirely independent attempts at the formation of original states and social policy. Amongst these nations we find a fully organised administration, a court and government with all its accompanying dignities and offices, a military system, which for Central Africa may be considered fairly well N 178 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. worked out ; in a word, a people of industrious habits, tillers of the land, and skilled in many of the arts of life — a people that can in no sense be regarded as " savage," although still addicted to many practices looked on by us as barbarous. Thus the whole policy of the state is still based on slavery, and the slave-trade, especially towards the north across the desert in the direction of Fezzan and Tripoli, still flourishes vigorously throughout the whole of the Mohammedan states of Sudan. 3. Transition from the Sahara to the Sudan. Eohlfs' travels in Bornu have thrown the greatest light upon this territory, whose sultan bears the official title of " Mai " Omar. He has shown himself exceptionally friendly to his European visitors, by his liberal co-operation con- tributing much to the happy issue of their explorations. Coming from the north, when he reached the well of Belkashifari, Eohlfs found that the desert came to an end. After this point the country rapidly assumed a totally different aspect At first various grasses are met with, including many producing edible corn. Then comes the great mimosa forest, which seems to form a broad belt from four to five days' journey in width, and stretching right across the continent from the western seaboard to the Eed Sea. This, however, is no impene- trable virgin forest such as may elsewhere be met with in tropical lands, but rather resembles a light, airy park, with widespread grassy tracts interspersed between the wooded parts of the land. As you advance wild beasts of all sorts become more numerous, especially whole herds of the red and white speckled antelopes ; giraffes are also seen, and there are traces even of the lion. At last the open hamlet of Ngigmi is reached, built of pointed red huts, the first peopled spot on the northern frontier of Bornu, on the north-east extremity of Lake Chad. BORNU. 179 4. Lake Chad and surrounding Country. The Chad, or Tsad (for both spellings express the sound as it is variously uttered), is a great sweet- water lake, about which for many years the most opposite opinions were entertained by European geographers. Shaped like an irregular triangle, the base of which is invaded by the delta of the Shari, the Chad has an area of about 10,000 square miles in the dry season, and in the rainy season is probably at least five times more ex- tensive. At this period alone it can be looked on as a lake in the full sense of the term. It begins to swell in the month of August, and at its highest stage in the end of November its level is raised by from 20 to 30 feet. In the dry season, before the rains begin in June, it presents rather the appearance of an immense swamp, for miles along its border overgrown with reeds and the papyrus, the haunt of the hippopotami, that may here be seen in herds of a hundred and upwards. Here also we of course meet the crocodile, and also the elephant and rhinoceros, though not so frequently. Waterfowl of all sorts would appear to be more abundant than in almost any other part of the world, and the extraordinary quantity of fish has been dwelt upon by all travellers that have visited the lake. In the centre is an archipelago of numerous islands, in summer connected together, and also partly with the mainland. Hippopotami, crocodiles, and fish are every- where to be found on their shores, and on one or two of them elephants are numerous. They are inhabited also by the Yedina, or Budduma, a Negro tribe of notorious pirates, independent of Bornu, who navigate the lake in flat-bottomed vessels. The Yedina islanders are described by Dr. Nachtigal as big and strong black men with long hair, wearing the 180 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. ordinary Bornu tobe. Their arms are the lance and tlirowing-spears, and a shield of phogu wood. They cultivate a little durra and maize, and are rich in cattle and goats. They make two kinds of boats, a larger sort of 50 feet in length and 6 feet in width, built of planks of murr wood, and little canoes made of branches and twigs of ambatch, which is plentiful in the Chad. In trading they exchange fish, hippopotamus-hide whips, ivory, and natron — which last is obtained in great quantity from the islands, although the lake water is perfectly fresh — for clothes, ornaments, and wheat. The security of their homes in the lake has made them most audacious robbers. Many harmless agricul- turists of the lake shores are carried off as slaves to their islands, and smaller caravans are frequently plundered by them without any retribution being attempted. They are often at enmity with their neighbours the Kuri, who occupy the smaller islands in the south-eastern part of the lake, and sometimes engage them in naval fights, in which several hundreds of boats are engaged on both sides. According to Eohlfs, Lake Chad is situated at about 1150 feet above the sea-level. But we now know that it is not the deepest basin in Central North Africa, though receiving more river water than any other. In the west it receives a number of streams, amongst which the Koma- dugu1 Yaobe is not exceeded in length by the Rhine itself. From the south comes the very important river Shari, swollen by the Ba Logon, a western branch almost equal to it in size. Dr. Nachtigal has now placed it beyond doubt that the Chad occasionally overflows to north-eastward by a broad channel named the Bahr-el-Ghazal, which opens out at a distance of 300 miles from the Chad into a 1 The words Chad, Shari, Komadugu, and Ba, have each, Dr. Nach- tigal tells us, the meaning of river, or collection of water. BOKNU. 181 great depressed plain called Bodele. He found the broad channel of the Ghazal and this remarkable depression completely strewn over with the vertebral bones of fishes which had been left there by the rapid drying up of the water after flooding from the Chad. 5. Bornu and its Capital. After crossing the Komadugu Yaobe, Eohlfs arrived, on July 22, 1866, in the capital of Bornu, Kuka, or Kukawa, situated close to the western shore of the Chad. The former capital, called Birnie, on the Yaobe, is now almost completely in ruins, but the newer town has risen rapidly into eminence both as a trading place and as the seat of government, and has gathered a population of about 60,000. It consists of two regular oblongs, each surrounded by a wall of 20 feet in height, and separated by nearly a mile of level land. The western division is the larger; the eastern one is the seat of government, and half of it is occupied by the sultan's palace, a labyrinth of courts and dwellings ; in it also live the troops, slaves, and eunuchs belonging to the sultan. Each division is traversed by a wide main street, from which narrower ones lead off right and left. Most of the houses are built of reeds and straw in the form of a sugar-loaf, and the more prosperous of the inhabitants have two or three of these surrounded by a little earthen wall. A small opening, covered by a mat serves for entrance and win- dow, and for furniture are a few mats and calabashes. One or two houses, however, and among these the sul- tan's residence, are built of clay, and roofed with wood exactly as those in Murzuk. Kuka is one of the greatest markets of all Central Africa, second only, perhaps, to that of Kano, and morning and evening its streets are so crowded with cattle, camels, 182 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. sheep, and poultry, as scarcely to leave room for the bustling population. Over the whole western division of the town, and in the open space between it and the government residences, booths are thickly scattered, and in these butter, milk, eggs, corn, fruits, and all kinds of wares, are exposed for sale. Immediately outside the gates a horse-auction is held. Here one may buy a first- rate riding-horse for 20 dollars, and the horses of Bornu are famed throughout all Negroland. Eohlfs notices that if Bornu were in direct communication with Europe, or united to the Mediterranean by some more rapid means than that of the camel caravans, which require four months to cross the desert, the greatest advantages would result to both countries. Or why, he asks, have not the English, Germans, or French, who are most interested in supplying Africa with wares, opened out the much shorter route to Bornu by the Binue river ? Horses, cattle, asses, sheep, goats, ivory, ostrich feathers, indigo, wheat, leather, dried fish, skins of lions and leopards, and many other national products, are here in vast quantity, and com- paratively valueless ; while Bornu requires all sorts of European manufactures, such as cloth, paper, knives and razors, guns and powder, spices and sugar. Tea and coffee, however, would be useless here, for the kola nut, which the Kuka people chew continually, takes their place. At the time of Dr. Nachtigal's visit in 1873 a third new capital town, which had been baptized Cherwa, or " the blessed," was being built on a range of sand-hills, two miles north of Kuka, which had been inundated by the extraordinary swellings of the Chad in recent years. During Eohlfs' stay a caravan of 4000 slaves, col- lected in the neighbouring regions of the Sudan, set out from Kuka for the long march over the desert northward. One detachment after another was despatched on the BORNU. 183 journey, so that it required a full fortnight to set the whole caravan in motion. It is the wealth derived from the slave-trade that has made Bornu, at the present time, the most powerful of all the negro kingdoms of the Sudan. During the past twenty years more slaves have been sent out of Bornu than formerly were exported in a century. If the slave -traffic were abolished in the Turkish dominions, the strength of Bornu would be turned to agriculture and manufactures, and its natural resources are far more than sufficient to provide it with material of exchange for everything it requires. Though in form constitutional, the government of Bornu is as despotic and unfettered as that of Mar- occo. Perhaps the constitutional form was the original one of the country in the times when it was per- fectly pagan, and the absolutism has arrived in the train of Islam. The Mai, or Sultan Omar, is the head of the state, the mirror of all excellence and infallibility ; and his Dig-ma, or whole ministry in one person, is, after him, the highest authority in the country. Mohamme- danism has introduced the remarkable condition that fully two-thirds of the inhabitants of Bornu, or all those who have not embraced the new religion, are looked upon as enemies by their own government, and live in constant fear of being carried off and sold as slaves. So it hap- pens that Bornu was formerly much more populous than it now is. Within the rule of the sultan of Bornu are many smaller conquered principalities, some completely subjected, others more independent, and large territories are either the personal property of the sultan, or in pos- session of members of his family ; the present condition of the kingdom, indeed, resembles that of the feudal states of Europe in the Middle Ages. The military power of Bornu is made up chiefly of the irregular soldiery or following of each petty sultan 184 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. or chief within the realm, and reaches a total of fighting men of between 25,000 and 30,000. About 1000 foot- men, and the same number of horse, are armed with flint guns. The sultan has also a special bodyguard of horse- men in suits of armour, partly obtained from Egypt and partly manufactured in Bornu. Among the remarkable manufactures of the country are twenty metal cannons, of undetermined calibre, which were cast in Kuka. The country south-west of Kuka is thickly wooded with bush, in which the tamarind trees alone rise to con- siderable height, and has abundance of large game — wild pigs, antelopes, gazelles, ant-eaters, lions, elephants, and ostriches ; it rises in gradual undulations to a considerable height above the level of the Chad. Beyond the thickly wooded belt in this direction lie the towns of Magomeri, Uassaram, Mogodom, with important cotton fields round it, and Gujba, a large walled place of 20,000 inhabitants. In the south of Bornu is the vassal state of Wandala, a marshy and watery district, flooded in many parts dur- ing the rainy season, partly by Lake Chad and partly by the streams and torrents from the neighbouring hills. Its capital is Doloo, a place of 30,000 inhabitants. The southern limits of Wandala form a crescent of hills, beginning with the granite-capped Sremarda, rising to a height of 2000 feet above the sea-level, and situated close over Doloo. Beyond the district of Uje, the most fertile and populous portion of all Bornu, lying between Wandala and Kuka, Bohlfs had to penetrate through the forest of Budu-Masseli, with its gigantic tamarind, anim, and komawa trees. Near the town of Maiduguri is first seen the Kirgalibu, a mighty bird of prey, out- stripping in size the royal eagle itself. This town has 12,000 inhabitants, belonging to the Gamergu tribe, closely related to the Wandala, but differing materially from the Kanuri of Bornu. They are of a very dark BAGHIEMI. 185 brown colour, and their features are of a decided, but not repulsive, negro type. The excursions undertaken by the indefatigable Dr. Nachtigal in 1871 from Kuka have shed much light on the regions lying to the north-east of Bornu. The results of this expedition have been thus summed up by Dr. Petermann : — " It was already known that the Bahr-el-Ghazal formed a fertile valley and river-bed of considerable extent, and connected with Lake Chad ; but whether its waters flowed into that lake, or vice versa, all previous researches had failed to determine. Dr. Nachtigal, however, has clearly shown that the waters of Lake Chad flow occasionally into the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and that even Borku, far to the north-east, forms a large and deep de- pression still below the level of the Chad basin. The Bahr-el-Ghazal itself stretches no farther north than the Chad, as hitherto assumed, but rather to the north-east to about 16° north latitude and 19° east longitude from Greenwich, and still farther northwards in the direction of Borku, passing into the land of Bodele, an extensive and fruitful depression supplied with many wells and springs." Beyond Bodele lies Borku, whose northern portion rises rapidly to a wide, lofty, and romantic range of hills, where Nachtigal discovered the Kussi mountain, which probably equals the Tarso of Tibesti in height. According to his investigations this range seems to stretch in a gigantic bend nearly 1000 miles in extent from Tibesti in the west to Darfur in the east, and to be actually a con- tinuation of the Marrah mountains, the central range of that region. 6. Baghirmi and Gaheri. South-east of Bornu lies Baghirmi, which had long formed an independent state, bordering eastward on Wada'i, 186 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. whose sultan caused Edward Vogel to be beheaded. At the time of Nachtigal's visit the state of affairs in this country was involved in great confusion, and would seem to have remained so ever since. Thus in Wadai the young sultan Aly turned out to be an ambitious conqueror aiming at the establishment of a great Central African state. In 1 8 7 1 he invaded Baghirmi, the expedition ending with the conquest of its walled capital Masena, so that Baghirmi would seem to be at present in a state of vassal- age to Wadai. In 1872 Dr. Nachtigal made his way from Kuka southwards to the Gaberi country, whose king, Muhammed, gave him a very kind reception, and allowed him to accompany several predatory excursions of his people, undertaken to procure corn and slaves in the neighbouring villages. On these occasions the people sometimes con- trived to escape from their pursuers by taking refuge in the branches of gigantic bombax trees, which were often large enough to afford shelter to several families. Such citadels could be stormed only at a heavy loss of life, and as the Baghirmi warriors did not possess the necessary implements for felling the trees, they were fain to rest satisfied with picking off a poor wretch here and there, and barbarously mangling the bodies as they fell from the branches above. 7. The Natives of Baghirmi — Customs — Beligion. Nachtigal's trip to Baghirmi has considerably enlarged our knowledge of the river Shari and its numerous rami- fications, as well as of the extensive pagan regions stretch- ing farther to the south. The natives here are of the Sonrhay type, of low stature and unpleasant features, though seldom absolutely repulsive. The men are hand- somer than the women, but not so tall. Their dress con- BAGHIRMI. 187 sists of a narrow strip of skin — goat, gazelle, or wild-cat — wound round their loins. They take the greatest pains with their hair, which they curl and adorn in the strangest ways. Their arms consist of spears and knives, the foot- soldiery also wearing narrow shields of buffalo hide. They are good horsemen, sitting well on their lively little ponies without saddle or stirrups. Both sexes have one of their incisors knocked out. They believe in a supreme being, who speaks to them in the thunder. The symbol of this divinity consists in the trunk of a tree with its bark stripped off in rings, and set up in a little hut in the vicinity of their houses. Neither women nor children have access to this sanctuary, whither are brought offerings of the most varied descrip- tion. They are staunch believers in witchcraft, and the death of any important person, or even of a favourite horse, is invariably attributed to the evil influences of some sorcerer, in the discovery of whom the various tribes have recourse to sundry devices. The deceased is placed on the heads of two men, the feet being turned in the direction of the house where the sus- pected criminal resides. On arriving here the sorcerer is brought out and put to death, and his family sold into slavery. Persons subject to epileptic fits are suspected of being possessed by the evil one, and are accordingly also despatched. The dead are buried in circular graves, in which are also placed a goat, a couple of pitchers of honey and melissa (millet beer), and a dish of cowry shells. Amongst the Nyellem and other tribes the barbarous practice prevails of burying a boy and girl alive with the body, to keep off the flies as they say, but this custom is fortunately falling more and more into disuse. Wives remaining childless may be sold as slaves, but if they have had three children they may return to the house of their parents ; it is then presumed that the hus- 188 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. band has received a fair equivalent for his original outlay in her purchase. The Sonrhay, like the other pagan tribes south of Baghirmi, are industrious tillers of the soil, raising crops chiefly of durra and millet, which they barter for tobacco, pearls, and cowry shells. Their houses are made of straw, except the granaries, which are of mud, cone-shaped, and with a single opening at the point above. Besides horses, they keep goats, sheep, and dogs, the last being highly esteemed as an article of food. Horned cattle are rare, and our domestic cats seem altogether un- known to these tribes. 8. Wadai and its People. Dr. Nachtigal has procured much valuable information concerning the state of Wadai, which has acquired such importance under the energetic government of its present ruler, Sheikh Aly. The learned traveller left Kuka in March 1873, proceeding through Fittri to Abeshr (Beshe), which, since the destruction of Wara, has been the capital of Wadai. Abeshr lies a little north of 14° north latitude, and a little east of 21° east longitude from Greenwich. The journey thither lasted one month, and on his arrival Nachtigal was received by Sheikh Aly with unexpected friendliness, no restrictions of any sort being placed on his movements. What principally strikes the stranger in Wadai is the rudeness of its inhabitants, the poverty of the land, and the excellence of Sultan Aly's government. The people are far behind Bornu both in respect of social refinement and in a total absence of all arts and industries. On the other hand, the native of Wadai is violent, quarrelsome, and cruel, especially under the influence of melissa (fer- mented durra beer), the abuse of which is a matter of daily occurrence. These propensities, combined with his pride WADAI. 189 and hatred of strangers, would soon put an end to all traffic with the coast, but for the energetic administration of the present ruler. And even now melissa and their fondness for love intrigues are the fruitful source of con- stant murder and bloodshed. Their weaving is rude in the extreme, and the land generally is poor, suffering in many districts from drought. Horses are rare, and but sorry representatives of their species ; though camels are more at home here than in Bornu. Cattle, however, as well as sheep and goats, are very numerous ; and yet it is impossible for any one to purchase a single measure of milk in Abeshr. The prin- cipal articles of export are slaves, ivory, and ostrich feathers, and the foreign traffic is in the hands of the Modyabra and the Dyellabu (Ayal el Bahar) ; the former trade with Egypt by the northern caravan route through "Wanyanga and the oases of Kufarah and Aujila, the latter with Darfur. Thanks to the sultan, no one in Wada'i can escape paying his just debts, nor can he defraud any one in his dealings. Aly governs with relentless severity. Death is the punishment inflicted for most crimes, as a lighter sentence would have no effect on the people. Theft, adultery, and cowardice in the presence of the enemy, are punished either with death, or the loss of the nose, ears, or other members. It is only within the last two years that the Arabs venture to show themselves openly in Abeshr. South of the Bahr-es-Salamat, the proper boundary of "Wadai, lies Eunga, or Dar Eunga, which must now be looked upon as an integral part of the state. If there exists an actual king of Eunga, he is much more de- pendent on his feudal lord the sultan of Wada'i than is usually the case with vassal princes of the great Moham- medan states in Central Africa. The Eunga people proper are Mohammedans ; but the kindred tribe of the Kuti, in 190 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the south-west of this country, are still heathens. Mer- chants from Dar Banda and Bornu have settled amongst them, and from this place comes most of the ivory ex- ported from Wada'i to Darfur. The rivers in Eunga flow westwards into the Shari, and the Bahr Kuta, a consider- able stream seven days' journey beyond the southern limits of Eunga, is probably identical with the Welle, regarded by Schweinfurth as the upper Shari. In the country west of Eunga, amongst the wild beasts are the lion, the leopard, the hyena, wild boar, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, various species of antelope, ant-eater, and porcupine ; but the giraffe is rare. In all the region south of this the silk-cotton tree, the butter tree, oil-palm and deleb, bananas, pepper plants, many edible roots, and virgin tobacco, are found abundantly. 9. The Banda Tribes. The people of Eunga and Kuti call by the common name of Banda all the tribes dwelling south of Kuti and Dar Eunga, and eastward to the Bahr-el-Arab. But as most of these tribes are addicted to cannibalism, they also call them Nyamanyan, properly the plural of Nyam nyam, but here used also in the singular number. Nachtigal's authority for this statement, a native of Bornu, asserts even that they are connected by the unity of a common speech, and gave him specimens of this " Banda lan- guage," of which he was able to make a skilful use. The Dar Banda country is very varied, some parts being quite hilly, others containing only detached ridges, and others again being perfectly level. 10. Barf nr. With Darfur, situated on the eastern frontiers of Wadai, on the southern limits of the Sahara, and on the DARFUTJ. 191 west of Kordofan, we enter the so-called "Egyptian Sudan." There is, properly speaking, only one route from Wadai to Darfur, at least only one military or caravan highway leading more or less directly eastwards. The present capital is Fasher, on the little lake Tendelti, about 2000 feet above the sea-level. Although bordering on regions that have been frequently explored, Darfur is itself still but little known. Till within a year or two the only account of it we possessed was that given in Browne's Travels in Africa, written in 1799. Dr. jNachtigal, how- ever, having returned from Wadai through Darfur and Kordofan to Egypt, has already partly raised the veil by which this region lay so long shrouded in mystery. For many centuries an annual caravan used to come hence to Egypt, bringing ivory and gums, ostrich feathers and slaves, which were disposed of there to advantage ; and the merchants returned with manufactured goods, powder and shot, and weapons, to their native country. The chief export of Darfur, however, was slaves, the most of them the property of the Emir, who was the greatest tradesman of his dominions. The central region of Darfur is formed by the Marrah mountains, a mass of parallel ridges curving from north to south, and reaching about 3500 feet in height ; from this nucleus numerous channels of periodical streams radiate outward east, south, and west, giving character to the whole country, and determining the cultivable and habitable portions of it. The fauna and flora of Darfur do not seem to present anything very remarkable. Instead of the luxuriant vege- tation which the stranger admires in the gardens of the Xile valley, the ground appears unfruitful and dry. Ma- jestic trees are certainly met with in Darfur, but the way- farer cannot rest beneath their shade, the ground beino- all round thickly overgrown with brambles. Even the trees 192 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. themselves are otherwise of little use. But few acacias are met with, producing a little gum ; yet in the rainy season, lasting from the middle of June to the middle of September, the land becomes clothed in the richest vegetation. The central, western, and south-western districts are thickly peopled, the northern and eastern very thinly. The inhabitants, variously estimated at a total of three to five millions, who are all Mohammedans, must be divided, on the one hand, into natives of Central Africa and Arabs ; on the other, into the actual lords of the land and the sub- jected tribes. By the side of the Dajo dwell the For or Fur in the hills and their slopes ; in the north, the Zoghawa and various Arab tribes ; in the west, the Mas- salat ; in the south, other Arab tribes ; in the south-east, the Bego and Birgid ; in the north-east, the Berti ; and in the centre, the Tunjur, true Arabs. Before the autumn of 1874 the state of Darfur, which during several centuries had extended its limits outward from the central nucleus of the Marrah mountains, till it embraced an area of more than twice that of England, was under the rule of the brave King Brahim, the son of Sultan Mohammed El Hassin, who had reigned for thirty- five years ; one of a race of absolute sovereigns whose history can be traced back for four hundred years. The story of its annexation to Egypt may be put in a few words as follows :— A man of some education, named Ziber, left Khartum some years ago to seek his fortune in the unexplored lands which lie between the eastern tribu- taries of the Upper Nile and the country of Darfur. He gained much influence, and succeeded in establishing a sort of sovereignty over several of the heathen tribes of this region. Soon after another adventurer, named Balalawi Mohammed, having persuaded the Egyptian authorities that he was able to bring the countries lying between the Nile and Lake Chad under their rule, was supplied with KOEDOFAN. 193 soldiers, money, and arms from Egypt, and set out also from Khartum. He met and quarrelled with Ziber, and lost his life in a skirmish in 1872. On being condemned for the part he had taken in causing the death of a servant of Egypt, Ziber was permitted, in compensation, to reim- burse the government for the expenses incurred on behalf of his rival, and ultimately to take up his mission. Making friends of the Eizegat Arabs in the south of Darfur, he invaded and occupied Shegga, the chief station of the slave-traders in this border region. Early in 1874 the sultan of Darfur sent an army against Ziber, but it met with defeat. The bold adventurer now pushed forward into the heart of Darfur, and in a battle which took place at Menowatsi, three days' march south of the capital town of El Easher, the Sultan Brahim was slain. Ziber now took up his quarters at Torra, in the centre of the Marrah mountains, and before 1875 began, was able to send the news of his conquest to Egypt. An expedition from Kordofan under Ismail Pasha Ayub completed the subjugation and annexation of the new province. In 1876 the Egyptian garrison of Darfur numbered 10,000 men. 11. Kordofan. The far smaller district of Kordofan, between Darfur and the valley of the Nile, has been under the rule of Egypt since the expedition of Mehemet Ali in 1 82 1. The capital of Kordofan is El Obeidh, 1700 feet above the sea- level, hence somewhat lower than Easher. The greater portion of the country, at least in the east, is included in the great Nile valley, this river forming its eastern limit or flowing very near it. Westward from the Nile, the land presents a uniform appearance as far as the capital Obeidh. It consists of undulating plains covered with a high brown grass, with groups and groves of the leafless o 194 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. mimosa offering a shelter to the gazelle. Here and there occur bare sandy plains on which crops of durra are raised in the rainy season. Here also are seen villages of " tokels," or conic-shaped huts, with wells from 100 to 150 feet deep, around which graze herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and goats. Agriculture, however, is at a very low stage. In the rainy season the ground is cleared of the decayed grass, the seed is sown in little holes, covered up with the feet, and then left to nature, the only heavy crop being that of the durra. Traces of the cultivation of cotton are occa- sionally met with, and an industrious sheikh will now and then plant some maloshie or bamie' ; but the dearth of water must always stand in the way of any great develop- ment of agriculture in this country, for all those plants are necessarily excluded from cultivation that do not ripen during the three months of the rainy season, besides which the annual rainfall is far less to be relied upon than is usually supposed. The same scarcity of water also necessarily limits the extent of the pasture lands, the herds being obliged to keep always in the neighbourhood of the wells. Ancient baobabs, growing solitarily, are salient points in the landscape. An important product of the country is gum, and the red colour of the soil bespeaks the presence of iron. At a distance of twenty-five miles to the east of Hursi (north- east of El Obeidh), iron ore is found in irregular masses at a depth of from six to ten feet under the soil. The town of El Obeidh, or El Obeyad, as described by Colonel Colston of the Egyptian staff, who visited it in 1875, is situated in the midst of a vast flat smooth plain, and at a distance hides itself in groves of heglik (Balanites Egyptica), a plant which is cultivated for its edible fruit, and for the oil which is expressed from its seeds. The city covers a large space of ground, and is said to contain KORDOFAN. 195 from 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. Most of the houses are of circular form, built of roughly-kneaded mud bricks, covered by a conical roof of stubble supported by wooden posts. "At the extreme point of the roof is placed a cylindrical sheaf from three to four feet high, from the centre of which rises a stick, rarely either straight or even. If the proprietor can fix on this stick a common bottle between two ostrich eggs, this architectural luxury becomes the admiration of all his neighbours." The merchants and well-to-do people also build square houses of one story, called " duldur." 196 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTER XIY. REGIONS OF THE NILE. 1. From the Mediterranean to the Equator. Proceeding gradually from the western seaboard of the continent, we have at last reached the valley of the Nile, that venerable stream with which is indissolubly associ- ated the culture of perhaps the oldest civilised country in the world. Who can speak of the Nile without conjur- ing up visions of Egypt, and the pyramids rising out of the desert waste, gigantic witnesses of a great past that had long disappeared, while waiting for modern research to be again unveiled ? Still the land of the Pharaohs is but a small portion of the vast region watered and fertilised by the Mle, and stretching from the equator to the Mediterranean. Long as the darkness of ignorance had remained over Egypt itself, the mystery continued still longer to shroud the source of its beneficent stream. Not till recent days has the problem been sufficiently solved to give us a clear insight into the geographical relations of the interior of Africa. The results of the most recent explorations will be given farther on, and it will be sufficient for the present to know that the Nile, the greatest of African rivers, flows from the great lake Victoria Nyanza, which like its western neighbour the Albert Nyanza, is crossed in its northern portion by the equator. Hence, by the expres- sion Regions of the Nile, we understand the whole country THE NILE VALLEY. 197 lying on both sides of this river from the equator to the Mediterranean, extending over a space of more than thirty degrees of latitude. This comprises nearly the whole of north-east Africa, which sends down to the Nile the tribute of its waters. 2. The Nile Delta. In order to give a bold picture of this widespread domain, we shall depart from the more usual plan, and proceed upwards from the mouths of the river into the very heart of tropical Africa. This has also been the method adopted by explorers in all ages, until recent times, in their attempts at penetrating the mystery of its source ; the river itself, notwithstanding all its numerous windings, following on the whole a direct line from south to north, and thereby acting as a guide to the long un- known regions of its upper course. Where the wearied stream splits off mainly into the two great branches of Damietta and Eosetta, thus forming the renowned and fertile Nile Delta, we find a flat, low- lying river tract, more extensive than Wales, almost imper- ceptibly merging with the blue waters of the Mediterranean. The Nile is no doubt incessantly thrusting the land forward into the sea, and after the inundation of the Delta from July to November a thin film of sediment is annually left to add to the elevation of the plain. But the position of certain buildings at Alexandria, and the half-submerged ruins of towns in Lake Menzaleh, one of the large lagoons which occupy the seaward margin of the lowland, show that a gradual sinking of the Delta has been in process simultaneously with its upward growth. This is the district of Lower Egypt, the real heart of a state at present extending its frontiers in all directions, where necessary even with armed force, and which is 198 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. already, if not the strongest, assuredly the most extensive state in Africa. For nearly every part of the Nile region has been absorbed, and the Egyptian advanced stations have now reached the northern shores of the Albert Nyanza the Mwutan or Lnta 'Nzige of the natives. 3. Egyptian Culture. But Egypt itself is limited to the narrow valley of the Nile, and even here it is in Lower Egypt only that a wider tract of arable land is procured by the outspreading branches of the river. Hence, here also are situated the most important cities in the country — Alexandria, its great seaport, on the Mediterranean, and its capital, Cairo, above the point where the stream forks off. Here, in the venerable land of the Pharaohs and the Pyramids, now nourishes a hybrid culture, half European, half Oriental ; here the traffic between the most important points is furthered by a network of well-constructed railways, one branch of which reaches like a horn of plenty as far south as Siut in Upper Egypt; here the Mohammedan mosque proudly lifts its head by the side of the European opera-house, and the burnous of the defiant Arab brushes by the coat of the pliant Frank ; here, in a word, the un- experienced traveller receives the impression as if some European city had but changed places with a more southern capital, until taught by a longer residence that all is mere outward show and polish, beneath which the old eastern barbarism still finds a refuge. If he hurries from the centres of this superficial culture, he finds himself in the wilderness enclosing both banks of the river. In the west it is the vast and dreaded Libyan Desert, which skirts the whole left bank of the Nile through Middle and Upper Egypt as far as Egyptian Sudan, at places even approaching close to the river it- THE NILE VALLEY. 199 self. Fayum, on the northern frontier of Middle Egypt, may almost be regarded as an oasis, such as those oi Farafrah and Dachel in the true desert. 4. The Country East of the Nile — The Atbara and the Blue Nile. On the right bank the plain stretches eastwards from the Delta to the Suez Canal, now connecting the Mediter- ranean and Eed Seas at a point where Africa and Asia meet in the sandy waste of the former isthmus ; but towards the south, along the Gulf of Suez and the whole coast of the Eed Sea, there rises a hilly country occupying the tract between the Nile and the east coast of Africa. In the north, this country of mountains and wadys is called the Eastern or Arabian Desert, and farther south, where the Nile forms an inverted S, it descends to the Nubian Desert ; while, still following the coast-line on the left until between 15° and 10° north latitude, it expands into the imposing highlands of Abyssinia. This region alone sends down considerable streams, in their north-westerly course watering the districts of Fazokl and Senaar, and at last flowing into the Nile, which up to its confluence with the Atbara has not throughout its whole lower course received a single tribu- tary either from the east or the west. More important still than the Atbara is the more southern affluent, the Bahr-el-Azrak, or Blue Nile, flowing from the alpine lake Tsana in the lofty Abyssinian table-land of Amhara. At the junction of the two streams is situated Khartum, the most important centre of traffic in Egyptian Sudan. 5. The White Nile and its Tributaries. The Nile, henceforth to be named the Abiad or 200 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. White, in contradistinction to the Blue Nile, reaches this point in nearly a straight course from the upper regions, where it receives the Sobat, its confluence with which may in a sense be regarded as a turning-point in the history of Nile discovery. The Sobat rises probably in the little-known mountain region which forms a southern continuation of the Abyssinian highlands, and in which are situated the states of Shoa and Kaffa. On the east these uplands descend towards the land of the Gallas, who occupy the eastern horn of Africa jointly with the Somali, lying still farther coastwards. Hence also several other streams that remain still to be explored, flow west- wards to the Nile basin. But the first decided change in the character of the Nile takes place not on this right or eastern side, but on its left or western bank, where south of Kordofan and Darfur the Bahr-el-Ghazal (Gazelle Eiver) and the Bahr-el- Arab gather and bring to it a regular network of streams flowing in a parallel course from south to north, and rising in the mountains to the north-west of Lake Albert Nyanza. This is the domain of a number of most interesting Negro tribes, such as the Nuehr, the Dinka, and Bongo, the cannibal Nyamnyam and Monbuttu, whose habits and customs were some years since for the first time observed by Dr. George Schweinfurth. South of these is the dwarf race of the Akka, visited by the Italian traveller Miani Here from the Blue Mountains skirting the western shore of the Albert Nyanza, streams descend and flow into the still unexplored regions of the west ; amongst them the Welle in the land of the Monbuttu, which, as we have already seen, is pro- bably the upper course of the Shari. The White Nile itself flows from the northern extremity of the Albert Nyanza, winding through the THE NILE VALLEY. 201 hilly country to the north of this lake down to the plains below. Nevertheless a deep channel connecting the Albert with the Victoria Nyanza is generally regarded as the White or Victoria Nile, so that for the present this basin may be looked on as the true source of the father of rivers. Whether one of the more southern or south- eastern affluents of the Victoria Nyanza is to be con- sidered as a further continuation of the Nile seems to us a somewhat idle question, with the investigation of which the reader need not, at least for the present, be troubled. 202 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE XV. EGYPT. 1. Political Situation — Extent — Population. Egypt is a vassal state of the Porte, to which it pays a yearly tribute of about £670,000, and which in case of war it is obliged to assist with a number of auxiliary troops. Its present ruler, who formerly bore the title of viceroy, has contrived constantly to restrict the sovereign rights of Turkey, securing for himself and his successors the dignity of Khedive, and continually extending the frontiers of the state southwards along the Nile basin and over the shores of the Eed Sea, so that he is now unques- tionably the most powerful potentate in the whole of Africa. Under him Egypt has become an important and all but independent state, approaching ever nearer to complete separation from the Porte, its dependence on which is even now little more than nominal. Meantime it is difficult accurately to estimate the total area of a state that has grown up under our very eyes. The territory nominally subjected to Egypt now extends over about 865,000 square miles, or is more than four times the area of European Turkey. If, follow- ing the estimate made by Behm and Wagner, we set down the population at about 17,000,000, including the districts of Kordofan and Darfur, this figure can be looked upon as little more than purely conjectural. In Egypt proper, that is the Me valley as far as Wady Haifa, there were in 1872 about a third of this number, EGYPT. 203 including 3,800,000 settled Arabs, 200,000 Turks and other Tatar tribes, 400,000 Bedouins or nomad Arabs, the Mussulmans thus reckoning about 4,400,000 altogether. There are some 600,000 Christians, com- prising 350,000 Kopts and 250,000 Franks and natives of the Levant. 2. The Fellaheen, Kopts, Pure Arabs, Europeans, Jews, and Gipsies. The great mass of the settled Arab element are known as " Fellaheen," literally " Ploughers," who are not pure Arabs, but rather half-bred descendants of the old Egyptians and the first Arab invaders of the land. On the ' other hand, a portion of the Egyptians as well as of their conquerors remained unmixed, the former being now represented by the Kopts, Jacobite Christians, outwardly professing Christianity but practising circumcision and other Mohammedan rites. They generally support them- selves as scribes, notaries, secretaries, and book-keepers in public and private offices, though some rich Koptic land- owners and merchants are occasionally met with. All, however, bear a certain reputation for trickery and craftiness. Like the Greeks, the Kopts are divided into United and Disunited; and besides the Catholics and a limited number of Protestants, there are also Armenian and Maronite communities in Egypt. The pure Arabs are mainly represented by the Bedou- ins ; but even a portion of these, as in Fayum, and espe- cially in the province of Kenneh, have exchanged their nomad tents for settled houses, made at first of palm branches and durra stalks, afterwards of regular brick- work. Besides cattle, sheep, and camel breeding, they are \ occupied in escorting caravans, preparing and selling char- coal (mostly of tamarisk shrubs), and palm matting ; but, 204 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. since the time of Mehemet Ali, have renounced the profes- sion of highway robbers. The Europeans and natives of the Levant — Greeks, Syrians, Italians, French, English, and Germans, taking them in the order of their numbers respectively — very nearly monopolise the commerce and navigation of the country, and are also the principal hotel-keepers, chemists, physicians, booksellers, teachers of languages, and, in very small numbers, even artists, in the more important cities of Lower Egypt. There is, moreover, a not inconsiderable number of Europeans, especially Italians and French, in the service of the Khedive. The Jews, owing to the unmeasured contempt in which they are held by the Moslem, do not thrive quite so well in Egypt as elsewhere. The gipsies, also, have diminished in numbers, and are now only occasionally met with at fairs and markets as conjurors, serpent-charmers, and acro- bats, while the women are here, as elsewhere, devoted to fortune-telling, and even public dancing. 3. Social Progress — Spread of Education. Under the sway of this present ruler, Egypt and its inhabitants have in many respects made undoubted pro- gress. Every year the Khedive introduces fresh European customs and usages. Thus he has created a police force based on a former Austrian model ; but in no department is the improvement so marked as in that of public instruc- tion. The Egyptian schools are classified as military and technical, supported by the Government ; poor and orphan schools, also partly assisted by the Government ; central schools in the chief towns of the provinces, in whose main- tenance the families take part ; boarding schools, in Cairo and Alexandria, to some extent relying on voluntary aid ; and lastly, national colleges, supported by the parents and EGYPT. 205 students themselves. This, however, takes no account of the various sectarian schools in Cairo, also liberally aided by the Government, nor of the other foreign institutions, similarly enjoying considerable subventions, not figuring in the budget of public instruction. These are mostly mis- sionary establishments, orphanages, Koptic, Greek, Jewish, Catholic, and conventual schools. With regard to the progress and advancement which has been made in Egypt under its present government, the well-known traveller, Charles Beke, wrote as follows : — " Nothing surprised me more in my present journey, though I have visited Egypt frequently since 1840, than the many changes for the better that were observable in the whole country. ' When one has passed the Mareotis lake, and the barren district west of the Eosetta arm of the Nile, the land presents most distinct evidences of higher and more extended culture. I was told that in this part of Egypt, where in 1850 only 100,000 acres of land were under cultivation, now double that extent is planted. The cotton harvest is now just over, and the fields are being ploughed. Once I saw, what I have never seen before, a camel drawing the plough. Ear and wide there waves a green sea of corn-fields or of rich pasture-land, on which cattle, asses, sheep, and goats are grazing. Trees have been planted, and not only along the roads ; some places have been set so thickly as almost to appear like little forests. The route across the Delta, on the clear sunny day on which I travelled, was indeed charming, and I had often to remind myself that I was really in Egypt, so totally changed was the picture ; for here and there, also, the tall chimney of some manufactory was to be seen rising above the trees or over the villages. Egypt will soon belong only geographically to Africa ; in everything else it is becoming European. The condition of the lower classes, also, shows a marked improvement. Ophthalmia. 206 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. perhaps the most painful scourge of Egypt, is now neither so widespread nor so intense as formerly ; and if the people are not better fed than they used to be, they have, at least, sufficient for their wants. Those inhabiting the towns are remarkably improved. In Cairo there are not nearly so many barefooted people as formerly ; and they are not contented with slippers, but wear European boots. The fellahs, or peasants, also, are decidedly improved; their mud huts are better built, and especially better roofed — indeed, here and there peasant houses of quite European type are now to be seen. " No doubt this rapid progress in Egypt has its shadow side. Like the children of Israel of old, the people do not work for themselves, but are in heavy bondage almost beyond their powers ; yet this development under high pressure is undeniably to the advantage of the country. The greatest and most important, because most universally active, change is certainly that of the improvement in the climate, brought about by the more extended cultivation, and especially by the numerous plantations of trees. Egypt is in a fair way to overturn its proverbial rainlessness. In Alexandria rain now falls even to excess ; and Cairo, of which the prophet of all travellers, Murray, in his Hand- book, still maintains that it enjoys at most five or six light showers in the course of the year, had to record not fewer than twenty-one such in the past year. I myself experi- enced a rainy day there quite as wet as any known in England ; the consequences of it were, that the unpaved streets were covered ankle-deep with mud, and all traffic, except that in carriages, was at an end. Naturally the ignorant Arabs ascribe these changes to supernatural agencies ; and since the year corresponds with that of the ascent of Mohammed Ali to the throne, the witchcraft is supposed to emanate from him and his dynasty." But, however remarkable the progress already made, it EGYPT. 207 cannot be denied that much of it is more dazzling and superficial than solid. The Khedive's attendants wear liveries, including even the tall hat itself, otherwise held in such horror by Mohammedans. In the theatre a special box has been set up for the ladies of the harem, and under the pretext of attracting strangers a European company has contracted for the rent of a gambling estab- lishment, binding itself in return to set apart a fixed yearly sum for the embellishment of Cairo. The ladies of his highness's harem have already made such strides towards emancipation, that they drive out in open carriages dressed in European fashion, with the addition of a very gossamer veil, and with English coachmen and footmen in red and gold-embroidered liveries. The public offices themselves are beginning to be pervaded by another atmosphere. The divans in the various government departments have been replaced by European sofas and chairs, and the officials have been recommended to imitate their western colleagues by abstaining from smoking and coffee during business hours. The commerce, especially the transit trade, of Egypt has derived immense advantages from the construction of the great highway of the Suez Canal, uniting the Mediterranean with the Eed Sea, and giving an uninterrupted waterway between Europe and the Indies. This greatest engineer- ing enterprise of modern times was completed in 1869, after fourteen years of labour. From the Mediterranean at Port Said, now a flourishing modern town, though as lately as the year 1860 its site had not even a hut, the canal passes for nearly a hundred miles southward to the old Egyptian seaport of Suez on the Eed Sea, with its mosques and houses of sun-dried brick. Midway the canal passes Ismailia, the head -quarters of the Canal Com- pany, to which point a fresh- water canal has now been opened from the Nile. The increase of traffic by this 208 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. highway may be estimated from the fact that while only 486 vessels passed through the canal in 1870, this num- ber had increased to 1494 ships, carrying nearly three millions of tons of goods, in 1875, as well as 85,000 passengers. All these efforts at civilisation are of course meantime restricted to Lower Egypt, where are situated the two most important cities in the country, Cairo and Alexandria. 4. Alexandria and Cairo. Alexandria, with a population of 212,000, is divided into two sections, one occupied by Europeans, the other by the natives. In the Arab quarter in the north-west and west the streets are narrow and irregular, in summer dusty, in winter rendered impassable by the mud and dirt. The houses are mostly one story high, with few windows towards the street, and built in the most arbitrary fashion. The European quarter, a creation of recent times, presents a very different appearance, with its broad and straight streets, occasionally planted with fine rows of trees, with here and there a charming square laid out with ever- green plants and sweet-smelling flowers. Here are also splendid houses, solidly built and with the most elegant shops, rendering Alexandria one of the most brilliant cities of the Mediterranean. It is lit with gas, and the Nile water is conveyed thither by a company, which supplies the whole place with the best drinking water in the world. The traveller is now hurried from Alexandria to Cairo by the government railway, the ramifications of which, extending over a total length of nearly 1000 miles, con- nect together nearly all the large towns of the Delta, besides extending southward along the river as far as Siut, whence the Nile navigation is open to Assuan. EGYPT. 209 The express train takes four and a half hours to make the journey from Alex- andria to Cairo. If the change in the open country and the climate is extraor- dinary, no less so is that we meet with in the capital, which the Khedive seems anxious to make the Paris of the Levant. The western quarter has been almost en- tirely reconstructed, and has grown considerably in the direction of the Mle. The other divisions of the city have also been pierced by STREET IN CAIRO. 210 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. large open streets, only it were to be wished that the desire to convert it into a European town may not end in the disappearance of its Eastern character, which would rob it of a great part of its peculiar charms and attractions. The first thing that a stranger generally does when he has arrived at Cairo is to make for the citadel. This stands on a slight elevation, which, however, is a relatively important one in the wide levels which surround it, and it is also occupied by some of the government buildings, and the splendid new mosque which holds the tomb of Mehemet Ali. The panorama which one enjoys from the walls of the citadel is indeed a fine one, the most splendid certainly, excepting that of the Bosphorus, afforded by all the East. At one's feet the vast city spreads out, the Masr el Kahira, the victorious, as the Arabs are proud to call the queen of the Nile valley, — a sea of houses, over which rises a forest of tapering minarets and noble cupolas. There are said to be 400 mosques in Cairo, but no one appears to have counted them singly. In the background are the yellow mountains of the desert, and over all the clear blue sky. Behind the huge city lies a green plain watered by the Mle, which has spread out like a great lake, and be- yond that the pyramids, with two gigantic ones overtopping the rest, the insoluble riddle of a mysterious past. In the south, in the greater distance, are the pyramids of Sakarah ; in the east, the white mountains of Makattam and the tombs of the kalifs, and the wide bare desert. This is in a few strokes the vast picture which unfolds itself before our eyes. The city is surrounded almost entirely by walls in a tolerably good state of repair. The houses are of one to three stories high, without gables or window -frames ; instead of sloping roofs, there are flat terraces, and the windows are protected by strong wooden lattices, the balconies also being latticed round, most of them having canopied coverings ornamented with carved work. In EGYPT. 211 all the houses the lowest stage is wholly, or in part at least, raised above the level of the ground. The doors are fastened with a wooden bolt, and are provided with a ring for knocking ; on most of them a text from the Koran is inscribed, to serve as a protection from the evil eye ; and in the joints, teeth are wedged in, since this A CAIRO BARBER. is held to be preservative from toothache. The houses along the larger streets contain divans or coffee-rooms, kitchen, workroom, or shop. Most numerous are the workshops of the shoemakers, tailors, saddlers, and pipe- makers, for we are in a country where everybody smokes and rides. In the shops are chiefly to be seen drugs, roots, perfumed waters, and carpets, for every Mussulman uses 212 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. one of these in kneeling for prayer ; there are also large white woollen shawls, burnouses, fez caps, silk stuffs, and cloths. The large fruit shops are also interesting, and in these whole pyramids and hillocks of bananas, figs, dates, and oranges, are piled up. In the kitchens one generally finds a mess of pilau (rice and meat) being pre- pared, or beef or fish are being roasted. These delicacies are not only consumed on the premises, and with the aid of the fingers only, but are carried off for family use, since in many houses no cooking at all goes on. In the open barbers' shops one may see how the heads of the true believers are shaved smooth, with the exception of a small lock, or how by the aid of some depilatory they are kept perfectly bare. The clothes shops of the orientals contain only two chief articles of attire — long kaftans and wide trousers. Shoemakers' booths have great quantites of ready- made shoes of untannecl or red and yellow leather. Very interesting for the stranger are the jewellers' shops, in which the richest choice of finger, ear, and nose rings of strange oriental shapes are temptingly shown. The armourers' places are also well worth seeing, with their splendid Turkish sabres, yatagans, and richly ornamented guns and pistols. The crowd in the streets is still larger and far more varied than in Alexandria, and the noise is almost deafening. TVater-carriers, chiefly very poor people, are very numerous, and take about their supply either in a goat-skin on their own backs, or lead their donkeys with them, in every part of the city. When one remem- bers that all the inhabitants of Cairo, 350,000 people, are provided with water from the [Nile — for the wells only give a bad and saline water — the great number of these carriers is readily comprehended. The fellahs or peasants bring their products to market in baskets which they carry on their heads ; now and then they also make use of a donkey for this purpose, and the animal carries FRU IT-SELLER OF CAIRO. To face page 212. EGYPT. 213 not only the goods, but also their owner ; or the driver may be seen running alongside holding on to the pack- saddle so as to be dragged along by the animal. Eiders on splendid horses are often met, and these, with their picturesque oriental equipage, give a fine effect to the scene. FEMALE COSTUME. Turks, Arabs, Armenians, Franks, Jews, Kopts, Negroes, beggars, and among these many blind men, all move in chaotic confusion, and with continual din, among one another. The native women are all veiled, and their loose hanging clothes give no idea of their forms. The divans are small, but have large bow windows in their wooden walls, and they are much frequented, for the oriental is most at 214 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. home in his coffee-house ; here chibouks, hashish, and opium are smoked, while music is played, or some story-teller is listened to. 5. From Cairo to the Cataracts. The best way to visit Egypt proper — that is, the Nile valley — is to make the journey by water in a Nile boat or '•' dahabieh." For the portion of the trip as far as the Second Cataract at Wady Haifa, little more is now required than a well-filled purse. The first objects attracting attention are the world- famed pyramids of Gizeh, the ruins of Memphis, the pyramids and burial-grounds of Sakarah and Dajur. From Beni Suef, the first town of importance above Cairo, a branch line of railway has been constructed west- ward to Medinet el Fayum on the site of the ancient Krokodilopolis, the capital of the exceedingly fertile basin which surrounds the Birket el Kerfin (the lake of the promontory), the ancient Lake Moeris, fed by a canal from the Nile, the water of which is also drawn off by numerous irrigation canals forming a network over the cultivated lands. In addition to the usual products of Egypt, roses, apricots, figs, vines, and olives are produced in great quantities in Fayum. Eastward from Beni Suef the Arabian Desert has fre- quently been crossed to the shores of the Gulf of Suez. Drs. Schweinfurth and Gussfeldt made this short journey in 1876, proceeding for several days' march across a num- ber of wadys between the heights, some of them affording a scanty pasture for camels, and then into the wide Wady Arabah which is six leagues in width, and, like the oases of the Libyan Desert, is surrounded by steep precipices, surmounted by extensive bare plateaus. The two remark- able Koptic monasteries of St. Antonio (Deir Mar Antonios) and St. Paul (Deir Mar Bollos) are respectively EGYPT. 215 on the northern and southern slopes of the heights of Galala, winch form the south-eastern side of the Arabah. For more than fifteen centuries these convents have pre- served their original features ; the former is a magnificent building resembling a huge fortress. Eeturning to the Nile voyage, as far as Minieh, an important town with a population of 18,000 and about 155 miles from Cairo, the Arabian mountains on the east and the steep edges of the Libyan table-land on the west approach at times close to the banks, presenting a panorama of romantic groups of rock scenery often serving as the pedestals or framework of a colossal primeval architecture. Crocodiles are first met with in their native freedom at Bern* Hassan, a little to the south of Minieh. They are frequently seen sunning themselves in the mouths of the caves and fissures of the steep wall of Jebel Abu Foda, one of the most picturesque, but, at the same time the most dangerous passes of the Nile voyage. Far- ther south they become an ordinary feature of the landscape, basking in the sun along the shores and sand- banks of the river. Siut, with 29,000 inhabitants, and built on the ruins of the ancient city of Lycopolis, is the capital of the province of the same name, and the most important town in Upper Egypt, remaining for the present the terminus of the Nile railroad. The great caravan highways to the Southern Libyan Oases and to Darfur, converging here, add a certain animation to the place. Between Siut and Girgeh are seen the nuns of many ancient towns ; the dum-palm now appears on the banks, and the Nile flows almost due east and west as far as Kenneh (13,000 inhabitants), whence a route, four days' journey long, leads across the Arabian Desert to the small port of Kosseir on the Eed Sea. Opposite Kenneh is the great temple of Denderah on the left bank, and farther south the land spreads out into 216 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the great valley of Hamamet, with its numerous ancient granite quarries and monuments. Now follow in succes- sion the temple of Qurna, the Kamesseum, the colossal statue of Memnon, the ruins of Karnac and Luxor, the noble remains of the " hundred-gated " Thebes. South of this city of the dead rises the stately Esneh from the midst of palm groves on the left bank of the river. Twenty miles above Edfou, which contains the ruins of two magnificent temples, the landscape becomes wilder and more gloomy, the hills on both sides approach nearer, the cultivated land shrinks to a narrow strip, and the Nile, now scarcely 300 paces wide, winds through the pass of Jebel Silsileh, and on emerging from this the country assumes a new character, in this respect already forming part of Nubia. The hills, averaging about 200 feet in height, retire on both sides, and give place to the desert, on the east of a prevailing gray, on the west of a yellow hue. The cultivated land disappears almost entirely at this point, which may, perhaps, be regarded as the extreme southern limit of Egypt proper. Beyond the palm-fringed island of Elephantine is Assuan, a place of about 6000 inhabitants, where the Nile assumes the appearance of a lake, with the dark masses of the granite hills forming the Cataracts as its southern boundary. The navigation of the river between the Cataracts becomes difficult in the dry season, but in the season of inundation the Nile boats and even steamers can pass easily. The first Cataract is not properly a waterfall, and even in the most difficult place, named the Gate of the Cataract (Bab-e-Shelal), the gradient is not more than one in fifteen. Black rock masses rise abruptly from the foaming cur- rent, and here and there blocks fallen from them form islets of 150 to 200 feet in height. Sometimes the ascent of the Cataract requires more than a day, but the boat EGYPT. 217 floats down stream through the pass in little more than an hour. The first of these Cataracts forms the proper frontier of Egypt and Nubia. Above it the Nile valley expands into the magnificent basin of Philse, encircled by wild rugged hills ; but, still higher up, the rocky pass of Kelabsheh again narrows the stream to 150 paces in width, and a few hours later, in passing the temple of Dandur, the TOMBS OF THE KALIFS. tropic of Cancer, the boundary of the tropics, is crossed. At Korosko, where, with a sudden turn, the Nile begins a great loop to south-west, a caravan route strikes south- ward across the Nubian Desert to Abu Hamed, cutting off the wide circuit by the river. From Korosko to Derr the Nile bends backward from north to south for eleven miles, and this reach is a great obstacle to the advance of vessels during the prevalence of northerly winds. The character of the landscape remains that of the desert ; the grotesque rocks of the banks are now closer, now farther 218 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. off, and here and there the remains of ancient buildings show themselves. Beyond Derr the river assumes a south- westerly course, and is here very broad, having within it large well-cultivated islands interchanging with sandbanks, the favourite resort of the crocodile. Abu Simbel, with its mighty rock temple, here im- presses the imagination almost as forcibly as the great pyramid of Cheops or the gigantic ruins of Karnac. Forty miles farther on we come to Wady Haifa, soon after which point begins the Second or Great Cataract, entirely stopping the passage of larger vessels, but navigable for small boats during the floods. This Second Cataract presents the aspect of a cliff-walled lake on the borders of which the waves are breaking ; the huge towering granite rocks of Philse and Assuan are indeed wanting, for the coarse-grained sandstone through which the Nile breaks here is less capable of resisting the action of the torrent ; still the Wady Haifa Cataract, with its numberless cliffs and islets of red and yellow stone framed in a border of unlimited desert, presents a wild picture of irresistible charm. From Wady Haifa, the head of the free naviga- tion of the Nile for larger vessels, a Nubian railroad is now being constructed along the river-bank to El Ordeh or Dongola, whence the Nile is again navigable to the important station of El Dabbeh, at the terminus of the shortest route to Darfur. This work now (July 1877) employs upwards of 6000 men. The whole journey by the Nile from Cairo to Wady Haifa, a distance which may be compared to a voyage from the Thames along the east coast of Britain to the Pentland Eirth, is less than half the entire distance to Khartum, and only two-fifths of the Nile proper, reckoning from the confluence of the Sobat with the Bahr el Abiad, and only a fourth of its whole length from the northern EGYPT. 219 extremity of the Albert Nyanza to the Mediterranean. But above Wady Haifa the pleasant trip by water is changed for the wearisome caravan, the "ship of the desert " here taking the place of the dahabieh or river boat. 220 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEK XVI. PJEGIONS OF THE UPPER NILE. 1. The Nubian Desert. By Nubia or Dongola was formerly and is even yet understood the country south of Assuan. But it is diffi- cult to attach any definite geographical notion to these terms, which, at least in the south of the region in question, are being now gradually superseded by the expression "Egyptian Sudan." The most direct southerly route towards Khartum is the track across the Nubian Desert, from Korosko, at the knee formed by the Nile between Assouan and Wady Haifa, to Abu Hamed at the corresponding northern bend, 250 miles farther south. This camel route winds through a succession of bare gorges covered with gravel or sand, and walled in by high rocks, over stony plateaux and across rocky ridges extending east and west. Only a few of the deeper valleys have moisture sufficient to support some dum-palms and mimosas, or to give food for gazelles. Here and there, beside the few wells along the route, are little encampments of Ababdeh Arabs of unfavourable aspect. They carry a long sword or a lance, and wear wrapped round their waists a great sheet of cotton stuff with which they cover themselves in sleeping at night. Most part of the desert is without the least trace of organic life, and the track is marked out by the remains of fallen camels ; excessive dryness and heat prevent these from decaying, and the skin becomes like parchment drawn iiil. mj.i: niiiM KHAuri .M m I ahi><> and tiii; haiih i:l i.iia/.ai. wvii.h svsii.m * THE NUBIAN DESERT. To face page 220. NUBIA. 221 over the skeleton. The mirage is almost continuous ; the horizon appears like a wide sea, and mountains far be- yond the limit of vision are frequently seen reversed in the air as if standing on their summits, while others take the forms of castle towers. Abu Hamed, the terminal point of this desert march, is a small village surrounded by gardens at about a mile from the Nile bank. Those wishing to proceed to Khartum from Wady Haifa, the limit of the journey by water, must continue their excursion on the camel along the banks of the river where it flows through the desolate rocky desert of the Nubian province of Batn-el-Hajer, and the date-growing lands of Sukkot and Mahass. After a ride of thirteen days the traveller will thus reach the town of El Ordeh or New Dongola on the Nile, an important market and military station, a middle point of traffic with Darfur and Lower Egypt. In its vicinity, immediately above the third Nile Cataract, is the fertile river island of Argo, with colossal statues and ruins of ancient Ethiopian and Egyptian build- ings. Erom Dongola a boat may again be taken as far as El-Dabbeh, whence the route is again overland through the steppe of Bajuda to Khartum, capital of Egyptian Sudan. 2. Berber, Shendy, and Khartum. On the course of the Nile, above Abu Hamed, the most important station is the town of Berber, on the right bank, not far from the confluence of the Atbara, the most northerly of the tributary rivers from Abyssinia. Berber is de- scribed as a collection of mud huts, with here and there a building in European fashion, and has a population of about 8000. Its tall acacia and palm trees, and the beautiful gardens of Sheikh Halifa, give it a charm and beauty, best appreciated by the traveller who approaches 222 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. it by the frequented caravan route across the desert from the port of Suakin on the Eed Sea. Where it joins the Nile the Atbara is a fine river of 400 yards in width, and at some seasons its limpid blue waters contrast strongly with the deep earthy red of the swollen Nile. This is the last supply received by the Nile before entering on its course of 1200 miles through the parched deserts of Nubia and Libya. Shendy, also on the right bank, between Berber and Khartum, formerly a great commercial town, razed to the ground in 1821 in reprisal for the assassination in it of the son of Mehemet Ali, is now again a place of much importance, both as a depot for the caravan traffic with Kordofan, and as the designated terminus of a projected Sudan railway to pass to this point from Wady Haifa. From Shendy light- draught steamers can pass readily to Khartum. Khartum, at an elevation of 1270 feet above the sea- level,1 and with a population of 40,000, is the largest town and principal centre of traffic in the country, the converging point of all the caravan routes. Ivory, ebony, and ostrich feathers, reaching this point from the south, are sent on from it across the desert to Korosko and down the Nile to Cairo ; and grain, cotton, and gums, ex- changed for European goods, give rise to an active trade. The town is built on the left bank of the Bahr-el-Azrak or Blue Nile, about two miles south from its confluence with the White Nile or Bahr-el-Abiad. These names, however, are not well chosen for the rivers at this point, since the White Nile preserves a pale opaque azure, while the eastern tributary is dyed a deep red with the earth that it brings down from the highlands of Abyssinia. The well-built government houses and residence of the governor- general of this province of the Sudan face the river-side, opposite a point at which a quay gives easy access to the 1 By levelling from Suakin through Berber, by Ismail Bey in 1873. NUBIA. 223 river steamers. The streets that border the Nile look down from a bluff height : here and there are stately palms and large gardens of citrons and orange trees, and neatly whitewashed houses relieved by minaret and mosque give it the appearance of an Egyptian city. Its streets within, however, are narrow and badly drained ; pools of water formed in the rainy season throw off a KHARTUM. deadly fever miasma. The population is a motley one of Turks, Greeks, Jews, Egyptians, Nubians, Abyssinians, Gallas, and Negroes. The Europeans are chiefly Greeks (a few are Italians) engaged in the sale of wines, raki, beer, and provisions. A regiment of the Shillooks, a warlike race of jet black negroes of fine stature, inhabiting the regions of the Nile about the confluence of the Sobat, is maintained at Khar- tum, and is found to be of great service in enforcing the 224 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. payment of tribute among the Arabs of the province, by whom they are feared and hated. 3. Senaar — The Country between the Blue and White Nile. In advancing still higher up the Nile basin we shall first take the country watered by the Blue Nile, which has of late years been explored by Ernst Marno, a meri- torious young Austrian ; and then, in company chiefly with Schweinfurth, pass in review the remarkable region lying on the left bank of the Bahr-el-Abiad. The wide domain on the left bank of the Bahr-el- Azrak, limited by this stream on the east and by the White Nile on the west, bears the name of Jesireh Senaar, and is probably to be identified with Strabo's island of Meroe. The northern portion of this country, reaching to the confluence of the Blue and White Nile at Khartum, bears the stamp of a somewhat higher culture in its tolerably numerous towns and hamlets and productive cultivation of the soil, and is inhabited by an unusually mixed and varied population. The interior, interspersed with extensive steppes and forests of brushwood, is frequented by nomad Arab tribes, but the southern district, which may be described as South or Upper Senaar, is occupied by a number of Negro tribes, both geographically and ethnographically forming a transition or connecting link with the negroes of Central and Western Africa. The first important point above Khartum on the Blue Nile is Woad Medineh, a station now much neglected and in a state of great decay. On the west bank of the river there stretches away to the north-west an immense wood- less level, for miles presenting the aspect of one vast brown tract. This is the great cultivated plain of the EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 225 country, the granary of the Egyptian Sudan, sending down supplies of durra to Khartum and the whole Nile region. Here are the brick villages of the Halawin, and occasionally also the whitewashed tomb of a sheikh or fakir. The second town on the Blue Nile is Senaar, which would seem to have given its name to the whole region. But, though at one time great and populous, Senaar also has lost much of its former prosperity. Fifty miles farther up, and on the right bank of the river, is the market village of Karkoj, the last place in this direction possessing any commercial importance, as well as the highest point up to which the Blue Nile is generally navigated. About this neighbourhood grow the Gomrah or Baobab (Adansonia digitata), and the Deleb palm (Borassus JZthiopicus) ; while, at a greater distance from the river, the red Falsa (Acacia gummifera) and the Suf- farah (Acacia fistulosa) are the commonest trees of the steppe bush. Above Karkoj, as the edge of the Abyssinian heights is approached, we come upon Bosaires, on the right bank of the river, formerly the chief town of an independent province ; still higher, nearly opposite the mouth of the Tumut, a periodically flowing tributary from the south, is Famaka, the central place of the district called Dar Fazokl, the limit of the Egyptian dominion in this direc- tion. Between these places a new ethnographic race begins to add a fresh element of confusion to the already sufficiently diversified tribes of Sudan. These are the Hammej, a branch of the great Ethiopian Negro family, which might be conveniently described as that of Upper Senaar, and which seems to occupy a middle position between the Arab Semites and the sub-equatorial Negroes of Central Africa. Immediately north of these, but chiefly on the eastern side of the Blue Nile, as far down as Karkoj, dwell the Q 226 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. HaJckalin Arabs, a handsome race, with a remarkably clear complexion and a symmetry of form, evidently im- plying total freedom from the least taint of Negro blood. 4. Valley of the Bahr-el-Ahiad. We now retrace our steps to Khartum, in order to follow the course of the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White Nile, and thereby penetrate farther south into the hitherto little explored regions of the Upper Nile. The country to the east of the Bahr-el-Abiad is the Jesireh Senaar just described, while on the west we enter the domain of the Baggara Selim Arabs, conterminous southwards with the savage Shillook tribe. With the island of Abba, between 13° and 14° north latitude, begins the finest part of the river, the banks being here thickly overgrown with magnificent sannut forests, the retreat of innumerable monkeys (Cercopithecits griseoviridis), the mimosa, willow, ambatch, and cissus, whose dense and intricate foliage often forms charming natural bowers. In 10° N. the station of Fashoda is reached, a place of 3000 inhabitants, including an Egyptian garrison of 800 men, which claims some attention as a convict settle- ment and the principal post of observation against the hostile Shillooks, .and, though with doubtful success, against the slave-trade on the White Nile. Above this place the western bank is studded with numerous Shillook villages, and consequently bears an evil repute on account of the frequent attacks made by these savage negroes. On the east is the confluence of the Sobat which brings down its milk-white waters from the Abyssinian highlands and is about half the size of the Bahr-el-Abiad itself. The best account of this large tributary of the Nile yet obtained is that given by Dr. Yunker in the Journal of EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 227 the Berlin Geographical Society (vol. xii, 1877), who as- cended it in an Egyptian steamer in 1876 for 190 miles to the station of Nasser. This military outpost was formed two years ago by Colonel Gordon, of the Egyptian Staff, partly with the object of accustoming the natives of the river to the presence of the foreign power, partly with a view to opening up new avenues of trade and barter along the basin of the Sobat. This post can only be reached by large vessels in the rainy months from June to November; during the rest of the year the river is only navigable for small boats. In beginning the upward voyage from the Egyptian military station at the confluence of the Sobat and Nile, the banks are wooded, but soon a wide savannah appears on both sides of the river, and the woods do not appear again till more than half the journey to Nasser is accomplished. Here, however, a dense impenetrable vegetation and rank undergrowth matted together with creepers, affords fine effects of light and shade. This is the favourite resort of the white-headed eagle (Malimtus vocifer), and one sees him sitting proudly under the leafy tops of the high trees. For a day's journey upward from the Nile the banks are peopled by the Shillooks ; next on the south bank follow a portion of the extensive tribe of the Dinka ; and higher up the Fallang and Niuak, while the Nuehrs have a large territory on the north and east of the river. Along this portion of the river not fewer than five different idioms are spoken. No European has yet reached any higher point on the Sobat than the station of Nasser. Dr. Yunker was informed that higher up the river breaks into four branches, the Addura, Nikuar, Gelo, and Abual, named from north to south ; and that the Addura, which probably rises far in the interior of the plateaux which continue the Abyssinian highlands southward, is navigable by native canoes for a distance of 40 to 50 days' journey. 228 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Returning to the Nile voyage, a little above the Sobat confluence we come to the junction of the Bahr-el-Zeraf (Giraffe river), which at 7° 30' north latitude branches off from the Bahr-el-Jebel, or the main stream which passes Gondokoro, again joining it here after a winding course. The whole country between the Bahr-el-Jebel and the Bahr-el-Zeraf, and for an unknown distance beyond the latter river, is cut up by innumerable river-beds, forming in the rainy season one vast swamp swarming with musquitoes, and, with its floating vegetable islands and dense walls of reeds, offering formidable obstacles to navigation. At its confluence with the Bahr-el-Abiad the Bahr-el-Zeraf is tolerably deep, and its high banks are fringed with a strip of wild sugar-cane (Saccharum ischceemum). Soon, however, on both sides the grassy steppes stretch away to the horizon, varied only with solitary trees and patches of brushwood, and strewn with the conic hills of the termite or white ant. Here there occur a few deleb-palms, of which we meet with extensive forests farther south, such as that south of the Seriba Gauer, the first settlement on the Bahr-el-Zeraf. The pestiferous climate of these marshy districts, where dry plots of ground are so rare as to receive, on that account alone, special names, is fatal not only to Europeans, but also to the Nubians and other natives. 5. The Nuehr Tribe. Yet in this dreary region dwell the Nuehr, represented as closely akin to the Denka or Dinka race, which nearly surrounds them from the Bahr-el-Ghazal in a southerly curve to the Sobat and southern Senaar. The physical constitution of the Nuehr furnishes a fresh proof of the received opinion that the inhabitants of fenny lowlands EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 229 breathing a heavy moist and warm atmosphere display a less expansive chest formation than those living on more elevated lands and breathing a thinner and lighter air. Almost the sole wealth of the Nuehr consists in their herds of cattle, to which they manifest greater affection than to their wives and children. Above the Seriba Gauer the Zeraf grows shallower and becomes more and more overgrown with flags, while on the other hand its banks spread ont so that their limits cannot always be clearly distinguished from the surrounding land. The feathered denizens of these reed and grass grown wastes most frequently met with are the cuckoo (Centropits monachus, Elipp.) and the graceful Ortygometra erythropus, seen also in the fenny districts of West Africa. Here also are the king vulture, the "parasite kite," and the eagle. The slimy banks free of grass are frequented by the white and black ibis, the tantalus, the magnificent " saddle-back " stork, elsewhere rarely found, the Balceniceps rex, and the Marabu, besides flocks of lapwings, stone-curlews, sandpipers, and pelicans. At 9° 30' K latitude on the main Nile we, for the first time, meet with the papyrus, which was once spread as far as Lower Egypt, but has now withdrawn to the very heart of Central Africa. The farther we advance up the river, the more frequent and serious become the obstacles to the navigation. At Lake JSTo, where the Bahr-el-Jebel or Gondokoro river forms a junction with the Bahr-el-Ghazal (Gazelle river), there is a huge grass dam, mostly formed of a water fern of the species Azolla, and of the Pistia stratiotes, with which travellers on African rivers are only too familiar. Above the territory of the Nuehr tribe we come to the first wooded land on the Bahr-el-Ghazal, where grows the tree-like euphorbia, whose branches, like those of a candelabrum, shoot straight up into the air. 230 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. 6. The Dinka Tribes. On the southern limits of the Nuehr district we come upon the Dinka Negroes, whose domain occupies the whole of the low-lying tract stretching round the Nuehr from the Bahr-el-Arab, across the Ghazal and Jebel, to the lower Sobat. This is a vast alluvial land, the monotony of which is unbroken by a single hill or prominence of any sort, and the few wooded patches them- selves are of very limited extent. But, according as they approach the Dyur and Bongo districts on their south- western borders, these Dinka steppes lose much of their monotonous character. Their true limits are formed by high table-lands, mostly ferruginous, which stretch away to the equator, interrupted only by slight undulations or isolated granite peaks. The land is covered with farmsteads and " seribas," properly meaning thorn fences, as the stations of the merchants are called in the Negro regions. A great many of these seribas, mostly be- longing to Nubian traders, have in recent years been established in the region of the upper Ghazal, which has on this account come to be known as the * Seriba country" — a convenient name for the whole territory between the Bahr-el-Jebel and Bahr-el-Arab, watered by the Eohl, Dyur, Dembo, and many other parallel tributaries of the Ghazal. In a few of the Dinka tribes the men are of large build, but their average size does not exceed 5 feet 6 inches. They are of the very darkest colour, and they shave off all their scanty hair except a small tuft on top, dandies alone wearing it full and as long as possible. With both sexes it is customary to extract the front incisors, in consequence of which their speech contains some very inarticulate sounds. Herds form their principal wealth, and, besides horned EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 231 cattle of the Zebu breed, they possess flocks of sheep and goats, to say nothing of the dogs. In the art of cookery the Dinkas contrast favourably with the Nubians, their fari- naceous and milk food being equal in flavour to the best European preparations of the same nature. Iron, which here has a higher value than copper, is largely used in manufacturing their arms and other implements, and even their ornaments ; but as the country, especially in its western parts, produces no iron-ore, the people are less skilled in its preparation than are their neighbours. On the other hand, their religious views are of a far more enlightened nature than those of their Nubian con- querors, and they are especially remarkable for their rejec- tion of the Eastern belief in the potency of the evil eye. DINKA FARMSTEAD. 7. The Dyur and Bongo Tribes. The Dyur, occupying the lower slopes and terraces of the central elevated plateau, are distinguished for their skill in the smelting of iron-ore, and in every branch of 232 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the blacksmith's trade. They are also eager and adroit fishermen, and before the sowing time in March, old and young are in the habit of leaving their settled abodes and devoting themselves either to smelting or to fishing. The Dyur families are generally numerous, and the love of the children for their parents is more marked than in any other Central African tribe. At present, besides the produce of the hunt and of fishing, these industrious and intelligent Dyurs support themselves chiefly on their poultry and goats, as well as on the tillage of the land, the yearly returns of which, however, fall a prey, for the most part, to the Nubians. The third very important tribe in the Seriba district is that of the Bongo or Dor. Their country lies between 8° and 6° 1ST. latitude, on the southern limits of the low- lying land of the Ghazal basin, and reaches from north- west to south-east, from the banks of the Eohl to those of the Pango, comprising the middle course of most of the rivers feeding the basin of the Ghazal. Its area is about equal to that of Belgium ; but it is thinly peopled, and this tribe seems to be dying out. They are confined on the north by the Dyur, on the north-east by the Dinkas, on the south-east by the Mittu, on the south by the Babukur, the Bellanda, and the Xyamnyam, on the west by the Sere and Golo. The Bongo live partly by cattle-breeding, fishing, and hunting, but mainly on the produce of the soil. Of all the tribes in the region of the Ghazal, the Bongo bestow the greatest care on the construction of their houses ; these are invariably cone-shaped, but at the same time present a great diversity of form. On the apex of the conical roof a well-formed straw bolster is placed, and this serves as an elevated seat whence the surrounding level country, hidden from those on the ground by the tall growing corn of the fields, can be surveyed. To every hut is attached a corn EGYPTIAN SUDAX. 233 store, or granary, raised on high stakes to preserve the harvest from damp, rats, and termites. The Bongo are of an earthy red-brown complexion, like that of the neighbouring Mittu, Nyamnyam, and Krej tribes ; compared with them, the Dinkas, Nuehrs, and Shillooks seem of a deep black colour. In their physical build, also, these two groups differ considerably, the Bongo and the tribes south of them being mostly of smaller size, with a more compact muscular development, much longer upper thigh-bones, and a broader cranium. Their hair is short, crisp, and woolly, but little attention is paid to its decoration. The men always wear an apron of skin or some woven fabric made fast with a cord round the loins, while the women bind herbs or foliage round their hips ; the rest of the body is mostly left ex- posed, even the head-dress of plumage being worn only on festive occasions ; but both sexes display a great love of finery, such as glass beads worn in strings round the neck. The Bongo women are also distinguished by a pecu- liar adornment. Soon after their marriage they begin to bore the under lip, and by introducing wooden plugs, gradually expand it to five or six times its natural size. The upper lip is also pierced, and a copper nail or a ring attached to it. ISTor do the nostrils escape, each of them being generally stuck with from one to three little straws, while a copper ring is inserted in the perforated cartilage of the nose, as in the 234 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. case of buffaloes and bulls to render them more manage- able. The upper arm, breast, and stomach, also, are tattooed ; so that altogether the outward appearance of a Bongo woman does not quite correspond to our ideas of grace and loveliness. The adults become so excessively corpulent that the contrast between them and the thin, sinewy bodies of the men produces the greatest astonish- ment in strangers. Even well-to-do Bongo men marry at the most three wives only, while the poor content themselves with one. The bridegroom purchases his bride from her father gener- ally for ten iron plates weighing two pounds each, and twenty spear-heads ; but " elderly females " may be had at a lower price. Marriages thus contracted are easily dissolved, the husband having always the option of send- ing his wife back to her father ; though divorce seldom takes place except on the ground of sterility, for, as a rule, their unions are blessed with a numerous offspring. The dead are buried, the men with their face turned to the north, the women to the south. Of a belief in a life beyond the grave, or even in the transmigration of souls, not a trace can be detected among the Bongos, though a belief in ghosts, the devil, and witches, is widely diffused. 8. The Bahr-el-Ghazal Water System. Dr. Schweinfurth, to whom we are indebted for these details regarding tribes hitherto almost unknown, also visited the regions west and south of the Seriba dis- trict, throwing much light on their intricate water system. The central river of the Seriba region is the Dyur, the sources of which Schweinfurth discovered at Mount Baginze in the east of the Nyamnyam country. It is one of the most considerable tributaries of the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The farther we proceed westwards from the Dyur the EGYPTIAN SUDAN. 235 more the land rises, thus indicating the approach to the limits of the Ghazal basin towards the central elevated table-land of the continent. The spacious district between the upper Dyur and the Tonj, which flows also from near Mount Baginze, serves as a pasture-land for the elephant and the antelope, a peculiar appearance being given to it by the numerous mushroom-shaped termite or ant hills, constructed by the little Termes mordax. A MITTTJ. 9. The Mittu Tribes. Still farther east of the Tonj we meet the river Eohl. Though there are several tribes with special names occupy- ing the country between these two rivers, still they all resemble each other so much in appearance, language, and habits, that Schweinfurth considered himself justified in 236 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. comprising them all under the general name of Mittu, in accordance with the practice of the Nubian traders. These Mittus appear to be most nearly akin to the Bongo, by whom, however, they are surpassed both in their physical and mental characteristics. The land occu- pied by them is fertile, but of domestic animals they pos- sess only the goat, the dog, and poultry ; hence to the Dinkas, rich breeders of cattle, they also are known by the term of reproach Dyur or savage. 10. The Nyamnyam Cannibals. Schweinfurth's most important undertaking was his journey southwards to the land of the Nyamnyam, in which he remained for a long time about the sources of the Dyur. Thence he made his way through a hilly dis- trict, and after passing the last streams flowing towards the Gazelle river northward, he found that he had reached an elevation of 2900 feet above the sea. At his feet lay a new valley, through which a stream was flowing south- westward to a completely different system of drainage, distinct from that of the Nile. Here Schweinfurth stood on the water-parting of the Nile basin, the first European that had penetrated thither from the north, following the course of the Egyptian river itself. The greater part of the Zandeh or Nyamnyam country lies between 4° and 6° north latitude, its central line coinciding for its whole length from east to west with the water-parting between the basins of the Nile and that of an interior system, which is perhaps that of the Chad. Its area is estimated at 5400 square miles, and the population at about 2,000,000. The Nyamnyams wear long plaited tresses and queues often hanging over the shoulders down to and below the NYAMNYAM COUNTRY. 237 waist, the hair being of that fine crispy quality peculiar to the true negro type. Their great almond-shaped eyes, standing wide apart, overhung with sharply-curved eye- brows, and betraying an un- usually broad cranium, impart to their features an inde- scribable expression of mingled brutal wildness, martial intre- pidity, and a frankness at once inspiring confidence. A nose broad as long, a small mouth with very wide lips, and seldom exceeding the line of the nose, a round chin and full cheeks, a short, earthy-red coloured figure, inclined to cor- pulence, and a not very strongly marked muscular system, com- plete the physical picture of the Nyamnyam type. In this district towns or villages are nowhere to be seen. The huts, grouped in little hamlets, and occupied each by a single family, are found scattered widely over the cultivated land ; even the court of a chieftain con- sists merely of a larger number of huts, in which he and his wives reside. In appearance these huts resemble those of the Bongos above described, only the conical roof is higher and more pointed. Peculiarly constructed little huts, or "bamogih," as they are called, with bell-shaped roofs, are set apart as sleeping-rooms for the half-grown-up youths of the more distinguished classes. The women attend to the tillage of the land and the household affairs, but live a much more secluded life than 238 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. their Bongo and Mittu sisters. The dignity of chieftain, which is inherited by the eldest son, brings little with it beyond a greater share of the produce of the hunt, such as more of the ivory and half the elephant's carcase ; and it is attended with no particular outward show, although the chieftain has the privilege of carrying out capital sentences with his own hand. The scanty costume of these people consists of an apron made up mostly of various skins patched together, and in their eyes producing a very picturesque effect. Tattooing is limited in both sexes to a few simple figures scratched on the surface of the skin ; and, with the exception of filing the lower incisor teeth to a sharp point, to use them, it is said, as a weapon of offence at close quarters, the Nyamnyams do not disfigure themselves in any way. With all their fierceness the Nyamnyam display a tolerably sociable and sensitive disposition, and especially take great pleasure in music, for which they have invented several national instruments. Professional singers also, though perhaps not gifted with particularly fine voices, go about from place to place, and are always welcome at feasts and evening revels. The Nyamnyam call themselves Zandeh, and their language, like those of all the tribes in the region of the upper Gazelle, belongs to the great Libyo-Nubian family. It possesses scarcely any expressions for abstract ideas, and Schweinfurth failed to discover a special name for the deity, though there are words for prayer and worship. The belief in evil spirits and apparitions is widespread ; ordeals also are recognised in criminal cases, and sooth- saying is practised on important occasions, especially before entering on any warlike expedition. The general reputation of the Nyamnyam for canni- balism is well founded. They themselves make a boast of it, ostentatiously wearing the teeth of the human beings MONBUTTU COUNTRY. 239 devoured by them strung round their neck, and decking the stakes of their dwellings with the heads of their victims. Not only do they eat all the captives taken in war, but also all those dying a sudden death. Some Nyamnyam tribes, however, would seem to have renounced the practice of cannibalism. 11. The Moributtu Country and its People. From the water-parting, Schweinfurth descended to the valley in which rises the Mbruole, a river which has a westerly course, flowing ultimately into the Welle, the central drain of the new system. The land is here so marshy that goods can be conveyed across it only by human labour. Farther south lies the territory of the A-Banga, dif- fering perceptibly from the Nyamnyani, and forming a certain connecting link between them and the Monbuttu. The land sinks sensibly, and becomes more and more uneven the nearer we approach the Welle. The district lying on the northern limits of the Mon- buttu country is covered by dense virgin forests, inter- sected by innumerable streamlets and river-beds, among which the largest is that of the Welle, formed of two great sources, the Gadda and the Kibaly, which must take their rise in the Blue Mountains seen by Baker on the western shore of the Albert Nyanza. From the Welle to the residence of the Monbuttu King Munza (since dead), the way leads through a country of marvellous beauty, an almost unbroken line of the primitively simple dwellings of the Monbuttu people extending on either side of the caravan route. A bold feature of the scenery is formed by two hills of gneiss rising to a height of upwards of 3 0 0 feet. King Munza received Schweinfurth with a great show 240 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. of barbaric pomp and ceremony in a high and roomy hall, of sucb an elegant and yet substantial construction as one could scarcely believe to be possible in Africa. The nobles of his kingdom sat in long rows, each on his own chair, in full war costume. After long waiting the king at length appeared, ushered in with clang of kettle-drums and horns. He was a fine powerful man, and, for an African, had a remarkably full beard. He was dressed in the fashion of a Monbuttu warrior, whose suit, woven from the bark of the fig-tree (Urostigma Kotschyana), covered the greater part of the body above and below the waist. On his head he wore a cylinder-like cap of papyrus cane, ornamented with red parrot feathers. Arms and legs were loaded with copper rings and chains, and in his hand he carried a short sickle-shaped sword of polished copper. The complexion of the Monbuttus is considerably lighter than that of their neighbours the Nyamnyam, and it is remarkable that Schweinfurth, coming from the north, repeatedly makes the same observation as Livingstone, approaching from the south, that in the very heart of Africa light-coloured races are met with. Amongst the Monbuttus Schweinfurth found many individuals with light hair, and otherwise betraying the symptoms charac- teristic of albinos. The Monbuttus also show certain Semitic features, such as the long hooked nose, which entirely separate them from the true negro type. Both polygamy and cannibalism prevail to an Tin- limited extent, and the Monbuttus are perhaps the worst cannibals in all Africa. 12. The AJcka Dwarfs. One of the most remarkable results of Schweinfurth's visit to Munza's residence was the actual verification of the existence of that race of dwarfs in Equatorial Africa THE AKKA DWARFS. 241 so often alluded to both by ancient writers and modern travellers, but never before placed beyond all cavil or doubt. Schweinfurth himself saw at Munza's court live specimens of the Akka, those African pigmies whose average height does not ex- ceed 4 feet 10 inches, and some of whom have settled in the neighbourhood of the king's residence. Schwein- furth looks on them as be- yond question an aboriginal race of Central Equatorial Africa. Especially remark- able is their huge head, unsteadily supported by a weak, slender neck. With them the projection of the jaw reaches its extreme limit, producing a facial angle of 60°. Corresponding with this feature are the lips, greatly protruding, yet not pouting, which encircle the half-open mouth in a sharply defined out- line, altogether imparting to them a decidedly ape-like appearance. The joints of their limbs are angular and prominent, the knees alone being of a round, plump form, and, in contrast with the habit of other African races when walking they turn the toes inwards. According to their own statement the Akka, also called Tikki-tikki, are a hunting people, possessing no domestic animals except poultry. Their country is re- ported to extend to the hilly lands of the Nemeigeh, the Bissanga, and the Domondu, which may with some pro- bability be identified with the inner slopes of the Blue Mountains on the western shore of the Albert ISTyanza. On his return journey from the Nyamnyam country, R AKKA TYPE. 242 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Schweinfurth was able to make a number of excursions in the vicinity of the source of the Dyur, one of which was to the high mountain mass of the Baginze. From the summit of this peak he could count about a hundred hill-tops, while to northward the view extends over the level country watered by the Tonj, and the lands of the hostile Babukur, who share the reputation of cannibalism with the Nyamnyam and Monbuttu. 13. The Goto, Nduggu, and Sehre Negroes. Later he visited the lands much farther west, where Dar Fertit is partly uninhabited, partly occupied in its eastern portion by the Golo, a tribe in many respects outwardly resembling the Bongo, but speaking a totally different dialect. Here the Dembo and Biri, large tribu- taries of the Bahr-el-Arab, gather their supplies from a hilly country in which a huge mass of gneiss, nearly 500 feet in height, called Mount Ida, and the Kosanga moun- tain, are prominent points. To the west of the Golo are the Nduggu, a Krej tribe, whose territory stretches northwards as far as that of the Baggara-el-Homr, a people on the banks of the Bahr- el-Arab. The Krej people of Dar Fertit are described as the lowest in the scale of all the tribes of the Seriba region of the Bahr-el-Ghazal rivers. Their forms lack propor- tion ; mouth and hps show the negro type in its most exaggerated shape ; and not content with this, the Krej further vilifies his aspect by sharpening his teeth to a point, or knocking out the upper ones altogether. On the south-east of Dar Fertit is the region of the upper Pongo, peopled by the Sehre negroes, who show a much greater affinity to the Nyamnyam than to their neighbours the Bongo. UPPER NILE BASIN. 243 14. Gondokoro and Lado. We must now return from the remarkable regions and peoples west of the Nile, in order to trace the upper course of the great river farther south. Excepting to note the military stations of Shambi in 7° K and of Bohr in 6° 10', the Bahr-el-Jebel presents no features of great interest till we reach Lado, the chief military station of the Egyptians in this region, and the future head-quarters of the government of the Upper Nile. Six miles higher up, on the opposite or right bank, is the site of Gondokoro and of the former station of Ismailia, 1525 feet above the sea, a memorable point in connection with African discovery. Owing to the unhealthiness of the place, the want of fuel for steamers in the vicinity of Gondokoro, and the deficiency of durra, which the natives about it do not cultivate, it was decided by Colonel Gordon to abandon it, and the evacuation was complete in January 1875; Lado and Eegiaf, the former below, the latter fifteen miles higher up on the opposite bank, having been chosen as points to supersede it. These stations are situated in the territory of the Bari, a tall active race, who occupy the banks between 4° and 5° K They cul- tivate durra, and their productive lands serve for grazing their numerous herds of cattle. Their disposition is, how- ever, intractable and treacherous, and they go about well armed with bow, arrows, and lance. From Gondokoro and Lado a number of travellers have made excursions westward through the Bari country towards the upper courses of the Ghazal tributary rivers as far as the borders of the Nyamnyam country. Among the most recent of these was the expedition of Colonel Long in 1874, to open a way through the territory occupied by the hos- tile tribe of the Yanbari, who barred the passage to the Nyamnyam country. The country near Lado is described 244 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. as beautiful and park-like, dotted here and there with great sugar-loaf-like trees, beneath the shade of which are neat villages of circular straw huts of the Bari, and well-filled corn bins raised on stakes to keep out the rats and white ants. Soon, however, the landscape changes and a wild jungle is entered, and the territory occupied by the Yan- bari farther on is savage in the extreme, penned in by abrupt chains of the Eego mountains across which the rocky track passes. Here the " seribas " of the natives, surrounded by a palisade of impenetrable cactus, are dotted about in great numbers. The Yanbari speak the Bari language, and differ from these chiefly in not following the custom of shaving the head. South of the stations of Lado and Eegiaf the Nile is rendered almost innavigable by cataracts. The first of these occurs at a distance of twelve miles above Eegiaf, and others follow, but still it has been found possible to take vessels up as far as the mouth of the Asua tributary. For ten miles above this, however, the passage is per- fectly impracticable. At the Tola or Mekade cataract in 3° 40' N. latitude, the river narrows between the advanc- ing mountains to a width of less than 400 feet, and rushes through a narrow ravine over and through rocks of thirty to forty feet in height. At Dufli, a station established in 1874, nearly opposite the post of Ibra- hamia or Apuddo formed by Sir Samuel Baker, the river again becomes navigable, and at this point the steamer in which M. Gessi examined the Albert Lake was put together and launched on the Nile. The rapids below Dufli are thus the only insurmountable obstacle to the navigation of the Nile for vessels of considerable size from the Mediterranean to the Albert Lake. 15. The Victoria Nile. That the Bahr-el-Jebel, as the White Nile is here UPPEK NILE BASIN. 245 called, really flows from the Albert Nyanza has been placed beyond doubt by Eomolo Gessi and Colonel Gor- don, who sailed up the river into the lake as far as Ma- gungo, a village on its north-east shore at no great distance from the outlet. But at this point another great stream also flows into the lake from the south-east, and this has, in its turn, been traced back to the Victoria Nyanza. It has been named the Somerset Eiver, or Victoria Nile, and flows from the shore of the Victoria Nyanza a little north of the equator, immediately forming the Bipon Falls, and thence flowing northwards and losing itself in a lake or marsh from twenty to twenty-five miles in width, discovered by Colonel Long in his adventurous descent of the river by canoes in 1874, and named by him Ibrahim Pasha Lake. Again emerging from this lake, the Victoria Nile forms the Karuma Falls at Foweira, and farther clown, before entering the Albert Nyanza, the Murchison Falls, where in a space of ten or fifteen miles the river descends fully 700 feet. Between the Karuma and Murchison Falls, among many others, are the rapids of the Aufina islands. It will be more convenient to treat of the lands and peoples of the Victoria Nile, when we come to describe the regions of the great equatorial lake system. Mean- time it will be enough to state that here also Egypt has set her foot, garrisons having been stationed at various points in the country. The Khedive now rules without a rival from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Som- erset Eiver or Victoria Nile, at 2° north latitude ; his equatorial government begins at the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Sobat, and embraces the region of the Bahr-el-Jebel as far as Unyoro. This last district is still partly inde- pendent ; while Uganda, bordering it on the south, has already entered into friendly relations with the Egyptian authorities. 246 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TKAVEL. OHAPTEE XVII. THE COAST OF THE EED SEA. 1. From the Arabian Desert to Perim. The Nile region is severed from the dangerous reef-bound coast of the Eed Sea by a series of barren hill and moun- tain ranges, forming on the north the Arabian, and, south of the Tropic of Cancer, the Nubian Desert ; thence rising along the coast to a decidedly mountainous district, the advanced spur of the great Abyssinian highlands. It may give a general idea of the height of these ranges forming the backbone of the Arabian and Nubian Deserts if we note that Jebel Attaka above Suez, which may be consi- dered as the terminal point of the whole line, attains 2640 feet ; Jebel Kharib, opposite the entrance to the Gulf of Suez, rises to between 6000 and 7000 feet; Elba and Soturba, on the Eed Sea coast of the Nubian Desert, attain nearly the same elevation ; and Mount Hager and Debr Abi, on the inner border of the Habab country north of Abyssinia, each rise to 8000 feet. Along the sultry shore of the Eed Sea there lies a narrow strip of level land, where are situated the three most important ports on its western side — Kosseir to the north, on the same parallel as Kenneh on the Nile, and farther south Suakin, the corresponding point to Berber on the Nile, and Massowah, the port of northern Abys- sinia. This last place lies opposite the Dahlak group of islands, famous for their pearl fishery. This coast properly ends at the famous strait of Bab- RED SEA COAST. 247 el-Mandeb, the " gate of tears," where the opposite point of the Arabian peninsula approaches so near as to constitute the Bed Sea a natural cul-de-sac, though it is now con- nected northwards by the Suez Canal with the Mediter- ranean. In the Bab-el-Mandeb strait is the little barren islet of Perim, in the hands of the British, who have here erected a fortified lighthouse. The channel is so narrow, that the guns of the fort completely command the navi- gation on both sides, rendering Perim at once the real key both of the Eed Sea and of the Suez Canal. 2. Conformation of the Land — Suakin and the Nubian Desert. The northern corner of the little frequented Arabian Desert has been recently crossed by Dr. Schweinfurth and Dr. Paul Gussfeldt, who visited it in March 1876. It is furrowed by numerous systems of wadys, diversified by various hills, and interspersed with barren " serir " plains, broad elevated table-lands, and valleys often clothed with a surprisingly luxuriant vegetable growth. In this lime- stone region there flourishes especially a white flowering ginger plant {Retama Raetam), which is not again met with either north or south of the district between 28° and 29° 30' north latitude. The southern portion of this hilly region has been repeatedly visited by Schweinfurth, and again recently by Ernest Marno towards the end of 1874. Marno took the most northern of the three desert tracks between Suakin and Berber on the Nile, leading through the Wadi Aben and a hitherto unknown pass of the Jebel Abdarak. Suakin, the only port on the African coast of the Eed Sea between Kosseir and Massowah, is in regular steam communication with Suez, and has a further im- portance as the starting-point of the frequented caravan track across the Nubian Desert to Berber and Khartum on 248 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL. the Nile. In reaching its harbour an intricate passage between coral-reefs has to be passed. The principal part of the town, which, with Kef on the mainland, has about 8000 inhabitants, stands on a little coral island about one hundred yards from the shore. Its square flat-topped houses have no pretence to architectural beauty, but some are adorned with latticed windows of carved wood, which stand out in bold relief from the dazzling white of the coral walls under a blazing sun. Quantities of sacks of gum piled on its quay, and occasional arrivals of ivory across the desert, give activity to its traffic, and the harbour is filled with native trading vessels, painted in gaudy colours, with low pointed bows and high carved sterns, and thick forward-raking masts. A wide level plain, on which the sun beats fiercely, stretches inland from Suakin, separating it from the moun- tains which must be crossed in the fortnight's march required to reach Berber. Several passes lead westward through these ranges of wild barren mountains, which are deeply cut into by torrent-beds ; afterwards a labyrinth of lower hills, with occasional amphitheatres of sand of twenty or thirty miles in circumference, is entered ; here and there a few stunted thorn-bushes and tufts of desert grass are seen, all withered and dead. Before Berber is reached, the more level desert is covered with yellow sand, mottled by the action of the wind, into which the camels sink at each step. As is usual on all frequented caravan-routes, the path is strewn with carcases of innumerable dead camels, shrivelled and dried in the sun. Now and then a party of Arabs, mounted on trotting hygeens, or dromedaries, are met with, or it may be a solitary Nubian Arab belonging to the Bisharin or Amri nomads of the desert, striding across the plain, with " graceful sinewy figure, erect and unconfined save by the kilt of home-spun cotton twisted round his loins, his leather buckler at his back, his spear in hand; EED SEA COAST. 249 and his long black ringlets flowing behind him." It has been remarked that, just as the Norwegian hare turns white when snow is on the fjeld in winter, so the gazelles, birds, lizards, and even insects, found in the African deserts take the same colour as the sands.1 In the north of the Abyssinian highlands, about 15a north latitude, several streams take their rise, and be- come greatly swollen during the summer rains. Amongst them are the Mareb, which, as the Khor-el-Gash, flows in a north-westerly direction towards the Atbara; but about ten miles above the mud-walled town of Kasala, the chief place of the province of Taka, the stream is remarkably divided, one branch taking the direction of Filik and the lower Atbara, the other a westerly course, irrigating a considerable tract of country before it reaches the Atbara, opposite the town of Goz-regiab, in 16° N". This portion of the Gash, however, is only periodical in its filling with water. Opposite Kasala, according to the late Captain Eokeby, its bed is 400 yards wide, and it begins to flow about the end of June, continuing for three months. From the northern apex of Abyssinia also de- scend the Khor Barka, or Baraka, the periodical stream of which has cut a broad bed northwards to the sea not far from To-kar ; and, lastly, the Anseba, a considerable tribu- tary of the Barka. 3. The Beni-Amer and Hcibab Tribes. The semi-insular region, bounded on one side by the Eed Sea, and on the other by the Barka, is inhabited almost entirely by the shepherd tribes of the Beni-Amer and the Habab, the former, however, reaching much far- ther towards the province of Taka in the direction of the Atbara. Both tribes speak a dialect of the Ethiopic or Gheez, a branch of the Semitic family of languages ; whereas 1 De Cosson, The Cradle of the Blue Nile, 1877. 250 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the people of To-kar, south of Suakin, and those of the north-west of the Barka, speak the Beja or To-Bedawieh language. In their physical appearance, as well as in their habits and customs, the Habab and Beni-Amer resemble their Beja neighbours on the north more than the Abys- sinians, but may on the whole be regarded as a mixture of these two races, though some older and more recent foreign elements are also to be detected amongst them. The Beni-Amer have long adopted Mohammedanism, while a great part of the Habab, as well as their neigh- bours on the south, the Mensa, Taku^, and Bogos, were, at least in name, till within recent years, Abyssinian Christians. Since the provinces of Massowah and Suakin have been annexed to Egypt, both of these otherwise not very warlike tribes have been induced entirely to adopt peace- ful ways. They were visited by Munzinger in 1871, and as recently as the spring of the year 1875 by Theodore von Heuglin, to whom we are indebted for these details. 4. Massowah — Berherah — Political Changes. Massowah, like Suakin, stands on a coral island, and was famous in olden times for the gold, ivory, and slaves exported from it. Opposite it, also, are the pearl fisheries of the coral Dahlak islands. It came into pos- session of the Porte after the conquest of Arabia Felix, and used to be governed by a Pasha from Constantinople. It was also the starting-point of several expeditions in which attempts at the conquest of Abyssinia were made. When the Turks found they could not conquer Abyssinia, they withdrew the pashalik, and the native tribes appointed a JSTaib, or governor, who entered into treaty with Abys- sinia, becoming tributary to that state, and giving it RED SEA COAST. 251 the claim which it still maintains over this port. The Turks, however, continued to exercise authority over the governors of Massowah, and still nominally held the whole coast-line. In 1866 the Turkish Government handed over Massowah and the intervening shores as far as Suakin to the Egyptians, who took possession of them at once, establishing military stations at several points. Massowah is a place of 4000 or 5000 inhabitants, one of the hottest on all the Eed Sea coast. Even in 'mid- winter the thermometer is often above 100° Eahr. in the shade ; and agues, fever, and dysentery combine to give its inhabitants a most sickly appearance. The trade is chiefly in the hands of the resident Banyans, or Indian Mohammedan merchants, who act as " go-betweens." Twice a year, as a rule, caravans come to the port from the interior of Abyssinia. Gradually the Mohammedans have been closing round the great table-land of Abyssinia, isolating it more and more completely from communication with the outer world. In 1872 the small frontier countries of Bogos, Mensa, and Takue, at the northern apex of the table- land, which were nominally possessions of Abyssinia, and the country of Marea in the same region, which had paid tribute to Egypt for thirty years previously, were taken possession of by the Egyptians. Previous to 1874 the whole of the Kunama country on the Mareb was sub- jected to Egypt, and farther south-westward the border- land of Galabat, which in 1862, at the time of Sir Samuel Baker's visit to it, was fully recognised as a part of Abyssinia, is now held by a strong force of Egyptian soldiers. Still farther in the same direction, Fazokl, on the Blue Nile, has been incorporated in the Egyptian Sudan. The Egyptians have also been advanced along the coasts of the Eed Sea southward of Massowah. In 1873 the town of Berberah, on the Somali coast of the Gulf oi 252 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Aden, was occupied by the troops of the Khedive ; and in 1874 the whole coast of the Danakil country, between that and Massowah, with most of its ports, was taken pos- session of by Egypt. The harbour of Zeila, at the entrance to the Bay of Tajurrah, was made over to Egypt by the Porte in July 1875, and later in the same year the Khedive's troops marched thence inland, and took pos- session of Harar. Not content with this, the Egyptians grasped the ports of Brava, Juba, and Kismayu, on the east African coast of the Somali country, possessions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, and only retired from these on the intervention of England. An actual inroad into Abyssinia by the Egyptian troops in 1875 had a disas- trous issue, but since no treaty of peace or definite un- derstanding as to territorial limits has yet been arrived at, the whole border-land surrounding the wedge-like pro- montory of Abyssinia remains a debateable land. 5. TaJca and Kedaref. In the Egyptian portion of the basin of the Atbara, one of the most important and fertile provinces is that of Taka, which extends from near the Atbara across the lower portion of its tributary the Khor-el-Gash. It is a steppe land, dotted with granite knobs, and covered with low mimosa bush and grasses, which after the rainy season grow up to a man's height. When this is dry it is burned off by the nomad Arabs to make way for the planting of durra in the following rains. This com grows to a height of ten feet, and affords a splendid harvest. The inhabitants of Taka belong to the Shukurie Arabs, an important tribe. Kasala, its capital, on the right bank of the Gash, is the residence of the governor, and a place of about 5000 inhabitants ; it is surrounded by fine vegetable and fruit gardens, but from the accumula- tion of filth within it, left to the hyenas and pariab dogs, it is exceedingly unhealthy. COUNTRIES NORTH OF ABYSSINIA. 253 Going southward from Taka, the country of the Hamran or Homran Arabs is reached, lying within the middle bend of the Atbara, where it is called the Bahr Setit. These Arabs are the great hunters of this part of Africa ; splendid horsemen, who boldly pursue the largest game armed only with their straight double-edged cross- handled swords, which they are said to wield with such dexterity as to be able to hamstring an elephant or rhi- noceros, or cut a man through with a single blow. Kedaref, or Gadaref, with its town called the " Suk," or market of Abu Sin, is an important district within the vast prairie country lying between the Atbara and the Eahad tributary of the Blue Nile. The district of Galabat, recently incorporated with Egyptian territory, lies on the first slopes of the Abyssinian heights on each side of the Goang tributary of the Atbara. Its capital, Metemmeh, is a considerable market town, one of the most noted of this region, composed of round, grass- thatched houses after the Abyssinian model. On market days it is filled with natives of all parts, and in all the various costumes of Upper Nubia, and of all shades of colour, from yellow to jet black, and it has, besides, a strong Egyptian garrison. Takrouris, or Negroes from the Sudan who have settled here on their way back from their pil- grimage to Mecca, Abyssinians, Arabs, Gallas, and even a few Greek and Armenian traders, mingle with the Negroes from the White Nile. Camels laden with wax, coffee, cotton, gum, hides, and other products, from Abyssinia chiefly, are led about everywhere in the market. A public slave- market was in full operation in Galabat at the time of M. De Cosson's visit in 1874, and probably still exists, notwithstanding the professed abolition of slavery by the Egyptian Government. Here Galla and Abyssinian slaves, some of them Christians, are openly bought and sold. 254 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTER XVIIL THE ABYSSINIAN HIGHLANDS. 1. Physical Aspect of the Country. Between the eastern tributaries of the Blue Nile and the east coast of the Eed Sea south of Nubia, and between 8° and 16° north latitude, rise the lofty highlands of Abys- sinia, with their alpine ranges, mountain states, and elevated table-lands arrayed on their outer slopes in all the glories of the tropics, but above assuming the charac- ter of a wild highland scenery. This is a land differing completely in its physical configuration as well as in its inhabitants from all the western regions of Africa lying between the same parallels of latitude. Everywhere, ex- cepting on the south, encircled by unhealthy and burning sands and steppes, the country rises more gradually from the west, but on the east descends most abruptly to waterless plains which lie between it and the Red Sea. Northward it is continued by mountain spurs to the lower hilly districts of the Habab and of the Nubian and Arabian Deserts stretching along the coast of the Red Sea. Southward the wedge-like table-land of Abyssinia has no definite physical limit, for it is only as it were a great promontory of the table-land which extends all along the eastern margin of Africa. To the peoples of the surrounding lowlands this highland region is known by the various names of El- Mokadah, Makadoh, and Mekyadeh, but Habash was the name given by the Turks to Abyssinia. It is derived ABYSSINIA. 255 from an Arabic word meaning confusion, and was perhaps applied on account of the mixture of races there. The north-western slopes of Abyssinia are separated from the plains of Eastern Senaar by a neutral belt of land mostly uninhabited, humid, and overgrown with the bamboo and forest vegetation. The eastern edge of the highland, which runs almost due north and south near the 40th meridian, and along which the British expedition of 1868 marched on its way to Magdala, is at a generally higher level than any other portion of the plateau. It rises here steeply from the low eastern plains to an average height of 7000 to 8000 feet, and all the Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile flow eastward from this side of the plateau. No rivers break through this edge towards the Eed Sea. Yet the highest points of the whole plateau occur irregularly over it, some of them rising nearer the western than the eastern side. The highest alpine knot of all is that of the mountains of Semyen, round which the Takazze" river, or the Upper Atbara, flows in a vast ravine. In this the summit called Eas Dashan, the highest known point of all Abyssinia, attains a height of 15,160 feet above the sea, and Mount Abba Jared 14,700 feet. Another high knot of mountains rises immediately over the sources of the Takazze on the eastern margin, and in this Mount Abuna Josef, close to the base of which the British expe- dition passed, is 13,770 feet in altitude. Bas Guna, another summit rising very nearly in the centre of the plateau between the Takazze' and the Abai or Upper Blue Nile, reaches a height of 13,950 feet; and the Talba Waha mountains, the nucleus of the province of Gojam in southern Abyssinia, round which the Blue Nile turns, have several points which exceed 13,600 feet. As giving an idea of the general elevation of the plateau, it may be remembered that the city of Adowa, the capital of the 256 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. northern division of Tigre, is 6270 feet above the sea, and that the surface of the great lake Tzana or Dembea, the reservoir of the Blue Nile, is at an elevation of 6100 feet. Three regions or zones are distinguished by special native names in the Abyssinian plateau, just in the same manner as the different levels of the Bolivian or Mexican table-lands are separated. The KollaSy or lower skirt of the plateau, between elevations of 3000 and 4800 feet, has a temperature ranging from 70° to 100° F., and is characterised by luxuriant vegetation. Within this belt, cotton, wild indigo, gum-yielding acacias, ebony, baobabs, tamarinds, sugar-cane, coffee-trees, bananas, and date-palms flourish in perfection ; while animals are abundantly represented by lions, elephants, panthers, zebras, giraffes, antelopes, and gazelles, huge snakes and deadly scorpions. The Wama-Degas, a second zone, between the heights of 4800 and 9000 feet, is the richest and most habitable region, with a temperature like that of Spain or Italy, varying between 60° and 80° F., in which the European grasses, corn and shell fruits, are native. Many kinds of sycamores, the kolkwal or tree-like Euphorbia dbissinica, the juniper, the kosso and zegba or podocarpus, which attains a height equalling that of the tallest northern pines, are characteristic of this zone, and along all the river banks the bamboo cane is observed. The terebinth, vine, range and citron, peach and apricot, also flourish. Everywhere the soil is capable of cultivation, or yields rich pasture, and all the domestic animals of Europe, except swine, are known. The Degas, a third or highest belt, between 9000 and 14,000 feet, has an average temperature of 45° to 50° F., and not unfrequently at the greater elevations the thermo- meter falls to below the freezing-point. The Degas are, generally speaking, the higher plains and mountain slopes, ABYSSINIA. 257 with little wood and generally meagre vegetation. The hardier corn plants alone can be cultivated, and the natives appear clad in skins. Herds of oxen, goats, and long-woolled sheep however, are pastured on the highest plateaux. Ihe low-lying tracts along the eastern edge of Abys- sinia, where it descends to the deserts of the Danakil country, are everywhere overgrown with light shrubs and THE SYCAMORE. bushes, clumps of larger trees, especially of the svcamorP E2 -sr: rsrr ™m -F^ hpd« Tin™ vicinity of some waterless river- ft^ir.SK5£- medium T contrast t0 this the hot valley* t^Ln^^ £ the western descent, is well wooded with larg°e t m W 258 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. in July, lasting till October. More to southward there are two rainy periods — the earlier in January or February, the later from June to September. Hail and thunder accompany the rains in the higher regions of the plateau, and in winter the brooks of the Degas are covered with ice, and snow lies on the higher summits. Eas Dashan in the Semyen group is always snow-capped, the limit rising in the dry season to 13,200 feet, and descending during the rains to 10,500 feet. 2. Lake Tzana — The Bahr-el-Azrah, and other streams. Nearly all the rivers of this well-watered land belong to the Nile region ; the Blue Nile itself, which may be called the right arm of the father of waters, takes its rise in Abyssinia, its source streams being found in the basin of Lake Tzana. The beautiful Lake Tzana or Tana, covering a space nearly as large as our English county of Kent, about 40 miles long by 30 broad, is surrounded by wooded valleys running down to it between mountain spurs. A number of islands rise from its clear waters, the largest being the basalt mass of Dek. A smaller one called Mitraha, near the eastern shore, was the scene of one of King Theodore's acts of vengeance. The people of this island had revolted against him, and having collected all their canoes on its beach, believed themselves safe, and laughed at the royal despot who stood grinding his teeth on the shore. Like the ancient Eoman general, however, he soon organised a swimming legion, and having captured a number of the islanders, burned them alive as an example to the people of the Tzana never again to raise the wrath of their king. About thirty streams flow to the Tzana, the largest being the Abai, the source of the Blue Nile, which rises on the northern slopes of the mountains of Agaumeder and ABYSSINIA. 259 Damot, south of the lake. Its outlet from the lake is through a narrow opening in the rock at its south-eastern corner ; thence it winds round the provinces of Gojam and Damot, separating these from Shoa, and turns westward and north-westward to reach the lowland at Fazokl and the plains of Senaar, crossing these in a direct line to its con- fluence with the White Nile at Khartum. It is very characteristic of the large Abyssinian rivers, that most of them pursue a great spiral course, whereby considerable tracts of country assume the appearance of peninsulas. No- where else is this peculiarity developed on such a large scale. Each of the three great drains of the plateau — the Mareb in the north, the Takazze in the centre, and the Abai or Blue Nile in the south — has cut its way down into deep valleys, and each of the thousands of tributaries of these rivers, formed into roaring torrents during the deluges of the rainy season, has furrowed out deep and narrow ravines and gullies, leaving isolated heights with precipitous sides and tops as flat as billiard-tables, girding with walls of stone the valleys often a thousand feet below them. Some of the native villages perched on these table-lands cannot be reached except by ascending to them with ropes. In the rainy season the Takazze, " the terrible," rises in a foam- ing torrent fifteen to eighteen feet above its usual level, and forms an impassable barrier between the provinces which it separates. Describing the view from the northern side of the Takazze across to the mountains of Semyen, De Cosson says, " From the brow of the hill we could see a great chain of mountains on the other side of the river, which we were to cross to-morrow. Nothing could be more imposing than the vast panorama of jagged peaks that extended before us as far as the eye could reach, bathed in the cold calm beams of the moon. Far below wreaths of poisonous white mist floated over the Takazze as it wound its way through deep glens, whose sides were clothed with 260 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. impenetrable forests, the favourite haunts of elephants and other large African game; while on the lower spurs of many of the mountains the bush had been kindled, and great fires were burning which sent up spiral columns of smoke into the still air, and threw a lurid light over the surround- ing crags and precipices. The tempest of the preceding evening had subsided entirely, and no sound now disturbed the silence of the night save the occasional baying of the watch-dogs, keeping guard over the native villages, which stood perched like eagles' nests high up on the sides of the mountains overlooking the great valley that divides Tigre from Amhara." 3. Population. There is no reliable information regarding the numbers of the population of Abyssinia. The country is on the whole fairly, in some parts densely, inhabited, the low-lying insalubrious belt of the Kollas being the least populous. There are no large towns, none of them possessing at present more than from 8000 to 10,000 inhabitants. Including Shoa, the population of Abyssinia may be set down approximately at three millions. 4. The Abyssinian Baces — Tigre", Zasta, Amhara. Within the limits of the ancient Abyssinian realm there dwell several distinct peoples, not, as might be sup- posed, one homogeneous race. This is clearly seen in the complexion of the different sections of the population, varying from black through different shades of brown and copper to the olive. But the Abyssinians proper may be regarded as the lineal descendants of the great Ethiopian race by which the country was originally settled. These Abyssinians dwell in the northern uplands, as well as in Shoa and ABYSSINIA. 261 Guragwe in the south, but nowhere at a lower level than 3000 feet above the sea. They show so much diversity amongst themselves, that it is difficult to group them under one general classification. Still, their physical features point to one common type, and to a blood relationship with the Arabs. The prevailing colour is the pure brown, becoming in the north almost white, in the south very nearly black. The Abyssinians are subdivided into three principal tribes : — (1.) The inhabitants of Tigre, in the provinces of Ham- asen and the districts of Enderta and Geralta. They have long, remarkably narrow craniums, a long curved nose, rather thick lips, animated and slightly oval eyes, some- what like those of the Arabs, prominent cheek-bones, woolly hair, and symmetrical figures. They are brave, active, and adroit. (2.) The people of Lasta, a pro- vince on the eastern border of the table-land, distin- guished by their small cranium, Grecian forehead, open features, small hands and feet, elegant build, a rela- tively light complexion, and an intelligent, lively, even impetuous, but by no means trustworthy character. Although residing in very elevated uplands, they are reckoned amongst the best horsemen and warriors of Abyssinia. (3.) The inhabitants of Amhara, Shoa, and Guragwe in the south, mostly bearing the impress of half- breeds, with broad craniums, fine large eyes, pleasant ex- pression, high cheek-bones, curly hair, symmetrical figures, and generally a dark olive-brown complexion. They are hospitable, cheerful, obliging, and winning, but withal vain, indolent, and boasting ; the men very lazy, in this con- trasting unfavourably with the women, who everywhere in Abyssinia also far surpass the male sex in personal appearance. 262 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPiAVEL. 5. Languages. These various peoples speak mainly two different lan- guages ; those on the south and west of the Takazze the Amharic, those to the east the Tigre or modern Gheez. Both differ widely from each other. Amharic is very old, has gradually gained ground in southern and central Abyssinia, and has also "become the court language. 6. The Agau, Dan&kil, Gonga, Shang alias, and other Tribes. Besides the Abyssinians properly so-called, we meet with the Agau still residing chiefly in Lasta and Agaumeder; the Falashas, who retain many Jewish characteristics, in the northern uplands, especially in the mountains of Semyen ; the black Gallas in the arid table-lands of the south, now also partly in Kaffa and Gojam ; together with the kindred Danakil and Adal tribes inhabiting the dry lowlands along the shores of the Bed Sea and Indian Ocean, and extending inland as far as the foot of the Abyssinian highlands. Farther, the Gongas, on the most southern uplands, extending in isolated tribes as far as the Abai in Gojam ; and lastly the Shankala, or Shan- gallas, in the woodlands and swamps of the north-western skirts of the plateau. Besides the Danakil and Adal, we have also the Teroa and Asaorta in the waterless plains and mountain spurs on the east. These are Mohammedan shepherd tribes, speaking partly a Gheez idiom and partly Galla dialects. On the uplands of the northern frontier dwells a branch of the Beni-Amer, and in the north also the little tribe of the Bogos belongs to the Abyssinian peoples. The Wito, fishermen and hunters of the hippopotami round the shores of Lake Tzana, are a remarkable, and ABYSSINIA. 263 perhaps aboriginal, race of Abyssinia, remaining distinct and separate and despised by the other tribes. They have a very peculiar type of face, with retreating forehead ; the outer corners of their eyes and eyebrows slope upward, the nose is sharp and aquiline, curved like a beak over the upper lip, and their chins are prodigiously long. Their ears end in a point, and their hair — which they wear unplaited — is short and woolly. They dwell in tiny conical huts made of reeds from the lake, and are a harmless race. Some of the Wito women, strange to say, are very beautiful. 7. Religion — The Abuna. By far the greater number of the people profess Christianity, belonging, like the Kopts and orthodox Syrians, to the sect of the Monophysites, who recognise but one nature in Christ. The head of the Abyssinian church bears the title of Abuna, that is, Our Father, and takes rank as a patriarch. He is consecrated in Alexandria, where, however, he seems to be regarded only as an archbishop. He resides in Gondar, and under him are the other bishops and lower clergy. The whole country swarms with priests, monks, and nuns, who are far from enjoying a reputation for sanctity, being rather distinguished for their immorality and indo- lence. Their whole religion consists in the performance of empty and utterly unintelligible ceremonies. Little is done, at least by the clergy, for the education of the people, those intended for the service of the church alone receiving a superficial instruction. 8. The Mohammedans and Jews. The few Mohammedans and native Jews, or Falashas. 264 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. in respect of morality stand on a much higher level than the Abyssinian Christians. The Mohammedans are mostly traders and contractors for the public revenues ; the Jews, in contrast to their European brethren, chiefly agricultu- rists and manufacturers of all sorts of goods. They boast of being directly descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of having preserved their blood pure from all foreign taint. They number altogether about 250,000, and their strict exclusiveness has hitherto preserved them from the excesses and immorality universally indulged in by the Abyssinian Christians. 9. Pursuits — Literature — Character. The Christian population of the towns are mostly engaged in trade, in their mercenary spirit showing them- selves not at all inferior to their Semitic brethren, the Mohammedan Arabs and the Phoenician Jews. The Abyssinians are generally shrewd speculators, their elastic conscience here standing them in good stead. The rest of the people are devoted to agriculture and cattle-breed- ing, the men, however, showing a decided predilection for the profession of arms. They will rather serve, for a trifling stipend, under any powerful chieftain, than devote them- selves to learning a trade. Still it cannot be denied that the Abyssinian pos- sesses a high degree of intelligence, and, however indolent and disinclined to work, he always bears himself with a certain dignity, and displays great vivacity in conversa- tion. The national literature, besides a number of learned works, especially of a theological and ascetic nature, mostly translations from the Greek, comprises also some historical records, though mainly composed and continued in the form of simple chronicles. The people show a great thirst for knowledge, are fond of reading whatever ABYSSINIA. 265 comes in their way, and the students in Gondar display a remarkable degree of assiduity and a restless activity in their devotion to letters. Yet they are, on the other hand, extremely superstitious, still blindly adhering to the most extravagant theories and doctrines. In other respects, also, the people show themselves in a decidedly unfavourable light. They are hard drinkers, untruthful, and fanatical. Their wives, slaves, and animals they treat kindly, but their enemies with great barbarity. The wealthy and distinguished classes live in idleness, leaving their domestic concerns to their wives and slaves. Their dwellings reek with filth, and are nothing but huts of the rudest type, constructed of earth and branches, and exposed to wind and weather, with but one opening, serving both as a door and an out- let for the smoke. The fire stands in the centre, causing everything soon to become black and sooty. Marriages are contracted either by the church or before witnesses, the latter, however, not being absolutely binding. Those who can afford it keep concubines, and morality altogether stands on a very low level, some accounts representing the Abyssinian character as stained by all the vices of Christendom, despicable beyond ex- pression, without a trace of shame or decency, and all classes most importunate beggars and contemptible dingers. Their warfare is mere brigandage. They surprise the un- wary, slaughter, sack, burn, and plunder indiscrim i n at ely, but seldom come to a fair stand-up fight. Under such circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the cultivation of the land has hitherto made but little progress. Tillage is carried on in the rudest way, and is limited to the growing of cereals and cotton. Mining, also, is little practised or understood ; but more important than either agriculture or mining is cattle- breeding, for which the magnificent meadow lands of the 266 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. hilly districts and the savannahs of the southern parts of Abyssinia are so well adapted. Even in the neighbourhood of Lake Tzana, otherwise so capable of tillage, vast herds of cattle are met with, and very little of the land is under cultivation. Cattle are raised more especially in the alpine pasture lands, horses by the Gallas, camels on the plains along the coast, and sheep by the natives of Begemeder. The local industries are of little importance, the most skilled artisans being the Falashas, who are almost exclu- sively masons and builders or smiths, and, in the northern districts, iron-smelters. The chief seat of the manufactures, such as they are, is Gondar, though fine woven fabrics and a good deal of common cotton cloth are produced in Adowa and a few other places. Leather of a good quality is also prepared in some districts. 1 0. Government — The present Ruler. From time immemorial Abyssinia has been ruled over by a king, or Negous, who associates himself with the religious traditions of the country by claiming descent from Solomon, and bears the title of King of kings. His power is limited by an unalterable book of laws, but over the lives and property of his subjects he is absolute. The three great divisions of the country, Tigre" in the north, Amhara central, and Shoa in the south, include a great number of provinces and minor principalities. The provinces are divided into districts, each with its chief, and almost every village has its sJioivm, or head man, who is responsible to his chief for the taxes, gathered partly in money, partly in kind, such as salt and cotton cloth. Of these divisions Shoa is at present an independent state ; and though all the princes and chiefs of the other provinces nominally owe allegiance to the Negous, many of them bear the title of king in their own ABYSSINIA. 267 territories. The history of the country presents a continued series of internal and external wars and struggles for mas- tery; now a crusade against the Mohammedans, now an invasion by a foreign power, or the king fighting against the increasing power of some of his rebellious feudal princes. After the final overthrow of Lij Kasa, or Theodorus, by the British expedition of 1868, the country was again split up into various sovereignties. Prince Kasa of Tigre, however, had the sagacity to cultivate the friendship of the British ; he obtained a supply of muskets for his followers, and, soon after, with comparatively little bloodshed, mas- tered the division of Amhara, and caused himself to be crowned as King Johannes of Ethiopia. The following sketch of the appearance of this potentate is given by Mr. De Cosson : — " The king and all his court were simply clad in the white blanket with a crimson stripe down it, called a kuarie, which forms the ordinary costume of all the people of Tigre and Amhara, from the king to the humblest peasant. He wore no covering on his head or feet, but each of his ankles was adorned with a small string of silver beads, and these, with a diamond pin stuck in his carefully plaited hair, were the only ornaments about him. I had now a good opportunity of studying his face, and rarely have I seen a more intelligent countenance, or one that a physiognomist like Lavater would have examined with greater interest. The brow was beautifully moulded, though small, and slightly retreating; the nose aqiiiline, with very delicately formed nostrils ; the eyes deep set, and not very large, but singularly courageous and penetrating ; the cheek-bones high for an Ethiopian ; the mouth and chin sharply chiselled, and the ears almost as tiny and shell-like as a woman's. His Majesty's age was about thirty-five, and his stature somewhat under the middle height ; but his figure was perfectly proportioned, and he 268 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. seemed possessed of great strength and endurance, though his hands and feet were exceedingly small and delicately shaped." 11. Chief Towns. The great northern division of the country, the prin- cipality of Tigre\ has its capital and chief town in Adowa, which lies on the plateau between the Takazze* and Mareb. The greater part of it is built of loose stones and mud, in narrow unpaved streets. Many of the houses are of primi- tive circular shape, with high conical thatched roofs ; but others, on the model set by the Portuguese colonists of the sixteenth century, are square, and even two-storied. A great market is held close to Adowa every Saturday, when crowds of men and women, clad in all the fantastic costumes, or want of costumes, of Inner Africa come hither from long distances. Tawny maidens with leopard skins round their loins, bringing baskets of Indian corn and lentils ; armed mountaineers with hides for sale ; donkeys laden with fine Jcuaries and cotton cloths from Western Abyssinia — are among the crowd in the market. On a rising ground in the centre of the town a large stone church, circular and double-walled, has newly been built by the present king. The population of the market town of Adowa is naturally a fluctuating one ; when the king is there with his troops there may be 20,000 people ; when he leaves the normal population is about 4000, out of which number about a fourth are ecclesi- astics of one sort or another. Axum, about twelve miles west of Adowa, was anciently the capital of Tigre' and a great emporium of African and Indian trade. It possesses a cathedral built by the Portuguese and many interesting ruins and monu- ments. Adigerat and Sokota in eastern and south-eastern Tigre' are the most important salt-markets of Abyssinia. ABYSSINIA. 269 The salt is brought hither up the steep eastern edge of the table-land from the low-lying salt lakes of the Afar country, and the little uniform blocks of it are used as a money currency all over the country. GOKDAR. Gondar in Amhara, the capital of all Ethiopia, is perched on a spur of grey rock at the verge of the wall- like edge of the table-lands of Woggara, from the base of which the fertile vales and plains of Dembea stretch southward encircling the northern margin of Lake Tzana. The city is divided into two quarters, one Christian the other Mohammedan, and has a population roughly esti- mated at about 6000, though in former times it had per- haps 50,000 inhabitants. Filigree silver and leather work, introduced here by the Armenians, are perhaps the only elegant arts known in Abyssinia. The most interesting feature in the dilapidated city is the ruin of the magnifi- cent towered castle, the palace of the kings of Ethiopia, built by Indian architects under the direction of the Portu- guese settlers, and the noblest monument of their stay in the country. It was burned by King Theodorus when he believed the British troops were coming to invade 270 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. Abyssinia from the Egyptian side. Its towers and corridors and long battlemented walls of solid masonry, decorated with fanciful tracery in red stone, now over- hung with gorgeous foliage of creeping plants, are abandoned to the leopards, the bats, and night-birds. The royal camp of the king of Abyssinia is at present situated on the slopes of Mount Ambachara not far from the north-east side of Lake Tzana. On an elevated spot just below the grey craggy cone of the mountain stands the king's tent and audience-hall, enclosed by a stout fence. Debra Tabor, in the district of Begemeder, south-east of this, is a hill-fort and town memorable in the story of events which preceded the British Abyssinian expedition. 12. Shoo. Shoa, to south-east of Abyssinia proper, and separated from Amhara by the Wollo Galla country, in which the hill fortress of Magdala is a notable point, is included between the Jamma and the Muger rivers, tributaries of the Blue Nile where it turns round the district of Gojam, and the upper Hawash river, which, rising in the country of Guragwe, south of Shoa, flows north along the base of the table-land, and afterwards turning eastward in the direction of the gulf of Tajurrah, is evaporated in the salt lakes of Aussa before reaching the sea. This province consists of meadow-covered plateaus reaching up to an elevation of 1 0,0 0 0 feet on the south-east and south. Cot- ton plantations, citron groves, and strong-growing aloes are also characteristic of this fertile land, which, however, has been repeatedly devastated by the turbulent Gallas. Ankober, the capital, chosen recently as the starting-point of the Italian expedition for the exploration of the countries south of Abyssinia, consists of about 3000 scattered huts covering the summit and western slopes of PLATEAU LANDS SOUTH OF ABYSSINIA. 271 a mountain not far from the edge by which the table-lands descend towards the valley of the Hawash. Angolalla, farther west, is noted as the site of the royal camp during some months of the year. The direct route to the country from the bay of Tajurrah leads across the Danakil and Somali country and the middle course of the Hawash, " the rebellious/' the rapid current of which is crossed by a raft. This track has been followed by a number of European travellers — Harris, Beke, Krapf, Eochet d'Heri- court, and most recently by the Marquis Antinori and his staff. The powerful young king Menelek of Shoa is in friendly relations with several European powers. He received a French embassy most hospitably in 1875, and has given full permission to the Italian explorers to travel throughout his territory. He has introduced law and order in his kingdom, though threatened wars with Johannes of Abyssinia, and the steady advance of the Egyptians closing round and cutting off the outlets to the sea-coast, keep the country in an agitated condition. 13. Countries south of Abyssinia. Little is definitely known about the plateau countries southward of Abyssinia and Shoa ; as yet the information possessed about them is mainly drawn from the reports sent to the Geographical Society of Paris by the missionary M. Leon des Avanchers in 1866. Guragwe, south of Shoa, is a mountainous bush- covered country. Its inhabitants, speaking Amharic, are said to be for the most part Christians with a large admixture of Mohammedans and heathen. The remark- able Zooai Lake near the head streams of the Hawash but not in its basin, is in this district, and its five islands are said to have 3000 Christian habitations on them. South of the basin of the Blue Nile opposite Gojam begins the 272 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. country of Enarea, the mountainous source country of the Gibbe or Uma, flowing to southward, and probably form- ing the head stream of the Juba river, which reaches the Zanzibar coast of Africa, dividing between the Galla and Somali lands ; this, however, remains as yet a conjectural point. Enarea is described as a land of dense forest- covered hills ; its capital town is Saka. Still farther south rises the high cool country of Kaffa or Gomara with the chief town of Bonga (7° 12' K) said to be one of the largest cities of all Ethiopia. Mount Mata Gera and several other summits in this region are believed to attain an elevation of over 12,000 feet. The mountain slopes here as in Enarea are covered with the wild coffee plant ; indeed this seems to be the original home of the Arabian coffee. The regions between this and the equatorial mountains of Kenia and Kilimanjaro have never yet been seen by Europeans, but from native report of snowy mountains and highlands, there is every reason to believe that the Abyssinian plateau is continu- ously united by a highland, descending steeply on the east, with the great snowy peaks which have been discovered inland from the Zanzibar coast, and to which we shall afterwards refer. THE EASTERN HORN OF AFRICA. 273 OHAPTEE XIX. THE EASTERN HORN OF AFRICA. 1. Limits — The Somdli Country. Beyond the abrupt eastern ridge of the Abyssinian high- land lies the eastern promontory of Africa, which still appears on our maps as a dreary empty waste. Here, opposite the entrance to the Eed Sea, are spread out the Samhara and Danakil lands, nominally under the rule of Egypt, bordering on the domain of the Somali, and, still farther south, on that of the Gallas. It may be at once stated that almost nothing is known beyond mere report about the interior of the triangular region which extends towards the Eed Sea from the base of the Abyssinian plateau, and north of the route from Tajurrah to Shoa, the coast-line and its immediate vicinity having alone been hitherto explored, and even this far from thoroughly. Its extreme northern corner, for a distance of about 7 0 miles inland along the base of the Abyssinian heights, has indeed been visited and described by several travellers — by Munzinger in 1867, by Hildebrandt in 1872, and by Schimper in 1875 — and is one of the most interesting regions of all North-Eastern Africa. About two days' journey south of Massowah a remarkable depression, esti- mated at 200 feet beneath the sea-level, is reached, and here the salt which supplies all Abyssinia, and forms the currency on the plateau, is quarried by the independent native Taltals, and formed into the little blocks of the size of a whetstone which are taken hence by mule cara- T 274 COMPENDIUM OE GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. vans to the Abyssinian markets. Hildebrandt describes this as a volcanic region, and mentions a mountain called Oerteale, from the summit of which thick clouds of smoke issue. Schimper, on the other hand, gives an account of the periodical changes of aspect in this region, and ascribes them to a chemical action. The annual rains, which occur here at the time of the dry season on the plateau, give sufficient moisture, Dr. Schimper believes, to cause a chemical action to take place in the materials gathered in the depressions. Mud cones, four to ten feet in height, are then thrown up, and from the tops of these smoke, and sometimes even flames, break out. While some are rising, others sink and disappear, to be thrown up again in altered shapes, so that the whole district appears as if boiling. This appearance continues until the end of the rainy season, or, more correctly, till the whole depression is flooded with water, which then comes down in the torrents from the plateau, and puts an end to the com- motion. At the end of the rainy seasons the water evaporates from the flooded country, and leaves a covering, of several inches of depth, of hard, coarse-grained salt. The Danakils (sing. Dankali), of Arabic descent, but now much mixed and scattered, inhabit the Eed Sea coast south-east from Massowah as far as the Bay of Tajurrah, and are traders, sailors, and fishers. The Taltals, inland, are a degenerate branch of the Adal Gallas, always in feud with the Abyssinians on account of their robbing propensities. The Shohos are nomadic herdsmen of the heights and valleys of the northern plateau slopes. Speaking generally, and as far as present knowledge goes, the western limit of the Somali country lies along a curved line drawn southward from the head of the hot gulf of Tajurrah, passing the eastern side of the small territory of Harar, and thence almost due south to meet the lower Juba river, which forms the definite boundary of the Somali and Gallas on the sea-coast. somali-land. 275 Captain Kichard Burton in 1854, and the Swiss traveller Haggenmacher in 1874, succeeded in penetrat- ing the farthest into the Somali country, both setting out from the Gulf of Aden, as that part of the Indian Ocean is called which is bounded on the north by the south-west coast of Arabia, and on the south by the eastern horn of Africa, narrowing towards the Strait of Bab-el- Mandeb. Burton, starting from Zayla and returning to Berberah, reached, and, so to say, discovered the town of Harar, which no European had previously visited, and which, on October 11, 1875, was occupied by the troops of the Khedive, and annexed to the Egyptian govern- ment. During the same year Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) Speke, endeavouring to reach the fertile Wady Nogal, reported by Lieutenant Cruttenden, explored a portion of the mountains and table-lands which face the Somali coast of the Gulf of Aden. In 1872 Captain Miles made an excursion inland farther east on the same coast-land from Bander Marayah to the Wady Jaeel ; and, in 1874, Haggenmacher made his way southward from the port of Berberah, and reached Libaheli, at a direct distance of about 130 miles inland. Beyond these com- paratively short excursions on its borders, no extended journey has been made as yet in Somali land. Zeila, or Zayla, on an exposed roadstead near the southern entrance to the bay of Tajurrah, is surrounded by a dilapidated wall of coralline rubble and mud, and has five gates. A dozen large whitewashed stone houses, and upwards of two hundred thatched huts surrounded by a fence of wattle and matting, and six mosques, constitute the town. By position this is the port of Harar. Two routes connect Zayla with Harar : one in a direct line oi ten long or twenty short stages through the country of the Eesa Somali and the Nole Gallas ; another in a more winding track along the coast south of Zayla, and thence south-westward through the territory of the 276 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Gudabirsi and Girhi Somal, who extend to within sight of Harar.1 To the hard, stoneless, alluvial coast-plain, of 40 to 45 miles in width, succeeds pastoral land covered with stiff yellow grass, where long lines of camels, waving their vulture-like heads, patches of sheep with snowy skins and jetty faces, and herds of goats, are tended by hide-clad Somali shepherds. As the hills are approached the land rises in folds, and some of the numerous torrent-beds that intersect the country are crossed, and these, though dry, are full of vegetation. Troops of gazelles bound away over the country as the caravan advances, and a few ostriches appear. Eough, and deep, and stony ravines lead through the hills. Then the Barr, or prairie, of Marar is crossed, rolling ground covered with tall, waving, sunburnt grass, so unbroken that from a distance it re- sembles the nap of yellow velvet. In the frequent wadys which carry off the surplus rains of the hills, scrub and thorn-trees grow in dense thickets ; the largest of these in this region is the Harawwah valley, which tends north- ward towards the saline depressions which lie inland from Tajurrah. At the head of this valley, in a rugged pass, the border land of the Gallas and Somali is reached the scenery of which is thus described by Captain Burton : " The hill-sides were well wooded and black with pine ; their summits were bared of earth by the heavy monsoon which spreads the valleys with rich soil ; in many places the beds of waterfalls shone like sheets of metal upon the black rock; villages, surrounded by fields and fences, studded the country; and in the distance was a mass of purple peak and blue table in long vanishing succession." 2. Harar. Harar, the ancient capital of Hadiyah, one of the seven 1 Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa : London, 1856. SOMALI-LAND. 277 members of the Zayla empire founded by Arab invaders in the seventh century, is about 175 miles south-west of Zayla, and at an altitude of perhaps 5500 feet above the sea. Its site is the slope of a hill which falls gently to the east, with cultivated fields and orchards about it. An irregular wall, pierced by gates, surrounds it ; the houses, or long flat-roofed sheds, within, are of rough granite and sand- stones of the hills cemented with clay. The only large building is the Jami, or cathedral, like a long barn, with two whitewashed minarets built by Turks from Mocha. The streets are narrow lanes, strewn with great rubbish- heaps, upon which repose packs of mangy dogs. " Harar," says Burton, " has not only its own tongue, unintelligible to any save the citizens; even its little population of about 8000 souls is a distinct race." Generally the com- plexion of the inhabitants is a yellowish brown, the beard short, stature moderate, and all extremities large and ill- made. Up to the city gates the country is peopled by Gallas. The whole government formerly rested with the Amir, but his rule has probably been superseded since the Egyptian expedition of 1875. One of the members of the Egyptian expedition, Mohammed Moktar, who made a minute plan of the city, estimates its present population at 35,000. Harar is essentially a commercial town, export- ing slaves, ivory, coffee, tobacco, saffron, tobes (garments which resemble the Eoman toga), and woven cottons, mules, holcus or soft grass, wheat, honey, gums, and tallow. The slaves are gathered from the inland Galla countries, Guragwe and Abyssinia, the Abyssinian being the most valued. Three caravans leave Harar every year for the Berberah market, the first starting in January, the second in February ; the third conveys slaves, mules, and other valuable articles, and numbers about 3000 souls. 3. Coast Towns — Berberah. The only secure harbour all along the northern Somali 278 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. coast from Zayla to Cape Guardafui is that of Berberah, which is capable of sheltering perhaps 500 large craft, and is safe in all winds. Berberah has therefore been the chief outlet of the trade of the interior of this region of Africa from the earliest times. During the past ten years, indeed, the coast town of Bulhar, forty-two miles west, has risen to great importance as a market, but the advantageous position of Berberah, combined with the safety of its harbour, will always maintain its superi- ority. It is only during the season of the great annual fair, however, that the town of Berberah can be said to exist. The owners of the land forming its site, the Eer Achmet Noh, carry on the business of the market for six or seven months of the year, and scatter again as nomads in the surrounding country after the close of the fair. The first caravans come in with the season of the gentler rains called Dair, which begins in the end of October and lasts till J anuary. The market-places are then divided out and the dwelling-huts and sale-booths set up. In less than a week the formerly bare ground is covered with several hundreds of huts, as well for the natives as for the mer- chants, who now come hither by sea from Arabia, Persia, and India. After the first and most wealthy merchants have settled down, the nomads begin to bring their produce from the surrounding country, and every day there arrive caravans of 20 to 200 camels, till, at the height of the fair, Berberah has swelled out to cover a large space, and has become a perfect babel of upwards of 20,000 people, of the most various nationalities. 4. General Physical Aspect of the Somdli Country. The greater portion of northern Somali-land, from the Gulf of Tajurrah round to Cape Guardafui, appears to form a table-land which falls by steep edges to the coast-land which skirts the Gulf of Aden, now approaching the coast closely in a rugged sea-face trenched down by deep SOMALI-LAND. 279 ravines, now retreating suddenly and leaving a wider maritime plain. South of Berberah, on the route followed by Herr Haggenmacher, a double range is formed. The inner one is the higher, and close to where he crossed it the mountain called Gan Libah, " the lion's paw," has a height of about 9500 feet. He describes the wonderful panorama which opened out in crossing this range. To the north, in the far distance, the blue ocean could be distinguished rolling its waves against the low coast-line, and nearer the bare and furrowed maritime chain wound in and out along the sea-coast. In contrast to the heat and aridity of the coast the inner range shows a splendid green, and the mountain air is fresh and bracing. Towards the south, the hills slope gradually into a vast limitless plain, covered for a wide space with mimosa bush, and afterwards opening into treeless prairie. Farther east, where Speke crossed the plateau edge from the coast at Bander Gori, he gives a very similar description. There the steep and irre- gular sea-face of the plateau approaches at some points to within 200 yards of the shore of the Gulf of Aden, and is composed of bare brown rocks and earth, with little or no vegetation, as uninviting in appearance as the light-brown hills which fringe the coasts of the Bed Sea. In the central folds of the heights, which here attain elevations of 6000 to 7000 feet, this sterility changes for a warm rich clothing of bush, jungle, and grass. Gum, myrrh, and frankincense, as well as the aloe plant, from which the Somali manufacture strong cordage, appear in great pro- fusion. The northern faces of the highest ranges are steep and precipitous, well clad with trees and jungle, but the southern side is the opposite in all its characteristics : in- stead of having a steep drop of 6000 to 7000 feet, it falls by gentle slopes and successive terraces scarcely half that depth to the high plateau land of Nogal, which again is bare and without much vegetation, excepting such trees as the hardy acacia and jujube in the sheltered water-courses. 280 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TKAVEL. There does not appear to be any permanently flowing stream in all the Somali country excepting its southern boundary river the Juba. As far as it is known the whole of the Somali country has a gradual slope from the heights which border the Gulf of Aden south-eastward towards the Indian Ocean. The two most important watercourses in the heart of the country are said to be the Tug Jered and the Tug Fafan. The first of these rises west of Harar, and gathers the waters which flow down from the great plateau edge of the Galla country south of Shoa and Guragwe ; the second takes up the waters which flow south from eastward of Harar. These two watercourses are said to unite in the midst of the central country of Ogaden, a famous grazing country of the Somali, where they have large herds of camels, ponies, cows, and fat-tailed sheep, and where gazelles and ante- lopes roam about in vast herds ; there they probably form the Wobbi, a river which loses itself in a marsh behind the coast hills of Brava, north of the mouth of the Juba on the east coast. 5. Climate. The climate as well as the character of the low coast- land differs greatly from that of the high interior of northern Somali-land. The periods of the rains are also different. On the coast-land the rains begin in December and close in May, and are generally beneficent showers. The rains of the highland and interior, on the contrary, begin in March or April, and heavy downpours last till June, with only now and then one or two days' intermis- sion. This is called the " Gu " by the natives. From July to October, in the " Haga" season, though the sky is clouded, little rain falls. The second season of showers, called the "Dair," extends from the end of October till January; thence onward to the end of March is the " Jilal " or dry summer of the Somali plateau. SOMALI-LAND. 281 6. The Somdli. The tribes inhabiting the Somali country appear to be of various origin, and to have no very markedly predomi- nant type, though in a few points this nation of robbers is alike throughout. Their language, composed almost wholly of words borrowed from the Arabic or Galla tongues, the latter predominating, and their religion, show the great influence which has been exerted by the Arab im- migrations which began in the fifteenth century, and con- tinued for several hundred years later. Mixing with the Gallas these invaders multiplied and drove back all who refused to comply with the Mohammedan religion, and thus occupied the country. The Somali are to this day separated by religion from the Gallas, and are hostile both towards these and to all other foreigners ; they are fanatical Mohammedans ; murder and theft are with them no crimes that shut the gates of paradise. They are boister- ous and turbulent, and particularly notorious for their cheating and lying propensities. In their general appear- ance they retain certain characteristics of their Hamitic and Semitic origin. Tall, slender, light and agile as deer, they are slightly darker than the Arabs, with lips and noses rather Grecian, but with woolly heads like true Negroes. Their costume is simply a single sheet of cloth eight cubits long, thrown over the shoulder, much after the fashion of a Scotsman's plaid. Their chief tribes are the Eesa or Isa, Gudabirsi, and Habr Awal, occu- pying the country between Zayla, Harar, and Berberah. The Habr Gerhajis, who have a perpetual blood-feud with the Awal, extend along the inner side of the mountain ranges south of Berberah. The Dulbahanta, Warsingali, and Mijjerthain follow in succession eastward in the interior country to the shores of the Indian Ocean ; and the southern portion of the lands occupied by the last- 282 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. named is famed as the best myrrh district of the Somali country. The Bahauadla occupy the central country of Ogaden, and in the south, approaching the Wobbi and lower Juba rivers, are the Haweea and Abgal Somali. One group of tribes called the Achdam, formed by the intermixture of all tribes with the slaves from surrounding countries, are considered as outcasts. Among these the Tomalod are the blacksmiths of Somali-land. 7. Wild Animals of the Somdli Country. The wild animals of the Somali country include the elephant, which is hunted at great hazard. The plan adopted is that of riding on horseback to within a spear's- throw of the animal, and to wound it. The enraged elephant chases the horseman, who flies in the direction of a hidden comrade armed with a sword, who hamstrings the beast as it passes him, after which it can be easily despatched. Zebras appear in large herds, and the wild ass is as plentiful ; while the giraffe, the rhinoceros and hippopotamus, wild pigs, gazelles and antelopes, the lion and leopard, are widely distributed. The ostrich is found all over the Somali country. Vultures, eagles, and falcons are the scavengers of the settlements and of the slaughtering places. On the coasts the fisheries are very productive, and the dugong, which is taken by net and harpoon, is especially valued for its skin and ivory- like teeth. South winds sometimes bring up with them great flights of locusts. 8. Other Coast Towns — Socotra. Eeturning now to the north coast of the Somali country, and passing eastward of Berberah, the most im- portant, perhaps, of a large number of smaller settlements and markets, is that of Bander Marayah, the chief fort of the Mijjerthain tribe, situated at the foot of a range of SOMALI-LAND. 283 heights which rise behind it to a height of 4000 feet. Its permanent population is only some 600 or 700, but, as at Berberah during the trading season, when the cara- vans arrive with gums and other produce from the interior, and the Arab merchants come across from the opposite shore, this number is greatly increased. The commerce of this part of the coast is considerable. Its exports are frankincense, gum arabic, indigo, and mats, for which cloth, dates, rice, and metals are imported in return. East of Bander (" port or anchorage") Marayah is Eeis Ulula, the most northerly point of the Somali pro- montory, and still farther east Cape Guardafui, or Bas Asir, the extreme east point of the continent — a well- wooded table-land, and abounding in valuable resins. Opposite this point is the island of Socotra, about as large as the county of Cornwall, like the African mainland rising in terraces to a considerable elevation in the interior. The greater part of its surface is a pastoral table-land, from 700 to 800 feet above the sea, with infertile borders, in which the streams from the interior flow only at certain seasons. The aloe plant and the dragon's blood tree are the chief commercial products of Socotra, which has an Arab popu- lation of about 4000, under a governor appointed by the Sultan of Keshin, on the opposite south coast of Arabia, to whom the island belongs. In January 1876, General Schneider, British political resident at Aden, visited Keshin and Socotra, and negotiated a treaty with the sultan, by which he agreed never to cede Socotra to any foreign power, and never to allow any settlement to be made on it without the consent of the British Govern- ment. A small subsidy is now paid by Britain to the Sultan of Keshin and the Governor of Socotra. Between it and the cape is the little rocky island of Abd-el-Kuri, whose woodless hills are occupied by some seventy Arabs with their flocks of half-wild goats. 284 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 9. The Ports of the East Coast. The line of coast from Cape Guardafui southwards to Cape Hafun is bare and unfruitful ; but on the latter penin- sula itself, camels, horned cattle, horses, and sheep find a rich grazing ground during the favourable season, and the bays north and south of it afford good anchorages. As far as Eas Awad (Cape Changeful) the coast continues steep and rocky, after which, stretching for some distance farther south, is a dreary coast fringed by coral reefs separated from the mainland by channels of still and shallow water. On this coast are the four southern Somali settlements of Warsheikh, Mogdesho or " Magadoxo," Marka, and Brava, which together constitute the " Benadir," or the ports of the angle of country formed between the lower Juba and the sea. These are places of considerable commercial activity, the more opulent permanent inhabitants living in substantial stone houses. The coral island of Warsheikh marks the most northerly point of the scattered dominion of the Sultan of Zanzibar, and the ports have Arab governors and garrisons under his rule. Hides, orchilla weed and oil seeds, horses, donkeys, and camels, are at present the chief exports, with a little ivory and some ostrich feathers from the far interior. At Mogdesho, during a recent visit by Dr. Kirk, twenty vessels of from 50 to 200 tons were lying at anchor off the town, being filled with the native grain, black sesame. This is largely grown on the banks of the lower Wobbi, near Geledi or Jilledy (an important place on the caravan route to Gananeh, on the Juba, the residence of a sultan of the Somali), and is brought thence on camel-back. From the crest of the sandhills behind Brava a view opens out over a noble plain which has been compared to that of Damascus, only that it is more level and extensive ; it is covered to the distant line of the horizon with low trees, chiefly mimosas. In this direction, COUNTRY OF THE GALLAS. 285 also, is seen the great marsh in which the Wobbi river loses itself, for though it periodically floods this plain, it never reaches the Juba or the sea. 10. Course of the Juba River — Bardera. The course of the river Juba, disemboguing almost under the equator, forms, as far as it is known, the frontier of the Somali and Galla lands. The Juba rises undoubt- edly far inland, and its sources are probably the Gibbe and Gojeb, tributaries of the Umo river of Enarea and Kaffa, in the high land south of Abyssinia and Shoa. It has been traced, however, as a navigable stream only as far as the town of Bardera, where its explorer, Baron von der Decken, met with his death in 1865. Bardera lies on the high and precipitous left bank of the Juba, at an elevation of 350 feet above the sea-level, and beyond it spread the interminable plains of the Somali country. The style of its architecture betrays its Arab origin ; but its inhabitants, occupying some 120 or 130 hive-shaped huts, have but little trade, as the place lies off the great commercial high- way connecting the far more important town of Brava with Gananeh, higher up the Juba, a place occupied partly by Somali, partly by the Borani Gallas, whose country extends westward from this point. 11. The Galla Country. South of the mouth of this river begins the proper territory of the sultanate of Zanzibar, which stretches along the coast southwards to Cape Delgado, at 10° 45' S. lati- tude. The northern strip between the mouths of the J uba and the Sabaki river may be regarded as the Galla coast, as these western and southern neighbours of the Somali here spread eastwards to the ocean. A series of undulating hills, averaging 300 feet in height, continues the coast-line to 2° S. latitude, after which it becomes farther south a dead 286 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. level. The monotony of this low-lying coast, overgrown by swampy mangrove woods, is broken, indeed, by the little archipelago of the Witu islands. Along the river-beds extends the virgin forest land. The southern Galla country consists of fine extensive plains, thickly dotted with verdant copse and jungle ; but at intervals the plateau spreads out for miles, affording a magnificent view, only intercepted by a few bushes and trees. "Water is rather scarce ; but the beds of deep gullies and watercourses show that fine streams flow through it in the rainy season. The contour of the land apparently forms a succession of elevated plains, each rising in altitude north and westward. The elephant, buffalo, and giraffe, lion, leopard, and hyaena, quaggas and antelopes, roam through its pastures and jungles. 12. The Galla Races. The Somali and Galla people are as closely related as they are hostilely disposed towards each other, and both must be carefully distinguished from the Negroes proper. We have previously noticed the probable line which sepa- rates these peoples, confining the former to the eastern horn of the continent. The Gallas, in many tribes and innu- merable clans and subdivisions, occupy a much larger terri- tory, but one which cannot as yet be very clearly marked out. In the north they appear in southern Abyssinia, in Shoa, and southern Amhara, in Gojam, Damot, and Enarea. Their eastern limit is conterminous, as we have seen, with that of the Somali from the country inland from the bay of Tajurrah due south to the mouth of the Juba, where they appear on the coast of the Indian Ocean. About Melinde the Gallas meet the mixed race of the Wanika on the coast, and from this point their limit appears to turn westward along the Sabaki river for some distance, and to embrace the wilderness south of that river, and inland from Unikani as far as about 3° 30' S., which THE GALLAS. 287 may be considered as the extreme south point of the Galla territory. The country of Ukambani, lying midway between the great equatorial mountains of Kenia and Kilima-Njaro and the coast, limits the Galla area on the south-west. Farther northward the Gallas appear to be conterminous with the Masai and Wakwavi, who migrate over the plains east of the Victoria Nyanza ; and they are the ruling people of all the country north-eastward of the great lakes as far as Abyssinia. The immense territory of the Gallas extends, then, between 10° K and 3° to 4° S. of the equator, or over a length of more than 900 miles from N. to S. Dr. Krapf estimates the number of the Gallas at between six and eight millions, in not fewer than sixty tribes. The Gallas take high rank physiologically, and have nothing in common with the negroes. They are of a very dark brown complexion, generally tall and well formed, and have deep-sunk lively eyes, and less thick lips than the negro. They are warlike nomads, and surpass the average negro very considerably in intelli- gence. Their clothing consists of a mantle of coarse cotton ; for ornaments in some tribes the men wear brass necklaces, the women iron armlets and anklets. Their weapons are spears chiefly, and a kind of spiked " knuckle- duster " is sometimes worn on the right hand, and is a deadly weapon in the hand-to-hand fights which are the most frequent forms of warfare. The women enjoy ex- ceptional freedom and respect, young girls possessing the privilege of rejecting undesirable matrimonial offers, and monogamy being the rule amongst them. Their political organisation, as with the Somali, is somewhat patriarchal, and at the head of each tribe is a Heiitch, or sultan, with a limited authority. The northern Gallas of Abyssinia are hospitable, brave in battle, and intelligent traders. Some are Mohammedans, some profess Christianity. The southern Gallas are heathen, but profess a belief in a 288 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TKAVEL. Waka, or supreme being, whose definition corresponds somewhat closely to the idea of the Deity entertained by more highly civilised nations. 13. Region of the Kilima-Njaro — Dana and Eufu Ewers. It will be convenient next to group together for de- scription the countries which occupy the great coast slope of Eastern Africa, where it descends from the remarkable snow-clad mountains of Kenia and Kilima-Njaro to the Indian Ocean, taking as the limit northward the Dana river, which rises in the slopes of Mount Kenia, and reaches the sea at Formosa, or Ungama, Bay (2° 40' S.), and for the southern boundary the Eufu or Pangani river, which follows a similar course to the sea from the base of Mount Kilima-Njaro. This space of the East African slope may be considered as a great meeting- ground of the East African and foreign races. Along the coast-land the mixture of the original Bantu blood with the Arab immigrants has formed a half-breed race of coast men who take their name from the Arabic word Sahel or sea coast, and are called the Wasuaheli.1 The southern point of the vast Galla territory extends southward across the Dana into this region. Between these southern Gallas and the base of Mount Kenia are the Wakamba in their country of Ukambani, derived from more southern lands, and contrasting with the nomad Gallas in their village communities, as well as in their settled agri- cultural and pastoral life. Southward of Ukambani is the hill country of the Wateita, and between the slopes of Mount Kilima-Njaro and the coast-land there occurs a vast uninhabited wilderness, subject to the raids of the 1 Throughout East Africa the prefix Wa or Ba denotes a tribe ; M or Mu, a single individual of the tribe ; U, the country ; Ki, the language. Thus, Wasuaheli, the coast people ; M' Suaheli, an individual coast man ; TJsuaheli, the Suaheli country ; and Kisuaheli, the Suaheli language. EQUATORIAL EAST COAST. 289 Wamasai and "Wakwavi, the mutually hostile nomads of the plateau behind the great snowy mountains, who de- scend to plunder the plains ; in appearance and language these marauders resemble most the Somali and Abys- sinians. Finally, along the north-eastern side of the Eufu are the hill countries and separate states of Chaga on the slope of Kilima-iSTjaro, of Pare midway, and of the table-land of Usambara between the lower Pangani and the coast-land, inhabited by peoples quite different from those of the plains, always on the alert and keeping watch over their cattle against a surprise from the insati- able Masai or Wakwavi. The Dana is the most important river of this portion of the East African coast. Its head streams gather their waters from the slopes of the plateau near where Mount Kenia, also called Doenyo Ebor, the " "White Mountain," rises on the edge of the highland, and bring down a constant flow of water, the river being filled to over- flowing in the hottest season, from the melting of the mountain snows. From the Wapokomo, a tribe living on its northern banks as vassals of the Gallas, it takes the name of the Pokomo river, and reaches the sea partly by a northern branch called the Ozi, united to the main stream by a natural canal, and by its main out- let which is known as the Dana. In February 1865 Baron von der Decken navigated the Ozi branch in his small steamer as far as the town of Chara, but was prevented from going farther by the Gallas of Chaffa. A little farther south the Sabaki or Galana river, the chief upper tributary of which is named the Adi, flows from the mountains between Kenia and Kilima-Njaro across the country of Ukambani. It is navigable for boats for at least forty miles upward from the coast. A little way south of its estuary is the historical Arab settlement of Malindi or Melinde, at which u 290 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Vasco de Gama landed in 1498 after doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and obtained a pilot, under whose guidance he crossed the ocean to India. The port and town are now ruinous and overgrown with vegetation, but there is a great influx of people to Malindi in autumn, to a great market chiefly for millet and rice. The Rufu disembogues at the indifferent seaport of Pangani, which carries on a considerable trade with the interior and especially with the Masai country, whence it receives large quantities of ivory, considered superior to any on the coast. The river flows through the salt-yielding land of Kahe and round the south of the two more ex- tended hilly districts of Pare and Usambara. It cannot be ascended for more than a distance of ten miles from its mouth, or beyond the town of Tongwe, or Chogwe, immediately above which there are fine waterfalls. Usambara may in a general way be described as a wilderness of hills, rising precipitously on one side and dipping ruggedly on the other, with intervening valleys and extremely fertile dales. Fuga or Vuga, the capital of this highland, which has been visited at various times by the travellers Krapf, Burton, and New, is a town of about 3000 inhabitants, built on the top of a rounded peak at an elevation of about 4500 feet above the sea. Valleys drop down to great depths on all sides of it, and it can only be approached by the steepest acclivities. It commands a fine prospect of mountain peaks reaching up to 7000 feet in every variety of shape, ridges upon ridges, rocks and crags, and enormous valleys and gloomy ravines and glens as romantic as Glencoe. "There are dark majestic forests, compact woods, wildernesses of brown jungle, expanses of tall wav- ing grass, beautiful slopes of short green turf, and every- where patches of cultivated land fresh and verdant as an Eden : brooks and streams and torrents trickle and murmur, EQUATORIAL EAST COAST. 291 tumble and splash and roar on all sides." The population of this south-eastern Abyssinia is not large, and appears to be becoming less and less, owing to intestine feuds and the sale into slavery of all prisoners captured in battle. The present people of the highland comprise three dis- tinct tribes : the Wakilinde, the ruling section ; the Wam- bugu, who appear to be naturalised subjects from other parts ; and the aboriginal Wasambara or hill people. 14. Lands of the Wanika and Wateita. North of Usambara and Pare the country of the Wanika stretches along the coast. Here is situated the important town and fortress of Mombas or Mombasa, on an island in the middle of an inlet of the sea forking off into two branches and running deep into the land. The island, which is about three miles in length, is low-lying and covered with splendid mango, guava, and coco palms, and is inhabited by about 3000 Wasuaheli, by a number of slaves, and about 250 Arabs. The town proper of Mombasa consists of the ancient fort built by the Portuguese in 1594, the ruinous Portuguese town of Gavana, and the black or old town in a still more wretched condition, with fields and gardens among the ruins. A number of villages on the shores of the inlet are dependencies of Mombasa. It is the starting-point of a number of important caravan routes to the eastern portion of the lake region of the Nile, and carries on an important traffic in ivory, copal gum, corn, rhinoceros* hides and horns, hippopotamus' teeth, and slaves. Some miles north of it on the Wanika plateau is the mission- station of Kibe, whence Krapf and Rebmann, Wakefield and New, have made those journeys into the interior to which we are indebted for most of our knowledge of this part of East Africa. South of this place and at no great 292 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. distance from the coast rise the Shimba hills, with an elevation of about 1000 feet. Farther westwards stretch undulating grassy plains varied with solitary groups of timber, and growing at every step more rocky and barren, until we descend into the wilderness of Nika limited on the north by the Galla country and Uteita, on the south by Usambara, and westward by the Pare and Chaga hills. This tract rises very gradually inwards to a height of from 2000 to 2300 feet, with occasional mountains and ridges springing directly from the surrounding plain. The hills are here everywhere peopled, while the level country is uninhabited. The three hilly clusters of Kadiaro, Bura, and Ndara, may be described generally as the Teita land, which is peopled by the Wateita, about 150,000 in number, and distributed over 600 villages. The monotonous plain, varied by some very low undulations, stretches westwards from these hills to Lake Jipe, (a shallow sheet of water about the size of Lake Zurich, with its shores overgrown with rushes), and to the Kilima-Njaro and its offshoots. Instead of the thorny acacia and thickets of the euphorbia we here meet with loftier wood- lands, while the ground is overgrown with a very trouble- some prickly grass. This wilderness is frequented by numerous herds of elephants, buffaloes, giraffes, and ante- lopes, and also harbours the rhinoceros and the lion. Farther westward the land assumes the appearance now of an open heath, now of a grassy steppe. It is crossed by the river Lumi flowing into Lake Jipe, and beyond that stream we enter the cultivated land of Chaga. North and north-east of the steppe we see the Ngolia and Kikumbuliu or Julu ranges situated on the frontiers of Ukambani. On the south rise the moderately elevated hills of Ugono, with peaks attaining a height of 6000 feet. West of Ugono is the mountainous district of Arusha, separated from it by the Kahe lowland, in the valley of EQUATOKIAL EAST COAST. 293 the Kufu. Inland from Chaga and Arusha stretch the plains inhabited by the nomad tribes of the Masai and Wakwavi, famous warriors and dreaded freebooters. And this brings us to the base of the Kilima-Njaro. 15. Mount Kilima-Njaro. This gigantic mountain knot (from Kilima = mountain, and Njaro = greatness), in extent about equal to the Bernese Alps, rises on the east of the Masai plains. It was dis- covered and explored by Eebmann, visited by Yon der Decken, and ascended to the snow line in 1871 by Charles New. This traveller describes its whole mass as culminat- ing in two peaks covered with eternal ice — on the west a sublime cupola, clothed with a dazzling mantle of white, and rising to an elevation of 18,700 feet, on the east a mass of rugged and colossal pillars 2500 feet lower, and only by a little overtopping the line of perpetual snow, both connected by a long sweeping mountain ridge. The Kilima-Njaro would seem, most probably, to be an extinct volcano, whose crater has been partly disturbed by the falling in of its sides. Separated from it by a plain is Mount Mero, on the west, 14,700 feet high, an isolated conical peak not reaching the snow line. Only the southern slope of Kilima-Njaro, and there only the belt between the elevations of about 3000 and 5000 feet is inhabited; the banana plantations reach 1000 feet higher up the slopes, but above this belt follow in succession the unclaimed wildernesses of forest, grass, stony ground, and lastly of snow and ice. The inhabited zone is divided into several little kingdoms, some of them not larger than an ordinary revising barrister's circuit in England. The chief of these is Chaga. The Kilima-Njaro is the forerunner of a number of 294 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. similar and perhaps even higher snow-capped mountains stretching northward beyond the equator, towards Abys- sinia, one only of which, the Kenia of the Wakamba, and Doenyo Ebor (White Mountain) of the Wakwavi, has been seen with his own eyes by the intrepid missionary and traveller Krapf. It reaches a height of at least 18,000 feet. The country which extends between the plateau edge which is marked by the snowy mountains of Kenia and Kilima-Njaro, and the Victoria Nyanza, is as yet only known by native report, and mainly through the accounts gathered by Mr. Wakefield, one of the zealous missionaries of the Eibe station. As far as its general character can be judged of from native information, the greater portion of it is a high plateau land, on which rise several moun- tains as elevated perhaps as the two colossal summits which have been seen by European travellers. Among these are the great Doenyo Ngai, a summit which stands perhaps sixty miles west of Kilima-Njaro. Sadi-bin-Ahedi, the intelligent native informant of Mr. Wakefield, describes this frequently reported mountain as higher than Kilima- njaro though not so massive, and its summit exhibits the same coruscant appearance; " one moment it is yellow like gold, the next white like silver, and again black." Between this and Kilima-Njaro the broad belt of table-land run- ning north and south appears to enclose a number of large lakes or marshes, most of which have no outlet to the sea. Lake Arusha, and a great swamp of nitrate of soda lying between Kilima-Njaro and Doenyo Ngai, are two of these ; far to the south in the same line, Lake Manyara or Eo has been frequently reported ; northward, inland from Mount Kenia, the salt lake Naivasha has been described ; and much farther north the position of a great lake called Samburu, in the country of the Eendile Gallas, has been indicated to travellers approaching this region both from MASAI COUNTRY. 295 the east coast and from the lands south of Abyssinia. This great plateau is the home of the Masai and Wakwavi, warlike and turbulent races, to the former of whom the Wandorobo are vassals. The country, however, appears to be rich in cattle, to have numerous plantations and cultivated spots where beans, millet, and sweet potatoes are grown, and to be well stocked with all kinds of large game. Nearer the Victoria Nyanza the land seems to descend again to some extent, and here a number of more settled and peaceable states are reported. Among these are Ukara on the shores of the great lake, a country in which the people clothe themselves with goat and sheep skins, and live in circular huts thatched with grass, culti- vating the ground and growing maize, bananas, and cas- sava, and also employing themselves in fishing. Between Kenia and the ISTyanza a remarkable volcanic region is said to occur in the Njemsi country, near the reported lake Baringo; but it is not yet very clear whether this is a portion of the Victoria Nyanza or a separate and independent lake. There are thirty or forty craters in this region, from which pillar-like columns of smoke are constantly rising, and at their base hot springs are constantly bub- bling— so hot that the fingers cannot be borne in them. The Wa Saku, a people inhabiting the north of the Baringo country, are feared on account of their ferocious and bar- barous character ; they do not hesitate, it is said, to give battle to the warlike Masai, who pay them predatory visits and carry off their cattle ; and they in turn make raids on the Masai country. 296 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE XX. THE SUAHELI COAST. 1. Extent — Commercial Importance — Islands. Between the equator and Cape Delgado lies the Sua- heli or Zanzibar coast, commercially beyond all doubt the most important section of the entire east coast of Africa. Facing it, and close to the mainland, are the islands of Pemba, Zanzibar, and Mafia, which, together with the whole Suaheli coast, are subject to the Sultan of Zanzibar. Formerly this tract of country belonged to the Imam of Muscat in south-eastern Arabia ; but, after the death of the last Imam fourteen years ago, his states were divided between his two sons, one of them becoming the independent ruler of the Zanzibar territory, which since that time has been practically independent of Muscat. On the mainland the domain of the sultan nowhere extends far inland, being restricted to a narrow strip along the coast, in which, besides other not inconsiderable places, are situated Mombas, Pangani, Saadani, Bagamoyo (opposite the town of Zanzibar), Dar-es-Salam, and Quiloa or Kilwa. The extreme limits of his rule are the settlement of Warsheikh on the southern Somali coast north of the Juba, and the village of Tungue immediately south of Cape Delgado (10° 43' S.), where his dominions touch those of Portugal. Towards the north, especially in the Galla and Somali lands, the rule of Zanzibar scarcely ex- tends beyond the walls of the coast towns garrisoned by Arab troops. /■A.N/.IISAIt TO Till', TANGANYIKA X VlfTOllIA I.AKKS ZANZIBAR COAST. 297 2. The Suaheli Race. Both the mainland and the islands are inhabited by the half-caste Suaheli ; the Arab intermixture is, however, so strong, that they now most commonly speak of them- selves as Arabs. All are zealous Mohammedans, endea- vouring to propagate the faith of Islam wherever their influence extends inland. They are, moreover, an ener- getic and enterprising commercial people, and have mono- polised nearly the whole of the trade on the eastern shores of the continent ; but the chief centre of this trade is the island of Zanzibar, with the capital of the same name lying on its western side over against the mainland. 3. Island and Town of Zanzibar. This island is situated 2400 nautical miles from the southern point of India, and about the same distance from the Cape of Good Hope and the Suez Canal. It is very flat, the land rising only a few feet above the sea-level, and none of the few hills being more than 350 feet high. The population is estimated at from 300,000 to 350,000, or about 375 to the square mile, and of this number about 60,000 live in the city. During the north-east monsoon the arrivals of foreign traders increase the population by 30,000 or 40,000. The basis of the population is formed by the Arabic owners of the soil, and the numerous half-castes of mixed Arabic and African blood. The Comoros, born at Zanzibar, number about 4000, and are much more diligent, as well as pleasanter to look at, than the Suaheli. Many natives of Madagascar are met with : Arabs from Hadramaut live as porters ; those from Oman, called Suris, are a restless and thievish race. Natives of India, chiefly Banyans, are in considerable numbers, and Lascars or Indian seamen, and African slaves, complete the motley population. 298 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. Fevers are still prevalent and dangerous at Zanzibar, though not to the same extent as in former times. January and March are the hottest months of the year ; March, April, and May are the months of heavy rain, in which upwards of 100 inches fall, and there are moderate showers in September and October. The temperature of the year ranges between 7 0° and 9 0° Fahr. In December, January, and February the north-east monsoon prevails ; during the rest of the year south-westerly and easterly winds are most frequent. In the town itself, the fine appearance of which takes the stranger by surprise, the houses are all built of white stone, and much animation is imparted to the place by its varied trade in ivory, cloves, pepper, hides, cotton goods, and, till recently, slaves. The sultan maintains an excellent and sumptuous establishment of brood mares, at the entrance of which lies a huge sow, whose mission is to guard the horses against the mischievous pranks of the evil spirits. Nor are these strict Mohammedans at all disin- clined to procure for Europeans the enjoyment of a dinner of roast pork, of course for a reasonable consideration, and any white so disposed may always purchase a little porker in the sultan's stables. The women are here kept under vigilant guard, though intercourse with Europeans has already had a certain mitigating influence, and the salutations of the latter are now often responded to in a very friendly way. The members of the sultan's family also show themselves well disposed towards strangers, especially when these are con- siderate enough to bring presents with them 4. Trade of Zanzibar. Since it is commerce especially that gives Zanzibar and the Suaheli coast its importance, it may be opportune here to take a rapid glance at the general state of East ZANZIBAR COAST. 299 African trade, and to notice briefly along with that the slave trade of this coast, which is so intimately bonnd up with its commerce. Since the opening of the Suez Canal, the east coast of Africa has been brought into much nearer and closer relations with European states, and although two coal-fields which were discovered in the neighbourhood of the coast at a recent date have not yet been developed, they are none the less of eminent importance to the increase of steam navigation in this region. The first point to be noticed in connection with East African trade, is, that both in its retail and wholesale branches it is almost entirely in the hands of East Indians ; these Indian merchants are met with not only all along the continental shores, but also on the islands, as in Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafia, Comoro, and Madagascar. In 1 8 7 3 there were over 4000 Indians on this coast, of all castes and of every trade and calling. The natives of the coast them- selves— the Wa-Suaheli, Somali, Comoros, etc. — only carry on a little trade in provisions, chiefly in fish, flesh, poultry, corn, sweet potatoes, and cassava, while the Arabs take to agriculture, if they are not engaged in the more lucrative slave trade ; it is indeed almost a thing unknown for an Arab to have a shop or store of any kind. Erom the apathy of the natives and people of other nations, it has come about that the Indians are the traders of the East African coast, and their dhows are seen in all harbours. They are in general termed Hindi or Banyans. The Hindi are more specially Mahommedan Indians, Khojahs, Bohrahs, and Mehmons; the Banyans areBhattias and J ohannas. The diligence and perseverance of the Indians in commercial affairs is extraordinary ; they live so simply and economic- ally that no European can compete with them. Although many of them receive goods directly from Europe, they are also the retail dealers for European houses. Their goods are chiefly derived from Germany, France, Britain, and 300 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. America ; the cotton goods and beads come chiefly from these countries, yet blue cotton stuffs from Surat and Guzerat are now and then met with. When an Indian has gathered a fortune he returns to his native country with it, and only in very rare instances settles in Africa, or in one or other of the islands ; a few who have thus settled are Bohrahs and Khojahs, of whom there are several families in Madagascar, who have lived there for four or five generations. The head of the family, however, goes once a year, with the south-west monsoon, to India, and returns with his laden dhow, with the north-east monsoon. Their children are sent to India to be educated, and if the family be from Cutch or Surat, the youths are almost always sent to Bombay. After all, the rich trading resources of Eastern Africa are far from being fully developed by the Indian merchants, and a wide and productive field lies open here to enterprise. The increase of traffic on the East African coast is shown most clearly by the fact that since January 1873, when the British Indian Steam Ship Company opened a direct monthly line of steam communication between Aden, Zanzibar, and Madagascar, the freights have steadily increased. 5. The Slave Trade. Since the Indians, who are sharp men of business, never let an opportunity pass where money is to be made, it is only natural that they should have taken kindly to the lucrative slave trade. This, for them a new branch of industry, which was introduced sixty or seventy years ago, had so enor- mously increased in recent times, as to draw to it the attention of the British Government. The details of this traffic have only come to light within a period of a few years back. The trade is carried on in two-masted Arabic " Cutch-Buggalos," and the Indian firms in Africa have houses and regular ZANZIBAK COAST. 301 agents in the interior of the continent. The trading house proper carries on the wholesale business, while the agents occupy themselves with the retail. Arabs and Somali from Egypt, Arabia, and Muscat, come with buggalos to the East African coast to buy slaves, and the Indian merchants are secretly in correspondence with these. The Arabic slave-buyer goes generally to the head man of an inland village, who may also be an Arab, or African, and through him does business with the Indian firm. These head men also carry on the traffic for their own account, bringing slaves from the interior to market on the coast. Thus it happens that the merchants of Bunnia and Bhattia are almost always in commercial relation with the Arabs ; but the Indian slave-dealer never goes himself into the in- terior ; remaining on the coast, he sends African or Arab agents with goods into the continent, to barter or sell these, and bring back slaves. These caravans, striking deeper and deeper into the continent every year, carry powder, guns, cloth, false pearls, and other similar goods. As soon as they have reached the interior they negotiate with the chiefs or others for the capture and conveyance of slaves, and these last always undertake to bring the slaves for a contracted price to the coast. Every individual who is head of a village of twenty huts is styled " Mukhi," or chief. These always contrive to have ready a number of slaves to supply the market ; while the agents on their part are always ready to buy a few slaves from a chief to show that there is a constant demand for them. The owners of these slaves are generally in the lowest scale of civilisation ; they have no idea of the value of money, and exchange the slaves for guns and trinkets, using the former to attack and terrify other villages, and to capture whole families from them. The slave traffic thus intro- duces a continual state of warfare in all parts of the interior to which its curse penetrates. Powder and guns 302 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. become the most desirable of all possessions, and for these slaves are readily handed over. A keg of about five pounds of gunpowder is considered about the value of one slave ; for a gun two may be had. The head men, or chiefs, accompany the slaves to the coast, and there, through the medium of the Indian traders, the human wares pass on to the Buggalo-Wallahs. Each slave at this stage has cost on an average from 24s. to 48s., and the Arabs pay from 72s. to 90s. It is not surprising that many Indian merchants have gathered fabulous wealth through this traffic in mankind. For the suppression of the slave trade in East Africa, England concluded a treaty in 1873 with the Sultan of Zanzibar — a point which was gained after much trouble, and which was considered a great diplomatic victory; as yet, however, the chief result obtained has been that of giving the traffic a new direction. Here, as in the Egyptian Sudan, where Sir Samuel Baker and his successors have effectually closed the highway of the Nile to this traffic, the trade has been driven to land routes. Thousands of slaves are now sent northward from both regions ; and slowly it begins to be apparent that, so long as the demand for slaves all over the East does not cease, and the system is deeply rooted in all Mahommedan coun- tries, the slave traffic from Africa cannot be effectually put down. It is quite patent that domestic slavery in Egypt has in no way decreased during the past few years, and the demand for slaves in Arabia, Persia, and Madagascar re- mains as great as ever ; on the contrary, a new slave market on the Somali coast, near Cape Guardafui, was recently opened. The immense difficulties with which the efforts at the suppression of the slave trade have to deal, also become evident when it is remembered that in the in- terior of Africa there is no means whatever of restraining the Africans themselves from taking part in it. During ZANZIBAR COAST. 303 that period of the year at which it is almost impossible for European cruisers to approach the African coast as far as 2° or 3° K latitude, the slave trade is openly carried on at Brava and the other ports north of the equator. Formerly it was supposed that Brava was a depot at which the slaves were landed at the close of one monsoon, to remain there till the other set in, and then to be taken to the Eed Sea and the Persian Gulf; now, however, it appears that the demand is in the Somali country itself, and that the trade has its real terminal point in Brava, Merka, and Mokdishu. Unfortunately, as in other branches of trade, so long as the demand continues the supply will not be wanting ; and in order that both of these may cease, it is evident that nothing short of the gradual advancement of Africa into the category of civilised countries is required. Yet it is not only the Negro, but all his neighbours in surrounding countries in the East, that must be civilised ; and this is a task which is not for years, but for centuries, to accomplish. 6. Natural Products — Bagamoyo, Konduchi ; the Lufiji and other navigable rivers. While the slave trade has almost entirely monopolised the energies of the traders on the Zanzibar coast, destroy- ing confidence and driving legitimate trade out of its way, its immense natural resources have lain for the most part undeveloped. The whole stretch of country, however, is capable of producing the most valuable commodities in unlimited quantity, including cloves, sugar, cocoa, coffee, nutmegs, cinnamon, Guinea pepper, sesame, indigo, cotton, and copal gum, and the ivory trade from the interior remains an important branch of traffic. Already the abo- lition of the export of slaves from this part of the coast is compelling the merchants to seek other investments, and 304 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. it is probable that the establishment of plantations such as those belonging to the Sultan of Zanzibar at Dar-es-Salaam will be extended. The navigation of the rivers of this region of the coast also remains to be developed : among these the Wami river, which reaches the sea opposite Zanzibar island, which was examined by Mr. Hill, of Sir Bartle Frere's mission, in 1873, is probably navigable for light-draught steamers for a distance of 200 miles ; the Kingani, its neighbouring river southward, reaching the sea close to Bagamoyo, is also available for navigation ; but the most important of all is the Lufiji, or Euflji, the broad delta of which occupies the coast opposite the island of Mafia. This delta was first explored by Dr. Eoscher in 1859 ; Dr. Kirk and Captain Wharton ascended it for 20 miles in 1872; and Captain Elton crossed it at a higher point in 1874, and found it 260 yards wide, flowing in a deep channel between scarped banks of red alluvial soil. Mr. Stanley more recently ascended the river to the same point. Dr. Kirk is of opinion that the river might be ascended for a very long distance by steam launch, in July, before the water has fallen ; but sandbanks and shoals in the dry season, and a strong current, are formidable obstacles. Bagamoyo, on the mainland opposite Zanzibar, is the chief point of departure and arrival of the caravans which pass inland to Unyamuesi and the lake region by one or other of several parallel routes, and carries on a very brisk ivory trade. Konduchi, farther south on the coast, is the name given to a group of villages surrounded by cocoa-nut trees on the shores of a shallow bay. The inhabitants are described by Captain Elton as hard-working fishermen and cultivators. Cattle thrive and are exported to Zanzibar ; maize and millet grow well ; and as amicable relations are maintained with the Washenzi, the copal-diggers of the coast-land farther south, large quantities of this gum are brought hither for export. Immense numbers of slaves ZANZIBAR COAST. 305 pass northward through Konduchi from the south. At the town of Dar-es-Salaam, in 6° 49' S., huilt on the north side of the large creek of the same name, the Sultan of Zanzibar has extensive cocoa-nut, rice, and maize planta- tions, worked by about 300 slaves ; the oil-palm intro- duced here by Dr. Kirk, appears also to thrive. Beyond it the country stretches away inland to the base of the Marui hills in an undulating succession of woodlands and broad open glades, and, like the corresponding coast belt south of the Lufiji, is inhabited by the Washenzi. This is the chief copal-yielding district of Zanzibar, and the trees are very abundant. In the villages Indian merchants monopolise the trade, which is principally in copal and grain, with a little ivory and wax. The gum is collected by parties of natives, consisting mainly of women and lads carrying baskets, led by a few men armed with guns or bows ; and it is taken both from the tree directly and from the ground beneath the branches ; while by digging with rude hoes and pointed sticks in little shafts three or four feet deep, the " fossil copal " is mined. The scene on the Lufiji river immediately above its delta, where Captain Elton crossed it, is described by him as thoroughly African : — " Broad flats bright with crops, and dotted over with villages shaded by clumps of baobab, tamarind, and fig trees, spread away to the north-west, to the lower hills beyond which the Matumbwi range forms a noble background. In the north and north-east the hills and high lands behind Kikunia bound the landscape, whilst through the centre of the wide alluvial plain winds the river, bending westward until lost in the distant mountains. A steep green island overgrown with brushwood rises in the nearest reach, and here and there a few sandbanks mostly overgrown with rank grass and weeds. To the eastward fields of maize stretch to the flat wooded distance bordering on the delta." The x 306 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. natives of the Lufiji are intensely black, by no means good- looking, and rather below the average stature. A skin or piece of blue cloth round the waist, and iron armlets, are worn by the men ; the women are mostly dressed in aprons of hide. Near every village bark hives are fixed on cross branches about six feet from the ground, bees being very numerous ; and the wax, which is taken down to the coast at Samanga, south of the delta, is of good quality. Kilwa Kivinja and Kilwa Kisiwani, a little north of the ninth parallel, are the most important points in the south of the Zanzibar possessions. The former is a town of scattered stone houses and thickly-peopled native huts facing the broad sand and mud flats of the beach. These places are notorious in the slave traffic of East Africa ; the whole country inland behind them as far as Lake Xyassa has been depopulated and desolated by the slave trade. Skele- tons lie all along the routes leading inland, and the beach is strewn with them. The transport of slaves by sea from these points, indeed, appears to be at an end ; but the stream has not been dried up, only diverted into other channels and more toilsome paths along the coast-land. Lindi and Mikindani bays, north of the mouth of the Eovuma, are also important points of departure for the interior ; from the former Bishop Steere started for his " Walk to the Nyassa country" in 1876. .SLAVE-DRIVING. CHAPTEE XXL THE EQUATORIAL LAKE REGIONS. 1. General Survey. It is not so very long ago since Africa was looked upon as a continent almost destitute of water ; nor was it without the greatest surprise that during the last two 308 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. decades the restless spirit of modern research gradually revealed a vast lake system, stretching from about the equator southwards to the river Zambesi, which, with the exception of the North America chain, is nowhere else equalled in extent and volume of water. The latest chart of these regions shows us the magnificent Victoria Nyanza as the queen of these great inland seas, with the smaller Albert Nyanza to the north- west, and the long and comparatively narrow Tanganyika nearly due south of it, besides a series of other lakes, great and small, amongst which the most striking are the Bangweolo to the south-west, and the Nyassa on the south-east. All these great bodies of fresh water with the inter- mediate lands we shall endeavour to describe, following in the footsteps of the most recent explorers. For the geographer no other country in the world can surpass in interest this immense lake region, whose bosom conceals the sources of Africa's two mightiest streams, the Nile and the Congo. Taking as our guides Captains Burton and Speke, the discoverers of the Tanganyika and the Victoria lake, Commander Cameron, who in 1875 was the first to cross on foot from the Suaheli coast to Benguela, and Henry Stanley, who in 1876 was the first to circumnavigate the Victoria Nyanza, we shall penetrate from Zanzibar inland, and examine in succession the problems in the geography of Central Africa, which were so long unsolved, and which keep our curiosity still partly in suspense. 2. The Regions between the East Coast and the Tanganyika. Captain. Eichard Burton, one of the boldest pioneers on the still virgin soil of Central Africa, divides into five regions the whole country from the East Coast to Lake Tanganyika, discovered by him in 1858. First comes EQUATORIAL LAKE REGIONS. 309 the coast-line reaching to the Usagara hills, a highland country bearing the same relation to East Africa that the Ghats do to "Western India. The second comprises the Usagara hills themselves, bordering on which is the third, a level plateau between the western limits of Usagara and Tura, and embracing the Ugogo territory roughly esti- mated at 140 miles in breadth. Arid, dry, and barren, this tract extends to the leeward of the mountain ridge which arrests the humid south-east trade-winds. The fourth section contains the hilly table-land of Unyamuesi and Uvinza, also some 140 miles broad, and reaching to the eastern bank of the river Malagarazi, the upper course of which is still but little known. The fifth and last divi- sion is formed by the alluvial valley of the Malagarazi, stretching for about 100 miles to the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Nearly all the explorers of Central Africa, including Lieutenant (now Commander) Cameron himself, set out from Bagamoyo, a village situated on the mainland over against the island of Zanzibar, and a little to the south of the outlet of the Kingani, which is an unnavigable river. About thirty miles north of Bagamoyo, and close to the little port of Whinde, is the mouth of the river Wami, to which we have formerly referred, and which, according to Stanley, is navigable for light steamers as far as Mbumi. From Sadani, another small port to the north of the Wami, Mr. Price, of the London Missionary Society, suc- ceeded in opening a new and most important route to the interior in 1876, proving at the same time the practica- bility of taking bullock-waggons from the coast as far as the country of Ugogo, through a line of country which is free from the plague of the tsetze-fly ; and thus preparing the way for the substitution of cattle-power for that of human beings, who have hitherto been the only means of communication and carriage in Equatorial Africa. 310 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 3. The Various Routes inland from Bagamoyo. Several routes lead inland from Bagamoyo. In 1857-8 Burton and Speke, and in 1860 Speke and Grant proceeded by Kidunda and Zungomero along the Kingani to the high- lands of Usagara and Ugogo, where they met the tzetze fly, whose sting is fatal to cattle. But Stanley in his search for Livingstone in 1871 crossed the Kingani in quite a new direction, and one of his discoveries is the route from this river through Bosako and across the middle course of the Wami to the Usagara hills. Cameron's expedition, also intended to bring aid to Livingstone, took the road between that of Stanley and the Kingani through an open park-like country varied with jungle and woodlands. But as no villages lay in their path, it was soon found necessary to cast about for provisions. After leaving Msuwah the land began to rise ; between the Makata river and the Usagara hills it was level, and, with the exception of one or two swamps, perfectly practicable. Cameron thus describes the country on his route : — 4. Camerorts Route to Ugogo. The track led now over the Usagara mountains, up hill and down dale, over slippery faces of quartz and granite. In spite of their rocky character, however, these heights are wooded to the tops, and chiefly with acacias. In the hollows water gathers, and in the vales the mparamasi raises its majestic head. " The mparamasi is one of the noblest specimens of arboreal beauty in the world, having a towering shaft sometimes 15 feet in diameter and 140 feet high, with bark of a tender yellowish green, crowned by a spreading head of dark foliage." After the first ridge had been crossed he reached a pass through which the Mukondokwa rushes, and EQUATORIAL LAKE REGIONS. 311 HIPPOPOTAMUS-HUNTING. here the camp had to be placed on such a steep declivity that it seemed like the side of a roof. Next day the stream was forded at a point where it was fifty yards wide and thigh-deep to reach the former village of Kadetamare, and thence the way was through luxuriant fields of mtama and caffircorn, the stalks of which were 15 to 18 feet in height. Farther on the traveller passed along the right bank of the Mukondokwa by a steep and dangerous rocky path, the least slip in which would have been followed by a plunge into the foaming river. The hills consist chiefly of granite, yet here and there masses of red sandstone are seen, forming a fine contrast to the dark green of the trees, to the creepers and dull colouring of the weathered 312 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. granite. Twice more the mer had to be crossed before the lake of Ugombo was reached, in which hippopotami and waterfowl find a congenial home. In the two long marches through Mpwapwa the country is waterless, parched, and dusty, with outcrops of granite and quartz all bleached and weathered by the scorching sun. The vegetation here is sparse and dry, consisting of a few baobab trees and kolqualle and some thin wiry grass, much of which had been burned down by the sparks from the pipes of passing caravans. On the second day the sandy bed of the Mpwapwa was reached, and proceeding up this watercourse, bounded on both sides by very large trees, the travellers found water becoming more and more plentiful, and pitched the tents under an enormous acacia, one half of which afforded ample shelter. Mpwapwa, lying on the eastern slope of the hill range which prolongs that of the Eubeho mountains northward and limits Usagora on the west, rising above 3000 feet, is a land of plenty, but provisions were very dear since the Wadirigo, a plundering mountain tribe, had placed the neighbouring villages under heavy contribution. The Wadirigo, whose characteristics recall those of their northern neighbours the Wamasai, in contrast to the Wampwapwa, are a tall, manly race, despising all clothing, except, perhaps, a string of beads round the neck or wrist. They carry enormous shields of hide five feet high by three wide, with a heavy spear for close quarters, and a bundle of six or eight slender assegais, which they can throw upwards of fifty yards with force and precision. They go about like superior beings among the villagers, openly telling them that their crops and herds will be plundered whenever they think fit. At Mpwapwa the first tembe was seen. This is a habitation forming a square of double walls round a pen in which the cattle are secured at night, and it is the usual form of house EQUATORIAL LAKE REGIONS. 313 throughout Ugogo. Mpwapwa is a favourite halting-place, since it lies midway between the lake of Ugombo and the desert of Marenga Mkali, another waterless tract of thirty miles in width, which lies on the other side of the mountains. The Marenga Mkali is a high sandy plain, separating the Usagara mountain edge from the eastern border of the country of Ugogo, over which are scattered a number of little granite hills, many of them conical in form ; but the country is intersected by many beds of periodical streams, and Cameron was of opinion that water might be got by digging. The Wagogo are reputed NATIVE OF TJGOGO. thieves and extortioners, and since the caravans in passing through their country are dependent entirely upon them for food and water, they bully and fleece those who are at their mercy ; before a strong party, however, they show 314 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. themselves the veriest cowards. The tribute they levy is not altogether unjust, for without their services in keeping the watering-places in repair it would be impossible to traverse this region in the dry season — the best time for travelling. Ugogo extends over about 100 miles square, and is divided into numerous independent chieftainships, in each of which tribute has to be paid in passing. The Wagogo are easily distinguished from other tribes by their custom of piercing the ears and enlarging the lobes to such an extent that they frequently descend to the shoulders. They wear in them pieces of wood, earrings of brass wire, gourd snuff-boxes, and a variety of other articles. Their hair or wool is twisted into the most fantastic strings, artificially lengthened by working in fibres of the baobab, and to the ends of these strings, which often project wildly in all directions, little brass balls or different- coloured beads are attached. Their arms are double-edged knives, spears, bows, arrows, and knobsticks. Their country is only very partially cultivated, and in some places is so sterile as to produce nothing but stunted acacias and thorns. 5. Stanley's Route to the Victoria Nyanza. But we must for the moment leave Cameron in Ugogo, in order to accompany Stanley to the northern lakes. Towards the end of 1874 this enterprising travel- ler had reached the western limits of Ugogo at Mukondoku. Proceeding thence along the western frontier of the country of the fierce Wahumba, through an almost per- fectly level country, which would seem to stretch all the way to the Victoria Nyanza, two days' journey northwards brought him to the borders of Usandawi, a land famous for its elephants. Here he turned to the north-west, until he reached the north-eastern corner of Ukimbu or Uyanzi ; and after a harassing march through EQUATORIAL LAKE REGIONS. 315 euphorbias and thorny acacias, a wide plain brought the expedition to the district of Suna in Urimi. Here dwell a people remarkable for their physical beauty and noble proportions, and utter nakedness. But with all their fine appearance they were the most suspicious tribe Stanley had yet come across. They acknowledged no chief, but respected the commands of their elders. Chiwu, the next station, lies at the foot of the water- parting, whence the streams begin to flow towards the Nile ; and at the village of Vinyata, the river which gathers all the rivulets between these two places, was reached. This river is called Leewumbu, and flows from this valley westwards ; even in the dry season it is some twenty feet in width and about twTo feet in depth ; but in the rainy months it becomes a formidable stream. In the country of Ituru, in the valley of the Leewumbu north of Urimi, the expedition was suddenly attacked by about 100 natives in full war costume. " Feathers of the bustard, the eagle, and the kite waved above some of their heads ; the mane of the zebra and giraffe encircled their swarthy brows ; in their left hands they held bows and arrows, while in their right they bore spears." Three days of fighting ensued, and brought down a more than ample revenge on the Waturu, whose villages for eight miles round were set fire to and burned ; yet with considerable loss, for in a review of the expedition at Mgongo Tembo, in the country of Iramba, a day's march farther north-west, it was found that the 300 men who had started with Stanley from the coast were reduced by disease, desertion, and war to 194. With various fortune the expedition now traversed the wThole length of the country of Usu- kuma near its western frontier, and in February 1875 reached the southern shore of the Yictoria Nyanza, at a point named Kagehyi, after 720 miles of marching through perfectly unknown country. 316 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The country between Ugogo and the great lake on this line appears to rise into a vast plateau of an altitude of from 4000 to 4500 feet above the sea, the southern edge of it being reached a short distance north of Mukondoku, in Ugogo, which is at an elevation of about 2800 feet. Thence to the west and north-west the way lies apparently up the slope of an inclined plane leading to a broad wooded table-land, rising from a height of 3800 feet on its eastern side to 4500 on its western. The table-land comprises the whole of Uyanzi, Unyanyembe, Usukuma, Urimi, and Iramba — in a word, the whole of Central Africa between the upper valley of the Eufiji on the south and the Victoria Nyanza on the north. The average height of this great plateau cannot be estimated at more than 4500 feet, the aneroids at no point between Mzanza, in Ugogo, and the Nyanza (300 miles) showing a greater elevation than 5100 feet above the sea-level. From its eastern limits to Urimi the plateau is overgrown with acacia thickets so dense as to stifle all other vegetable growth. Nothing else is seen but an occasional gigantic euphorbia in some rocky cleft as solitary lord of this sterile domain. Following up the footsteps of recent explorers, the Church and London Missionary Societies are now engaged in founding mission stations in this region of East Africa, and their pioneer parties have been farther examining the routes and rivers which lead into the interior. Mr. Price, as we have previously noted, has made a great advance in taking bullock-waggons from the coast inland to Ugogo, by a route which is free from the tsetze fly, thereby doing away with the necessity for native porters ; and a Church Mission party, aiming at founding a station in Karagwe, have marched over the Stanley's route through Mpwapwa north-westward to Kagehyi, on the Victoria lake, without meeting any hostility from the natives. The six months 4 KALULU,' Stanley's faithful Young Companion. To face page 316. At Unyanyembe, in September 1871, an Arab presented Mr. Stanley with a little slave boy, named Ndugu M'hali = " my brother's wealth;" but he was re-named Ka-lu-lu, which is Kisuaheli for the young of the blue-buck. He came to England with Mr. Stanley, and was* at school there for more than a year. He was lost in one of the furious cataracts of the Lower Congo, in Mr. Stanley's latest expedition. EQUATORIAL LAKE REGIONS. 317 from July 1876 to January 1877 were occupied in their march to the Victoria from Bagamoyo. 6. The Leewumbu or Shimeeyu. In the heart of Urimi the Nile receives its first tribute from Equatorial Africa. If we draw a line on the map in the latitude of Ujiji, on the Tanganyika, eastwards to 35° east longitude, we shall strike the source of the Leewumbu, the most southern affluent of the Victoria Nyanza. In Iramba, between Mgongo Tembo and Mombiti, Stanley came upon the Luwamberri plain, which may at some re- mote period have been an arm of the Victoria, as its level is somewhat below that of the lake. In Usukuma the Leewumbu takes the name of Monangah, and after a farther course of 100 miles it again changes to Shimeeyu, under which name it flows into the Victoria Nyanza to the east of the port and station of Kagehyi. It may have alto- gether an approximate length of some 350 miles. After penetrating the forest to the west of the Luw- amberri we enter Usukuma, a land thickly peopled and rich in herds of cattle. It consists of a series of rolling plains, out of which here and there rises a ridge of serrated hills ; but the descent to the lake is very gradual. 7. The Equatorial Lake System — Uganda and Unyoro. According to Stanley's observations the Victoria Nyanza lies at an elevation of 3800 feet above the sea- level. It was discovered on July 30, 1858, by the late Captain John Hanning Speke, and by him declared to be the main reservoir of the Nile. On the occasion of a second journey with Captain (now Colonel) James Augustus Grant in 1860-1863, Speke, who saw the lake at various points, endeavoured to show its vast extent and its connection with the Nile, but only partly sue- 318 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. ceeded in doing so, and his view of the unity of the great Victoria lake was for a long time questioned. It was reserved for Stanley fully to confirm Speke's conjecture THE VICTORIA NYANZA. by completely circumnavigating the lake in eighty days in the spring of 1875. He thus demonstrated the unity of this vast inland sea, which is greater in superficial area than Bavaria or Scotland. VICTOEIA NYANZA. 319 We shall now follow rapidly Mr. Stanley's adventurous voyage in his boat the " Lady Alice " round the coast of the great Nyanza, the largest of African lakes, noting the chief points in his cruise. Sailing from Kagehyi, where he launched out after the long overland march, and turning eastward into the gulf of the lake, which he named after Captain Speke, the mouth of the Shhneeyu, the largest tributary of the lake from the south, and in all probability the longest source stream of the Nile, is reached. Here it rushes into the lake by a mouth which is a mile in width, but which contracts at some distance upward to 400 yards. At the head of the gulf, the south-eastern corner of the Nyanza, we come to Ututwa, a country inhabited by a tall and slender people carrying formidably long knives and por- tentous spears. The rugged and hilly country forming the southern side of the gulf sinks down at the eastern extremity to a flat marshy land where the Euana, a powerful stream, discharges itself into the lake by two mouths. Turning westward along the northern margin of Speke Gulf, the Eugeshi strait is discovered, separating the insular from the continental portion of Ukerewe. The island of Ukerewe is nearly forty miles in length, and has liigh bold shores ; north of it lies the island of Ukara, eighteen miles long, which gives its name to that part of the lake which is enclosed between it and Uker- ewe, probably the lake or sea of Ukara which Mr. Wake- field heard of from native traders coming to this country from Mombas on the east coast. Making for the eastern shore of the Nyanza again, the high table mountain of Majita is seen. It rises, according to Mr. Stanley's estimate, to about 3000 feet above the lake level, while on each side of it are low brown plains, but a few feet apparently above the water. From Majita northward we sail along the coast of Ururi, indented with bays and 320 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. creeks extending far inland through a level plain. Ururi is remarkable for its wealth of cattle and fine pastoral lands. Crossing the bay of Kavirondo (a name with which we are also familiar from native information gleaned on the east coast), the mountainous country of Ugeyeya comes into view, its bold, irregular, and cliffy shores forming a strong contrast to those of Ururi. About fifteen days' march eastward of this the people report a wonderful district called Sasa in the Masai country, a region in which low hills spout smoke and sometimes fire. Here again is a corroboration of the truth of the native information received on the east coast by Mr. Wakefield, who was informed of the smoking hills of the Njenisi country west of Mount Kenia. The Wageyeya are a timid and suspicious race, much vexed by their neighbours the Waruri on the south, and the Wamasai on the east. North of Ugeyeya, in the north-east corner of the Nyanza, begins the country of Nduru or Baringo, with deep bays indenting its lake coast, along which numbers of islands are scattered. This country probably gives its name to the north-eastern corner of the Victoria, as Ukara does to the southern, accounting thus for the lake Baringo, which Captain Speke believed to be united to the Nyanza by a strait, and which, following the reports received by Mr. Wakefield on the east coast, has been supposed to be a separate and independent lake. This part of the Victoria Nyanza Lies immediately on the equator. Near this, Mr. Stanley says, "we anchored close to a village and began to court the attention of some wild- looking fishermen, but the rude barbarians merely stared at us from under pent-houses of hair, and hastily stole away to tell their wives and relatives of how suddenly an apparition in the shape of a boat with white wings had come before them bearing strange men with red caps. . . . VICTORIA NYANZA. 321 This will become a pleasant tradition, one added to the many marvels now told in Ugeyeya." Unyara, a land of hills and ridges, through which the Yagama river flows to the lake, follows Baringo, and after that on the shores of Ugana the northern coast of the Nyanza turns westward. Beyond the large island of Usuguru the country of Usoga begins and stretches westward to where the Nile flows out over the Eipon Falls. As the falls are approached through the Napoleon channel, named by Captain Speke, the sound of the rushing waters is heard loud and clear. Here the limit of the great kingdom of Uganda is reached, the country of the powerful King Mtesa, which stretches all round the north-western margin of the Nyanza. Murchison Creek or bay, discovered by Captain Speke, is the largest inlet of the northern shore of the Nyanza ; it leads up nearly to Mtesa's capital, and is his naval station on the lake. Here Mr. Stanley saw a grand naval review of eighty-four canoes, each manned and propelled at great speed by from thirty to forty men. The canoes are described by Colonel Long as made of thick bark sewed together with rope made of banana-tree ; they vary from thirty to forty feet in length, having at the prow the antlers of the " tetel," or deer. After a stay at Mtesa's residence Mr. Stanley again set out to complete the examination of the western shores of the lake, and was accompanied by ten large canoes lent by the king. The general position of this side of the Nyanza was already known through Speke and Grant's discoveries in their march along it, but Mr. Stanley's voyage determined a number of new features. The most notable point in the north-western portion of the lake is the great island of Sasse, as large if not larger than that of Ukerewe in the south-east. The Katonga river joins the lake immediately north of this island, and midway on the western coast the Kagera or Kitangule river, one of Y 322 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the most important affluents of the lake, comes down from the western mountains, forming the dividing line between Uganda and Karague. Among the numerous islands which skirt the south-western shores, that of Bam- bireh is the largest, and the scene of a well-remembered adventure. As Mr. Stanley approached it, the green slopes, garnished with groves of plantations and dotted with herds of fat cattle, promised good things for famish- ing men. But the boat had no sooner touched the shore than the hostile natives, armed with spears and bows, rushed down upon it in large numbers, and the voyagers only escaped destruction by a desperate effort. A few days later the " Lady Alice " was again in the waters of Speke Gulf, at the point whence the circumnavigation was begun fifty-seven days previously. After the discovery, in July 1862, of the Eipon Falls, where the river overflows from the Nyanza by a descent of twelve feet between protruding rocks of gneiss, Captain Speke followed the " Somerset," as he then named it, downward in its northerly course for thirty-five miles to Urondogani, but there was obliged to leave it and turn north-westward to the country of Unyoro ; he did not again see the river till Mrooli, the capital of Unyoro, had been passed, so that an extent of about sixty miles remained unexplored. It was not till 1874, when Colonel Long made a perilous canoe voyage down the river from Urondogani to Mrooli, that the gap which had been left in the river course was filled up, and all possible doubt as to its being the true head stream of the Nile cleared away. This portion of the river flows through the territory of Keb-a-Eega, the ruler of southern Unyoro, between whom and King Mtesa a perpetual feud exists, all but closing the route to the ISTyanza to travellers from the north. After two or three days' paddling down stream, between banks covered with a thick impenetrable growth UGANDA. 323 of papyrus, a high mountain called Jebel M'Tingi was discovered on the right, and not long after the canoe entered a sheet of water in which the river lost itself. " I looked in vain," says Colonel Long, " for the opposite shore. Stretching away to the eastward a scarcely visible line seemed to indicate land, certainly twenty miles away. \Vas this the basin from which, as Mtesa told me, ' the river went eastward ' ? " 1 As he advanced into the lake, since named Lake Ibrahim, what seemed to be land was descried in the westward, but it proved on approach to be an immense sea of lilies whose heads floated like great hats on the water, and which grew up from great depths. A great papyrus jungle, growing upon a floating " sod " of matted vegetation, surrounds the lake, which extends N.W. and S.E. over a distance of about thirty miles. Detached islets of floating vegetation move out with the current of the river from the north-western corner of the lake, whence the stream flows on north-westward past Mrooli, then north to the Karuma fall, discovered by Speke and Grant, then due west over the fine Murchison Falls (120 feet high), seen by Sir Samuel Baker in 1864, to the Luta Nzige or Albert Lake, up to which we have previously traced the course of the Nile from Egypt. North and west of the Victoria Nyanza, as we have noticed, lies the land of Uganda, where King Mtesa holds court not far from the lake. Between Uganda and the northern portion of the Albert Lake is the country of Un- yoro. On both of these states fresh light has been thrown by the Eg}rptian expedition under Colonel Long in 1874, and by Colonel Gordon's more recent explorations. Ugan- da is rolling and picturesque ; groves of banana trees that abound everywhere, adorn the verdant landscape ; the soil is rich in iron, rock crystals, and granite : but the climate is unhealthy and weakening for Europeans. The 1 Central Africa. Colonel C. Chaille Long ; 1876. 324 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. valleys are interspersed with swamps and morasses fre- quented by herds of elephants and buffaloes. Jungle fever also prevails, and the natives themselves are not always proof against its deadly attacks. The products of the land are — coffee, which grows wild and is chewed instead of boiled by the natives ; tobacco of excellent quality, and largely cultivated ; sugar-cane, maize, potatoes, yams, beans, and bananas in vast quantities. 8. King Mtesa and his People. Mtesa is an absolute sovereign. For the last six years he has adopted Mohammedanism, introduced into the country by some Zanzibar traders ; but how far his practice KING MTESA S DAUGHTER. may correspond with his profession has not been ascer- tained. By one conversation with him, Mr. Stanley be- lieved that he had converted King Mtesa to Christianity. Some of his people go about with little wooden tablets inscribed with passages from the Koran in Arabic char- acters, and the fortunate possessors of these talismans are regarded with a sort of veneration by their neighbours. UGANDA. 325 In honour of Long's first visit to the court, thirty of King Mtesa's subjects were beheaded, and from eight to ten on each successive visit. Simi- lar atrocious practices pre- vail in the adjoining state of Unyoro. King Mtesa's capital of Ulagalla, close to the Mur- chison gulf of the Nyanza, centres in the royal quarters, a large collection of build- ings crowning an eminence, round which five several palisades and circular courts are built, and separated by a broad road from the town, through which six or seven imposing avenues lined with gardens and huts radiate outward. The population of Ugan- da proper, not including the adjacent tributary tribes, is estimated by Long at about 500,000 ; Mr. Stanley esti- mates the number of Mtesa's subjects at 2,000,000. The people are mild and child- like, superstitious and timid, and not at all martial. The industries of the country consist in skilful tanning of skins, the cultivation of the soil by the women, the weav- ing of bark cloth, and working in iron. The chase of the elephant occupies many of the men, the ivory being sent UGANDA BOY. 326 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. out of Uganda both by way of the Nile and to the Zanzibar coast ; but if work is to be avoided the Waganda do very little, or nothing at all ; their pipe and merissa beer form their earthly elysium. 9. Stanley's Discoveries between the Victoria and Albert Nyanza. Due west from Mtesa's capital a water-parting 5500 feet high rises in the great Mount Kabuga, between the Vic- toria and the Albert Lakes. Eastwards from this ridge the river Katonga flows into the Victoria, and westwards of it the Eusango into the Albert Nyanza. This lake is bor- dered on its eastern shore by table-lands 1000 feet high. A deep inlet (the Beatrice Gulf) is formed between a spur of the Usongora range, in which Mount Gambaragara is estimated by Mr. Stanley to reach 13,000 feet, projecting in a south-westerly direction into the lake, and the south- eastern coast, where are the lands of Irangara, Unyampaka, Buhuja, and Upororo. Here the coast-line runs nearly in a south-westerly direction. Between Upororo and the promontory of Usongora lie the islands of the maritime state of Utumbi. West of Usongora, and on the western shore of the Albert Nyanza, is the land of Ukonju, supposed to be inhabited by canni- bals. North of Ukonju is the great Ulegga country — Baker's Malegga and Livingstone's Balegga. On the southern shore of the lake we find the country of Buanda stretching southward between Upororo to Ukonju, and therefore comprising the whole south and south-east coast of the Albert. Unyoro embraces the whole eastern side of the lake from the Murchison Falls of the Victoria Nile to Upororo ; Unyampaka, Toro, Buhuja, and Irangara being merely districts of Unyoro. The great promontory of Usongora ALBERT NYANZA. 327 has a vast salt field whence all the surrounding lands pro- cure this article. It is said also to contain a burning moun- tain, a salt lake of considerable extent, several rock-salt hills, and a great plain thickly covered with salt and alkali. The natives are remarkable for their long legs, are very brave, and possess a very savage breed of dogs. They live quite apart, never - intermarrying with strangers • their sole nourishment is milk, and they accordingly possess vast herds of cattle. For these details we are also indebted to Stanley, who, on January 1, 1876, marched from Uganda in a westerly direction to the Albert Nyanza. 10. Gessi's Circumnavigation of the Albert Nyanza. This second reservoir of the Nile was discovered by Sir Samuel Baker on March 14, 1864, after Speke had reported its existence in 1862, and it lies at an elevation of about 2500 feet above the sea-level. Its extent was approximately determined by the Italian Eomolo Gessi, of Colonel Gordon's Egyptian expedition, who in March 1876 almost completed its circmnnavigation. He found it to be about 40 miles wide and 150 miles in length, in the direc- tion from N.E. to S.W., from the outlet of the Nile to where he came upon an impenetrable growth of ambatch forest growing out of shallow water and filling the whole southern end of the lake. " From the mast of the boat," says M. Gessi, " I observed that the forest of ambatch extended very far, and that beyond it there succeeded a field or valley of herbs and vegetation which reaches to the foot of the mountains." A difficulty must remain till the lake is more completely examined in reconciling Mr. Stanley's account of Beatrice Gulf, the great mountains of Usongora, and the inhabited islands of Uthumbi, with M. Gessi's account ; for he does not describe any one feature which resembles these in the course of his voyage. It 328 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. would appear, indeed, either that the Albert Lake has a much greater extent southward beyond the ambatch shal- lows than M. Gessi supposed, or that Mr. Stanley going west from Uganda had struck upon an altogether new lake. 11. The Kagera River and Karague. The southern frontier of Uganda is formed by the Kagera river flowing from the west into the Victoria Xyanza. Captain Speke, who discovered this tributary in 1862, after marching from the south through the country of Karague, called it the Kitangule — a name which applies, however, only to a place on its banks. After his excursion to the Albert Lake, Mr. Stanley turned southward, and during the early part of 1876 made an examination of a large portion of this most copious of all the affluents of the Nyanza. From his account we learn that the Kagera, or "Alexandra Nile," has its sources probably far in the west, in the mountainous country between the Albert and Tan- ganyika Lakes. At a distance of about 230 miles upward from its mouth it enters the Akanyaru Lake, a sheet of water of 3 0 miles in length by 2 0 miles in width. Turn- ing northward it flows for full 60 miles along the eastern frontier of Karague in a series of marshy lagoons, vary- ing from 5 to 14 miles in width, covered with floating fields of papyri, large masses or islands of which drift to and fro. At the northern end of this lagoon the river contracts, becomes tumultuous and noisy, and dashes into foam and spray against the opposing rocks, till it finally rolls over a wall of rock 10 or 12 feet deep with tremen- dous uproar ; on which account the natives call it Morongo, or the " Noisy Falls." From this point the Kagera winds eastward to the Victoria with a width of 50 yards and a depth of as many feet. Westward of the Kagera and of Karague the most KARAGUE. 329 important country, known as yet only by hearsay, is that of Euanda, a land of lofty mountain ridges and broad valleys inhabited by a people who are hostile and exclu- sive to all strangers, and even to their neighbours of Karague. Here the great sugar-loaf-like cones of Ufum- biro mountain are seen from a great distance. Captain Speke estimated the height of their summits at 10,000 feet, Mr. Stanley at not less than 12,000 feet. Karague is the country of the gentle and friendly King Eumanika, who received Speke and Grant so hospitably, and gave every possible assistance to Stanley in his ex- plorations. Among the wonders of Eumanika's country are the hot springs of Mlagata, which are renowned throughout all the neighbouring countries for their healing properties. " Two days' severe marching," says Mr. Stanley, " towards the north from the king's residence brought us to a deep wooded gorge, wherein they are situated. I dis- covered a most astonislung variety of plants, herbs, trees, and bushes, for here nature was in her most prolific mood. She shot forth her products with such vigour that each plant seemed to strangle the other for lack of room. They so clambered one over another that small hills of vegeta- tion were formed, and through the heaps tall trees shot upward an arrow's flight into the air, with globes of radiant green foliage like crowns surmounting their stems. The springs were visited at this time by numbers of diseased persons, who were seen lying about in the hot pools half asleep. The hottest waters issued in streams from the base of a rocky hill, and when Fahrenheit's thermometer was placed in these the mercury rose to 129°. Four bubbled upward from the ground through a depth of dark muddy sediment, and had a temperature of 110°." 12. Ugogo to Unyanyemlt. Eetracing our steps to the arid highlands of Ugogo, we 330 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. resume our description of Cameron's famous expedition from this point to the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and thence to the western seaboard. The route from Ugogo westward as far as Unyan- yembe has been traversed by all the African explorers who have penetrated to the lake region from the east coast. Burton and Speke first marched along it in 1858; Speke and Grant followed nearly the same line in 1861 ; Stanley went inland by this route in his search for Livingstone in 1871 ; and Cameron in 1873 also made for Unyanyeinbe\ The chief points in Cameron's journey over this portion of the caravan route to the Tanganyika may be noted as giving the most recent account of it. After leaving the Marenga Mkali desert the aspect of Ugogo is that of a brown, dried-up country, with occa- sional huge masses of granite and stiff euphorbias clinging to their sides. There are no vivid greens to be seen, the only trees being the gigantic and grotesque baobab, and a few patches of thorny scrub. The formation is of sand- stone, in some cases overlaid with clay, and water is only to be obtained from pits made by the natives to store the surplus rainfall. In the rainy season, however, all is dif- ferent, and the whole country becomes green and verdant. A peculiar feature of Ugogo is that of the small ziwas, or ponds, surrounded by verdure, affording, like the oases of the Sahara, the watering places for the herds and cattle. A march through a broken country, covered with jungle, led to the district of Kanyenye, or Great Ugogo, a flat plain lying between two parallel ranges running north and south. Particles of natron glisten in the water- courses and dried-up pools of this district, and these the natives collect and make into cones like sugar-loaves for sale among their neighbours. From the summit of the range of hills on the west of Kanyenye another level plain of forest and grass land meets the eye, and through UNYAMUESI. 331 a chain of rocky hills, formed of the most fantastic masses and boulders of granite, the track leads on to Usekhe. A strip of jungle separates Usekhe' from Khoko, a place remarkable for a species of sycamore or fig, which grows to an enormous size. Though inhabited by Wagogo, this may be considered as the border of a new territorial division. When Captain Burton went from Khoko to the next petty sultanate of Mdaburu, a long tract of jungle had to be passed. This has now all but disappeared, and the ground has almost entirely been brought under cultiva- tion. Mdaburu is another fertile district, extending as far as the eye can reach, with a large population, owning great herds of cattle. Between Mdaburu and Unyan- yembe lies the tract of country which is known as the Mgunda Mkali, the " fiery field," which the earlier tra- vellers found to be an unbroken mass of forests, with few watering-places, and without any supplies. Now all is changed. Much of the forest has been cleared away by the Wakimbu, a branch of the Wanyamuesi, driven from their former homes by war ; and though long weary marches have still to be endured, water-holes have been dug, and provisions can be obtained at the settlements. A village of the Wakimbu, named Pururu, situated in a picturesque valley, is described by Cameron as clean and tidy. The huts are flat-roofed, and built in the form of long parallelograms, the whole being surrounded by a heavy stockade, with only two entrances. Over each of these is a sort of crow's nest, where the defenders of the gate take up their position, and are furnished with a supply of large stones to be used on the attacking party coming to close quarters. Several tortuous water- courses cross the Wakimbu country, but as this is the region of the water-parting between the JSTile tributaries flowing north to the Victoria, the tributaries of the Tanganyika running west, and those of the Bwaha, or 332 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Lufiji, in the south and east, it is difficult to say to which system they belong. At four marches from Unyanyembe, on the border of the wilderness, lies Urguru, the most cultivated spot of all this region, at which, for the first time since leaving the coast mountains, rice is seen growing in the damp hol- lows. When within a day's march of Taborah, or Kazeh, in Unyanyembe, the chief station of the Arab traders in East Africa, messengers were sent on to inform the Arab governor of the arrival of the expedition, etiquette requiring the formal announcement. Unyanyembe, the " country of the hoes," or " cultivated country," the most important district of the country of Unyamuesi, is inter- sected in the south by numerous rocky lulls, but to the north is more level, and is dotted over with innumerable villages surrounded by impenetrable hedges of the milk- bush. The Arabs of Taborah live in great comfort, having large and well-built houses, with gardens and fields in which they cultivate wheat, onions, cucumbers, and fruits introduced from the coast. They maintain constant communication with Zanzibar, and thus obtain supplies of coffee, tea, sugar, soap, curry powder, and various luxuries. A thousand Baloochees. in the pay of the Sultan of Zanzibar, were quartered here during Cameron's visit, and during his stay the force was strengthened by the arrival of two thousand coast people. " The distinguishing tribal marks of the native Wan- yamuesi are a tattooed line down the centre of the fore- head and on each temple ; the two upper front teeth are chipped so as to show a chevron-shaped gap, and a small triangular piece of hippopotamus ivory or of shell, ground down white and polished, is hung round the neck. Their ornaments consist principally of beads, and brass and iron wire. Chiefs and headmen wear enormous cylindrical bracelets of ivory extending from wrist to elbow, which UNYAMUESI. 333 are used also as signals in warfare. The noise occa- sioned by striking them together is heard at a long dis- tance, and is used by the chiefs as a call for their men to rally round them. The men usually shave the crown of the head, and wear their hair twisted into innumerable small strings. . . . The women follow no particular fashion in dressing their hair. Sometimes they allow it to remain in its native frizziness, often using it to stick a knife, pipe, or other small article into. Others have their hair dressed in innumerable small plaits, lying close to the head, and having something of the appearance of the ridges of a field, and occasionally they make it into large cushion-like masses padded out with bark fibres."1 Their huts are usually built of stout posts planted in the ground, and the interstices filled with clay. The roof is flat, with a slight slope to the front, and the rafters are covered either with sheets of bark, or with bushes and grass, over which is spread a thick coating of earth. In the interior there are generally two, and sometimes three, divisions, the first containing the small bed-places, covered with hides, and the universal African fireplace of three cones of clay, with earthen pots beside it. The second space is given over to the lambs and kids, and the inner- most is the granary, in which corn is carefully stowed in large bark bandboxes closed with clay. Light is only admitted through the door. Walls and rafters are black and shiny, and the cobwebs with which they are fes- tooned are loaded with soot. Among the rafters bows, spears, knobsticks, and arrows, are stored to be seasoned by the smoke. 13. UnyanyemM to Tanganyika. For many years Unyanyembe, and the country west- ward of it on the line of the direct route to the Tangan- 1 Cameron's Across Africa; 1877. 334 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. yika, has been harassed and kept in a disturbed state by a restless chieftain named Mirambo, whose followers are the terrors of the whole region. Mirambo was originally the headman of a small district of Unyainuesi, through which the direct trade route to XJjiji on the Tanganyika passed. Having been defrauded of a large quantity of ivory by a trader, and having been refused redress by the Arabs at Unyanyembe, he took the law into his own hands, closed the caravan route, and invaded the Arab settlements, carrying on a desultory but determined war- fare, and destroying the villages wherever the natives refused to join his bands. On this account Mr. Stanley, in going to the Tanganyika in 1871, and in returning with Dr. Livingstone to Unyanyembe in 1872, as well as Cameron, were compelled to make a long detour south- ward round the disturbed country, instead of keeping to the direct route which Burton first followed in 1857. From Unyanyembe westward the whole country lies in the basin of the Malagarasi river, the largest known affluent of the Tanganyika lake, which drains all the country of Unyamuesi, and a large extent of country lying towards the Victoria Nyanza. Cameron made his way south-westward through the cultivated country of Uganda, the " country of farms," beyond which lies a broad plain, bounded on the west by the southern IsTgombe, one of the feeders of the Mala- garasi. Open and park-like country here forms the feed- ing ground of innumerable herds of game ; and the rhino- ceros, lion, and buffalo are abundant. In the dry season the southern Ngombe* consists of long pools of open water, separated by sand-bars, like the Australian rivers, but during the rainy season these unite into a noble river. Ugara, lying beyond the southern Ngombe, is a flat plain covered with forest and jungle, except in places where the natives have made a clearance, and formed a settlement. From LAKE TANGANYIKA. 335 the summit of some hills an unbroken horizon of tree-tops was seen in almost every direction. Still farther westward the country begins to ascend in wave-like hills, sloping gradually on their eastern slopes, but falling precipitously on the west ; and beyond Ugara the granite mountains of Kawendi rise in some points to 7000 feet above the sea- level, with cliff-like sides and jutting peaks. The south- ern part of Uvinza is very similar to Kawendi, but to- wards the north it descends to the wide green plain of the Malagarasi, away to the north of which the blue hills of Uhha are seen. At the pass of the Malagarasi, a " swift swirling brown stream," running at the rate of four or five miles an hour, with a width of about thirty yards, the " lord of the ferry " exacts a heavy toll for permission to cross the river in log canoes. The soil of Uvinza north of the Malagarasi is strongly impregnated with salt, which is obtained here in large quantities by filtering the saline mud with hot water, the whole country, from the Victoria Nyanza round the Tanganyika to Manyuema, west of that lake, being supplied from the salt pans of Uvinza. 14. Lake TanganyiJca. At length, from the heights of Ukaranga, " the country of the ground-nuts," the expanse of the vast Tanganyika comes into view. Captain Burton, who discovered it in 1858, thus graphically describes the first impression of the view of Tanganyika : — " Ascending by the deep tracks of stony watercourses, and threading a straggling forest, the travel- ler tops the crest, and suddenly descries through the feathery foliage of the trees below him first glimpses of a prospect which, after the close jungle and the monotonous features of the scenery left behind, fill him with admiration, wonder, and delight. Nothing, indeed, can be more picturesque than this first view of the Tanganyika Lake as it lies basking in 336 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the gorgeous tropical sunshine. Beyond a short foreground of rugged and precipitous hillfold, down which the footpath painfully zigzags, a narrow plot of emerald green shelves gently towards a rihbon of ghstening yellow sand, here bordered by sedgy rushes, there clear and cleanly cut by the breaking wavelets. Farther in front stretches an ex- panse of the lightest and softest blue, varying from 3 0 to 35 miles in breadth, and sprinkled by the east wind with crescents of snowy foam. It is bounded on the other side by tall and broken walls of purple hill, flecked and capped with pearly mist, or standing sharply pencilled against the azure sky. To the south, and opposite the " cynosura," or long low point behind which the Malagarasi river dis- charges the red loam suspended by its violent stream, lie the high bluff headlands and capes of Uguhha ; and as the eye dilates, it falls upon little outlying islets speckling a sea horizon. Villages, cultivated lands, and the frequent canoes of the fishermen — and, at a nearer approach, the murmur of the waves breaking upon the shore — give a something of life, of variety, of movement to the scenery which, like all the beauties in these regions, wants but a little of the neatness and finish of art, contrasting with the profuse magnificence and wondrous lavishness of nature, to rival, if not to excel, the most admired prospects of classical regions. These riant shores, and the broad open prospect of this vast crevasse, appear doubly charming to the tra- veller after the silent and spectral mangrove creeks on the eastern main, and his melancholy monotonous experience of jungle scenery, tawny rocks, and sun-parched plains, or rank herbage and flats of black mire." The Tanganyika was discovered by Burton to be an enormous trough stretching from the north-west towards the south-east for nearly seven degrees of latitude, through a length comparable to that of the British coast from Aberdeen to Dover. It lies at about 2700 LAKE TANGANYIKA. 337 feet above the sea. That such an immense body of water should have an outlet somewhere, had been long taken for granted ; but great uncertainty prevailed as to where such an outlet was to be sought for. Burton and many others conjectured that it lay northwards, where the Eusize river was supposed to flow out of the lake. This Eusize was thought to be connected with the Albert Nyanza, in which case the Tanganyika would be the most southern feeder of the Nile ; but when its northern shore was ex- plored by Livingstone and Stanley in 1871, no such outlet- was discovered, and nothing detected beyond an enclosed basin with a few inconsiderable mountain streams, as indeed had already been represented by Speke. The Eusize, or Lusise, flows not out of but into the lake ; and as Gessi has, on the other hand, made it almost certain that no large river disembogues into the southern part of the Albert Nyanza, it follows that there is no connection at all between these two lakes, and that the Tanganyika cannot possibly belong to the Nile system. In Ins journeyings between 1869 and 1872, Living- stone had mapped out the greater portion of the lake ; and though he failed to discover an outlet, he was constantly of opinion that the lake overflowed towards the Nile basin, and confirmed himself in this erroneous view from having observed a continued northerly drift of its waters at Ujiji. Kawele, the chief place in the small country of Ujiji, on the eastern shore of the Tanganyika, is the terminal point of the great caravan route from the Zanzibar coast, or of the main highway into East Africa. A number of Arab traders have settled here, and carry on the transit trade between Zanzibar and the more remote regions beyond the Tanganyika. The natives here are described as a rather fine-looking race, dressed in a single piece of bark cloth tied in a knot over one shoulder and passing under the opposite armpit ; they are expert fishers and canoe-men, z 338 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. and good smiths and porters. A daily market, frequented by the natives of the surrounding countries, and of the lake shores, is held at Kawele, and to it are brought baskets of flowers, yams, palm-oil, fruit, bananas, tobacco, and a great variety of vegetable products ; pottery, and huge gourds of " pombe," and palm- wine ; fish, both dried and fresh ; meat, goats, sugar canes, nets, baskets, spear and bow staves, canoe paddles, and bark cloth. Each vendor takes up the same position daily, and many build small arbours of palm fronds, to shelter them from the burning rays of the sun. In March 1874 Cameron launched out from Kawele, with two native canoes which he named the Betsy and Pickle, and during 88 days circumnavigated and mapped out the whole southern half of the lake. The greater portion of its border is formed by cliff-like walls, running out into promontories rising precipitously from the waters, or retreating back into deep bays ; the immediate shores are here and there low and marshy, though a short way back from there the mountains rise abruptly. In some places the cliffs are worn and broken, by the action of weather and waves, into fantastic forms, bearing much resemblance to ruins of castles and fortresses, arches being honeycombed in their bases, and turret-like projections standing out in advance of the main portion. The general character of these wild shores may be judged of from Cameron's description of one scene : " On the outside of Polungo island (not far from the south end of the Tangan- yika) were enormous masses, scattered and piled in the most fantastic manner, vast overhanging blocks, rocking stones, obelisks, pyramids, and every form imaginable. The whole was overgrown with trees, jutting out from every crevice or spot where soil had lodged, and from them hung creepers, fifty or sixty feet long, while through this fringe there were occasional glimpses of hollows and caves. The glorious lake, with its heaving LAKE TANGANYIKA. 339 bosom, lay bathed in tropical sunshine, and one could scarcely imagine the scene to be a reality. It seemed as if designed for some grand transformation in a panto- mime, and one almost expected the rocks to open and sprites and fairies to appear. As I paused to gaze at the wondrous sight — all being still and without' sign of life — suddenly the long creepers began to move, as some brown object, quickly followed by another and another, was seen. This was a party of monkeys, swinging themselves along, and outdoing Leotard on the flying trapeze ; and then, stopping and hanging by one paw, they chattered and gibbered at the strange sight of a boat. A shout, and they were gone more rapidly than they came, whilst the rolling echo almost equalled thunder in its intensity." In returning northward, along the eastern coasts of the lake, a break in the moun- tains, which encircle it, nearly midway from the north and south ends, showed Cameron the entrance of the Lukuga, a river which, according to native information, flowed out of the lake ; a chief informed him that he had travelled along its banks for more than a month's journey, and that it fell into the great river Lualaba in the west. Cameron observed what he believed to be a distinct drift eastward from the lake into the channel ; he went down it for a distance of four or five miles, to where the passage was barred by floating vegetation, and left it intending to return for a more complete examination of this supposed discovery of the long-sought outlet of the lake. Circumstances, however, prevented his return to the Lukuga. Making his way southward, after his exploration of the Victoria Nyanza and its tributaries, Mr. Stanley reached Ujiji for a second time in May 1876, and launched his well-tried English boat, the " Lady Alice," on the Tanganyika. He not only retraced again the bays and capes of the southern half of the lake, which had been mapped out by Cameron, but completed the 340 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. circumnavigation of the whole trough, exploring the north- western shores which had been left unvisited, though seen in the distance by Burton and Speke, in their voyage on the northern portion of the lake, in 1858, and by Stanley and Livingstone, in 1871. In all this long round no outlet was discovered. Mr. Stanley was able to make a more complete examination of the Lukuga creek than Cameron could accomplish, and his survey of it discloses a most remarkable phenomenon. Up to the point at which Cameron turned, the Lukuga is a creek of the Tanganyika shut off from it by a sand-bar with two to three feet of water over it, which stretches across its mouth. Into the creek, which has a depth of twenty to thirty feet for four or five miles, the daily east wind drives the lake water with a slow current, but as soon as the wind drops the flow returns lakewards. At the head of the creek is a barrier of mud-banks and choked vegetation of cane and papyrus, against which the lake- water is daily pressed by the monsoon wind. Beyond this barrier an oozing, then a trickling, and lastly a decided westward flow of water, away from the lake, becomes discernible. Mr. Stanley is of opinion that the Lukuga was till recent times an affluent of the Tangan- yika ; that the waters of the lake have been gradually rising year by year ; and that though the Lukuga cannot as yet be called an outlet, it is in process of becoming the channel of overflow of the Tanganyika to the Lualaba drainage on the west. Captain Burton had already noticed that the Tanganyika was subject to remarkable changes of level, and on that account Mr. Stanley's view that the Lukuga has never yet been an outlet may be questioned ; yet his observations on the gradual increase of the lake level are fully confirmed by Cameron's notes on the same phenomenon. If it be accepted that the Tanganyika has never had an outlet, a difficulty remains COUNTRY WEST OF TANGANYIKA. 341 in accounting for the freshness of its waters, which, instead of being saline, as is the case in almost every lake which depends on the balance of evaporation and supply for the maintenance of its level, are quite potable ; yet here again a peculiarity has been noted by Captain Burton that the natives " complain that its water does not satisfy thirst," and, "it appears to corrode metal and leather with exceptional power;" and this may be used as an argument that the lake water differs from that which would be found in a reservoir possessing a constant overflow. Altogether the Tanganyika still presents a number of most interesting problems which remain for future observers to unravel. 15. Tanganyika to Nyangwe on the Lualaba. AVe shall now follow Cameron very rapidly in his great march westward from the Tanganyika towards the Atlantic coast, in the course of which he lifted the veil from an immense stretch of country previously altogether unknown. Just as in crossing the water-parting of the Xile basin southward of the Seriba country, and de- scending into the valley of the Welle river of unknown outlet, Schweinfurth found himself in a region of altogether different character from that in which he had previously been travelling, so Livingstone and Cameron, the two explorers who first saw any portion of inner Africa beyond the Tanganyika, found themselves entering there upon a completely new field, distinct in its ethnology, zoology, and botany, from that to the east of the water barrier. As far as Nyangwe, on the Lualaba river, 300 miles north-west from the western shore of Tanganyika, opposite Ujiji, Cameron's route was not very different from that taken by Livingstone going and returning in 1869-71. Passing over the steep hills of LTgoma, which abruptly border the lake, Ruanda, the capital of the country of 342 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Uguhha, is reached, a considerable town situated in a fertile plain. Farther on streams without number, flowing from the mountains of Ugoma, which extend northward along the margin of the Tanganyika, are crossed in the march through Uguhha. Many of these are very beauti- ful, and flow in deep-cut channels, with cliff-like sides lined with lovely ferns and mosses. In the district of Ubujwa, in northern Uguhha, the country again becomes mountainous in character. Here Cameron noticed a remarkable distinction between two castes of the inhabitants. The upper classes are apparently of the same race as the Waguhha and Warua, and wear the same ornaments and tattoo marks ; but the lower orders are quite different in dress and features, and appear to represent an aboriginal race. They perforate the upper lip and insert a piece of stone or wood, which is gradually increased in size till the lip frequently protrudes an inch and a half, or two inches, making their articulation very indistinct. Their clothing consists of from one to three leather cushions, very much like buffaloes' horns in size and shape, the thickest parts being placed behind, and the tapering points in front. Both sexes of all classes here carry little carved images round their necks, as a charm against evil spirits. Uhiya and Uvinza, the next two districts, are a series of ridges running in different direc- tions from the Bambarre mountains, the most important range in this part of Africa, attaining an elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet above the sea. Their steep sides have to be ascended by clutching at the trees and creepers which grow on their well-wooded slopes. The northern side of these mountains is seamed into enormous gullies and ravines, into which no sunlight penetrates, for great trees with spreading heads shut out the least glimpse of sky. Every here and there some dead monarch of the forest was prevented from falling by the clinging embrace MANYUEMA COUNTRY. 343 of the parasitic plants which bound him to his neighbours. Describing this forest country, Livingstone says, " Between each district large belts of the primeval forest still stand. Into these the sun, though vertical, cannot penetrate except as sending down their pencils of rays into the gloom. The rain water stands for months in stagnant pools made by elephants' feet, and the dead leaves decay on the damp soil, making the water of the numerous rills and rivulets of the colour of strong tea. One feels himself the veriest pigmy before these gigantic trees ; many of their roots high out of the soil, in the path, keep you constantly looking down, and a good gunshot does no harm to parrots or guinea fowls on their tops ; the climbing plants, from the size of a whip-cord to that of a man-of-war's hawser, make the ancient path the only passage. I have heard gorillas — here called sokos — growl at me within fifty yards, without being able to get a glimpse of them ; their call to each other is like that of a torn cat, and not so loud and far-reaching as that of the peacock. His nest is a poor contrivance, not unlike that of our wood pigeon. Here he sits, even in pelting rain, with his hands and arms over his head. The natives call it his house, and laugh at him for being such a fool, as, after building a hut, not to go beneath it for shelter." Emerging from the forest, the plain country of Manyuema, stretching away to the Lualaba, is entered — " a fair country, with green plains, running streams, wooded knolls, much cultivation, and many villages. The village huts are here ranged in long streets, sometimes parallel, and at others radiating from a central space ; their bright red walls and sloping roofs also differ from those hitherto met with." The men wear aprons of dressed deer-skin, and carry a single heavy spear, and a small knife with which to eat their food. Chiefs are armed with short two- edged swords, with broadened crescent-shaped ends, the 344 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. scabbard being ornamented with iron and copper bells ; and, instead of leather aprons, they wear large kilts of gaily coloured grass cloth. The heads of the males are plastered with clay, so worked in with the hair as to form cones or plates. The women have better figures, and are better-looking than any that had been seen for a long time previously. The Manyuema musicians play upon an instrument called "Marimba," formed of two rows of gourds of different sizes fitted into a framework, over each pair of which a clef of hard wood is fixed, which gives out a metallic sound when struck with sticks having india-rubber heads. A great deal of iron is worked in the Manyuema country, and the people are very expert smiths ; their bellows are formed of two upright and parallel wooden cylinders, with vents leading into one nozzle, which produce a continuous blast. The iron is worked into small pieces, of about two pounds weight, shaped like two cones, joined at the base, and in this form is hawked for sale. The anvils and larger hammers are of stone, but small hammers are made of iron. Though endowed with many good qualities, it cannot be denied that the Manyuema, like the Nyamnyams, near the western Nile far to the north of them, are cannibals. The Luama, a large river with many affluents and back- waters, in which the women trap large numbers of fish, meanders through southern Manyuema to the Lualaba. From a bluff overhanging it Cameron obtained his first view of the Lualaba, coming up from the great lake region discovered by Livingstone in the south and west of the Tanganyika — " a strong and sweeping current of tur- bid yellow water, fully a mile wide, and flowing at the rate of three or four knots an hour, with many islands much like the eyots of the Thames lying in its course. The larger of these were well wooded, and inhabited by the Wagenya, a tribe holding all the islands and a long THE LUALABA AT NYANGWE. 345 strip on the left bank, and, as the sole proprietors of the canoes, having the whole carrying trade of the river in their hands. Canoes were numerous, and flocks of water- fowl, winging their way from sandbank to sandbank in search of food, gave life to the scene. To remind us of the dangers of the stream, there were enormous herds of hippopotami blowing and snorting, and here and there the long scaly back of a crocodile floating almost flush with the water." A rapid and swift voyage down the river brought the traveller to Nyangwe, in the very heart of Africa, a permanent settlement of the Zanzibar traders on the Lualaba, consisting of two villages on an eminence above the river, divided by a little marshy stream, which affords admirable rice-ground. Nyangwe is memorable as the farthest point on the Lualaba system reached by Livingstone and Cameron. Livingstone remained here from March to July 1871, and it was here that he beheld one of the cruel slave raids by means of which, the Arabs keep up the supply for the east coast. Large markets are held every fourth day at Ny- angwe. Early in the morning of the market-day canoes appear on the river from all directions, bringing people with pottery, palm-oil, fish, fowls, flour, salt, grass-cloth, and slaves. Cowries, goats, and slaves are the only avail- able currency for large purchases. Livingstone, while at Nyangwe, appears to have still clung to the belief that the great river he had been tracing out would prove to be the head stream of the river of Egypt ; but Cameron's observation of the level of the Lualaba there (1400 feet) at once put an end to the supposition that it could in any way belong to the Nile system, for the Bahr-el-Jebel, or Nile at Gondokoro, is, as we have seen, more than 1500 feet above the sea. The Lualaba also conveys past Nyangwe, in the dry season, at least five times the volume of water contained in the 346 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Nile at Gondokoro, an amount which could find a suffi- cient outlet only in the great Zaire or Congo river mouth, on the west coast. It was left, however, for Mr. Stanley, in completing his marvellous journey across tropical Africa, to demonstrate that the Lualaba and Congo were really one and the same river, the greatest by far, though not the longest, in all Africa. Leaving Nyangwe in Novem- ber 1876, Stanley (after terrible struggles with desperate cannibal tribes) traced the course of the Lualaba north- ward through the forest country of Ureggu or Ulegga to a series of cataracts not far apart north and south of the equator. Only when it has reached the latitude of 2° N. of the equator does the great river turn to north-west, then west and south-west, a broad stream from two to ten miles wide, and choked with islands. Following the latter direction, it ultimately reaches the already known Yellala gorges and cataract, by which it descends through the mountains to the Atlantic coast-land. Leaving the farthest point reached by Livingstone, at Nyangwe, Cameron's route south-westward from the Lua- laba lay for a distance of about 1200 miles through country which had never before been seen by European. 16. The Kingdom of Urua. Almost immediately south of the Lualaba at Nyangwe begins the great Central African kingdom of Urua, which extends hence to about 9° S. lat. It is bounded on the west by the Lomami river, a great tributary of the Lualaba running up from the south, and on the east by the tribes fringing the shores of the Tanganyika. King Kasongo, the sole ruler of this independent state, which occupies an area perhaps greater than that of Great Britain and Ireland, also claims dominion over some tribes on the Tanganyika, in- cluding the Waguhha, as his most northerly subjects on this side. The chiefs of Itawa, a country on the south-west URUA. 347 of the Tanganyika, discovered by Livingstone, which we shall afterwards refer to, are also tributary to this monarch. Ussambi, a country to the west of the Lomami, is like- wise part of his dominions, though it is also tributary to the large kingdom of Ulunda, which stretches westward from Urua. This great territory is divided into many districts, each governed or misgoverned by a kilolo or captain, who is either hereditary governor, or is appointed for a term of four years by Kasongo. The punishments inflicted by Kasongo, and those in high authority under him, are death and mutilation. It is remarkable that caste is well defined in this barbarous dominion, and that the greatest deference is exacted by superiors from those below them in social scale. The people tattoo them- selves, and wear the hair drawn back and tied behind the head, so that it projects there like a saucepan handle. The men wear plumes, frequently of the red tail-feathers of the gray parrot, varying in shape and size according to their rank ; they have also aprons of a single skin, each family or clan having a distinguishing one, which it is cus- tomary to wear in presence of the chief. Their religion is principally a mixture of fetish and idolatry. All the vil- lages have devil-huts and idols, before which offerings of pombe, grain, and meat are placed, and nearly every man wears a small figure round his neck or arm. But the great centre of their religion is an idol named Kungwe-a-Banza, which is supposed to represent the founder of Kasongo's family, and to be all-powerful for good and evil ; and its hut, in a clearing of the jungle, is guarded by a number of priests. These guardians, however, are not permitted to see the idol, that privilege being reserved for the king's wife, who consults it on. momentous occasions. Beyond the Lualaba, and all along the route followed by Cameron, on the right bank of the Lomami, the country is generally level, with deep hollows grooved out 346 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. Nile at Gondokoro, an amount which could find a suffi- cient outlet only in the great Zaire or Congo river mouth, on the west coast. It was left, however, for Mr. Stanley, in completing his marvellous journey across tropical Africa, to demonstrate that the Lualaba and Congo were really one and the same river, the greatest by far, though not the longest, in all Africa. Leaving Nyangwe in Novem- ber 1876, Stanley (after terrible struggles with desperate cannibal tribes) traced the course of the Lualaba north- ward through the forest country of Ureggu or Ulegga to a series of cataracts not far apart north and south of the equator. Only when it has reached the latitude of 2° N. of the equator does the great river turn to north-west, then west and south-west, a broad stream from two to ten miles wide, and choked with islands. Following the latter direction, it ultimately reaches the already known Yellala gorges and cataract, by which it descends through the mountains to the Atlantic coast-land. Leaving the farthest point reached by Livingstone, at Nyangwe, Cameron's route south-westward from the Lua- laba lay for a distance of about 1200 miles through country which had never before been seen by European. 16. The Kingdom of Urua. Almost immediately south of the Lualaba at Nyangwe begins the great Central African kingdom of Urua, which extends hence to about 9° S. lat. It is bounded on the west by the Lomami river, a great tributary of the Lualaba running up from the south, and on the east by the tribes fringing the shores of the Tanganyika. King Kasongo, the sole ruler of this independent state, which occupies an area perhaps greater than that of Great Britain and Ireland, also claims dominion over some tribes on the Tanganyika, in- cluding the Waguhha, as his most northerly subjects on this side. The chiefs of Itawa, a country on the south-west URUA. 347 of the Tanganyika, discovered by Livingstone, which we shall afterwards refer to, are also tributary to this monarch. Ussambi, a country to the west of the Lomami, is like- wise part of his dominions, though it is also tributary to the large kingdom of Ulunda, which stretches westward from Urua. This great territory is divided into many districts, each governed or misgoverned by a kilolo or captain, who is either hereditary governor, or is appointed for a term of four years by Kasongo. The punishments inflicted by Kasongo, and those in high authority under him, are death and mutilation. It is remarkable that caste is well defined in this barbarous dominion, and that the greatest deference is exacted by superiors from those below them in social scale. The people tattoo them- selves, and wear the hair drawn back and tied behind the head, so that it projects there like a saucepan handle. The men wear plumes, frequently of the red tail-feathers of the gray parrot, varying in shape and size according to their rank ; they have also aprons of a single skin, each family or clan having a distinguishing one, which it is cus- tomary to wear in presence of the chief. Their religion is principally a mixture of fetish and idolatry. All the vil- lages have devil-huts and idols, before which offerings of pombe, grain, and meat are placed, and nearly every man wears a small figure round his neck or arm. But the great centre of their religion is an idol named Kungwe-a-Banza, which is supposed to represent the founder of Kasongo's family, and to be all-powerful for good and evil ; and its hut, in a clearing of the jungle, is guarded by a number of priests. These guardians, however, are not permitted to see the idol, that privilege being reserved for the king's wife, who consults it on momentous occasions. Beyond the Lualaba, and all along the route followed by Cameron, on the right bank of the Lomami, the country is generally level, with deep hollows grooved out 348 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. by the innumerable streams which fall into that river, and which are shaded by fine timber, their dark depths being rich in the most beautiful ferns and mosses. The Kilimachio heights (about 7° S.) are the commencement of a system of rocky hills of granite and gneiss, and are the western extremity of the mountains of Eua, which Livingstone mentions. Between these lie plains covered partly with forest, and in other portions more park-like, with open meadows and many streams. Charcoal-burners' fires were frequently seen, and some villages had foundries, the hsematite iron-ore being obtained by digging pits sometimes twenty or thirty feet deep. Here, for the first time, the influence of the traders and slave-dealers from the west coast became apparent, and several marches were made through country the villages in which had been recently desolated by parties belonging to Kasongo and the Portuguese. The people had been carried off as slaves, the country laid waste, and banana trees and oil- palms cut down. At another point, in the middle of an extensive plain, the traveller came upon a number of huts occupied by people employed in the manufacture of salt. This plain, as in the case of several other salt districts in Central Africa, is the special property of the king, and is worked by his own slaves and retainers. After a hot march through an extensive marsh, with mud and water waist-deep, in the only practicable passage through the dense vegetation with which it was overgrown, Cameron arrived on the banks of a small stream shaded by fine trees, and on the other side was Kilemba, the chief resi- dence of the king of Urua, and an important station of one of the Zanzibar merchants trading in ivory. Here also Cameron found a Portuguese trader from Angola, who had formerly been an agent or " pombeiro " for white mer- chants, but had latterly been making journeys inland, and ULTJNDA. 349 taking slaves westward on his own account. Thus, in the heart of Central Africa, the traffic of the Indian Ocean meets that from the Atlantic shores. From Kilemba, where Cameron was long delayed virtually a prisoner, he visited the remarkable lake Mohrya, some distance to northward of the capital. This lake, which is a small basin surrounded by low wooded hills, has within it three most curious villages built on piles, the huts being raised on platforms supported on these, some oblong, others round, with sloping roofs pro- jecting over the door. Men were swimming from hut to hut, notwithstanding the enormous snakes said to inhabit the lake, whose bite is fatal. The people live entirely in these huts with their fowls and goats, and only come on shore to cultivate patches of ground and to bring goats to graze. An excursion southward also enabled him to dis- cover the large lake Kassali, one of a long series of lakes which form the Kamarondo, one of the great branches of the Lualaba running up from the south-west. The Kas- sali has also remarkable lake dwellings or floating islands, formed of masses of vegetation cut from that which lines the shore, overlaid with logs and brushwood, and covered with earth. On these rafts huts are built, bananas are planted, and goats and poultry are reared. The Waruan frontier country of Ussambi consists chiefly of flat-topped sandstone hills. Cameron crossed it between the sources of the Lomami river and the streams which flow to the Luburi, one of the chief affluents of the Kamarondo-Lualaba. He describes the country as very beautiful and marvellously fertile. 17. Vhinda, the country of the Mucda Yanvo. Ulunda, the wide country ruled over by the hereditary Muata Yanvo or Matayafa, a potentate whose territory was visited as early as 1 8 0 2 by native traders or pombeiros 350 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. sent by Portuguese merchants from the west coast, and which Cameron crossed from east to west in his march towards the west coast, is a thickly-wooded land, with gentle undulations and occasional savannahs watered by numberless streams, most of them running northward towards the Congo or lower Lualaba. The villages or fenced hamlets of huts here are small and far between, the greater part of the land being still primeval forest abounding in large game. The Walunda appeared a dirty, wild-looking race, wearing skin aprons or shreds of bark cloth. Their hair or wool is not worked up into any distinguishing fashion, and they have no ornaments. 18. The Countries of LovaU and KiookwL After Ulunda the country of Lovale was entered, and Cameron passed between the sources of the Kassabi, flowing north to the Congo, and the heads of the Leeba, one of the main streams of the Zambesi, which Living- stone discovered in his march to the west coast in 1855. Here enormous level plains stretch out, which in the rainy season are covered with water knee-deep, filling the whole country between the affluents of the Congo and Zambesi. The people of Lovale are very savage, and, being armed with guns, are much feared by passing cara- vans, and as many claims and extortions are here prac- tised as by the Wagogo on the east-coast route. " Every- thing in their mode of living is regulated by the magicians or fetish-men, and they cleverly lay traps for the unwary traveller. Thus, should a stranger chance to rest his gun or spear against a hut in their villages, it is instantly seized, and not returned unless a heavy fine is paid, the excuse being that it is an act of magic intended to cause the death of the owner of the hut." In the dressing of their hair the people of Lovale* differ from the Walunda, plaiting it into a kind of pattern, KIBOKW& 351 and plastering it with mud and oil till it looks as though their head-dress were carved out of wood. They import iron in large quantities from the country of Kibokwe, west of them, and work it into arrow-heads of various fantastic forms and very prettily ornamented hatchets. Beyond Lovale is the country of Kibokwe^ in which the ascent out of the central depression of the South African plateau begins to be apparent. The country is nearly all covered with forests. Bee-culture is here the chief occupation of the natives ; enormous quantities of wax are collected, and they barter it to the caravans coming hither from the west coast for foreign trade goods ; while from the honey they make a kind of mead which is clear and strong. Iron-ore is found in nodules in the beds of the streams, and the people are clever smiths. The water-parting which separates the basins of the Congo and Zambesi from that of the Coanza river, flowing independently to the Atlantic through Angola, is crossed in western Kibokwe. The Coanza, which becomes a fine navigable river in Angola, regularly traversed by trading steamers, was about sixty yards wide and more than three fathoms deep where Cameron crossed it in its upper course. It floods the whole plain through which it flows at this por- tion during the rains. When the Coanza is crossed the country of Bihe is entered, the eastern portion being formed of wooded hills of red sandstone with many running brooks and rills, the western opening out into wide prairies and bare downs. The town of Kagnombe in Bihe, the residence of its chief, is described by Cameron as the largest place he met with in his whole journey across the continent, and more than three miles in circum- ference. It contains a number of separate enclosures belonging to different chiefs, and much space is also occu- pied by cattle and pig pens and tobacco gardens. The in- fluence of the European settlers now begins to be apparent, 352 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. and one neatly-kept settlement has been the residence of a Portuguese merchant for upwards of thirty years. Kagnombe, it may be noted, is 250 miles in a direct line inland from the west coast. Kambala, a village perched on a rocky hill in the centre of a wooded plain surrounded by mountains, is the chief place in Bailunda, the country which lies next nearer the coast than Bihe. In the western portion of Bailunda the country rises into moun- tains of every shape. To describe the beauty of this country, says Cameron, would be impossible. " Neither poet with all the wealth of word-imagery, nor painter with almost supernatural genius, could by pen or pencil do full justice to the country of Bailunda. In the foreground were glades in the woodland, varied with knolls crowned by groves of large English-looking trees, sheltering villages with yellow thatched roofs ; shambas or plantations with the fresh green of young crops and bright red of newly- hoed ground in vivid contrast, and running streams flash- ing in the sunlight; whilst in the far distance were mountains of endless and pleasing variety of form gradually fading away till they blended with the blue of the sky. Overhead there drifted fleecy white clouds, and the hum of bees, the bleating of goats, and crowing of cocks, filled the air. As I lay beneath a tree, in indolent contempla- tion of the beauties of nature in this most favoured spot, all thought of the work still before me vanished from my mind ; but I was rudely awakened from my pleasant reverie by the appearance of the loaded caravan, with the men grunting, yelling, and labouring under their burdens." The camp in crossing these hills was found to be the highest of the whole journey, being 5800 feet above the sea, and the adjoining hills appeared to rise about 800 feet higher. The remainder of Cameron's march down to the sea at Benguela was through the Portuguese coast-land, to the description of which we shall afterwards return. TIIK XVASSA & S1IIRWA 1.AKK UKGION. WEST AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 353 In taking a general survey of the country from the Tanganyika to the west coast it is evident that it is one of enormous natural wealth. The oil-palm nourishes all over the broad valley of the Lualaba to an elevation of 2600 feet above the sea ; cotton, coffee, nutmegs, pepper, tobacco, sesamum, and indiarubber, are among the vege- table products which grow wild ; and wherever the Arabs have penetrated from the east coast they have successfully introduced the cultivation of rice, wheat, onions, and fruit-trees. Of metals there are iron and copper and cinnabar in abundance, silver and gold are also known in Urua. " The blot upon this fair country is the slave trade, which is carried on to a great extent to supply those countries which have already had their population depleted by the old coast trade. The chiefs, like Ka- songo and Matayafa, are utterly and entirely irresponsible, and would give a man leave, for the present of two or three guns, to go and destroy as many villages, and catch as many people as he could for slaves. . . . The Portuguese are the principal agents in this trade, as they are able to dispose of the slaves advantageously for ivory and other products in many countries. The Arabs, as a rule, only buy enough slaves to act as their porters and servants for cultivating the ground round the permanent camps. The people of Bihe\ who work under the Portuguese, are most cruel and brutal in their treatment of these unfortunate wretches." Cameron assures us that slaves are still ex- ported from the west coast, especially from Mossamedes. 19. The Nyassa and Shirwa Lake Region. South-east of the vast Central African basin contain- ing the Tanganyika and the other western lakes, but separated from them by a high water-parting, lies the great Nyassa, and nearly due south of it the smaller lake Shirwa, both lying nearer to the eastern coast, and both belonging 2 A 354 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. to the Zambesi system. The great Nyassa is encircled by a series of lofty table-lands from 4000 to 5000 feet high; in the south, where they skirt the Shirwa, some peaks attain an elevation of from 6000 to 8000 feet, and the mountains which wall in the north-east of the lake rise to 10,000 feet in the Livingstone range, discovered by Mr. Young in 1876. North of the Nyassa they stretch away to the plateau of Lobisa, 6500 feet high, which, con- tinuing westwards as the Mushinga range, forms the limit of this lake region, and feeds the numerous sources of the Loangwa tributary of the Zambesi. 20. The Bufiji, Bufuma, and Mozambique Coast. The Eufiji or Lufiji river reaches the Suaheli coast opposite the island of Mafia, some 120 miles south of Zanzibar. Here it forms the broad delta which we have previously described. Its upper course is probably iden- tical with the Ewaha Nullah in southern Ugogo. South of the Eufiji is the important sea-port of Kilwa, the centre of the whole coast trade north and south, and the outlet of the chief route inland to the great Nyassa. A little south of Kilwa is Cape Delgado, where the Eufuma (also Luvuma and Eovuma) flows into the sea. This river, which reaches the sea close to the southern limit of the Zanzibar sultanate, rises in the mountains situated on the eastern side of the Nyassa. In 1861 Dr. Livingstone made an unsuccessful attempt to explore the Eovuma by steamer, but his vessel, the " Pioneer," could not pass beyond a distance of about thirty miles up from the mouth ; but, in beginning his last great campaign in the interior of South Africa in 1866, he marched for a great distance inland along its northern banks, through the country of the Makonde, a people who live in independent villages, cultivating maize, sorghum, and tobacco, and trading in ivory and gum copal, but who BASIN OF THE ROVUMA. 355 have been almost decimated by the slave trade. At Ngomano, 300 miles inland, where the Loendi, coming from the mountains which wall in the Nyassa on the east, joins the Eovuma, which draws its tributaries from the northern continuation of the same line of heights, the united river is still about 700 feet wide, but is full of islands, rocks, and sandbanks. About forty miles above the confluence, in the vicinity of the Ngoso mountain, which rises south of the Eovuma to 2000 or 3000 feet above its banks, the river forms a cataract, above which it opens out into pools frequented by hippopotami. Towards August and September the river sinks so low that it can be waded through in many places here. This part of the river basin is inhabited by the Makoa, who are also the chief tribe in the neighbourhood of Mozambique. They are readily recognised by the crescent tattooed on their foreheads. Their country has the appearance of a great forest, yet there are many cultivated spots within it. The Makoa possess guns, powder, and beads in abundance, and universally wear the lip-ring, and file the teeth sharp. To reach Moembe or Matakas town, which lies in the AVahiao or Ajawa country immediately east of the Nyassa, Living- stone marched for seven days through utterly uninhabited country, through districts which were formerly peopled, though they are not fertile or productive. The trees in this desolated country appeared no stronger than hop poles, and grass covered the sandy soil. By and by the land became more undulating, every little valley had its brook, broad-leaved trees and wild animals once more appeared. The slave traffic has left its impress in the most fearful way upon this Wahiao country. Along the routes lie the skeletons of slaves killed by their drivers, for the Arabs as well as the Portuguese are in the habit of killing all that become faint or wearied in the march. Here and there a carcase was seen bound to a tree ; once 356 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. a whole troop of starving wretches was met with who had been left to perish on the way for lack of provisions, and, characteristically enough, as the sun went down, two hysenas appeared at a little distance waiting for the death of the unfortunates. Frequently such worn-out slaves are taken care of by the natives of the districts in which they have been abandoned — naturally, however, only to be sold again. This is shown by the numbers of forked sticks used in binding the slaves together, neck to neck, which lie about the path. Moembe lies in an upland val- ley surrounded by green hills at an elevation of about 2700 feet above the sea, and numbers about 1000 houses, — altogether a very considerable settlement. In imitation of the Arabs the natives have built rectangular houses, and beds of cassava planted along the streets give the town a neat and pleasant appearance. Besides sweet potatoes and maize, well-drained fields of tobacco are seen, and herds of cattle and sheep afford sustenance to the traveller who has come up through the hungry and desolated plains. Between the mouth of the Bovuma and that of the Zambesi farther south the coast-land bears the name of the Mozambique Coast, from its most important town, Mozambique, on 15° south latitude; and the interior, still but little known, is partly occupied by the Makoa Negroes, noted for their fine physical build and excessive love of tattooing. 21. Circumnavigation of the Nyassa — Livingstonia. Lake Nyassa, at 1500 feet above the sea-level, was discovered by Livingstone on September 16, 1859. It seems to be completely encircled by hills, which, however, on the west side are merely the slopes of a beautifully wooded table-land. As far as has been ascertained it receives no very large feeders from any direction, while itself possessing one considerable outlet, the Shire or Shira, flow- LAKE NYASSA. 357 ing from its southern end through the little Pamalombe lake, and thence nearly due south into the Zambesi. The Nyassa has been recently (1876) circumnavi- gated in a steamer, brought in sections up the Shire river, with the aid of an enormous concourse of willing Makololo porters, by Mr. E. D. Young, K.N., founder of the Living- stonia mission, established by the Free Church of Scotland on the shore of the lake as a centre and nucleus of civilisa- tion for the Maviti, Makololo, and other surrounding tribes. He found that it extended northwards farther than Living- stone had supposed, and he describes its shores as the finest he had ever seen. The range which walls in the north-eastern side, and which he named the " Living- stone Mountains," is 100 miles in length, with an aver- age height of 10,000 feet, and slopes steeply to the very margin, often at an angle of 45 degrees with the water. The rain was pouring down upon these heights, as he steamed by them, and numberless waterfalls hung like threads of floss silk from crevices on their sides, far up among the clouds. The voyage round the lake occu- pied one month, and Mr. Young was able to deter- mine its length at 350 miles, and its average breadth is 38. He represents it as a great inland sea, teeming with fish, and so deep that at one place he failed to get the bottom with 140 fathoms of line, the average depth being over 100 fathoms. He speaks cheerfully of the future prospects of the Livingstonia mission. The natives are all thoroughly friendly, and through it the slave trade has already re- ceived a severe blow. Whereas formerly no less than 10,000 slaves passed the southern end the ISTyassa every year, last year not more than thirty-eight were known to have been conveyed to the coast by that route. But here, as in so many other parts of the con- tinent, the Christian Portuguese are found to be the most 358 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. determined upholders of the system, and the greatest oppo- nents of progress and civilisation. The result is that they are everywhere detested, and the English respected by the natives. Mr. Young assures us that an Englishman may now go through the whole country " with a walking- stick," while a Portuguese can venture nowhere unarmed. 22. The Matumboka and other Tribes — the Pelele. The shores of the lake are thickly peopled, the land appearing everywhere well cultivated, and producing maize and millet, but especially large quantities of rice and yams. The south- ern shores- are skirted by an almost uninter- rupted series of villages occupied by a far from handsome race, the women being rendered still more unsightly by the pelele worn in the upper lip, by some even the lower lip also. All the natives are tattooed from head to foot with figures characteristic of the various tribes. The the pelele. Matumboka or Atim- boka, on the west of the lake, raise little pustules on the face, giving them the appearance of being covered with warts, so that the young women, who had before looked comely enough, seem quite aged after the operation. 23. The River Shir 6, or Shir a. The Shira, the outlet of Lake Nyassa, studded with VALLEY OF THE SHIRE\ 359 islands and infested by crocodiles, flows through a narrow valley, rapidly descending, by means of its cata- racts, from the uplands to the low-lying plains below. From the lake downwards, for about fifty miles, to a place named Pimbe, the upper Shire* is navigable by the little steamer launched by Mr. Young ; beyond that a series of considerable falls, amongst which the last, or Mamwira (Murchison) is the finest, follow in quick succession within a distance of thirty-five miles. The whole fall from the upper to the lower Shira is as much as 1200 feet, and throughout its entire course the river rushes foaming along like a mill-race. The lower Shira, which soon becomes navigable, flows through a marshy district, and is here joined by the river Kuo, which rises in the Milanje slopes. Above its junction with the Euo it crosses the great morass known as the Nyanja Mukulu, or Elephant Marsh, on account of the large number of these animals frequenting it. Here also both the zebra and the water-buck are met with. 24. The Manganja Trite. In the uplands and neighbouring districts of the valley of the Shira dwell the Manganja, who, though occa- sionally disfiguring their features and bodies, occupy on the whole a somewhat higher level than other African races. The men bestow infinite pains on the arrangement of their hair, those who carry it to the greatest excess of absurdity being, as in Europe, regarded as the most fashionable beaux and dandies. The position of the women is not quite so degraded as elsewhere, and they may in certain cases aspire even to the dignity of a chieftainess. They wear brass, copper, or iron rings on their fingers and thumbs, round the neck, arms, and legs, but their choicest ornament is still the pelelc, worn in the upper lip by the 360 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. women along the whole course of the Shira, and throughout all these highland districts. On the Eufuma it is worn even by the men. The Manganja people till the land, work in iron, weave cotton, and make wickerwork. Their jurisprudence recognises the test of the ordeal, especially that of the Muawe, or poisoned cup. They are firm believers in witches and sorcery, but also in a supreme being, whom they call by the name of " Mpambe," corresponding to the " Mulungu " of the neighbouring Wahiao. Nor are there lacking traces of a belief in life beyond the grave ; but they have not the faintest conception of cleanliness, in our sense of the word. They are also great gluttons, and passionately fond of beer. 25. Lake Shirwa. Quite a secluded basin is formed by Lake Shirwa, discovered by Livingstone on April 18, 1859. It lies at an elevation of 1800 feet above the sea, on the left or eastern side of the Shira, not far from the point where this river flows out of the Nyassa. It is a slightly brack- ish piece of water of considerable size, apparently very deep, with its shores overgrown with cane-brakes and the papyrus ; it has several islands, and has no outflowing stream, though a number of small affluents come from the south-west. The scenery all round its shores is extremely romantic. On the west is Mount Chikala, connected with the Zumbo, a mountain ridge 2 0 miles long and 7000 feet high. On the east are visible gigantic ranges, probably attaining an elevation of 8000 feet above the sea-level, while away to the south appear the crests of the still higher Milanje highlands, now cloud-capped, now rising sublime above the surrounding mists. The lake itself harbours great numbers of crocodiles, hippopotami, and leeches. The Shirwa LAKE SHIRWA. 361 is known also, though less generally, by the name of Tamandua. Towards the end of 1876 a second mission station, named Blantyre, was founded on the heights which rise between the upper Shira and Lake Shirwa, not far from Magomero, the scene of the University mission labours. The hills and dales of this mountain tract are all well wooded, and covered with vegetation, in some places very rank and dense. In most parts wild flowers of many hues and ferns abound ; sometimes one emerges from the wood into fine glades, covered with long waving grass. The people are quiet, peaceable, and well disposed, and fond of fun and music. 26. Country west of the Nyassa. In 1798, about three hundred years after the Portuguese had first settled on the East African coast, and on the " Eios de Sena," as the lower Zambesi and its tributaries were called, Dr. Francisco de Lacerda, who had been appointed governor of this territory, set out for a journey into the interior, to visit the capital of the African king known by report as the Cazembe, whose territory lay far inland to north-westward. He reached the Cazembe's town after a march over 270 leagues of new country, but fell a victim there to his own exertions in the march, and his followers retraced their way to the Zambesi, which they reached again after an absence of nearly a year and a half. After Dr. Lacerda's visit the Cazembe was next seen by the two " pombeiros," or native traders, sent from the Cassange factory, on the west coast, to cross the continent to the " Eios de Sena," who reached his capital in 1806, and made their way thence to Zambesi. In 1831-32, an expedition led by MM. Monteiro and Gamitto followed in the footsteps of Lacerda, and brought back a tolerably accurate survey of the line of country which extends between Tete on 362 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGfRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the Zambesi and the Cazembe's capital in 9° 30' S. lat. Such was the state of knowledge of inner Africa, beyond the ISTyassa, previous to Livingstone's great journeys in this region, from 1863 onward to the moment of his death on the shores of Lake Bemba, in the Cazembe's territory, in May 1873. The general features of this portion of the continent may be best understood by following the chief points of Living- stone's journey north-westward from the Nyassa in Sep- tember 1866. Having marched inland along the Rovuma river, Livingstone again reached the scene of his explorations of 1859 and 1863, at the south end of the Nyassa. Cross- ing the Kirk range, which encloses the Nyassa and the upper Shire valley on the west, by the Tapiri pass, 2200 feet above the lake, he marched first south-westward, to avoid the territory of the plundering Mazitu, and then struck north-westward for the valley of the Loangwa. The highland west of the Kirk range is densely peopled, and the landscape of the plateau, with its clear fresh atmosphere, is described as very beautiful. The gentle slopes and ascents of the fertile country have been almost entirely cleared of woods, and large square fields, reminding one of those of England, though they are with- out hedges, are often seen. Men, women, and children are busy in the fields, and at every turn one sees a new village. The population is far too dense here to allow of any wild animals ; even the smaller game are hunted with dogs and taken in nets. The people, who are a branch of the great Manganja tribe, wear a kind of coarse cloth like sack- ing, or goat-skins, and always carry bow and arrows. The water-parting ridge between the head-waters of the Bua and the tributaries of the Loangwa is also a most picturesque highland, with rising hills and plateaux more or less thickly wooded. Here, however, the popula- tion is by no means dense, and the larger wild animals COUNTRY WEST OF THE NYASSA. 363 are very common. Iron is very abundant in this highland. The smiths of the country are also the iron smelters. Their anvil is a huge stone sunk in the ground, their hammers also stones bound about with matting ; and from morning till night one hears the hammers of the smiths at work, as well as the more modest sound of wooden mallets, with which the bark of the Ccesalpina is hammered into clothing material. 2 7. The Basin of the Loangwa. The basin of the Loangwa, north-westward, is almost a perfect plain, covered with mopane trees ; these are of considerable size, but stand isolated at intervals of from sixty to ninety feet, and as they have no lower branches, game is difficult to approach in this district. The mopane gives the iron wood of the Portuguese. In the morning it affords a pleasant shade, but as soon as the sun has risen high, its leaves hang perpendicularly, and give scarcely any shadow during the heat of the day. Zebras, pallahs, gnus, and many other wild animals, are here in great numbers, and the notes of many birds, strangers to the Zambesi valley, are heard. The Loangwa, called Aruangoa by the older travellers, flows south-westward from the highlands which rise north-west of the Nyassa, and reaches the Zambesi at the old Portuguese settlement of Zunibo. Where Livingstone crossed its upper waters it has a breadth of about one hundred yards. North- westward of its wide level basin rises the southern face of the Mushinga range of mountains, which, attaining elevations of 6000 to 7000 feet above the sea, forms the great water-parting between the Zambesi valley and that of the Lualaba in the north. These mountains stretch westward along the 12 th parallel of south latitude for perhaps 400 or 500 miles, uniting in the east with a 364 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. great mass of highlands and plateaus, which fill the space between the northern Nyassa and southern Tanganyika. This portion of the heights north of the Loangwa valley is inhabited sparsely by the Babisa, who cultivate the land only here and there, living in constant fear of the raids of the Mazitu, who occupy the highland eastward of them, and of the Babemba, their neighbours to the north. These Babisa reminded Livingstone of the Bushmen of the south in their appearance and mode of living. They have round bullet heads and stumpy noses, projecting canine teeth, and upward-turned eyelids. 28. The Chambese — Lakes Bangweolo and Moero. The traveller was now approaching the Chambese, a river which was known from Lacerda and Monteiro's journeys, and, which from its south-westward direction, and perhaps more from the similarity of its name, had till now been supposed to be the head stream of the Zambesi. Though it was not till after some years of journeying back and forward in this region that Livingstone was able to trace out the farther course of the Chambese, it may be well to note here the results of his discoveries in the remarkable line of drainage of which the Chambese proved to be the head or source stream. Collecting the streams from the highlands south of the Tanganyika, and receiving tributaries from the long Mushinga range which limits its basin on the south, the Chambese flows into Lake Bangweolo, or Lake Bemba, discovered in 1868, the latter name being adopted from the Lobemba country, which lies round its north-eastern margin. Bangweolo is a huge oval-formed sheet of water,' 150 miles in length along its greater axis from east to west, and about 75 miles in width — ■ somewhat greater in area than Wales, or the Bear Lake in Arctic America, and at an elevation of 3690 feet above LAKES BANGWEOLO AND MOERO. 365 the sea. Its floor consists of fine white sand, and its margins descend very gradually, so that a belt of reeds of about 300 feet in width separates its open waters from the level land all round it. The country about it is almost destitute of trees or rocks, and it lacks altogether the bold picturesque beauty of the Tanganyika or Nyassa. Four considerable islands in the north-western portion of the expanse of the lake are also low and flat, and are inhabited by the Mboghwa, a people resembling the Babisa, skilful fishermen possessing many canoes and numerous herds of cattle. At its western extremity a broad estuary-like arm of the lake goes off to northward, leading to the Luapula river, its outlet to the north, a fine stream, never less than 550 to 600 feet in breadth, and comparable generally in size to the Thames at London Bridge. For upwards of 100 miles the Luapula flows northward, with many wind- ings, to the Moero Okata, or great Moero lake, a basin of about 65 miles in length from north to south, and of somewhat less width, first visited by Livingstone in November 1867. Its sandy strand is girt about by a dense belt of tropical vegetation, the home of buffaloes, zebras, and elephants, and in which the fishermen of its shores build their huts. The lake is extraordinarily full of fish, and not fewer than thirty-nine different sorts are known. Several salt-beds on its banks give rise to a considerable industry, and every day in the neighbourhood of the Moero troops of people are met with carrying away salt to the surrounding countries. The dark moun- tains of Eua are seen beyond the western side of the lake, and less elevated broken granite hills rise eastward of it. A large island called Kirwa lies in the midst of the southern portion of Moero, but the natives never ven- ture to cross the lake. From Moero the broad river issues northward through 366 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. a rent in the encompassing mountains of southern Urua, a gorge which presents the most magnificent aspect. Here the river takes the name of the Luvwa, though the Arabs call it Lualaba and Dr. Livingstone adopted that name for it. At a point about ten miles from the Moero it was seen by Livingstone, but henceforward for several hundred miles to where it has been seen again by Living- stone and Cameron above Nyangwe, in the Manyuema country, its course is only known from native report. The accounts received by Livingstone and Cameron, however, agree in representing the river as opening out into a third great lake, west of the central Tanganyika, named the Ulenge or Lanji, as the name has been differently heard by the two explorers. Before reaching this lake the river takes up the drainage of the Kamorondo lake chain, made known by Cameron, of which the true Lualaba, a river reported as early as the beginning of this century by the " pombeiros>' who crossed it near its head, is the head stream. Besides Lake Kassali, or Kikonja, which Cameron actually saw in one of his excursions from the capital of Urua, the Kamorondo lake chain includes the reported lakes Kowamba, Kahando, Ahimbe, and Ziwambo, all opening out in the river-course between Kassali and Lake Lanji, close to which is the confluence of the Luvwa from Lake Moero. The Lufira, another great river, the name of which is also familiar from the reports given by the old " pombeiros," flows up northward from the Mushinga range, west of Lake Bangweolo, to swell the volume of the Kamorondo. 29. Zobemba, TJrungu, and Itawa. "We may return now to glance at the states which occupy the highland country between the northern Nyassa, the Tanganyika, and the lakes Bangweolo and Moero — a COUNTRY SOUTH OF TANGANYIKA. 367 region in which all the information we yet possess about it was gathered by Livingstone. After crossing the Chambese, Livingstone's march northward lay through pathless dripping woods and saturated swamps to Molemba, the village of the most powerful chief of the country of Lobemba, which stretches over a large area north-eastward from Bangweolo. The Babemba are a by far more manly and warlike people than the Babisa south of them. From the copper bars obtained in the country of Katanga, west of Lake Moero, the Babemba make great quantities of copper wire, with which to form bracelets for their arms and ankles. At Molemba Livingstone met with a party of Arab slave- traders from Bagamoyo, opposite Zanzibar. They had come to this point by a direct route across the Euaha or upper Lufiji, in a journey of two months' duration. A chain of hills called the Losanwe stretches east and west across the north of Lobemba, separating the heads of the Chambese from the waters which drain to southern Tanganyika, the Lofu being the most important stream of the northward drainage. On crossing this water-parting, a territory occupied by a different race of people was entered ; these are the inhabitants of Ulungu or Urungu, a country which extends all round the southern extremity of the Tanganyika. As the mark of their nation the Balungu wear a little piece of wood inserted in the lobe of the ear and adorned with pearls ; chains of pearls are also placed round the brow and bind up the hair. Their villages, like those of the Babemba, are surrounded with palisades, and every man carries an axe as if to mark his constant combat with the forests which overgrow the country. Their clothing is generally a goat-skin or that of some wild animal. Livingstone praises their industry very highly ; men and women are occupied all day in spinning, or weaving mats or baskets, or drying corn in the sun 368 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The beautiful and well-watered highland which they inhabit is at least 2000 feet in general elevation above the level of the Tanganyika. The lake view from these heights is extremely beautiful : the steep slopes are covered above and below with rich vegetation ; elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes feed on the slopes ; while hippopotami, crocodiles, and fish swarm in the waters. " It is as perfect a natural paradise as Xenophon could have desired." The warlike Mazitu of the country to the north of the Nyassa, however, make raids into Ulungu, as they do to the Babisa country, carrying off numbers of women and boys. Western Urungu, which is also covered with endless forests, is separated from the country of Itawa by the Lofu, running swiftly over a channel of hard sandstone, and only passable by canoes. Itawa, which spreads out between the southern Tanganyika and Lake Moero, is generally lower than Urungu, but on the average is still some 3000 feet above the sea-level. Its dense popula- tion has to some extent cleared off the forest covering, but long wooded hill ridges, 600 to 700 feet above the normal level, still vary its scenery, and all the larger wild animals are seen in great numbers. The people of Itawa are a remarkably fine and well-developed race. Many of the men have as fine heads as are to be seen in any European assembly, and all have small hands and feet, with none of the objectionable characteristics presented by the typical Negro of the swamps of the west coast of Africa. 30. The Cazemhe's Country. South-west of Itawa and between the Moero and Bangweolo lakes is the country of Lunda, the terri- tory of the Cazembe, a land of forest-covered sandstone ridges and grass plains sloping to the lakes of the THE CAZEMBE'S TERRITORY. 369 Luapula. The name Lunda or Ulunda, erroneously applied by Monteiro to the Cazembe's capital, is that of the whole territory subject to the Mata Yafa or Muata Yanvo, the main portion of' which extends over an immense area west of Urua. The Cazembe is a vassal of the Muata Yanvo, and his territory bears the same name. All the country in this neighbourhood is perfectly level, and in the distance westward the mountains of Eua may be seen, rising on the other side of the Luapula, at a dis- tance of some twenty miles. The Cazembe's capital, the goal of the Portuguese explorations from the rivers of Sena, stands on the northern side of a little lake called Mofwe, one to three miles broad and six or seven in length, not far south of the Moero lake. The town covers a space of an English square mile, in which the huts are scattered between plantations of cassava, and its population is about 1000. The palace or enclosure of the Cazembe is a rectangular space surrounded by bamboo walls of eight or nine feet in height, within which stand a very large hut for the chief himself, and about twenty smaller ones for his attendants. Cazembe sat before his hut to receive the traveller, on a square stool under which lion and leopard skins were spread. He was clad in coarse blue and white Manchester stuff; armlets, leggings, and cap were adorned with pearls in pretty patterns ; a crown of yellow feathers rose above the cap. The present Cazembe has a plump uninteresting face, beardless, and somewhat Chinese in type. As each new Cazembe builds for himself a new capital, it becomes no easy matter to identify the exact spot visited by former travellers, nor is it difficult to account for the varying descriptions which they have given of this notable spot. The last seven Cazembes, however, have built within a radius of seven miles from the present town. 2 B 370 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Cassava is the chief product of the Cazembe's country, but sweet potatoes, maize, sorghum, and cotton are also cultivated. 31. The Copper Country of Katanga. Katanga, the famous copper country of central South Africa, which has not yet been visited by any European, lies west of the Cazembe's territory and south of Eua, or more definitely perhaps between the upper Lualaba and the Lufira rivers, which form the Kamorondo. The copper from this region is distributed all over South Africa. In the Manyuema country, as in all Urua, it is a common currency in the shape of "handa," or pieces varying in weight from two and a half to three pounds, cast in the rough shape of a St. Andrew's cross, the diagonal measurement being from fifteen to sixteen inches. The arms are about two and a half inches wide and half an inch thick, and have a central rib. The Portuguese have established a regular traffic in copper, salt, and ivory, with the Katanga country ; the Arab traders from the east coast also penetrate round the south of the Tanganyika to Katanga, and numbers of people go thither from the upper valley of the Zambesi to purchase copper anklets. Gold is also present in Katanga, though it is not worked. Livingstone heard that the Katanga people are afraid to mine the gold because that Ngolu (the Arabs translate Ngolu by Satan), its owner, has hid it there. When at Benguela, Cameron was told that gold had been found in such a large proportion in the copper brought there from Katanga, that a company was buying all the copper in order to extract the gold from it. SOUTHERN AFRICA. 371 CHAPTEE XXII. SOUTH AFRICA GENERAL REMARKS. 1. Extent and Natural Limits of South Africa. The mighty Zambesi, which, notwithstanding numerous windings and deviations, flows on the whole in an easterly course across the continent, may perhaps be taken as the natural boundary of this last section generally comprised under the title of South Africa. Strictly speaking, how- ever, all those lands should be included in this division which lie to the north, but within the basin of this river. Both the Nyassa and the Shirwa would in this sense form part of South Africa, the true geographical limits of which would be the water-parting between the Zambesi on the one hand and the Congo region on the other. Eeversing for convenience' sake the usual order, in our description of the vast regions stretching from the Zambesi southwards to the Cape of Good Hope, we shall proceed northwards from the Cape itself, the most important journeys of discovery in these lands having almost exclusively taken the same direction. 2. Political Divisions. The southern extremity of the continent comprises the Cape Colony, now forming part of the British dominions, but formerly belonging to Holland, and still in many respects bearing the impress of its first Dutch settlers. This is still more true of the two South African States — 372 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, the former Boer republic over which the British flag was so recently unfurled. The former, which adjoins directly on the Cape Colony, takes its name from the Orange or Garib river, which crosses South Africa in a westerly direction. For its whole course this river marks the northern boundary of Cape Colony proper, dividing it westwards from Namaqualand and the Hottentot domain, then from the recently annexed Griqualand, and still farther to the east from the Orange Free State as far as Basutoland, where it rises. The Basuto people also, like those of Griqualand, have availed themselves of the security and other advan- tages afforded by British rule, thus serving as a connecting link between Cape Colony and the other English settlements of Natal, on the north-east coast. On this side, however, there is still a small gap in the British domain formed by the independent Kafir territory lying between the eastern limits of Cape Colony and the southern frontier of Natal, and stretching inland half way to the Drakenberg mountains. Along the coast north of Natal we meet the Zulu Kafirs, separating the Transvaal from the seaboard. The dispute between the British and the Portuguese for the possession of Delagoa Bay, the natural port of the Trans- vaal region, has recently been decided by "arbitration" in favour of the latter. This decision, pronounced by Marshal MacMahon, President of the French Eepublic, leaves the Portuguese undisputed masters of the coast from Delagoa Bay northwards to Cape Delgado, that is as far as the southern boundary of the sultanate of Zan- zibar. The Transvaal State, thus cut off from the coast, is limited on the south by the river Vaal, a tributary of the Orange, and on the north by the windings of the Crocodile or Limpopo river flowing into the Indian Ocean north of Delagoa Bay. Between the Limpopo and Zambesi there SOUTHERN AFRICA. 373 are no settled European states, but the maps show in the centre the Matabele State, and south-east of it that of Umzila, both Bantu powers, which, however, may again disappear at any moment. 3. Mountain Ranges. The whole of this region is girt about by high moun- tain walls, running parallel with and at a moderate distance from the coast-line, and which in reality are nothing but the abrupt termination of the South African table-land. During its long course from the mouth of the Orange river to the Limpopo, this range assumes several different names, but attains its greatest development in the Drakenberg of the Transvaal. As so often happens in similar cases, it is flanked by a smaller coast range which is most clearly defined in Cape Colony, where between the two systems lies the Karroo desert. 4. Native Races — Kafirs, Bushmen, and Hottentots. On both sides of the portion of these highlands that faces the Indian Ocean dwell pure Kafir tribes ; along the coast slopes on the east the Kafirs proper ; on the eastern margin of the plateau the Basutos or Eastern Bechuanas. Beyond the Transvaal frontiers, consequently still farther west, are other Bechuana tribes, comprised under the general name of Western Bechuanas. They stretch almost from the banks of the upper Orange river to the central Zambesi, and are separated by the great waterless Kalahari desert from the Hottentots and Damaras, who dwell chiefly in the west of South Africa. Scattered all along the desert belt which extends between the Hottentot country on the east and that of the Bechuanas on the west, and from south of the Orange river, northward past Lake ISTgami to 374 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the latitude of the Zambesi, are the wandering families of the stunted Bushmen, who in former times were hunted and shot down like wild animals by the boers, and who are still held in servitude by their neigh- bours the Bechuanas. It is also very remarkable that a genuine Kafir tribe, the Damara, are entirely cut off from their kinsmen, occupying an extensive hilly region named after them, north of the Namaqua Hottentots, and, so to say, on the west coast of the continent. In the same way a narrow strip of land occupied by Hottentots cuts the Kafirs off from the seaboard east of the Transvaal. THE CAPE COLONY. 375 CHAPTEK XXIII. THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES AND STATES. 1. Cape Colony — Physical Aspect. From Cape Agulhas (the Needles), the extreme southern point of the continent, Cape Colony (a territory with its dependencies extending over an area nearly twice as large as that of the British Isles) rises in a series of terraces landwards. From the uplands on the coast, averaging not more than 200 to 230 feet above the sea, we gradu- ally ascend the terrace of the Lange Berge, and thence to a lofty ridge from 4000 to 5500 feet high, whose southern slopes are called the Zwarte or black mountains, and from that to a second terrace or table-land, the Karroo, from 2500 to 3500 feet in elevation, and 70 to 90 miles wide. The Great Karroo plateau, the name of which means " dry " or " barren " in Hottentot language, extending over 20,000 square miles, is covered with an ochre- coloured soil, consisting of sand and clay tinged with iron, and in summer hardening to the consistency of bricks. A few feet below the surface, however, we come everywhere on hard blue slate rock. The river-beds crossing the Karroo are dry for nine months in the year ; hence, beyond a few mimosas along the edge of these river-beds, there is here almost a total lack of vegetation. But a few days after a rainfall, and especially in the rainy season, the innumerable bulbous plants rooted in the hard soil begin to spring up, and the plain is changed to a 376 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. smiling flower garden or grassy moor, covered with a salt and alkali vegetation — mesembryanthemums, lilies, the amaryllis, the iris, and the like. It then becomes an excellent pasture-land, frequented by the flocks of the surrounding highland population. There are even a few evergreen oases provided with wells, but no villages or settlements of any sort. Farther inland the Karroo plateau becomes again cut off by lofty ranges from the uplands of the Orange river, which have an average elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet above the sea-level, and form a continuation of the great table-land of the interior of South Africa. To the great range just mentioned belong the Eoggeveld hills in the west, the Meuwveld farther east, and the Winter and Sneuw Bergen, amongst which Compass Berg, the summit of Cape Colony, rises to a height of 8500 feet. 2. Hydrography. This central range of mountains, besides being gene- rally higher than the coastal terrace ranges, is the water- parting of all the rivers and torrents of the colony, sepa- rating the basin of the Orange river on the north from the streams which radiate outward to the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, west, south, and east. In general the streams of the Cape Colony have the character of moun- tain torrents, which become flooded to excess after rains, and dwindle down almost to dryness after fair weather, approaching thus in character very closely to the " wadys " of Algeria and the Sahara. Not one of them is of any considerable value for navigation. The Orange river is formed by the union of the Yaal, which gathers its supplies from the inner slopes of the Drakenberg range north of Natal, and of the ETu Garip, which is made up by the torrents which flow down from the highest summits THE CAPE COLONY. 377 of the Drakenberg in Basuto Land, often swollen by the melting snows and frequent thunderstorms of the moun- tains. From the confluence of these head streams to the sea, its westward course of 500 miles is through a dreary and barren country, bordering the Kalahari desert on the south. Its channel is hemmed in by precipitous walls of rock, between which at some points it descends in for- midable cataracts, and by the falls of Aukrabees, midway in its course, the river descends about 150 feet. The drains which it receives from the Cape Colony and the districts to the north are only filled with an evanescent supply after the violent thunder-showers which occur at rare intervals ; and so badly watered is this region that the traveller may be perishing of thirst, and yet may see one of these torrents flowing in its deep-cut channel a few hundred feet beneath him, inaccessible to human foot. Inside the bar which the Orange river makes at its mouth, it can be ascended in small craft for twenty or thirty miles, but numerous dykes of rock, forming rapids, bar any farther progress. The most remarkable feature connected with the other rivers of the colony, those which drain the country out- ward from the central water-parting range, are the deep rugged gorges or " kloofs," through which these torrents pass in their way seaward through the outer circles of mountains which form the buttresses of the terraced plateaus. Of these outward-flowing rivers, the Olifants, which drains westward to the Atlantic from the great Winterhoek mountains and the western borders of the Great Karroo, is the most important channel south of the Orange. In times of flood it carries down great quantities of the rich Karroo mud, overflowing on the coast-land like a little Nile, and depositing its burden of sediment in a district which produces heavy grain crops. The Breede river, the most westerly of those which 378 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. flow south, passes through one of the most fertile and valuable districts of the colony, and is distinguished from all the other rivers in its vicinity by affording a short navigable reach on the coast-land. The Gauritz and Gamtoos farther east resemble one another in their torrential character and rapid dangerous swellings, as well as in the chasms by which they pass through the mountains. The Great Fish Eiver, also, in the south- east, is almost a periodical stream, seldom flowing in the winter season, but sometimes rising as much as twenty or thirty feet in a few hours, after thunderstorms in the mountains. Bounding the coast-land towards the Indian Ocean, and entering a region which has a more regular rain supply, the rivers, brooks, and stream- lets have a more constant flow, and become available for irrigation and motive power. It has been supposed that the Great " Karroo " plains, which are characteristic of the Cape Colony, once formed the beds of large lakes, an opinion which is corroborated by the fossil remains of an umbrageous flora which bordered them, and of many strange saurian reptiles found within them. The deep fissures and cracks through which the coast rivers now pass may have drained off their waters, after these rents were formed by the up- heaval of the country. As it is, many hundreds of square miles, along the lines of drainage, are at the present time converted, after rainstorms, into temporary shallow lakes, called "vleys" in the colony. Some of these, from the saline character of the soil over which the streams which feed them have passed, form large " salt- pans " or level incrustations of salt, on the evaporation of the water. Some, however, are not saline, and such are distinguished in the dry season by their rich verdure, affording favourite grazing places. One of the largest of these salt-pans, known as the " Great Commissioner's Pan," THE CAPE COLONY. 379 occurs in the basin of the Hartebeeste, the most exten- sive of the periodically filled systems of channels which drain to the Orange river from the colony. It is about ten or eleven miles long, by a little more than a mile broad, and is covered with a thick crust of salt, which in the distance looks like snow. Many of the squatters employ themselves here in gathering the salt and selling it in the neighbouring districts.1 Another, near Port Elizabeth, is one of the most valuable spots in South Africa. 3. Scenery and Vegetation. Though the scenery of the colony varies very greatly in different portions, and presents grand features of level flats, mountain spurs, isolated cones, and picturesque mountain outlines thrown up sharply into the pure clear air, appearing in manifold tints, the absence of water, which is generally hidden away between deep banks, and the deficiency of large vegetation, give it generally a bare and naked aspect. Excepting on the slopes of Table Mountain above Cape Town, and on the outer slopes of one or two of the southmost ranges which face the coast, especially on the Outeniqua range, and here and there in the mountain gorges, there are no woods of any consider- able extent in all the western portion of the colony. The few forests, however, yield most valuable hard woods, admirable for all kinds of construction. Beyond the Great Eish Eiver, eastward, however, where the rain-supply is more continuous, in the districts formerly known as British Kafraria, grassy slopes and luxuriant bush thickets refresh the eye and give a pleasant prospect. The circumstances of rain or drought have, however, the greatest influence on the scenery of the Cape Colony. A long-continued drought will give a parched aspect to 1 Handbook of the Cape Colony. John Noble : 1875. 380 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the most fertile districts, while, after a few days of rain, even the brown dusty flats of the Karroos are quickly transformed into meadows of waving grass for hundreds of miles. Already, also, with the increase of cultivation and settlement, the natural aspect of the country is being changed ; for wherever there is a homestead, there is generally a water "dam," with an orchard and garden, planted round with blue gums or oaks, standing out in refreshing relief. Though the view is generally monotonous, the flora of the colony is a rich and varied one. The Cape heaths have a world-wide fame, and as many as 300 or 400 different species have been described ; the Cape bulbs and orchids are also famous, and cover the ground in the months of Sep- tember and October with a sheet of blossoms that resembles nothing so much as a shower of gaudy butterflies. The South African grasses of innumerable variety rival the bulbs, if not in colouring, at least in elegance of form. Not a few plants of cactus-like form, such as the Spurge plant, the Stapelia or carrion-flower, are remarkable in their singular appearance : hooked thorns and prickles are also characteristic of many South African plants, and are their natural provision for dispersing the seed vessels : one of these, called by the Dutch " wagt een beetji " — wait a little — answers well to its name, as do the ox-horn- like prickles of the " Dornboom." Among the cultivated products of the colony are wheat, which is grown of very superior quality in some of the western districts. The slopes and plains which extend away to the western seaboard from the hills of Paarl and Tulbagh and the Drakenstein, used to be called the " granary of the colony and in harvest time, miles and miles of waving corn and mowed fields are to be seen stretching into the distance from the heights above Wellington. The cultivation of wheat has now spread to THE CAPE COLONY. 381 many other districts, along with that of maize, oats, Kafir corn, and barley; and though the large annual imports of flour and wheat show that the colony does not yet produce sufficient corn for its own supplying, tins is not to be taken as an indication of limited capability for pro- duction, but rather as a sign of still undeveloped agri- cultural enterprise. The indigenous fruits of the colony are not of much value, but almost all subtropical and European fruits thrive under culture ; among these may be named the orange, peach, nectarine, apricot, melon, strawberry, apple, pear, guava, and banana. The vine especially, introduced by Huguenot exiles in 1685, has found a most congenial soil in the south-western coast- lands, and wine, though not much exported, is made in very considerable quantities for home use. The grapes of Constantia on the peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope, are said to be the finest in the world. 4. Climate. A clear, buoyant, and dry atmosphere, through which every line and feature of the distant view is sharply defined, is characteristic of the colony, qualities which render it very beneficial to those who suffer from pul- monary complaints. The seasons are distinguished as in Europe, though of course in the reverse order, January falling in midsummer, July in midwinter. The ther- mometer does not rise much higher at any time than in central Europe, and the lowest winter readings are some- times several degrees below the freezing point. Eound the south and south-eastern coast-land as far as the mountains, the amount of rainfall during the year does not exceed that of the eastern counties of England ; northward towards Natal the amount increases ; but in the interior the gradual diminution of the annual amount is 382 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. observed in going westward, till in the Great Karroo and the plains which slope to the lower Orange river, the yearly fall does not exceed 9 inches, and on the Atlantic coast abont the month of the Orange a belt is reached in which rain is almost unknown. In respect of the times of rainfall the two sides of the Cape Colony differ remarkably. On the south-western coast-land, all round from the Olifants river to the Gamtoos, the rain is brought by westerly sea breezes which prevail there from April through the winter till October. The eastern sea-board, on the other hand, has its heavier rains in the summer months, or from September onward till April, when the easterly trade-winds bring the moisture of the Indian Ocean to be condensed in the outer mountain slopes. Thunderstorms are comparatively rare in the west, but in summer in the eastern and inland districts they are at times fearful and grand, and are sometimes accompanied by violent and destructive hail showers. Snow lies on the higher ranges, such as the Sneuw Bergen and Stormbergen on the borders of Kafraria, for three or four months of the year. Hot winds from the deserts of the northern borders are occasionally ex- perienced in the eastern districts, and raise the tempera- ture for the time to 120° in some instances. The pre- vailing winds at Cape Town are the north-west and the south-east. With the "south-easter" or "Cape Doctor," as it is called, blowing most frequently from November to March, comes the remarkable phenomenon of the " Table Cloth," covering over the flat top of Table Mountain. As the vapour-bearing wind from the sea is driven up the mountain into a colder stratum of the atmosphere, the moisture it conveys is condensed into a magnificent white fleecy cloud, which, continually forming as it is evaporated, appears stationary at times, hanging over the precipitous edge ; while at others it is driven down the slopes in a perfect " Niagara of vapour." THE CAPE COLONY. 383 5. History. A rapid glance at the chief points in the past history of the Cape Colony may enable us to understand more clearly its present relations to the republics which lie north-east of it, and to account for the strange medley of peoples found within its limits. In 1486, Bartholomew Diaz, sent out by King John II. of Portugal with a small squadron to explore the east coast of Africa, was the first to pass round the Cape of Good Hope,1 landing and planting a cross on the shore of Algoa Bay on the 1 4th of September of that year. After Yasco de Gama's voyage round the Cape to the Indian seas in 1497, a few Portuguese settlements were formed on the South African coast, but the Cape of Good Hope does not appear to have been used at this time as more than a place of call for vessels on their way to the Indies. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was formed, and after many years of envious contempla- tion of the advantages offered by the Cape peninsula, at last, in 1652, Jan Anthony Van Eiebeek, a surgeon in the employ of the India Company, who had drawn atten- tion to the scheme, was sent out with about 100 colonists to found a settlement at the Cape. He found the country inhabited by a people called the Quaiquse, to whom the Dutch settlers gave the name Hottentots, probably from a word which they use in a measure or song to which they dance.2 The first recruits of the young settlement, located on the present site of Cape Town, were Dutch and German farmers, who were presently reinforced by large numbers of French and Piedmontese Huguenot refugees, driven out of their homes by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 1 First named Cabo Tormentoso, the Cape of Storms. 2 Merensky : Beitrage zur Kentniss Siid-Afrikas. Berlin, 1875. 384 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Many of the descendants of these industrious and intel- ligent people still dwell along the valley of the Berg river, in Drakenstein and Paarl. Misgovernment and vexatious restrictions and interferences with trade and agriculture in succeeding years all tended to irritate the minds of the settlers, and many of them, to escape beyond the reach of the authorities at Cape Castle, moved away into the interior, beginning the system of "trekking," which continues to the present time on the outer borders, thereby extending the colony eastward along the coast- land. The Gamtoos river formed the line of division between the Hottentots and Kafirs, and was early adopted by the Dutch as their eastern frontier; but with the growth of the colony they pushed beyond the river, and in 1780 when the frontier was extended as far as the Great Fish Eiver, the colonists for the first time came into collision with the warlike Kafirs. In 1795, provoked by the arbitrary acts of the Government, and inflamed by the revolutionary ideas which then prevailed in Europe, they rebelled against the Dutch rule and declared a free republic. The British Government then lent the aid of a fleet to support the authority of the Prince of Orange, and after the capi- tulation of Cape Castle, the colony remained under British authority till 1803. At this time its boundary was defined to be the Great Fish Eiver on the east, the southern edge of the central mountain chain as far as the Kamies berg, and Buffels river on the Atlantic coast, 100 miles south of the mouth of the Orange; a limit which included about one-third of the present area, and a population of about 60,000. For a brief period after 1803 the colony was again under a Dutch governor, but on the renewal of hostilities in 1806, the Cape was finally captured by British arms, and was formally and definitely ceded by the Netherlands THE CAPE COLONY. 385 at the treaty of Paris in 1815. Cape Town, in the early part of the century, consisted of about 1000 houses, besides the Dutch castle, barracks, government house, two churches, and a large government slave-pen, and was occupied by about 5000 whites and free coloured people, and 10,000 slaves. Until 1807, when the foreign slave trade was abolished by the British Government, negro slaves had been regularly conveyed to the colony from other parts of the African coast and sold to the colonists. The condition of the Hottentots at this time, also, was little better than slavery, and the prohibition against the importation of negroes, raising the demand for labour, rendered their state a still harder one. Their condi- tion, indeed, led to the first awakenings of discontent with British rule on the part of the " Boers " or Dutch peasant farmers, some of whom were convicted in the supreme courts of gross cruelty to their Hottentot servants. Till then it had been a thing unheard of that a European should be punished for an assault on a native. In 1811 the first Kafir war was brought on by the depredations of those warlike natives on the Boers of the eastern frontier; a war to the knife ensued, the Kafirs were driven to the other side of the Great Fish Biver, and military posts were formed along the border. A second war, however, broke out in 1818, when the Kafirs invading the colony drove the farmers completely out of the country west of the Great Fish Biver, penetrating as far as Uitenhage. But the Kafirs could not stand against the guns of the colonists, and the second war terminated in the advance of an overwhelming force into Kafirland, and the annexa- tion of a large slice of territory, east of the Great Fish Biver, to the colony. The year 1820 marked an era in the progress of the colony in the arrival there of a little army of British colonists, who were placed by Government in the eastern border districts about Algoa Bay, and there 2 c 386 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. by their industry and vigour gave new life and strength to the whole country, rearing homesteads and planting townships in all directions. For a third time, in 1835, a horde of about 10,000 fighting men of the Kafirs spread fire and slaughter and pillage over the eastern districts, a war which led, as the previous ones had done, to a more extended invasion of Kafraria by the British troops, and the subjugation of the tribes east of the Kei river. In this invasion the Fingoes, a tribe which had been held in cruel bondage by the Amaxosa Kafirs, were liberated, and not fewer than 16,000 of them returned with the British on their homeward march, to settle within the colony in the district now called Peddie, immediately east of the mouth of the Fish Eiver. In 1833 the bill for the emancipation of slaves throughout the British dominions became law. Its effect in the Cape Colony was to increase the dissatisfac- tion of the " Boers " with the British rule, and ultimately led to the migration of many thousands of them north- ward beyond the Orange river to form there new and independent settlements. One body, crossing the Quath- lamba or Drakenberg, founded what is now the colony of Natal; another marched northward across the Vaal and originated the Transvaal Republic ; and a third section formed the nucleus of the present Orange Eiver Free State. The Griquas or Baastards, a mixed race sprung from the intercourse of the " Boers " with their Hottentot slaves, also migrated from the colony, and under the chiefs Waterboer and Adam Kok settled in the country north of the confluence of the Orange and Vaal, the present Griqualand West. Subsequently, in 1852, Adam Kok's section of the Griquas again migrated to the territory then called No Man's Land, between Kafraria and southern Natal, now known as Griqualand East, or New Griqua- land. A fourth great Kafir war in 1846, provoked by THE CAPE COLONY. 387 the daring raids of these hostile tribes and their bold invasions of the colony, was also followed up by farther encroachment on Kafir territory, and in 1847 a procla- mation was issued extending the frontier to the Orange river on the north and to the Keiskamma river in the east, British sovereignty being then also declared over the territory extending from the latter river eastward to the Kei, though this space was at first reserved for occupa- tion by the Kafirs and named British Kafraria. But peace was restored only for a brief time; in 1857 a fresh Kafir rebellion had broken out, and for two years subsequently a sort of guerilla warfare was maintained along the eastern frontier, involving great losses of life and destruction of property. In 1863 this last Kafir war was brought to a conclusion, and British Kafraria was placed under the rule of European functionaries and incorporated with the colony. In 1868 the Basutos, who occupy the territory about the head of the Orange river between its tributary the Caledon and the summits of the Drakenberg range, and who had lived under a semi-protectorate of the British since 1848, were proclaimed British subjects, and their country was placed under the government of an agent supported by a strong force of police. In consequence of the discovery of diamonds in the Griqua country in 1867, and the rush thither of thousands of Europeans from all the surrounding states, as well as from Europe, America, and Australia, the chief Waterboer ceded his rights to the British Government, and this region was annexed to the Cape Colony as the Lieutenant-Governorship of Griqualand West in 1871. In the same year Basuto Land became part of the Cape territory. Subsequently large portions of formerly independent Kafraria between the Kei river and the southern border of Natal have passed under the government of the Cape, bringing these colonies almost into contact. The most important of these native 388 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. districts are Fingo Land, a tract of country extending from the Kei to the Bashee river north of it, which has for several years been occupied by the Fingos, transferred hither from the neighbourhood of the Great Fish Eiver when the colonists spread to occupy that region, annexed to the colony in 1876. The " Idutywa Beserve" is a district immediately east of Fingo Land inhabited by Kafirs and Fingoes. The country of the Pondomise Kafirs about the head streams of the St. John's Eiver, and No Man's Land, whither Adam Kok repaired with his section of the Griquas, are now also British magistracies ; within a few years the remaining portions of Kafraria, including Kreli's country on the coast-land between the Kei and Bashee, the Tambookie Kafir country in the upper basin of the Bashee, the territory of the Bomvanas between the Bashee and Umtata rivers, and that of the Amapondo extending across the St. John's Eiver between the Umtata and the Umtamfuna, the boundary river of Natal, will doubtless be added to the Cape. Thus within a period of fifty years the whole southern promontory of Africa south of the 28 th parallel has been consolidated under British rule. Since 1868 the question of a still greater extension of the British possessions in these regions has been discussed, with the ultimate view of incorporating the whole of South Africa beyond a line drawn from the limit of the Portuguese possessions on the Zambesi to a point on the same parallel on the western seaboard ; and already preliminary steps have been author- ised by the Cape Parliament for the extension of the west coast boundary to Walfisch Bay (23° S.), to include Nainaqua Land, a district sparsely inhabited by Hottentot tribes. Meantime, however, a more practical and urgent question is that of the consolidation of the present South African colonies, including the Transvaal and Orange THE CAPE COLONY. 389 River Free States, and some progress has been made with the project of the home Government to unite them all under one administration, after the model of the Canadian Dominion in British JSTorth America. 6. Population. The census of the Cape Colony, taken in 1875, showed the following distribution of the population, according to race, within the limits of the electoral divisions : — Europeans or whites , % . 236,783 Malays . . . .• 10,817 Hottentots . . . . 98,561 Fingoes ..... 73,506 Kafirs and Bechuanas . . . 214,133 Mixed (Griquas) and others . . 87,184 720,984 In the native districts the enumerations were, for — Basuto Land (Basutos or mountain Bechuanas) 127,323 Tembu Land (Tambookie Kafirs) . .. 70,000 Fingo Land .... 44,500 Idutywa Keserve . . .. . 18,000 Griqua Land East (Griquas and Basutos) . 54,000 313,823 the total population of the colony was then 1,035,000 ; or there are between four and five individuals to each square mile of territory. Thus the colony is as yet but sparsely peopled, and from its unsuitableness for greal manufacturing industries, and in some regions for agri- culture, it seems probable that it will never be densely inhabited, though there is certainly space for several millions more than it supports at present. The Europeans are mainly British and Dutch, but partly also Germans, 390 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. partly French, the descendants of the Huguenot emigrants, and a few are Portuguese. The Dutch are still the more numerous in the western districts, the English in the eastern. The former retain their language, but English, which superseded Dutch as the official language in 1822, is commonly known and used by them. The genuine African boers, or peasants, have had little direct communication with the home country for the last two centuries, and their language already differs considerably from the present Dutch, and is usually spoken of as " Low Dutch." These boers are mostly cattle- breeders, and they live chiefly on crushed maize, bacon, corned beef, and a sort of pumpkin called pampune. Bread is little used, and their only drink is " barley coffee." Their demeanour, even towards perfect strangers, is extremely brusque, and after the first shake of hands, they begin at once to ask — Where are you going ? "Whence come you ? What are you about ? and so on. An incident, related by Mr. Noble, the scene of which is the fertile tract along the banks of the Olifant river, illustrates the apathetic and unenterprising char- acter of the " Boers." " Scarcely any rain had fallen for some time past, and the river had not overflowed its banks for more than a year. The stocks of grain and vegetables were getting very low. The farmer was complaining much about the long-protracted drought, and when he had finished, I took the liberty of pointing out how he could, by leading out the stream for the purposes of irrigation, or by fixing a pump to be propelled by the wind, on the river-bank, secure an abundant supply independent of the weather. He seemed to listen with some interest to the development of my plans, and I began to hope that he had decided upon doing something to relieve himself of the difficulty; but eventually, after turning round and scrutinising the whole horizon in the THE CAPE COLONY. 391 direction of the river's source, as if in search of some favourable symptom, he yawned heavily, and merely observed : — ' Ach wat ! dat zal een dag regen ' — (' Oh ! it will rain some day.')" Amongst the non-European immigrants are the descendants of Negro slaves, chiefly from Mozambique, and the Malays, the latter of whom, as well as some of the aborigines, profess Mohammedanism. Some of these aborigines belong to the South African Bantu family, and others to the Hottentot race. The Kafirs and Hottentots will have again to engage our attention; it may be sufficient to note here that there are now very few pure Hottentots within the limits of the colony ; those south of the Orange river, in the west of the country, are distinguished as Colonial Hottentots, Little Namaquas, and Korannas, and are of pale yellow-brown colour, light- hearted, easy, and indolent people, generally of middle size or below the average. The Kafirs of the east are a taller race, dark brown in colour, active and well made, inclined to a pastoral life, but not to agriculture. Many thousands of these aborigines are no longer savages, but have been brought under the influence of European civilisation, industries, and religion, wear European clothes, and understand English or Dutch. 7. Industries — Wool Trade, Ostrich Farming, Mines, etc. We have already referred to the vegetable products of the Cape Colony, and may now turn to glance at the resources of the country drawn from the animal and mineral kingdoms. Though the rhinoceros, the hippo- potamus, and giraffe, were found in the Cape region at the time of its discovery, with the blaaubok, the roan antelope, the quagga, the lion, and the leopard, while the hyaena has been scavenger and resurrectionist in the 392 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. memory of many now living, and troops of baboons used to levy black mail on the vineyards of the Table Valley, all these animals, with few exceptions, have now been banished beyond the frontier. The lion is now seldom heard of, though the hysena and jackal keep their place ; baboons have retreated to the solitary thickets, and only a few antelopes and wild ostriches are found within the border. In their place sheep and goats especially have multiplied. In 1875 there were almost twelve millions of sheep in the colony and the native districts ; wool is the great staple article of produce ; sheep herding and shearing, wool- washing, sorting, and packing, and loading it in huge wag- gons to be sent three or four hundred miles, it may be, to the coast ports, employ a large proportion of the colonists. An immense quantity of wool, of the value of about three millions sterling, is now sent out of the colony every year. All along the broad terrace of the Karroo country, between the outer and central mountain ranges, the soil yields a herbage which has been found to be admirably adapted for pasture, and here accordingly stretch out the immense sheep farms of the colony. The farming of Angora goats, for their hair, has been more recently intro- duced, and is now a large source of revenue. There were in 1875 about a million and a half of cattle in the colony. These are of great importance, besides their value for food, as the draught oxen still represent the great transport power of the country; till very recently the lumbering canvas-covered waggon, drawn by eight or ten oxen, was the only conveyance. The newest and most singular enterprise of the South African colonists is that of ostrich-farming. About fifteen years ago ostrich feathers were the product of the chase only ; to secure them, the bird was invariably hunted down and killed, and on this account the ostrich had become rare in all but the most distant regions of the colony. THE CAPE COLONY. 393 The idea of ostrich-breeding was probably borrowed from the French, who tried it successfully in Algeria, but now the South Africans have advanced very greatly beyond the colonists of the northern extremity of the continent. Flocks of ostriches are now found all over the colony, and the Cape farmers buy and sell them as they do sheep ; " fence their flocks in, stable them, grow corps for them, study their habits, and cut their feathers, as matters of business." 1 The eggs, which are laid to the number of about twenty by each bird in August, are the objects of particular care, and a patent artificial incubator fitted with hot-water pipes takes the place of parental instincts and affections. The birds begin to feather at eight months, and their crop of plumes improves in value with each season, the feathers being nipped or cut, not plucked, as they come to maturity. The value of the feathers exported from the Cape in 1874, exceeded £200,000. The coast waters of the Cape Colony abound in fish. Not fewer than forty-four varieties of edible fishes have been enumerated, including the " Kabeljau," two to three feet in length, a staple fish for salting, to be exported to the Mauritius ; the delicious " Eoman," the " silver fish," " anchovy," " King Klip," and " rock cod." Excepting the diamond-fields, which we shall after- wards describe, the rich copper-yielding country of Little Namaqua Land, stretching from the Orange river half-way down the western side of the Colony, is as yet the only important mineral district of the Cape. Two centuries ago mines were opened here by the Dutch, and it is now the site of the very extensive operations of the Cape Copper Company, whose miners bring up an average of seven thousand tons of ore every year. The chief mine is that of Ookiep, which is undoubtedly one of the richest in the world. Its shaft has been sunk down 420 feet, and it 1 Handbook of South Africa. Silver : London. 394 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. takes the best of the miners twenty minutes to climb up the ladders from the bottom to the open air. A railway of about sixty miles in length has been constructed, to convey the ore to Port Nolloth, on the adjoining sandy and barren Atlantic coast. Thin seams of coal have been discovered in the Central Meuwveld Mountains, and in the Stormberg, in the east, but, taking their distance from the coast into consideration, they are not valuable enough to repay working. TABLE MOUNTAIN, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 8. Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. The south-western peninsula of the Cape Colony, which terminates in the famous Cape of Good Hope, besides being the nucleus whence during the two past centuries civilisation has spread out over many hundreds of miles of South Africa, is in itself one of the most remarkable features of this region. Within it the great massive walls of Table Mountain rise to 3500 feet, flanked on the seaward side by the remarkable Lion's Head and Eump, and on the inner by the picturesque THE CAPE COLONY. 395 Devil's Peak. Nowhere else in the colony is there a landscape combining snch grand monntain and woodland scenery, varied with vineyards and cultivated fields. Southward the Cape peninsula shuts in the wide opening of False Bay, within which again is the well-sheltered and safe anchorage of Simon's Bay, with its whitewashed houses scattered along the beach under lofty bare hills of sandstone, on each side of the Naval yard, the only British naval station in South Africa. On the north, the peninsula forms the smaller Table Bay, in the broad valley between which and the skirts of Table Mountain the city of Cape Town is spread out, its suburbs extending for nearly fourteen miles round the slope to the outlying height called the Wynberg. With the exception of Saldanha Bay, sixty miles north of this, which is one of the finest natural harbours in the world, though situated in an almost unpeopled district, and little visited by ships, there is no good natural harbour on this coast. The breakwater and docks of Table Bay, begun in 1860, and opened in 1870, form, therefore, one of the most important public works of the colony, though they are still insufficient for the growing traffic. Along the beach, within these, runs a straggling line of buildings in which skin-drying, wool-pressing, fish-curing, and boat- building are carried on, and here are also the flour-mills, soap and gas factories of Cape Town. Within the town the thoroughfares are broad and open, and were originally laid out in rectangles, though now the streets have spread out irregularly from the centre towards the suburbs. The old Dutch architecture of flat-roofed houses and " stoeps," or terraces in front, is giving way rapidly to handsome modern buildings, and shops, stores, and banks, with rows of cabs, extend along the principal streets. Scarcely anything remains, indeed, to indicate that Cape Town was founded by the Dutch ; and were it not for the yellow 396 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Malay faces, with their umbrella-shaped hats, and the tawny Meztizos, who give a foreign colouring, one might fancy oneself in an English provincial town. New Houses of Parliament are being built at a cost of £100,000; a university has been created; an art gallery has been established ; the town is lighted with gas ; botanic gardens, well cared for and tastefully laid out, serve as a fine public park ; daily newspapers, in Dutch and English, are published ; and tramways and railway termini are not wanting to give it all the air of a European city. At the census of 1875 Cape Town, with its suburbs, was found to have a population of 45,240. Of the two railways which start from Cape Town, the chief one is that which has been planned to extend to Beaufort West near the centre of the colony on the slope of the Meuwveld Mountains, north of the great pastoral Karroo plains. A distance of eighty miles has been completed, as far as Worcester, passing through Stellenbosch, Paarl, and Tulbagh. The shorter line winds round the eastern base of the Table Mountain, uniting Cape Town with the pleasant retreat of Wynberg at the base of its hill, covered with thickets of silver trees, and not far from the rich vineyards of Constantia. Telegraph lines extend all round the margin of the colony from Cape Town to the eastern border. Port Elizabeth, the landing-place of the successful British colonists of 1820, built on the slope of the hills rising from the western side of Algoa Bay above the open roadstead, is the second town, with about 13,000 inhabit- ants. It is, however, the most busy trading-place in the colony, stirring and bustling, and presenting from the sea the appearance of a succession of large and handsome warehouses and stores, factories, shops, offices, churches, hospitals, dwelling-houses, and villas of every variety of architecture. Nowhere in the colony is there a livelier, THE CAPE COLONY. 397 busier scene than here, especially during the wool season, when the huge transport waggons, carrying from 6000 to 10,000 pounds, come in laden with bales of wool, skins, and ivory, to load up again with merchandise for the interior towns and villages, as far even as the Free State and the Transvaal. The market square is then crowded with groups of dealers, vehicles and animals, and produce- waggons with their long teams of oxen. Lines of railway have been begun to unite Port Eliza- beth with Cradock and Graaf Beynet in the north, with a branch to Graham's Town. Graham's Town, north-east of Port Elizabeth in the division of Albany, at about 1700 feet above the sea, towards which a railway has already been extended, ranks as the official capital of the eastern districts, and has about 7000 inhabitants. Formerly it was the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of the eastern districts and the head- quarters of the military and mounted police, since trans- ferred to Cape Town ; but it is still the seat of an Anglican bishop, and of the Eoman Catholic bishop of the eastern diocese. Graaf Reynet, in the centre of a flourishing wood district, 200 miles north of Port Elizabeth, is the chief town of the midland districts, and from its charming appearance has been called " the gem of the desert." King William's Town is in the heart of the rich terri- tory formerly known as British Kafraria, which slopes down to the sea from mountains intersected by deep rocky " kloofs " clothed with forest, opening out seaward into an undulating pastoral country of great beauty. It is the chief border town of the colony, the fourth in point of size .and importance. Through its seaport of East London, twenty-eight miles distant, it carries on a considerable trade from the Free State and Griqualand, and is the outlet of the native trade of all the eastern frontier as far 398 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. as Basuto Land. It is also a military cantonment and the head-quarters of the mounted police. 9. Government of the Cape. The government of Cape Colony is entirely European, the head of the administration being a governor appointed by the Queen, and who is also commander-in-chief of the troops, and Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa, an office which gives him powers beyond the boundaries of the colony. The power of legislating has since July 1, 1854, been entrusted to a Parliament based on the British model and consisting of an Upper and a Lower House ; as a self-governing colony, the Cape thus ranks with Canada, the Australias, and New Zealand. All the Acts of the colonial Parliament, however, require the assent of the Imperial Parliament for their perfection. For the purposes of election of members of the Legislative Council or Upper Chamber, twenty-one in number, the colony proper is divided into seven larger divisions or districts. The Legislative Assembly or Lower Chamber consists of sixty-eight members, chosen in smaller electoral districts, or by the chief towns. The Parliament, held in Cape Town, has but one session in the year, beginning in April and lasting for three or four months. The native districts of the east are under the management of govern- ment agents or magistrates. Till very recently Griqualand West was in the hands of a Lieutenant-Governor assisted by an Executive Council and Legislature, partly nominated and partly elective, a recorder, and several magistrates administering law. In April 1877, however, the Cape ministry agreed to incorporate Griqualand West with the colony. THE CAPE COLONY. 399 10. The Diamond Fields, or Griqualand West. The territory of Griqualand West, situated in the very heart of Southern Africa, bordering on the Kalahari desert, extends over an area of about 16,000 square miles, or a space quite as large as Switzerland, though very different in character. Occupying the centre of the great plateau, and lying at a generale levation of perhaps 3000 feet above the sea, the diamond-field country, like Bushman Land on the other side of the Orange, is bare and uninviting, except along the banks of the Orange and Vaal, the great features of the country, which are wooded and picturesque. The climate is fine and healthy, with cold and bracing winters and a very dry air. Dust- clouds roll up before the occasional heavy thunderstorms of summer. The South African plateau is one of the few places in the world yielding diamonds. The first diamond was found in March 1867 at Hopetown on the Orange river ; but soon after extensive diamond-fields were discovered on both sides of the Yaal river, at Klip Drift, Pniel, and Hebron, and also at Dutoits-Pan, and at Tauresmith in the Orange Free State. The dry diggings in both last- mentioned places were very productive, being almost literally sown with diamonds. But the most extensive fields are unquestionably on the Yaal in Griqualand, a district formerly claimed by the Orange State, but which the English took formal possession of in October 1871. Having probably had enough of " arbitration," they paid little heed to the groundless pretensions of the boers, and peremptorily rejected their proposition to leave the settle- ment of the dispute to the Emperor "William of Germany. Before the discovery of diamonds Griqualand West was inhabited only by a few thousand Griquas, under their chief Waterboer, and a few English and Dutch 400 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL. settlers, but as soon as the treasure became known, hundreds and thousands flocked in from the Cape, from the Transvaal and Natal; and later from Britain, Germany, Holland, America, and Australia. In the best days, before the search had become a settled in- dustry, perhaps 60,000 people had gathered round the dry and river diggings. At that time no greater social contrast could have been presented than lay between the simple family life of the old Dutch settlers gathering every evening for Bible-reading and psalm-singing accord- ing to traditional custom, and that of the mixed crowd at the diggings, living where and how they could, eagerly toiling all day in the dusty mines, and spending the greater part of the night in hastily improvised theatres or ball-rooms, or in gambling at roulette. At present, when some of the mines have been worked out or abandoned, and native labour has become dearer, and the rate of yield is not so great, the population has been reduced to about 40,000, a large proportion being natives. The camps at first, owing to the scarcity of wood, and the frequent migrations from one "rush" to another, were chiefly canvas tents ; but in Kimberly, the capital, brick and stone have been used, though iron, wood, and canvas are still the chief materials employed in house-building. The population of Kimberly varies from month to month, but, in addition to its mine, it has a fine market-place, banks and churches, assembly-rooms, clubs, and hotels. The New Eush Mine of Kimberly has now drawn the greater part of the diggers to it. " It has the appearance of a hollow about three-quarters of a mile in circumference. Before it became a digging it had a slight elevation above the surrounding plain. It is now scooped out to a con- siderable depth, the lowest point reached being about 220 feet."1 A good deal of the mining work is done by 1 Glanville, Guide to South Africa ; 1877. NATAL, TliAXSYAAI. A.N* I) OHA.N(;K KliKK STAT NATAL. 401 natives, who work with pick and spade loading buckets which are hauled up and let down by ropes. The stuff is carried off to sorting grounds where it is sieved out, and afterwards examined carefully with the aid of a knife or piece of tin, on a table in the open air. The lots or claims in the earlier times of excitement were sometimes sold for enormous prices ; half a lot, 3 0 feet by 16, and already worked down to a depth of 50, having actually realised £24,000. At present the rate of yield and the price of claims is by no means so great. Still every one lives in hope, and every unexpected find attracts fresh fortune-hunters to the spot. Nor are these finds at all rare. Thus an Irishman after a few hours' search came upon a stone which he was able to pawn for £3000, while another discovered one of 115 carats on an abandoned claim ! One of the great diamonds which have been found here was named the " Star of South Africa," and, before cutting, was sold for £11,200. 11. Natal — Maritzburg. The English Colony of Natal, in superficial area somewhat larger than the kingdom of Greece, though a British possession since 1843, still remains separated from the Cape by the intervening territory of independent Kafraria. In many respects the relations of Natal resemble those of Cape Colony. The face of the country differs in being covered, for the most part, with ramifications of wooded mountains and hills, sloping downwards like the fingers of a hand from the great cliff edge of the Drakenberg range, 10,000 feet in altitude ; and in having between these many streams and rivers, all full and perennially flowing through a broad belt of rolling grass land which separates the mountain spurs from the yellow sands and bold headlands 2 D 402 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. of the coast. The Tugela river and its large northern tributary the Buffalo form the northern boundary of the colony, more than half of which lies within the basin of this stream : the Umgeni, Umkomanzi, TJmzimkulu, and Umtamfuna follow parallel valleys from the Drakenberg to the coast, the last named separating the colony on the south from the still independent country of the Amapondo Kafirs. Though by position Natal is a semi-tropical country, occupying the same relative position as southern Marocco or Egypt in the other hemisphere, its climate is exceedingly agreeable and healthy ; the heat in summer is not intense, and the winters are delightful. Eain falls in all months, though chiefly through the summer from September till April, when thunder and hail storms are also frequent. Of the whole population, which numbers about 320,000, only 18,000 are of European descent, chiefly English, with some Dutch and Germans. Hindoo coolies introduced to work on sugar plantations, and immigrants from St. Helena, are in considerable numbers, but the great bulk of the people are Kafir natives of the soil, or refugees from the neighbouring Zulu country, who have come under the shelter of the British power. So indolent are these natives, and so few their wants, that they are of very little sendee in farming or industry of any sort. The scarcity of labour which led to the introduction of Indian immigrants, is one of the many difficulties which have severely tested the courage of the indomitable colonists of Natal. The " Yeldt " of Natal affords rich pasture for horses, sheep, and cattle ; and wheat, oats, maize, arrow-root, sugar, and coffee, are the products of the farms. Sugar, from the cane grown along the coast belt which is everywhere favourable to it, has been exported in late years to the average value of £160,000, from the 55 sugar estates NATAL, 403 now in active working. Wool from the colonial sheep, and brought down from the Orange Free State along with ostrich leathers and ivory, is the great export of Natal. Coal is known on the northern borders, and gold has been found in various parts, but neither is as yet mined. Sailing along the coast after his voyage round the Cape, Yasco de Gama discovered the land of Natal on Christmas day 1497, whence its name. Up to 1822 the country was in possession of the Zulu tyrant Chaka, who ruled over all the tribes lying between the Umtumfuna in the south, and Umvolosi or Santa Lucia north of the Tugela, He was succeeded in 1838 by his brother Dingaan, who treacherously killed a number of Dutch Boers who had come over the mountains from Cape Colony, by invitation, to buy land and settle in this country. In consequence of this act Dingaan drew down upon himself the revenge of the Boers under their leader Pretorius, who, having defeated him, made his brother Panda chief in his place, and settled in Natal as masters of the country. In 1841, however, the British interfered ; after a brave struggle the Boers were overcome, and in 1843 the country was proclaimed a British colony. In 1845 it was separated from the Cape, and in 1856 was erected into a special colony under a Lieutenant- Governor and an Executive Council. As yet Natal possesses only two towns of any con- sequence, the seaport of Port Natal or Durban, a hand- some town of about 8000 inhabitants, with a good harbour, and the capital Pieter Maritzburg, 45 miles inland, united to it by an omnibus road. At present Natal boasts but three miles of railway, between Durban and the wharf, but a system of rails, to extend to the capital and the interior, is already planned out. The journey from Port Natal to Maritzburg through the hamlet of Pine Town presents nothing of any special 404 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. interest to the traveller. It is satisfactory, however, to find that the planting of the magnificent Australian Eucalyptus globulus has already made such progress both here and in the Transvaal as already to form a charac- teristic feature of these districts. Maritzburg itself is picturesquely situated on the Umsindusi, a tributary of the Umgeni, and has a popula- tion of about 7000, including whites, Kafirs, and the Indian coolies settled here. It boasts of only two build- ings of any importance, Government House with its ambitious portico, and the office of the Colonial Secretary facing it. In the neighbourhood are the Karkloof Falls formed by the Umsindusi and the Umgeni, the former here falling twice in succession from a height of 80 feet. If we wish to proceed from this place to the neigh- bouring Orange Tree State, it will be necessary to avail ourselves of a waggon drawn by a team of from ten to fourteen oxen. At times even as many as thirty are required to get over the steep hills lying to the north- west. Each waggon is attended by two Kafirs, one acting as a guide, the other as driver, with a whip from 30 to 45 feet long. The skilful handling of such a lash is a work of art which the native acquires by constant practice from his childhood upwards, but, notwithstanding this, the Kafirs never equal the whites in their manage- ment of a team. 12. The Drakeriberg. Natal is separated from the Zulu Kafirs by the river Tugela, and from the Orange Eepublic by the Drakenberg range, which looks like a perpendicular wall bounding the horizon westwards. It is, properly speaking, the lofty border, here about 6500 feet high, of the elevated interior table-land ; in the " Mont aux Sources " at the head of THE DRAKENBERG. 405 the Tugela, however (a point at the union of the bound- aries of Natal, Basuto Land, and the Orange State, whence the impassable Maluti range extends south-eastward), it reaches up to 10,000 feet, and the Cathkin Peak, farther ft: WAGGON-ROAD OVEK THE DRAKENBERG. south, rises over the sources of the Orange river to a measured height of 10,357 feet. From the summit of the Drakenberg, Natal presents the appearance of a regu- lar series of terraces, but the Free State and the Transvaal lie on a true plateau descending gently inland, and varied with isolated peaks diminishing in number but assumino 406 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. more regular outlines as we advance into the interior. The table-lands of the Orange State and of the Transvaal farther to the north are destitute of trees or bushes, and covered only with grass, which withers up in winter, when nothing is visible but brown and dreary wastes. North of the pass are to be seen some very curiously shaped peaks of the Drakenberg, southwards the gigantic chain of the same heights, and in a few days the snow- clad Witteberg itself is reached. The road across this range is the first and easiest stage of our journey inland. Henceforth human abodes are often whole days apart, and the caravan is left more than ever to its own resources. Emerging from the Eeenan Pass, the traveller stands astonished at the sight of the interminable plains which now appear outstretching before him, and by their death- like stillness inspiring a sense of overwhelming awe. To the right, extending northwards, is the fantastic Nelson Kop range ; while on the left the striking Eandskopberg with its steep rocky sides remains in sight for some days longer. At length, after passing the Wilgebach, we come to the little town of Harrysmith, belonging to the Orange Eiver Free State. 13. The Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The Orange Eepublic, 42,000 square miles in extent, with a population of 57,000, and its capital Bloemfontein ; and the Transvaal, 112,000 square miles in extent, with a population of 275,000, capital Pretoria, formed till very recently two independent Boer States, in all their essential features closely resembling each other. The greater part of the older generation of Boers are natives of Cape Colony, or of Natal, and are the direct descendants of the Dutch, Trench, and German immigrants by whom South Africa was first settled. Dissatisfied ORANGE FREE STATE. 407 with English rule, or perhaps preferring a free and some- what lawless existence to the peace and sober liberty of the British flag, they withdrew gradually to these regions, in those days spoken of as a " howling wilderness." A vigorous and healthy race, however rude and superstitious they may appear in European eyes, the Boers are still a cheerful, religious, and hospitable people. oSTo stranger, be he rich or poor, is turned from their door, but all alike are welcome beneath their friendly roof. They speak a sort of Low Dutch, with a large mixture of English, French, and German words and expressions. Their houses are, as a rule, nothing more than strongly built mud huts, with straw, or rather grass roofs, and instead of windows, they are furnished with little apertures open during the day and closed at night. The walls both inside and out are whitewashed, and to keep down the dust the hard earth floors are every five or six days smeared over with moistened cow-dung. The furniture is limited mostly to one or two tables, a bench of a peculiar description, and a few chairs with seats inter- woven with long strips of skin. The land is very fertile, and the numerous streams crossing the country in all directions, together with the springs everywhere met with, supply an abundance of water. Owing to the elevated position of these uplands, the climate is very healthy, the summer heats being far less oppressive than might be supposed from the latitude of the country. The difference of temperature in the various districts is also favourable both to cattle and sheep breeding, as well as to the raising of crops in some places, and the cultivation of tropical and sub-tropical products — such as coffee, sugar, and cotton — in others. Fruits of all sorts can be had all the year round, some ripening in winter, others in summer. Tobacco of good quality is extensively cultivated, and, together with corn 408 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEATEL. and cattle, exported to Natal and the Cape. Vast quantities of maize are grown, mostly, however, to be consumed by the people, both whites and natives, the latter living on little else while residing with the whites. But in their kraals or villages they are fain to substitute the so-called " Kafir com," whieh is very like buckwheat, but growing on stalks three times as high. All the vegetables peculiar to northern latitudes here grow freely ; cotton, hemp, flax, and rice grow wild in many places, and in one district are found both the wild coffee plant and the wild vine. The land is very rich in minerals, especially iron, tin, copper, and lead, besides black-lead, potter's-earth, ochre, alum, marble, saltpetre, and valuable stones. Coal is found everywhere here, lying in vast layers almost on the surface.1 14. The Gold-Fields of the Transvaal. As the Orange State has its diamonds, so the Trans- vaal has its gold, discovered in the north of the state by the travellers Carl Mauch and Edward Baines, but also existing much farther north beyond the Lim- popo river. Some of these gold-fields, however, have proved very disappointing, while great expectations are entertained of others discovered in 1872 and 1873 at Maraba Town and Lydenburg, at which gold-digging has been carried on with various success, and where there appears to be sufficient quantity of the precious metal to warrant continuous effort. The gold is here of excellent quality, commanding as much as £3 : 18s. per ounce. It is mostly alluvial, but nuggets of from four to seven pounds weight are sometimes picked up. The most experienced Australian miners are of opinion that, judging from all appearances, extremely rich deposits must yet be brought to light. 1 Jeppe, The Transvaal. 1868. LION HUNTING. To face page 409. THE TRANSVAAL. 409 15. A Sportsman's Paradise. The Transvaal is the sportsman's paradise, where he can roam at will, unrestricted by game-laws or other artificial obstacles. Here he will find game of all sorts in vast abundance, — the springbock, the steinbock, gnus, and zebras. The larger animals — such as the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo, and giraffe — have within the last few years withdrawn further into the interior northwards. Beasts of prey, however, are met with, in- cluding lions, tigers, wolves, jackals, and tiger-cats, though even these are hunted yearly by ever-increasing numbers, and are consequently also retiring to more inaccessible regions. Of the three species of lion here found, the most dangerous is the light yellow species with black mane, though even he seldom attacks man, other game existing in such superabundance. Owing to the high prices in late years offered for ostrich feathers, thousands and tens of thousands of these harmless creatures have already fallen victims to the caprice of fashion. Vast quantities of these feathers are now annually exported to England, all coming exclusively from the Transvaal and surrounding districts, ostrich hunting being strictly forbidden in Cape Colony and the Orange Eiver Free State. 16. The Plague of Locusts. Among the greatest pests of the whole of South Africa are the locusts, infesting these regions in immense swarms. Seated beneath the shade of his waggon, on the banks of the Vaal, the traveller Mohr observed on the south-western horizon what looked like great volumes of smoke, but which, from its yellowish hue, the more experi- enced natives immediately recognised as the winged 410 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. plague o'f Africa, the all-devouring locust. They began to fall, first a few at a time, then by dozens, and presently by thousands and myriads. They came in such vast clouds as to darken the heavens, so that through all this moving mass you were able to look straight at the sun, which, though at its zenith, became ruddy and beamless as at sunset. Flocks of locust-eaters incessantly assailed this surging sea of insect life, but their numbers were infinite, countless as the sands of the desert. Far and wide the whole land was filled with them ; the waters of the Vaal, covered with their bodies, became of a gray-yellow colour on the surface, and the garden by the farmstead where the traveller reposed was in a few minutes left bare and leafless. Yet the boer and his family sat with the com- posure of Turks, looking on at the universal destruction of all green things round about, indifferent, because powerless to oppose the devouring scourge. Nothing can check their onward march ; if their path is crossed by a stream, they rush headlong in, gradually filling up its bed with their bodies, until a dry bridge is formed for the myriads press- ing from behind. The worst of the evil is that where they fall, there they lay their eggs, so that with the next rainy season, countless wingless creatures creep out of the ground and hop away, devouring all vegetation as they go. Such young broods, the Boers call, characteristically enough, " footloopers," and those on the wing "spring haans." Our traveller's oxen, horses, sheep, and goats, devoured them greedily. To the elephant and other large grami- nivorous wild beasts, they seem to afford a dainty meal, while all the South-Eastern tribes consider them a great delicacy, collect them in heaps, and eat them dried and roasted. Prepared in this way Mohr tried them, but found them, if eaten without salt, quite tasteless. (Mohr To the Zambesi Waterfalls, i. pp. 114-116.) THE TRANSVAAL. 411 1 7. The Natives of the Transvaal. The Transvaal has a population of from 25,000 to 30,000 whites, and about 250,000 natives. These are the Makatees, mostly Bechuana tribes, a strong and well-built race, but lazy and cowardly, herein contrasting unfavour- ably with other Kafir nations. Their love of finery, such as brass wire and bright buttons, with which they deck themselves and their numerous wives, entices them from their kraals, where they spend the greater part of the year in idleness. They are also very fond of all articles of dress, and are confirmed gossips and tattlers. Their weapons consist mainly of short axes and assegays, forged by themselves. They also wear large copper rings on their arms and legs, which they prepare in the numerous copper mines of the country, and on their wanderings take with them a sort of guitar, from which they contrive to elicit a few monotonous melancholy notes. They are natu- rally of a kindly disposition, readily acquire the language of the whites, and often succeed in rendering themselves indispensable to their masters. 18. Chief Town — Climate. The largest town of the Transvaal is Potchefstroom, or, as it is also called, Mooi Eiver Dorp, situated quite in the south of the state, at an elevation of about 4300 feet above the sea. It is a little place of 400 or 500 inhabit- ants, laid out, like all the settlements of the Boers, with broad streets at right angles, planted with trees and watered by running streams from the Mooi, or " pretty river," and every family plot provided with vegetable and fruit gardens. Pretoria, the seat of government, lies about 9 0 miles north of Potchefstroom, nearer the centre of the state. The climate is one of the finest, and the land one of 412 , COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the most fertile in the world. In the northern or Limpopo districts, a tropical heat prevails in summer, and the pure dry atmosphere is especially good for asthma and all affections of the lungs. In recent times sufferers from these complaints have found their way thither from England, and even from Madeira. 19. History — Native Policy of the Boers. When Captain Harris visited the region which is at present occupied by the Orange Free State, he found it a wilderness inhabited by wandering families of Bushmen and broken tribes of Bechuanas and Zulus, refugees from the armies of the great Zulu tyrants, Chaka and Dingaan, to whom we have previously referred, as well as from the tribe under Mosilikatse, a chieftain who had been driven from the region of the Magalies Bergen and Hooge Veldt in the south of the present Transvaal State. On the migration of the Boers from the Cape Colony, the majority of them passed on towards Natal; after the British had taken posses- sion of the coast-land, however, they fell back upon this region. They were at first welcomed by the natives as de- liverers, but the Bechuanas soon found out that if " Mosi- likatse was cruel to his enemies he was at least kind to those he conquered ; but the Boers destroyed their enemies and made slaves of their friends." Bringing with them their notions of the " proper treatment " of the blacks, which were diametrically opposed to the British law that makes no distinction between black men and white, they established a sort of Alsatia on the borders of the colony, and made the natives work for them in consideration of allowing them to live in the land. After one or two conflicts with the British troops the country was annexed to the British Empire as the Orange Eiver Sovereignty, and remained thus till 1854, when it was foolishly THE BOEES. 413 abandoned by the British, and the inhabitants were allowed to form an independent republican government according to their own wishes. On the annexation of the Orange Sovereignty, a number of the Boers retired again northwards to the slopes of the Cashan or Magalies Bergen, and established a republic there in 1840, which was recognised by the British Government in 1852 on condition of the abolition of slavery. Thus the relations of these states to the British colony have never been of a cordial nature ; and for many years past the causes of quarrel arising out of boundary questions, (notably the disputes which arose as to the ownership of the diamond region with the Orange Free State, and with the Transvaal respecting the country about Delagoa Bay on the Portuguese border), and through the differences of native policy, have been many and serious. The light in which the Boers regard the natives of these countries may be gathered from what Mr. Mackenzie tells us of their religious con- victions : — " The frontier Dutchman, he says, prefers the Old to the New Testament. He is at home among the wars of the Israelites with the doomed inhabitants of the Promised Land. And no one who has freely and for years mingled with this people can doubt that they have persuaded themselves by some wonderful mental process that they are God's chosen people, and that the blacks are the wicked and condemned Caananites over whose heads the divine anger lowers continually." The species of slavery to supply the lack of field labour, which they have adopted, has had to be met by continual forays on the native tribes. Livingstone says " I saw and conversed with children in the houses of the Boers who had by their own and their masters' account been captured, and in several instances I traced the parents of these unfortunates, though the plan approved by the long-headed among the 414 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. burghers is to take children so young that they soon for- get their parents and their native language also. It was long before I could give credit to the tales of bloodshed told me by native witnesses, and had I received no other testimony but theirs, I should probably have continued sceptical to this day as to the truth of the accounts ; but when I found the Boers themselves, some bewailing and denouncing, others glorying in the bloody scenes in which they had been themselves the actors, I was compelled to admit the validity of the testimony. . . . All the coloured race are ' black property ' or ' creatures.' . . . History does not contain one single instance in which the Bechuanas, even those of them who possess firearms, have attacked either the Boers or the English. They have defended themselves when attacked, as in the case of Sechele, but have never engaged in offensive war with Europeans. We have a very different tale to tell of the Kafirs, and the difference has always been so evident to these border Boers, that ever since ' those magnificent savages ' obtained possession of firearms, not one Boer has ever attempted to settle in Kafirland, or even face them as enemies in the field. The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy to anything but 'long- shot' warfare, and sidling away in their emigrations towards the more effeminate Bechuanas, have left their quarrels with the Kafirs to be settled by the English, and their wars to be paid for by English gold." 1 The Bushmen, indeed, were the enemies of all the other South African tribes before the white man appeared on the scene, and they had not been swept away by the pastoral Hottentots and agricultural Bechuanas, simply because their poisoned arrows and mountain fastnesses were suffi- cient to baffle such foes. But the Boers, with whose 1 Livingstone : Missionary Travels. 1857. THE BOERS. 415 sheep flocks they interfered, shot them down like vermin, and ranked them with the snakes and wild beasts.1 In later times, says M. Merensky (superintendent of the Berlin Transvaal mission), referring to the Bushmen, the people are seldom killed, but the Boer endeavours by capture or barter to get possession of the children. When the Boer is out hunting on the high plains of the Yaal he invariably goes after any Bushmen that he may spy in the plains ; if he comes up to them, he may kill an ox, and for the flesh the terrified natives will generally hand over some of their children. In early times the mild Bechuana tribes of the Trans- vaal area were easily subjugated by the well-armed Boers ; even the warlike Zulus, with whom they came in contact in spreading over the country, could not stand against their guns. These tribes, though still retaining the semblance of independence, were forced, up to the most recent date, to perform all the labour of the fields, such as manuring the land, weeding, reaping, building, making dams and canals, and at the same time to support themselves. The natives were also very heavily taxed, were not permitted to possess land, were forbidden to hunt in certain areas, to have horses, or to work on their own account in the lately discovered gold-fields. Within the wide nominal limits of the republic, how- ever, there remained a number of strong Kafir tribes, who, having obtained guns, kept themselves altogether free and independent. Twelve years ago a rising of some of these tribes lost a large and well-cultivated stretch of land to the republic, depressed trade for a long time, and brought the state to the verge of bankruptcy. After the discovery of the diamond-fields, and of gold in the north and north-east of the Transvaal, new markets were opened 1 Mackenzie: Ten Years North of the Orange River. Edinburgh, 1871. 416 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. for the produce of the country, prices rose rapidly, and with the election of President Burgers (formerly a dis- tinguished clergyman of the Cape Eeformed Church) a more modern system of government was introduced, the natives were less oppressed, even Boers were made amen- able to law, and a new era seemed to have opened for the republic. These innovations, however, made divisions in the state, and one section of the Boers no longer felt themselves at home in the Transvaal. Eemembering the past history of the Boers, and their views of the treatment of the natives, it is hardly surpris- ing that they should have rejected the proposal made in 1875 by Lord Carnarvon, in reference to a confederation of the South African states and colonies under a more uniform system, which might reconcile their hitherto con- flicting interests, and tend to the development of their vast resources. In 1876 they also rejected the colonial minister's earnest appeal against going to war with the native chief Secocoeni, whose territory lay between the main portion of the republic and the recently added area of the Lydenberg gold-fields. On attacking this chief the Boers were ignominiously defeated in a number of engage- ments, and their public exchequer became again exhausted in the course of a disastrous warfare. One party in the state openly refused to pay the war-taxes, the Government became demoralised, and hopeless anarchy succeeded. Though a temporary peace had been patched up with Secocoeni, it proved to be a hollow truce, and was soon broken ; a native war, involving not only this tribe but the powerful army of the Zulu king Cetywayo, who claimed a large district recently incorporated with the Transvaal, was imminent. The British envoy, who had waited the evolution of events, became convinced that the only way to avert a great native war, and to save the ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 417 European interests in South Africa, lay in the entrance of the Transvaal into a federal union under the British flag. Accordingly, in April 1877, the Transvaal was annexed to the British dominions. The immediate consequence of this step will doubtless be the advancement of the con- federation movement, and the Orange Free State, now enclosed by British territory, will probably accept a posi- tion in the union with a good grace. 418 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEE XXIY. THE INTERIOR OF SOUTH AFRICA. 1. Course of the Limpopo — Umzila's Territory. We now enter a vast region not yet brought within civilising influences, and so far known only by the reports of a few intrepid explorers and sportsmen. It may, for the present, be conveniently described as the interior of South Africa, and though with somewhat vague limits westwards, it is more sharply defined on the east as the whole country stretching from the Limpopo northwards to the Zambesi. The Limpopo, the second largest river of East Africa, rises in the Gats Eand, a portion of the Hooge Veldt to the north-east of Potchefstroom, and flows mainly in a north-easterly direction over the plateau, but turning sharply to south-eastward and south, where it enters the lowland before reaching the sea. From Mr. Erskine's journey of 1871 we learn that the Limpopo is only navigable for a distance of about 60 miles from the Indian Ocean by a vessel of 200 tons. The mouth has a double bar, and is very difficult of entry. Midway between the Limpopo and the portion of the Zambesi below its falls rise the chains of the Matoppo and Mashona mountains, attaining elevations of 4500 feet, and stretching out eastward towards the coast, to join the spur called Mount Gorongosi, which rises not far south of the delta of the Zambesi. These ranges send off many tributary streams northward to the Zambesi, and ZULU LAND. 419 southward to the Limpopo, as well as one or two con- siderable rivers which take an independent eastward course to the sea, the largest of these being the Sabi (100 yards wide and four feet deep near its mouth), the Gorongosi which falls into the sea a few miles south of Sofala, and the Busi farther north. The whole coast-line from Natal northward is bordered by a ridge called " the Berea," portions of which are at times detached from the mainland, forming islands, such as Inyak in Delagoa Bay, and the Bazaruto Islands south of the mouth of the Sabi. In Zulu land, between the southern portion of the Transvaal and the sea, as in Natal, this ridge is backed up by wooded hills rising higher step by step towards the crest of the Drakenberg ; but from Santa Lucia bay northward, nearly as far as the Zambesi, the mountains recede towards the interior, to as much as 200 miles at the Limpopo, leaving a wide lime- stone coast plain, generally presenting dreary flats of grassy or sandy country dotted with clumps of bush, and characterised by Mr. Erskine as only a " mitigated desert." The trees, where they occur, are usually of a straggling ill-leaved description throwing little shade, and the natives, as on the Angolan coast-land, have taken advantage of the hollow baobabs which are dotted about the country, to use these as reservoirs for preserving some part of the scanty rains of the wet season. The Matoppo mountains inland from this region are ranges of picturesque granite hills, with forests at their base, and huge rocks, having often a grotesque resemblance to animals and other familiar objects, are scattered over them.1 Other portions of the well-watered highland are park-like and beautiful : " the graceful matchabela, winch in its young leaf presents a rich yet delicate crimson tint, changing by various grada- tions into green, as its foliage is matured ; the leghondi, 1 Baines, The Gold Regions of S.E. Africa. Lond. 1877. 420 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. which buds forth in golden yellow; and the mimosas, acacias, aloes, and occasional euphorbias, add an ever- varying charm to the scene ; while the higher lands are adorned with large white flowering proteas, and other plants suited to their altitude.'1 2. The "Kafir Kingdoms. In order to understand the present conditions and relations of the Kafirs of South-East Africa, it is necessary to trace out for ourselves the great movements and changes which have taken place among their tribes since the Euro- pean settlers first came into close contact with them. It may be premised that a broad distinction should be drawn between the coast Kafirs, those whose original home country is the broad coast-slope of the South African plateau, from the Great Fish Eiver in the south of the Cape Colony, where they touched upon the Hottentots, through Kafraria, Natal, and Zululand, all round to near the delta of the Zambesi ; and the Kafirs of the plateau the Bechuanas and Basutos, who have occupied the high plains of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and the country inward thence to the borders of the Kalahari desert, for a long period of time. The former, living mainly on animal food, are generally more spirited and warlike in character ; the latter, subsisting rather on vegetables, are of a softer and more passive temperament. At the beginning of this century the coast Kafirs appear to have been divided into patriarchally-governed tribes, and to have had no very prominent ruler among these, or any collective strength. About this time, how- ever, a very remarkable man named Chaka, the son of a chief of one of the clans of the Zulu Kafirs, had begun to distinguish himself by deeds of daring, which so excited the jealousy of his father as to compel Chaka to THE KAFIR CONQUESTS. 421 fly from his home. In exile Chaka was brought in contact with Europeans, and from them became acquainted with the formation of soldiers into regiments.1 Returning on the death of his father and becoming chief of his tribe (1813), he put to death all those who had opposed his succession, and began to make war on the tribes in his neighbourhood. Turning all his subjects into soldiers, and marshalling them with the most relentless discipline, under which they were left no alternative but to conquer or die, he made himself master, in the course of a few years, of nearly all the south-eastern coast slope of Africa, from the Limpopo to the Cape Colony, and exer- cised a despotic rule over this large territory during the remainder of his reign of twenty-five years. He was murdered by his brother Umslangaan and his party in 1838, and these, a few days afterwards, shared the same fate at the hands of Dingaan, another brother, who be- came the second great chief of the Zulus. We have already referred to the deposition of Dingaan by the Boers on their arrival in the present colony of Natal. Several of the captains or generals trained under Chaka, and sent by him at the head of large armies for farther conquest, becoming themselves ambitious of power, and taking advantage of their opportunities, carried war and subjugation outward in many directions from the Zulu kingdom, and became chiefs of great nations. Moselekatse (more accurately Umselegazi) the son of a Zulu chief of the present country of Natal, who having been conquered by Chaka became one of the captains of the despot, afterwards attained a fame almost as great as that of his master Chaka. At the head of a Zulu army he crossed the Drakenberg and occupied the present Transvaal territory, driving out before him the unwaiiike Bechuanas, or incorporating them as subjects, and estab- 1 Rowley, Africa Unveiled. 1876. 422 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. lisliing an independent kingdom there. When the Boers first spread out into the Transvaal, they soon came into hostile contact with Moselekatse's Kafirs, and de- feating them with the aid of their guns were hailed as deliverers by the oppressed Bechuanas. Soon after this Moselekatse, finding that his enemies were becoming too many, left the Transvaal country and marched northward, ultimately settling in the hilly region between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, subduing and incorporating the Mashona and Makalaka, natives of this region, and forming there the Matebele kingdom, over which his successor Lo Benguela, proclaimed king in 1870, rules at the present day, his residence being at Gibbe Klaik on the southern slope of the Matoppo range. Another of Chaka's generals who afterwards became an independent ruler was named Manikoos. He was sent northward to drive the Portuguese from their settle- ments at Delagoa Bay; failing, however, to cope with their guns, and not being willing to return home to be slaughtered for his want of success, he passed on north- ward beyond the Limpopo, subjugating all the tribes between that river and the lower Zambesi, and founding the present Zulu kingdom of Gasa, which extends from the King George river at Delagoa Bay northward over the broad lowlands of the coast, to the Zambesi, and inland to the border of the Matebele country in the mountains, over which Umzila is king at the present time. Sebituane also, the chief of a tribe of the Basutos called the Makololo, though he was not one of Chaka's captains, adopted his system of war and government, raised his tribe to great power, and founded a once extensive king- dom. His native country lay near the sources of the Vaal, and his tribe was one of those which were driven northward on the advance of the Boers and Griquas from THE KAFIR CONQUESTS. 423 the Cape Colony about 1824. Attacking and conquering the tribes as he advanced, and frequently at war with the Boers and Moselekatse's Kafirs, he gradually moved north- ward along the eastern margin of the Kalahari to the Zambesi. Beaching it near the great falls, he overran the highlands beyond it towards the Kafue, incorporated the Barotse natives of the central valley of the Zambesi, and after repressing frequent inroads of the Matebele, estab- lished the Makololo kingdom, which extended over a great number of subjected tribes round the nucleus of these conquering Basutos. Sebituane died in 1850, and was succeeded by his son Sekeletu, a man of much smaller abilities, and who had to combat dissensions and opposition of rivals for the chieftainship. The reign of Impololo, Sekeletu's successor, was of short duration, and was disturbed by continual intrigues and feuds, and the fights for the succession to the chief- tainship which followed gave an opportunity to the conquered tribes to throw off the yoke of the strangers. An insurrection of the subject tribes was completely successful; the Barotse revenged themselves for the years of oppression they had endured, and destroyed the Makololo completely as a tribe. " Thus perished the Makololo from among the number of South African tribes. No one can put his finger on the map of Africa and say, Here dwell the Makololo. And yet this is the mighty people who more than forty years ago spread dismay in their north- ward journey."1 The conquests of the Zulu armies, first disciplined by Chaka, did not cease at the line of the Zambesi, however, but extended in later years far beyond it northward to the eastern lake region. The Mazitu or Maviti, whose conquests and devastations of all the country round Lake Nyassa and as far north as the Tanganyika in recent years have been 1 Mackenzie, op. cit. 424 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. described by Livingstone, appear to have been part of the Zulus who in 1833 were sent northward by Chaka under Manikoos to attack the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay, taking Inhambane in 1834, pillaging Sofala in 1836, and, after mastering the country about the lower Zambesi, levied tribute on the Portuguese at Tete and Sena. Crossing the Zambesi, these Maviti Zulus appear to have carried their devastations northward over all the country which lies between the Nyassa and the Indian Ocean, com- pletely shutting off the trade of the lake region with the coast ports during their passage, and even sending an army against Kilwa. They appear to have passed north- westward to occupy the country between the Nyassa and Tanganyika, and to have extended thence southward over the high plateaus on the western side of the Nyassa, and northward along the borders of the Tanganyika. There can be little doubt that they are the Watuta whom Cameron met with in 1874 on the south-east coast of Tanganyika, where they had just taken possession of a vil- lage, the lawful inhabitants of which had fled to the hills. These Kafir kingdoms are strong military despotisms. Cetywayo (pronounced Ketchwayo), who succeeded Panda, the successor of Dingaan, as the paramount chief of Zulu- land north of Natal, is described as a man of considerable ability and force of character. He commands an army of between 30,000 and 40,000 men, armed with guns imported through the Portuguese territory at Delagoa Bay, and though he remained neutral during the recent native disturbances in the Transvaal, the encroachment of the Boers on his frontier along the Drakenberg had given a cause of quarrel with that republic ; and there can be little doubt that if the British Government had not interfered to annex the Transvaal, the Zulu king would have speedily taken advantage of its weakness to make reprisals. GASA AND MATEBELE. 425 Umzila, king of the Gasa country, which stretches from Delagoa Bay to the lower Zambesi, has his residence or " kraal " on the outer slope of the mountains about 120 miles inland from the Portuguese harbour of Sofala, and is sole ruler over all this great territory, excepting the few points on the coast-land occupied by the Portuguese, and the fragments of former tribes living under their protec- tion and close to the settlements. Umzila has no regular army, but the Zulu section of his people is divided into regiments, and duly officered by " indunas " or captains. Such of these soldiers as can afford it are dressed in loose skins, feathers, tails of the blue gnu, and of domestic cattle, but the greater part can only muster a few pieces of goat-skins, and generally they present a sorry figure in their war-dress in comparison with the southern Zulus. Among the Matebele, on the interior highland, a most complete military despotism exists ; every able-bodied man is a soldier. "Matebele society," says Mr. Mackenzie, " may be said to exist for the chief. His claims are supreme and unquestioned. To him belongs every person and everything in the country. The droves of cattle which you meet belong to the chief ; and if one dies he is informed of it. The herd-boy who follows the cattle, and his master who lives in the adjoining town, belong alike to the chief." In full dress the soldiers carry large war-shields, and their heads and arms are so decorated with black ostrich feathers, as almost to hide the human form, and enable them to represent furies or war-demons rather than men. 3. Upper Course of the Zambesi. The Zambesi, which is by far the largest of all the African rivers that flow to the Indian Ocean, has one of its chief head-streams, if not its source, from the marshy 426 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. uplands of the little Lake Dilolo, situated between 11° and 12° south latitude, and 22° and 23° east longitude from Greenwich. It flows as the Leeambye through the Barotse valley southwards, and at last turning eastwards to the Indian Ocean, in the neighbourhood of Linyanti, under 18° south latitude. VICTORIA FALLS ! FROM THE WEST END. 4. The Victoria Falls. Soon after this change in its course, the Zambesi attains a lower level in rushing over the stupendous Victoria Falls, discovered by Livingstone in the month of November 1855, and rivalled in grandeur by those of Niagara alone. The native name of the falls is Mosioatunya, since, viewing them with awe at a distance and referring to the vapour and noise, they say " Mosi oa tunya " — " smoke does sound there." " After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai," Dr. Living- VICTORIA FALLS. 427 stone says, " we came in sight for the first time of the columns of vapour, appropriately called ' smoke/ rising at a distance of five or six miles, exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned in Africa. Five columns now arose, and bending in the direction of the wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees ; the tops of the columns at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were white below, and higher up became dark, so as to simulate smoke very closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of colour and form. At the period of our visit, several trees were spangled over with blossoms. There, towering over all, stands the great burly baobab, each of whose enormous arms would form the trunk of a large tree, beside a group of graceful palms, which, with their feathery-shaped leaves depicted on the sky, lend their beauty to the scene. The silvery mohonono, which in the tropics is in form like the cedar of Lebanon, stands in pleasing contrast with the dark colour of the motsouri, whose cypress form is dotted over at present with its pleasant scarlet fruit. Some trees resemble the great spreading oak, others assume the character of our own elms and chestnuts ; but no one can imagine the beauty of the view, from anything witnessed in England. The falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height, which are covered with forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees. When about half a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had come down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one with men well acquainted with the rapids, who, by passing down the centre of the stream, in the eddies and still places caused by the many jutting rocks, brought me to an island, situated in the middle of the river, and on the edge of the lip over which the water rolls. Though we had reached 428 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AXD TRAVEL. the island, and were within a few yards of the spot, a view from winch would solve the whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive where the vast body of water went ; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of the fissure into which it disappeared, being only eighty feet distant. Creeping with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had been made from VICTORIA FALLS I FROM THE GARDEN ISLAND. bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a stream of 1000 yards broad leaped down 100 feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen or twenty yards. The entire falls are simply a crack made in a hard basaltic rock, from the right to the left bank of the Zambesi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles of hills." . ..." In looking into the fissure, on the right side of the island, one sees nothing but a dense white cloud, which, at the time we visited the spot, had two bright rainbows on it. From this RIVER ZAMBESI. 429 cloud rushed up a great jet of vapour, exactly like steam, and it mounted 200 or 3 0 0 feet high ; there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant shower which wetted us to the skin." At the falls the bed of the river is still about 2500 feet above the sea-level. 5. The Lower Course of tJie Zambesi. It is worth noticing that none of the East African rivers seem to be free of waterfalls and rapids, a circum- stance readily explained by the terrace-like conformation of the whole continent. Hence, though the largest, the Victoria Falls are by no means the only cataracts on the Zambesi itself. It flows in an impetuous current through the hilly country of the Batoka, in a north-easterly direc- tion, its course being continually broken and narrowed by the falls of Kansala and Nakabele, and by the Kariba Pass, names which alone are sufficiently suggestive of the many natural barriers to the navigation of the Zambesi. It receives numerous, and occasionally considerable afflu- ents, on both sides of its course : from the south, the streams rising in the Matoppa and Mashona hills ; from the north, those flowing from the highlands bordering on the Lake region. By the Kebrabasa rapids the bed of the Zambesi is again suddenly and considerably lowered ; hence passing through the narrow gorge of the Lupata hills below Tete, which, since the abandonment of Zumbo, is the most advanced Portuguese station in the Zambesi Valley, and is the head of the navigation from the sea, it winds in a south-easterly direction out of the Banyai country towards the Portuguese station of Senna and the Indian Ocean. Here it forms a broad delta, discharoi.no- its waters through several channels, a little to the south of Quelimane. A short distance above the apex of this 430 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. delta it is joined by the river Shira, through it receiving a further contribution from the great Lake Nyassa. 6. Portuguese Possessions in Past Africa — Province of Mozambique. Though the maps indicate an immense stretch of territory (nearly as large as France and Spain together) along the East African coast, between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay, and on the lower Zambesi, as belonging to Portugal, and though this area is claimed by that power, only a few isolated points along it are actually in occupa- tion by Portuguese. According to Seiior Pery,1 the follow- ing nine districts form the Province of Mozambique : — 1. That of Cape Delgado, comprising the archipelago of the Querimba islands, and the possessions of Mucimba, Pangane, Lumbo, Quissanga, Montepes, Arimba, and the colony of Pemba, on the mainland. Of the twenty-eight islands of the Querimba archipelago, only four are inhabited. These are Ibo, with the capital town of the district, containing about 2500 inhabitants; Quirimba, Fumbo, and Matemo. 2. The district of Mozambique, including the island of Mozambique and a portion of the opposite mainland, with the hamlets of Mossuril, Cabaceira Grande and Pequena, and the territories of Sancul and Quitangonha. 3. Angoche, extending from the Pdo Sangage to Quirimbo, consisting of the small town of Angoche, and the Angoche (Angoxa) and Primeira islands. 4. Quelimane, from the Eio Quizumbo in the north to the Luabo mouth of the Zambesi in the south, and inland to the Shire river. 5. Sena, bounded on the north by the Shire river and a portion of the Zambesi, on the west by the Aroenha 1 Geographia e estadistica geral de Portugal e Colonias. Lisboa, 1875. PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA. 431 (a tributary of the Zambesi from the south), on the south by the small river Mussunguri, and the Barue heights. 6. Tete, included between the Eio Aruangoa, or Loangwa, a tributary of the Zambesi from the north ; a por- tion of the Zambesi and the Eio Siniati (Sinyati of Liv- ingstone, in 29° E.), the Serra Fura and the heights of Manica on the south ; and the district of Sena on the east. Zumbo, the highest Portuguese settlement on the Zambesi, and the now abandoned territory of Manica, south of the river, belong to this district. 7. Sofalla or Sofala, extending along the coast from the Eio Mussunguri as far as Cape San Sebastian, includ- ing the island of Chiloane and the Bazaruto archipelago. 8. Inhambane, the coast-land of Umzila's kingdom of Gasa. 9. Delagoa Bay, with its settlement of Lourenzo Marquez. The Portuguese arrived in this part of Africa in 1497, and took possession of the coast, which was famed for its harbours and gold, from the Arabs, by whom it was then held. In 1508 they built a fort on the island of Mozambique, and the town which grew up round this was made the capital of the possession in 1813. Up to the present time, however, the power and authority of the Portuguese extend but a small way round each of their isolated garrisons and stations on this coast. Government and trade are in the most debased condition ; the former, over the greater portion of the territory, is much rather in the hands of native chiefs than of the Portuguese. Con- siderable portions of the coast-land, however, are cultivated, and yield abundant rice harvests ; the forests yield valuable timber ; the rivers are full of hippopotami, and their tusks, with those of the elephant, which is abundant in the interior, furnish the ivory of the coast trade. There are gold- washings in some districts, but the formerly cele- 432 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. brated mines near Zumbo, on the Zambesi, are now abandoned. The greater portion of the coast-land is unhealthy, especially in the months of September, Octo- ber, and November. A governor appointed by the crown of Portugal, and armed with almost unlimited and unre- stricted authority, has the management of the settlements, and is aided by a council or "junta," and a small military force chiefly composed of Portuguese convicts. The number of white men, Arabs, and Indian Banyans in the stations is very small, and of the whole number of Portu- guese native subjects, a very large proportion are slaves. The slave trade still continues on this coast, though very decided laws were passed prohibiting it in 1857. As on the west coast, the emancipation of all slaves has been decreed to take place in 1878. Mozambique, the capital of the province (in 15° S. lat.), stands on a small low-lying coral islet close to the mainland, in front of a fine and secure bay, and is pro- tected by two or three forts. Its white houses form very narrow streets. Two churches, several chapels, an hospital, and warehouses, are its principal buildings, a large stone- built convent serving as the Government House. The Portuguese are very few, and are chiefly convicts. Indian Banyan merchants carry on the trade with India chiefly in Arab vessels manned by Arab seamen ; at Mossuril, at the head of the bay, a large autumn fair is held by the \Vahiao Xesroes, who come then from the interior in lar^e caravans of about 3000 men, carrying ivory, gum copal, and skins, to exchange for manufactured goods. The neighbouring peninsula of Cabaceira is the cultivated portion of the Mozambique settlement, and yields rice, maize, cassava, oranges, coffee, and cocoanuts. Quelimane, or Kilimane, called "the capital of the rivers of Senna " by the Portuguese, is a small town built at a distance of twelve miles from the sea, on the north PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA. 433 bank of the Quelimane river, which may be called the most northerly delta branch of the Zambesi. The Mutu channel, uniting it with the head of the delta, was for- merly large and navigable all the year round, but is now dry during a great part of the year, and is blocked up with vegetation, so that this settlement is almost com- pletely shut off from the highway of the river. On this account, and from its unhealthiness, it is not often visited, but one or two Portuguese houses, and two French ones, connected with Marseilles, are established here for trade in ground-nuts, sesamum, wax, and ivory when it can be had. Senna, or Sena, about 120 miles up the Zambesi on its southern bank, is a ruinous and unhealthy village, and has almost entirely lost its former importance as a trading station. It has been frequently attacked by the Landeens and Zulus, and is quite neglected by the Portuguese authorities. Livingstone mentions that the officer in charge here had not received any pay for four years. Tete, or Nyungwe, 260 miles up the river, where the stream is about 1000 yards wide, is also built on the south bank on a long slope to the water, the fort being close to the river. It has about thirty European houses, the rest being native, of wattle and daub. In former times considerable quantities of grain, coffee, sugar, oil, indigo, gold-dust, and ivory were exported from Tete, but the slave trade took the place of agriculture and gold-washing, and such numbers were sent down that in the end the Portuguese settlers found they had "neither hands to labour nor to fight for them," and were obliged also to emigrate. There is an abundance of the root called " calumba," popularly known as " Colombo," in the neigh- bourhood of Tete, which is of great value in medicine as a tonic. Zumho on the northern bank, and Ghicova on the 2 F 434 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. southern, opposite one another, at a distance of nearly 500 miles from the sea, were the farthest inland of the Portuguese East African settlements, and were formerly great markets for the trade of the interior. Zumbo, now partly in ruins, is admirably placed for commerce on the confluence of the Loangwa with the Zambesi, and was founded by a native of Goa named Pereira, who established himself there at the head of a body of sixty men. Six leagues distant from it are the celebrated gold-mines of Parda Pemba, from which much gold was formerly ob- tained. These are now abandoned, and the village of Zumbo itself was deserted by the Portuguese for several years, but was reoccupied in 1862. Like the Nile, the Zambesi fertilises the lowlands of its banks by its inundations, which take place from November to July. Though agriculture is in the most primitive state, the Negroes succeed in obtaining abundant crops. As soon as the river recedes, they make shallow holes in the fertilised land, into which they drop a few grains of wheat or millet, after which they cover them with soil. Cattle-breeding is not attempted in conse- quence of the tsetze fly, the plague of many portions of this region. Sofala, a port of about 2000 inhabitants, lies at the mouth of the Great Sofala river, or estuary, in about 20° S., and has a fine natural harbour capable of safely sheltering perhaps 100 vessels. Its name is that of a maritime kingdom renowned in ancient times for its wealth, and which formed part of the mythical empire of Monomotapa of which the earlier travellers gave marvel- lous accounts. From its richness in gold and ivory, Sofala has even been supposed by some to be the golden Ophir to which King Solomon sent a fleet of ships every three years. The gold-fields of Manica, which are placed by Carl Mauch approximately at a distance of 130 miles PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA. 435 north-west of the port of Sofala, yielded the precious metal more abundantly than any other region of East Africa, and were at one time worked on a large scale under the Portuguese. One of their geographers relates that in his time the mines yielded annually two millions of metrigals, every metrigal counting for a ducat. Living- stone saw gold from this quarter as large as grains of wheat. In common with the remainder of the coast of East Africa, this portion was conquered and held by the Arabs between the eighth and twelfth centuries. It was visited in 1480 by Pedrao Cavalho, a Portuguese captain, before the route by sea to India was discovered. In 1505 the Portuguese under Albuquerque began to take possession of these regions, and built a strong fort on an islet at the mouth of the Eio de Sofala, near a town which had been founded by the Arabs two centuries before. On the commencement of the wars and conquests of the Kafirs under Chaka, a Zulu chief named 'Cnaba fled hither before Chaka's forces from the Zulu country, drove the Portuguese from their forty villages or settle- ments in the interior of Sofala, and destroyed these com- pletely. The conquering Zulu army under Manikoos afterwards advanced northward along the coast-land, and in turn conquered and pushed out the followers of 'Cnaba. Umzila, the son of Manikoos, and the present ruler of all the country between the lower Limpopo and Zambesi, still further obliterated the knowledge of their position, by exterminating aboriginal inhabitants, and depopulating the country. In his journey of exploration in 1871-72, from the Transvaal northward along the inner border of Sofala to the Zambesi at Senna, Carl Mauch made the interesting discovery of the extensive ruins which he believed to be those of ancient Zimboe or Zimbabye, the city of the Queen of Sheba, but which Mr. St. Vincent Erskine sup- 43 G COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. poses to be the remains of the old fort built by Francisco Baretto, the commander of a Portuguese army that landed at Sofala in 1586 or 1587. These ruins lie at a distance of about 200 miles west of the town of Sofala ; one col- lection of them covers a considerable portion of a gentle rise, while another, apparently a fort, stands upon a bold rocky hill. The walls are still thirty feet in height, and are built of granite hewn into small blocks about the size of bricks, and put together without mortar. In many places there remain beams of stone eight or ten feet in length projecting from the walls, and some of these are ornamented with lozenge-shaped figures one within another, separated by horizontal bands of diagonal lines. Inhambane, the next important coast station of the Portuguese south of Sofala, nearly on the tropic of Capri- corn, was not founded till 1764, but is one of the most considerable places in this region, having about 6500 inhabitants. The town makes itself known at the head of its deep bay, environed by cocoa palms, by a large church and a mosque, prominent among its buildings. The bay is backed by comparatively lofty wooded hills. The streets are narrow and crooked, and naturally sandy, and as indicating the degeneracy of its present inhabitants, the better edifices have in some instances been pulled down for the stone and timber to be used in building little hovels, the wealth and aristocracy of the population having left on the abolition of the slave trade. A number of European Portuguese still remain, and the arrival of some French traders has given new life to the place. Ground-nuts, to be manufactured into salad oil, india- rubber, beeswax, ivory, and inferior gum copal, are the produce of the neighbouring country, and the chief articles of export trade. Since the invasion of the Zulus the Portuguese are neither feared nor respected in this part of their nominal possessions, their Negro troops are held PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA. 437 in contempt by the surrounding tribes, and their rule extends only over a tract of seventy miles in length, north and south of the town, and fifteen miles in width.1 At Lourenzo Marquez, on the north side of Delagoa Bay, the southmost settlement of their possessions, the Portuguese rule is still more curtailed ; for there " they can call nothing their own beyond the space within range of their cannon." So isolated is this station, that it is related that in 1842, when its governor was murdered and its fort destroyed, the intelligence reached Mozam- bique early in the following year, having come thither by way of Brazil. A small military force is now settled at Lourenzo Marquez, and in 1872 its population was 2600. A government expedition, consisting of artisans and colonists, was sent out to this point in 1876, and may help to raise it from its present dilapidated condition. Mr. Erskine describes it as a " mass of grass huts, reed fences, decayed forts, rusty cannon, small proportion of Europeans, and large of half-castes, Banyans, Mussulmans, Brahmins, Tongas, slaves and freed-men, sand-dunes, narrow streets, flat-roofed houses, coco-nut trees, and stench, enclosed by a wall about six feet high, recently erected and protected by bastions at intervals, mounting heavy guns, and showing a rifle-tower or man-house on each ; only a poor but yet sufficient protection against the savages around." Though it is very unhealthy, the position of Delagoa Bay and the advantages of its spacious harbour as the natural outlet of the Transvaal region, give it great importance. Already a line of railway is projected to unite it with the Transvaal gold-fields at Lydenburg. For some years the possession of half of the bay was in dispute between England and Portugal, and in 1875 the question was submitted to the arbitration of the President of the French Eepublic. It was decided, in favour of Portugal, that the 1 St. Vincent Erskine, R. G. S. Journal 1875. 438 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. southern limit of their territory is the line of 2 6° 3 0 ' S. lat., and that it extends inland about twenty-five miles to the Lobombo range of hills. 7. Between the Zambesi and the Orange River. The country between the Zambesi and the Orange river may be divided into four longitudinal sections, each characterised by a special physical conformation, climate, and indigenous population. The eastern division, which we have already surveyed, is mostly mountainous, and inhabited by Kafir tribes engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits. The next section can scarcely be called hilly, consisting mainly of the broad gently undu- lating plains of the plateau, generally about 3000 feet above sea-level, and peopled by the Bechuanas. The third division is still more level than the adjoining one, becoming somewhat more hilly as it approaches the western seaboard. Here is situated the vast and thinly- peopled plain known as the Great Kalahari desert. The fourth or western section is the hilly country of the Hot- tentots and Damaras, extending from the Orange river mouth northward to the southern limits of the Portuguese western possessions, and from the Kalahari to the sandy belt of country which here skirts the Atlantic. The moisture supply of these longitudinal belts is derived mainly from the Indian Ocean, and is brought to them by the prevailing east winds. The greater portion of the rainfall is caught in its advance by the high outer descent of the plateau which faces the Indian Ocean, and thence westward a gradual diminution of the supply becomes evident, until towards the centre and west of the interior plateau a region is found which is almost de- prived of rain, and is only visited by occasional thunder- showers during the summer months, which are those of heaviest rainfall on the coast slopes. INTERIOR OF SOUTH AFRICA. 439 8. The Kalahari Desert. The Kalahari desert represents that area of the interior which is most deficient of all in moisture supply. It continues the dry region of Bushman Land, in the northern interior of the Cape Colony, northward across the Orange river, and extends over the whole western cen- tral region of the continent as far as about 20° south latitude, so that its position in each side of the tropic of Cancer coincides remarkably with that of the dry regions of inner Australia and of South America in the same hemi- sphere, or with that of the Sahara in the north of Africa. Generally it may be described as a dry and sandy region without any running water, inhabited only by a few wan- dering families of Bushmen following the herds of ante- lopes, which require little or no water, in their migrations in search of pasture. The gradation westward from the fertile grass plains of the Transvaal and Orange States to the barren desert country is, however, a very gradual one. The eastern border of the Kalahari, along which Living- stone passed in making his way northward to the Zam- besi in 1853, has a soil of light-coloured soft sand, baked hard by the burning sun, and over this the rain water which has fallen in summer stands in pools for several months. Grass appears in tufts with bare spaces between, and the intervals are occupied by creeping plants, which having their roots buried far beneath the surface, feel but little the effects of the scorching heat. The number of those which have tuberous roots is very great, and their structure is intended to supply nutriment and moisture, when, during the long droughts, these can be obtained nowhere else. One kind, named the " mokuri," is seen in parts of the desert where long-continued dry heat has parched the soil. This plant is a herbaceous creeper, and deposits underground a number of tubers, some as large 440 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. as a man's head, at spots in a circle a yard or more hori- zontally outward from the stem. The natives strike the ground on the circumference of the circle with stones, till by hearing a difference of sound they know the water- bearing tuber to be beneath.1 They then dig down a foot or so and find it. But the most surprising plant of the desert, Livingstone says, is the " kengwe," or " kerne," the water-melon. In years when more than the usual quantity of rain falls, vast tracts of the desert are literally covered with these melons, which are provided as if pur- posely to save up the supply. The Bushmen or Saan are the nomads of the Kala- hari, as indeed of all those regions of inner South Africa which, on account of their in- fertility, are not occupied by the Kafirs, or Hottentots, or Europeans. Though of low stature, thin, and wiry, the Bushmen are not dwarfish, and it is very remarkable that on the borders of the desert, as the country begins to improve, the natives also improve in stature as well as in abilities and intelligence. Thus while the Bushmen of that part of the desert which is encompassed by the Kafirs and Hottentots in the south, are nearly the lowest in the scale of human beings, and have been systematically enslaved both by the Kafirs and by the Boers, those who live to north of the Kala- hari are fine well-made men, nearly independent of every one. Excepting a few mats hung up as a shelter, the Bushman, the THE BUSHMAN. gipsy of South Africa, has no house or 1 Livingstone, Missionary Traveia. THE BUSHMEN. 441 home, never tries to cultivate the soil, possesses neither cattle nor goats, and has no domestic animal about him save a few wretched half-wild dogs. He acknowledges no king or chief, and even the family ties seem to be ex- tremely loose. A few rough skins serve for his clothing ; bow and poisoned arrows serve him in the chase after the antelopes, which he follows about from place to place. He is skilful in laying traps for all kinds of game ; with a sling he brings down the partridge or the guinea fowl, whether running or on the wing, and the vulture guides him to where the previous night the lion has fallen on his prey, leaving to him the great marrow-bones of the ele- phant or giraffe ; his scanty subsistence of the flesh of game is eked out by what the women can collect of roots in the desert. Here the Bushman's only rude implement of agriculture, if it may be so called — a round stone bored through to admit a pointed stick — comes into use. The weight of the stone drives the point of the stick into the soil, and in digging out the tubers the stone again serves as a fulcrum on which to support the lever of the stick. These bored stones have a considerable interest, since they have been found in all the country east of the desert, and even on the coast-land, indicating a former extension of the Bushmen who used them, far beyond the present area into which they have gradually been driven. In the earlier days of the colonies, indeed, and before the systematic shooting of the Bushmen by the Boers had taken effect, they occupied the whole of the wild moun- tain country along the Drakenberg, and frequently made raids from the mountain gorges on the earlier settlers in Natal, displaying great sagacity and craft in concealing their retreats. "No words, says M. Merensky, could better describe the life of the Bushmen than those of the 30 th chapter of 442 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Job : — " For want and famine they were solitary ; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) to dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks." Though the Bushmen resemble the Hottentots in colour and general type of feature, in the clucking sounds of their speech, and in their myths and sayings, in which sun, moon, and stars have a part, they must be considered as a separate people. The languages of the Hottentots and Bushmen prove on close examination to have little, if any, relation to one another, showing that if these tribes have originally belonged to the same stock, they have lived separated and distinct from one another for a long period of time. 9. Lake Ngami and its Neiglibourlwod. North of the Kalahari desert is situated Lake Ngami, discovered by Livingstone on August 1, 1849, a fine though not very deep sheet of water, with an estimated length of 50 miles, but much less breadth, and which, according to the natives, takes three days to be circum- navigated. Its shores are generally extremely flat, sandy, muddy, and overgrown with reeds. Like the Chad on the border of the Sahara, the Ngami, correspondingly placed on the edge of the Kalahari, is subject to great annual changes, and like its northern counterpart is also believed to have undergone very extensive alteration and reduction within the past few centuries, as the numerous large salt-pans and depressions lying eastward of it testify. The Tioge river, feeding it from the more favoured country in the north-west of its basin, corresponds to the Shari, and brings a flood of water down to it in June, July, and August, filling out the lake LAKE NGAMI 443 with perfectly fresh water, and causing it to overflow eastward to the salt-pans, by the channel named the Zouga. In other months of the year it is gradually reduced in area, its overflow ceases, and its low waters become brackish. It is rich in fish however, great shoals of which come down with the annual access of waters from the Tioge, to the lake and the Zouga. The natives MAKATO's VILLAGE, NEAR LAKE NGAMI. navigate the lake in primitive canoes hollowed out of the trunks of single trees. From the parallel of Lake Ngami both land and people stretching northwards assume quite a different appearance. Instead of an elevated, sandy, and waterless upland, we enter a vast basin encircled by high ranges, and with a superabundance of water. The Ngami itself marks only the southern border of this great plain, which extends a long way to the north, is crossed by a network of streams flowing from the higher lands on the north and north-west. 444 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL, Northward, also, the landscape becomes more picturesque, the banks of the rivers rise to a greater height, and are covered with a luxuriant growth of palms, mimosas, and sycamores. The animal kingdom on the shores of the lake and along the banks of the streams is as rich as it is varied, including the elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, and several species of antelope, while the waters teem with crocodiles, at times growing to a huge size. 10. Namaqua and Damara Zand. "West of the Kalahari desert is the extensive country of the Namaqua Hottentots and of the Damara Kafirs, reaching quite to the Atlantic seaboard, and from near the border of the Portuguese West African possessions on the north to the Orange river on the south. Already pre- liminary steps have been taken by the Cape parliament for bringing the whole of this region under British rule. Namaqualand, in which dwells the most characteristic type of the aboriginal Hottentot race, is a dreary region, with a scanty and stunted vegetation of the delicate Bush- man grasp prickly shrubs with viscous leaves, the fleshy speck-boom (Portulacaria akra), the pale green kanobos (Lasoxylon salsosa), the evergreen thorny mimosa, and wild water-melons. The coast is sandy and waterless, deficient in good harbours, and devoid of permanent rivers, washed by never- ceasing surf, bristling with reefs, and overhung by a per- petual haze, but improves towards the interior, where dwell the nomad and warlike Namaqua, breeders of the smallest known bovine species. Copper is procured at the source of the river Oop or Aub, or Great Fish, the great drain of the country towards the Orange ; ivory, ostrich feathers, and cattle, are rather abundant ; and on some small islands along the coast there were large deposits of NAMAQUA AND DAMARA LAND. 445 guano. Ichaboe and Possession Islands, between 26° and 27° S. lat., formerly had guano in large quantities, and a few years ago three or four hundred vessels might have been seen anchored off these, working and carrying off the deposits. Now, however, these are nearly exhausted. At Angra Pequena Bay, between these islands, cattle were procured to supply the workers, and a good cattle-track, BEACH HOTTENTOTS AT WALFISCH BAY. the only highway into central Namaqualand from the Atlantic seaboard, leads thence to the Rhenish mission station of Bethany (26° 30' S.), situated on the plateau, near a branch of the periodically flowing Oop, at an ele- vation of nearly 4000 feet above the sea. Walfisch Bay, farther north, in 23° S., affords a secure anchorage, but no fresh water or vegetables, though cattle are brought thither from Damaraland. Fish is abundant, and the bay was formerly a great resort of the American South Sea whalers, whence its name. The tracks which lead inward over 446 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. northern Namaqualand to the mission stations of Reho- both and Windhoek among the mountains, and to that of Otjikango or Barmen in southern Damaraland, also start from Walfisch Bay. The high country of the interior along the mountain ranges, which generally extend parallel with the coast, is very healthy, in winter even cold, and slopes eastwards down to the Kalahari desert. The water channels, which are all periodical, rise at an elevation of about 4000 to 5000 feet, while some peaks of the highland attain a height of 7000 feet, Mount Omatako in Damaraland even 8800. The northern part of this region is the land of the Damara, a broad expanse separated from the more north- ern Ovampo tribes by a tract of country overgrown with thickets of the acacia and other thorny plants, and harbouring all the larger wild beasts of Africa. According to Mr. Palgrave,1 Damaraland is peopled by about 85,000 Ova-Herero or Cattle Damaras, as they were called by the Namaquas when they first came into the country from the east, probably from the Zambesi region, about 150 years ago; by about 30,000 Houquain or Berg-Damaras, a black and negro-like people, supposed to be the aborigines of the country, who were early enslaved by the Namaquas, and have adopted their language ; and by about 3000 Bushmen, a few Namaquas and Baastards, and about 150 Europeans, not including Boers. North of Damaraland a number of black tribes, resembling the Kafirs and Damaras in feature, and classed together as the Ovampos, occupy the exceedingly fertile tract of country which lies south of the Cunene river, between 14° and 18° E. long. Each of their tribes has its own hereditary chief, and they are moderately rich in cattle. 1 Report of a Government Mission to Damaraland and Great Namaqua- land in 1876. By W. Coates Palgrave. Cape Town, September 1877. THE SOUTH AFRICAN KACES. 447 CHAPTEE XXY. THE SOUTH AFRICAN RACES. 1. The Bantu Family. South Africa in its widest extent is peopled by two great and perfectly distinct indigenous races — the Kafirs and the Hottentots. The affinity of the Kafir tribes, ethnographically including the Kafirs proper and the people of Congo, is based upon the various idioms spoken by them, the direct representatives of a common but now extinct mother tongue. This aggregate of languages is now conventionally known as the A-bantu, or, more correctly, the Bantu linguistic system. The more common term Kafir, from the Arabic Kafir = infidel, really represents but a small section of this great family, and being otherwise a term of reproach imposed upon them by strangers, is of course unknown to the people themselves. All the Bantu tribes are distinguished by a dark skin and woolly hair, which varies much in length and quality, but is never sleek or straight; the complexion of indi- viduals also differs greatly, from the deepest sepia to a blue-black hue ; the body is of a robust build, the cranium dolichocephalous and high, the features, when pure, never of the European type. Their languages belong exclusively to the so-called "Pronominal Prefix" order, which, besides the Bantu group, comprises only the far less important Mena and Gor families. According to its geographical position the 448 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. Bantu system is divided into the Eastern group, from its principal representatives known as the Ama-Zulu and Ama-Khosa or Kafir proper, the Central or Be-tchuana group, and the Western or O-va-Herero, or Damara group. 2. The Ama-Khosa and Ama-Zulu. Physically speaking, the Ama-Khosa, i.e. people of the Khosa, may be taken as the most characteristic representatives of the whole Kafir group. The first writers about this people represented them as a typical race of almost ideal beauty, in fact "living statues," a delusion completely overthrown by the accurate measure- ments of Dr. Gustav Fritsch, perhaps the most thorough anatomist of the South African races. Not only the cranium but the whole skeleton differs materially from the European standard, bearing the same relation to it that the osteology of a wild beast does to that of a tame specimen of the same species. Owing to his social condition the Kafir is distinguished rather by his physical endurance and passive resistance to injurious influences, than by any positive outward display of bodily strength ; and just as his muscular system presents nothing remark- able, so the acuteness of his senses surpasses but little that of the ordinary European, the eyesight being the most highly developed. With regard to his mental faculties, it is characteristic of the Kafir that he immediately reduces the loftiest conceptions of religious thought to the flattest, grossest, materialism. His ideal, the object of his dreams and his songs, is his most valuable possession, the lowly ox. Anxiety for the safety of his wearily acquired effects, or for the preservation of a life surrounded by dangers of all sorts, in a word, for everything that, in the absence of higher aspirations, can have any value in his eyes, im- A BECHUANA WARRIOR. To face page 44S. THE SOUTHERN BANTU TEIBES. 449 parts an element of timidity to his character. The Kafir has been often, but unreasonably, painted as a hero. He is doubtless apt to assume an unabashed swaggering air, so that we might at first suppose we had to do with some dauntless warrior, whereas he is all the time the sorriest knave, who quite understands how to take advantage of his foe. Selfishness is in fact his cardinal virtue, every- thing being subordinate to his material interests. Where anything is to be pounced upon, he troubles himself little as to the ways and means. All his grand airs and outward show of dignity vanish at once, and he becomes according to circumstances a " romantic " highwayman or much more frequently a common thief. Cattle-steal- ing especially has grown so universal with him as to have acquired a certain political significance. His disinclination for serious thought is a great obstacle in the way of his mental culture. His mind lacks the elasticity required to support the burden of far- reaching reflections. Hence the religious ideas of the Kafirs are of an extremely low order ; though all of them have some notion, however obscure, of a continued existence after death, and the spirits of their forefathers are with most of them the object of a certain worship. Besides this cultus of the dead, the various tribes are of course enslaved to all manner of superstitions, amongst which the chief, and most disastrous, is the universal belief in sorcery. The northern division of these Bantus bears the name of Ama-Zulu, and they are amongst the best represent- atives of dark-coloured races. The Zulus are relatively well developed and of large size, though not surpassing the average height of Europeans, and with decidedly better features than the Ama-Khosa. 450 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 3. TJie Bechuana and Damara Tribes. The most wide-spread and most numerous of all these Kafir tribes are the Bechuanas, their present domain stretching from the upper Orange river northwards to the Zambesi, and over the west coast highland north of Namaqualand ; of this vast region, however, they occupy the outskirts only, being cut off from the Zulus and Swazi by the Quathlamba range on the east, and westwards by Kalahari desert from Namaqualand. BECHUANA WOMEN PREPARING WINTER STORES. Like the Kafirs proper, the Bechuanas have no sense of honour where they have remained unaffected by civilising influences, and they are even still more crafty than their eastern kinsmen. But with this cunning is combined a certain good-nature, so that we feel it impossible to be angry with them for their consummate impudence. Like the other tribes they are fond ^ of jovial society, often sitting for hours together amusing TOILET OF A BECHUANA BELLE. To face page 450. THE SOUTHERN BANTU TRIBES. 451 themselves with harmless jokes and merry-making. Their indifference to the more serious concerns of life is also apparent in their views of a future state, and in their less sinister ideas on the subject of witchcraft. They no doubt, like others, believe firmly in witches and sorcery, and have their " Nyaka," or medicine-men. Still their fanaticism rarely reaches the fearful height it STREET IN A BECHUANA TOWN. does amongst the Khosa and Zulu Kafirs, nor are horrible executions on account of sorcery of common occurrence amongst them. The thought of their condition after death gives them little concern, though they believe in the existence of a class of supernatural beings, the " Ba-rimi," in some mysterious way connected with the spirits of the departed. Allied to the Bechuanas, but situated in the extreme north-west, are a people known by the colonial name of Bamara, but who call themselves O-va-Herero. These are to be distinguished from another tribe, the Hill Damaras 452 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. whose descent has never been clearly ascertained, but who originally had certainly nothing in common with the O-va-Herero. These degraded Hill or Berg-Damaras name themselves Houquain or " real men but the Xamaquas who have enslaved them, contemptuously call them Ghoic-damap, or * men made of dirt." Both in their outward appearance and in all other respects the pure O-va-Herero are very unlike the Hill Damara, in all essential points differing but little from other Bantu tribes. 4. The Hottentots. On the other hand, the Hottentots, or more correctly Koi-Koin (men), have no material features in common with the great Bantu family, except their woolly hair, though even this presents some considerable points of difference. Their general type is that of a people with a peculiar pale yellow-brown complexion, very curly " elf-lock " or matted hair, narrow forehead, high cheek-bones projecting side- ways, pointed chin, body of medium size, rather hardy than strong, with small hands and feet, and platynoce- phalous cranium. The Hottentot language, which is rich in " click " sounds, belongs to the " Pronominal Suffix " order, and is divided into four dialects : the Cape Hottentot, that of the Eastern province, the Kora, and the Nama or Namaqua. With this linguistic division the ethnographic corresponds in all essentials, except that the Koi-Koin of the Cape are scarcely to be distinguished from those of the Eastern province. Hence the Hottentots are properly divided into three groups : the Colonial, or Hottentots properly so called, dwelling in Cape Colony, and thence eastwards to the borders of Kafhiand, but possessing no general name comprising all their several tribes ; the Korana, settled mainly on the right bank of the Orange river, more THE HOTTENTOTS. 453 especially along its upper course, and in the Vaal and Hart districts ; lastly, the Namaqua, whose domain em- braces the western portion of South Africa, bordering eastwards on the Kalahari desert, and extending from the Orange river northwards to Walfisch Bay. HOTTENTOTS. 454 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTER XXVI. THE REGIONS OF LOWER GUINEA, 1, Definition — Extent. By Lower Guinea is understood that strip of the western seaboard, stretching from the Damara highlands north- wards to, and nearly at right angles with, Upper Guinea, which has been described in previous chapters. Our account of this domain, including as much of the country inland as has been hitherto explored, will complete our general survey of the whole African Continent. A great part of this coast, the portion extending from 5° 12' to 18° 30' south latitude, is claimed by the Portuguese, whom we also met as the rulers of a wide domain on the eastern seaboard. But though their rule is by no means restricted to the coast-line, as is, for in- stance, that of the Sultan of Zanzibar, yet on no side of the continent have explorers succeeded in penetrating so little into the interior as from this very west coast. 2. The Portuguese Possessions on the West Coast. The Portuguese hold and occupy Mossamades, Ben- guela, and Angola, territories which extend northward from Cape Frio as far as Ambriz, in 8° S. The territory northward of this point across the mouth of the Zaire or Congo, as far as the stream of the Cacongo in 5° 12' S., is also claimed by the Portuguese, though they have no settlement in it, and never have occupied it ; their title to PORTUGUESE WEST AJRICA. PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 455 its possession has been the subject of debate between the British and Portuguese Governments at various times since 1845. The Portuguese base their rights to it on the claims of priority of discovery in the reign of King Don Joao IL, 1481 to 1495; on actual possession begun at various times, though always interrupted by considerations of an economical or political nature ; and on the intention, con- stantly manifested by word and act, of maintaining the sovereignty of the territory included within the limits above given. It is impossible to define the eastern limits of this western Portuguese territory. For Angola alone a clear eastern frontier line may be found in the Coango, a pro- bable tributary of the Congo, though its upper course alone has been hitherto explored. Cassange, the most advanced Portuguese station in the interior, is itself not far distant from the frontiers of the little-known country of Muata- Yanvo, on the Kasai or Kassabi. As might be expected, the most important European stations lie on the coast. Foremost amongst these are Sao Paulo de Loanda, or simply Loanda, the Portuguese capital of Lower Guinea, with about 12,000 inhabitants ; Benguela and Mossamedes southward, and Ambriz north of Loanda. North of the mouth of the Zaire the most important coast town is Kabinda, and of the stations in the interior we may mention Bembe, Bailundo, and Bihe, as perhaps the most noteworthy. For the most recent account of the Portuguese territory of the West Coast we are indebted to Mr. Monteiro, from whose volumes we borrow the chief points in the following description : — 1 3. General Aspect of the Country. The coast-land of the Portuguese territory, from the Angola and the River Congo, by J. J. Monteiro. London, 1875. 456 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. river Congo southward, contrasts very strongly with the West African coast to northward of that river. Here it is nowhere very bold ; level sandy bays fringed with a belt of the dark evergreen mangrove, alternate with long stretches of low cliffs covered with coarse branching grass, with here and there a tall cactus -like euphorbia, or the gigantic tower- ing baobab, sometimes 100 feet in circumference, with its fantastic long gourd-like fruit. From the Congo to Mossamedes no dense forest is seen from the sea, and from the Portuguese limit, southward to beyond the Orange river, there is not a single tree to be seen. North of the Congo, on the contrary, all round to the Niger delta, and beyond it, the level coast is occupied by hundreds of miles of lagoons and swamps, with a bottom of fetid black mud, alive with legions of land-crabs, the hotbeds of African fever. Drenched with rain, this part of Africa is covered with luxuriant forests in one expanse of unvarying green, the combined result of excessive moisture and tropical heat. The Congo, however, shuts off this forest country completely, and for a distance of from thirty to sixty miles inland on the coast of the Portuguese territory there is nowhere more than an indication of the wonderful vegeta- tion which generally begins at this distance from the sea. Here also a ridge or terrace runs along the wThole length of the country forming the first elevation ; a second suc- ceeds it at about an equal distance ; and a third, at perhaps twice the distance, again lands us on the central high plateau of Africa, at an elevation of 5000 to 6000 feet above the sea. Eemarkable changes in the vegetation covering the surface of the country accompany these suc- cessive elevations inland. With the first, the baobabs, euphorbias, and prickly shrubs of the drier region of the coast-land disappear, and larger, shadier, trees and shrubs, with tall broad-leaved grasses, give quite a different aspect to the country. The second rise brings a third change : PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 457 creepers of all kinds monopolise the vegetation, clasping round the biggest trees and covering them with a mass of foliage and flower in wonderful luxuriance. Still farther inland the level plateau country stretches away into the interior, oil-palms become abundant, and gigantic grasses, from five to as much as sixteen feet in height, form a dense covering over the vast plains wherever tree vegeta- tion is scarce. Shortly after the rains cease in May, the grass, having flowered and attained its full growth, rapidly dries under the hot sun, and is then set on fire by the blacks, forming the wonderful " queimadas," burnings or " smokes." The effect of these burnings is indescribably grand and striking. " In the day time the line of fire is marked by a long cloud of beautiful white steam-like smoke, curling slowly up in the most fantastic forms against the clear blue sky. This cloud of smoke is closely accompanied by a perfect flock of rapacious birds of every size and description, from the magnificent eagle to the smallest hawk, circling and sailing high and grandly in the air, and now and then swooping down upon the unfortunate rats, mice, and small animals, snakes and other reptiles, burnt and left exposed by the conflagration. Near the blazing grass the scene is very fine ; a deafening noise is heard as of thousands of pistol shots, caused by the im- prisoned air bursting every joint of the long stems." At night a vast wall of fire is seen over hill and valley as far as the eye can reach. The changes of vegetation from the coast inland corre- spond also to differences of climate : the rains on the coast are generally very deficient, and in some seasons entirely fail, especially towards the south; towards the interior they are much more abundant. 458 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL. 4. Climate. The climate of Angola is not so hot as might be ex- pected from its latitude, and along the coast the daily sea- breeze, which sets in about nine or ten o'clock in the morning, lasting till sunset, sometimes too strong to be agreeable, cools the sun's heat in the hot season. The thermometer seldom rises above 80° to 86° in the shade in the hot season, and in the " cacimbo " or cool season, the usual temperature is from 70° to 75°. The nights are always cool. Towards the interior, away from the influence of the sea-breeze, the heat is greater, but the increase of elevation counteracts the effect of this. Rain falls only in the hot season, or from the end of October to the middle of May, with an intermission in January and part of February. During the cool or " cacimbo " season, the sun is not often visible for days together, a uniform white sky obscuring its position ; and a thick white mist covers the ground at night. Everywhere ener- vating, the climate requires the exercise of a strong will to overcome its influence and the tendency to inactivity. South of the Congo the most important river is the Coanza (Kwanza or Quanza), the only one that is navi- gable for any great distance inland. It rises in the mountains of the Kimbandi country, which we have previously noted, in describing Cameron's route across the continent, and has a north-westward course to the sea, separating the province of Angola from Benguela. At a direct distance of about 120 miles up from the Atlantic, its first cataracts, those of Cambambe, interrupt its navigation ; but as far as the town of Dindo, a few miles below these falls, it is now regularly traversed by the trading vessels of the Coanza Steam Ship Company. The Cunene or Nourse river, which embraces the province of Mossamedes in the south, is the only other river of the PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 459 Portuguese territory which is comparable in size of drainage-area with the Coanza. Its sources are on the opposite shed from those of the Coanza, on the heights which form the edge of the interior plateau of West Africa, and it curves south-westward to the sea, not far north of Cape Frio. Even in its lower course, however, this river, which is remarkable for its numbers of crocodiles, is narrow and shallow, flowing between sand dunes and granite rocks, and perfectly unnavigable even if its mouth were not barred by sandbanks. 5. Inhabitants. The great river Congo forms not only a natural boundary between the damp forest lands to north of it and the vegetation of the drier coast-land of Angola, but is also a grand line of division in respect of the peoples and wild animals of the West Coast region. The gorilla and chimpanzee, for example, are only known north of the Congo, and many species of monkeys common on its north bank are unknown on the southern. Though the elephant is not now to be met with on any part of the coast-land of the Portuguese territory, it occasionally comes down from the interior. The country abounds, however, with large animals, and between Benguela and Mossamedes, elands, springbok, and other antelopes, with zebras and wild buffaloes, occur in large herds. The springboks and antelopes appear in thou- sands, scudding like clouds across the bare plains. Lions are common, and periodically follow the antelopes down to the lowlands, after the first showers have raised a crop of young grass. Hyasnas, jackals, and leopards infest some districts ; a large dog-faced monkey is very abundant on the rocky and arid coast of Benguela. The tribes from the Congo southward to Ambriz are 460 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. distinct from those of Loanda farther south, and remain almost in their primitive or natural condition. Their dress is not so scanty as that of the tribes farther inland ; the men wear a cloth reaching to the knees, tied round the waist with a strip of red baize ; the women sew to- gether two widths of cotton cloth, which is worn wrapped round the body, covering it from the arm-pits to the knees. The Mussurongo, the chief tribe of this region, wear ankle rings of brass or tin. The women of all tribes wear rings both on their arms and ankles, some of the richer carrying so many that they are almost unable to move. They shave the head, or allow the hair to grow very short, or cut it into various patterns. The Mussur- ongo knock out the two middle front teeth of the upper jaw on arriving at the age of puberty ; other tribes chip the teeth into points, a custom which we have noticed in speaking of several of the tribes of inner Africa. Circum- cision is universal among all the natives of Angola. The natives of Loanda, as well as those of the country between the rivers Dande and Coanza, speak the Bunda language, the others of the northern portions of the ter- ritory using the Congo dialects. These Bunda-speaking natives retain to the present day some part of the educa- tion they received from the older missionaries, and many of them read and write fairly in Portuguese, a circum- stance auguring well for the possibility of their future civilisation, although they are as completely imbued as their more uncivilised brethren in the belief and practice of " fetishes " of all kinds. The district of Ambaca inland from Loanda is occupied by a very peculiar tribe of Negroes, distinguished in countenance, manner, and speech, which, says Mr. Monteiro, enables them to be recognised as surely as a raw Irishman or Scotchman is with us. They are the cleverest Negroes in Angola, the greatest traders ; trade and roguery are their forte, and PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 461 they are well described as the Jews and gipsies of Angola. A distinct language is again met with south of the Coanza, where the Libollos and Quissamas occupy the country, the former being a much finer and cleaner race than their neighbours, with whom they are on antagonistic terms, though favourable to the Portuguese. The Quis- samas, unlike these, are under-sized, exceedingly dirty, and very black, and have a remarkably ugly cast of countenance. They are certainly the most miserable - looking race within the Portuguese territory, and have a wild, savage, suspicious, and frightened look. Their country, which borders on the sea, is very barren and destitute of water except in the rivers ; they use the hollow baobab trees to act as reservoirs for the rain-water of the wet season. South of these are the warlike Qui- bondos, the handsomest of all the natives, tall and well formed. In the vicinity of the town of Benguela live the Mundombes, a hard, wiry race, but wild, roving, and intractable, expert hunters, and owners of considerable herds of cattle. Their arms are knobbed sticks fancifully carved, small axes, bows and arrows, and " assagais " or spears, generally much ornamented with beads. 6. Negro Character. Speaking of the general character of the natives of this region of the West African coast, Mr. Monteiro says, " The Negro is principally distinguished, not so much by the presence of positively bad as by the absence of good qualities, and of feelings and emotions that we can hardly realise to be wanting in human nature. It is hardly correct to describe the Negro intellect as debased and sunken, but rather as belonging to an arrested stage. There is nothing inconsistent in this : it is, on the con- trary, perfectly consistent with what we have seen to be 462 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. their physical nature. It is only on the theory of ' Natural Selection/ or ' the survival of the fittest/ to resist the baneful influence of the climate through successive and thousands of generations — the ' fittest 9 being those of greatest physical insensibility — that the present fever- resisting, rniasma-proof Negro has been produced, and his character can only be explained in the corresponding and accompanying retardation or arrest of development of his intellect." " The Negro knows not love, affection, or jealousy ... he has not the slightest idea of mercy, pity, or compassion for suffering. He has no idea of a Creator or of a future existence ; neither does he adore the sun, nor any other object, idol, or image. His whole belief is in evil spirits, and in charms or ' fetishes these fetishes can be employed for evil, as well as to counteract the bad effect of other malign 'fetishes' or spirits. Even the natives of Portuguese Angola, who have received the idea of God or Creator from the white men, will not allow that the same power rules over both races, but that the God of the white man is another and different from the God of the black man ; as one old Negro that I was once arguing with expressed it, ' Your God taught you to make gunpowder and guns, but ours never did/" Every large town of the west coast has its " fetish house," under the care of a " fetish man," who is consulted in all cases of sickness or death, as also to work charms in favour of or against every imaginable thing. No death is attributed to natural causes, it is always ascribed to the person or animal having been " fetished " by some spirit or living person ; if the latter, the supposed culprit is fined, sold into slavery, or executed, or has to take " casca 99 (a decoc- tion of a poisonous bark) to prove his innocence. The fetish charms are of many kinds, and are worn round the neck and waist. PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 463 7. Slavery. This belief in witchcraft, and the punishment which is inflicted on some one accused of witchery or "fetish" in every case of drought, sickness, death, accident, or cir- cumstance the most trivial, keeps up the supply of slaves in Angola, where it has been a domestic institution from time immemorial. Though slave-hunts such as those which occur in other parts of Africa are unknown within Angola, we know from Cameron's experiences that large numbers of slaves are brought to the borders of the Portuguese territory, from the very heart of the continent, most of whom are probably sold among the coast tribes ; and though the exportation to the Spanish colonies of America has ceased, since the closing of the Cuban market about twelve years ago, it appears that the shipment of slaves from Portuguese West Africa still continues, though to what destination is not known. "Writing in November 1875, Cameron says, " Manoel informed me that slaves were still exported from the coast, especially from Mossamedes. He said they were held in readiness for embarkation, although scattered about the town in small parties instead of being kept in barracoons as formerly, and a steamer came in for an hour or two, shipped the slaves, and was off again immediately. I mquired their destination, but he could give me no information on that point." The abolition of slavery in the Portuguese possessions was decreed some years ago ; the names of the existing slaves were to be inscribed as free in the government offices, and the slaves were to be required to work for seven years as a compensation to their owners. This, however, has remained a dead letter, and the authorities have not troubled themselves to enforce the liberation after the time expired. The complete abolition of slavery in Angola has, however, been decreed to take place in the year 1878. 464 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL. 8. Products and Trade. Since the cessation of the great exportations of slaves from the coast ports, extending from the Congo to Mossamedes, which in former times reached up to about 100,000 per annum, and consequently of the uninter- rupted indraught from the interior, the exports of ivory have considerably decreased. The chief centres of the ivory trade at present are the northern ports and factories of Moculla, Ambrizette, and Quissembo, and the caravans of 200 or 300 natives, which come down in the dry season from the Zumbo country, about 300 miles distant in the interior, passing by Bembe, divide their ivory between these markets. A wonderful increase of trade and indus- try in other branches has, however, taken the place of the illegitimate traffic. The cultivation of the ground-nut (Arachis hypogcea), a lovely annual plant, and one of the most important vegetable products of West Africa, has especially increased, and many thousand tons of this nut are exported to Europe, to be crushed for its oil. Eoasted, it is delicious eating, and forms an important part of the food of the natives. The inner bark of the abundant Baobab is used for a variety of purposes by the natives, for string, or ropes, or bags ; and having been found to be suitable for paper-making, has recently become an important subject of trade. Coffee grows wild in the forests of the second terrace of the country, in the districts of Encoge, and the Dembo's country ; but very little is yet cultivated, and the export of it from these districts is confined to the port of Ambriz and the Coanza river; though, as far as extent of ground suitable for its cultivation goes, its production might be unlimited. Cotton is grown sparingly everywhere, and spun by the hand ; of recent years its cultivation is increasing rapidly in importance ; the staple is long and firm ; factories have been founded PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 465 on the Coanza for the development of its export, and since there is abundance of unskilled labour, all that is required is a few skilled cotton-planters from the Southern States of America, to teach the natives how to make this branch of agriculture a most lucrative one. The dye-yielding Orchilla lichen, which grows abundantly on the trees and bushes, under the influence of the sea air, formerly employed a great number of collectors, and is still exported to some extent, though the demand for it has decreased. Indiarubber plants, huge tree creepers, grow abundantly in the second region of the country, but though it has long been known to the natives, it is only within the last five or six years that the gum has been exported in any quantity. Until about the year 1858, red gum copal, loaded for America, was the chief article of export at Ambriz, and was obtained chiefly in the country about Mossulo, between Ambriz and Loanda. Palm-kernels are brought down by the Coanza steamers in considerable quantity. The mandioca root is the staple food of all the natives of Angola, and is universally grown. Iron has been smelted from time immemorial by the natives of the district of Cazengo, a little north of the lower Coanza, and copper appears in small quantities all over the country. Eoads or means of conveyance are very deficient, the universal travelling apparatus being a ham- mock borne by natives along the narrow forest paths. 9. Government and Chief Towns. Portuguese West Africa, generally named the province of Angola, is divided into the four governments of Ambriz, Loanda or Angola proper, Benguela, and Mossamedes, each of which is again subdivided into districts under military " chefes," or chiefs, subordinate to the governors of each division, the whole territory being under a Governor-Gen- eral resident at Loanda. An utterly corrupt and wretched 2 H 466 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. system of government, and the abuses practised by ill-paid officials, who are obliged to prey on the defenceless population, have hitherto prevented the development of the resources of this splendid country. So easy and success- ful have been the systematic extortions and robberies of produce and labour from the natives, that large sums have been spent, and much interest employed, for the sake of getting the post of " chefe " of the more important districts, even for a short time. St. Paul de Loanda, the capital of the colony, is situated in a beautiful bay, backed by a line of low sandy cliff that sweeps outward at its southern end, terminating in a bold point, on which is perched the fort of San Miguel. The lower town is built on the flat sandy ground, the higher on the cliff above. Its population of 10,000 or 12,000 has about a third part of Europeans. Its houses are large and commodious, built with stone and roofed with tiles, with open verandahs. The principal street, running through the whole length of the town, is remarkably wide, and for some distance has rows of banyan trees in the centre, under the shade of which a daily market is held of cloth and dry goods. " A square at the back of the custom-house is the general market of Loanda, and presents a curious scene, from the great variety of articles sold, and the great excitement of buyers and sellers crying out their wares, and making their purchases at the top of their voices. The vendors, here again, are mostly women, and as no booths are allowed to be put up, they wear straw hats with wide brims almost as large as an ordinary umbrella, to shade themselves. Every kind of delicacy to captivate the Negro palate is to be had here The women squat on their heels, with their wares in front, all round and over the square, while hundreds of natives are jabbering and haggling over their bargains, as if their existence depended on their noisy PORTUGUESE WEST AFRICA. 467 exertions. In the markets especially, the black women take their dirty babies (they all seem to have babies, and the babies seem always dirty), and they let them roll about in the sand and rubbish, along with a swarm of children, mongrel dogs, and most miserable lean, long- snouted pigs, that turn over the garbage, and quarrel for the choice morsels."1 Two good paved roads lead from the lower to the upper town, in which are the governor's palace, the prison, treasury, and other public offices, the barracks, and military hospital. This is the healthiest part of the town. The country inland, beyond the town, is dotted with " mosseques," or country houses, and plantations. The track hence eastward through Golungo Alto and Cas- sange, the most inland station of the Portuguese, near the left bank of the Coango, is the direct line to the Muata-Yanvos kingdom of Ulunda. The town of Benguela, formerly one of the principal shipping ports of the Portuguese territory, whence thousands of slaves were sent off to the Brazils and Cuba, is situated on a level plain near the sea, and backed at a distance of about six miles by a line of hills. It is large, with good houses and stores irregularly distributed over squares, the custom of building houses having large walled gardens and enclosures for slaves, giving it a straggling character. Mossamedes, still farther south, is a prettily-built town of stone houses, on the shores of the little bay which gives its name, commanded by a fort built on a cliff south of the town. A low line of hills cuts off the view of the interior, and all around the coast-land is an arid waste of pure white sand. The seaport town of Ambriz, north of the capital, consists principally of one long street, that ends at a cliff 1 Monteiro, op. tit. 468 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. forming the south side of its bay. At the end of the road is a small unfinished and useless fort, with a badly armed and ill-disciplined garrison; altogether a ruinous and neglected place. In the northern interior of Angola, the citadel of Bembe, eleven days' journey inland from Ambriz, is the most advanced post of the Portuguese in this direction, and its fort, rising on a steep hill, commands the chief roads to and from this part of the interior. In past times all the country, from the Zaire on the north to Loanda, was subject to the king of Congo, from whose capital of San Salvador, midway between Bembe and the great river, the Jesuit missionaries worked far and wide, spreading all kinds of cultivation and industry, and attained great wealth. There they built a cathedral and monasteries, the ruins of which still exist, and their memory is revered to this day. After their expulsion the kingdom of Congo dwindled down by degrees, till the territory now includes little more than the neighbourhood of the capital. The city was visited in 1873 by Lieutenant Grandy, who had been sent out to endeavour to meet Livingstone by way of the Congo. He describes it as situated in an elevated plateau, 1500 feet above the sea. It had been formerly an extensive and fortified city, surrounded by a loopholed wall averaging fifteen feet in height and three feet in thickness, portions of which are still standing. The Portuguese held it in military occupa- tion for some years, but abandoned it in 1870. The king of Congo still commands some of the routes into the interior, and levies contributions on the ivory caravans. 10. The Zaire or Congo. The Congo or Zaire, which, as we have seen, forms such a remarkable natural boundary across West Africa, THE RIVER CONGO. 469 is by far the most copious stream of the continent, and one of the greatest rivers of the world in respect of the volume of water" which it carries to the sea. Its mouth was discovered in 1484 by the Portuguese voyager Diego Cam, who set up on the southern side of it one of the " padraos " or pillars by means of which the Portuguese were wont to mark the progress of their discoveries. Hence the great river was known to the Portuguese as the Eio' do Padrao, though the natives of its mouth called it the Zaire ; it is now, however, best known to Europeans as the Congo, since it formed the northern limit of the kingdom of that name to which we have before referred. Previous to Mr. Stanley's great journey of 1877 only the lower course of the river was certainly known, and our knowledge stood at the point reached by Captain Tuckey in his expedition of 1 8 1 6. At its mouth the river has a width of six miles, with a depth in mid-channel of 1 5 0 fathoms, and the great volume and force of its current effectually pre- vent the formation of a bar or delta. For many miles out to sea, as off the mouths of the Amazon opposite to it on the South American coast, the water of the sea surface is perfectly fresh. At Bomma, or Embomma, 60 miles up from the sea, the width and strength of the river may be estimated from the fact that it requires half-an-hour to cross it in a good boat with ten strong Kroomen pad- dling. At 100 miles upward it has still a depth of £0 fathoms; but at 140 miles from the sea the Yellala cataracts begin, and for 40 miles beyond this, where the river descends by a narrow gorge through the mountains which here form the margin of the African plateau, its channel is interrupted by almost continuous rapids and cataracts. Inland, beyond these falls, at the farthest point reached by Captain Tuckey, the grand river opens out again to a width of four or five miles, and flows with a stream of three or four miles an hour. 470 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. For more than sixty years " Tuckey's farthest " marked a limit beyond which it seemed impossible to advance from the West Coast, and the question of the direction of the river, and of its tributaries and sources, was one that gave rise to many very various speculations and hypo- theses. On completing his brave journey across Equa- torial Africa, however, Mr. Stanley has solved this, the last of the greater problems of African hydrography, by demonstrating that the Lualaba of Livingstone is one and the same river as the Congo. He left Nyangwe, on the Lualaba in Manyuema, on the 5th of November 1876, and travelled overland northward through Ureggu (Ulegga). Unable to make progress through the dense forests, he crossed the Lualaba, and continued the journey along the left bank through Ukusu, harassed day and night by the opposing cannibal savages of the river bank. Pushing on down the river, in the midst of successive struggles, he came upon a series of great cataracts — five in number — not far apart, south and north of the equator, past which his eighteen canoes had to be dragged through thirteen miles of forest. At 2° N. lat. the great Lualaba swerved from its direet northerly course to north-west, then west, then south-west, a broad stream from two to ten miles wide, choked with islands. Here a tribe acquainted with the West Coast trade was reached, who named the river Ikutu Ya Congo ; and, as the Atlantic was approached, the river, after changing its name scores of times, became known as the Kwango and the Zaire\ " As the river runs through the great basin which lies between E. long. 26° and 17°, it has an uninterrupted course of over 1400 miles, with magnificent affluents, especially on the southern side. Thence clearing the broad belt of the mountains between the great basin and the Atlantic Ocean, it descends by about thirty falls and furious rapids to the great river be- THE RIVER CONGO. 471 tween the falls of Yellala and the sea." Mr. Stanley reached Embomma on the 8th of August 1877. The natives of the Congo banks from its mouth upward for about thirty miles belong to the Mussurongo tribe, and are an ill-favoured set of piratical robbers, never losing an opportunity of attacking a loaded barge or even a ship unless it is well armed and keeps in the centre of the stream. The haunts of these pirates have been frequently assailed by Portuguese and English men-of-war after some more daring piracy. The punishment inflicted on them by Commander Hewett in 1875 for sacking and burning the British schooner " Geraldine" and assassinating four men of her crew, is one of the most recent examples, and one which brought up again the question of the Portuguese sovereignty over the banks of the river. On the northern side of the mouth of the river, on a strip of sand, called Banana, separating one of the creeks of the main river from the sea, several factories, belonging to Dutch, French, and English houses, serve as depots for the other stations higher up the river, trading in ground- nuts, palm-oil, and other products similar to those of the Portuguese territory, and communicating by means of small river steamers. Up to Punta da Lenha, about forty-five miles from Banana, the river-banks are walls of large mangrove trees rising out of the water, leaving scarcely a point at which one could land from a boat. Punta da Lenha consists of a few trading factories built on piles forming quays, alongside which large vessels discharge and load. Beyond this, going up stream, the mangroves disappear, and bright green bushes, palms, and different sorts of trees, cover the banks. At Bomma, sixty miles up, the banks become higher and bare of trees and shrubs, the whole country being covered with high grass, in the same way as the third elevation of the interior of Angola. The view from a high hill on the north bank 472 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. (near Bomma) is described by M. Monteiro as magnifi- cent, embracing a succession of bends of the river, and as far as the sight can reach the flat country to the south and west cut into innumerable islands and creeks, of the brightest green of the water-grass and papyrus reed, divided by the sunlit and quicksilver-like streams of the vast rapidly-flowing river. Bomma, or Embomma, also a factory station, was in former times a great slave mart, to which thousands arrived from all parts of the interior. The river Congo teems with animal life : hippopotami are very abundant, alligators swarm and are very danger- ous ; fish are also plentiful, and antelopes and other game are common on its banks. 11. Loango and other Native States — Superstitious Practices — Products. The coast-land north of the mouth of the Congo for 130 miles is divided into the native kingdoms of Loango, Kabinda or Angoy, and Kakongo. The first and most powerful of these states has from time to time exercised supreme authority over the others, while at a still more remote period all three seem to have been subject to the king or emperor of Congo. Eastwards from this coast district the continent rises to its first terrace, and here is situated the extensive and wooded territory of Mayombe or Mayumba, in the Yangela region, on the upper Quillu. The rulers of all these native states along the coast are priest-elected kings of the purest type, mere tools in the hands of the fetish ministers. After many minute and protracted preparations, sacrifices to the various demons, and costly gifts to the priests, they are raised to the throne, and upheld in it in perpetual dependence on LOANGO. 473 the sacerdotal order. They are all subject to innumer- able " Quixilles," that is, observances, similar to the Tabu of the South Sea Islanders, regulating all their actions — their going and coming, eating and drinking, sleeping and waking. Owing to these vexatious ordinances, it has been found very difficult of late to discover any one will- ing to assume the unenviable dignity of a Loango king. The throne often remains for years unoccupied, during which time the coffin of the last king deceased may not be laid beneath the earth, the sacerdotal caste continuing to govern in his name. However the Quixilles, or Xinas, as they are also called, are imposed not only on the king but also on every one of his subjects. They have relation to the most varied objects of enjoyment or of daily use, and are partly determined for each individual by the first thing he touches after birth, or other such trivial circumstances, partly inherited by the family tradition, like the banshees of the old Keltic families in Ireland, partly also incurred during lifetime by vows or other self-imposed obligations to some divinity whose protection is sought either per- manently or for some special and hazardous undertaking. All must be observed with extreme rigour, and cases have occurred of natives having unwittingly violated some one of their Quixilles, and dying through fright or fear of the consequences attending such transgressions. The Loango coast is a hilly, thinly-wooded country, exporting palm-oil, gum, wax, orchilla, copper, ivory, and also yielding coffee and cotton, besides mandioca, bananas, and other aliments, in sufficient abundance to support a relatively dense population. The natives, like all the Congo Negroes, are on the whole of small size, with weak bodies, speaking a language related to the Bunda speech, which is spread far inland, hence understood far and near, in some places all the way to the eastern seaboard. 474 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. They are, however, amongst the most highly developed African tribes, and are skilled in many industries. A few days' journey from the coast inland there dwell tribes who are good weavers, preparing fabrics, to the touch soft as silk, from bast and straw. The land is tilled with care, and European ships and traders are always welcome. When they stay away longer than usual, recourse is had to a special fetish in order to hasten their arrival. The Loango coast, the country inland from which is as yet almost unknown, was the scene of the late ill-fated German West African expedition of 1873-75, which was planned to penetrate the interior of the continent from this region. At the head of this expedition was Dr. Paul Giissfeldt of Berlin, a noted Alpine mountaineer, who, with Lieutenant Von Hattorf, left Liverpool in March 1873. At the Dutch factory of Chinchosho (Chinchoxo) in southern Loango, or Chiloango, which was chosen as the head-quarters of the expedition, its other members, Dr. Falkenstein, botanist, Sayaux, naturalist, Pechuel- Loesche, and Herr Lindner, gathered in August 1873 ; while two flanking expeditions, the one led by the geo- logist Dr. Lenz to the Ogowe' region in the north, the other by the ornithologist Captain Homeyer to Angola, were to operate with Giissfeldt in penetrating to the interior. In October 1873 Dr. Giissfeldt started from Chinchosho for the mouth of the river Quillu, which flows down from the interior through central Loango, and ascended it by boat. Through the mangrove belt of the coast and the forests of the low land, for a distance of about twenty miles up from the Dutch and English factories at its mouth, the river has a width varying from 700 to 300 yards. At Kama Chitumbo (hundred isles), a little higher up, the border of the Mayombe country is reached, and rocks begin to appear on the river side for LOANGO. 475 the first time. At Mamania Matal the banks begin to be elevated, and a little higher up the recently formed and farthest inland factory of Mayombe is reached. Above this is the gorge of Gotu, and still higher are the cataracts of Bumina, formed where the river, flowing parallel with the lower Congo, breaks, as the Congo does, through the suc- cessive terraces of the coast ranges. Leaving the river beyond these falls (at about thirty miles from its mouth) Dr. Glissfeldt passed through the forest villages of the Bayombe and across the southern border of the territory occupied by the Balumbo. As he advanced and ascended the terraces, the character of the country changed, and the dense forests gave place to park-like country, till from the summit of the Nunsi ridge, which has an elevation of about 2200 feet above the sea, the grassy plains of the country of Yangela, inhabited by the Bakunia, opened out to view. At the village of N'Guella, in Yangela, Gliss- feldt again crossed the Quillu or Nyali, at a point distant about sixty miles in direct distance from its mouth, which was his farthest point in this direction. After returning to the coast in the spring of 1874, he made a second reconnaissance of the coast belt by the smaller river Loango Luz, which reaches the sea a little south of Chinchosho, and he traced this stream upward for about thirty miles. The remainder of the year was spent in an examination of the coast northward as far as the British factory of Setti Camma, on the mouth of the Nhanga river, the most important one on the coast-land southward of the great delta marshes of the Ogowe. He ascended this almost unknown river through the mangroves and the forests inhabited by the Bavili, to Mongo Nhanga, where the first rapids are encountered, thirty miles up the winding course from the sea. Continuing thence by land, he crossed the Balumbo territory, occupying the first shelf of the ascending terraces, and thence passed up out of the 476 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. denser forests to the plateau of the Bayaka, whence a more open view showed blue mountains away in the interior. Having reached a point named Intinde in September 1874, also at a distance of about sixty miles inland, he turned back to the coast. A much more extended journey had been planned for 1875, but the deadly climate of Chinchosho had already compelled several members of the expedition to return to Europe, and of 1 0 0 native bearers brought from Loanda, 70 had died of fevers and contagious diseases. Dr. Giissfeldt himself suffered so much from fever that he was obliged to return to Europe, upon which the station at Chinchosho was abandoned, and this leading section of the German West African expedition ceased its operations. THE RIVER OGOWAY. 477 CHAPTER XXVII. WESTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. 1. Region of the Ogoway and Gaboon. A little to the north of the Loango coast we enter the region watered by the Ogoway or Ogowe and the Gaboon, explored first by Paul du Chaillu in 1856 and 1865, by Mr. Walker in 1866 and 1873, and more recently, in 1874, by the Marquis Victor de Compiegne, with M. Alexandre Marche, and by Dr. Lenz of the German West African expedition. The coast lying between these two equatorial rivers is in the possession of the French, and beyond it a series of parallel chains rises higher and higher towards the interior, through which the Ogoway makes its way to its junction with the Ngunie or Onango flowing between the same ranges from the south. The source of the Ogoway has not yet been reached, and its appearance at the farthest point on its course reached by Savorgnan de Brazza in 1876, would seem to imply that it rises at some distance farther inland. Thus the Ogoway is the large river of this part of Africa, not the Gaboon as had been supposed. The Gaboon, on examination, has proved to be only a great estuary receiv- ing a number of small tributaries from the nearest uplands. 2. Exploration of the Ogoway. Though the mouth of the Ogoway was made known 478 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. by the traveller Bowditch in 1817, it was not until within about fifteen years ago that the officers of the French marine stationed on the West African coast began a systematic examination of the large delta of this river, and of its upward course. The surveys made in 1862 by Lieutenant Serval, operating under Admiral Fleuriot de Langle, gave the first definite notion of the delta of the Ogoway, showing it to be formed by two main branches of the lower river, the more northerly of which reaches the sea at Nazareth Bay, the southern, called the Bango or Fernand Yaz, fifty miles farther south, at the outlet of the great lagoon of Cama or Ncomi. The low mangrove- covered delta marshes between these, cover an area of not less than 1300 square miles, and are intersected by large numbers of minor channels and creeks. Above the head of the delta, at a distance of fully sixty miles from the sea by either branch, the united river was found to flow almost directly from the eastward for a farther distance of fifty miles, with an average width of 2500 yards, and a current of four to five miles an hour. Afterwards the river-course turns north for fifteen miles to where the main stream, coming from the north-east, called the Okanda river from the tribe inhabiting its banks, is joined by the Ngunie from the south. Du Chaillu, marching inland from the Nconri lagoon south of the delta, in 1858, was the first to come upon the upper Ngunie, and he then followed it downwards as far as the Fongamu or Eugenie rapid, a point which afterwards proved to be about fifty miles above the confluence with the Ogoway. Lieutenant Serval, crossing overland from the Gaboon in 1862, was the first European to see the Okanda ; but Mr. E. B. N. Walker, who approached the Okanda from the same direction in 1866, was the first to navigate the river from the confluence of the Ngunie upward. The bed of the Okanda, which is about 800 or 1000 yards in width above THE RIVER OGOWAY. 479 the confluence, where its course is from the north, turns again to an east-and-west direction parallel with the equator, at a bend which occurs about fifteen miles above the confluence, and not far beyond this the banks become high and hilly, the channel narrows, sandbanks and sharp rocks stand out of its bed, and a series of rapids, at about 180 miles from the sea, for the first time makes the navigation difficult. In the territory of the Okota tribe, about twenty miles higher up, the width of the river is only 200 or 300 yards; at the village of Edibe, the residence of the chief of the Okota, Walker returned seaward. He was also the first to trace the course of the Ngunie from its con- fluence upward to the Samba falls or rapids, a few miles below the Fongamu rapid of Du Chaillu. In 1867 an important expedition under the French Lieutenant Aymes examined the lower river as far as the Ngunie, one of the objects of the voyage being to conclude trea- ties with the natives, and to select a suitable spot for a French establishment near the confluence. This expe- dition may be said to have opened up the Ogoway to European commerce for the first time, and imme- diately after it British and Hamburg factories were founded at Adanlinanlanga (Adelina Longa), a few miles below the Ngunie. During a second excursion up the Okanda in 1873, Mr. Walker traced the river upward to Lepe or Lope, the chief village of the Okanda tribe, a distance of about fifty miles above the point he reached in 1866. In 1874 MM. De Compiegne and Marche, representing France in the work of West African exploration then being carried on by Britain (Lieutenant Grandy) and Germany (Dr. Giissfeldt), made a farther advance beyond the limit reached by Mr. Walker on the Okanda. After four days' canoeing upward, or at about fifty-five miles above Lope. 480 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. they came to the great cataract of Fare\ 26 feet in fall. They launched out again above the fall, but were followed along the banks by gathering numbers of hostile Osyeba ; and at about twenty miles higher up, where they dis- covered a new confluence formed by the Ivindo, or Black Eiver, coming from a reported lake in the east, and by the continuation of the Okanda from the south, they were attacked by the Osyeba in large numbers. In their flight down stream, over rapids and falls, the travellers were pursued for forty miles by these savages, and reached the Okanda territory again with only one out of their four boats. Dr. Lenz, of the German West African expedition, has since visited the Upper Okanda, but though he has greatly extended information about the ethnography of the tribes of the river basin, and the geology of the country through which it passes, he was not able to advance beyond the farthest point reached by De Com- piegne. M. Marche also has returned to explore in this region, and Count de Brazza, a French naval officer, ac- companies him. Writing from Lope in November 1876, Count de Brazza describes the highest known portion of the Okanda above that point as varying from 600 to 60 yards in width ; the news has since arrived that this ex- plorer has also traced the river upward for more than 70 miles above the confluence of the Ivindo, where De Com- piegne was compelled to retreat, to where it is joined by another tributary named the Kailei, in long. 13° 43' E. of Greenwich. The times of rising of the Ogoway, first in March and April, and again in October and November, correspond to the periods of heaviest tropical rains in this part of Africa ; remembering also that its basin lies within the region of the heaviest equatorial down- pours, and the rapid decrease of its channel upward, it becomes probable that the Ogoway gathers the large volume of water which it pours out by its delta-mouths THE OGOWAY REGION. 481 from within a radius of a few hundred miles from the coast, not necessarily from any very remote tributaries in the interior of the continent. 3. The Home of the Gorilla. It is in this western equatorial region that is found the gorilla {Troglodytes gorilla), the largest of the ape kind, bearing a strikingly repulsive resemblance to man. His true home is in this district, and in the warmer parts of Lower Guinea generally, where he haunts the woods jointly with three other species of ape not unlike himself. Some deny that the gorilla forms any special connecting link between man and the rest of the animal kingdom, regarding him in fact as nothing but a huge ape. How- ever, it is interesting to find that several Negro tribes reject his flesh as food, holding him for a member of the human family. 4. The Ashira, Apingi, and other Tribes. South of the Ogoway, in the above-mentioned parallel ranges, is the Ashira country, full of romantic charms, and inhabited by a little tribe, of patriarchal habits, robust, industrious, and intelligent, and living at peace amongst themselves and with their neighbours. Beyond them are the Apingi, who are skilful weavers ; but who fancy that the best entertainment they can place before their white guests is a fat joint of roast slave. These are succeeded by the Apono, the Ishogo, and lastly, by the Ashango, and Nshavi, the most remote inland tribe that has yet been visited by Europeans in this part of Equatorial Africa. Like the Ashango, the Apono belong to the Ashira family, all of them speaking the Ashira language ; whereas the Ishogo are 2 I 482 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. quite distinct, and speak a different idiom. On the lower Ogoway and the Gaboon the prevailing language is the Mpongwe, or Gaboon, which serves as the medium of intercourse amongst all the coast tribes and far into the interior. It is neither disagreeable to speak, nor difficult to learn. Both banks of the Gaboon itself are inhabited by the Shekianis, the Bulus, and Mpongwes, the first two now far from numerous, and living a savage life in the woods. Enslaved to the most grovelling superstitions, they are despised by the other Negroes, and especially by the Mpongwes, who are unquestionably the most civilised tribe of this region. HEAD-DRESS OF THE ISHOGO. 5. The Mpongwe" : their Vices and Vanities. All the more surprising is it that no trace of any tradition has been detected amongst the Mpongwe. Their recollections go no farther back than their last generation ; nor do they bear a very good reputation in THE OGOWAY REGION. 483 other respects. The Christian religion has been long introduced amongst them; but the only commandment that they have submitted to with genuine zeal is that enjoining the observance of the Sabbath. Their intense vanity shows itself especially in the ridiculous finery with which they trick themselves out on Sundays. As soon as a native of the Gaboon earns a few pence, he forthwith invests them in a bunch of keys, which he wears round his neck, to make people believe he has got a lot of boxes and coffers worth locking up. On growing rich he really procures such objects, placing them in the most conspicuous part of his house, to give the impression that he is owner of a vast amount of property. His greatest ambition is to become a great man in his tribe, and his idea of a great man is a lord of many wives, possessing plenty of rum, a tall " chimney-pot " hat, and credit with some white trader. But no sooner has he reached this goal, than he becomes an object of envy to his less fortunate neighbours, and must begin to be on his guard against poison, which here, as elsewhere in Africa, plays such a dangerous part in the social relations. Hence the unhappy " celebrity " ventures to touch no food that has not been prepared by his chief wife, and some little time previously tasted by all his other helpmates. The fact that a man's position is measured by the number of these wives is a great obstacle to the progress of Christianity. The son of a chieftain brought up in the mission home cannot carry out in practice the teaching of the padre, and content himself with one wife, without becoming immediately exposed to the constant sneers, and even to the contempt of his fellows. Owing to their early marriages and other excesses, the Mpongwe women are as a rule not at all prolific, and marriages between first cousins are also very frequent. On the other hand, their husbands have no sense of jealousy, and 484 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. their ideas concerning the matrimonial relations are totally at variance with those prevalent amongst more polished races. 6. The Fans — Grand Palavers — Ordeals. Between the Gaboon and the Ogoway dwell the Fan people, for the first time accurately described by Du Chaillu. Having left their original homes, these savages seem to be impelled by a mysterious impulse driving them ever farther westwards. In 1867, Admiral Fleuriot de Langle, estimated at 60,000 the number of Fans that had recently approached the frontiers of the French settlements on the Gaboon. Since then their numbers have greatly increased, and are continually augmenting, so that in fifteen or twenty years they will have probably overrun the whole region of the Gaboon. The Fans are avowedly cannibals, though the practice falls more and more into abeyance as they come in contact with the French. They are a fine race, and skilled in many arts, such as smithery, formerly fashioning their own weapons, amongst which were very sharp and poisoned arrows. Now, however, they have mostly taken to English matchlocks, and dirks manufactured by themselves. Their morals have in other respects been greatly deteriorated by contact with Europeans, and they become all the more indolent, cunning, and thievish, the longer they live amongst the whites. The same seems to be the case with the natives of the Ogoway delta. Here grand " palavers " are being constantly held, generally characterised by endless cere- monials, interminable speeches, and occasionally even sanguinary quarrels, usually arising out of female intrigues. Here also, and in the neighbouring Fernando Vaz lagoon, the condition of the slaves is extremely wretched, their lives being absolutely at the disposal of their masters. THE OGOWAY KEGION. 485 In the same place the delusion is also prevalent that no one can die a natural death, or that has not been brought about by the incantations of others. Those whom the " public opinion " of the tribe points at as the criminals are obliged to free themselves from the suspicion by the ordeal of the poisoned " Mbundu " cup, the equivalent of the " Casca " of Angola. This frightful delusion tends more towards the depopulation of Africa than all the wars put together. Compiegne describes the effects of the Mbundu test, adding that should any one happen to survive it, the fury of the tribe is turned against his accuser, unless indeed he happen to be an Oganga, or fetish priest, who of course has always a plausible excuse ready to hand in justification of his false charge. 7. The Ogoway River System — The Bahales, Ivilis, and OJcota Tribes. The most important place on the lower Ogoway is the village of Adanlinanlanga situated at its junction with the Ngunie. Fetish Cape (Pointe Fetiche), at the confluence of the Ogoway and the Ngunie, for a long time formed the landmark beyond which it was supposed that no white dare venture, until the illusion was dispelled by M. Aymes in 1867. A little beyond it is the so-called " Palaver Wood," a neutral ground where the surrounding tribes settle their differences. Almost all the country round the confluence of the Ogoway and Ngunie is occupied by the Bakalai. After the Fans the Bakalai are unquestionably the most con- siderable western equatorial tribe, both in respect of numbers and extent of country occupied by them. They are extremely cruel and unspeakably filthy, their villages 486 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL. forming a disgusting contrast to the clean settlements of the surrounding tribes. South of the Ogoway, and partly also to the north of it, the country round about Adanlinanlanga is distinguished by its numerous lakes, the largest of which, in 1° south latitude and 10° 30' east longitude, is connected with the Ogoway by means of the three rivers. It is of rectangular shape, measuring about 15 miles in length by about 7 in width. North of the Ogoway is Lake Azingo, also con- nected with the Ogoway by the river Akaloi. This river has a very winding course, is in places almost as broad as the Ogoway, receives three or four tributaries containing as large a volume of water as itself, and crosses two lakes, each about two square miles in superficial area. After this it becomes wondrously beautiful, at last suddenly discharging into the magnificent island-studded basin of Lake Azingo. Its banks are at present inhabited by the Ivilis, a tribe that has immigrated thither from the south, and is growing daily more numerous in the Ogoway region. Concerning the countries and peoples farther up the Ogoway, we gather fresh details from Compiegne and Marches expedition in 1874. On January 16th of that year they reached the great island of Kamba in the Ogoway, where is the first village of the Okota. Driven back to the left bank of the Ogoway by the Osyeba, the Okota have been reduced to great distress, suffering much from hunger, and living mainly on a large green fruit, somewhat sweet, and of a doughy consistency, growing in the woods of this place in great abundance. The Okota are otherwise a repulsive people, whose only trade is in slaves. Their language bears a strong resemblance to that of the Benga of Corisco, though most of them under- stand and even speak the Mpongwe" tongue. THE OGOWAY KEGION. 487 8. The Osyeba Cannibals — The Obongo Pigmies. Farther on are the first villages of the Osyeba people, on the right bank of the Ogoway, cannibals whose very name strikes terror into the Okota, Apingi, Okanda, and even the Bakalai. At the foot of the Kondo-Kondo peak the Okono, a considerable stream, rushes into the Ogoway, and its banks also are inhabited by the Osyeba. The French travellers, after leaving this district, at last entered the territory of the Yalimbogos, who differ greatly from the Okota, although speaking the same language and belonging to the same tribe. They are physically a finer race, and morally more gentle, courteous, and industrious. Beyond the Yalimbogos are the Apingi, a small, but mild and industrious tribe, who gather honey and gutta- percha, and cultivate hashish. They also possess goats and fowl, and might, all things considered, live very com- fortably, but for the Osyeba, of whom they are in constant dread. Not far from the Elendya waterfall lies the first village of the Okanda, on the left bank of the Ogoway, which would here seem to be upwards of 800 yards broad, but so studded with islands and beset with rocks and sandbanks as to render the navigation very tedious. At length, however, the French explorers reached Lope, the farthest point on the Ogoway to which any European had previously succeeded in penetrating. Lope consists of but a few huts ; but hither come the Okanda from all directions, to hold their "palavers" and drive a nefarious trade with the beauty of their women. Much more repulsive are the women of the Banguins, a numerous tribe settled near the Okanda on the Ogoway, and evi- dently belonging to the great family of the Bakalai, the Banguin idiom being nothing but a dialect of the Bakalai language. 488 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. The ethnography of Equatorial Africa is especially important as giving the key to the populations of the interior, a vast region that has hitherto remained inacces- sible to Europeans. In the Osyeba cannibals Compiegne at once recognised a people of the Fan race, whose close affinity to the Nyanmyam and Monbuttu cannibals has often been remarked upon. Hence Compiegne supposes that Central Africa, a little to the north of the equator, is occupied by a vast assemblage of anthropophagous tribes, stretching away on both sides far to the east and the west. Compiegne also fully confirms the remark of other ex- plorers, that all man-eating races by far surpass their neighbours in their physical and mental endowments, in bodily strength, courage, intelligence, skill, and industry ; in a word, in every respect. Near to the Okanda there is also supposed to exist a race of dwarfs, the Obongo, already described by Du Chaillu as a tribe living in woods near the Ashango, in wretched huts made of branches. Compiegne' s descrip- tion corresponds almost in every respect with this account of them, and he further assures us that in Central Africa there exists a race of pigmies, called by the natives Mabongo, and akin on the one hand perhaps to the Akka of the "Welle basin, and apparently on the other to the Obongo race. But these again reveal such a close re- lationship with the Bushmen, whom Dr. G-. Fritsch has so carefully described, that in all of these various pigmy tribes we are tempted to recognise the scattered fragments of a primeval African race, of which even the small brown Doko tribe in Senaar may be an easterly branch. A much more extended and accurate knowledge of these scattered tribes of dwarfs in Central Africa must, however, be obtained before any weight can be given to this gener- alisation. The specimens of the Akkas who have reached THE OGOWAY REGION. 489 Egypt are found to differ in no essential feature from their neighbours the Nyamnyam and Monbuttu, except in their miniature stature ; and we have seen that the Bush- men of the Kalahari desert improve in every respect, and attain the full average height, where they are found in more favoured districts. 490 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. CHAPTEK XXVIIL THE WEST AFRICAN ARCHIPELAGOES. 1. Hie Cape Verd Islands : Population — Trade — Produce. At no great distance off the north-western seaboard are situated some groups of islands, all geographically belong- ing to the African continent, but politically to two European states, Spain and Portugal. They are all of volcanic formation, and are disposed in four groups : the Cape Verd, Canary, Madeira, and Azore Islands (from Azor or A^or, a hawk), stretcliing roughly in a straight line from south to north, and lying between 10° and 40° north latitude. The last, however, are so advanced into the Atlantic, and at such a distance from any point of the mainland, as scarcely to belong to the African con- tinent at all. The Canaries belong to the crown of Spain, all the rest to Portugal. The most southern of these groups are the Cape Verd Islands (Ilhas do Cabo Verde), at some 350 nautical miles due west of Cape Verd, the extreme western point of the continent. Of these it will suffice to mention St. Vincent in the northern, and Santiago, or St. Jago,1 in the southern division. Both on account of its excellent har- bour, in which a coaling depot has been formed, and as a station of the Anglo-Brazilian telegraphic line, St. Vincent is the most frequented of the islands of the group, though in fertility and other respects far inferior to them. It is now regularly visited by the steamers of nearly all the 1 Or St. James the elder ; the patron saint of Spain. WEST AFRICAN ISLANDS. 491 English ocean lines, such as those of West Africa, Central and South America. Yet its aspect is far from inviting ; its monotonous grey, brown, yellow, or reddish tones are scarcely relieved by a patch or two of grass in the hollows of the crater-like mountains which form it. In the in- terior is the Pico da Spia, 1000 feet above the sea-level, and the highest point in the island. But the largest and perhaps the most fertile of the group is Santiago, the highest point of which, the Pico d'Antonia, rises to an elevation of 7380 feet above the sea. Here grows the tamarind and an occasional cocoa- nut tree along the shore, and here also is one of the prin- cipal beds of the valuable red coral for which the Cape Verd Islands are famous. The chief town, Cidade de Santiago, is well built and neatly laid out, with paved streets, and planted here and there with trees and flower- gardens. The population of the Cape Verd group consists of European and African half-breeds, though the pure Negro type prevails in some of the islands. The inhabitants, exclusively Eoman Catholic, are industrious tillers of the land, which in most of the islands is extremely fertile. They are also occupied with weaving, distilling, oil and sugar refining, and carry on a brisk trade. The whole population of the group, in 1875, amounted to about 91,000. 2. The Canary Group. At about the 1 5° north latitude, at no great distance from the African mainland, and in one of the very finest climates in the world, is situated the Canary group, the " Fortunate Islands " of the ancients. It consists of seven large and six small islands, and is naturally sepa- rated into an eastern and western division. In the first the most noteworthy are Lanzarote, Euerteventura, and 492 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL. Gran Canaria; in the second Teneriffe, Gomera, Palma, and Ferro (Hierro). They are all of volcanic origin, and seem never to have belonged to the mainland, but rise sheer out of the deep waters of the ocean, forming a dis- tinct group apart and altogether independent of any general mountain system. The supposition that they are the remains or highest points of a continent, the "Atlantis," formerly stretching from Africa to- America, is scarcely consistent with the weighty geological objections that have been urged against the existence of any such sub- merged continent. The islands are all mountainous, rising occasionally to a great height. The lowest hills are those in Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, on the latter of which have been thrown up a number of dwarf volcanoes, whose peaks are disposed like soldiers drawn up in regular order. The highest and largest of these peaks is that of Teneriffe, rising to a height of more than 12,000 feet above the ocean-level. Since Humboldt's memorable ascent Teneriffe has frequently been scaled ; among others by Professor Piazzi Smyth, from whose work 1 we extract the following notes of the ascent of the mountain. 3. Ascent of Teneriffe. The ascent is made from the town of Orotava on the north coast, and begins at once in the very street, for everything indicates that the whole island is but the summit of a half-risen mountain. Up to an elevation of nearly 2000 feet, the path leads through cultivated slopes covered with an intricate network of walls to protect the fields from the sweeping vengeance of the winter torrents. At a height of 1500 feet the gardens on either side, in place of oranges, lemons, figs, and peaches, are chiefly filled with pear trees. At 2000 feet, lovely wild plants 1 Teneriffe; an Astronomer's Experiment. London, 1858. WEST AFRICAN ISLANDS. 493 of the hypericum in full and abundant bloom, with their delicate young pink leaves and rich yellow flowers, intrude in every corner ; 2400 feet, and a few heaths were caught sight of; 2800 feet, and the English grasses begin to appear. "We turn at 2900 feet, and, behold! we are even with the clouds, which, but scanty this morning, PEAK OF TENERIFFE. disperse in our immediate neighbourhood when we seem just about to enter them." Several miles off to seaward, however, there is the ominous front of a stratum, some thousand feet higher, and of immense thickness. A long pull now follows under the hot sun, blazing in a sky of unbroken blue, and reaching the height of 3900 feet, an ocean of white clouds below conceals all the lower country from view. By a still easy ascent, at the height 494 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. of 4700 feet the first specimen of an interesting leguminous plant was met with, the " codeso " of the natives ; with closely packed composite leaves of light and warm green, a yellow flower, woody stem, branches like a miniature cedar tree, and with the bark of ages hanging about it, it bore a certain resemblance to the " dorn booms " or thorny acacias of South Africa. When the height of 5280 feet was attained, a solitary pine tree was seen, the last unhappy member, at this spot, of forests which once girdled the mountain. Some heath and a few ferns were also observed, but the aromatic codeso chiefly occupied the zone. The summit of the peak is now detected looking at us through the sunlit air, hazy with intense illumination. Shortly after the " retama," the unique mountain broom, was seen, the like of which none of the other Canary Islands, nor any of the African isles, and in fact not another spot in the world, can show. At 6560 feet the lessened slope indicated the entering of the circle of the Canadas, valley-like strips or spaces silted up with fine pumice between the lava-streams from the crater. " The full appearance of the peak rising grandly on the right left no doubt that the ascent of the northern slope was finished, and that we were travelling over the basin of the ancient crater, a crater whose vast dimensions (eight miles in diameter) can hardly be paralleled save in the moon itself. Here the surfaces of pumice-stone soil widened out ; the rocks, red and jagged, became fewer, the codeso disappeared; high land was seen on our left; and presently, as we entered on quite an African-looking desert of white sand and yellow stones, a fine range of blue mountains was seen to the south-east and south. What mountains are they ? — what can they be ? Why, they are merely the opposite sides of this gigantic crater we are crossing." Long and depressing is the way across the pumice-strewed floor. " We have now transcended all the strata of clouds, WEST AFKICAN ISLANDS. 495 and have entered a most moon-like region : the naming sun, set in the middle of the sky above our heads, showers down his merciless rays ; light and heat revel everywhere, there is no need of volcanic assistance. As we gradually made our way towards the eastern side of the crater, the long ridge shape of the peak seen over hummocky heaps of yellow lava slowly shortened ; the abutment of Montana Blanco, with its deep-red streams and their viscous wrinkles, was projected on the central zone ; and then, when at last it began to stand out to the south of the peak, there was seen in the midst of rearing bergs of red and brown lava, of masses of tossed and tumbled rocks, of peaks sharper than the aiguilles of Mont Blanc, a fine parasitic crater of intense hue, and, one would think of immense potential energy. The tops of other craters appeared here and there in the distance; while behind and above all rose the grand peak, seamed with its blue- black torrents, and showing clearly the dimensions of its once active crater of Bambleta at the height of 11,700 feet ; while immediately in front lay a glittering sea of pumice, dotted with grotesque groups of reddened slag." Beyond the " Estancia de los Ingleses," at the altitude of 9700 feet, the usual sleeping-place of routine travellers who camp there on the first night from Orotava, the ascent becomes sensibly steeper, the pumice-stone looks newer and shows a glassy structure, the ridges of unearthly black stones gradually close in, till at "Alta Vista," 10,700 feet above the sea, the ne plus ultra of beasts of burden is attained. The wilderness of the " Malpays," or of the ultimate lava streams of Eambleta, torrents of black lava rocks and stones, lies beyond, and the path leads up a narrow angular valley, the sides of which, inclined at a steep angle, are of loose stones, the larger black disjointed blocks forming the bottom of the channel. Not a precipice, 496 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AJsD TRAVEL. not a flat, not a plant, not a bird, not even an insect, exists in this wild Malpays world, where one's whole atten- tion is taken np with stones, stones, and nothing but stones, all of the same black lava. At 11,600 feet was a jet of steam coming out of a crevice or hole among the rocks about three inches in diameter. This is the well- known narix of the Peak. The vapour, the temperature of which is from 1 0 0° to 122° F., condenses on the neigh- bouring stones, and gives means of support to a few hand- fuls of moss growing between them. " Suddenly, at the elevation of 11,745 feet, we emerged from the Malpays. Instantly there rose before us, high above our heads, the Piton, or sugar-loaf cone, forming the summit of Teneriffe, resplendent with bright red and yellow, like some huge tower gleaming in the brightness of the morning sun. " The mean angle of the Sugar-loaf is 33°; on the east, where all travellers ascend, it is about 470 feet high, on the opposite side nearly 650 feet. Here and there in ascending it some warmth is felt in holes and cracks of the rock, the fissures increased continually in number and temperature, then a faint sulphurous smell was perceived. A few hasty steps more and we were on the brim of the culminating crater, in the midst of jets of steam and sulphurous acid vapours." The chief feature of the crater interior, some 300 feet in diameter and 70 feet deep, is its extreme whiteness ; often white as snow where it is not covered with sulphur. The breadth of the rim is hardly sufficient to give standing room for two, so immediately and in such a knife-edge does the slope of the outside flank meet that of the inside wall. 4. The Cuanchos — Trade and Chief Towns of the Canaries. The Spaniards look on the Canary group as belonging strictly to the mother country, and accordingly still include it in Europe. The population, 284,000 in WEST AFRICAN ISLANDS. 497 number, are a mixed race, descendants of the Spaniards and the native Guanchos, mingled also with Norman, Flemish, and Moorish blood. The aboriginal Guanchos were a brave, peaceful, shepherd race, very gentle, and untainted by any gross immoralities. They have hitherto been supposed to have belonged to the Berber family, but recently the theory of their Vandal, that is Teutonic, origin, has been much discussed. Agriculture, cattle-breeding, and for some years past the cultivation of the cochineal and shipping, keep the people fully employed, leaving but few hands for manufac- tures of any sort. The most important towns are S. Cristo- bal de la Laguna and Orotava on Teneriffe, Las Palmas on Grand Canary, and Puerto del Arecife on Lanzarote. 5. Madeira — Funchal : Climate — Produce. North of the Canaries and on the same parallel as Central Marocco lies the little Madeira group, consisting of but one large island with a population of 119,000, the little isle of Porto Santo, and three rocky " desertas," uninhabited and destitute of vegetation. Famous for its delightful climate, and formerly for its world-renowned vintages, no land presents a more striking appearance to the stranger from Europe than does Madeira, the queen of the group. In fellowship with the rose, the myrtle, the laurel, and cypress, such as nourish in the southern European latitudes, there bloom the magnolia, pomegranate, mango, besides the banana, coffee, and the sugar-cane. The last- named is largely cultivated, and two factories have been erected to press the raw sugar from the cane. The want of regular highways is much felt by the natives, who, in order to bring down the corn growing on the north of the island, are consequently obliged to put it into casks and barrels, and thus convey it by boat against the current to Funchal. 2 K 498 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Funchal, capital of the island and with a population of 30,000, presents a thorough European appearance, the houses and streets differing little if at all from those of Lisbon. Nor does the type of the inhabitants offer any- thing remarkable, in their features and complexion closely resembling the Portuguese. 6. The Azores : Population — Exports. The volcanic group of the Azores may be looked on as the extreme westerly advanced post of Africa, or, as the Portuguese regard it, of Europe. Owing to their northern latitude (nearly under 40°, and consequently about the same parallel as New York and Lisbon), the climate and products of these islands are much the same as those of the south of Europe. The climate is mild, uniform, and, though moist, very healthy. These islands are extremely fertile and beautiful, and are able to support a population of about 260,000, mostly descendants of Spaniards and Portuguese, of temperate and industrious habits. However, the poverty generally prevailing drives them to emigrate in relatively considerable numbers, and mostly to Brazil. Of the nine islands of this group, some producing wine and subtropical fruits for exportation, the most noteworthy are St. Michael's (San Miguel), Terceira, Sao Jorge, Pico, and Eayal. From St. Michael's comes the St. Michael orange, so largely consumed in England. On Terceira is Angra, formerly the political capital ; but the wealthiest town and present seat of Government, is Ponta Delgada, with 20,000 inhabitants, on San Miguel, the largest island of the group. Ponta Delgada is also the chief centre of trade. The remarkable islet of Villafranca forms the summit of a volcano rising very little above the sea-level. Its crater, thirty-six feet deep, is filled with water, into which boats can sail through a narrow channel. ISLANDS EAST OF AFRICA. 499 CHAPTER XXIX. AFRICAN ISLANDS IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. 1. Lemuria — A submerged Continent With an account of the islands and groups of islands in the Indian Ocean generally considered as belonging to Africa, our survey of this continent in its widest sense will he brought to a close. But while, in accordance with the usual practice, treating them in this place, it may be well to remark that we are here dealing with a division of the earth's surface, which, notwithstanding its vicinity, is in many respects distinct from Africa. As already elsewhere remarked, it has been supposed that there for- merly existed, where the Indian Ocean now spreads its waters, a vast continent, of which Madagascar (a territory somewhat larger than the present German empire) is the largest relic : the volcanic Mascarenas, the Seychelles, Comoro, and Amirante groups, marking other summits of the submerged land. The anomalous range of the Lemurs, animals akin to, but distinct from, the ape family, seemed to require for its explanation the former existence of such an independent continent which formed their true home : resemblances of animal and plant life, as well as the pre- sence of a Malay race of men in Madagascar, also indicated the probable extension of this ancient land from Mada- gascar and its neighbouring isles, across by Ceylon and the Malay peninsula, perhaps even to the Celebes. Mr. A. E. Wallace, however, has shown1 that in the Eocene 1 " The comparative Antiquity of Continents, as indicated by the Dis- tribution of Living and Extinct Animals." — E. G. S. Journal, 1877. 500 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. period, the Lemurs had a very much wider range than this, and that they extended even to Europe and North America ; and that these animals, with the insectivora and civets which now predominate in Madagascar, were also once the only inhabitants of the mainland of Africa. It becomes clear then that Madagascar was once united with the southern portion of Africa ; but it is no less clear that its separation from it took place before the irruption into it of the large animals — lions, giraffes, elephants, hippopotami, and anthropoid apes — which are now characteristic of the continent, and before which the smaller and more defenceless of the ancient animals must have been soon all but exterminated. The remnants of these have preserved themselves either by their solitary and nocturnal habits, or by their restriction to anciently- formed islands like Madagascar, where the struggle for existence has been less severe. " Lemuria, therefore, may be discarded as one of those temporary hypotheses which are useful for drawing attention to a group of anomalous facts, but which fuller knowledge shows to be unneces- sary." 2. Madagascar — Natural Features. Separated only by the Mozambique Channel from the east coast of Africa, Madagascar, or Nossi-Dambo, consti- tutes a long and relatively narrow mainland. Along its shores, with the exception of the south-western portion, there spreads a marshy belt, beyond which inland the ground rises, in the west gradually, in the east precipi- tously, thus forming in the interior a vast woodless, but grassy plateau. But its most striking physical feature is an enormous mountain .mass, beginning at its northern extremity, and extending almost its whole length southwards. This ISLANDS EAST OF AFRICA. 501 lofty mass, as seen in ascending its eastern side, appears roughly disposed in three broad terraces. Towards the south it descends into the stormy plain, where the French savant Alfred Grandidier discovered the skeleton of the Upiornis maximus, an extinct species of vulture peculiar to Madagascar. The great table-land is covered with gneiss and granite hills and peaks of volcanic origin. But water also was a mighty agent in bringing about the present conformation of the land, as shown by an enormous layer of red marl spreading over a great part of the island. It is remark- able that red marl of exactly the same description is also found on the Seychelles. 3. Volcanic Action — Mountain Systems. Whereas formerly volcanic action was only a matter of conjecture, it has now been discovered that the central provinces have been the scene of volcanic phenomena on an unusually large scale. The Ankarat hills, visible from the capital and bordering on the Imerina plain in the south-west, occupy a district some 600 square miles in extent. Five central peaks, though showing now no craters, are covered with masses of lava, and attain an elevation of from 8000 to 8950 feet above the ocean- level. In the neighbourhood of Lake Itasy, 25 miles from this volcanic centre, we enter another volcanic region here containing a whole series of craters. Upwards of forty have been visited and sketched or surveyed, while others are suspected to exist farther northwards. Fifty miles towards the south there is another group of volcanoes, on one of which the lava is as black and sharp as if it had been thrown up but yesterday. Apart from the Ankarat group, there have been counted no less than 100 extinct craters extending over an area of 90 miles. This 502 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. volcanic system is continued northwards, and is evidently connected with that of the Nosibe, Mayotte, and Johanna islands. The great Comoro is even still unusually active, frequent eruptions occurring of an extremely violent nature. It is possible that there may be a connection even with the distant volcanoes of Mauritius and Reunion. (Dr. Joseph Mullens, Twelve Months in Madagascar : London, 1875). The great central mass, however, does not quite divide the island into two equal sections, though there are still two clearly defined divisions, one on the north and the east entirely mountainous, and another on the south and west comparatively level. But Grandidier has traced five ranges, all following more or less the same N.N.W. direction. The great central and extremely irregular granite mass has an average elevation of not more than from 3300 to 4000 feet. 4. Soil — Rivers — Climate — Produce. In the whole south and west, comprising nearly half of the island, the ground is poor and the country scarcely inhabited, except along the course of the few streams here met with. On the other hand, the eastern slopes of the hills facing the Indian Ocean are very fertile owing to the frequent rains here prevailing. A narrow belt of woodlands, running uninterruptedly from north to south and uniting with those on the west coast, forms a complete girdle round the coast. Along the eastern slopes there are no streams navi- gable for more than ten miles from their mouths for the very smallest boats, while several rivers of considerable length and volume flow down the more gently descending western side of the island. In the south and south-west there are very few streams of any sort. ISLANDS EAST OF AFRICA. 503 The climate on the elevated table-lands and on the western coast-land is healthy; but on the eastern coast, owing to the prevailing fevers, very deadly, especially for Europeans. In the island are found many varieties of natural products. Amongst the minerals are silver, copper, iron, coal, and salt. The vegetation, especially along the coast, is of an extremely luxuriant and tropical character. But this applies in no way to the interminable regions in the south, which are nothing but wide, sandy, shadeless plains. One of the remarkable plants native to Madagascar, and which forms a characteristic feature of the landscape in many parts of it, is that named the " Traveller's Tree." It belongs to the same family as the plantain or banana, but sends out leaves only on two opposite sides, like a great expanded fan, the stalk of each leaf being six or eight feet long, and the oblong bright green blades four or six feet more. These leaf-stalks always contain pure water, and even in the driest weather more than a quart may be obtained by piercing their base. Hence the name " travel- ler's tree." The fauna of Madagascar is a very remarkable one : lemurs, insectivora, and a few low forms of carnivora pre- dominate ; but there are none of the higher animals, such as apes, antelopes, giraffes, rhinoceroses, elephants, lions, leopards, or hyaenas, which swarm on the continent of Africa. 5. Inhabitants — Various Races — Their Origin — Pursuits. The Malagesses or Malgashes, as the inhabitants are called, are a peculiar race in no way connected with the natives of Africa. They form part rather of the Malay family, following Malay customs, and some of them showing the same type of features, eyes, and hair. 504 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Their language also, which is split up into a number of dialects, is quite of the same character as the Malay speech. The people themselves are divided into three chief tribes — the Betsimasarakas, the Sakalavas, and the Hovas, the last of whom are the rulers of the country. The population, greatly over-estimated by previous travellers, according to Mullens does not exceed 2,500,000. The Malay character of the Hovas has long been re- cognised ; but not so that of the other tribes, who are in moral and other respects far surpassed by the numerically weaker Hovas. These, with the allied tribes of the Betsileo, dwell on the central plateau, in the province of Ankova or Imerina, where is also situated the royal re- sidence and capital of the kingdom, Tananarivo or Antan- anarivo, with 75,000 inhabitants. The Betsimasarakas dwell on the east, and the Sakalavas on the west coast. From very early times Phoenician and Arab merchants were in the habit of visiting Madagascar, and, having formed colonies on the north-western coast, introduced another element of population with new customs and rites. With the Arabs also came the slave trade, and in the course of time thousands of African Negroes and Suaheli have been introduced into the island, and have gradually amalgamated with the Malagasy races. At the present time the Arabs are virtually masters of the north- west coast, though they outwardly cringe to the ruling Hovas. Bembatuka Bay was one of the principal Arab ports, and the town of Amorontsanga, farther north, is now perhaps the most important station of these foreigners. Bishop Kestell-Cornish, who visited Amorontsanga in 1876, describes it as being quite as important as Tamatave, a strange place full of bastard Arabs and men from Cutch near Bombay. The Arabs and Cutch men are the traders; there are also many Suaheli from Zanzibar, and there can ISLANDS EAST OF AFRICA. 505 be no doubt that it is still a great centre of the slave trade. Cattle-herding and agriculture are the principal oc- cupations of the people of Madagascar. These industries are pursued mostly in the bare uplands and in the towns, amongst which, however, besides the capital, the seaport of Tamatave alone (7000 inhabitants) seems to call for special mention. Other trades consist principally in the manufacture of ornaments, hardware, and beautifully dyed textiles made of the fibre of the palm; silk and woollen weaving are also carried on. 6. Government — Biding Race — Conversion to Christianity. Madagascar forms an independent kingdom under the rule of a Hova dynasty, and had till lately always enter- tained extremely hostile feelings towards Europeans and European influences, although Christian missionaries have long been stationed in the country. The last queen was a zealous heathen, but at the coronation of her successor, Eanavalona, all the old religious observances were abolished, while the Bible lay at her right hand during the ceremony. She was subsequently baptized, and on September 8, 1869, all the idols of the whole nation were by her orders committed to the flames. Thus at length took root the seed of the gospel planted here by the London Missionary Society seventy years previously. Such a thorough and rapid religious revolution has probably never been wit- nessed in any other part of the world. 7. The Comoro Group — French Settlements — Mohilla. On the east coast of Madagascar the French have established themselves in the island of St. Marie or Nossi 506 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. Burra ; on the north-west at Bali Bay ; and farther north on the island of Nossi-Be, which in their hands has be- come a nourishing colony. From this point it is but a short passage to the island of Mayotta, which the French purchased in 1841 from a chieftain, and also converted into a colony. It belongs to the Comoro group of islands, situated in the middle and at the northern entrance of the Mozambique Channel between the east coast of Africa and the north-west coast of Madagascar, and between 11° and 13° south latitude. This archipelago consists of four small and elevated islands — Angadziza or Great Comoro, Mohely or Mohilla (also Little Comoro), Anjuan, erroneously called Johanna, and the al- ready mentioned Mayotte or Mayotta. Great Comoro has a volcano 8500 feet high, but suffers from a scarcity of fresh water. More important is Mohilla, whose happy situation and brisk trade with Madagascar, Zanzibar, Mozambique, and the rest of the mainland, render it one of the most flourishing places along the whole east coast. It has a population of from 6000 to 7000 — Arabs, Suaheli people, Sakalavas from Madagascar, and natives of Mozam- bique, all strict Mohammedans. 8. The Seychelles and Amir ante Isles — British Settlements. To the north-east of the Comoros, and almost due north of Madagascar, lie the twin groups of the Amirante and the Seychelles, both British possessions. The first are all small coral islands, only 20 or 25 feet above the sea-level ; the second are of granite formation, though also resting on a coral bank. Mahe, the largest of the Sey- chelles, has a population of from 7000 to 8000. All have excellent harbours, and are overgrown with a luxuriant vegetation, especially of palms and date trees. The islands of Praslin, Curieuse, and Eotonde alone produce the useful ISLANDS EAST OF AFKICA. 507 Lodoicea Seychellarum, or double or sea coco, formerly highly esteemed as an inexplicable natural marvel. 9. Reunion and Mauritius. The Mascarenas group, to the east of and at some distance from Madagascar, comprises three small islands lying at no inconsiderable distance from each other; Eeunion or Bourbon, Mauritius or He de France, and the salubrious and extremely fertile Eodriguez. Eeunion, the most westerly and the largest, belongs to France, the other two to England- Two volcanoes, of which one, the Piton de la Fournaise, is still active, betray the volcanic origin of Eeunion, which has a present population of 215,000, including 60,000 Coolies, Chinese, and Indians, 70,000 Creoles, and 75,000 coloured, partly Negroes and partly Mestizos. Several con- siderable towns — such as Saint-Denis, Saint-Pierre, and Saint-Paul, with 40,000, 30,000, and 25,000 inhabitants respectively — are sufficient proof of the general prosperity of the place. Here flourish the sugar-cane, coffee, cinnamon, and since 1776 cloves, the nutmeg, and cocoa; while the healthy climate contributes much to the well-being of the various races by which it is inhabited. Mauritius is, on the other hand, famous for the wondrous beauty of the landscape, surpassing even that of Tahiti in the South Pacific. Here, as in Eeunion, the chief staple is sugar, though rice, coffee, indigo, cotton, and spices are also successfully cultivated. In the woods, the haunts of many animals, grow several valuable trees, and the thoroughly tropical character of the island is shown as much in its flora as in its fauna. Still we here miss, as in Madagascar, the larger animals of the African con- tinent. The population is composed of the same elements as 508 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. in Reunion; it amounts to probably some 340,000, one third of whom are occupied with agricultural pursuits. There are only two towns worthy of special mention — the capital, Port Louis, with 26,000 inhabitants, and Mahebourg or Grand Port. 0 ci GENERAL SCHEME \& OF RACES AND LINGUISTIC FAMILIES \ $ o / Semites (Arabic Brandt) N.CboM p JljJ Semites (ffimya/iiicBrJAbvssinia §g<, Hatnites (Ep\pn\vi Br.) Egypt £ °, I Hanutes (Z/Aiwi .Bj\)W. Sahara SBarbary States ~ \ Hamites (Ethiopian Br) NE. &E. o / Fulahs and Nubas ... Si/Jan & Nubia p 2 Negroes Proper,. .Sudan & Upper Nile z ^ Bantus .. . rircvn 6"N.Lat. Southwards to the Cape ~i q j Hottentots extreme S.W. 'corner g H Bushmen J5n7ahaii Desert < Malavs Madagascar For full explanation see Appendix and Synoptical 7 able pp. 509. 554- ETHNOLOGICAL PHILOLOGICAL MAP A F R° I C A Showing the General Distribution of the INDIGENOUS RACES And the Position of the various LINGUISTIC FAMILIES Start/hfds Gtag. Estah?, 55,Cha;-iru} Cross. APPENDIX. I. THE AFRICAN EACES PHILOLOGICALLY CLASSIFIED. By A. H. Keane. 1. Language the best Basis for the Classification of Races. The constant allusions made by the author to the various races at present occupying the African Continent have neces- sarily been of too disconnected a nature to enable the reader to form a clear and comprehensive conception of its ethno- graphy. In order to make good this unavoidable defect, the translator here resumes the whole subject, with a general classification of all the inhabitants of this continent, based mainly on the element of speech, as undoubtedly the most satisfactory of all others. Distributions relying principally on outward appearances, such as shape of the cranium, facial angle, complexion, texture of the hair ; or on mental qualities, as expressed in traditional lore, national myths, habits, customs, beliefs, and the like, have on the whole supplied no more certain data for a systematic grouping of the African races than they have for those of other continents. None of these external, and often perhaps merely accidental, points of re- semblance, will ever of themselves be sufficient to account for all the striking discrepancies in the human family, whether in Africa or elsewhere. But when combined, as far as it may be possible to combine them, with the element of language, by which mankind is, if not alone, at all events mainly, distin- guished from brute creation, they will be found to yield fairly satisfactory results. 510 APPENDIX. 2. But not of itself an Adequate Basis. But though unquestionably presenting the very best basis for a comprehensive classification, no one will venture to say that language is of itself alone in every respect sufficient for the purpose. Modern science has abundantly shown that speech and race are not convertible terms, or, in other words, that unity of race no more implies unity of speech than does unity of speech unity of race. We know, for instance, that many peoples — such as some of the Basques, all the Bulgarians, and the Surinam Negroes — now speak Aryan tongues, though originally having no membership with the Indo-European family. On the other hand, many Aryans themselves — such as the old Carian, Lycian, and Phrygian populations of Asia Minor — have lost the noble inheritance of their Aryan mother- tongue, and after having been Hellenised are now classed with the Uralo-Altaic linguistic system of their Turkish rulers. Such changes occur still more frequently between the several branches or subdivisions of the Aryan, Semitic, and other great families of mankind. Thus the Maronites of Syria and the Chaldaeans of Mesopotamia, who formerly belonged to the Aram seo- Assyrian group of the Semitic system, must now be comprised philologically in the Southern or Arabic division of that family. Familiar instances nearer home are the Cornish and many other Keltic populations of these islands, that have either already become or are gradually becoming Teuton in speech. On the other hand, the Norse, Frankish, Longobard, Visigoth, and other Teuton tribes settled in France, Italy, and Spain, have changed their Germanic for neo-Latin idioms, and are now consequently included, not in the Teutonic, but in the Italic branch of the Indo-European family. In the same way many tribes in Lower Guinea and else- where must now be classed linguistically with the Ama-Zulus, Basutos, Wasuahili, and other members of the great Bantu linguistic system, although, unlike them, they undoubtedly belong ethnologically to the pure Negro type. This single example will be sufficient to show that language of itself alone is not a sufficient basis for a complete classification of the African races. It is, however, beyond all doubt by far the most satisfactory that can be suggested for the purpose, and is accordingly adopted as the main feature of the present scheme. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 511 3. For the Negroes proper 'practically useless. Yet for one large section of the great African family the linguistic element fails altogether. The pure Negro race, stretching roughly from the Lower Senegal in a south-easterly direction to the regions of the westerly head waters of the Upper Nile, speak a vast number of apparently radically dis- tinct idioms. Some few of these languages may doubtless be disposed into many separate and detached little clusters. But these groups are themselves entirely independent one of the other, and are utterly incapable of being reduced to one philo- logical system, such as the Uralo-Altaic, Aryan, Semitic, Bantu, or other great families of languages, all clearly derived from some common prehistoric Uralo-Altaic, Aryan, Semitic, or Bantu mother-tongue, as the case may be. We therefore see that while other families present linguistic unity with perhaps ethnological diversity, the pure Negro race presents apparent ethnological unity with obvious linguistic diversity. These multitudinous Negro tribes are in fact one in their main physical features, but many in their speech. But, with this important exception, the subjoined classifica- tion of the African populations, based on the element of lan- guage, will be found on the whole to correspond also with their ethnological affinities and discrepancies. 4. General Distribution of the African Races — Prehistoric Migrations. The African Continent is at present in the possession of six distinct races — two foreign, the Hamites and the Semites, and four indigenous, the Negroes proper, the Fulahs, the Bantus, and the Hottentots. The Hamites and Semites occupy mainly and almost exclusively the north and north-east ; the Fulahs the north-west, the Negroes a central zone stretching from the Atlantic to Egyptian Sudan ; the Bantus the whole of the south from a few degrees above the equator to the Cape, except the extreme south and south-west corner, which is the Hottentots' domain. But it is abundantly evident that this was not the original distribution of these peoples. Thus the Hottentots, with whom 512 APPENDIX. some anthropologists include the Bosjesmans or Bushmen, stretched formerly much farther north, and were only gradually driven by the Bantus into their present narrow limits. The Bantus themselves dwelt at first in the north and north-east, whence they were compelled to move southwards by the inroads of the Hamites from western Asia. The traditions of the Kafirs, Bechuanas, Hereros, and probably of all other Bantu tribes, point to the north and north-east as their primeval home. The chief divinity of the Damaras, Omu-Kuru, is enthroned in the north, and towards the north are turned the faces of their dead when laid in the grave. The Bantus seem to have descended first by the eastern seaboard as far as the Hottentot domain in that direction. But this movement must have been followed by a second migration westwards across the continent to the Atlantic, occasioned doubtless by the pressure of the Somali, the Ormas or Gallas, and other advanced Hamitic tribes making their way probably up the Nile to the country at present held by them between Abyssinia and the Kilima-Njaro uplands. A strong proof of this later migration of the Bantus westwards is af- forded by the striking resemblance still existing between the Ki-Swahili idioms spoken on the eastern seaboard and the Mpongwe dialects of Lower Guinea. The Fulah and Nuba races, who would seem to be de- scended from a common stock, had their primeval home also in the east, whence they were expelled by the Hamites. The way southwards being blocked by the Bantus, the stream of Fulah migration was compelled to take a westerly course, and we now accordingly find them settled mainly in the regions between Lake Chad and the Niger, but also reaching east and west beyond both of those limits. Here they came in contact with the pure Negro races, from whom, however, they have to a great extent kept aloof to the present day. Thus on the lower course of the Casamanza, flowing into the Atlantic somewhat to the south of the Gambia, we still find the autochthonous Felups and Baga or Bagnun Negroes ; while the country higher up the stream is in the hands partly of Mandingan and partly of Fulah tribes, that have gradually penetrated hither from the east. AFKICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 513 5. Dwarfish and other Primeval Races. Besides these leading races there are found in several parts of the continent certain dwarfish tribes and peoples that can be identified neither ethnologically nor linguistically with any of the surrounding nations. Such are the Bosjesmans or Bushmen of the south, now mostly restricted to the Kalahari desert and neighbouring regions, but formerly reaching to the Zambesi, and even beyond it northwards, and southwards to the Cape. Though usually grouped with the Hottentots, Dr. Fritsch has shown in his exhaustive work on the aborigines of South Africa that these Bushmen have little or nothing in common with them ; and it is certain that they have been always treated by the Hottentots themselves as the sworn enemies of their race. Dr. Bleek also regards the two races as entirely distinct. {Bushmen Folk-lore, p. 2.) There are also the Obongo heard of by Marche and Compiegne in the Ogoway regions, the Doko of Senaar, and the Akka or Tikkitikki of the Upper Nile, some of whom were seen by Schweinfurth at the court of the Monbuttu king Munza, and of whom two specimens have since been brought to Europe by Professor Panceri. By the natives they are called Mabongo, which suggests a possible connection with the Obongo of the Ogoway. The fact that they seem still to occupy the very region1 believed by the ancients to be the home of the pigmies, has further given rise to the theory that these various dwarfish tribes represent all that has survived of a great primeval African race, broken into fragments and driven into corners by successive Hottentot, Bantu, and Negro floods of migration, just as a corresponding fate has overtaken the Lapps,2 the Ainos, the Eskimo, and other primeval pigmy races of the northern continents. 6. The seven great Linguistic Systems of Africa. Of the various idioms spoken by these dwarfish tribes little or nothing is known, and they must therefore remain unclassified in our scheme. But, on the other hand, besides 1 Inter paludes quibus Nilus oriretur. — Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 35. 2 Though now speaking Finnish dialects, the Lapps are in all other respects essentially different from the Uralo-Altaic peoples. 2 L 512 APPENDIX. some anthropologists include the Bosjesmans or Bushmen, stretched formerly much farther north, and were only gradually driven by the Bantus into their present narrow limits. The Bantus themselves dwelt at first in the north and north-east, whence they were compelled to move southwards by the inroads of the Hamites from western Asia. The traditions of the Kafirs, Bechuanas, Hereros, and probably of all other Bantu tribes, point to the north and north-east as their primeval home. The chief divinity of the Damaras, Omu-Kuru, is enthroned in the north, and towards the north are turned the faces of their dead when laid in the grave. The Bantus seem to have descended first by the eastern seaboard as far as the Hottentot domain in that direction. But this movement must have been followed by a second migration westwards across the continent to the Atlantic, occasioned doubtless by the pressure of the Somali, the Ormas or Gallas, and other advanced Hamitic tribes making their way probably up the Nile to the country at present held by them between Abyssinia and the Kilima-Njaro uplands. A strong proof of this later migration of the Bantus westwards is af- forded by the striking resemblance still existing between the Ki-Swahili idioms spoken on the eastern seaboard and the Mpongwe dialects of Lower Guinea. The Fulah and Nuba races, who would seem to be de- scended from a common stock, had their primeval home also in the east, whence they were expelled by the Hamites. The way southwards being blocked by the Bantus, the stream of Fulah migration was compelled to take a westerly course, and we now accordingly find them settled mainly in the regions between Lake Chad and the Niger, but also reaching east and west beyond both of those limits. Here they came in contact with the pure Negro races, from whom, however, they have to a great extent kept aloof to the present day. Thus on the lower course of the Casamanza, flowing into the Atlantic somewhat to the south of the Gambia, we still find the autochthonous Felups and Baga or Bagnun Negroes ; while the country higher up the stream is in the hands partly of Mandingan and partly of Fulah tribes, that have gradually penetrated hither from the east. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 513 5. Dwarfish and other Primeval Races. Besides these leading races there are found in several parts of the continent certain dwarfish tribes and peoples that can be identified neither ethnologically nor linguistically with any of the surrounding nations. Such are the Bosjesmans or Bushmen of the south, now mostly restricted to the Kalahari desert and neighbouring regions, but formerly reaching to the Zambesi, and even beyond it northwards, and southwards to the Cape. Though usually grouped with the Hottentots, Dr. Fritsch has shown in his exhaustive work on the aborigines of South Africa that these Bushmen have little or nothing in common with them ; and it is certain that they have been always treated by the Hottentots themselves as the sworn enemies of their race. Dr. Bleek also regards the two races as entirely distinct. {Bushmen Folk-lore, p. 2.) There are also the Obongo heard of by Marche and Compiegne in the Ogoway regions, the Doko of Senaar, and the Akka or Tikkitikki of the Upper Nile, some of whom were seen by Schweinfurth at the court of the Monbuttu king Munza, and of whom two specimens have since been brought to Europe by Professor Panceri. By the natives they are called Mabongo, which suggests a possible connection with the Obongo of the Ogoway. The fact that they seem still to occupy the very region1 believed by the ancients to be the home of the pigmies, has further given rise to the theory that these various dwarfish tribes represent all that has survived of a great primeval African race, broken into fragments and driven into corners by successive Hottentot, Bantu, and Negro floods of migration, just as a corresponding fate has overtaken the Lapps,2 the Ainos, the Eskimo, and other primeval pigmy races of the northern continents. 6. The seven great Linguistic Systems of Africa. Of the various idioms spoken by these dwarfish tribes little or nothing is known, and they must therefore remain unclassified in our scheme. But, on the other hand, besides 1 Inter paludes quibus Nilus oriretur. — Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 35. 2 Though now speaking Finnish dialects, the Lapps are in all other respects essentially different from the Uralo-Altai'c peoples. 2 L 514 APPENDIX. the six great races above described, account must also be taken of the inhabitants of Madagascar, who, like that vast island itself, belong to a totally different system. This will therefore give altogether seven distinct linguistic groups as under : — I. The Semitic family, along the north coast and in Abyssinia. II. The Hamitic family, mainly in the Sahara, Egypt, Galla, and Somali Land. III. The Fulah and Nuba groups, in western, central, and eastern Sudan. IV. The Negro systems, in western and central Sudan, Upper Guinea, and the Upper Nile regions. V. The Bantu family, everywhere south of about 6° N. lat., except in the Hottentot domain. VI. The Hottentot group, in the extreme south-western corner, from the tropic of Capricorn to the Cape. VII. The Malayo-Polynesian family, in Madagascar. I. — The Semitic Family. Of the three great divisions of this family — the Assyro- Aramsean, the Canaanitic, and the Arabic — the last only is now represented on the African Continent. Of the Cartha- ginians, who were Phoenicians, and consequently belonged to the Canaanitic or central group, nothing has survived except a few scattered monuments. Like the Romans and the Vandals, who at various subsequent periods took possession of a large section of Northern Africa, reaching from Cyrenaica to Mauritania Tangitana, they have been completely absorbed, either by their predecessors the Hamite Numidians, Libyans, and Berbers, or by their successors the Semite Arabs. These zealous propagators of Islam are now found either as Moors in the cities and towns, or as Bedouins or nomad tribes in the country districts of all the Barbary states ; as Fellahin or agriculturists in Egypt; and lastly as traders, mostly in ivory and slaves, thinly scattered over the greater part of the continent. Commander Cameron tells us that he found an Arabic letter of recommendation from the Khedive to the Egyptian officials in Eastern Sudan of service to him with these Arab traders in the interior and as far south as the regions west of Lake Tanganyika. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 515 The Arabic language, although mainly restricted to the northern coast, is therefore spoken and passes current through- out a vast portion of Africa. It is also naturalised in Waday, Adirar, Berar, Shoa, and parts of Kanem and Bornu in the Chad basin. But the southern division of the Semitic family, to which it belongs, is properly divided into two branches — the Arabic proper and the Himyaritic, formerly spoken in south Arabia, and still represented by the Harari of Somali Land and the Tigre and Amharic of Abyssinia.1 The Lesana Geez, or ecclesiastical language of this country, is now extinct ; but it also was a Himyaritic tongue, and of all the members of this linguistic system preserved the greatest number of verbal and other inflections of the prehistoric Semite speech. Of the fifteen original forms of the Semite verb it retained no less than thirteen, whereas the Arabic boasts of nine only, and Hebrew in its oldest stage had already lost all but five. Yet there are those who still believe that Hebrew is the primi- tive speech of mankind. All the Semite languages at any time spoken in Africa may thus be grouped : — SEMITE MOTHEK-TONGUE. Assyro-Arajlean Branch, Canaanitic or Southern or Arabic Branch. unrepresented in Central Branch, _J Africa. Punic, | i the language of the Arabic Himyaritic Carthaginians, proper, Branch. closely related to spoken mainly I Hebrew and Phoenician ; on tne Geez ; extinct extinct. uorth coast. [ I I I Tigre. Amharic. Harrari. II. — The Hamitic Family. Like the Semites, the Hamites are intruders, and like them come also from south-western Asia. Indeed the opinion is daily gaining ground amongst philologists that both were originally but one people.2 But whereas the Semites have 1 One Himyaritic dialect, the Ehkili, still survives in south Arabia itself. 2 On this subject see Lottner in the Transactions of the Philological Society, 1860-61, pp. 26-27 and 112-113, where he shows the unity of the Hamitic tongues, such as Egyptian, Saho, Galla, and Ta-masheq, and their probable connection with the Semitic, which he calls a sister family. 516 APPENDIX. only made their appearance in the dark continent in compara- tively recent times, the Hamites have dwelt here from the remotest antiquity. They migrated westwards at an epoch so distant that all traces have long disappeared of their primeval home in the plains watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, where they must have pitched their tents probably for many ages side by side with their Semite kinsmen. The Hamites have therefore been exclusively an African race as far back as history goes, though they themselves possess monuments, in recent times again brought to light, which go probably back far beyond any records that either Semite or Aryan can boast of. They formerly occupied the whole valley of the Lower and Middle Nile, the extreme east coast almost to the equator, and all the country southwards to the present Sudan and westwards to the Atlantic seaboard. Here were settled the Egyptians, Libyans, and Numidians of history, who are now mainly represented only by a number of small tribes scattered thinly over the Sahara, along the southern districts of the Barbary States, and in the extreme east where they are split into two groups by the Semites of Abyssinia. All these numerous tribes speak dialects of what was undoubtedly a common original Hamite speech, which was itself in all probability an offshoot of some common original Semitico-Hamitic language. This Hamite linguistic system is usually divided into three branches, as under : — HAMITE MOTHER-TONGUE. Egyptian Group. Old Egyptian, the lan- guage of the Hiero- glyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic records. Koptic, directly deriving from the Egyptian, and now the ecclesiastic language of the Koptic communities in Egypt. Of the Koptic there are three known varieties : Memijliitic. Tl>eban. Basmuric i Libyan Group. Old Numidian, Getulian, Mauritanian, and Lib- yan idioms, now ex- tinct. Berber, the most generic name of all the non- Arabic dialects: spoken between the Barbary States and Sudan as far east as Lake Chad. Amongst these are the Kabylc ofAlgeria or Tunis. Ta-masheq, the language of the Tuareg, or better Twdrej. Twdt and many others. Guancho of the Canaries, now extinct, but a most certainly Berber. Ethiopian Group. No known old repre- sentative. Principal modem idioms : Somali. GallaorOrma j" Abyssinia, Beja, N. of Abyssinia. ) S. of j Abyssin: Saho. Dankdli or Dandkil. Agaii. I N., N.-E., > and W. of V Abyssinia. All closely related to Ta-masheq and Old Egyptian. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 517 Both of the foregoing systems, the Semitic and the Hamitic, are therefore originally foreign to the African Continent ; both are probably one originally j and both are inflecting forms of speech. In all these respects they differ essentially from the four next systems, the Fulah, Pure Negro, Bantu, and Hottentot, which, as far as can be ascertained, are indigenous, are all four totally distinct from each other, and belong not to the inflecting but to the agglutinating forms of speech. III. — The Fulah and Nuba Groups. These are grouped under one head because the Nubian idioms are generally believed to be remotely related to the Fulah group, and are on that account by many spoken of as the " Eastern Fulah Family." But whatever truth there may be in this view, it is at all events certain that neither of them has any connection whatsoever with any other African system. They differ from the Semite and the Hamite in being, as far as we know, indigenous to this continent j but beyond this fact they have nothing in common with any other indigenous system. Their very name of " Pulo," which is written in the most diverse ways, as Pul, Peul, Fulbe, Fulah, Phula, Fellatah, and the like, and which means yellow or brown, serves at once to distinguish them from the surrounding Negro races.1 From these they differ also in their speech, of which there are several well-marked varieties, such as the Futa-jallo,2 along the southern head waters of the Senegal, between 10° and 13° N. lat. Futa-Toeo, on the left bank of the Lower Senegal. Sokoto, the principal of the Fellatah states, midway between the Niger and Bornu. 1 They are even called "Abate," i.e. white men, by the Jukus, who dwell south-west of Bornu. — Koelle, Africa Poly glotta, p. 21. 2 In these two compound names the first component simply means Fulah, so that Futa-Jallo means the Fulah dialect spoken in the Jallo district, and Futa-Toro the Fulah dialect spoken in the Toro district. It may here also be mentioned that the form Fulbe, above quoted, and which is also written Phulbe", is merely the plural of Fulah, in other words the collective name of this people. In the same way the Bornu Negroes call them also collectively Fullatah or Fellatah, and the Hausas Fuladshi, plural Fulani. All these words are therefore nothing but various forms of the original "PwZo" = "The Brown Race." 518 APPENDIX. Salum, near the coast N. of the Gambia about 14° N. lat. Gobukn, between the Niger and Lake Chad, about 6° E. long, and 14° N. lat. Kano, between the Niger and Lake Chad, about 10° E. long. and 12° N. lat. The Fulah language is distinguished from most others by a remarkable peculiarity. It makes no distinction between the masculine and feminine genders, but divides all things animate and inanimate into two great classes — human beings and everything belonging to mankind on the one hand, and on the other everything else whether animate or not. The former belong to what is called the human or rational, the latter to the brute or irrational gender.1 Of the Nubian, or East Fulah group, the principal idioms are Barabra, or Nubian proper, along the Nile, between 21° and 24° N. lat. Dongolawi, somewhat farther south. Tumal^, in the south of Kordofan. Koldaji, a little more to the west. Konjaea, partly in Darfur and partly in Kordofan. Although apparently indigenous to Africa, neither the Fulah nor the Nuba peoples now occupy their original homes on this continent. They seem to have been driven westward by the Hamite invasions, and it is only in recent times that the Fulah have reached quite so far west as the lower reaches of the Senegal and the Casamanza. IV. — The Negro Systems. No race in the Eastern Hemisphere embraces within itself so many peoples and tribes speaking radically different lan- guages as does the Negro. Their number is enormous, and their diversity so great that it is but rarely that a few can be grouped together here and there as obviously derived from a common source. It is not perhaps, therefore, surprising to find that writers are far from accord in estimating the number of these independent linguistic groups. Nor indeed is any 1 With this feature might be compared the rational and irrational gender of the Dravidian family, and the animate and inanimate gender of the Kolarian and perhaps some other non-Aryan Indian tongues. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 519 complete classification at all possible in the present state of our knowledge. Many tribes, especially on the unexplored middle and upper Ogoway, and in the central equatorial regions, are totally unknown even by name, and our acquaintance with the idioms of many others is far too limited to enable us to deter- mine their possible affinities or discrepancies. In the vast region which is strictly the domain of the Negro race proper, including nearly the whole of Sudan from Cape Yerd to Khartum, and the valley of the Upper Nile from Khartum to the equator, there are three great centres of popu- lation— western Sudan between the Niger and the Atlantic seaboard, the basin of Lake Chad, and the Upper Nile with all its head streams. The ethnography of western Sudan has been elucidated most comprehensively by Dr. S. W. Koelle in his Africa Polyglotta, and that of the Chad basin quite recently by Dr. G. Nachtigal in a valuable monograph on the subject con- tributed to the Zeitschrift der GeseJlschaft fur Erdkunde, while that of the Upper Nile, first seriously undertaken by Schwein- furth, is being at present actively prosecuted by various mem- bers of Colonel Gordon Pasha's Egyptian staff. The results of these investigations may here be briefly resumed. 1. Western Sudan, including Senegambia, Upper Guinea, and both banks of the Niger, along its whole course as far east as the kingdom of Bornu, or about 10° E. long, includes the subjoined lin- guistic groups : — Mandingan, or, as Koelle writes it, Mandengan, mainly in southern Senegambia and Upper Guinea, comprises, or rather is supposed to comprise, the Tene, Gbandi, Susu, Mano, Torna, Gbese, Landoro, Kabunga, Mande proper, Bam- bara, Vei, and many others. Vei, however, we shall see farther on has no connection with this system. Wolof or Gor, spoken in great variety by the Jolofs, Kayor, Walo, and Dakar Negroes ; also in Baol, Sine, and Gambia. Felup, on the Lower Casamanze, where they would appear to be indigenous, and comprising also the Filham, Bola, Severe, Pepel of the Bissagos islands, Biafada, Pajade, Kallum, Temne', Kissi, and Sherbro. Sonehay, about the middle Niger, and generally from Tim- buktu to Agades. 520 APPENDIX. Houssa or Hawsa, mainly between Sokoto and Bornu, but very generally throughout the whole of central Sudan, being the commercial language and general means of com- munication in this region. In his Standard Alphabet Lepsius classes it with the Libyan branch of the Hamitic family, while others connect it with the Fulah group. But it is almost certainly not Hamitic, and the casual resemblance it bears to Fulah in some external points is far from affording any scientific proof of its relationship to that language. Pending further investigation it accord- ingly appears as an independent Negro group in this scheme. Ewe or Egbe, along the coast of Upper Guinea, including the Yoruba, Oji or Otyi, Ga or Akra, and several others. Ibo and Nupe, about the Niger Delta. Michi, east of the lower Niger, about 7° N. lat. 2. The Chad Basin, including the Kanem, Bornu, and Bagirmi states, eastwards to Lake Fittri, with undefined southern limits. Here we have at least five stock languages, besides four unclassified Negro tongues, which may all be grouped as under : — f Teda, or Northern Tibus. Dasa, or Southern Tibus. Gunda. Atereta. Mada. Wandala. Dogorda. Salemea. Aborda. Navvarma. Oreddo. Billea. Gadewa. Kiimosoalla. -( Hawalla. Medolea, Jinoa. Nomad Tibus in Kanem. Settled Tibus, mainly in Kanem. Mixed and doubtful Tibus in Kanem. Kanembu, i.e. people of Kanem, of Tibu stock. Kanuri or Magomi of > Bornu, half-caste Kanembu. ) ^ fMosgu proper.^ « I Margi. ^ Mandara. u ^ I Kotoko. °d) (Mekari.) \ 5 3 ; Logon. { Gamergu. Keribina. So, or Sou (ex- J tinct). / S. of Lake Chad as far as Adamawa. fMaijoja. ^ Yedina ' Maibulua. Yedina Buja ! Buduma 'Gu»a- The great central Archipelago I Ma rgauna. in Lake Chad Uillna. J Kuri Kalea Kaleama. f Arigna. [ Media. J Kadiwa. j Toshea. Karawa. VKalea. / | The small ! group of ^islands in the • S.E. corner of Lake Chad. Bulala and Kuka, Lake Fittri. kindred tribes from Sugurti. Tomaghera. Konku. Gallabu. Kuburi. Kunkinna. Kajiti, etc. Bulua. Tura. Manga. Kai. Ngalmaduko, ^Ngasir, etc. Bede. \ Ngisem. ' Unclassified Negro languages, W. and S. W. of Bornu, extending west- Kerrikerri. t wards to the Houssa states and southwards to Adamawa. Babir. ) Bagtrmi, along the right bank of the lower Shari, akin to the Sara on the middle Shari, and forming a connect- ing link with the Negro peoples of the Upper Nile region. AFRICAN TKIBES AND LANGUAGES. 521 There may also be mentioned the Dalatoa in Kanem, due east of Lake Chad, originally descended of Negro slaves, but now speaking Kanuri ; and the Dana or Danawa, the Haddad of the Arabs, in the south-east corner of the lake, including the Darkaua, Arigimma, Amedia, Beggaroa, and Kokolira, not origin- ally of Kanuri blood, but all now speaking Kanuri dialects. 3. Upper Nile, including the regions watered by the Sobat, Bahr-el-Homr, Tonj, and other streams of the White Nile system. Here are spoken a multiplicity of independent, or at least not yet classi- fied idioms, the number of which is continually increased as our knowledge of the country is enlarged. Thus the recent explorations along the lower Sobat as far as Nasser, the most advanced Egyptian station towards Galla Land, have revealed, besides the Nuer on its right, four other stock languages on its left bank — the Shilluk about its junction with the Nile, the Janghey, Fallangh, and Miuak. Beyond Nasser Dr. W. Junker reports several other unclassified tribes on the middle and upper Sobat, not yet visited by Europeans. Amongst them are the Bonjak, Jibbe, Kunkung, NiJcuar, and Chai, all said to speak different languages. The above-mentioned Shilluks occupy an extensive tract along the left bank of the White Nile, while the DiNKA dwell on the opposite side. Between Gondokoro and the great equatorial lakes are the Bongo, Bari, Monbuttu, Nyamnyam, and others on the Jur, Tonj, and other partially explored rivers flowing from the south and south-west to the left bank of the main stream. These pure Negro tribes seem to have made their way from the region of the Chad up the Shari to the Welle, which may possibly be the same river, and so on to the White Nile and its head waters as far as the equator, where their farther progress was barred by the advanced Bantu nations in possession of the great lake district. At present Uganda, King Mtesa's country, marks the parting line of the pure Negro and Bantu races. Everything south of this point to the Cape is Bantu, everything north of it to Khartum is Negro. Those who are interested, or actually engaged, in the spread of the Egyptian power in these regions would do well to bear this fact in mind. The Bantu can be 522 APPENDIX. civilised without being conquered and " annexed j " the Negro never. Hence the encroachments of Egypt should fittingly terminate southwards with Uganda, while westwards they might be beneficially extended through Darfur and Wadai to the Chad basin. But notwithstanding their extraordinary number and variety, it would be a mistake to suppose that these Negrite idioms are merely rude jargons, the disjointed and discordant utterances of beings scarcely deserving to be admitted into membership with the human family, and altogether beneath the notice of the philosopher and historian. Many of them are, on the contrary, characterised by a marvellous delicacy of structure, and have been developed with amazing uniformity on fundamental principles consistently operating throughout the whole of their natural growth. Such, for instance, is the language of the Veiese, an obscure tribe, at present occupying a small strip of the West Coast between Liberia on the south and the totally distinct tribe of the Kiriin on the north. Though usually classified in some vague way with the widely diffused Mandingan group, the Vei tongue has really no apparent well-defined affinity with any other known form of speech. Although the only Negrite idiom boasting of an original writing system,1 it has been cultivated only in recent times for missionary purposes mainly by E. Norris and the Rev. S. W. Koelle. Yet it is a perfectly formed language, with many intricate and beautiful laws, especially of harmony, instinctively and unerringly adhered to by the unlettered natives for an unknown number of generations. It is doubt- less rather a pretty modest little wild-flower, than a gorgeous hot-house specimen, yet, such as it is, it presents some of the profoundest linguistic problems to the scientific student. Thus it belongs, no doubt, on the whole to the agglutinating order, yet is on the one hand almost as utterly devoid of inflection of any sort as is Chinese or any other isolating tongue, and on the other allies itself with the American languages through the remarkable tendency it has developed towards true polysynthesis. 1 An account of the discovery of these curious syllabic characters was pub- lished some years ago by Lieutenant F. E. Forbes, R.N. The invention is of quite a recent date, but owing to the crude nature of the attempt, the system never was adopted, and has now been entirely superseded by the Roman letters. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 523 The total absence of modification may be seen in the word dia, which without any further change, and solely according to its position in the sentence, becomes a noun, adjective, or verb, in the sense of like, love, to like or love, and so on. As a verb it undergoes no change for number, person, mood, or tense, the present indicative being simply na dia = I like, ya dia = thou likest. a dia = he likes, moa dia = we like, woa dia = you like, anda dia = they like. Another peculiarity in which Vei resembles Chinese may be noted. All words, with perhaps half-a-dozen exceptions, begin with a consonant and end with a vowel or a nasal, and the vowels and consonants are so evenly balanced that Karmba or Kanmba = " God," is the only word in the language in which three consonants are thrown together without an intervening vowel ; and even this word now mostly rejects the m, and is pronounced Kanba. No less remarkable is the above-mentioned tendency to polysynthesis, in consequence of which several words become contracted, clipped, and by the play of accent fused completely together. The sentence and the word thus become constantly identified, as in the American idioms. Instances are nkumbaf6wuye = nkumu mbe a fo wuye = I therefore tell it you. mfareita = mfaro Ita = na faro Ita = my father says, go. nantusando = na anu tusa ndo = I asked them, I said. This language thus occupies a most unique position, par- taking of the nature of no less than three distinct orders of speech — the isolating, agglutinating, and polysynthetic. It consequently becomes far more interesting to the student of language than many highly cultivated tongues that have filled the world with the glory of their letters. But the difficult problems connected with the growth and decay of language, which receive so much light from the Vei and many other obscure Negrite idioms, cannot further detain us here. 524 APPENDIX. V. — The Bantu Family. The vast geographical domain of this great linguistic system has already been denned. It covers quite one third of the whole continent, stretching from the mouth of the Cameroon in the Gulf of Guinea and from the Victoria Nile farther east, southwards to the Cape. It thus embraces in one great philological family the natives of Fernando Po and the Zulu tribes of Kafirland on the one hand, and on the other the subjects of King Mtesa on the north-west shore of the Victoria Nyanza and the O-va-Herero tribes of Damara Land on the south-western seaboard. This system is entirely independent of any other known group of languages, and differs essentially from the pure Negro systems in so far as it possesses absolute linguistic unity. There was spoken at some remote epoch a primeval Eantu mother-tongue, from which all the countless dialects of this immense region are undoubtedly derived. They are variously classified by Bleek and others ; but the simplest arrangement seems to be that which divides them geographically into three great divisions, each with three sub- divisions, as in the subjoined scheme. This arrangement differs in some of its details from any hitherto proposed ; but the recent explorations of Cameron between the Tanganyika and Benguela, and of Marche, Compiegne, and Brazza, in the Ogoway regions, rendered a re-adjustment of the classifications suggested by Fr. Miiller and others absolutely indispensable. AFEICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 525 w o pq En GO g §| • P 33 S a 3 3 ^ ^ s 5 a *f g ° pJ Mo P p «0 o fee o o S c> • 3 p ^ 1 1 la O w, feJOrQ 09 • 'feC O o o •— 1 03 P 3 * — i ej g g O _s feO O g ^ £ « e3 . 9° 3.3 o H Ph" W H O P A . , , „ » w j_ i „ , * , \ Amaswazi, and not far from Natal. I, Makononto s people. ; Amafingus 528 APPENDIX. It may be mentioned that the Amafingus are remnants of several tribes at first living in a state of cruel bondage to Hintsa's people, but in 1835 delivered from them by Sir Ben- jamin D'Urban, when a large portion were removed to Fort Peddie, between the Fish and Keiskamma rivers. Others still continue to dwell in various parts of Kafirland. Their name, first given them by the Amakhosas, is from the root fenguza — to seek service ; hence Ama-fengu = helpless people in search of service. The initial affix ama may be taken as the primitive form of the tribal or collective prefix in various dialect forms (ama, ma, mo, m, aba, ba, be, wa, ova, etc.) running through all the branches of the Bantu family. Thus we have Ama-Zulu, Ama- Khosa ; Ma-tebele, Ma-zitu ; Movisa ; Mpororo, Mpongwe ; Aba-shwawa; Ba-suto ; Be-chuana; Wa-swhahili ; O-va-herero. As a rule, ama and aba belong to the Kafir group, ba to Basu- toland and the Tanganyika1 nations, be to the Bechuanas, ma to the tribes between the Limpopo and Lake Bangweolo, wa to those between Zanzibar and the great lake regions, and ova to the Herero group in Damaraland ; but, owing to the various migrations of the tribes, there are of course many exceptions to this general statement. Thus ba and m, for instance, have both found their way to the Ogoway and Gaboon, as we see in the Mpongwe' and Ba-Kalai, undoubtedly Bantu peoples. YI. — The Hottentot Gkoup. The Hottentots call themselves Khoikhoin, the plural of Khoikhoip = man, a term by which they may have wished em- phatically to distinguish themselves from the Bushmen, who are scarcely looked upon by them, or by the Bantus, as human beings at all. Their present area, as already remarked, is limited to the south-western corner of the continent, where they are sub- divided into three different groups, each speaking a distinct variety of the common Hottentot speech. These are the Nama, Kora, and Cape dialects, as under : — Nama is spoken by the Namakha or Namaqua, which is 1 " The prefix Ba is used instead of Wa by the different tribes [about Lake Tanganyika], such as Bafipa, Batuta, etc." — Across Africa, vol. i. p. 279. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 529 the masculine plural form of the word namap, and is therefore properly applicable to the people only, as when we say Namaqualand, i.e. the land of the Namas. It is the language of all the tribes in Great and Little Namaqualand, along both banks of the Lower Orange river. It has also been adopted by the Haukoin, or Hill Damaras, farther north, who seem, in all proba- bility, to have been originally a Bantu people. There are a considerable number of Nama dialects, but the typical Nama is, on the whole, by far the purest of all the Hottentot tongues. Kora is spoken by the Kordkha, or Koraqua (mas. pi. of Korap), tribes dwelling on the Middle and Upper Orange, the Vaal and the Modder rivers. It is con- siderably more corrupt than the Nama. Cape. The so-called " Cape Dialect," spoken by the few tribes still existing in Cape Colony proper, would seem to be the most degraded of all the Hottentot idioms. There remains to be mentioned the Griqua or Grikha, also properly the plural form of Grip, the name of the mixed tribes and half-castes at present settled in Griqualand West, between the Orange and Molopo rivers. Most of these Griquas now speak a corrupt Dutch, mingled with the most discordant foreign elements. A study of this jargon might, per- haps, astonish some of those theorists who hold by the doctrine of the metaphysical impossibility of a mixed language ; that is, mixed not merely in its vocabulary, as is English, but in its very structure, as Huzvaresh would seem to be. The Hottentot language is radically distinct from any other known form of speech. Like the race itself, it would appear to be the ruined monument of a greater past, herein differing essentially from the Bushmen, who are, on the con- trary, a primeval people, arrested by adverse circumstances at a very low stage of their development. Attempts have doubtless been made to identify the Bush- men with the Hottentots, amongst other reasons an apparently strong argument being based on the so-called " click " sounds 2 M 530 APPENDIX. common to both. But these clicks are found also in the Bantu Kafir idioms, which have avowedly no connection whatsoever either with the Hottentot or the Bushman tongues. The fact seems to be that the clicks were originally peculiar to the Bushmen, the primeval inhabitants of perhaps the whole of South Africa as far as and beyond the Zambesi. From them the Hottentots, the next invading race from the north, acquired the use of these sounds, which passed thence to the Zulu Bantus, the third and last invading race. In confirmation of this view, it may be mentioned that, whereas the Bushmen possess as many as six, the Hottentots have four, and the Kafirs three only, of these clicks — sounds which may, on the whole, be looked upon as a sort of connect- ing link between articulate and inarticulate speech. They are represented in grammars by certain arbitrary diacritical marks, but are practically unpronounceable by the European tongue, being uttered, not by projecting, but by drawing in the breath. The difficulty presented, especially by the so-called lateral click, immediately followed by, if not uttered simultaneously with, an initial guttural, would seem to be altogether insurmount- able to those not " to the manner born." Wallman compares it to the sound with which we urge horses to quicken their pace. The numbers of the various indigenous races above de- scribed have been given by the latest returns as under :— African Negroes . 130,000,000 Hamites . 20,000,000 Bantus . 18,000,000 Fulahs . 8,000,000 Nubas . 1,500,000 Hottentots . 50,000 But it must be obvious that all this is little better than mere conjecture, there being no available data on which to form even an approximate estimate of the actual population of this continent. The Bantus, especially, seem to be here greatly underrated ; and Fr. Miiller is perhaps not far wrong in asserting that they form fully one-fourth of the inhabitants of Africa. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 531 VIE. — The Malayo-Polynesian Family. Of this great family there are altogether three main divi- sions— the Melanesian, Polynesian, and Malay proper. But of these the last only enters into our scheme. It is represented, however, not on the mainland itself, but in the vast island of Madagascar only. Whatever be the origin of all the peoples now inhabiting this island, it is at least certain that the ruling race are of Malay blood, and that all the inhabitants, without exception, have either always spoken, or have finally adopted, the Malay language. It is spoken with great dialectic diversity by the Hovas, the ruling race occupying the central table-land, by the Betsimasarakas on the western, and the Sakalavas on the east side of the island. These three tribes, and their various dialects, are usually known collectively as the Malgash, Mala- gass, or Malagasy people and language. In the foregoing account of the various African linguistic systems it was impossible to do more than specify by name the representative languages, and a few of the principal dia- lects of each main division ; but in the subjoined alphabetical list will be found all known tribes and idioms, with the fami- lies, and, where possible, the particular groups and branches to which they belong, as well as their geographical position, carefully determined. The whole subject will be farther illus- trated, and in a way summed up, by the accompanying philo- logical map, arranged in such a way as to show at a glance the general distribution of the indigenous races. In the list are included the peoples recently discovered in the Upper Nile region; those visited by Compiegne, Marche, and Brazza, during their different expeditions up the Ogoway ; the tribes met by Cameron on his route "Across Africa;" and those noted by Stanley in his exploration of the country between the equatorial lakes and Tanganyika, and down the Lualaba- Congo from Nyangwe to its mouth. Judging from their tribal names — Wamangala, Warunga, Wenya or Wagenya, Wyanzi, Barumbe, Bateke, Basundi, Babwende, etc. — all the 532 APPENDIX. nations inhabiting this last section, that is, the great central basin of Africa drained by the Lualaba-Congo, would seem to belong almost exclusively to the Bantu family. Note. — Many of the central and eastern Bantu tribes will be found under the prefix Ki, marking their language, instead of under Wa, denoting the people collectively, as already ex- plained. Thus Ki-swahili, Ki-rua, instead of TTa-swdhili, Wa- rua, etc. In the same way many of the Bechuanas and others appear under Se, the corresponding Bechuana prefix to the northern Ki; as for instance, Se-suto, Se-rolong, instead of Ba- suto, Ba-rolong, etc. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 533 SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF ALL KNOWN AFEICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. FAMILY AND GROUP. Negro ; isolated Negro ; Upper Nile group An Amafingu sub-tribe . An Amafingu sub-tribe . An Amafingu sub-tribe . Same as Amatembu, which see. Hamitic ; Ethiopian branch Negro .... Negro ; Kru group Semitic ; Arabic branch . Negro ; unclassified Negro ; isolated Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . A tribe of the Janghey, which see. The Waiyau, so called by the Manganja or Nyassa people (Livingstone). Hamitic; Ethiopian branch Unclassified . Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; isolated Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; unclassified Negro ; unclassified GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Niger Delta, S. of the Egbele. Between the Nyamnyam and the Monbuttu. Kafirland. Kafirland. Kafirland. Between Perim and Abyssinia ; akin to Galla. S.W. of Lake Chad- Slave Coast, near Akkra. About Cape Blanco. On the Ogoway, beyond the Okanda (Brazza, 1876). W. of Mongu, on the Chadda,. 9° N. lat., 13 E. long. W. of Abyssinia. The most powerful of the Somali tribes, Somali land. Upper Nile, in and beyond Monbuttu land. Gold Coast, E. E. of Afia and Ibo ; at Old Cala- bar, E. of Bonny. Gold Coast, W. of the river Volta. W. of Manga, Niger Delta, 6° N. lat., 8° E. long. On the Kai'lei, a tributary of the Ogoway (Marche, 1876). 534 APPENDIX. Amabaca Amabele Amafingu Amagcaleka . Amalilubi Amakhosa . Amakuze Aniampondo Aniandhlambe Amangqika . Araangwana . Amantozake . Amantunzela Ama-qeya Arnarelidvani Amatembu . Amatetyeni . Amazizi Amazuazi Amazulu Ainbakonio . Amharic, ) Anikarna ) Anfua . Angog Angola Angoy Anjuane Apingi Apiri . Apono . Arabic . Aro Ashango FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; Fingu branch An Amafingu sub-tribe . Bantu ; S.E. branch The Galekas or Chreli's Kafirs, an Amakhosa tribe. An Amafingu sub-tribe . Bantu ; S. E. branch An Amafingu sub-tribe . Bantu ; Kafir branch The T'slambies, an Ama- khosa tribe The Gaikas, an Amakhosa tribe A Matebele tribe . An Amafingu sub-tribe . An Amafingu sub-tribe . The Hottentots, so called by the Zulus. An Amafingu sub-tribe . Bantu ; S.E. branch An Amafingu sub-tribe . An Amafingu sub-tribe . Bantu ; Fingu branch Bantu ; E. branch The Wanika, so called by the Wateita ; see Ki- nika. Semitic ; Himyaritic br. Negro ; Ewe group A tribe of the Janghey, which see. Bantu ; W. branch See Kakongo . Bantu ; E. branch . Negro ; Ewe group Unclassified . Bantu ; central Ashira family Semitic ; S. branch Negro ; isolated Ashira family GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. On the W. frontier of Natal. Kafirland. Kafirland ; formerly very numerous. Kafirland. Kafirland, S. of the Amazulu. Kafirland. On the coast between the Umtala river and Natal. Kafirland. Kafirland. Near the Caledon river and Blue Mountains. Kafirland. Kafirland. Kafirland. Kafirland, N. W. of the Amakhosas. Kafirland. j Kafirland. j Kafirland, N. of the Amakhosa. I Kafirland, N. of the Amakhosa. Abyssinia, S. and S.W. ; a Geez dialect with a fusion of foreign elements. Slave Coast. Angola. In the Anguane Islands, wrongly called Johanna on the maps. Slave Coast. Middle Ogoway, between the Okotas and the Banguin ; also S. of the Ogoway, near 2° S. lat., and be- tween 8° and 9° E. long. W. of Lake Nyassa, 33° E. long., 14° S. lat. W. of the Ashango, about 9° E. long. N. Africa, Egypt, Wadai, Adirar, Beran, Shoa. Niger Delta, N. of Bonny. About 2° S. lat., and between 9° and 10° E. long. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 535 NAME. FAMILY AND GROUP. Ashanti Ashira Negro ; Ewe group Unclassified Assaorta Hamitic and Semitic Atiniboka See Matumboka. Babemba Babisa . Bantu ; central Bantu ; E. branch Babimpe Bantu ; central Babire Bafipa . Bantu ; central . Bantu ; central Babukur Baga of Kalum Bagba . Negro ; Upper Nile group Negro ; Felup group Moko group . Bagbalan Negro ; isolated Bagenya Bantu ; central Bagirmi Baggara-el- Homr Bailunda Bakalai, Bakele Negro ; independent Negro (?) ; Upper Nile PTOUD (1\ Bantu ; W. branch Bantu j W '. branch . Bakunia Bantu ; W. branch Bakuss Bantu ; central Balegga Bantu ; central Balu . Negro ; Moko group Balumbo Bantu ; W. branch Balungu Bantu ; central branch . Bambera, Bambarra Negro ; Mande group Bambireh Bantu ; central . . GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Gold Coast. On the Ovigi, a tributary of the Ogo- way, between 1° and 2° S. lat. E. Abyssinia ; some speak Geez, some Galla dialects. E. shore of Lake Moero. Between Lakes Bangweolo and Nyassa, 10° to 12° S. lat., 32° to 34° E. long. N. bank of Middle Zambesi, 28° to 30° E. long. Right bank of Lualaba, 3° S. lat., 27° E. long. S.E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, 7° S. lat. S. of the Bongo, on the Upper Tody. On N.W. coast, 10° N. lat. W. of Banjombu, 4° N. lat., 18° E. long. N.W. of the Guerese, 1° E. long., 12° N. lat. Left bank of the Lualaba, 5° S. lat. 26° E. long. S.E. of Lake Chad. On the Bahr-el-Arab. 12° to 13° S. lat., 16° E. long. On both sides of the Lower Ogoway, between the equator and 2° S. lat. and about 8° E. long ; the princi- pal race on the Lower Ogoway. In Yangela, Loango, Lower Quillu, 60 miles inland, j W. of Nyangwe, near Lomame, 4° to 5° S. lat., 25° to 26° E. long. Right bank of the Lualaba, 4° S. lat., 27° E. long. ; also, N.W. of Lake Tanganyika, 3° S. lat., 29° E. long. Near Banda and Baya, 5°N. lat., 15° to 18° E. long (Koelle). Loango, on the Lower Quillu, beyond the Bayombe. On the Mambwe hills, where rises the Lofu, due S. of Tanganyika. South Senegambia, between 10° and 15° N. lat. They are the most powerful of all the Mande tribes ; capital, Sego on the Niger. In island of like name on W. coast of Lake Victoria Nyanza. 536 APPENDIX. Bayeiye Bay on of Pati FAMILY AND GROUP. Negro ; Moko group Bantu ; central Negro ; Upper Nile group Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; W. branch Independent family Bantu ; central Negro ; isolated Nubian family Negro ; isolated Negro ; Upper Nile group A Bantu dialect mentioned by Dr. W. Peters as spoken between Tete and Manika Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central Negro ; Nupe group Negro ; Kra or Kru group Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; W. branch Hamitic ; Egyptian branch Bantu ; W. branch See Ama-tembu. Bantu ; E. Bechuana br. Bantu ; central Fulah family Bantu ; central . Unclassified ; Bantu ? Unclassified . Bantu ; central branch . Moko group . GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. W. of Bakum, about 4° N. lat., 14" E. long. Right bank of Lualaba, 3° S. lat., 27° E. long. All the tribes south of Kuti, on the White Nile, Bahr-el-Ardhe and Bahr Kuta, which is probably the Welle or Upper Shari. 9° to 10° S. lat., 18° E. long. Left bank of the Ogoway, near the Okanda, on the equator, and about 9° E. long. ; speak a Bakabii dia- lect. Throughout the whole of S. Africa, except the S.W. corner. S. bank of Middle Zambesi, 30° to 33° E. long. N.W. coast, at mouth of the Casa- manza. Upper Egypt and Nubia. N.E. of Yoruba, 10° N. lat., 4°E. long. White Nile, S. of Gondokoro. Lower Zambesi. Upper Zambesi, N. of the Makololo. N.E. of Lake Tanganyika, 3° to 5° S. lat, 30° E. long. At junction of Niger and Kaduna, 7° E. long., 9° N. lat. Liberia, Grain Coast. E. of the Mpongwe. N. bank of Middle Zambesi, 30° to 33° E. long. 9° to 11° S. lat., 19° E. long. Egypt (extinct). 9° to 11° S. lat., 16° to 17° E. long. Basutoland East. N. bank of Middle Zambesi, 30° E. long. S. of Lake" Chad, in Adamawa, on the Chadda. N.W. shore of Lake Bangweolo, on the E. bank of the Luapula. On the Lower Nhanga, Loango (Giiss- feldt). On the Nhanga, 3° S. lat. (Dr. Gussfeldt, 1874). Interior of South Africa. Near river Nen in Bayon. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 537 FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; central Negro ; Upper Nile group Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Negro ; Upper Nile group Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; W. branch Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Bantu ; central Semitic ; Arabic branch . Hamitic ; Libyan branch Negro ; Upper Nile group Malayo-Polynesian ; Malay group Negro ; Felup group Bantu ; W. Branch Negro ; isolated Negro ; Upper Nile group See Beja. Unclassified Negro ; Bornu group . Hamitic ? Beja dialect ? Negro ; isolated . Negro ; Felup group Negro ; Upper Nile group Negro ; Nilotic group Negro ; isolated . Negro ; independent group Unclassified . Bantu ; E. branch . Negro ; Bornu group ? . GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. On the Quillu, Loango (Dr. Giissfeldt, 1874). Right bank of Lualaba, 3° S. lat., 27* E. long. Darfur, S.E. N. of Abyssinia, between Nile and Red Sea ; called also Bishari, but known to the Arabs as i. = Beja. S. of the Bongo. >• Between Lake Bangweolo and Tan- ganyika. Corisco Bay, S. of the Congo. Benguela, W. coast. Between the Atbara and Red Sea. Some speak a Geez dialect. Right bank of Lualaba, 3° S. lat. 27° E. long. E. and S.E. of Adirar. Barbary States, W. Sahara, from Arguim Bank, Cape Blanco, to 12° E. long. Darfur, N.E. Madagascar, E. coast. Opposite Bissagos Isles, S. of the Casamanza. 12° to 13° S. lat. 17° to 18° E. long. Niger Delta, Benin. Darfur, S.E. On the W. slopes of the Blue Moun- tains W. of the Albert Nyanza. W. of Bornu, 12° E. long., 13° N. lat. N. of Abyssinia (described by Mun- zinger). N.E. Barba and Yoruba, on the Lower Niger, 10° N. lat. Opposite Bissagos Isles, N.of Biafada. Between 8° and 6° N. lat., from the Roah to the Pango ; between the Dinka on the N. and the Nyam- nyam on the S. On the Bonjak, Upper Sobat ; speak a Niuak dialect. Between Mbarike and Igbala, 11° E. long., 10° N. lat. W. and S.W. of Lake Chad. S. Africa ; Kalahari Desert. Lower Zambesi, S. of Sena. On the islands in Lake Chad. Koelle says it differs from the Kanuri, which is the proper language of the Bornu people. 538 APPENDIX. Bulanda Bullom Bulu Bunda Bushmen Bute Chai . Chava . Chinama Coptic . Dadjo . Dahomey Dakar . Damara Danakil, Dankali Dar-Banda Dembo Denka, Dinka, Dyankhe Dewoi . Dikele . Diwala Doai, Doei . Doko . Domondu Dongolawi . Dor . Dwallo. Dyur . . Eafen . Ebe . Effik . Egbe . Egbele . Egbira-Hima Egyptian Ekamtulufu . Eki or Ki . FAMILY AND GROUP. Negro ; isolated Negro ; Felup group Unclassified ; Bantu ? Bantu ; W. branch . See Bosjesman Negro ; unclassified Negro ; Nilotic group Bantu ; central Bantu ; central See Koptic. Negro ; Upper Nile group Negro ; Ewe group. Negro ; Sei ere- Wolof group See Herero and Hawkoin Hamitic ; Ethiopian branch Negro ; Upper Nile group Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Upper Nile group Negro ; Kru group . Bantu ; W. branch Moko family . Negro ; Bornu group Negro ; isolated Unclassified . Nubian family . See Bongo. Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Upper Nile group Unclassified . Negro ; Nupe group Negro ; akin to Ibo See Ewe. Negro ; Ewe group. Negro ; Nupe group Hamitic ; Egyptian branch Unclassified . Negro ; Ewe group. I GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Near Biafada, W. coast. Sierra Leone, N. of Freetown. Both banks of the Gaboon. Angola, Benguela, Damaraland. W. of Kapare, S.of Mfum, 6° N. lat., 14° E. long. Upper Sobat, confining on the Nikuar. 33° E. long., 14° S. lat. S.E. shore of Lake Bangweolo, 30° \o 31° E. long. Darfur. Slave Coast. Dakar, Cape Verd. E. of Abyssinia ; from Shoa to the coast between Tajurra and Arkiko. Akin to the Gallas. The region of the Banda speech, about the head waters of the Nile and Welle. 7° to 8° S. lat., 15° to 17° E. long. Right bank of White Nile, S. of and akin to the Nuehr. Eiver St. Paul. Bight of Biafra. The Cameroons. W. of Bornu, E. of Sila. Senaar ; perhaps akin to the Akka. On the W. slopes of the Blue Moun- tains W. of Lake Albert Nyanza. About the 3d Cataract, N. of Khartum. Bight of Biafra, Cameroons. A Shilluk tribe, S. of the Dinka, N. of the Bongo. W. of Anyan, E. of Nsan. On the Chadda. Niger Delta ; Calabar. Niger Delta, about 6° N. lat., 6° to 7° E. long. At junction of Niger and Chadda. Egypt (extinct). W. of Nki, S. of Udom, E. of the Lower Niger. S. of Nupe, Lower Niger, 5° E. long., 8° N. lat. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 539 FAMILY AND GROUP. Negro ; Nupe group Negro; independent Negro ; independent Osyeba family ? . . Negro ; Ewe group. Negro ; independent See Fulah. Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Felup group See Aniafingu. Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Upper Nile group Independent family Fulah dialect • Fulah dialect • See Akra. See Mpongwe. Negro ; isolated Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. Negro ; Mandenga group Unclassified . Negro ; Mande group Negro ; Kru group Negro ; Mande group Semitic ; Himyaritic br. A tribe of the Janghey, which see. Hamitic ; Libyan branch PI. of Ghou-damap, the name given by the Nama- quas to the Hawkoin, which see. Negro ; Mande group Negro ; Nupe group Fulah family . Negro ; Upper Nile GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MIS- CELLANEOUS REMARKS. On the Niger, N. of its junction with the Chadda. Slave Coast. Left bank of the Lower Sobat, above the Janghey. Between the Gaboon and the Ogoway. Gold Coast. On the Gambia and Casamanza. Fernando Po. On the Casamanza, S. of the Gambia. Loango. It is the proper name of the language on the coast (Dr. Giissfeld). Darfur. Between the W. coast and Lake Chad. Written also Fule, Pul, Pulo, Peul, Fellatah, and in composition Futa. Futa-toro means the Fulah of Toro (N. Senegambia). Futa-jallo means the Fulah of Jallo (E. Senegambia). E. of Futa-toro. S. of Abyssinia ; limits undefined southwards. Sierra Leone. Lower Ogoway, 1° S. lat, and 8° E. long. W. Sudan ; N.E. of Monrovia. N. of Cape Palmas. W. Sudan ; S.E. of Monrovia. Abyssinia ; a direct descendant of the Himyaritic of S. Arabia. Ex- tinct, but still used as the litur- gical language of the Abyssinians. S.E. of Biskra; Twarej tribes. distinct from the E. and S. of Mano ; N. of Cape Palmas. Lower Chadda. E. of the Niger ; about 15° N. lat.f 7° E. long. W. of the Bongo, but their language is quite different. 540 APPENDIX. .FAMILY AND GROUP. Same as Wolof, which see. Negro ; Kra or Kru group Hamitic ; Libyan branch Negro ; Nupe group Negro ; isolated Negro ; isolated Negro ; isolated Hamitic and Semitic Negro ; isolated Negro ; Upper Nile br. Semitic ; Himyaritic br. Negro (?) ; independent Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. Hottentot family . Bantu : S. W. branch Bantu ; E. branch . Independent family Malayo-Polynesian; Malay branch Bantu ; W. branch • Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; akin to Ewe ? See Ewe. Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; Nupe group Negro ; isolated Negro ; Ewe group See Tuareg or Twarej, and Ta-masheq. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. River St. Paul, Liberia. Canary Islands (extinct). Some seem to think that it was a Vandal dialect, but on insufficient grounds. Lower Chadda. Near Vei ; E. of Monrovia. Near the Yoruba ; 11° N. lat., 2° E. long. W. of Hawsa ; N. of the Kong moun- tains, about 3° E. long, and 12°N.lat. Between the Atbara and the Red Sea. Some speak Beja, others Geez dialects. E. of Koro ; S. bank of the Chadda, 10° E. long., 8° N. lat. Upper Senaar, from Sera S. of Karkoj on the W. bank of the Blue Nile, southwards. S.E. of Abyssinia at Harrar in Somali land. Fr. Miiller shows that Harrari is not Hamitic, as was supposed, but a Geez dialect. Both sides of the Middle Niger and the Chadda. By some classed with the Fulahs, but wrongly ; by others with the Hamitic, also wrongly. A Somali tribe ; Somali land. The proper name of the Hill Damaras, who now speak Hottentot. 23° to 19° S. lat., in the plains of Damaraland ; not to be confounded with the Hill Damaras, who speak Hottentot. Swahili coast. S.W. corner of Africa ; Nam aqua- land and the Cape. Madagascar, on the central plateau. 13° to 14° S. lat., 16° to 17° E. long. Coast of Dahomey. Niger Delta. N. of Ibo. Chadda region. Niger Delta ; E. of Benin. Near Abbeokuta j W. of Ado. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 541 FAMILY AND GROUP. Unclassified . Bantu ; E. branch . Bantu ; N. E. branch Bantu ; central branch Isolated . . • Negro ; isolated . ! Negro ; isolated Bantu ; W. branch Moko family . Bantu ; central branch Unclassified . Unclassified . Negro ; Mande group Negro ; independent Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; Kru group . Negro ; isolated Negro ; Nilotic group Negro ; Wolof group Unclassified . Negro ; Ewe group See Dyur. Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. Same as Kakongo or Angoy, which see. Bantu ; central Bantu ; central . Negro ; Mande group Hamitic ; Libyan branch GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Lower Ogoway, between 8° and 9° E. long, and near 1° S. lat. On the coast, N. of the Limpopo, about 23° S. lat. On the Liwumbu or Upper Shimiyu ; 4° to 5° S. lat., 34° to 35° E. long. N.W. of L. Bangweolo; 10° to 11° S. lat. Near the Apono, S. of the Ogoway ; about 2° S. lat. and 9° E. long. Niger Delta. Niger Delta. Bight of Biafra. Near Cameroons, on W. coast. S.W. of Tanganyika ; 8° to 9° S. lat, 30° to 31° E. long. S. of Lower Ogoway, at 1° S. lat, and between 8° and 9° E. long. S. of Lower Ogoway, at 1° S. lat., and between 7° and 8° E. long. In Jalu or Futajalu. Left bank of the Lower Sobat, above the Shilluk. W. of Ufe, Upper Guinea; 4° E.long., 7° N. lat. W. coast of Upper Guinea. W. of Bont ; N. of Kong mountains ; 10° N. lat., 3° E. long. On the Upper Sobat above Nasser. Due E. of Cape Verd. S.W. of Bornu ; E. of Panda, on the Middle Chadda. E. of Eki, Lower Niger. S. E. corner of Lake Victoria Nyanza. S.E. of Lake Victoria Nyanza ; S. of the Jutwa. Kordofan (Col. Colston of the Egypt- ian Staff, 1876). W. shore of Lake Bangweolo ; 11° to 12° S. lat, 29° E. long. N. shore of Lake Moero ; 8° to 9° S. lat. S. of the Gambia. Spoken by the Kabyle Berbers, in the uplands of Algeria and in Tunis. The true form of the word is , bl> • : qabail. 542 APPENDIX. Kayamba Kazambes Khosa . Kiamba Kibanda Ki-bisa Kibokwe Kibula Ki-digo FAMILY AND GROUP. Negro ; Hawsa group Bantu ; S. E. branch Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Felup group Bantu ; E. branch . Negro ; isolated Unclassified . Negro ; isolated Negro ; Tibu group Unclassified . Negro ; Mande group Fulah family . . Negro ; Hawsa group Bantu ; E. Branch . : Negro ; Bornu group '■ Negro ; Felup group j Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; Bornu group Negro ; isolated Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; isolated j Bantu ; central A Mozambique dialect, mentioned by Dr. W. Peters. See Amakhosa. Negro ; isolated Bantu , W. branch Bantu ; central branch Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; N.E. branch GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND LANEOUS REMARKS. N. of Kano ; between the Niger and Lake Chad. Kafirland, by the Amazulus, Ama- khosas, Amafingus, etc. N. of Lower Congo, near its mouth, in the Angoy country. On the W. coast ; N. of Sierra Leone ; about 10° N. lat. N.E. of Lake Nyassa. Near Bara ; W. of Gbanki. Near Nupe ; 6° E. long., 10° N. lat. N.W. of Lake Chad. N. of Lake Chad. S. of Lower Ogoway at 8° E. long. N.W. of Konia; 11° N. lat., 12° E. long. About the source of the Niger. Midway between the Niger and Lake Chad. Midway between the Niger and Lake Chad. On Mount Phunze, to the S.W. of Lake Nyassa. W. and S.W. of Lake Chad. It is the proper language of the Bornus, who would seem to be a mixed race. Opposite Bissao Isle, S. of the Casamanza. S.W. of Victoria Nyanza ; 2° to 3° S. lat., and 31° E. long. W. and S. of Bornu, N. of Pika. W. of the Gurese, Upper Guinea. 10° S. lat., and 25° to 27° E. long. W. of Legba ; N. of Kong mountains; 10° N. lat., 2° E. long. I Left bank of the Lualaba ; 7° to 8° S. lat., 26° to 27° E. long. W. of Kaure ; north of Kong moun- tains ; 10° N. lat., long, of Green- wich. 12° to 13° S. lat., 15° to 16° E. long. Between Lake Bangweolo and Tan- ganyika. 9° to 11° S. lat., 20° E. long. 12° to 13° S. lat., 15° E. long. S. of the Wa-nika, and akin to them ; inland from the Swahili coast (Miffler). AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 543 NAME. Ki-gara Ki Ki-galla Ki-gogo Ki-guhha Ki-gunda Ki-kamba, Ki-kambani Ki-khanga . FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; central branch . See Eki. A Galla dialect, spoken on the Dana, differing from the Shoan Galla (Krapf). Bantu ; N.E. branch Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; E. branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; N.E. branch Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; N.E. branch Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; E. branch . Bantu ; N. E. branch Bantu ; E. branch . A Wanika tribe ; see Ki-nika. Bantu ; N.E. branch Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Mande group Bantu ; central Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; central branch Negro ; Felup group Bantu : central branch GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. 5° to 6° S. lat., and 31° to 32° E. long. E. coast, on the Pocomo or Dana river. 6° to 7° S. lat., and 34° to 36° E. long. W. of Tanganyika ; 5° to 6° S. lat., 29° to 30° E. long. 5° to 6° S. lat., and 32° to 33° E. long. Zanzibar district ; between 2° and 3° S. lat. and 38° and 39° E. long. S. of Lake Victoria Nyanza ; 3° S. lat., and 32° to 33° E. long. 5° to 6° S. lat., and 34° E. long. N. of Tanganyika ; 3° S. lat., and 23° to 29° E. long. 6° to 12° S. lat., 22° to 24° E. long. S. of Tanganyika ; 9° S. lat. , and 31° to 33° E. long. | N. of the Wa-nika, and akin to them ; inland from the Swahili coast. I 12° S. lat, 18° E. long, j The language and tribes of the Coanza, I so named by Ladislaus Magyar. E. coast, Zanzibar district, 3° to 5° S. lat. 4° to 6° S. lat., and 33° to 34° E. long. E. coast, a little S. of the equator ; akin to the Wa-nika, on the Dana. On the Liwumbu or Upper Shimiyu ; 4° to 5° S. lat., 34° to 35° E. long. I 5° to 10° S. lat, 26° to 28° E. long. | 7° S. lat, and between 38° and 39° E. long. E. coast ; Zanzibar district. 12° to 13° S. lat, 14° E.'long. In Soso, near Freetown. N.W. corner of Lake Alexandra Nyanza ; 2° 10' S. lat, 31° E. long. 12° to 13° S. lat, 14° to 15° E. long. 8° to 10° S. lat, 24° to 25° E. long. W. and N. of the Gbandi, N.E. of Monrovia. S. of Victoria Nyanza; 3° to 4° S. lat. and 33° to 34° E. long. 544 APPENDIX. FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu : E. branch • Bantu ; N.E. branch Bantu ; N.E. branch Bantu ; central branch . See Ki-Kimbu. Bantu ; E. branch • Bantu ; E. branch . Negro ; isolated Bantu ; central Nubian family- Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; isolated Nubian family Negro ; Mande group Hamitic ; Egyptian br. . Hottentot family . Negro ; isolated . . Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; independent group Negro ; Kru group Negro ; Upper Nile group Moko group . Negro ; Nilotic group Negro ; Nupe group See Juku. Negro ; isolated . Negro ; Mande group Negro ; isolated GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. The Zanzibar language proper, and generally from Cape Delgado to Somali land ; written also, but less correctly, Suaheli, the Arabic form being ^J.-^ = Sawahili. S.E. of Victoria Nyanza, 2° to 3° S. lat. S.E. of Victoria Nyanza, 2° to 3° S. lat. E. shore of Tanganyika ; 5° to 6° S. lat., and 30° to 31° E. long. On the Lower Kingani, S. of Baga- moyo, near Zanzibar. E. coast ; 6° S. lat., 38° E. long. N. of Diwieza. W. of Uganda ; 1° S. lat., 31° 30' E. long. Kordofan, W. Kongo, W. coast. E. of Manyan. Darfur and Kordofan. W. and N. of Kisi, due E. of Free- town. Egypt ; extinct. Middle and Upper Orange, Vaal and Modder. Kora is properly the name of the language spoken bythe Koraqua, which is the plural of Korap = a Kora Hottentot. S.E. of Aduma. E. of Tanganyika ; 5° to 7° S. lat., and 30° to 32° E. long. Windward and Grain Coast ; the speech of the Krumen, or, more correctly, Kramen. At Cape Palmas. Krebu means the Fish Kru. Gazelle region, the most debased of all the Upper Nile tribes. W. of Ndob, E. of Bamum. Upper Sobat ; unexplored. On the Lower Niger ; 6° E. long., 8° N. lat. S. of the R. Grande ; 15° E. long. ; E. from the Bissagos Isles. On W. coast, S. of Freetown. W. of the Niger, N. of the Yoruba. 11° N. lat., 4° E. long. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 545 FAMILY AND GROUP. See Geez. It is not an Arabic dialect, but an independent sister tongue. Bantu ; Bunda group Hatnitic ; W. branch Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; isolated Bantu : W. branch Bantu ; central Bantu ; central branch Negro ; Mosgu group Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; central Bantu ; central branch Bantu : E. branch Bantu Bantu E. branch central A Mozambique dialect . Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; unclassified Bantu ; E. branch . Same as Mawizi, which see. See Akka. The Akkas are so called by the surrounding tribes. A Waiyan tribe Bantu : central Unclassified Semitic : Arabic branch GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Angola, S. of the Coanza (Giissfeldt). Barbary States, W. Sahara ; all the Berber and Twarej tribes. Bechuana Land East. E. of Timne ; S. of Soso, near Free- town. Between the 3° and 6° N. lat. All the idioms on the Loango coast appear to be Bantu ; farther inland other races are found. W. of Lake Bengweolo ; 12° S. lat., 26° to 27° E. long. In the Chambeze valley, near Lake Moero. S. of Lake Chad, near the Lower Shari. W. coast, about 22° S. lat. W. of Lake Tanganyika ; 29° to 30° E. long., 8° S. lat. About Lake Dilolo and the head waters of the Zambesi. Near Delagoa Bay (Dr. W. Peters). S. of Quilimane (Dr. W. Peters). N. of Lake Tanganyika; 2° S. lat., 30° E. long. Mentioned by Dr. W. Peters. N.E. of Lake Bangweolo, 10° S. lat. S.E. of Lake Chad. S. of the Lower Rovuma ; 11° to 12° S. lat., 38° to 40° E. long. N. of the Rovuma. Originally between the Limpopo and Zambesi, now driven north by the Matebeles. Middle Ogoway, on the equator and beyond 10° E. long. ; not yet visited by Europeans. The proper name of the Arabic spoken in the Barbary States : 2 N 546 APPENDIX. Mahi . Ma-hloenga Mahungo Makalaka Makanga Makolokue Makololo Makonde Makua Malagasy Malinke Mambwe Mampa, Mampua Manda . Mandara Mande . Mandenga Manganja Manika Manindi Ma-niolosi Mano . Mantati Manyuema Maravi Marimba Marririmo Marungu Masai . Ma-shona Massalat Matamba Matambwi Matebele FAMILY AND GROUP. Negro ; Ewe group Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; central branch . A Mozambique dialect . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; E. branch Malayo- Polynesian ; Ma- lay branch See Mandenga. Bantu ; central branch . The real name of the Sherbro, ■which see. Bantu ; central Negro ; isolated Negro ; independent group Negro ; Mande group Bantu ; E. branch . A Mozambique dialect akin to Sena and Tette (Dr. W. Peters). Same as Wanindi, which see. Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; Mande group See Se-hlokwa (called also Bamantatisi). Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; E. branch . Bantu ; E. branch . The proper name of the Makalaka, which see. Bantu ; central branch . Akin to the Wakuafi, which see. Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; Upper Nile group Bantu ; W. branch A branch of the Makonde Bantu ; E. branch GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Slave Coast, W. of the Yoruba. Tekeza group, N. of the Bechuanas. 8° S. lat, 16° to 18° E. long. Matebele Land ; speak a Se-chuana dialect ; call themselves Marririmo. Mentioned by Dr. W. Peters. Bechuana Land East. Upper Zambesi, N.W. of the Victoria Falls ; very numerous. N. of the Makuas, about the Kovuma. N.E. of the Shire, in Mozambique. The collective name of all the Mada- gascar tribes and idioms. Due S. of Tanganyika, 10° S. lat. S. shore of Lake Bangweolo, 29°-30° E. long. Due S. of Lake Chad. Senegambia, near Sierra Leone, and inland from the Wolof region. S. Senegambia, Upper Guinea, S. of the Gambia, and about the source of the Niger. On the Shire, between Lake Nyassa and the coast ; very numerous. Tekeza group, N. of the Bechuanas. N. of Cape Palmas, S. of the Gbese. On the Lualaba, N.W. of Tanganyika. A Manganja tribe, W. of the Kirk range ; 34° E. long. S.W. of Lake Nyassa ; 13° to 14° S. lat., 34° to 35° E. long. S.W. of Tanganyika ; 7° to 8°S. lat., and 30° to 31° E. long. Middle Zambesi. Darfur, W. 9° S. lat., 16° to 17° E. long. 11° S. lat., 37°-38° E. long. Sechuana dialects between the Upper Limpopo and Middle Zambesi. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 547 Ma-tonga Matumboka Mawizi Mayorube Mazitu Mbanjeru Mbarike Mbe . Mbofia Mbofon Mboghwa Mejertin Melon or Melommesle Memphitic . Mende Mensa . Mfut . Michi . Mittu . Mkinyaga Mo-chuana , Molathemim Momenya Monbuttu Mose . Mosgu . Mozambique . Mpongwe Mpororo Muanza FAMELY AND GROUP. Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; E. branch See Bayombe. Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; S.W. branch Negro ; isolated Negro ; isolated Negro ; isolated Unclassified . Bantu ; central Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Negro ; Moko group Hamitic ; Egyptian br. . Negro ; Mande group Hamitic (?) ; Beja group (?) Negro ; isolated Negro ; independent group Negro ; Upper Nile group Bantu ; central Singular of Ba-chuana, for which see Se-chuana. The Berbers of Ghadames are so called by the Arabs. The term means " veiled." Negro ; Moko group Negro ; Upper Nile group Negro : isolated Negro ; independent group A Makua dialect . Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; central . . Bantu j central GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Tekeza group, N. of the Bechuanas. W. coast of the Nyassa. S.W. shore of Lake Nyassa. 8° to 11° S. lat,, and 32° to 33° E. long. ; N.E. of Lake Nyassa. A Herero dialect, Damara Land. E. of Tiwi ; 10° E. long., 10° N. lat. E. of Mombo. Niger Delta, N. of the Aro and of Bonny. W. of Nki ; 9° E. long., 7° N. lat. In the four islands of Lake Bangwe- olo. A powerful Somali tribe, Somali Land. W. of Bonken ; 15° E. long., 5° N. lat. The Koptic of Memphis and the Lower Nile ; extinct. Near W. coast, N. of Monrovia ; 8° N. lat., 8° E, long. N. of Abyssinia. It seems uncertain whether they speak a Beja or a Tigre dialect. N.E. of the Cameroon. E. of Lower Niger, about 7° N. lat. S.E. of the Bongo, between the Tondy and the Roah. W. of Lake Alexandra Nyanza ; un- explored. Near Papiah. S. of the Nyamnyam, N.W. of Albert Nyanza. S.W. of Gurma, N. of Kong moun- tains ; about 10° N. lat., and 1° W. long. S. of Lake Chad, on the Loggone, a tributary of the Shary. At Mozambique (Dr. W. Peters). Gaboon and Lower Ogoway ; under- stood inland as far as the Okanda. S.E. shore of Lake Albert Nyanza ; 1° S. lat., 31° E. long. S. shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza, W. of Kagehyi. 548 APPENDIX. Mujan . Mukulu MumtoniT>e Mundombes Munio . Mupinda Murambala Nemeigey Ngoala Ngoshin Ngoten Nguru . Nikuar Niuak . Nki . N'shavi FAMILY AND GROUP. A Mozambique dialect Bantu ; central Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; Bunda group Negro ; Bornu group ? Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; E. branch . Murio . Murundo Negro ; Negro ; Bornu group unclassified Mussurongo . Bantu ; Bunda group Musu . Negro ; Nupe group Mutambi Bantu ; central Muvari Bantu ; central Muzimboa . Bantu ; E. branch . Nahlemoe . Nalu . Negro ; Negro ; Moko group isolated Nama . Hottentot family . Nano . Ndob . Bantu ; Negro ; W. branch isolated Nduggo Negro ; Upper Nile Unclassified ; Negro ? Negro ; Moko group Negro ; Bornu group Negro ; Moko group Negro ; Bornu group Negro ; Nilotic group Negro ; independent Negro ; isolated Unclassified GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Mentioned by Dr. W. Peters. N. of Lake Bangweolo ; 11° S. lat., 30° E. long. Kimbunda group, Lower Coanza. Near the town of Benguela. A little to the west of Lake Chad. Kimbunda group, Lower Coanza. On the hills near Sena, Lower Zambesi. About Lake Chad. E. of Kalaba, on the coast ; 5° N, lat., 9° E. long. A piratical tribe on both sides of Lower Congo, reaching 30 miles up stream. Left bank of Niger, above its junction with the Chadda. N. of Lake Tanganyika ; 2° S. lat, 29° E. long. 2° S. lat., 31° E. long. ; between Karagwe and Ruanda. Near Sena, Lower Zambesi. W. of Nkoat. Opposite the Bissagos Isles ; S. of Yola Biafada. Great and Little Namaqualand. Namaqua and Namana are the masculine and common plural forms respectively of Namap. Nama is the language. Benguela. E. of Pfomum ; about 6° N. lat., 15° E. long. (Koelle). A Krej tribe, stretching N. to the Baggara-el-Homr on the Bahr-el- Arab. On the slopes of the Blue Mountains, W. of the Albert Nyanza. W. of Afudu, on the Chadda ; 12° E. long., 8° N. lat W. of Bornu ; 13° E. long., 12° N. lat. E. of Cameroons. About Lake Chad S.W. of Munio ; 12° E. long., 12° N. lat Upper Sobat, on the Nikuar (the Nikana of the maps ?). Left bank of the Lower Sobat, aboui Nasser. E. of Ekamtulufu. S. of the Ogoway ; about 2° S. lat., and 10° E. long. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 549 FAMILY AND GKOUP. Negro ; isolated Independent family Nuer or Nuehr | Negro ; Upper Nile group Nupe . Nyaninyam, Nian-Niam Negro ; independent group Negro ; Upper Nile group Nyungwe Same as Tete, which see. Oaka . Unclassified . Obongo Unclassified (pigmies) Oji, or O-Tyi Negro ; Ewe group Okam . Okanda Negro ; isolated Unclassified . Okota . Unclassified ; Bantu ? Okuloma Oloma . Ondo . Negro ; isolated Negro ; isolated Negro ; Ewe group Opanda Negro ; Nupe group Orma . Orungu The proper name of the Galla, which see. Bantu ; W. branch Osyeba Unclassified . Otando Ashira family . , Ova-Herero . See Herero . 1 GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. N. of Wilo, W. of Ndshi ; 4° N. lat. 13° E. long. Nubia ; E. Sudan. By some classed with the Fulahs. Between the Bahr-el-Jebel and Bahr Seraf ; akin to the Dinka farther south. Niger Delta. S. of the Bongo, between 4° and 6° N. lat. , on the Nile and Chad water- shed. They call themselves Zandey, and are said to number about 2, 000, 000. The term Nyamnyam, given to them by the surrounding tribes, means "cannibals." Left bank of the Ogoway, near the Okanda, N. of the equator, and at 9° E. long. Heard of by Compiegne, near the Okanda, about the equator. Gold Coast ; Ashanti. Also called Tshi and Twi. W. of Ekamtulufu. On the left bank of the Ogoway, near the Banguin, on the equator, and about 9° E. long. Kemba Island and left bank of the Ogoway, on the equator, and be- tween 8° and 9° E. long. Speech very like the Benga of Corisco Bay. At Bonny, E. of Niger Delta. Niger Delta ; off the coast. S. and S.E. of Ife, Upper Guinea; 5° E. long., 7° N. lat. Chadda, N. of its junction with the Niger. About Cape Lopez. N. of the Ogo- way Delta, between the equator and 1° S. lat. Right bank of the Ogoway, just N. of the equator, and between 8° and 11° E. long. Ferocious cannibals, the teiTor of the surrounding tribes. E. of the Ashira, about 2° S. lat., and between 8° and 9° E. long. (Ova or ov is the plural of omu or 0771, corresponding to the Kaffir ama. Hence Ova-Herero means the Herero people.) 550 APPENDIX. Ova-mbanjeru Ovambo Oworo . Pahuins Pajade Papiah . Param . Penin Pepel . Pika . Puka . Punic . Qtjellimane, Quilimane Quibondos . Quissima Rajbbai Rahnawiyyin Rhadames Rua Saho . Sakalavas Salum . Se-chuana Se-fukeng Se-hlapi, Se-xlapi Se-hlokwa . Se-hurutse Se-kaa . Se-khatla Se-kwena Se-lala . Se-mapela . Se-mangwato Se-matlaru . Se-meri Sena FAMILY AND GROUP. See Mbanjeru. See Sindonga. Negro ; Ewe group Unclassified . Negro ; Felup group Negro ; Moko group Negro ; Moko group Negro ; unclassified Negro ; Felup group Negro ; Bornu group Negro ; Nupe group Semitic ; Canaanitic br. A Makua dialect . Bantu ; Bunda group Bantu ; W. branch A "Wanika tribe ; see Ki- nika. Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . See Ghadames. Bantu ; central Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Malayo- Polynesian ; Ma- lay branch . Fulah family . Bantu : central branch . Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu Bantu central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch central branch eastern branch GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION' AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. W. of Ijumu or Jumu, Lower Niger. At mouth of the Gaboon (South), and on the Ogoway, about 8° E. long. Opposite the Bissagos Isles ; inland S.E. of the Kabu. E. of Param ; S. bank of the Chadda. Near the river Nen or Chadda. Near Basa, E. of Pandem ; S. bank of Lower Chadda. Opposite Bissagos Islands, S. of the Casamanza. S.W. of Bornu. Chadda region, near Karekare. Carthage ; extinct. On the E. coast, about the Zambesi Delta. Angola, S. of the Coanza. Kimbunda group ; mouth of the Coanza. Somali Land. W. of L. Moero; 8°-10° S. lat, 25°-28° E. long. Abyssinia, N.E. of Axum ; akin to the Galla. Madagascar ; W. coast. N.W. coast ; E. of Bathurst. Between 20° and 26° S. lat. Of these there are 23 tribes altogether — 12 in the east, and 11 in the west. Bechuana Land East. The language of the Bahlapis, Bech- uana Land West. Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land West. Bechuana Land West- Bechuana Land West. Bechuana Land West. Bechuana Land West. Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land West. Bechuana Land West. Bechuana Land West. Lower Zambesi ; below Tete. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 551 Sombe, Sumbe Soninke Sonrhay FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Bantu ; central branch . Negro ; Upper Nile group Negro ; Felup group Bantu ; central branch Bantu ; central branch Bantu ; central branch Bantu ; central branch Bantu ; central branch Bantu ; central branch Unclassified . Haniitic ; Libyan branch Negro ; Felup group Unclassified . Negro ; Upper Nile group Bantu ; W. branch Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; isolated Bantu ; E. branch . Fulah family . Negro ; Mande group Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Bantu ; W. branch Negro ; Mande group Negro ; isolated language Negro ; Mande group Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. Hamitic Hamitic Libyan branch Ethiopian br. Teda Hamitic ; Libyan branch Negro ; Bornu group GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land East. On the Upper Pongo, W. of the Bongo ; akin to the Zandey. N. E. of Bissagos Isles ; S. of the Casamanza. Bechuana Land West (Archbell). Bechuana Land East (Basuto Land). Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land East. Bechuana Land West. Both banks of the Gaboon. Tafilet, where it is spoken by the Beni Mhamed tribe. Sierra Leone. Said to be a corrup- tion of "Sea-bar," i.e. the Sea- bar Negroes off this coast. Left bank of the Ogoway ; about 10° E. long., and on the Equator. W. bank of White Nile ; a very savage tribe. Congo Delta ; a fierce piratic tribe. Ovambo river, S. E. of Benguela. Niger Delta ; N.E. of Bonny. On the coast, about 20° S. lat. In Sokoto, capital of the Fellatah States. S. of Futa Jallo ; 10° N. lat., 10° E. long. Somali land ; not Soniawli : cf. the Arabic form = Somali. Kimbunda group ; Middle Coanza. Senegal ; akin to the Mandenga. S.E. of Timbuktu; about 15° N. lat., E. of the Middle Niger, and on the Shari. S.E. Senegambia; 10° N. lat., 10° E. long. A Beja dialect spoken by the Tokar, which see. N.W. of the Sahara. N. of Abyssinia. S. of Algeria, and the most general dialect of the Twarej. It has a peculiar alphabet, called Tilinagh, and printed by Hanoteau. N.E. of Lake Chad, from 12° E. long, to Libyan Deseit. 552 APPENDIX. NAME. Tegeza,Tekeza Tekele . Temne Tene . Teroa . Tete, Tette Theban Tigre . Tikkitikki Tiwi . Timbuktu To-Bejawiy- yeh Tokar . Toma . Toronka Tuareg, Tuarej, Tawarik Tuat, Twat . Tumal, Tumale Tumu . Tyi and Tshi Tynjur Udom . Ujo . . Ulala . Uled-delim . Umale Undaza Urungu Vei FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; central branch . Nubian family Negro ; Felup group Negro ; Mande group Hamitic and Semitic Bantu ; E. branch Hamitic ; Egyptian br. . Semitic ; Himyaritic br. See Akka. Negro ; isolated Negro ; isolated See Beja. To-Bejawiyyeh is properly the name of the language spoken by the Beja people, and by several nomad Arab tribes in their country. Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Negro ; Mande group Negro ; Mande group Hamitic ; Libyan branch Hamitic ; Libyan branch Nubian family Ndob dialect . See Oji. Negro ; Upper Nile group Unclassified . Negro ; isolated Bantu ; central Hamitic ; Libyan branch See Tumale. Negro ; isolated Bantu ; central Negro ; Mande group GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. N. of the Bechuana tribes. Nubia. Near Sierra Leone. N.W. of Liberia. E. Abyssinia ; speak partly Geez and partly Galla dialects. Lower Zambesi, above Sena. Thebes, Upper Egypt ; extinct. Abyssinia, N. and N.E. ; a pure Geez dialect. E. of Igbala, W. of Mbarike. Timbuktu, N. of Middle Niger. N.W. of the river Barka, between the Nile and Red Sea. N. of Kong mountains, confining S. on the Gbese. N. of the Toma ; 10° N. lat., 12° E. long. ; about the source of the Niger. Berber tribes in central Sahara, as far as 12° E. long., and westwards to the caravan route between Tafilet and Timbuktu ; called also Imo- shagh. The Berber confederate tribes of the Twat oases, S. E. of Marocco. S. of Kordofan. About 6° N. lat., 15° E. long. Darfur ; centre. N. of Ekamtulufu, E. of Lower Niger ; 9° E, long., 7° N. lat. Niger Delta, W. of Bonny. W. of Lake Bangweolo ; 28° E. long., 12° S. lat. Between 21° and 23° N. lat. W. of Undumba. S.W. and S.E. shores of Lake Tan- ganyika. N. of Kong mountains ; N. of Mon- rovia, on the coast. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 553 NAME. Waday Wafipa Wagegeya Wagoma Wagubba Wahha Waiyau Wajagga Wajiji . Wakerewe Wakuafi Walo . Wanindi Wanyambungi Wapari Waruanda . Warundi Warungu Waruri Wasambara . j Wasegeju Wasegua Wasoga Wasui, East . Wasui, West Wateita Watuta Wavira FAMILY AND GROUP. Semitic : Arabic branch Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; central Bantu : central Hamitic ; Ethiopian br. . Negro ; Wolof group " Either Ajawas (Waiyau) or pretended Mazitus " (Livingstone). Bantu : central Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; E. branch Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Bantu ; E. branch Same as Mazitu, which see. Bantu ; central GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. An Arabic dialect now spoken by the Waday people between Lake Chad and Darfur. S.E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Wawendi. E. shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza, under the equator. E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Wavira. W. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of Waguhha. S.E. shore of Lake Alexandra Nyanza ; 3° S. lat., 30° 30' E. long. A numerous nation E. of Lake Nyassa, pronounced " Y-yow " (Livingstone). In the Kilima-Njaro district. N.E. shore of Lake Tanganyika. In the island of Ukerewe, S.E. corner of Lake Victoria Nyanza. Border on the Wakamba, which see (Krapf). Senegambia. W. shore of Lake Kivu; 3° S. lat., 30° E. long. Inland from Mombasa. S. of Lake Alexandra Nyanza ; 1° S. lat, 31° E. long. E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Wajiji. S. E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Wafipa. S.E. shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza ; 2° S. lat, 35° E. long. Opposite Zanzibar. Near the island of Tanga, originally Wapokomos driven south by the Gallas. Opposite Zanzibar. N. shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza ; 1° N. lat, 34° E. long. S. of Karagwe ; 2° S. lat., 31° 30' E. long. E. shore of Lake Alexandra Nyanza ; 2° 45' S. lat., 30° 45' E. long. On the Kadiaro, Ndara, and Bura hills, near the Upper Dana. E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Wazige. 554 APPENDIX. NAME. Wawemba . Wawendi Wayeiy^ Wayungu Wazige Wazinja Weba . Whydah Wolof . Wun . Yagba Yala . Yalimbong, Yalimbogos Yasgua Yoruba Yula . Zandey Zoghawa Zuazi . Zulu . FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; central Bantu ; central " The native name for the people of Ujiji." — Liv- ingstone, Last Journal, i. 218. A northern branch of the Wahha, which see. Bantu ; central Bantu ; central Negro ; Ewe group See Elwida. Negro ; Gor group Negro ; isolated Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; isolated Okoto family ; Bantu (?) Negro ; isolated Negro ; Ewe group Negro ; isolated See Nyamnyam. Negro ; Upper Nile group See Amazuazi See Amazulu. GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. S.E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Warungu. S.E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Wagoma. E. shore of Lake Tanganyika, S. of the Warundi. S.W. shore of Lake Victoria Nyanza ; 3° S. lat., 32° E. long. Slave Coast. Between the Lower Senegal, the Gambia, and the Faleme. Bissagos Islands. W. of Nupe, Lower Niger ; 5° E. long., 8° N. lat. Niger Delta, 6° N. lat. E. of the Okotas, left bank of the Ogoway, under the equator, and between 8° and 9° E. long. Near Nupe, S.W. of Hawsa ; 10° N. lat., 7° E. long. Lower Niger ; Slave Coast ; Abbeo- kuta. N. of the Kong mountains ; 2° W. long., 12° N. lat Darfur, N. ADDENDA. (From H. M. Stanley's latest Journals, 1876-1877.) NAME. Babwende Bakombe Bakongo FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu ; W. branch Unclassified . GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. About the rapids on N. bank of Lower Lualaba- Congo ; 14° to 16° E. long. At N.W. extremity of Lake Tangan- yika ; 3° S. lat., 29° E. long. See Kongo. AFRICAN TRIBES AND LANGUAGES. 555 FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu (?) Bantu ; Kongo group Bantu (?) Bantu (?) Unclassified . Unclassified . Bantu (?) Unclassified ; Negro (?) Bantu (?) Unclassified . Unclassified . Unclassified . . Unclassified Bantu (?) GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Left bank of Lualaba-Congo, below its junction with the Jkelemba, 2° S. lat. Left bank of Lower Congo ; 16° E. long. Here is the great market of Mpumbus. N. bank of Lower Congo, above the Yellala Falls ; 15° E. long., 4° S.lat. N. bank of Lower Congo ; 16° to 18° E. long., 3° to 4° S. lat. A high mountain between Victoria and Albert Nyanza occupied by a white race, first seen by Stanley in .January 1876. They are "the chief medicine men " of Kabba Rega, king of Unyoro, and but for their kinky or negroid hair might be taken for Europeans or light- coloured Asiatics. At junction of Lualaba-Congo and Ikelemba or Uriki, which Stanley identifies with the Kas-sye or Kasai. Left bank of Lualaba-Congo ; 2° S. lat. 19° E. long. At mouth of Lualaba-Congo, N. bank ; 5° to 6° S. lat. At junction of Lualaba-Congo with the Aruwimi, which Stanley thinks may be the Welle of Schweinfurth. They seem to be cannibals. N. bank of Lower Congo, at Yell- alla Falls. Left bank of Lualaba-Congo; 23° E. long. , 1° N. lat. ; opposite the Ukere people. Left bank of Lower Congo, just above falls of Ntamo ; 4° S. lat. , 17° E. long. On river of like name, called also the Kwango, a Congo affluent ; 4° S. lat., 19° E. long. Between Many em a and Uregga ; 28° E. long., 3° S. lat. Opposite the Nganza people, which APPENDIX. FAMILY AND GROUP. Bantu (?)... Unclassified ; Negro (?) . Unclassified ; Negro (?) . Unclassified ; Bantu (?) . Unclassified ; Negro (?) . Bantu (?)... See Wenya. Unclassified . Unclassified ; Bantu (?) . Unclassified . See Wabroiro. Unclassified . Unclassified ; Bantu (?) . Unclassified . . Unclassified ; Bantu (?) . Unclassified ; Bantu (?) . GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION AND MISCEL- LANEOUS REMARKS. Along tbe Upper Rumami, a Lualaba affluent ; 6° S. lat., 24° to 25° E. long. N. of the Uregga, on the equator ; 26° to 28° E. long. ; seemingly cannibals. Left bank of the Lualaba-Congo, just below the Nganza people ; 1° N. lat., 23° E. long. N. of Manyema and S. of Ukumu j l°to 3° S. lat., 27° E. long. N. of Uvinza ; occupy a large tract on right bank of Lualaba ; are in- clined to cannibalism. These are the Warongora Meno of the Arabs. Left bank of Lower Congo, between the Wyanzi and Nkunda peoples ; 4° S. lat., 18' E. long. Reported by Stanley as S. of the Watwa or Dwarf region ; 2° S. lat, 24° E. long. Right bank of Lualaba-Congo at its junction with the Mangala ; 1° to 2° N. lat., 21° E. long. Probably a tribe of the Bateke nation, which see. On the Lualaba, below Nyangwe. Right bank of Lualaba-Congo, be- tween the Wamangala and Ukere ; 22° E. long., 2° N. lat. Very powerful, and probably Negroes. On the Lower Rumami, near its junction with the Lualaba ; 1° S. lat., 25° to 26° E. long. A race of dwarfs reported by Stanley under the equator, and 23° to 25° E. long. , as far E. as the junction of the Rumami and Lualaba. Op- posite them is the cannibal region. A crafty and cowardly fishing race on both banks of Lualaba, near Nyangwe, where this river is called the Ruarowa. The tribal name is pronounced Wainya, and by the Arabs they are called Wagenya. At junction of the Kwango or Nkutu with the Congo ; 18° to 19° E. long., 3° S. lat. 557 H. NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. By Keith Johnston. Besides its high interest in a meteorological point of view, the question of the distribution of rain in Africa is one of so much practical importance in the gradual accumulation of knowledge of the continent, that no apology seems to be necessary for an attempt to trace out, however imperfectly it can be done as yet, the broader features of this problem. In directing the proper times for successful exploration by Europeans of the many regions of the continent which are still unknown, a knowledge of the seasons of rain and drought must be of the greatest consequence. The natives even can only venture into some of the more arid deserts of the Sahara, during the times in which a few fleeting showers fill the distant wells ; in tropical Africa, by contrast, the rains of the wet season may inundate the country " thigh and waist deep," so that the traveller is brought to a standstill by the super- abundance of water on all sides of him, and can do no useful geographical work, the heavily clouded sky shutting out sun and stars from view, and preventing the determination of his position. Witness, for example, Livingstone's journey to the lake chain of the Chambese during the wet season, when he found it rarely possible even to see a star, and obtained a solitary observation for latitude, only by accident as it were, on waking one morning between two and three o'clock. The monthly diagrams which accompany these notes are reductions of twelve larger maps upon which the recorded experiences of residents and travellers in all parts of the con- tinent, in respect of the times of rainfall, were marked out by tinting with blue colour the localities in which their observa- tions were made for each of the months during which rainy weather prevailed over dry ; and by colouring in brown those 558 APPENDIX. districts in which deficiency of rainfall (not absolute rainless- ness) was found to be the rule. As yet there are but few points in Africa at which any systematic or long-continued observations of rainfall have been made, and these are confined to the Cape Colony and Algeria, and to one or two other isolated points along the coast-line. In the interior our knowledge depends almost exclusively on the observations of travellers who have been moving from point to point during the year. Thus, from the defective nature of the data on which they are based, these diagrams can pretend to no minute accuracy, but they give, it is believed, a good general idea of the distribution of rain from month to month over the continent. In each diagram blue arrows show the direction of the greater prevailing wind currents of the month ; and, at the side of each, the zone which, for the time, lies beneath the vertical sun in its ap- parent passage north and south from tropic to tropic is indi- cated by a brown arrow. The sun's heat, arrested by the revolving earth in its annual circuit, and received unequally at its surface by those portions of it which are covered by sea and land, is the prime cause of all movements of the atmosphere, and of all the phenomena of varying temperatures, winds, and rainfall. By day each portion of the surface — now sea, now land — turns towards the sun's heat, the sea warming more slowly, the land more rapidly, under its influence. About the equatorial belt, where the rays fall vertically, the greatest heat is radiated upward from earth to atmosphere ; along this belt accordingly the air expands the most, and, rising, allows the cooler, denser, and heavier air from the neighbouring regions of each hemi- sphere to flow towards it, thus forming the greatest of the atmospheric currents — the trade winds. Over the oceans on each side of the equatorial belt these great streams of air are nearly constant in direction, for the temperature of the water changes very slowly, and they move north or south through a few degrees of latitude only, as the northern or southern half of the tropical belt comes beneath the vertical sun in the earth's annual round. Where land lies across the equator, however, it alters and interrupts these great currents to some extent ; changes of temperature take place more rapidly over it than in the seas ; that portion of it DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 559 which lies for the time beneath the sun's direct rays is quickly- heated, and the ascending column of air which results, moves to and fro closely following the vertical sun, not for a short distance on each side of the equator only, but to the extreme limits of the tropics. As there is no other tract of land than Africa that stretches out so equally on each side of the equator to beyond the tropics, so there is no other portion of the globe that can display the system we have sketched out in such proportions. Eastward, the trade winds of the Indian Ocean blow towards Africa ; westward, those of the Atlantic draw away from it ; the land intervening, with its more rapid changes of temperature, to break, in some degree, the con- tinuity of those great streams. Barometric observations show very distinctly that an area of low pressure, or an ascending column of air, is always formed over that portion of Africa which happens to be beneath the vertical sun ; and, as the source of heat apparently moves back and forward between the northern and southern tropics, this ascending column follows its march, drawing to itself streams of air from the surrounding regions. Southern tropical Africa is surrounded east, west, and south, by the ocean, so that when the vertical sun and its accompanying indraught are moving over this part of the con- tinent the inflowing winds bring with them the vapours from the sea to condense and fall on the heights of the land in copious showers of rain ; the south-east trade wind of the Indian Ocean keeping up a constant supply of vapour-laden air, and being the great provider of the rains of south, central, and eastern Africa. From the broad Gulf of Guinea come the supplies for the western equatorial region and the greater part of the Sudan. A glance at the diagram suffices to show how obediently the rains follow the vertical sun over the southern half of the continent, from October till April. If the whole continent were similarly girt about by the sea, the same system would without doubt extend to northern Africa also ; copious showers would water every part of the northern tropical region when the sun was vertical over it, and the Sahara would no longer remain arid and dry. To north and east of Africa, however, stretches the great continent of Europe and Asia, separated only by the compara- tively small and narrow Mediterranean and Red Seas. The 560 APPENDIX. presence of this land interferes to alter materially the whole system of movements of the atmosphere over North Africa, and to render large areas of it barren from deficiency of moisture. The same indraught follows the vertical sun thither in its passage towards the northern tropic, but the moist winds drawn northward after it from the Indian Ocean, and especially from the Gulf of Guinea, expend their stores of rain over the broad belt of the Sudan, and are exhausted on reaching the southern borders of the Sahara. No rain can come from north or north-east, for the winds from these directions are robbed of the vapour in passing overland, and in the west, between Marocco and Senegal, the steady north- east trade wind of the Atlantic blows persistently away from the African shores. The presence of the Asiatic continent also disturbs the regular flow of the trade wind current over the whole of the northern Indian Ocean and its surrounding lands, altering and controlling the march of the winds, and with that, the rainfall of all this region. During the northern declination of the sun, from April to September, as in Africa, so in central and southern Asia, at the hottest season of the year a strong indraught of air from all sides flows to the heated land j and then the great current, known as the south-west monsoon, blows steadily towards India from the east African shores across the Arabian sea. At this season the south-east trade wind coming up past Madagascar appears to feed the monsoon current, joining with it as a southerly wind on the east African coast opposite Zanzibar, and curving to north-eastward with it in one continuous stream towards India. It brings up the vapours from the south Indian Ocean, and carries these northward to form the heavier rains of the Zanzibar coast and of the Somali promontory and Abyssinia. During the southern declination of the sun, on the con- trary, when the central Asiatic continent has just as excessive a winter cold as it had summer heat, the cold heavy atmo- sphere descending over it flows outward from the land on all sides, and then a dry north-easterly wind stream, warming as it advances towards the equator, takes the place of the former south-westerly monsoon across the Arabian sea ; and blowing in towards the hot lands of South Africa, brings the drier DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 561 season to the north-eastern coast-lands between Somali land and Zanzibar. The rains of inter-tropical Africa are thus controlled for the most part by the indraught which pendulates with the vertical sun on the continent itself, and by the monsoon winds of the north Indian Ocean, which are in part governed by the heating and cooling of Asia. The continent, however, stretches beyond the limits of the tropics north and south, passing outside the zone of the trade winds and entering the belts in which westerly winds, blowing, not towards, but generally away from, the tropical zone, prevail throughout the year. The parts of Africa which extend into these belts of westerly winds are those which lie beyond the 30th parallel of latitude in each hemisphere — the Cape Colony in the southern, and Marocco, Algeria, and Tripoli in the northern. In contrast to the inter- tropical region, in which the hottest season corresponds to that of greatest rainfall, these extremities of the continent have their chief supplies of rain in their winter season, or when the vertical sun is farthest from them. The rains begin first to fall when the temperature of the land has sunk to such a degree as to condense over it the vapour brought by the westerly winds from warmer latitudes. Thus the westerly winds from the south Atlantic condense in a bountiful supply of winter rains over all the south-western region of the Cape Colony, from April onward to September, when the vertical sun is north of the equator. In Marocco and Algeria, correspondingly, the west winds of the north Atlantic provide the winter rains of these high lands, when their temperature is lowest, or when the sun is south of the equator, from September onward to March or April ; and it is remark- able that the least favoured portions of the Maroccan and Algerian coast-lands are those opposite the narrowest part, of the Mediterranean, between which and the Atlantic the broadest extent of the Spanish peninsula intervenes. Farther east, on the coasts of Tripoli and Egypt, the scanty winter rains seem to be supplied from the vapours of the Mediterranean itself. Two other portions of the continent, remarkable in their physical character, deserve notice from the exceptional nature of iheir rain supply. These are the high wedge-like table- land of Abyssinia, and the steep northern face of the Somali 2 0 - 562 APPENDIX. promontory, where it descends abruptly to the Gulf of Aden. In both of these regions, though they are within the tropics, a rainfall occurs in what may be termed their winter months, when the sun is nearest the southern tropic. At this season, as we have seen previously, the north-east wind from Asia is blowing across the Arabian sea towards southern Africa, then heated by the vertical sun. Down the Nile valley also at this period cool north winds are flowing towards the warm south. Obstructing the advance of these winds the high lands of Abyssinia and northern Somali land condense upon themselves the vapours gathered from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Thus the Abyssinian plateau has its earlier rains in the cool months of January and February, when all the lowland of Africa to east and westward of it is perfectly dry ; and the high south coast-land of the Gulf of Aden has its rains from December to March and April, when the interior of Somali land is so parched as to have become " Abar" — a place of famine. The Winter Rains of North Africa. Having gained a general idea of the march of the rains and the circumstances which control them, we may now turn to look a little more closely at their distribution in particular districts, beginning with the winter rains of the northern extra-tropical region. In Marocco, north of the Atlas, Gerhard Eohlfs tells us that the rains begin with October and continue till the end of February ; but the observations made by M. Beaumier at Mogador show that, on the coast at least, they continue until March or April. In the year 1869 he noted two rainy days in October, five in November, thirteen in December, eight in February, ten in March, and two in April. South of the Atlas, according to Rohlfs, rain falls only in January and the first half of February, and he draws the con- tinental limit of these showers along the 29th parallel of latitude as far as 7° 40' W. of Greenwich, and thence in a diagonal line to the Oasis of Figig on the Algerian frontier south of the Sahara border range ; a line which passes through the Oasis of Tafilet, in which it does not rain for years at a time, and then only in insignificant quantity. On the Algerian coast-land and in northern Tunis rain falls only in the cool season from September till April, continuing DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 563 for days together in the winter months, with intervals of fair weather, and filling the river channels, which are all but dry in the height of summer. Inland, as in Marocco, the quantity as well as the duration of the fall diminishes rapidly. Thus, while Algiers and La Calle (near the border of Tunis), on the coast, have an average of 31 and 36 inches of rain respec- tively, in the wet season, Constantine, a little way inland, has 27 inches, Setif and Batna, on the interior plateau, 17 and 16 inches, Biskra, on the inner slope of the Sahara border range, only 9 inches, the amount diminishing thence inward to the rainless lowlands of the Sahara. The coast-land of Tripoli also has its rains in the winter season, when the night temperature of the air falls often below the freezing point. Snow even is occasionally experienced in the city of Tripoli, and the Ghurian ranges behind it are snow- clad at times ; violent winter storms of rain also discharge themselves on these uplands, filling the wadis that descend from them. Although Alexandria has an average of 9 inches of rain in 59 rainy days of winter, only an average of 1J inch of rain falls annually in Cairo on 13 rainy days, and a proportionate diminution of moisture supply is observed in going inland along the Nile valley, and over the Arabian desert. In the desert between Cairo and Suez there may occur five or six showers in the course of each winter ; in the neighbourhood of the Wadi Arabah (29° N.) Dr. Schwein- furth tells us that no rain fell during the winter of 1876-77 ; on the Jebel Gharib, the highest mountain of Lower Egypt, one degree farther south, three years had elapsed with- out rain at the time of his visit ; among the porphyritic mountains of the desert in 27° N. a total drought had lasted for four years ; and at Keneh, on the Nile, near the 26th parallel, six years had passed without a shower. Here, indeed, only nine cloudy days had been observed in the year. It is not possible, as yet, to draw any definite boundary line marking the extreme limit of the occurrence of winter rains in northern Africa, between inner Marocco and Egypt ; it appears, indeed, that the more level and low-lying portions of the northern borders of the Sahara may be almost, if not absolutely, rainless, while isolated high lands farther inland, beyond these dry tracts, may, by reason of their elevation, f 564 APPENDIX. condense upon themselves a regular winter rainfall. Thus Gerhard Rohlfs observes that in the low-lying Oases of the Tuat group it does not rain oftener than once in twenty years ; but Edwin Von Bary, in travelling along the northern face of the plateau of Tasili, in the Tuareg country, south-east of Tuat, experienced three considerable falls of rain within twenty days in the months of October and November, and M. Duveyrier records the fall of a quantity of rain which was sufficient to fill out the Wadi Tikhammalt with water in the month of January. The winter rains indeed seem to reach some portions of the Western Sahara even within the limits of the tropics, just as in Abyssinia in the far east. Thus in the hilly country of Aderer, north-east of the Senegal, Captain Vincent learnt that rain falls only once or twice in some years, but in the month of October ; even at Timbuktu Dr. Barth was surprised by one or two light showers in January, a thing he had never known in any other part of Negroland. He tells us also that the people of Timbuktu reckon four rainy days in March and three in April, and call this season the " Nisan." The Inter-Tropical Rains. Coming now to the inter-tropical rains, the same difficulty occurs in attempting to assign to these any very definite northern limit. In a general way, however, this limit may be drawn with some confidence from the Atlantic coast a little north of the mouth of the Senegal, past the south of the heights of Aderer, through Asawad, and by the north of the plateaus of Air or Asben to Tibesti, and thence across the great bend of the Nile to the apex of the Abyssinian highland near Suakin on the Red Sea coast. All the low country between this limit and that of the winter rains is practically devoid of moisture supply in the form of rain. At exceptional periods, however, the tropical rains pass considerably beyond this line. We learn from Gerhard Rohlfs that from time to time they may reach even to Fezzan. In the time of Hassan Pasha and Mustapha Pasha south winds brought up such heavy and continuous showers that the inhabitants of Murzuk had to leave it, for most of their houses, built only of lumps of saline earth, melted away beneath the unwelcome visitation. Moritz von Beurmann also mentions the occurrence of a shower at DISTRIBUTION OF RAIX IX AFRICA. 565 Murzuk on the 14th of May, when a hot south wind was blowing. The ordinary north limit of the tropical rains is reached by them in August or September, when the sun has already turned to begin his southward journey. In El Arawan, near the 20th parallel, north of Timbuktu, Caillie notes that the rains occur in the months of August and Sep- tember, or at the same time that they are falling over Tim- buktu and the northern bend of the Niger. Barth, in his journey south through the desert from Ghat in the Tuareg country to the hilly region of Asben, experienced the first tropical rain on the 14th of August in latitude 20° N., and noted this point as the commencement of a new climate with misty atmosphere. In the highland of Asben itself he experi- enced heavy rain showers from the end of August to the be- ginning of October. Farther east, on the line between Tripoli and Lake Chad, Eohlfs marks out the whole stretch of eight hundred miles, extending between Sokna in Tripoli (29° X.) and Sau south of Bilma (in 18° N.), as an almost rainless belt ; excepting in the oases, not a single blade of vegetation grows on the sands and the bare stony flats that cover this region. That it is not absolutely rainless, however, is shown by Barth's experience in Bilma. He says : "It was a circum- stance of considerable interest that about two o'clock in the afternoon (of the 13th of Juue), while the thermometer indi- cated 107° in the best shade I could find, we had a slight shower, although this whole region has been set down as an entirely rainless zone." The highland of Tibesti, still farther east, appears to be 1 reached by the tropical rains in August and September, when its valleys are well watered and its slopes are covered with luxuriant pasturage. Across the Xile valley the limit between desert and steppe land, which may be taken also as the boundary of the tropical rains, lies nearly along the 17th parallel, about a degree and a half north of Khartum. At the latter point the rainy season, called by the Arabs " Kharif," begins in the hot month of July (in exceptional years rain is also known in May) and ends in September. Herr Dovyak noted 21 rainy days within this period at Khartum. These rains are always brought by east and south- east winds, never by those from north or west ; immediately 566 APPENDIX. after they cease the cool dry north winds begin to blow steadily up the Nile valley, continuing from September until March. We have already referred to the disturbance in the regular march of the rains, brought about in this portion of East Africa by the high plateau of Abyssinia, and have noticed how it condenses upon itself a supply of rain during the winter months. Scattered and infrequent winter showers are also known among the bare rocky mountains of the Nubian desert. Thus Schweinfurth saw dense masses of clouds dis- charging themselves in the month of March over the Elba and Soturba group of mountains which skirt the Eed Sea between 20° and 22° N. lat. At Keren, on the extreme northern pro- montory of the Abyssinian highland, in 16° N., the winter rains fall more regularly for two months ; in Abyssinia itself the " Chernet," or rains of bounty, fall in January and February over the southern portion of the plateau, and some- what later in the northern, where they continue into the month of March. Abyssinia and the highlands north of it as far as the tropic have also their summer rains in common with the surrounding lowlands, and these are drawn from the Indian Ocean. In the " Kollas " or slopes of the plateau between 3000 and 5000 feet (about Fazokl on the Blue Nile for example) the latter rains continue from April to September ; on its summit, or in the " Wain a Degas," between 5000 feet and 9000 feet above the sea, the " Azmera," or intermittent rains, begin in April and become more steady from July to Septem- ber. The Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile naturally depend for their maintenance on the rains of the plateau, and indicate the amounts of these by their rising and falling during the year. The Chor el Gash, the most northerly tributary, was observed to begin to flow, by Captain Eokeby in 1874, on the morning of the 27th of June, and it continued to flow for three months, a period corresponding to the fall of the summer rains which supplied it. The Atbara-Takazze begins to have a perceptible current about the 10th of May, and its waters reach Cairo in the first days of June. The Tzana lake begins to swell out in the early part of May ; the Blue Nile flowing from it is filled up both by the intermittent " Azmera " rains of the plateau, and by the more constant rains which begin in April or May in the lower region into which it passes. At Karkoj in Sennaar, where this river has completed its descent from DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 567 the high land, it rises in the latter half of May ; towards the end of the month its waters become quite red, the colouring- being ascribed to the flooding of its tributary the Tumut which enters it near Fazokl. The light winter rains then do not appear to have any perceptible effect on the condition of the Abyssinian rivers, which are swollen only by the much heavier and later tropical rains, but the former undoubtedly tend to keep up their perennial flow. Kordofan, which occupies the same latitude as northern Abyssinia on the opposite side of the Nile valley, is supplied by the tropical rains only during the months of June, July, and August, and these are ushered in by thunder-storms and hail, and violent winds. The short period of their falling must be ascribed to the intervention of the high plateaus of Abyssinia and Enarea between this country and the source of its rain supply, the Indian Ocean. So scanty also is the supply in Kordofan that it must be stored up in reservoirs against the long months of drought, and before the commence- ment of the rains every year water becomes precious in El Obeid. In Darfur, its neighbouring country on the west, from the same cause there is only a short rainy season of 75 day*, from the 15 th of July until the end of September. The countries round Lake Chad begin to be reached by the tropical rains nearly a month earlier, or towards the end of June, and their last rainfalls occur, as Dr. Nachtigal informs us, in the beginning of October. The Chad itself is at its lowest level in the beginning of the " Ningeri" or rainy season, and it only rises gradually during the second half of the rains, reach- ing its highest after they have ceased to fall in its vicinity, in the end of November. The Fittre lake, on the other hand, fed by more immediate tributaries, doubles its extent in the rainy season. As the rains of the upper Nile valley, of Kordofan, and Darfur, are distinctly supplied from the Indian Ocean, it is interesting to observe that in the country about Lake Chad we begin to enter upon the region which appears to be chiefly supplied from the equatorial Atlantic in the broad Gulf of Guinea. Eohlfs remarked at Kuka that the south- west wind was the prevailing one, although the rains and rain clouds always came from the south-east, or, as we popularly say, " against the wind." The west or south-west wind pre- vailing there at and near the surface seems to bring the vapour 568 APPENDIX. from the Atlantic, which is condensed on ascending during the heat of the day by an upper and colder south-easterly current, and falls in the afternoon showers which are observed in the neighbourhood of the Chad. In the northern half of the kingdom of Sokoto, between Bornu and the Niger, the tropical rains descend in the same season as around Lake Chad, though perhaps more copiously. The people of Gando, Dr. Barth says, count upon 92 rainy days annually, and he estimates the yearly fall of rain at this place at not less than 60, perhaps even 100 inches. All the country across the middle of the bend of the Niger, from above its confluence with the Binue to the basin of the Senegal, has the commencement of its rainy season with the northing sun almost at the same time. Thus, about the con- fluence of the Niger and Binue, according to Mr. Whitford, the rains fall in precisely the same period as at St. Louis, near the mouth of the Senegal, where they begin during the first half of June and end in November, south-west winds continuiug during this time. The Senegal river begins to rise about the 11th of June, and about the 27th of the month at Podor, nearer the coast. Its rise is said by Yon Kloden to amount to from 36 to 42 feet at Bakel. The Gambia river also rises from 40 to 50 feet during the rains, attaining its greatest size in the beginning of October. Coming southward along the coast to Free Town in Sierra Leone, the rains there appear to be exceedingly irregular in point of time and quantity, but fall within the period from May to October or November. The average fall here is given by Buchan as 69 inches ; but Dr. Horton records 45 inches in one year, and 95 in another. In Liberia copious and protracted showers begin in the latter part of the month of May ; June is the rainiest month of all the year ; thence on to October there is a great deal of rain, changing to pleasant showers in November, Occasional showers fall in the remaining months of the year also, and April is the " tornado month" on this portion of the coast ; but J une to November may be termed the true wet season. A remarkable period, called here the " Middle Dries," interrupts the season of heaviest rains, giving five weeks of dry and pleasant weather from about the 20th or 25th of July onward, or soon after the sun has reached its greatest northing. This interval of dry weather in the midst of the I DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 569 rainy season is, as we shall afterwards notice, a feature of the distribution of the rains all along the north coast-land of the Gulf of Guinea ; but it is not peculiar to the coast-land alone, though it is more marked there ; for Park, when travelling on the upper Niger near Bamakoo in 1805, noted it as a remark- able circumstance, and one commonly known to the negroes here, " that when the Indian corn is in blossom the rain stops for 11 days. The stopping of the rain evidently depends, says Park, on the sun approaching the zenith of the place ; the sun by this (14th August) day's observation being only seventy miles north of us ; and it is a wonderful institution of providence that at this time the maize here is in full blossom." While the season of greatest rainfall on the coast-land of Liberia corresponds closely with that of the interior country and the upper Niger basin to northward of it, the quantity of rain which falls annually seems to diminish inland, here as elsewhere, in a rapid proportion. Mr. Anderson, in travelling inland from Liberia to Musardu, on the broad plateau which separates the inland drainage to the Niger from that of the coast slope, observed that the quantity of rain was very much smaller than that he had been accustomed to experience on the seaboard at Monrovia. In Ashantee and the Gold Coast the heavier tropical rains fall within the same months as in Liberia — from May to the beginning of November. Bowditch remarked here that it rained in May and June for about a third of the time ; through- out July and August for nearly half ; and that the heaviest rains, impetuous torrents, fell from the latter end of September to the beginning of November. Dahomey, farther east, appears to have a somewhat differ- ent arrangement of the rains, but the accounts of its seasons we yet possess are imperfect and conflicting to some degree. In April, when the sun passes the zenith here, the coast has its first storms and showers ; in May the rains increase, and become heavy in June ; they decrease in quantity in July, and cease entirely in August. September also is said to be almost a dry month in Dahomey, but the swelling of the coast lagoons in that month and the next show that the rains must be continuous in September and October at some distance inland. In October and November weaker showers of short duration again set in, but in December rain seldom falls. 570 APPENDIX. In the creeks of the Old Calabar and Cross rivers near the delta of the Niger, Captain Walker informs us that the rains commence their regular fall in May, and begin to go off in October, ceasing in November ; July and August are here the months of heaviest fall — the " middle dries " of the coast-land farther west appearing to be obliterated in this region. The great river Niger naturally follows the march of the rains in its rising and falling, but, from the peculiar shape of its course, its swellings present some remarkable, and, at first sight, anomalous features. The heads of the river lie in the belt which has its rainfall from June onward until October or November ; but the wide northward sweep which its channel describes takes it by degrees into latitudes which have shorter and shorter periods of rainfall ; till at Timbuktu, and its north- most bend, it flows through a country which is watered by the tropical rains in small quantities only in August and September. Turning thence south-east and southward, it again passes into belts of ever-increasing humidity, till it reaches the coast-land, where there are seven or eight months of heavy rain in the year. Its upper portion, in the Mandingo countries and Masena, appears to have a very slow and gradual rate of fall, so that the waters gathered into it by its head streams take a long time to reach its middle course. Thus at Timbuktu, according to the most accurate information that Dr. Barth was able to gather on the spot, the Niger continues to rise till the end of December or the beginning of January (long after the rains have passed from this region), and does not begin to decrease till February. Above the confluence of the Binue, where the river has again passed into the region of five or six months' rainfall (from June to November), it rises in August, and attains its maximum flooding in September, beginning to fall at the rate of 6 inches, 1 foot, and 2 feet per day, in the first days of October, as the rains move away from the country through which it flows between this and Timbuktu ; sinking to its lowest level, 35 feet below flood-mark, in June. Its tributary, the Binue, brings flood water to the confluence also in August and September. Thus the lower Niger is governed in its chief rising by the rains of the districts through which it more immediately passes ; but a minor swelling has been observed between the confluence and the delta in the end of February or beginning of March, which is attributed to DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 571 the flood gathered by the upper portion of the river, or the downward passage of the volume of water which fills the river at Timbuktu in December and January. The country extending from the upper Binue to the heads of the streams which gather to the Nile in the Bahr el Ghazal, is as yet unknown to Europeans ; within it, however, the tropical rains doubtless correspond in their movements and duration with those of the known countries on each side of it, increasing in quantity, and in the period over which they extend, as the equatorial belt is approached. We know from Dr. Yunker that the lower Sobat river, the last great tribu- tary of the Nile from the high land south of Abyssinia, is in flood during the rains which fall over its neighbourhood from June to November, or at the same time as the west coast region in the same latitude. Herr Pruyssensere has also given a fall account of the rains over the Nile region between 6° and 9° 30' N. There the first rains of the year fall on the Kir (Bahr el Abiad, or Bahr el Jebel) between the 1st aud 20th of March, and in four or five rains about 4 J inches (12 cm.) of rain descend. The vernal equinox divides the time of the constant north winds from that of the south wind, and this period is marked by strong wind gusts from various directions, thunder-storms, and torrents of rain. Nine rains in this period gave 12 J inches (32 cm.) In the first days of April a tolerably quiet time, with little rain, succeeds to the storms, and divides the equinoctial rains clearly from the true rainy season, which sets in on the 15th of May, one month after the passage of the sun across the zenith. In this dividing period five or six rains gave nearly 6 inches (15 cm.) i'rom the 15th of May the rains continue with interruptions for twenty days ; a reduction of the rainfall to- wards the middle of the wet season (end of June) is especially remarkable, and is plainly caused by the great north declina- tion of the sun at the tropic After the passage of the sun south through the zenith, an increase in the rain becomes apparent ; the soil is then saturated, and pools appear. In October the rains diminish, and the rainy season may be con- sidered past on the 1st of November, after having lasted for five and a half months. During this period about fifty heavy rains occur, and the whole depth of water that falls may be set down as nearly 100 inches (250 cm.), though the 572 APPENDIX. amount is variable from year to year. The four months from November to February form the dry season, but are not therefore to be considered as rainless altogether. The winds are as in Khartum, but the N. winds occur seldom in Octo- ber, though in December they blow regularly, and continue through January and February. In March the variable winds again appear from east and south, but are not accompanied by storms as those of the vernal equinox are. A calm period fol- lows, and then the south or south-east monsoon sets in, and lasts till the end of September, but it has neither the strength nor the constancy of the north wind. In October the circle com- pletes itself by west and north. About Gondokoro, a little higher up the Nile valley, accord- ing to Dr. Hann, the chief rains come in the months of April and May ; after a decrease of the rains in July, the falls in August are more copious. At Ismailia, near this, Lady Baker's observations made in 1871 show that upwards of 7 inches of rain may fall in September ; the amount in October decreases greatly, and November, December, January, and February, may be considered dry months — north and north-east winds prevailing in these. The south and south-east winds begin to be the most frequent in February, and continue to blow till June. Speaking of the seasons of the Bongo country, in the district of the Ghazal rivers, west of Gondokoro, Dr. Schwein- furth says he could not be otherwise than surprised at the meteorological facts exhibited there. Expecting a much larger fall of rain than in the Nile valley farther north, he found that it was actually less here than either in Gallabat or in Upper Sennaar, though the time of its falling extends over a longer period, the first rain having been noted as early as March ; nor did he observe any interruption of the rainy season between the two zenith positions of the sun (April to September). Still higher up the Nile basin in Unyoro the close ap- proach to the equatorial belt of rain at all seasons is indicated by the increasing duration of the rains. Lady Baker's obser- vations, made in 1872-73 in Fatiko and Masindi, north-east of the Albert Nyanza, show that all months, excepting per- haps January and February, are rainy ; fully one-half of the days in the months of August, September, and October were wet at Fatiko, and during these months northerly winds were DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 573 prevalent. Reaching the Victoria Nyanza, the equatorial belt in which rain falls in all months is entered. Here the pre- vailing wind is from the east. Captain Speke observed a very slight increase of the rains here in April and in November, when the direction of the winds is variable ; previous to April a comparatively dry period was noted. Notwithstand- ing the continuance of the rains in this region throughout the year, the whole annual amount that falls is by no means ex- cessive ; Captain Speke estimated it at only 49 inches. Though the equatorial lakes are the great reservoirs of the Nile, it is evident, from the conditions of the rainfall in the region in which they lie, that they have little or nothing to do with the periodical rising of the river of Egypt. We have already noticed the important part which the tributaries from Abyssinia play in this phenomenon. On the main line of the White Nile itself, however, the fluctuations of rise and fall, due to the periods of heavier rain and drier weather, soon begin to be apparent. For the river at Gondokoro, Dr. Hann has observed very closely the amounts of average rise and fall in each month. There it appears to be lowest in April, and to increase from that to a maximum of flooding in Sep- tember, in which month it stands from 4 to 5 feet higher than its lowest tide-mark. Midway between this and the con- fluence of the Bahr el Ghazal, Herr Pruyssensere has recorded that its ebb is lowest about the 25th of January, and that from this date onward the rising begins to take place very gradually, and with frequent oscillations, but becomes more marked and rapid in the beginning of April. A first maxi- mum is reached about the 25th of April, although but little rain has yet fallen over the river in this latitude. This first swelling holds on for about a fortnight, then the river falls again, and rises afterwards irregularly. A decided increase, however, shows itself in the beginning of September, and towards the end of that month a second and much higher maximum than the first is reached. From October onwards the river begins to fall regularly and slowly. Coming down to Khartum, the White Nile there attains its maximum in the end of July or the beginning of August (sometimes, however, not until the commencement of Sep- tember), and it begins to fall in October. Soon after it has begun to rise at Khartum, its pale azure waters are joined by 574 APPENDIX. the rising Blue Nile, red with the mud which its southern tributaries bring to it. At Cairo the Nile rises first from the 12th to the 25th of June, when the flood of the Atbara has passed down thither through the long tract of the Nubian and Libyan deserts, in which the river receives no supplies either by rainfall or tributary streams. Soon afterwards the waters of the Bahr el Abiad come down to Lower Egypt, and then in July the red mud brought by the Azrek makes its appearance. The river now swells quickly, and by mid August has reached half its accustomed rising. When the rising has attained a height of 16 cubits, or about 24 feet, generally about the end of August, the ceremony of cutting the " Khaleeg," or dam near Cairo, is performed, allowing its fertilising waters to fill the system of canals and channels which irrigate the cultivated lands of the Delta. The maxi- mum rise of the river is generally reached in the early part of October, after which the flood begins to fall, and by the 10th of November the level is again reduced by half the amount of rise ; the minimum state is reached in May. At Assuan the flooded Nile rises in the narrower channel to 50 feet above its low level ; at Thebes about 36 feet. At Cairo the crier proclaims that the " river has given abundance " when the rise has reached 24 feet (16 cubits), but upwards of 30 feet are required to supply the whole of the cultivated lands, and this is not always reached, the failure of the river being always to a greater or less extent disastrous. At the northern edge of the delta, so spread out is the flood before it reaches the chief mouths, that it does not amount to a rise of 4 feet in these. Coming back now to the equatorial belt of rain at all seasons of the year, which we reached at the Victoria Nyanza, we may attempt to trace out the limits of this central zone as far as information about it permits. It has been argued that the constant rain which Captain Speke observed in Uganda may have been merely a local phenomenon, due to the pre- sence of the great evaporating surface of the Victoria Nyanza, and that central Africa may owe its abundant rain to its numerous large lakes. A portion of the vapour drawn up from these lakes may, and undoubtedly does, fall back on the countries round their shores, but the lakes themselves are the standing evidence of the excess of rainfall over evaporation. DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 575 To say, then, that the abundant rainfall of Central Africa is derived from them is manifestly erroneous. The gradual in- crease in the duration of the rains from each side toward the equator all across the continent, also clearly indicates that the continuance of the rains throughout the year in Uganda is not a local phenomenon. About the limit of the tropical rains in the Sahara (in 20° N.), the time of possible fall is limited to the one month of July or August ; about Lake Chad (in 1 3° N.) the rains last for three months, on the Upper Nile (in about 8° N.) for Jive months, at Gondokoro (5° N.) for nearly seven months, in Unyoro (2° N.) for ten months. From South Africa, as we shall afterwards notice more particularly, the period of the rains also increases towards the equator. On the Middle Zambesi (15° S.) there are six rainy months j about Lake Bangweolo (11° S.) seven; over the Tanganyika Lake (5° S.) eight; the period of fall increasing northward through Karague to the equatorial belt of rain in all seasons. Towards the east of the Nyanza the equatorial countries lying round the great snow-capped mountains of Kenia and Kilima-Njaro, as well as the coast slope beyond these down to the Indian Ocean between Mombas and Barava, appear to have inter- rupted rains depending on the changes of the monsoon ; the belt in which rain occurs in all months seems therefore to have its eastern limit not far from the eastern side of the Victoria Lake. On the southern shores of the Nyanza, also, as Karague and Umyamuesi are approached, the rains are interrupted by dry periods, which gradually increase in dura- tion as we advance southward ; the southern limit of the belt in question may thus be drawn across the south of the Nyanza. Towards the west, under the equator, we have as yet no certain knowledge of the distribution of the rains, but there seems to be every probability, from the conditions of the known portions of the continent north and south of it, that the central belt of rain in all months extends uninterruptedly from the Victoria Nyanza to the region of the Ogowe river and the Gaboon on the Atlantic coast. M. Du Chaillu, who has penetrated farthest into Western Africa under the equator, says it is evident that it rains more or less throughout the year in the interior of this region, and this may almost be said to be the case on the coast-land itself, though there the fluc- tuations of amount of rain, due to the position of the sun, are 576 APPENDIX. more marked, and the daily land and sea breezes have their effect. On the estuary of the Gaboon, the months of January and February, when the sun is farthest south, are compara- tively dry, having only occasional rains and thunder-storms ; through March, April, and May, rains and tornadoes, lasting for one to two hours, are observed ; June, July, August, and Sep- tember have a clouded sky, but less rain ; and at the end of this time the sky clears, the grass withers, and the first half of October may be dry. The heaviest rains of all, however, set in during the latter half of October, and continue through November and December. The river Ogowe rising in March and April, and again in October and November, shows that the periods of maximum rainfall over its basin correspond accurately with those noted by Captain Speke in the neighbourhood of the Victoria Lake; the condition of the river also shows that the reduction of the rains at the times when the sun reaches the northern and southern tropics must be very considerable, for Dr. Lenz describes its melancholy aspect in August. The formerly broad and powerful stream shrinks down at this season to narrow and isolated strips of water, often scarcely two feet deep, and its channel shows high sandbanks which give it a mono- tonous yellow colouring, and render canoeing very difficult. The Quillu river in Loango, between the Ogowe and Congo, was observed by Dr. Pechuel-Loesche to rise in the middle of September, so that its conditions and rain supply do not seem to differ much from those of the Ogowe. We now know, through Mr. Stanley's terrible journey along its course from Nyangwe, that the Lualaba and Congo are one great river, and that its course, like that of the Niger reversed, forms a wide semicircular sweep to northward, reaching as far as two degrees north of the equator. The whole of the middle course of the Congo thus lies within the equatorial belt of rain in all months which we have just described, and within which, as we have seen, the rains reach their maximum amounts about the times of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The ob- served swelling and falling of the great river in its lower course agree precisely with the fluctuations of the rainfall over it. Not far from the Yellala cataracts Lieutenant Grandy noted the greatest rise of the river, beginning on the 10th of September and ending on the 23d of December, and the DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 577 second from the first week in March till the end of J une ; in the former the river rose 9^- feet, in the latter 2 feet.1 The upper basin of the Congo — where the river is known by the various names of Chambese, Luapula, and Lualaba, and where it flows through Lakes Bangweolo, Moero, and Ulenge or Lanji — extends into latitudes into which the rains follow the vertical sun, and are interrupted by a dry period of more and more considerable duration the farther they lie from the equatorial zone. At Bambarre in the Manyuema country, between the northern half of Tanganyika and the Lualaba, Livingstone observed that the rains began in the end of October or beginning of November, and ceased in July, and he recorded a total amount of rainfall in this time of 58 inches. Here then the eight months during which the sun is passing south to the tropic of Capricorn and returning north- ward past the equator are rainy ; the four months in which the vertical sun is farthest north being dry. Farther up the Lualaba basin, at Lake Bangweolo, the duration of the rainy season was two months less ; rain fell only very sparingly in the end of October and during November, but between that month and May no day passed without thunder or rain. The whole amount of fall was observed by Dr. Livingstone to be 42 inches in the rainy season of 1866-67, and 53 inches in 1867-68. the prevailing wind being the south-east. On the water-parting between the Nyassa rivers and the Loangwa basin — as in Kabuire, Itawa, and Lopere, and over the southern extremity of the Tanganyika Lake — the rains also set in about the end of October, and last for 6^- months, till nearly the middle of May, becoming heavier in the months in which the sun is passing north. In the Balonda country, on the water- parting between the Zambesi and Congo basins, Livingstone remarked the commencement of the rains on the 15th of October, and their cessation on the 28th of April. The Zambesi valley is likewise reached by the rains in the end of October or in November, when the sun is passing south over it ; they diminish in quantity in December and January, when the sun is farthest south ; and are heaviest in February and 1 Mr. Stanley, who was on the river from November 1876 till August 1877, noted the swelling (corresponding to the second rise observed by Grandy) from the 8th to the 22d of May. The rise up river is about 8 feet at this time, but greater in the narrows. 2 P 578 APPENDIX. March, or in part of April, as he is returning north again. The plains, which were well moistened in November, become supersaturated in the early months of the year, and pour forth the floods of clear water which then inundate the banks of the Zambesi, and keep the river in flood till July. At Tete, where the Zambesi emerges from the central plateau of South Africa, very gentle rains or heavy mists occur in winter, and are known as the " wheat showers," but in all the interior country of South Africa winter rain is very seldom known. The country between Mozambique and the Nyassa has its rainy season also from the end of November till May ; but Bishop Steere remarked, in his Walk to the Nyassa Country, that for several months after the lower grounds are full of water, the drying-up time being the most unhealthy season of all. The Shir6 river flowing from Lake Nyassa is in highest flood in January and February corresponding to the heaviest rainfall of its basin. The island of Madagascar in the same latitude as the Zambesi valley has its season of rain at a corresponding period. The " Fahavaratra," the season of the " causing or introducing of the rain," is in October or November. The " Fararano," or " end of water," occurs in April. South of the Zambesi valley in Central Africa, though the period of rainfall during the south declination of the sun remains nearly the same, the quantity diminishes greatly, and an interrupting period of dry weather begins to appear. The rain begins in October or November, but when the sun has reached the southern tropic in December, it slackens during that month and January, the months in which droughts are most dreaded in the region between Kolobeng and Linyanti ; but the rains begin again in February, and are stronger in that month and in March. Between the Limpopo and the Zambesi, according to Carl Mauch, the setting in of the rains occurs in October, and the last storms with rain are expected in May ; during the dry winter the grasses are burned down, and the air is filled with smokes. Towards the end of September a conflict begins between the east and west winds, and gives rise to the remarkable dust pillars wiiich then whirl over the blackened plains. In the Transvaal Eepublic the rainy season begins in September and lasts till April, giving a plentiful supply; during the winter months there is little or no rain. The Gasa country, or the lowland which separates the high Trans- vaal and Matebele Kafir countries from the Indian Ocean DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IX AFRICA. 579 between Sofala and Delagoa Bay, is described by Mr. St. Vincent Erskine as an almost rainless country, though the sky from ten o'clock in the day till sunset is constantly filled with clouds ; owing to the low and level character of the land, however, these clouds float on uncondensed towards the hills, leaving to these lands only the benefit of their shadows. Southward from Delagoa Bay, where the plateau edge approaches the coast, all round through Natal and Kafraria to the Gamtoos river in southern Cape Colony, the rains are condensed on the hish margin of the continent during the summer months, when the vapours of the Indian Ocean are drawn towards the heated land of the interior. In the six wet- test months, from October to the end of March, about 45 inches of rain fall on the coast-land of Natal j at Maritzburg, farther inland, according to Dr. Mann's observations, the annual rain- fall amounts only to 30 inches. The Drakenberg mountains and the terraces of the plateau which stretch north and south of these condense upon themselves the greater portion of the vapours brought at this season by the easterly trade wind, and rob the interior country to a great extent ; southward also towards Cape Colony the amount diminishes rapidly. Thus, at Aliwal north, in the upper basin of the Orange river, the annual fall (from September until April or May) has been found by Mr. Dowling, from observations carried on between 1866 and 1874, to be 25 inches, February being the wettest month ; at Graaf-Reynet, near the outer base of the Compass Berg in the eastern division of Cape Colony, the annual amount is reduced to 13 inches. Inland, over the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, the Diamond Fields, and the interior districts of the Cape Colony, the amount of rain diminishes gradually westward over the Bechuana country. In winter over southern Bechuana Land cold winds blow from the south, but seldom bring rain ; in spring (end of August) the north winds set in and blow steadily with great force from 10 A.M. until sundown, and clear nights follow ; these continue until November, when the thunder-storms begin, and during the prevalence of these winds the sky and air seem to be full of thick smoke-like mists, a condition brought about by the fine particles of sand from the Kalahari. Towards the end of the windy season the thirsty animals are seen bending their necks towards the moist winds which bring with them the scent of 580 APPENDIX. the green vegetation of the tropics. The dry Kalahari desert lies beyond, and is remarkable both for its deficiency of moisture and its very considerable vegetation. " The reason why so little rain falls on this extensive plain," says Dr. Livingstone, " is that the prevailing winds of most of the interior country are easterly, with a little southing. The moisture taken up by the atmosphere from the Indian Ocean is deposited on the eastern hilly slope ; and when the moving mass of air reaches its greatest elevation it is then on the verge of the great valley, or, as in the case of the Kalahari, the great heated inland plains ; there, meeting with the rarefied air of that hot dry surface, the ascending heat gives it greater capacity for retaining all its remaining humidity, and few showers can be given to the middle and western lands in consequence of the increased hygrometric power." Over the border lands of the Kalahari the rains of the summer months are almost invariably accompanied by thunder- storms. These are constantly occurring in the rainy season along the mountains which border the Free State and the northern districts of Cape Colony ; in Griqualand West they occur less frequently, and are there preceded by clouds of dust ; farther north and west, the scanty supply of rain which falls in the Kalahari itself, and in Bushmanland, south of the Orange, comes with the thunder-storms which occasionally roll over it. Many portions of its area, however, are not visited by rain from year to year. We have now traced out the movements of the tropical rains, as far as these are more directly controlled by the pro- gress of the vertical sun to and fro over the length of the continent, from the Sahara to the Kalahari desert. There remain to be noticed, as belonging to the tropical region, the rains of the western coast-lands between the lower Congo and Orange rivers, in which the influence of the south-east trade wind shows itself; the rains of the monsoon region between Somali Land and Zanzibar ; and the winter rains of the Cape Colony. The Bains of Angola and Damara Land. In describing the physical features of the west coast-lands about the mouth of the Congo river in the former part of the book, the remarkable line of division marked by the great river, and DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 581 the contrast of the forest-covered and humid coast-land north- ward of its estuary, with the comparatively bare shores south- ward of it, have been noticed. North of the river, as we have seen, the rains are nearly continuous over the humid forests throughout the year ; but immediately the estuary is crossed, a region is entered in which there are well-marked wet and dry seasons. In the kingdom of Congo, which lies south of the river, and on the northern borders of Angola, Lieutenant Grandy learnt that the rains begin with the " Masanza" or winter season, in December, and fall lightly during its con- tinuance till the end of the first fortnight of February ; then begins the " Kiindey" or season of heavy rains, lasting through the remainder of February, March, and half of April. To this succeeds the " Kintombo" or spring season ; then the " Sei'oo" or summer ; and, lastly, the " Bangala" or dry season of the latter part of September, October, and November. Though in the interior of Angola, as we learn from Dr. Livingstone's notes in crossing into it from the Zambesi, the single rainy season probably extends from October to May, as in the upper lake region of the Chambese in the same latitude, the coast- land has a far more scanty supply, and this is distributed in a double rainy season. The observations of Mr. Monteiro and of Messrs. Gabriel and Brand at Loanda agree in represent- ing the first rains as beginning there in the latter part of October, and continuing until December ; January and Feb- ruary, however, are dry months. In the end of the latter, or in March, the rains begin again, and last to the 15th of May, when dry weather again resumes and lasts till October. In describing the climate of the Quanza river, which reaches the sea a little south of Loanda, Carl Alexanderson confirms these observations. The summer or rainy season, he says, is divided into two — the small and big rains. " On the 18th of October, when we have the sun in our zenith, small showers begin to fall in the afternoon until the 2 2d of December, when the sun attains its greatest southern declination ; from that date until the 24th of February, when we again have the sun in our zenith, the weather remains changeable ; while in March and April the rains come down in heavy showers of from twelve to sixteen hours' duration, inundating the country." After the middle of October the Quanza river begins to rise gra- dually until the end of March, when it is at its highest, and 582 APPENDIX. it remains more or less stationary until the end of April or middle of May, when it gradually begins to fall again. The whole amount of rainfall for the year at Loan da is surprisingly small, not exceeding 12 or 15 inches ; but the amount dimin- ishes gradually as we go southward along the coast past Benguela and Mossamedes, till about Cape Frio an altogether rainless strip of barren coast-land is entered upon, which ex- tends thence for nearly a thousand miles past the mouth of the Orange to that of the Olifants river, in the west of the Cape Colony. All this strip of coast-land, from the sea in- land for forty or fifty miles to the base of the plateau, is prac- tically rainless, though dense sea fogs rise over it about dawn. It occupies a situation, with respect to the south-easterly trade wind of the Atlantic, precisely similar to that of the corresponding portion of the coast-land of the Sahara, in the north of the continent, between Cape Jubi and Cape Blanco, past and away from which the north-east trade wind blows throughout the year, flowing continually from colder towards warmer latitudes, and increasing in its power of absorbing moisture. The west coast land of Australia, and the coast- desert of Atacama in South America, are analogous examples in other continents. Inland from Walfisch Bay, Mr. Chapman draws the limit of the sea fogs at Wilson's Fountain, a station which lies at about seventy miles from the Atlantic, on the route to southern Damara Land. From this point coastwise very little rain ever falls. The plateau of Damara Land itself, however, has a periodical though very uncertain rainfall. Mr. G-alton learnt, from the long experience of the Eev Mr. Hahn, of the Rhenish Mission, that over all southern Damara Land occasional and sometimes very heavy showers occur from November to January, but that the true rainy season lies between the first of January and the last of April. From the middle of May to November rain is scarcely ever known to fall. Here, then, as in all the eastern region of the Matebele country and the Transvaal, on the other side of the Kalahari desert, the rains come with the southern declination of the sun, and become stronger as the sun turns to go north- ward. The showers are extremely violent, and are always accompanied by thunder-storms. The ground is seldom satu- rated until February, but after that pools of rain water, or DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 583 " vleys" are found everywhere ; by June, however, all but the largest of these are dried up. The streams are all periodical, and run to very different extents in different years. The Kuisip, Mr. Galton tells us, had been seven years without reaching the sea, and then almost, if not quite, reached it three times in six years. Great Namaqualand, the southern continuation of the same highland, appears to have nearly the same rainy season, but, towards the south especially, the rains fall more sparingly, and north of the Lower Orange river the country is subject to the most terrible droughts. A slight sprinkling of the winter rains of the Cape appears, however, to reach southern Namaqualand. It is difficult as yet to decide whence the summer rain supply ofDamara and Namaqualand is derived, whether from the near Atlantic or the distant Indian Ocean. It appears probable, however, that it is drawn almost entirely from the Indian Ocean ; for Mr. Galton observes that the rains fall most heavily on the northern and eastern slopes of the country, and we know that the south-east trade wind is constantly blowing away from this region, rendering its coast-land dry and barren. Mr. Moffat and Mr. H. Tindall also agree in stating that almost all the summer thunder-showers of Namaqualand are brought by wind from N.E. Very rarely they seem to rise from S.W. On this supposition the Kalahari desert is dry and rainless simply on account of its level character ; if any considerable heights occurred on its surface, these would undoubtedly con- dense the moisture which passes over it to Namaqualand. The Monsoon Rains of the East Coast Land. We may pass over now to look at the distribution of rain in the Monsoon region of the eastern equatorial region of the continent. In its widest sense the monsoon region includes Abyssinia, the Upper Nile basin, eastern Unyamuesi between the Victoria and the Tanganyika Lakes, and the country north of a line drawn thence to about Cape Delgado. About the limit thus indicated the disturbing influence of the Asiatic continent appears to cease, or to be lost gradually in the system of atmospheric movements controlled by the conditions of Africa itself. The rains of Abyssinia and the Upper Nile valley 584 APPENDIX. have been already described. For Somali Land, as far as it has yet been penetrated from the north, we possess two good sources of information about the rains, in the account given by Captain Burton of his adventurous journey to Harar, and in Herr Haggenmacher's description of the country between Ber- berah and Libaheli, 130 miles due south of that port. These travellers agree in representing the heavy rains of the uplands of the northern Somali country (distinct from the winter rains of the steep coast-land) as beginning with the gu or gugi mon- soon (from " gug," rain) in April, and continuing until July or August. Then follows the season named Haga, the hot season after the monsoon, during which, south of Berberah, the rains fall more sparingly ; while towards Harar the country suffers from the Fora, a hot dusty simum. Next, during October, in the season called Keren or Karan, the rains draw westward from the country behind Berberah, and a fall of rain now allays the dust raised in the previous months. Then comes the Ddir, or beginning of the cold season, from November to January, when rain falls in the east and south-east of Somali Land y and lastly, the Jilal, or dry period, from January to the end of March, when the nomads migrate for pasture to the low coast plains, which are then watered by the winter rains. Speaking generally, then, there may be said to be two rainy seasons in northern Somali Land — a greater from April to July or August, and a lighter from October to December \ and two dry seasons — a longer and more pronounced from January to March, and a shorter and less definite one in August and September. The Juba river sinks rapidly in the end of Sep- tember, after the close of the greater rains. Eichard Brenner, who accompanied the ill-fated expedition of Baron Von der Decken to the Juba, and who afterwards made extensive journeys in the equatorial coast-land of East Africa between Barava and Mombas, has had perhaps better opportunities than any other European traveller of becoming acquainted with the seasonal changes in this region of the continent. He tells us that about the equator (which runs centrally through the southern Galla countries) the first rainy season begins in April, and continues till the end of June • the second rainy season of September and October, which occurs regularly farther south (and which corresponds to the second rains of northern Somali Land), fails altogether on the low-lying equatorial coast-land, DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 585 or is only marked by a heavily clouded sky. The north-east monsoon sets in regularly here in the beginning of November, and hence onward to the middle of the succeeding March there is continual blue sky without a shower. In March west winds begin to blow, and land and sea breezes alternate on the coast ; the south-west monsoon then sets in with heavy rain squalls. The interior of the southern Galla country towards the moun- tains which seem to unite the highland of Abyssinia with the snowy peaks of Kenia and Kilima-Njaro, south of the equator, appears, however, to have a more plentiful supply of rain between March and November. Coming south to Mombas and the Wanika country, Mr. New tells us that there the seasons are remarkably regular. The Muaka (or larger rains) begin towards the latter part of March or in the first days of April, and continue through April, May, and June. Then there is a pause, followed by showers in July. These latter rains are called the Mcho, and nature is now in her best dress. August and September are dry, so that by the end of this time vegetation has drooped. In October and November the Vuli, or lesser rains, fall, and nature revives as if by magic. Next comes the dry season, from November to April, when the sun blazes furiously, calling up a deadly haze and giving the country a most dreary aspect ; but a week after the first fall of the Muaka all is life again. Dr. Krapf notes a slight difference in the times of the rains in the interior country of Ukambani from those of the coast. The first or chief rainy season does not commence there till May or June, instead of April ; and the second is correspondingly late, occurring in November and December. The Tana or Dana river, the chief one of this region, presents some anomalous features of rising and falling which have not yet been very satisfactorily accounted for ; it inundates the lower country through which it flows in December and January, and at first sight its swelling at this time might be ascribed to the second rains of November and December in the interior. These, how- ever, are only slight showers, and do not affect the parallel streams of the Sabaki and Ozi. Dr. Krapf suggests that the flood of the Tana is supplied by the snows of Mount Kenia melted during the hot season • and if this should prove to be actually the case, it would argue the existence of very large quantities of snow on this equatorial mountain. But the 586 APPENDIX. hottest dry season in the vicinity of these mountains appears to be that of August and September, and the snows, if melted in these months, would swell the river flowing from them before December or January, even in its lower course. Passing on to the important island of Zanzibar, the seasons there are found to have the same general conditions as on the mainland opposite to it, though they are much more irregular. The monsoon winds divide the year into two unequal portions. That from the north-east, called KasJcazi, sets in about the end of November, or from that to the middle of December, and con- tinues generally into the first fortnight of March ; the Kos or Kausi, the south-west monsoon, then gains the mastery, the change being accompanied by storms, gales, and heavy showers, which are often confounded with the real rainy season. This wind at Zanzibar, as Captain Burton tells us, as often blows from the south-east as from the south-west, showing that it is merely the south-east trade wind of the Indian Ocean being deflected into the atmospheric current which has then begun to flow strongly towards Asia. There are three falls of rain during the year, named the Masika, the Mcho'o, and the Vuli, divided by intervals of calms and variable winds. The Masika, or season of heavy rain, is ushered in by the southerly monsoon, and lasts from the middle of April until the end of May ; the Mcho'o are occasional showers which fall through a month or six weeks in June and July ; the Vuli, lesser or latter rains, continue for three or four weeks from the latter part of September, and last nearly through October, when the sun is crossing the equator on his way south, and the winds begin to be changeable. The yearly amount of rainfall mea- sured in the town of Zanzibar perhaps averages about 150 inches ; but the quantity, as well as the seasons of its falling, are exceedingly confused and irregular. Eain may also fall in any month of the year, though the maximum amounts occur generally in the months in which the greater and lesser rains of the coast-land prevail. On the coast-land opposite Zanzibar these seasons are more regular in their occurrence ; but on the route inland towards Unyamuesi and the Tanganyika, as the traveller begins to ascend the slope of the plateau of the interior, he finds that the "East African Ghauts" of Usagara, facing the Indian DISTRIBUTION OF RAIN IN AFRICA. 587 Ocean, condense upon themselves more abundant moisture, and that the rains of each season begin earlier and last longer than on the coast. Thus Usagara has a cold, damp, and misty climate, suggesting that of Mahabaleshvvar and the Neilgherry hills of Western India. " The east wind," says Captain Burton, " a local deflection of the south-east trade, laden with the moisture of the Indian Ocean, impinges upon the seaward slope, and ascending is relieved from atmospheric pressure, and is condensed by a colder temperature ; thence the frequent precipitation of heavy rain, and the banks and sheets of morning cloud which veil the tree-clad peaks of the highest gradients." The region beyond or to leeward of these heights, which compel the winds to part with their vapours, is an arid, sterile land, " a counterpart in many places of the Kalahari and the Karroos," in which conflicting winds raise lofty whirling columns of sand, which scour the plains with the rapidity of horsemen. Here, in Ugogo, the Vuli, or latter rain of the Zanzibar, is absent. About the middle of November the country is visited by a few preliminary downfalls, and towards the end of December the rainy season begins with winds which shift from the east to the north and north-east, but the de- sultory and uncertain fall seldom exceeds the third month. The rains of Ugogo are then evidently brought by the north- east monsoon from the Indian Ocean, which passes over the lower lying coast-land north of Zanzibar as a dry wind. Going on towards the Tanganyika and reaching Eastern Unyamuesi, we enter the region in which the monsoon rains begin to give way to those which follow the progress of the sun in Africa. Captain Burton observed that in Eastern Unyamuesi the rains began on the 1 4th of November. In the northern and western provinces the wet season begins earlier and lasts longer. At Msene (sixty miles north-west of Unyanyembe), it precedes Unyanyembe by about a month; at Ujiji, on the Tanganyika Lake, and in Karague, by two months. Thus the latter countries have a rainfall which extends through the eight months from the middle of September to the middle of May, the supply of moisture being apparently drawn for the most part from the south-east trade wind of the Indian Ocean. 588 APPENDIX. The Winter Rains of Southern Africa. To complete this rapid survey we may glance at the dis- tribution of the winter rains of the southern extra-tropical pro- montory of Africa. The districts of the Cape Colony over which these are most pronounced are those which occupy the outer slopes of the Cape terraces in the south-west, from the Olifants river round by Cape Town and the Agulhas to the Gauritz and Gamtoos rivers, extending inland to the western and southern edges of the great Karroo. For the seven winter months from April until October these slopes condense the vapours brought by the north-westerly ocean winds ; during summer, when the south-east wind prevails, they are com- paratively dry. Thus, according to the observations made at the Royal Observatory near Cape Town, the whole annual fall there amounts to an average of nearly 23 inches (or nearly the same as we have in London), of which 20 inches fall within the wet months named above ; only 3 inches from November to March ; the maximum amount for the months occurring in the depth of winter, or in June and July. The amount, how- ever, diminishes very rapidly inland here as elsewhere, Wor- cester, sixty miles inland from Cape Town, having only 12 inches of rain in the year ; and it decreases eastward along the south coast in like proportion — Somerset "West, near the head of False Bay, having 27 inches ; Bredasdorp (N. of Cape Agulhas) 1 i ; and Mossel Bay only 1 1 inches in the year. Still farther east along the coast the annual amount begins to increase again, those districts which lie near the line of divi- sion between the regions watered by winter rains on the west and by the summer rains of the east, having a rain supply which is more equally distributed throughout the year. Thus Port Elizabeth has 22 inches of rainfall in the year, distributed both in winter and summer, and falling in greatest quantity from July to December ; yet Graff Reynet, near the same meridian, but inland, has distinct summer rains. Though the coast-land between the Orange river and the Olifants is almost destitute of rainfall, the winter rains reach the higher lying plateau-border of Little Namaqualand, giving an average fall of 9 inches in the year at the Concordia cop- per mine near Springbokfontein ; and a slight sprinkling seems also to moisten the southern highlands of Great Namaqua- DISTRIBUTION OF EAIN IN AFRICA. 589 land north of the Lower Orange. The Great Karroo is characterised by deficiency of rain, but the slopes of the Rog- geveld and Nieuweveld beyond it appear to condense on them- selves a small and very irregular supply of rain, amounting to about 9 inches at Nels Poort near Beaufort West. We have seen that summer rains prevail over all the eastern region of the Cape Colony and in Natal, yet winter rain is not unknown on this side of the colony. At Maritz- burg, for example, about 6 inches, out of the total of 30, falls in the winter months, and at Aliwal North nearly 3 inches out of 25. Snow lies on the Sneeuw and Storm Bergen of the eastern division, as well as on the Drakenberg of Natal, for three or four months of every winter. As indicating, pro- bably, the extreme limit to which snow may reach in South Africa, we may note Mr. Chapman's account1 of a severe snow- storm which occurred at Sekomi's Town, on the eastern border of the Kalahari desert, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, and which was considered an extraordinary circumstance in this part of the country. To recapitulate in conclusion the broad features of the African rains, we have (1) the winter rains of the northern and southern extra-tropical regions of the continent ; (2) the inter-tropical rains of uninterrupted period which follow the vertical sun in his passage over the interior of the continent from the Sahara to the Kalahari desert, extending on the eastern margin into the Transvaal, Natal, and the eastern Cape Colony ; (3) the interrupted or double rains of the western coast-land, along the northern shores of the Gulf of Guinea in the northern hemisphere, and on the Angolan coast south of the Congo river, in the southern ; and (4) the monsoon rains of the Somali and Zanzibar coast-land. It is generally stated in works on Physical Geography, in describing the distribution of the rains in inter-tropical regions, that five distinct zones may be distinguished : — 1st, The equatorial belt of calms with rains all the year round, and heavier falls about the times of the equinoxes ; 2d, Two zones, one in each hemisphere, extend- ing to about 15° N. and S. beyond the central one, in which the rains are double or intermitted, the wet seasons being separated by a less interval in the half-year during which the sun is in the declination corresponding to the hemisphere in 1 Chapman's Travels, vol. i. p. 264. 590 APPENDIX. which they occur, and by a longer interval when the sun is over the opposite hemisphere ; and, 3c%, Two zones of single tropical rains, where the double seasons run into one, terminat- ing about the 25 th parallel north and south. The first of these zones is probably represented in Africa by a belt of rain at all seasons which lies along the equator between the Victoria Nyanza and the West Coast ; but the second pair are not distinguishable in any part of the interior of tropical Africa, over the whole of which, excepting in the above-mentioned equatorial belt, there is simply one wet season, during which, though the rains may become heavier after the sun's passage, and lighter when the vertical sun is nearest the tropic, there is no distinct cessation of rain. The only districts in Africa in which these zones are represented at all are the coast-lands of Upper Guinea and those of Angola, in which there is a double rainy season. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the inter-tropical rains of Africa is that of their moderate amount. We have seen that even in the equatorial belt of rain at all seasons the whole yearly quantity that falls does not exceed, as far as obser- vations go, the amount which falls on the western coasts of our own islands. As yet we know of very few points in the con- tinent at which the rainfall exceeds 100 inches in the year; and it may be said almost with certainty that there is no district within it at which the rainfall can be compared in quantity with that which is brought to the mountains of India by the south-west monsoon, or to the Amazons valley in South America by the Atlantic trade winds, in the same latitude as the African lake region. It is generally given as characteristic of tropical rains that they fall only by day. As the sun ascends in the heavens the air over the warming land ascends, and the winds are drawn in ; when the heat of the day begins to decline, or when the upward current ceases, the vapour which has been carried up- ward descends in afternoon rains, which cease at nightfall, leaving the nocturnal sky, as well as that of the morning, clear and cloudless. This appears also to be the general rule in inter-tropical Africa, but it is by no means constant or universal. In the Balonda country, for example (12° S. and 53° E.), Livingstone observed that there was pouring rain at break of day for months together ; and on the Gaboon the heaviest rains are said by Yon Kloden to fall by night. INDEX.1 Ababdeii Arabs, 220 Abai river, 255, 25S, 259 Abanga tribe, 239 A-bantu languages, 447 Abba island, 226 Abba Jared, Mount, 255 Abbeokuta, 153 Abd-Allahi, 164 Abdarak, Jebel, 247 Abd-el-Kuri island, 2S3 Aben, Wady, 247 Abeshr, 18S Abgal Somali, 282 Abiad or White Nile, 200, 226 Abiad, Wady el, 22 Abi, Debr, Mount, 246 Abo, 161 Abomey, 148 Abonsam, 139 Abual river, 227 Abuam, 87 Abu Foda, Jebel, 215 Abu Hamed, 217, 221 Abuna Josef, Mount, 255 Abuna, the, of Abyssinia, 263 Abu Simbel, 218 Abu Sin, 253 Abyssinia, 254 countries S. of, 271 culture in, 264 government of, 266 industries in, 266 languages of, 262 plants and animals of, 256 plateau of, 272 population of, 260 towns of, 26S Abyssinian Expedition, 255 Abyssinians in Khartum, 223 " Acacia fistulosa," 225 " Acacia gummifera," 101, 225 Accra, 135, 140 Achdam Somali, 2S2 Achdar, Jebel, 105 Adal tribes, 262 Adamawa, 165 Adam Kok, chief, 3S6 Adanlinanlanga, 479, 486 Adansonia digitata, 88 Addura river, 227 Adelina Longa, 479 Aden, Gulf of, 278 Aderar, 87 Aderer, 86 Adigerat, 26S Adi river, 2S9 Adowa, 268 city, 255 Afafi, 101 Afar salt country, 269, 273 Afelele, or Little Desert, 87 Africa, Central, products of, 352 commerce in, 14 culture in, 13 East, trade of, 298 eastern horn of, 273 European influence in, 15 general form of, S inhabitants of, 12 ; and Appendix I North, hot winds of, 78 inhabitants of, 29 political changes, 30 products of, 28 rivers of, 25 physical aspect of, 10 South, generally, 371 races of, 447 tropical position of, 11 West, 454 slavery in, 125, 463 Western Equatorial, 477 African Steamship Coy., 160 Agades, 98 Agau, the, 262 Agaumeder, mountains of, 258 Agriculture in Baghirmi, 18S in Cape Colony, 380 in Egypt, 205 in Kordofan, 194 in Madagascar, 505 in Natal, 402 in Transvaal, 407 Ague in Algeria, 53 Agulhas, Cape, 375 Ahaggar, 97 plateau of, 24, 74 Ahimbe lake, 366 Ain-Salah, 93 Air or Asben, 97 Ajawa or Wahiao, the, 355 Akaloi river, 486 Akanyaru lake, 328 Akela, desert of, 88 Akka dwarfs, 200, 240, 488 Aksabi, Wady, 25 Albany, 397 Albert Nyanza, 245, 323 discovery of, 327 Albuquerque, 435 Alexandra or Kagera R., 328 Alexandria, 208 Algeria, artesian wells in, 54 climate of, 27 coast range of, 19 French changes in, 52 metals of, 51 natural features of, 18 peoples of, 55 population and area, 48 products and commerce of, 49 railways in, 55 rivers of, 25 Algerian Middle Range, 20 Sahara, 21 Algiers, 54 Algoa Bay, 396 colonists of, 3S5 discovery of, 383 Almohades, the, 30 Aloes of Socotra, 2S3 Alsatians in Algeria, 49 " Alta- Vista," Teneriffe, 495 Ama-Khosa Kafirs, 386, 448 Amapondo Kafirs, 402 Amaxosa or Ama-Khosa Ka- firs, 3S6, 448 Amazons of Dahomey, 148- 150 Ama-Zulu Kafirs, 44S Ambaca, district of, 460 Ambachara, Mount, 270 Ambriz, 456, 459 exports of, 465 government of, 465 seaport of, 467 Ambrizette, 464 Amhara, people of, 261 Amharic language, 262 Amicis, Edmondo de, 33 Amirante islands, 507 " Amomum granum para- disii," 133 Amorontsanga, 504 l The appendices, which relate exclusively to special subjects, have not been indexed. 592 IXDEX. Amri Arabs, 248 Amur, Jebel, 21 Anchovy of Cape Colony, 393 Angad, the, IS Augadziza island, 506 Anglo-Brazi . i an telegraph ,490 Anglo-Maltese in Algeria, 4S Angoche, district of, 430 "islands, 430 Angola, 454 aspect of, 455 caravans in, 464 climate of, 458 commerce of, 464 government of, 465 inhabitants of, 459 limits of, 455 plateaus of, 456 products of, 464 slavery in, 463 slave trade from, 127 Angolalla, 271 Angora goats in Cape Colony, 392 Angoxa islands, 430 Angoy or Kabinda, 472 Angra, 498 Pequena Bay, 445 Animals of Abyssinia, 256 of Angola, 459 of Cape Colony, 391 of Liberia, 133 of Madagascar, 503 of North Africa, 28 of Somali land, 280, 282 of Transvaal, 409 of Wadai', 189 Aniyo or " Boobies," 158 Anjuan (Johanna), 506 An karat hills, 501 Ankober, 270 Annobom island, 158 Anseba, Wady, 249 Antarctic Circle, 5 Antinori, Marquis, 271 Appam, 135 Apingi tribe, 481, 4S7 Apono tribe, 481 Apuddo station, 244 Aqua town, 157 Arab, Bahr-el, 200 slave traders near Nyassa, 355 traders in Katanga, 370 traders in Lobemba, 367 Arabian Desert, 199, 246 Arabs in Egypt, 203 in Madagascar, 504 in North Africa, 29 in Wadai, 189 of Darfur, 192 of Kanem, 176 of Marocco, 38 of Senaar, 224 of Socotra, 283 of Tunis, 60 of Zanzibar, 297 on coast of Sofala, 435 on Tanganyika 337 Arabs, physical appearance, 40 the Baggara Seliin, 226 Arabah, Wady, 214 " Arachis hypogcea," 464 Araj, oasis of, depression, 75 Aratines, the, 91 Arctic Circle, 5 Area of Algeria, 48 of Egypt, 202 of Marocco, 32 of Tunis, 60 Arecife, Puerto del, 497 Argo island, 221 Arguin, bank of, 85 Aribinda, 169 Arimba, 430 Armenians in Egypt, 203 Army of Bornu, 184 of Cetywayo, 424 of the Matebele, 425 Aroenha river, 430 Arseu, 49 Artesian wells in Algeria, 54 Aruangoa or Loangwa river, 363, 431 Arusha country, 292 lake, 294 Asaka, Wady, 25 Asamor, 38 Asaorta tribe, 262 Asawad, 87 Asben or Air, 97 Ascherson, Dr., the traveller, 105 Asgar Tuaregs, the, 97 Ashango tribe, 481 Ashantees, the, 136 origin of the, 141 Ashira tribe, 481 Asir, Ras, 283 Assinie, 133 river, 136 Assuan, 216 Nile navigation, 208 Asua river, 244 Atakla mountain, 147 Atbara river, 249 at confluence, 222 Upper, river, 255 Atimboka, the, 358 " Atlantis," the, 492 , Atlas mountains, view of the, 37 Moyen, 20 region of the, 17 the Great, 21 the Lesser, 19 the Middle, 18 Attaka, Jebel, 246 Aub or Oop river, 445 Aucapitaine, Henri, quoted, 75 Auelimmiden tribe, 87 Aufina islands, 245 Aujila, oasis of, 106, 189 Aukrabees fall, 377 Aurasius, Mons, 21 Aures mountains, 22 Aussa, salt lakes, 270 Avanchers, Leon des, 271 Avocado pear, the, 122 A wad, Ras, 2S4 Awal Somali, 281 Axim, 135 Axum, 268 Aval el Bahar, the, 189 Aymes, Lieutenant, 479, 4.S0 Azingo lake, 486 "Azmera" season of Abys- sinia, 257 Azores islands, 498 Azrak or Blue Nile, 199 Baastards or Griquas, 386 Bab-el-Mandeb, strait, 247 Babemba tribe, 364, 367 Bab-e-Shelal, the, 216 Babisa tribe, 364, 367 Bab Jezirah, 62 Babor, great, mountain, 19 Bab Suyga, 62 Babukur tribe, 232, 242 Bacax, Roman deity, 52 Bacharieh oasis, 106 Badagrv, 14S, 160 Bafing, 119 Bagamoyo, 296, 304, 309 Baggara el Homr, the, 242 liaggara Selim Arabs, 226 Baghena, 88 Baghirmi, 14 country, 177 peoples of, 186 state of, 185 Baghzen mountains, 98 Baginze, Mount, 242 Bahauadla Somali, 282 Bahira of Tunis, 62 Bahr-el-Abiad, 200, 226 Bahr-el-Arab, 200, 242 Bahr-el-Azrak, 199, 224 Bahr-el-Ghazal of Lake Chad, 180, 185 Bahr-el-Ghazal (Nile), 200, 229 Bahr-el-Ghazal basin (Nile), 232 Bahr el-Jebel, 228 Bahr-el- Zeraf, 228 Bahr-es-Salamat, 189 Bahr Kuta, 190 Bahr-Setit or Atbara, 253 Baikie, Dr., on Niger, 162 Bailunda or Bailundo, 352, 455 Baines, the traveller, 419 Ba.iuda Steppe, 221 Bakalai tribe, 485, 487 Bake!, Fort, 118 Baker, Sir Samuel, 251 Bakunia tribe, 475 Balalawi Mohammed, 192 " Balanites Egyptica," 194 " Balseniceps rex," 229 Ba Logon river, ISO Baloochee soldiers, 332 Balumbo tribe, 475 Balungu tribe, 367 Bambarra, 118 INDEX. 593 Bambarra country, 163 negroes, 115 negroes in Marocco, 46 Bambarre mountains, 342 Bambireh island, 322 Banana, factory of, 471 Banda country, 190 tribes, 190 Bander Marayah, 275 Bango or Fernand Vaz, 478 Banguin tribe, 487 Bangweolo lake, 364 Bantu tribes, 1 2, 447 Banyai country, 429 Banyans in Mozambique, 432 in Zanzibar, 299 of Massowah, 251 of Delagoa Bav, 437 Baobab bark, 464 or Gomrah, 225 the, in Kordofan, 194 Baobabs in El Hodh, SS in West Africa, 456 of East Coast, 419 Barava or Brava, 2S4 Baraka or Barka river, 249 Barbarossa, 31 Barca, 105 plateau of, 69, 71 Bardai, 102 Bardera, 285 Bardo of Tunis, 63 Baretto, Francisco, 436 " Ba-rimi " ghosts, 451 Baringo country, 320 lake, 295 Ban tribe, 243 Barka river, 249 Barmen mission station, 446 Barotse tribe, 423 valley, 426 Barrakunda rapids, 120 "Barr" of Marar, 276 Barth, Heinrich, 97 on the Niger, 168 Barth's travels, 166 Bartholomew Diaz, 383 Barue mountains, 431 Bashee river, 38S Bassam, Grand, 133 Basutos, the, 12, 372, 373, 420 annexation of the, 387 Basuto Land, 387 Batha river, 177 Bathurst, 120 Batna, 55 Batn-el-Hajer, 221 Batoka, country of the, 429 Batta people, 166 Bavili tribe, 475 Baya, the, of Elmina, 139 Bayaka tribe, 475 Bay of Raldanha, 395 of Tajurrah, 252 Bayombe tribe, 475 Bazaruto archipelago, 431 islands 419 Beach Hot ntots, 445 Beatrice Gulf, 326 Beaufort West, 396 " Bebbi" or Igbebe, 1G1 Bechuanas, the, 12, 420 character of the, 450 in Cape Colonv, 389 of Transvaal, 411, 415 the Eastern, 373 the Western, 373 Bedouins in Algeria, 55 in Ej:ypt, 203 Begemeder district, 270 Bego tribe, 192 Behni and Wagner quoted, 202 Beja, 64 language, 250 Beke, Charles, quoted, 205 the traveller, 271 Belad-el-Jerid, 65, S2 Belkashifari well, 178 Bemba or Bangweolo lake, 364 Bembatuka bay, 505 Bembe, 455, 464 citadel of, 468 Benadir ports, 2S4 Ben-ali-Tourki, 60 Benga tribe, 486 Benghazi, 71, 105 Benguela, 454 fort of, 465 Lo, 422 natives of, 461 town of, 467 slave trade from, 127 Beni-Amer tribe, 249, 262 Beni-Hassan, 215 Beni-Mhamed Arabs, 87 Beni-Mzab Arabs, 82, 92 Beni-Snassen, Mount, 18 Beni-Suef, 214 Beni-Ulid, 99 Benin, 155 slave trade from, 127 Berber, 221 caravan route from, 247 language, 39 Berberah, 275 Egyptian, 251 market of. 278 port of, 27S Berbers in Algeria, 48 of Aderer, S6 of Asben, 99 of Libya, 106 of Marocco, 3S of North Africa, 29 of Tunis, 60 of Western Sahara, S4 phvsical appearance, 40 " Berea" hills, 419 Berenice, ancient, 71 Berg Damaras, the, 446, 452 river, 3S4 Berti tribe, 192 Beshe or Abeshr, 1SS Bethany mission station, 4, 5 Betsileo tribes, 504 Betsimasarakas, the, 504 | Bey of Tunis, the, 60 Bhattias at Zanzibar, 299 Biafra, Bight of, 155 Bight of Biafra, 155 Bihe, 351, 455 Bilma, province of, 103 salt beds of, 78 salt trade of, 99 Binue river, 162 Birds of North Africa, 23 Birgid tribe, 192 Biri river, 242 Birket-el-Kerun, 214 Birnie, ruins of, 181 Biru, 88 Biserta, 64 fisheries of, 65 lake, 66 Bisharin Arabs, 248 Bishoprics of Cape Colonv, 397 Biskra, 55, 91 town, 22 Bissagos Archipelago, 124 Bissanga people, 241 Bissao, 124 Black mountains of Tripoli, 69 Black Taganet, SS Blanco, Cape, 85 Blantvre mission station, 361 Blidah, 55 mountains of, 19 Bloemfontein, 406 Blue gum-tree in Algeria, 50 in Natal, 404 gum-trees of Cape Colonv, 380 mountains, 200, 239 Nile, 199, 259 above Khartum, 224 upper, 255 Boar, the wild, of Marocco, 41 Bodele, plain of, 1S1 "Boers," or Dutch farmers, 385 character of the, 390 language of the, 407 migrations of the, 3S6, 412, 422 native policy of the, 414 states of South Africa, 406 Bogos. the, 251 people, 250 tribe, 262 1 Bohr station, 243 Bohrahs at Zanzibar, 299 Bolama, 124 Bombax tree, 117 Bomma, or Embomma, 460, 471 Bomvana Kafirs, 3SS Bona, 53 Bonga, city of, 272 Bongo or Dor tribe, 200, 232 Boni or Bonny river, 157 Bonjem, 99 Bonnat, M. , explorations, 145 Bonny, 155, 156 or Boni river, 157 2 Q 594 INDEX. Bonny, slave trade from, 127 " Boobies " of Fernando Po, 158 Borani Gallas, 2S5 " Borassus iEthiopicus," 225 Borku, 185 Bornu, 14 army of, 184 cities of, 181 government of, 183 kingdom of, 176 Bossebango, 168 Bougie, 55 Bourbon or Reunion I., 507 Boure gold-fields, 159 Boutry, 135 Bowditch, the traveller, 477 Brahim, king of Darfur, 192 Brandenburghers on the Gold Coast, 134 Brass, 156 slave trade from, 127 Brava, 284 port of, 252 slave trade at, 303 Brazza, Count de, 480 Breede river, 377 British Abyssinian Expedi- tion, 255 colony of Lagos, 151 Combo, 120 East African Islands, 507 factories in W. Africa, 475 in Cape Colony, 390 in Orange State, 412 possession of Perim, 247 possessions on Gold Coast, 134 rule, extension of, 388 rule in South Africa, 384 Browne's travels, 191 Bua river, 362 Buba, great, 133 Budduma negroes, 179 Budu-Masseli forest, 184 Bu-el-Moghdad, the traveller, 83 Bufarika, 53 Buffalo river, 384, 402 Buhu.ja, 326 Bulbar, port of, 278 Bulus, tribe of the, 482 Bumina cataracts, 475 Bunda language, 460 Bunder Gori, 279 Maravah, 282 Buntuku* 141 Bura, Mount, 292 Bu-regreg river, 25 Burgers, President, 416 Burnous mantles of Tunis, 61 Burton, Capt. R. F., 275, 308 quoted, 335 Bushman Land, 439 Bushman's digging-stick, 441 Bushmen, the, 12, 374, 414, 440 Busi river, 419 Bussa, 118, 160 Bu-Thaleb mountains, 20 Cabaceira Grande, 430 peninsula, 432 Pequena, 430 Cabes, Gulf of, 24 Cabinda or Kabinda, 455 Cabo Tormentoso, 383 Cacheo, 125 " Cacimbo " season, 458 Cacongo, 454 Caillie, Rene, 83, 118, 160 Cairo, 209 Calabar, slave trade from, 127 Old and New, 155 Caledon river, 387 Caliphs, tombs of the, 210 " Calumba " root, 433 Cama or Ncomi lagoon, 47S Cambambe cataracts, 458 Cameron, Commr., 308, 310 quoted, 332, 352, 463 on Tanganyika, 338 on the Lomani, 347 on the Lualaba, 344 Cameroons mountains, 155, 157 river, 156 slave trade from, 127 Canal of Suez, 207 the fresh-water, of Egypt, 207 Canary islands, 491 Cannibalism among the Nyamnyams, 238 Cannibals of Equatorial Africa, 488 of Manyuema, 344 of the Gaboon, 484 of the Ogowe, 487 Canstatt, Oscar, 113 Cape Agulhas, 375 Blanco, 85 bulbs, 380| Castle, 384 Changeful, 284 Coast Castle, 140 Colony, agriculture in, 380 animals of, 391 aspect of, 375 climate of, 381 commerce of, 391 extension of, 388 fruits of, 381 government of, 398 history of, 383 ostrich farms, 393 plants of, 380 population of, 389 rivers of, 376 scenery of, 379 towns of, 397 woods of, 379 Copper Company, 393 Delgado, 285, 296, 354 district of, 430 "Cape Doctor," the, 382 Cape Fetish, 485 Frio, 454, 459 of Good Hope, 3S3 Guardafui, 278, 283 Hafun, 284 Hottentots, 452 Matifu, 54 Mesurado, 129 Palmas, 129 San Sebastian, 431 Town, 394 in 1800, 385 Ulula, 283 Verd, 111 Islands, 490 inhabitants of, 491 Verga, 124 Caravan route in Nubia, 220 route in Darfur, 191 routes in Libyan desert, 215 route from Korosko, 217 route from Suakin, 247 trade of Khartum, 222 Caravans in Ugogo, 313 from Harar, 277 from Massowaji, 251 in Angola, 464 in Sokoto, 166 of Aderer, 86 of Bornu, 182 of Darfur, 191 of slaves in Sahara, 100 of Tafilet, 87 of Timbuktu, 174 of Tunis, 64 of Wadai, 189 in Upper Niger, 163 slave, in Sudan, 126 of East Africa, 300 the Abyssinian salt, 274 to Mozambique, 432 to Tripoli, 71 Carnarvon, Lord, 416 Carthage, ruins of, 62 " Casca" ordeal, 462 Cashan or Magalies Berg, 413 Cassange, 361, 456, 467 Catanga, copper country, 367 370 Cataracts at Assuan, 216 of Bumina, 475 of Cambambe, 458 of Felu, 118 of Upper Nile, 244 Cathkin Peak, 405 Cattle in Madagascar, 505 of Namaqualand, 445 of Tunis, 61 Cavalho, Pedrao, 435 Cavern of Jebel Thaya, 51 Cazamance river, 111, 125 Cazembe, King, 361, 369 Cazembe's country, 368 products of, 370 Cazengo, iron of, 465 " Centropus monachus," 229 " Cercopithecus griseoviri- dis," 226 INDEX. 595 Cetywayo, Chief, 416, 424 Ceuta, 38 Chad, Lake, 176, 179 Chafla, 289 Chaga, country of, 289, 293 Chaillu, Paul du, 477 " Chaine Saharienne," 21 Chaka, Chief, 403, 420 Chama, 135 Chambese, the river, 364 Chanipagore, 168 Changeful, Cape, 284 Chanzy, General, 54 Chara, 289 Charcoal-burning in Rua, 347 Charles the Fifth, slavery in the time of, 126 " Chars"(villages) of Marocco, 42 Chaves, Sta. Ana de, 158 "Chefes" of Angola, 466 Cherchel or Shershel, 55 Cherwa, town of, 182. Chicova, 433 Chikala, Mount,. 360> Chiloane island, 431 Chiloango or Loango, 474 Chinchosho, 474, 475 Chinese in Reunion, 507 Chiwu, 315 Chor-el-Gash, 249 Christiansborg, Fort, 140 Christians in Egypt, 203 Christobal, San, 497 Church mission parties, 316 Clapperton, the traveller, 99, 160 Clarence Cove, 158 Climate of Algeria, 27 of Angola, 458 of Cape Colony, 381 of Marocco, 26 of Natal, 402 of Somali Land, 280 of the Sahara, 81 of Transvaal, 407 of Tripoli, 70 of Zanzibar, 298 'Cnaba, Chief, 435 Coal in Cape Colony, 394 of Natal, 403 of Transvaal, 408 Coango river, 456 Coanza or Kwanza river, 351, 458 Steamship Coy., 458 Coast of Namaqualand, 445 Kafirs, 420 towns of Marocco, 38 Coco, double, the, 507 " Codeso " plant, 494 " Csesalpina," the bark of, 363 Coffee of Angola, 464 wild, of Enarea, 272 " Colombo " root, 433 Colomieu, expedition of, 90 Colonial Hottentots, 391, 452 Colony of the Gold Coast, 136 Colston, Colonel, quoted, 194 Combo, British, 120 Commerce in Africa, 14 in Bambarra, 163 of Algeria, 49 of Angola, 464 of Bornu, 182 of Cape Colony, 391 of Darfur, 191 of Egypt, 207 of Galabat, 253 of Harar, 277 of Inhambane, 436 of Khartum, 222 . of Massowah, 250 of Marocco, 46 of Mombas, 291 of Mozambique, 432 of Natal, 403 of Quelimane, 433 of Sokoto, 166 of Suakin, 248 of Tete, 433 of Timbuktu, 174 of Tripoli, 70 of Tunis. 61 in Urua, 348 of Wadai, 1S9 of Zanzibar, 299 on Lake Chad, 180 on the Gambia, 124 on the Niger, 161 Comoro Islands, 506 inhabitants of, 506 Comoros of Zanzibar, 297 Compass Berg, 376 Compiegne, Marquis, 477 quoted, 48S and Marche, 479 Congo, animal life in the, 472 kingdom of, 468 or Zaire, 454 river, 456, 468, 470 pirates of the, 471 slave trade from the, 127 Stanley's discoveries, 470 water-parting of basin, 351 Constantia, grapes of, 381 vineyards, 396 Constantine, 55 Coolies in Natal, 402 in Reunion, 507 Coomassie, 136, 144 Copal diggings, 304 gum, 303 (Inhambane), 436 in Angola, 465 Copper country of Katanga, 370 of Great Namaqua Land, 444 of Katanga, 367 of Little Namaqua Land, 393 of Urua, 353 Coptic monasteries, 214 Coral fishery of Tunis, 65 red, of Cape de Vord Islands, 491 Corisco island, 486 Cork-tree in Algeria, 50 Cotton in Algeria, 50 in Angola, 464 in Central Africa, 352 Cowries in West Africa, 163 Crater of Teneriffe, 496 Crocodile or Limpopo river, 372 Crocodiles of the Nile, 215 Croft, Capt., on the Volta, 145 Crowther, Bishop, 162 Cuckoo, 229 Culture in Abyssinia, 264 in Egypt, 198 Cunene river, 458 Curieuse island, 506 Customs in Marocco, 41 of Abyssinia, 265 of Baghirmi, 187 of Gaboon negroes, 483 of Loango, 473 of the Fantees, 138 "Cutch Buggalos," 300 ' Cynocephalus Mormon,"117 " Cyprea moueta," or cowrie, 163 Cyrenaica, 165 Dabbeh, el, 218 Dabou, 133 Daboya, 147 Dachel oasis, 106 Dagomba country, 147, 164 "Dahabieh" or Nile boat, 214 Dahlak islands, 246, 250 Dahomey kingdom, 147 slave trade from, 127 Dahra, Jebel, 19 'Dair" season in Somali Land, 280 Dajur, 214 Dajo tribe, 192 Dakar, 112 Negroes, 112 Damara Land, 444, 446 Damara Kafirs, the, 373, 451, 446 Damerghu, 98 Damietta Nile, 197 Damot, mountains of, 259 "Dams" of Cape Colony, 380 Danakil country, 252, 257, 273 tribe, 262, 274 Dana river, 288, 289 Dande river, 460 Dandur, temple of, 217 Danes on the Gold Coast, 134 Dar Banda, 190 Dar-es-Salam, 296, 305 plantations, 304 Dar Fazokl, 225 Fertit, 242 Darfur, 190 596 INDEX. Darfur, conquest of, 193 Egyptians in, 193 population of, 192 trade of, 191 " Dar " in Mar o ceo, 44 Dar Runga, 1S9 people of, 190 Dashan, Ras, 255 Dates of Tunis, 61 Dauraas, General, quoted, 23 Dav and night, 6 Debr Abi, Mount, 246 Debra Tabor, Mount, 270 Decken, Baron von, 285, 2S9 De Cosson quoted, 249, 259, 289 " Degas " of Abyssinia, 256 Deir Mar Antonius, 214 Bollos, 214 Dek island, 258 Delagoa Bay, 372, 413, 419, 437 district of, 431 Zulus at, 424 Deleb palm, 225 Delgado, Cape, 2S5,. 296, 354 Dellys, 55 Delta of the Niger, 155 of the Nile, 197 of the Shari, 179 of Zambesi, 433 Dembea lake, 256 plain of, 269 Dembo, country of the, 464 river, 230, 242 Denderah, temple of, 215 Denham, the traveller, 99 Depressions of Sahara, 75 Derr, 217 Derneh, 105 Desert of the Karroo, 375 the Arabian, 199, 246 the Libyan, 104 the Nubian, 246 the Sahara, 74 Devil's Peak, 395 Deys of Algiers, the, 54 Diaman, 146 Diamonds, African, value of. 401 discovery of, 387 Diamond-fields, the, 399 Diaz, Bartholomew, 383 Diego Cam. the voyager, 469 Dienne, 14? " Digma" of Bornu, the, 1S3 Dilolo lake, 426 Dindo, 458 Dingaan, or Udingaan, Chief, 403, 412, 421 Dingira, 118 Dinka tribe, 200, 227, 230 Dira-Uerinugha, Mount, 20 Doenyo Ebor, Mount, 2S9 Ngai, Mount, 294 Dogem, Mount, 98 Doko tribe of Senaar, 48S Dolben, Lieutenant, 145 Doloo, 184 Domondu people, 241 Dongola, 220 New, 221 Dor or Bongo'tribe, 232. " Dornboom" of South Africa, 3S0 Draa, Wady, 25, 76 Dragon's blood tree, 283 Drakenberg mountains, the, 372, 376, 386, ' 401, 404, 419 Drakenstein, 384 hills, 380 Dromedaries, 248 Dufli station, 244 Duketown, 156 Dulbahanta Somali, 281 " Duldur " of Kordofan, 195 Dulti, 162 Dum palm, the, 102 limit on the Nile, 215 Dunes of the Sahara, 24, 73 Duncan, the traveller, 148 Durban or Port Natal, 403 Durra in Algeria, 50 Dutch East India Coy., 3S3 Dutch factories on Gold Coast, 135 in Cape Colony, 3S5, 390 in South Africa, 383 language in Cape Colony, 390 Dutoits-Pan, 399 Duveyrier, Henri, 91 the traveller, 99 Dwarfs of Central Africa, 48S the Akka, 241 " Dwars " (tent villages) of Marocco, 42 Dyellabu, the, 1S9 Dyur river, 230, 232 tribe, 231 Earth, movements of the, 1. Ra stern Desert, 199 East London, 397 Ecliptic, the, 4 Edfou, 216 Edibe, 479 Edmondo de Amicis, 33 Education in Egypt, 204 Eesa Somali, 275, 281 Egga, 162, 16S Egypt, agriculture in, 205 commerce of, 207 limits of rule, 245 Lower, 197 state of, 201 Egyptian culture, 198 garrisons, 226 Sudan, 108, 191 Egyptians in Darfur, 193 El-Aghuat oasis, 82 El-Arish, 38 ' Elajis Guineensis," 132 Elba, Mount, 246 El-Berd oasis, 54 El-Dabbeh, 218, 221 El-Deir, 18 Elendya fall, 487 " Elephant marsh," Elephantine island, 216 " El-Erg" sand-dunes, 82 El-Fasher, 193 El-Gerara, 91 oasis, 82 El-Golea oasis, 82, 93 El-Hodh, 88 El-Juf, 87 El-Kantara gorge, 22 " El-Koutoubia," mosque of, Marocco, 37 El-Makadoh (Abyssinia), 254 Pjl-Menia oasis, 93 Elmina, 135, 139 El-Obeidh, 193 El-Ordeh, 218 Elton, Captain, 304 El Wad oasis, 82 Embomma, 469 Enarea, country of, 272 Encoge district, 464 Enderta, district of, 261 EnTieri-Tollobu, 102 " Epiornis maximus," 501 Equinoxes, the, 4 Equatorial lake region, 307 West Africa, 477 Ergesh sand-hills, 88 Erskine, the traveller, 413 quoted, 437 Ertib, 76 Escayrac, Count d', quoted, 80 Esneh, 216 Esparto grass in Algeria, 49 Essora, Wady, 22 Estancia de los Ingleses, 495 Ethiopia, King John of, 267 Ethiopic language, 250 "Eucalyptus globulus," the, 50, 404 Eugenie rapids, 478 European goods at Timbuktu, 174 influence in Africa, 15 Europeans in Algeria, 48 in Cape Colony, 389 in Egypt, 204 in Natal, 402 Euphorbia, the, 229 " Euphorbia Abissinica," 256 Euphorbia in West Africa, 456 Exports of Angola, 465 Ewe tribe, 147 Eweawo people, 147 Factories of Angola, 464 on the Congo, 471 " Faki " of Marocco, the, 42 Falaba, 159 j Falashas, the, 262 ' ' Falat " of the Sahara, 23. Faleme river, 115 | Falkenstein, Dr., 474 ! Fallang tribe, 227 ! Fall of Aukrabees, 377 INDEX. 597 Fall of Elendya, 487 Falls of Fare, 480 of Mamwira, 359 of Morongo, 328 of Samba, 479 the Kansala, 429 the Karkloof, 404 the Karunia, 246 the Murchison, 245 the Nakabele, 429 the Kipon, 245 the Victoria, 426 Falsa tree, 225 False Bay, 395 Famaka, 225 Fans, tribe of the, 484 Fantees, the, 137 origin of name, 141 Farafrah oasis, 106 Fare falls, 4S0 Farim, 125 Faroun Jerid, 67 Fasher, town of, 191 Fashoda, 226 Fauna of Madagascar, 503 Fauresmith, 399 Fayal island, 49S Fayum, oasis of, 199 Fazokl, 199 country, 225 district of, 251 Feiij Sebkha, 67 Fellaheen, the, 203 Fellatah, the, 115 states, 164 tribe, 109 Felu cataracts, 118 Fernand Vaz, or Bango, 47S Fernando Po, 157, 158 Ferro or Hierro island, 492 Fertit country, 242 Fetish cape, 485 " Fetish " in Angola, 4G0, 462 on the Gaboon, 4S5 temples, 156 Fetichism in Africa, 14 Fetsara lake, 51, 53 Fever swamps of West Coast, 456 Fevers at Zanzibar, 298 on the Gold Coast, 135 Fez caps, 46 city of, 33 Fezzan, landscape of, 100 oases of, 76 Ffons of Dahomev, 149 " Fiafi " of the Sahara, 23 Figig oasis, 27 Filik, 249 Fingo Land, 3S8 Fingoes in Cape Colony, 3S9 the tribe, 386 Fisheries of Tunis, 65 Fishes of Cape Colony, 393 Fittri, 188 Fleuriot, Admiral, quoted,134 " Fohn," hot wind, 79 Fokumba, 117 Fola rapids, 244 i Fongamu rapids, 478 | •' Footloopers," 410 i Formosa Bay, 2SS For or Fur tribe, 192 Forest of Budu-Masseli, 184 Forests of Algeria, 19 of Cape Colony, 379 of Manyuema, 343 of Sannut trees, 226 of Urungu, 368 of West Africa, 456, 4T5 Fort Bakel, US James, 140 William, Pahomey, 148 " Fortunate" Isles, 491 " Fossil" copal, 305 Foum-es-Sahara, 23 Foweira, 245 Franks in Egypt, 203 Frankincense of Somali land. 279 Freetown, 122 French Algerian possessions, 4S French in Algeria, the, 52 in Cape Colony, 389 in South Africa, 3S3 on the Gold Coast, 134 settlements in Senegam- bia, 111 stations on Ivory Coast, 133 Frio, Cape, 454, 459 Fritsch, Dr. von, 36 Dr. G., quoted, 448 i Fruits of Cape Colony, 3S1 Fuerteventura island, 491 Fuga, or Vuga, 290 Fulah states, 164 the, 115 tribe, 12, 109 Fulbe, the, 115 tribe, 109 Fule, the, 115 Fumbo, 430 Funchal, 498 " Funduks " of Marocco, 36 Fura, Serra, 431 Fur, or Dar Fur, country of, 190 or For tribe, 192 Futa Jallon, 115 Gaberi country, 186 Gaboon estuary, 477 natives of the, 4S2 region, 477 Gadaref, 253 Gadda river, 239 Gafsa, oasis of, 65 Gagho, 98 or Gao, city, 175 Galabat country, 251 slave trade at, 253 Galala, heights of, 215 Galana river, 289 Galita island, 65 Galla and Somali races, 2! country, the, 285 Galla s, 12 in Khartum, 223 of Abyssinia, 262 physical character, 2S7 Gallinhas, 124 Gambaragara, Mount, 326 Gambia river, 115, 120 river, trade of the, 14 Garnergu tribe, 184 Gamitto, the explorer, 361 Gamtoos river, 378, 384 Gananeh, 284, 285 Gando, city of, 167 Gando, empire of, 155, 168 Gan Libah, Mount, 279 Gao or Gagho city, 175 Garib or Orange river, 372 Garo-n-Bautshi city, 166 Garu, 103 Gasa country, 425 kingdom of, 422 Gash river, 249 Gats Rand, 418 Gauritz river, 378 Gavana, 291 Gazelle of Sahara, 85 Gazelle river (Nile), 229- Geba river, 124 Geledi or Jilledy, 284 Gelma, 55 Gelo river, 227 " Geraldine " schooner, 471 Geralta, district of, 261 Gerara, el, 82, 91 Gerhaji Somali, 281 German West African expedi- tion, 474 I Germans in Algeria, 48 in Cape Colony, 3S3, 3S9 Gessi, M., 244, 327 Ghadames, oasis of, 76, 94 Gharbi, Shott el, 20 Ghardaya, S2, 91 Ghar-el-Djamaa cave, 52 Gharib, Jebel, 246 Gharnis, Shott of, 67 Ghat, oasis of, 97 Ghazal, Bahr-el- (Nile), 200 Ghazal, Bahr-el (Lake Chad', ISO "Ghedir" pools, 20 Gheez language, 250, 262 " Ghetto " or " Hara," 61 Ghir, Cape, 18 Ghurian Jebel, 99 Gibbe Klaik, 422 river, 272 Gidi or Igidi, 87 Giraffe river, 228 Girgeh, 215 Girhi Somali, 276 " Gitun el Diaf " in Marocco, 44 Gizeh, pyramids of, 214 Glanville, Mr., quoted, 409. " Glossina morsitans," 13.T Goang river, 253 Gojam, people of, 26D province of, 259 598 INDEX. Gojcb river, 285 Gold Coast, the, 134 peoples of the, 136 towns of, 139 Gold-fields of Manica, 434 Transvaal, 408 Gold in Urua, 353 mines of Zumbo, 431, 444 of Katanga, 370 of N tal, 403 Golea, el, S2 Goletta, port of, 63 Golo, the, 242 tribe, 232 Golungo Alto, 467 Gomara, country of, 272 Gomera island, 492 Gomrah or baobab, 225 Gondar city, 269 Gondokoro, 22S, 243 Gnngas, the, 262 Gor language, 447 Gordon, Colonel, 227, 243,323 Goree, 112 Gorge of El Kantara, 22 Gotu, 475 Gorilla, home of the, 481 Gorillas or " sokos," 343 Gorongosi, Mount, 418 river, 419 Gotu, gorge of, 475 " Gours " of the Sahara, 2-4 Government in Portuguese East Africa, 432 of Abyssinia, 266 of Angola, 465 of Bornu, 1S3 of Cape Colony, 398 of Egypt, 205 of Madagascar, 505 of the Gallas, 2S7 of Wadai, 188 Goz-regiab, 249 Giaaf Reynet, 397 Graham's Town, 397 Grain Coast, 128 Gran Canada island, 492 Grand Bassam, 133 Cess, 130 Port. 508 Grande, Rio, 115 Grandidier, A. M., 501 Grandy, Lieut., 479 quoted, 468 Grant, Colonel, 317 Great Babor mountain, 19 Buba, 133 Commissioner's Pan, 378 Comoro island, 506 Fish River, 379, 384 Greeks in Khartum, 223 Green, Vice-consul, quoted, 66 Griqualand, 372 East, 3S6 West, 387, 398 Griqnas in Cape Colony, 3S9 or Baastards, 386, 399 Ground-nuts, trade in, 464 Guanchos of Canary islands, 497 Guano of Ichaboe, 445 Guardafui, Cape, 278, 283 Gudabirsi Somali, 276, 281 Guennaoui language, 38 Guinea coast, 109, 120 Lower, 454 worm, the, 135 Gujba, 184 Gulf of Aden, 278 Gum copal, 303 diggings, 305 of Inhambane, 436 of Kordofan, 194 of Somali land, 279 trade of Suakin, 248 Guna mountain, 255 Guragwe country, 270, 271 people of, 261 Gurma country, 164 Guro or Kola nut, 174 " Gu " season in Somali land, 260 Giissfeldt, Br. P., in Angola, 474 dn Arabian desert, 214, 247 Habab country, 246 Habab tribe, 249 Habash— Abyssinia, 254 Habits and customs of Ma- rocco, 41 Habr Awal Somali, 281 Habr Gerhaji Somali, 281 Hadars of Tunis, 60 Hadid mine, 51 Hadiyah, ancient, 276 Hafun, cape, 2S4 Haga season in Somali land, 280 Hager mountain, 246 Haggenmacher, Herr, 275 Hakkalin Arabs, 226 Halawin, the, 225 " Haifa" in Algeria, 49 Haifa, Wady, 202, 218 Hallula lake, 53 Hamamet, valley of, 216 Hamasen, province of, 261 Hamda-Allahi, 165 Hamitic peoples, 12 " Hammada " of the Sahara, 75 " Hammada " of Tripoli, 69 Hammej, the, 225 Hamran Arabs, 253 " Hara" or " Ghetto," 61 Harar, 275 city of, 276 Egyptian, 252 trade of, 277 Harawwah valley, 276 Harbour of Sofala, 434 " Harmattan" winds, 79 Harper, 129 Harris, Captain, 412 the traveller, 271 Harrysmith, 406 Hartebeeste river, 379 Harutsh mountains, 69 Hashish in Marocco, 42 Hattorf, Lieut, von, 474 Haussa language, 165 merchants, 154 states, 164 Hawash river, 270 Haweea Somali, 282 Hay, Consul D., quoted, 70 Hazi-Bottin wells, 94 Hebron, 399 Heglik, the, 194 Heiiteh, or Sultan of the Gallas, 287 Herodotus, geography of, 159 Heuglin, Th. von, 250 Hewitt, Commander, 471 Highlands of Abyssinia, 254 Hildebrandt the traveller, 273 Hill Damaras, 446, 452 Hill, Mr. , on the Wami river, 304 Hindi at Zanzibar, 299 History of Cape Colony, 383 of Natal, 403 of Transvaal, 412 Hodh, El, 88 " Hofra " of the Sahara, 75 Hombori mountains, 171 Homeyer, Captain, 474 Homr tribe, 242 Homran Arabs, 253 Hooge Veldt, 412, 418 Hopetown, 399 Hottentots, the, 12, 373 character of, 452 early conditon of, 385 of Cape Colony, 389, 391 Hot springs of Mlagata, 329 winds of N. Africa, 78 winds of S. Africa, 382 Houquain Damaras, 446 Hovas of Madagascar, 13, 504 Houssa negroes in Marocco, 46 Zouaves, 151 Hugonnet, F., quoted, 56 Huguenots in S. Africa, 383 of Cape Colony, 381 Hursi, 194 Hydrography of Cape Colony, 376 " Hygeens," dromedaries so called, 248 I bad an, city of, 154 Ibo, town, 430 Ibrahim Pasha lake, 245, 323 Ibrahamia station, 244 Ichaboe island, 445 Ida, Mount, 242 Iddah, 161 Idutywa Reserve, S88 Igbebe, 161 Igharghar, valley of the, 94 Wady, 24, 54, 67, 77 Igidi, or Gidi, 87 " Ignamen " feasts, 134 INDEX. 599 Ijil Sebkha, 86 Ikutu Ya Congo, 470 le de France, or Mauritius, 507 Ilha das Rolhas, 158 do Principe, 157 Illori, 154 Inierina plain, 501 Impololo, Chief, 423 Indiarubber in Angola, 465 Indian merchants in Mozam- bique, 432 Indians in Zanzibar, 297 Indian traders of E. Africa, 299 " Indunas," Zulu officers, 425 Industries of Cape Colony. 391 of Loango, 473 Inhabitants of Angola, 459 of Madagascar, 503 of N. Africa, 29 Inhambane, district of, 431 town of, 424, 436 In-Salah, 93 Intinde, 476 Inyak island, 419 Iramba country, 315 Irangara, 326 Iregnaten Tuaregs, 172 Iron in Algeria, 51 in Angola, 465 in Kibokwe, 351 in Koidofan, 194 in Urua, 353 mining in Rua, 348 of Manyuema, 344 Iron of Transvaal, 408 W. of Nyassa, 363 Isa Somali, 2S1 Ishogo tribe, 481 Islamism in Africa, 14 Islands of Africa, 9 Island of Argo, 221 Islands of East Africa, 499 of Gulf of Guinea, 157 Island of Kirwa, 365 Islands of Lake Chad, 179 of West Africa, 490 Ismailia, 207, 243 Ismail Pasha Ayub, 193 Isser river, 19 Isthmus of Suez, 199 Italian Expedition to Shoa, 270 Italians in Algeria, 48 Itasy lake, 502 Itawa country, 368 ltisan tribe, 9S Ituru country, 315 Ivili tribe, 486 Ivindo river, 4S0 Ivory Coast, the, 133 of Namaqualand, 445 trade of Zanzibar, 303 trade on the Niger, 161 Jacobite Christians, 203 Jamaica, slave trade to, 127 " Jami" of Harar, 277 Jarama river, 270 Jan Anthony van Riebeek 383 Jebel Abdarak, 247 - Abu Foda, 215 Achdar, 105 Ahaggar, 97 Amur, 21 Attaka, 246 Bahr-el, 228 Dahra, 19 es Soda, 69 Ghurian, 99 Kharib, 246 M'Tingi, 323 Silsileh, 216 Thaya, cavern of, 51 Tugur, 22 Ujda, 19 Jenne, 165 Jerid, Belad-el-, 65 Jesireh Senaar, 224 Jesuit missionary travels, 468 Jesuits in Congo, 468 Jews in Algeria, 48 in Egypt, 204 in Khartum, 223 of Abyssinia, 262, 264 of Marocco, 38, 45 of Tunis, 60 Jiangirte, 119 Jiangunte, 119 "Jilal," season in Somali land, 280 Jilledy, or Geledi, 284 Jipe lake, 292 Johanna (Anjuan), 506 island, 502 Johannas at Zanzibar, 299 Joliba, or Upper Niger, 159 Jolofs, the, 114 in Niger region, 164 Juba river, 252, 272, 280, 2S5 Juf, el, 87 "Juf," depressions of the Sahara, 75 " Juju," or Fetish temples, 156 Julu mountains, 292 Jupiter Amnion, oasis, 39, 76, 106 Jurjura, Mount, 19 Kabara, 172 " Kabeljau" of Cape Colony, 392 Kabinda, 456, 472 Kabuga, Mount, 326 Kabyle, the Great and Little, 19 Kabyles, in Algeria, 55 of Tunis, 60 Kadetamare, 311 Kadiaro, Mount, 292 Kaffa, country of, 272 people of, 262 Kafir kingdoms, the, 420 corn, 403 Kafir tribes, 373 war, the first, 385 war, the fourth, 386 Kafirs, character of, 448 of Cape Colony, 3t>9, 391 of Natal, 402 of the Plateau, 428 of Transvaal, 415 the, extent of, 447 the Pondomise, 388 the Tambookie, 388 Kafue river, 423 Kagehyi, 316, 317 Kagera, or Alexandra, 321 river, 328 Kagnombe, 351 Kahe lowland. 292 salt country of, 290 Kahando lake, 366 Kairwan, 64 Kakongo country, 472 Kalahari Desert, 439 Kalai, 426 Kaliphs, tombs of the, 210 Kama Chitumbo, 474 Kamba island, 486 Kambala, 351 Kamies Berg, 384 Kamorondo lakes, 366 Lualaba, 349 river, 349 Kanem, country of, 176 Kanembu, the, 176 Kano, 166 " Kano " cloth, 95 " Kanobos," the, 444 Kansala Falls, 429 Kantara Gorge, 22 Kanuri, the, 176 Kanyenve, 330 Karague, 32S, 329 country, 322 Kariba pass (Zambesi), 429 Karkloof Falls, 404 Karkoj, 225 Karnac, ruins at, 216 Karroo desert, 373 Karroo plains, the, 37S, 396 the Great, 375 Karuma Fall, 245, 323 Kasai, or Kassabi river, 455 Kasala, 249 town, 252 Kasbah of Algiers, 54 Kasongo, king, 347 Kassabi river, 3-30, 455 Kassali lake, 349, 366 Katanga copper country. 367, 370 Katonga river, 321, 326 Kauar oasis, 76, 103 Kavirondo, 320 Kawar oasis, 76, 103 Kawele, 337 Kawendi mountains, 335 Kazeh, or Taborah, 332 Keb-a-Rega, 322 Kebir river, 19 marsh, 67 600 INDEX. Kebrabasa Rapids, 420 Kedaref, 253 Kef, 248 Kei river, 3S7 Keis Kamma river, 3S6 Kelabsheh, pass of, 217 Kelgeres tribe. 98 Kelowi tribe, 98 " Keme " melon, 440 " Kengwe " melon, 440 Kenia, Mount, 2S8, 289, 294 Kenneh, 215 province, 203 Kerun, Birket el, 214 Keshin, sultan of, 283 Kestell-Cornish, Bishop, 505 Ketchwayo, Chief, 424 Khamsin, the, 79 Khargeh oasis, 106 Kharib, Jebel, 246 Khartum, 199 town of. 222 Khedive of Egypt, 207 Khojahs at Zanzibar, 299 Khoko, 330 Khor Barka, 249 Khor-el-Gash, 249 Khosa Kafirs, 448 Kibaly river, 239 Kibokwe, 350 iron ore in, 351 Kidunda, 310 " Kifar " of the Sahara, 23 Kikonja or Kassali Lake, 366 Kikumbuliu mountains, 292 Kikunia hills, 305 Kilemba, 348 Kilima-Njaro, Mount, 28S, 293 Kilimacho hills, 347 Kilimane town, 432 Kilwa, 354 Kiswani, 306 Kivinja, 306 Zulus at, 424 Kimbandi country, 458 Kimberly diggings, 400 Kingani river, 304 King Cazembe, 361, 369 Dom Joao, 455 George river, 422 Kasongo, 347 Mtesa, 321, 324 Rumanika, 329 Umzila, 422 William's Town, 397 Kingdoms, the Kafir, 420 1 ' King Klip " fish of Cap Colony, 393 " Kirgalibu" vulture, 184 Kirk, Dr., 304 Dr., quoted, 284 Kirk range, 362 Kirwa island, 365 Kismavu, port of, 252 Kisso, 172 Kiswani, Kilwa, 306 Kitangule river, 321, 328 Kivinja, Kilwa, 306 Klip Drift, 399 Kloden's "Erdkunde," 10 "Kloofs" of Cape Colony, 377 of Kafraria, 397 Koi-Koin Hottentots, 452 Kola nut, in Kuka, 182 or Guro nut, 174 Kolkwal tree, 256 " Kollas " of Abyssinia, 256 Komadugu Yadbe, 180 Konduchi, 304 Kong, 147 country of, 164 mountains, 114 Koptic monasteries, 214 Kopts in Egypt, 203 Kora Hottentots, 452 Korana Hottentots, 452 Korannas, the, 391 Kordofan, country of, 193 Korosko, 217, 220 Kpando, 145 Kosanga, Mount, 242 Kosseir, port of, 215, 246 " Kosso " tree, 256 " Koutoubia, El," mosque of, Marocco, 31 Kowamba Lake, 366 " Kraal," Umzila's, 425 Krapf, Dr., quoted. 2S7 the traveller, 271 Kreli's country, 3S8 Krej tribes, 242 " Krokodilopolis," 214 Kroos, the, 130 Ksel, mountains of, 21 " Ksor " (oasis) of Marocco, 42 Kuara or Niger, 159 " Kuaries " of Abyssinia, 26S Kufarah, oasis of, 106, 189 Kuka, city, 181 trade of, 182 " Kulugli " of Tunis, 60 Kunama country, 251 Kundiau, 119 Kungwe-a-Banza, 347 Kuri, the, of Lake Chad, ISO Kurna, temple of, 216 Kus, Wady, 25 Kussi, Mount, 185 Kuta river, 190 Kuti tribe, 189 Kwango or Congo river, 470 Kwanza river, 458 LabellE rapids, 145 : Latitude, parallels of, 1 La Calle, 55 Lacerda, Dr. F. de, 361 Lado station, 243 L'Aghuat oasis, 82 Lagoon of Cama or Ncomi, 478 Lagoons of West Coast, 456 Lagos, 151 Laing, Major, 118 Laird, Macgregor, 160 Lake Ahimbo, 366 e Akanyaru, 32S Arusha, 294 Azingo, 486 Bangweolo (or Bemba), 364 Baringo, 295 beds of the Sahara, 78 Chad or Tsad, 176, 179 Dilolo, 426 Fetsara, 53 Hallula, 53 Dorahim Pasha, 245, 323 Itasy, 501 Jipe, 292 Kahando, 366 Kassali, 349, 366 Kikonja or Kassali, 349, 366 Kowamba, 366 Lanji or Ulenge, 366 Manyara, 294 Menzaleh, 197 Moeris, 214 Moero, 365 Mofwe, 369 Mohrya, 348 Naivasha, 294 Ngami. 373, 442 No, 229 Nyassa, 353 of Biserta, 66 Pamalornbe, 356 Region, the Equatorial, 307 Samburu, 294 Shirwa. 360 Sidi-el-Heni, 64 Tamandua (Shirwa), 360 Tanganyika, 309, 335 Tendelti, 191 the projected, in Tunis 67 Tzana or Dembea, 256 or Tana, 258 people of, 262 Ugombo, 312 Ulenge or Lanji, 366 Ziwambo, 366 Zooai, 271 Lakes of the Kamoronclo, 366 Lambert, the traveller, 115 Lamorde, 169 Landeens, the, 433 Lander, the traveller, 160 Lange Berge, 375 Langle, Admiral F. de, 478, 484 Language of the Bushmen, 442 of the Berbers, 39 the Hottentot, 452 Languages of Abyssinia, 262 of Angola, 460 of South Africa, 447 Lanji or Ulenge lake, 366 Lanzarote island, 491 Largeau, M., quoted, 24 Lascars of Zanzibar, 297 INDEX. 601 Las Casas, Bishop, 126 " Lasoxjion salsosa," 444 Las Faunas, 497 Lasta, people of, 261 Leared, Dr. A., quoted, 36 Leeambye river, 426 Leeba river, 350 Leeches at Libtako, 169 Leewumbu river, 315, 317 " Leghondi," the, 419 Leila Khedija, Mount, 19 Lemur, the genus, 500 " Lemuria," 9, 499 Lenz, Dr , 477 on the Ogowe, 474, 4S0 Leon des Avanrhers, 271 Lepe or Lope, 479, 4S0, 487 Lepsius, Professor, 136 Lesser Atlas, the, 19 Libaheli, 275 Liberia, climate of, 131 Republic of, 128 Libollos, tribe of the, 461 Libtako, 169 Libyan desert, S3, 104 depressions of, 75 table-land. 215 Lij Kasa of Abyssinia, 267 Limit of Hottentots and Kafirs, 3S4 Limits of Portuguese West Africa, 455 Limpopo or Crocodile river. 372, 418 climate of, 412 countrv about, 419 Lindi Bay, "306 Lindner, Herr, 474 Linvanti, 426 " Lion Hill," the, 121 Lion's Head, Mount, 394 Rump, Mount. 394 " Litham " of Sokoto, 167 the, 95 Little Xamaquas, 391 Livingstone in Kalahari, 439 mountains, 354, 357 on Chambese, 365 on Manica gold, 435 on Tanganyika, 337 on the Rovuma, 354 quoted, 343, 413 Livingstone's journey west of the Xyassa, 362 Livingstonia mission, 357 Loanda, 465 government of, 465 natives of, 459 Sao Paulo de, 456 town of, 466 Loango coast, aspect of, 473 country of, 472 Luz river, 475 natives of, 473 Loangwa, basin of the, 363 river, 354, 431, 434 valley, 362 Lobemba, 367 country, 364 Lo Benguela, Chief, 422 Lobisa plateau, 354 Lobonibo hills, 438 Locusts in Marocco, 27 in South Africa, 409 " Lodoicea Seychellarum," 507 Loendi river, 354 Lofu river, 367 Logon river, ISO Loma, Mount, 159 Lomami river, 347 sources of, 349 London, East, 397 Long, Colonel, 243, 245, 321, 322 Longitude, meridians of, 1 Lope or Lepe, 479, 4S0, 4S7 Losanswe hills, 367 Lourenzo Marquez, 437 Lovale, 350 Lower Egypt, 197 Guinea, 454 Luabo mouth of Zambesi, 430 Lualaba or Congo river, 470 or Luvwa, 366 river, 341 aspect of, 344 Luama river, 339, 344 Luapula river, 365 Luburi river, 349 Lucia, Santa, Bay, 419 Lufigi or Rufigi river, 304, 331, 354, 367 river, scenery on, 305 Lufira river, 366 Lukoja, 160 " model farm," 162 Lukuga creek, 340 river, 339 Lumbo, 430 Lumi river, 292 Lunda, country of, 368 Lupata gorge, 429 Lusise river, 337 Luta Xzige Lake, 323 Luvuma river, 354 Luvwa or Lualaba, 366 Luwamberri plain, 317 Luxor, ruins at, 216 Lycopolis, ruins of, 215 Lydenburg, 408 gold fields, 416 " Lygeum Spartum," 49 Lyon, the traveller, 99 Mabongo tribes, 488 M'Carthy's Island, 120 Macculloch quoted, 126 Macgregor, Laird, 160 " Machrocloa tenacissima," 49 Mackenzie, Mr., quoted, 413, 423, 425 Madagascar, 9, 500 climate and vegetation of, 503 government of, 505 inhabitants of, 504 or Nossi-Dambo, 501 Madeira island, 497 Mafia islands, 296, 354 Magadosho, 2S4, 303 Magalies Bergen, 412 Magdala, 255, 270 Mage's travels, 117 " Maghreb-el-Aksa," 32 Maghter sandhills, 86 Magomeri, 184 Magomero mission station, 361 Magungo, 245 Mahe island, 506 Mahebourg, 508 j Mahmel, Mount, 22 Maiduguri, 184 " Mai" of Bornu, 17S Majita, Mount, 319 Makadoh, el (Abyssinia), 254 Makalaka tribe, 422 Makatees, the, 411 Makato's village, 443 Makattam mountains, 210 Makoa tribe, 355 Makololo, the, 357 tribe, 422, 423 Makonde, the tribe, 354 Malagarasi river, 309, 334, 335 Malagasy races, 504 " Malagesses," the, 13, 504 Malays in Cape Colony, 3S9 of Madagascar, 504 " Maliaetus vocifer," 227 Malindi, 2S9 Malinke, the, 114 in Niger region, 164 " Malpays " of Teneriffe, 495 Maluti mountains, 405 Mamania Matal, 474 Mamwira falls, 359 Mandingo country, 163 Mandingoes, the,"ll4 Mandioca root in Angola, 465 Mandrils, 117 Manganja tribe, 359 Manica gold-tields, 434 heights of, 431 Manikoos, Chief, 422, 435 Manufactures of Abyssinia, 266 Manufactures of Sokoto, 167 Manyara lake, 294 Manyuema, 335 countrv, copper in, 370 forests of, 343 natives of, 343 Maraba town, 408 Marabu, the, 229 I Marabuts of Marocco, 45 of Western Sahaia, 84 ' Marar, plain of, 276 Marayah, Bunder, 275, 2S2 I Marbles of Algeria, 51 j Marche, M. Alexandre, 477 and Compiegne, 499 | Marea country, 251 Mareb river, 249, 259 j Marenga Mkali, 313, 330 602 INDEX. "Marimba" of Manyuema, 344 Maritzburg, 403 Marka, 2S4, 303 Market of Kawele, 338 of Kuka, 1S1 of Loanda, 466 Marno, Ernest, 224, 247 Marocco, city of, 33 city, inhabitants of, 37 climate of, 26 coast towns of, 38 commerce of, 46 condition of women in, 40 empire of, 32 habits and customs in, 41 hospitality in, 44 morality in, 45 peoples of, 3S proper names in, 42 rivers of, 25 the Shirfa of, 44 Maronites in Egypt, 203 Marrah mountains, 191 Marshes of Tunis, 67 Marui Hills, 305 Marungu or Ulungu, 367 Maryland colony, 12S Masai, 287, 295, 320 Mascarenas islands, 499 Masena, city of, 186 ' Mashona mountains, 418, 420 tribe, 422 Masr-el-Kahira (Cairo), 210 Massalat tribe, 192 Massina island, 165 Massina, kingdom of, 164 Massowah, port of, 246, 250 Mata Gera, Mount, 272 Yafa, 349 Yafa's country, 369 Mataka river, 310 Mataka's town (Moembe), 355 " Matchabela" tree, 419 Matebele army, 425 Kafirs, 423 Matemo, 430 Matifu, Cape, 54 Matoppo mountains, 418, 419, 422, 429 Matumbwi mountains, 305 Matumboka, the, 358 Mauch, Carl, 408 the traveller, 434, 435 Mauritius island, 507, 508 Maviti or Mazitu, the, 357, 362, 364, 423 raids of the, 424 May, Daniel, traveller, 153 on the Binue, 162 Mayombe country, 474 territory, 472 Mayotte island, 502 or Mayotta, 506 Mayumba or Mayombe, 472 Mazitu or Maviti, the, 357, 362, 364, 368, 423 Mboghwa tribe, 365 Mbruole river, 239 Mbumi, 309 " Mbundu" ordeal, 485 . Mdalburu, 331 Medine, 118 Medinet el Fayum, 214 Mehdia, 64 Mehemet Ali, tomb of, 210 Mehemet Ali's expedition, 193 Mehmons at Zanzibar, 299 Mekade rapids, 244 Mekyadeh (Abyssinia), 254 Meleguetta pepper, 133 Melghir or Melghigh, Shott, 24, 67 Melilla or Mlila, 38 Melinde, 286, 289 Melissa beer, 188 Melrhir, Shott, 24 Memnon, statue of, 216 Memphis, ruins of, 214 Mena language, 447 Menelik of Shoa, 271 Menowatsi, battle of, 193 Mensa, country of, 251 people, 250 Menzaleh lake, 197 Mequinez, city of, 33 Merenesky, Mr,, quoted, 3S3, I 415, 441 Meridians of longitude, 1 Merka, slave trade at, 303 Mero, Mount, 293 Mesurado, Cape, 129 Metemmeh, 253 Metija, plain of, 19 Metlili, 91 Meztizos of Cape Town, 396 Mgongo Tembo, 315 Mgunda Mkali, 331 Mia, Wady, 25, 77 Miani, the traveller, 200 " Middle" Atlas, 18 Mi.jjerthain Somali, 281 Mikindani Bay, 306 Milanje, Mount, 359, 360 Miles, Captain, 275 " Milha," or Jews' quarter, 45 Military strength of Bornu, 184 Millet grain, 102 Motrin, Jebel, 18 Minerals of Madagascar, 503 of N. Africa, 29 of Transvaal, 408 Mines, the diamond, 400 Minieh, 215 Mining in Algeria, 51 Mirambo, Chief, 334 Missions in Lagos, 152 in Madagascar, 505 Mitraha island, 258 Mittu tribes, the, 233 Myrrh of Somali land, 279 Mlagata hot springs, 329 Mleta, plain of, 19 Mlila or Melilla, 38 Moculla, 464 Modyabra, the, 189 Moembe town, 355, 356 Moeris, lake, 214 Moero Okata (lake), 365 Mofwe lake, 369 Mogador, 38 Mogdesho, 284 Mogodom, 184 Mohammed Bello, 16-1 Moktar, 277 Mohammedanism in Africa, 14 in Uganda, 324 in Ashantee, 143 in Bornu, 176, 183 in Lagos, 152 in Somali Land, 281 in Sudan, 115 in Yoruba, 154 Mohammedans in Egypt, 203 of Abyssinia, 263 of Dar Fur, 192 of Runga, 189 Mohely, or Mohilla, 506 Mohilla, or Mohely, 506 " Mohonono " tree, 427 Mohr, the traveller, 409 Mohrya lake, 348 Mokdishu, slave trade at, 303 Mokta el Hadid, mine, 51 "Mokuri" creeper, 439 " Molathemivi," the, 95 Molemba, 367 Mombas, town of, 291, 296 Mombiti, 317 Monangah river, 317 Monastir, 64 Monbuttu country, 239 tribe, 200 Monbuttus, features of the. 240 Mongo Nhanga, 475 " Monomotapa," 434 Monophysites of Abyssinia, 263 Monrovia, 129 Montana Blanco, 495 " Mont aux Sources," 404 Monteiro, Major, 361 Mr. J. J., quoted, 455, 461, 466 Montepes, 430 Mooi River Dorp, 411 Moors in Algeria, 55 in North Africa, 30 of Niger region, 163 of Tunis, 60 ver, 289 Paarl, 3S4, 396 hills of, 380 "Padraos," the Portuguese, 469 "Palavers" of the Fans, 4S1 " Palaver Wood," 4S5 Palgrave, W., quoted, 446 Palm country of North Africa, 82 Palm-oil in Angola, 465 trade of Sierra Leone, 123 tree, 132 Palmas, Cape, 129 Palms, dwarf, of Algeria, 49 Palma island, 492 "Palus Tritonis," 67 Pamalombe lake, 356 " Pampune " pumpkin, 390 Panda, Chief, 403, 424 Panet, the traveller, 83 Pangane, 430 Pangani, 296 port of, 290 or Rufu river, 288 Pango river, 232 "Panicum colonum," 102 "Pans," the salt, of Cape Colony, 378 INDEX. 605 Papyrus jungle, 323 limit of growth, 229 Parana or Salaga, 146 Parallels of latitude, 1 Parda Peniba gold mines, 434 Pare country, 289, 290 Park, Mungo, 117, 160 Parliament houses of Cape- town, 396 of Cape Colony, 398 Patte hill, 162 Pearl-fishery of the Dahlak islands. 246 Pearl river, 33 Peddie, district of, 386 "Pelele," the, 358. Pemba, 430 island, 296 Peoples of Angola, 459 of Loango, 473 of Madagascar, 504 of South Africa, 447 Pepper or Grain Coast, 128 Pereira, Senhor, 434 Perim island, 247 Periodical rivers of Sahara, 77 Pen-, Senor, quoted, 430 Peschel's " New Problems," 9 Peschuel-Loesche, Dr., 474 Philse, basin of, 217 Philippeville, 55 "Phoenix dactylifera," 61 Phoenicians in North Africa, 29 in Madagascar, 504 Pico d'Antonia, 491 da Spia, 491 island, 49S Pieter Maritzburg, 403 Pigmies of Central Africa, 4S8 the Akka, 241 Pilgrimages to Mecca, 253 Pimbe, 359 " Pioneer" steamer, the, 354 Pine Town, 403 Piton de la Foumaise, 507 of Teneriffe, 496 Plain of Bodele, 181 of Dembea. 269 of Marar, 276 Plains of Metija and Mleta, 10 the Karroo, 378 Plateau of Abyssinia, 254 of Barca, 71 of Lobisa, 354 of Nogal, 279 of Saghes, 20 of Sbach, 20 of Tasili, 97 of Transvaal, 405 Plateaus of Algeria, 20 of Angola, 450 of the Sahara, 75 PI a vf air, Lieut. -Col., quoted, 51 Pneil, 399 "Podocarpus" of Abyssinia, 256 Pointe Fetiche, 4S5 l'okomo river (Dana), 2S9 Political divisions of Soutl Africa, 371 Polungo island, 338 " Pombeiros," the, 348, 361 Pondomise Katirs, 388 Pongo, Rio, 111 river (Nile), 242 Ponta Delgada', 49S Population of Abyssinia, 260 of Algeria, 48 of Cairo, 212 of Cape Colony, 389 of Damara Land, 446 of Ejivpt, 202 of Khartum, 223 of Madagascar, 504 of Marocco, 32 of Mauritius, 508 of the Nvamnyam coun- try, 236 of Natal, 402 of Orange State, 406 of Reunion, 507 of Tripoli, 70 of Tunis, 60 of Uganda, 325 of Zanzibar, 297 Port Elizabeth, 396 salt pan of, 379 Louis, SOS Natal, 403 Said, 207 Porto Novo, 148 Santo island, 497 Portuguese and British dis- putes in West Africa, 454 arrival in East Africa, 431 authority in East Africa, 436 claims, 413 discovery of Sofala, 435 explorers, 350, 361 government of the, in East Africa, 432 in Abyssinia, 268 in Rua, 34S islands in Guinea Coast, 158 on the Gold Coast, 134 possessions in East Africa, 430 ruins at Mombas, 291 slave trade, 126 stations on the Zambesi, 429 trade on Zambesi, 433 tribute to Zulus, 424 West Africa, 454 Possession Island, 445 '•' Portulacaria akra," 444 Potchefstroom, 411, 41S Pottery of Tunis, 61 Praslin island, 506 I Pretoria, 406, 411 Pretorius, the " Boer," 403 Primeira islands, 430 Prince's Island, 157 Procopius, 22 Products of Algeria, 49 of Angola, 464 of Cazembe's country, 370 of Central Africa, 352 of Mauritius, 507 of Namaqualand, 445 of North Africa, 28 of Reunion, 507 of Transvaal, 407 of Uganda, 324 of Zanzibar coast, 303 Pul or Pullo, the, 115 Punta da Lenha, 471 Pururu, 331 Pyramids, the, 210 "Qtjaiqu.e" or Hottentots. 383 Quanza river, 456, 458 Quathlamba mountains, 386 "Queimidas" or burnings, 457 Quelimane or Kilimane, 4:!2 district of, 430 river, 433 Querimba islands, 430 Quibondos, tribe of the, 461 Quilimane, 429, 432 Quillu river, 472, 475 Quiloa or Kilwa, 2964 Quintin's travels, 117 Quirimba, 430 Quirimbo, 430 Quissamas, tribe of the, 461 Quissanga, 430 Quissembo, 464 Quitangonha, 430 " Quixilles," customs, 473 Quizumbo, Rio, 430 Quorra or Niger, 159 Qurna, temple of, 216 Rabat, 3S Rabba, 153, 168 Races of Africa, see Appen- dix I. Races of Abvssinia, 260 of South Africa, 447 Railway in Natal, 403 in Nubia, 218 projected from Delagoa Bay, 437 Railways in Algeria, 55 in Egypt, 20S of Cape Colony, 397 Rain in Algeria, 27 Rainfall in Africa, see Appen- dix II. Rainfall in Zanzibar, 298 in Egypt, 206 in Cape Colony, 382 of Marocco, 26 Rambleta of Teneriffe, 495 Ramesseum, the, 216 Ranavalona, Queen, 505 Randskopberg, 406 606 INDEX. Rapids of Aufina, 245 of Barrakunda, 120 of Kebrabasa, 429 of Labelle, 145 of Fongamu, 478 Ras Asir, 2S3 Awad, 284 Dashan. Mount, 255 el Deir, 18 Guna, Mount, 255 Ulula, 283 Red Sea coasts, 246 Reade, Winwood, on Niger, 159 quoted, 141 Rebmann, the traveller, 293 Reenan Pass, 406 Regiaf station, 243 Rego mountains, 244 Regreg river, 25 Rehoboth mission station, 440 Rein, Dr. J., 36 Religion of Bornu, 183 of Kafirs, 449 of Somali Land, 281 Religions of Abyssinia, 263 Rendile Gallas, 294 Rene Caillie, 83, 118, 160 Republic, the Orange, 406 of Liberia, 128 Rer Achmet Noh tribe, 278 Reshade tribe, 10H " Retama" of Teneriffe, 494 " Retama Raetam," 247 Reunion island, 507 Rhadames or Ghadames, 94 Rharbi, Shott el, 20 Rhea, Um-el, river, 25 Rhenish missions, 445 Ribe mission station, 291 Riebeek, Jan Anthony van, 383 Rif, the, of Marocco, 41 Righ, Wady, 54 Rio Aruangoa, 431 de Sofala, 435 Grande, 115 Nunez, 111 Pongo, 111 Quizumbo, 430 Sangage, 430 San Pedro, 124 Siniati, 431 " Rios de Sena," 361 Ripon Falls, 245, 321 R'ir or Righ, Wady, 54 Rizegat Arabs, 193 River Adi, 289 Alexandra, 328 Aroenha, 431 Bashee, 38S beds of the Sahara, 77 Berg, 384 Breede, 377 Bua, 362 the Buffels, 384 Busi, 419 Caledon, 387 Chambese, 364 Coango, 456 Coanza, Quanza, orKwan- za, 351, 458 Congo or Zaire, 468 Cunene or Nourse, 458 Dana, 288 Dande, 460 Fafan, 280 Gamtoos, 378 Gauritz, 378 Gibbe, 272 Gojeb, 285 Gorongosi, 419 Great Fish, 378 Hartebeeste, 379 Hawash, 270 Ivindo, 4S0 Jamma, 270 Jered, 280 Juha, 272, 285 Kafue, 423 Kagera or Kitangule, 321 Kamorondo, 349 Kasai or Kassabi, 455 Kassabi, 350, 455 Katonga, 321, 326 Kei, 387 Keiskamma, 386 Kingani, 304 King George, 422 Kitangule, 328 Leeambye, 426 Leeba, 350 Leewumbu, 315 Limpopo, 419 Loango Luz, 475 Loangwa, basin of, 363 Loendi, 354 Lofn, 367 Lomami, 347 Lualaba, 339, 344, 470 Luama, 344 Luapula, 365 Luburi, 349 Lufiji, 331 Lufira, 366 Lukuga, 339 Lumi, 292 Lusise or Rusize, 337 Luvwa or Lualaba, 366 Malagarasi, 309, 334, 335 Mataka, 310 Monangah, 317 Mooi, 411 Muger, 270 Mukondokwa, 310 Mussounguri, 431 Ngombe, 334 Ngunie or Onango, 477 Nhanga, 475 Nu Garip, 376 Ogowav or Ogowe, 477 Okanda, 478 Olifants, 377 Orange. 376 Ozi, 289 Pangani or Rufu, 288 Quango or Coango, 456 Quanza, 351, 458 River Quelimane, 433 Quillu or Nyali, 472, 474, 475 Rovuma or Rufuma, 354 Ruana, 319 Rufiji or Lufiji, 354 Rufu, 290 Ruo, 359 Rusango, 326 Rusize, 337 Rwaha, 331 Sabi, 419 Sabaki or Galana, 289 St. John's, 388 Shimeeyu, 317 Shire or Shira, 356, 430 Falls of, 359 Sinvati, 431 Sofala, 434 Tioge, 443 Tugela, 404 Umgeni, 404 Umo, 2S5 Umsindusi, 404 Umtamfuna, 403 Umtata, 388 Umvolosi, 403 Vaal, 376 Volta, 145 Wami, 304, 309 Wilgebach, 406 Wobi, 280 Yagama, 321 Zambesi, 371 Zouga, 443 Rivers and lakes of Africa, 11 of Cape Colony, 376 of North Africa, 25 Ro or Manyara lake, 294 Rochet d'Hericourt, 271 Rodriguez island, 507 Roggeveld hills, 376j Rohl river, 230, 232 Rohlfs, the traveller, 17, 83, 153 in the Libyan desert, 105 on the slave trade, 101 travels in Sudan, 166 Rokeby, Captain, quoted, 249 Rolhas, Ilha das, 158 " Roman" fish of Cape Col- ony, 393 Romans in North Africa, 29 Rosaires, 225 Rosako, 310 Roscher. Dr., traveller, 304 Rosetta Nile, 197 Rotonde island, 506 Roudaire, Captain, 67 Routes inland from E. coast, 310 Rovuma river, 354 Rowley, Mr., quoted, 421 Rua, iron in, 348 mountains, 347, 365, 369 slave trade in, 348 Ruaha river, 331, 367 Ruana river, 319 IXDEX. 607 Ruanda country, 328 town in Uguhha, 341 Rubeho mountains, 312 Rufiji river, 354 Rufisque, 112 Rufu river, 2SS, 290 Rufuma river, 354 Rugeshi strait, 319 Rumanika, King, 329 Runga country, 1S9 Ruo river, 359 Rusango river, 326 Rusize river, 337 Ruyter, Admiral De, 139 Rwaha river, 331, 354 Saadaki, 296 Saan or Bushmen, the, 440 Sabaki river, 2S5, 2S9 Sabi river, 419 "Saccharum ischceemum," 22S Sadi-bin-Ahedi, 204 Safie, plateau of, S3 Saghes plateau, 20 Sahara, the Algerian, 21 border range, 21 central region of, 89 character of the, 28 climate of the, 81 desert, the, 72 the Eastern, 99 . "Foum-es," 23 limits of the, S3 the oases of the, 76 slave trade in the, 100 states and races of the, 82 the "Western, 84 ** Sahel" plains of the Sahara, 75 Mount, 54 Said, Port, 207 Saida, 18 esparto grass of, 49 range, 20 8hott-es-, 20 St. Antonio monastery, 214 St. Denis (Reunion), 507 St. George, castle of, 140 St. John's River, 3SS St. Louis, 111 St. Marie or Nossi Burra, 500 St. Marv's Isle, 120 St. Michael's (Azores), 49S St. Paul monasterv, 214 St Paul (Reunion), 507 St. Pierre (Reunion), 507 St. Thomas Island, 158 St. Vincent Island, 490 Saka, 272 Sakalavas, the, 504 Sakarah, pyramids of, 210 Salaga or Parana, 146 Salamat, Bahr-es, 1S9 Saldanha Bav, 395 Saleh-Rabat, 38 Salt beds of Afar, 269 of Lake Moero, 365 Salt country of Kahe, 290 fields of Usongora, 327 of Uvinza, 335 lakes of Aussa, 270 markets of Abyssinia, 26S mines of Bilma, 103 of Taodeni, 88 of Aderer, 86 " Salt pans " of Cape Colony, 378 Salt plains in Rua, 348 region of Afar, 273 Samanga, 306 Samba Falls, 479 Samburu lake, 294 Samhara, the, 273 San Antonio, 158 San Christobal, 497 Sancul, 430 Sand-dunes of El Erg, 82 Sandhills of Brava, 2S4 of the Sahara, 73 San Domingo river, 125 Sand-storms of North Africa, 78 Sangage, Rio, 430 Sankore, mosque of, 174 San Miguel fort, 466 Sannut forests, 226 San Pedro, Rio, 124 Sansandig, 163 San Sebastian, Cape, 431 Santa Ana de Chaves, 158 Santa Lucia Bay, 419 Santiago, Cidade de, 491 island, 490 Sao Paulo de Loanda, 456 Saraiyanio, 172 Saraki, 154 Sasa, volcanic country, 320 Sasabonsam, 139 Sasse island, 321 Say, 16S Sayaux, If., 474 Sbach table-land, 20 " Sbakhi," 20 " Scabeccio," 66 Scenery of Cape Colony, 879 Schimper, Dr., 273 Schneider, General, 283 Schools in Egypt, 204 Schweinfurth, Dr., 14, 214 247 " Scirocco," hot wind, 79 Seasons, the, 4 of Cape Colonv, 3S1 Sebba, 169 Sebituane, Chief, 422 Sebkha Fijij, 67 Ijil, S6 "Sebkhas," 20 of the Sahara, 78 Sebdu, IS Sebu river, 25 Sechele, Chief, 414 Secocoeni, Chief, 416 Sego, 163 peoples of, 117, 119, 162 Sehre, the, 242 Sekeletu, Chief, 423 Semyen mountains, 255 Sena, district of, 430 or Senna, 429, 433 Zulus at, 424 Senaar, 199, 224 town of, 225 Senegal river, 111, 118 sources of the, 115 Senegambia, 111 Senna or Sena, 429, 433 Sere tribe, 232 Serere-Wolof race, 114 Seriba Gauer, 228 " Seribas" of Upper Nile, 230 "Serir" of Arabian desert, 247 of the Sahara, 75 Serra Fura, 431 Serval, Lieutenant, 478 Setif, 55 mountains of, 20 Setit, Balir, 253 Setti Camma, 475 Sej^bous river, 51 Seychelles islands, 499, 506 Sfax, 64 Shaamba Berasgha, the, 92 Shambi station, 243 Shangallas, the, 262 Shankala or Shangallas, 262 " Shantees," 141 Shari, delta of the, 179 river, 177, ISO Shea butter, 145 Sheba, queen of. 435 " Sheely," hot wind, 79 Sheep in Cape Colony, 392 Shegga, 193 Sheikh Halifa, gardens of, 221 Shekiani tribe, 4S2 Sheliah mountain, 22 Sheliff river, 25 Sheliah or Shluh, 39 Shemitic peoples, 12 Shendy, 222 " SheoV'the Ashantee Hades, 144 Sherboro island, 123 Shergwi, Shott-esh-, 20 Sherifs of Marocco, 44 of Tafilet, 30 Shershel or Cherchel, 55 Shilooks, the, 226 of Khartum, 223 Shimba hills, 292 Shimeeyu river, 317, 319 Shingeti or Shingit, 86 Shire or Shira river, 356, 429 falls of, 35S Shirfa, the, of Marocco, 44 Shirwa, Lake, 360 Shluh or Sheliah, 39 language, 38 Shoa, country of, 270 people of, 261 Shohos, the, 270 Shott-el-Rharbi, 20 608 INDEX. Shott-esh-Sbergwa, 20 es-Saida, 20 Melghir, 67 Melgigh, 24 of Gharnis, 67 "Shotts," 20 " Bhoama " of Abyssinia, 2C6 "Shtoot," 20 Shukurie Arabs, 252 " Shuine," hot wind, 79 Sidi- Bel- Abbes, 55 Cbelil oasis, 54 el-Heni lake, 64 Sierra Leone, 121 " Signares " of Dakar, 112 Silla, 117 Silsileh, Jebel, 216 Silver in Urua, 355 ■work in Abyssinia, 26P Silver's Handbook of South Africa, 393 Simon's Bay, 395 " Simoom," 79 Siniati, Rio, 431 Sioot, 215 Sirba river, 168 Siut, 215 railway to, 208 Siwah. oasis of, 75, 108 Slave Coast, the, 147 trade at Bonnv, 1 57 at Galabat, 253 at Tete, 433 east of Nyassa, 355 in Bornu, 1S2 in Harar, 277 in Mozambique, 432 in Murzuk, 100 in Rua, 348, 353 of Central Sudan, 177 of East Africa, 300 on Nyassa Lake, 357 Slavery in Angola, 463 in Niger region, 163 in West Africa, 125 Slaves at Zanzibar, 297 numbers exported, 127 value of, at Zanzibar, 301 " Smokes " of Angola. 457 ^nake temple of Whydah, 149 Sneuw Bergen, 376 snow on, 3S2 Snow in Abyssinia, 258 in South Africa, 3S2 of Mount Kilnna-Njaro. 293 Sobat river, 200, 227 Socotra island, 2S3 Soda, Jebel-es, 69 Sofala or Sofalla district, 431 Sofala, port of, 425, 434 Zulus at, 424 Sokna, 99 " Sokos " or gorillas, 343 Sokota, 26S Sokoto. 164, 166 city of, 167 state of, 165 " Solano," hot wind, 79 Solstices, the, 6 Somali and Galla races, 12, 286 coast, slave trade on, 303 country, 252, 273 Land, aspect of, 278 climate of, 2S0 coast towns, 277 tribes of, 2S1 wild animals of, 2S2 shepherds, 276 Somerset river, 245, 322 Soninke, the, 114 in Niger region, 163 Sonrhay country, 164, 168 empire, 98, 175 negroes, 165, 174 negroes in Marocco, 46 Soturba, Mount, 246 Source of the Niger, 159 Sources of the Nile, 201 South Africa generally, 371 "South-easter" of Cape Co- lony, 382 Spaniards in Algeria, 48 in North Africa, 30 Spanish African islands, 497 Speke, Captain, 275, 317 Gulf, 319 Sponge fishery of Tripoli, 71 fisheries of Tunis, 66 " Springhaans," 410 Sremarda, Mount, 184 Stanley, H. M., 304, 308, 314 on Tanganyika, 337 Stanley's circumnavigation of Victoria Nyanza, 319 discoveries, 328 on the Congo, 470 Stapelia or carrion flower, 380 Starreburg, Colonel, 145 Steere, Bishop, 306 Stellenbosch, 396 Steppes of the Sudan, 109 " Sterculia acuminata," 174 " Sterculia macroearpa," 174 " Stoeps " of Cape Town, 395 Stork, the, in North Africa. 29 Stormberg, coal of, 394 Stormbeigen, snow on, 382 Storms of Guinea coast, 153 the sand, of North Africa, 78 Strait of Babel-Mandeb, 247 Suaheli Coast, the, 296 in Madagascar, 504 race, 297 Suakin, port of, 246 Sudan, Central, 176 description of, 108 slavery in, 125 the Egyptian, 191 Suez Canal, 207 isthmus of, 199 port of, 207 Suffarah tree, 225 Sugar cane, wild, 228 ' in Natal, 402 Sugar in Reunion, 507 of Mauritius, 507 " Suk" Abu Sin, 253 Sukurara, 172 Sultan Aly of Wadai, 186 Mohammed el Hassin, 192 of Bornu, 178 Sultanate of Zanzibar, 296 Sultu, 87 Suna district, 315 Superstitions of Baghirmi. 187 Sus, Wady, 25 Susa, 64 Syrtis Minor, 17 Table Bay, docks of, 395 " Table Cloth" phenomenon, 382 Table-lands of Madagascar, 501 of the Sahara, 75 Table-land of Sbach, 20 of Unyamuesi, 316 Table-Mountain, 382, 394 Paborah or Kazeh, 332 Tademekket, the, 165 Tafilet oases, 76 rainfall in, 26 the Sherifs of, 30 villages of, 87 Tagama Tuaregs, 98 Taganet, 88 Tajurrah, Bay of, 252 Gulf of, 270 Taka province, 249, 252 Takkazze river, 255, 259 " Takrouris " of Sudan, 253 Takue, country of, 251 people, 250 Talba Waka mountains, 255 Talha trees, 101 Taltals, the tribe of the, 273 Tamandua Lake (Shirwa), 60 Tamasheg language, 39 lauiasirht language, 39 Tamatave, 505 fambookie Kafirs, 388 ■' Tanesruft " of the Sahara, 75 Tanganyika Lake, 309,333, 335 outlet of, 340 south end of, 368 trade of, 33S water of, 341 Tangier, 3S Tanja or Tangier, 38 Tao, 102 Taodeni, SS Tapiri pa^s, 362 Taral ulus or Tripoli, 70 Tarso mountains, 74, 102 Tasili plateau, 74, 97 Tatar tribes in Egypt, 203 Tawarick or Tuareg, the, 95 Tebu of Kanem, 176 J Tegidda, Wady, 98 Teita country, 2SS, 292 Telegraphs in Cape Colons. 396 INDEX. 609 Telegraph, the Anglo-Brazil- ian, 490 " Tell " of Algeria, 18 Temahag language, 39 "Tembe" or house, 312 Tendelti Lake, 191 Teneriffe, ascent of, 492 island, 492 Tensift, Wady, 36 Terceira island, 498 "Tennes mordax," 233 Teroa tribe, 262 Tessala, Mount, 19 " Tessilgemist," the, 95 Tete or Nyungwe, 361, 429, 433 district of, 431 Zulus at, 424 Tetuan, 38 Thaleb mountains, 20 " Thalebs " of Marocco, 42 Thaya, Jebel, cavern of, 51 Thebes, ruins of, 216 Theodore of Abyssinia, 267 Thorns of Cape Colony, 3S0 Thunder - storms of South Africa, 382 Tiaret, 18 Tibesti or Tu, 101 Tibbu-Reshade, 101 Tibbus, the, 99 of Kanem, 176 Tidikelt oasis, 93 water channels of, 77 Tigre, inhabitants of, 261 province, 256 Tikki-tikki dwarfs, 241 Timbo, 117 Timbuktu, 165 city of, 173 port of, 172 Timge mountains, 98 Tinge, 169 Tintellust, 98 Tioge river, 443 Tiris, 85 Tishit, 89 Tiyab tribe, 85 Tlemcen, 55 Mount, 20 Tobacco in Algeria, 50 in Central Africa, 352 in Marocco, 42 To-Bedawieh language, 250 To-Kar, 249 " Tokels" of Kordofan, 194 Tolba of the Beni Mzab, 92 Tomalod Somali, 282 Tombo country, 164 Tombs of the Caliphs, 210 Tongas, 437 Tonj river, 232 "Tonnaras" of Tunis, 66 Tornadoes of Guinea coast, 152 Toro, 326 Torra, 193 Trade in Africa, 14 in Urua, 348 Trade of Angola, 464 of Bambarra, 163 of Berberah, 278 of Bonny river, 157 of Cape Colony, 391 of Darfur, 191 of Egypt, 207 of Galabat, 253 of the Gambia, 121 of Harar, 277 of Inhambane, 436 of J enne, 165 of Khartum, 222 of Kuka, 182 of Lake Chad, 180 of Marocco, 46 of Massowah, 250 of Mombas, 291 of Mozambique, 432 of Natal, 403 of north Somali coast, of Port Elizabeth, 397 of Quelimane, 433 of Sokoto, 166 of Suakin, 248. of Tanganyika, 338 of Tete (Zambesi), 433 of Timbuktu, 174 of Tripoli, 70 of Tuat, 93 of Unyamuesi, 332 of Wadai, 189 of Zanzibar, 298 on the Gambia, 124 on the Niger, 161 Transvaal, 372 annexation of, 417 gold - fields, projected railway to, 437 history of, 412 natives of, 411 origin of state, 386 population of, 400 sport in, 409 " Trekking," in South Africa 384 " Travellers' tree," 503 Tribes of Africa, see Appen- dix I. Tribes of Angola, 459 Tripoli, climate of, 70 extent aud features, 69 population of, 70 " Troglodytes gorilla," 481 Tropics, the, 5 Tsad, Lake, 179 Tsetze fly, 310, 434 on Gold Coast, 135 Tu or Tibesti, 101 Tuareg or Imoshagh, 89, 172 tribes, the, 95 Tuaricks or Tuareg, the, 95 Tuat, oasis of, 76 Tuat, rainfall in, 26 states of, 93 Tubers of Kalahari, 439 Tuckey, Captain, on the Congo, 469 2 R Tugela river, 402 Tug Fafan river, 280 Tuggurt, 91 oasis, 82 Tug Jered river, 280 Tulbagh, 396 hills of, 380 Tummo wells, 101 Tumut river, 225 Tungue, 296 Tungur, Jebel, 22 Tunis, city of, 62 coast lakes of, 66 commerce of, 61 fisheries of, 65 pottery of, 61 projected inland lake of, 66 regency of, 59 Tunjur Arabs, 192 Tunny fisheries of Tunis, 66 Tura district, 309 Turks in Egypt, 203 in Khartum, 223 Tusidde peak, 74, 103 Tzana Lake, 256 people of, 262 Uah oases, 106 Uarensenis, Mount, 20 Uassaram, 184 Ubujwa, 342 Ufumbiro, Mount, 329 Ugana. 321 Uganda, empire of, 245, 321, 323, 328 people of, 325 products of, 324 (Unyamuesi), 334 Ugara, 334 Ugeyeya, 320 Ugogo, 309, 314, 329 Ugoma hills, 342 Ugombo lake, 312 Ugono, hills of, 292 Uguhha, 336, 342 Uhiya, 342 Ujda, Jebel, 19 Uje, district of, 184 Ujiji, 334, 337 Ukambani, 287 Ukara, 295 island, 319 Ukaranga, 335 Ukerewe island, 319 Ukimbu, 314 Ukonju, 326 Ukusu, 470 Ulagalla, 325 Uled Ali tribe, 105 Delim tribe. 85 Ulegga, 326, 470 Ulenge or Lanji lake, 366 Ulula, Bits, 283 Ulunda, 349, 467 Cazembe's territory, 369 Ulungu or Urungu, 367 Um-Debben mountains, 22 Uni-el-Cheil, Wady, 99 610 INDEX. Um-el-Rhea river, 25 Uingeni river, 402, 404 Umkomanzi river, 402 Umo river, 285 Umselegazi or Moselekatse, Chief, 412, 421 Umsindusi river, 404 Umslangaan, Chief, 421 Umtamfuna river, 3SS, 402 Uratata river, 388 Umvolosi river, 403 Umzila, Chief, 422, 425, 435 Umzimkulu river, 402 Ungama bay, 288 Unikani, 286 Unyamuesi, 309, 332 Unyainpaka, 326 Unyanyembe, 330,332 Unyara, 321 Unyoro, 322, 326 Upororo, 326 Upper Guinea, 109 Ureggu (Ulegga), 470 Urguru, 332 Urimi, 315 " Ur-iinman-dess," 173 Urondogani, 322 " Urostigma Kotschyana," 240 Orua, 346, 348 mountains of, 365 products of, 353 Urungu or Ulungu, 367 forests of, 368 Ururi, 319 Usambara, 289 Usagara mountains, 310 Usagora, 312 Usandawi, 314 Usekhe, 330 Usheft, 86 Usoga, 321 Usongora mountains, 326 Ussambi, 349 Usuguru island, 321 Usukuma, 315 Uteita, 292 Utshaka or Chaka, Chief, 412 Utumbi, 326 Ututwa, 319 Uvinza, 309, 335 Uyanzi, 314, 342 Vaal river, 376, 399 Vandals in North Africa, 29 Vasco de Gama, 290, 383, 403 Vegetation of Abyssinia, 256 of Angola, 456 of Cape Colony, 379 of Madagascar, 503 of North Africa, 29 "Veldt" of Natal, 402 Verd, Cape, 490 Verga, Cape, 124 Victoria Falls, 426 Nile, 244 Nyanza, 315 elevation of, 317 Villafranca, 498 Vincent, the traveller, 83 Vines in Algeria, 50 in Cape Colony, 381 in Marocco, 42 Vinyata, 315 " Vleys " of Cape Colony, 378 Vogel, E., the traveller, 99, 177 Volcanic country east of Abyssinia, 274 Volcano of Njemsi, 295 of Teneriffe, 496 Volcanoes of Bourbon island, 507 of Madagascar, 501 Volta river, 136, 145 Vuga or Fuga, 290 Wadai country, 177 state of, 188 Wadan, 86 Wadirigo, the, 312 Wady or Wad, the term, 19 Aben, 247 Aksabi, 25 Arabah, 214 Asaka, 25 Draa, 25 el Abiad, 22 Essora, 22 Haifa, 202, 218 Igharghar, 24, 67 Jaeel, 275 Kus, 25 Mia, 25 Nogal, 275 Nun, 25 Rhir, 54 Sus, 25 Tegidda, 98 Tensift, 36 um-el-Cheil, 99 Waganda, the, 325 Wageyeya, the, 320 Waggons of South Africa, 404 " Wagt een beetji " thorn, 380 Wagogo, the, 313 Waguhha, 342 Wahiao caravans, 432 tribe, 355 Wahumba, the, 314 " Waina-Degas " of Abyssinia, 256 "Waka," the deity of the Gallas, 288 Wakamba, the, 288 Wakefield, Mr., 291, 294 Wakilinde tribe, 291 Wakimbu, 331 Wakwavi, 287, 289, 295 Walata, 88 Walfisch Bay, 388, 446 Walker, Mr., 477 Wallace, Mr. A. R., quoted, 499 Walunda, the, 350 Wa-Masai, the, 287, 289, 293, ■ 312, 320 Wambugu tribe, 291 Wami river, 304, 309 Wa-mpwapwa, 312 Wandala, country of, 184 Wandorobo, the, 295 Wanika tribe, 286, 291 Wanyamuesi, 331 tribes, 332 Wanyanga country, 189 Wapokomo, the, 289 Wargla, 90 oasis of, 82 Warsheikh, 284, 296 Warsingali Somali, 281 Warua, 342 Waruri, the, 320 Wasambara tribe, 291 Washenzi, the, 304 Wasuaheli or "coast men," 288 Wa Suku, the, 295 Wateita, the, 288, 292 Waterboer, Chief, 386, 399 Waturu, the, 315 Watuta, the, 424 Well of Belkashifari, 178 Welle, basin of the, 488 river, 190, 239 Wellington, heights of, 380 Wells, artesian, in Algeria, 54 of Hazi-Bottin, 94 of Tiimmo, 101 West Africa, 454 slavery in, 463 Western Equatorial Africa 477 Sahara, 84 Wharton, Captain, 304 Whinde, 309 White Nile, the, 199, 226 Whitford, J., on the Niger 162 quoted, 121, 130, 151 Whydah, 148 Wilberforce, Wiliiam, 127 Wilderness of Nika, 292 Wilgebach river, 406 Windhoek mission station, 446 Winds of Africa, see Appen- dix II of Marocco, 27 the hot, of North Africa,78 Wines of Algeria, 50 Winnebah, 135 Winterberg mountains, 376 Winterhoek mountains, 377 Winwood Reade quoted, 141 Wirma-Donto tribe, 147 Wito tribe, 262 Witteberg mountains, 406 Witu islands, 286 Woad Medineh, 224 Wobi or Wobbi river, 280, 284 Woggara, table land of, 269 Wollo Galla country, 270 Wolofs, the, 114 j Women, condition of, in Marocco, 40 INDEX. 611 Woods of Algeria, 51 Wool of Cape Colony, 392 of Port Elizabeth, 397 trade of Natal, 403 Wynberg, 395 " Xinas " or " Quixilles," 473 Yagama river, 321 Yakoba, city of, 166 Yalimbogo tribe, 487 Yamina, 119 Yanbari tribe, 243 Yangela country, 472, 475 Yaobe river, 180 Yariba country, 147 Yaya-ben-Othman tribe, 86 Yedina negroes, 179 Yegiy, 145 Yellala cataracts, 469 Yoruba country, 147, 153 Young, Mr., on Nyassa, 354 Yowaru, 165 Yunker, Dr., 226 Zaire or Congo, 454, 468, 470 Zambesi river, 371, 431 at Victoria Falls, 427 inundations of, 434 lower course of, 429 upper course of, 425 water-parting of, 350 Zandeh or Nyam Nyanis, 236 Zanzibar coast, 296 island, 296 north limit of, 284 products of, 303 town, 297 trade of, 298 Zayla or Zeila, 275 Zebu breed of cattle, 231 Zeila or Zayla, 275 port of, 252 Zeraf, Bahr-el, 228 Ziber, the adventurer, 192 Zimbabye or Zimboe, ruins, 435 Zinguichor, 125 Ziwambo lake, 366 Zoghawa tribe, 192 Zolofs, the, 114 Zones, the, of the earth, 6 Zooai lake, 271 Zouga river, 443 Zuar valley, 102 Zulu armies, conquests of, 420, 423 chiefs, 412 conquests, 421 Kafirs, 372, 404 clans of, 420 Land, hills of, 419 Zulus, the, at Sena, 433 Zulus, character of the, 449 in Sofala, 435 of Transvaal, 415 Zumbo, 429 country (Angola), 464 mines of, 431 mountain, 360 ruins of, 433 settlement, 431 Zungomero, 310 Zwarte mountains, 375 THE END. 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By Vice- Admiral Sir John Dalrymple Hay, Bart., M.P., C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. With Coloured Map. Second Edition. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. HUTCHINSON (T. J.) — The PARANA: with INCIDENTS of the PARAGUAYAN WAR, and SOUTH AMERICAN RECOLLECTIONS, from 1861 to 1868. By Thomas J. Hutchinson, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.L., F.E.S., &c, H.B.M. Consul for Callao (late for Rosario). With Map and Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, 21s. JOHNSTON.— PHYSICAL, HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, and DE- SCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY. By the late Keith Johnston, F.R.G.S., Editor of ' Stanford's Compendium of Geography and Travel in Africa.' Large Post 8vo, with numerous Maps and Illustrations. LEES (Lady).— A FEW DAYS in BELGIUM and HOLLAND: An Idle Book for an Idle Hour. By Lady Lees, Author of 'Dried Flowers,' •Effie's Tales,' &c. Contents: — Bruges. Ghent, Antwerp, Bruxelles, Rotterdam, The Hague, Delft, Leyden, Haarlem, Amsterdam, &c. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d. MEDHURST. — The FOREIGNER in FAR CATHAY. By W. H. Medhurst, H.B.M. Consul, Shanghai. With Coloured Map. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. MILLETT (Mrs. Edward).— An AUSTRALIAN PARSONAGE ; or, the SETTLER and the SAVAGE in WESTERN AUSTRALIA. With Frontispiece. Second Edition. Large post 8vo, cloth, 12s. MOSELEY.— OREGON : its Resources, Climate, People, and Productions. By H. N. Moseley, F.R.S. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, with Map, 2s. MULHALL.— FROM EUROPE to PARAGUAY and MATTO GROSSO. By Mrs. M. G. Mulhall. With Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth, 5s. NOBLE.— DESCRIPTIVE HANDBOOK of the CAPE COLONY: its CONDITION and RESOURCES. By John Noble, Clerk of the House of Assembly, Cape of Good Hope. With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. BOOKS OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. 3 PHILPOT. — GUIDE-BOOK to the CANADIAN DOMINION: Con- taining full information for the Emigrant, the Tourist, the Sportsman, and the Small Capitalist. By Harvey J. Philpot, M.D. (Canada), M.R.C.S.L., &c. With a Preface by Thomas Hughes, Esq., M.P., and Map. Super-royal 16mo, 4s. ROWAN. —The EMIGRANT and SPORTSMAN in CANADA. Some experiences of an Old Country Settler. With Sketches of Canadian Life, Sporting Adventures, and Observations on the Forests and Fauna. By J. J. Rowan. Large post 8vo, cloth, with Map, 10s. 6d. RUSSELL. — BIARRITZ and the BASQUE COUNTRIES. By Count Henry Russell, Member of the Geographical and Geological Societies of France, of the Alpine Club, and Societe Ramond, Author of ' Pau and the Pyrenees,' &c. Crown 8vo, with a Map, 6s. THEAL. — COMPENDIUM of the HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY of SOUTH AFRICA. By George McCall Theal, Lovedale, South Africa. Third Edition. Revised and Enlarged. Large demy 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d. VICTORIA, The BRITISH " EL DORADO." Showing the advantages of that Colony as a field for Emigration. By a Colonist of Twenty Years' Standing, and late Member of a Colonial Legislature. With Two Coloured Yiews and a Map. Super-royal 16mo, cloth, 5s. 6d. VIVIAN. — NOTES of a TOUR in AMERICA. From August 7th to November 17th, 1877. By H. Hussey Yivian, M.P., F.G.S. Demy 8vo, with Map, 9s. WEBBER.— THE KAIETEUR FALLS, BRITISH GUIANA, THE ESSEQUIBO and POTARO RIYERS. With an account of a Visit to the Kaieteur Falls. By Lieut. -Col. Webber, 2d West India Regiment. With Map and Frontispiece, and Descriptive Notes on the Geology of Guiana. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4s. 6d. WILLIAMS.— THROUGH NORWAY with a KNAPSACK. A New and Improved Edition. With Notes on Recent Changes, suggested by a Recent Revisit. By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S., Author of ' The Fuel of the Sun,' &c. With Map. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. THROUGH NORWAY with LADIES. By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S., Author of ' Through Norway with a Knapsack.' With Illustrations and Map. Crown 8vo, cloth, 12s. YOUNG.— The TWO YOYAGES of the 'Pandora' in 1875 and 1876. By Sir Allen Youxg, R.N.R., F.R.G.S., F.R.A.S., &c, Commander of the Expedition. Super-royal 8vo, cloth, with Two large Folding Maps and Nine full-page Illustrations, 10s. 6d. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. 4 SELECTED LIST. LIBRARY OR WALL MAPS. EUROPE. — Scale, 50 miles to an inch ; size, 65 inches by 58. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. ENGLAND and WALES.— Scale, 5 miles to an inch; size, 72 inches by 84. Coloured, £2:12:6; mounted on linen in morocco case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £4 : 4s. ; spring roller, £6 : 6s. LONDON and its SUBURBS. — On the scale of 6 inches to a mile : constructed on the basis of the Ordnance block plan. Price, in sheets, plain, 21s. ; coloured, in a portfolio, 31s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in morocco case, or on roller, varnished, £2 : 15s. ; on spring roller, £5 : 5s. Single sheets, plain, Is. ; coloured, Is. 6d. A Key Map may be had on application, or per post for one stamp. SCOTLAND.— Scale, 5 miles to an inch; size, 52 inches by 76. Coloured, 42s. ; mounted on linen, in morocco case, £3 : 3s. ; on roller, varnished, £3 : 13 : 6 ; spring roller, £5 : 5s. IRELAND. — Scale, 5 miles to an inch; size, 43 inches by 58. Coloured, four sheets, 25s. ; mounted, in case, 35s. ; on roller, varnished, £2 : 2s. ; on spring roller, £4 : 4s. ASIA. — Scale, 110 miles to an inch ; size, 65 inches by 58. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, £3:13:6; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. AFRICA. — Scale 94 miles to an inch ; size, 58 inches by 65. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, £3:13:6; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. NORTH AMERICA.— Scale, 83 miles to an inch ; size, 58 inches by 65. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. CANADA. — LARGE MAP of CANADA, including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and a large portion of the United States. By John Abbowsmith. Scale, loh miles to an inch; size, 96 by 54. Eight Coloured Sheets, £2:12: 6"; mounted in case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £4 : 4s. ; spring roller, £8. UNITED STATES and CENTRAL AMERICA, with Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. Scale, 54^ miles to an inch ; size, 72 inches by 56. Coloured and mounted on linen, in morocco case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. SOUTH AMERICA.— Scale, 83 miles to an inch ; size, 58 inches by 65. Coloured and mounted on linen, morocco case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. AUSTRALASIA. — Scale, 64 miles to an inch ; size, 65 inches by 58. Coloured and mounted on linen, morocco case, £3:13:6; on roller, varnished, £3 ; spring roller, £6. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. MAPS. 5 GENERAL MAPS. EUROPE. EUROPE— STANFORD'S PORTABLE MAP of EUROPE ; showing the latest Political Boundaries, the Railways, the Submarine Telegraphs, &c. Scale, 150 miles to an inch ; size, 36 inches by 33. Fully coloured and mounted on linen, in case, 10s.; on roller, varnished, 14s. CENTRAL EUROPE. — DAVIES'S MAP of CENTRAL EUROPE ; containing all the Railways, with their Stations. The principal roads, the rivers, and chief mountain ranges, are clearly delineated. Scale, 24 miles to an inch ; size, 47 inches by 38. Sheets, plain, 10s. ; coloured, 12s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 16s. AUSTRIAN EMPIRE. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 28 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. DENMARK and ICELAND. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 13 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. FRANCE, in DEPARTMENTS. "With a Supplementary Map, divided into Provinces, and a Map of the Island of Corsica. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 31 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. GREECE and the IONIAN ISLANDS. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 15 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s.; mounted in case, 5s. ITALY, including Sicily and the Maltese Islands. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 20 miles to an inch ; in two sheets, size of each, 22 inches by 26. Price of each, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. NETHERLANDS and BELGIUM, including Luxembourg, and the Country to the East as far as the Rhine. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 13 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. RUSSIA and POLAND, including Finland. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 90 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. SPAIN and PORTUGAL. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 30 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. SWEDEN and NORWAY. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 35 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. SWITZERLAND. By J. Arrowtsmith. Scale 10J miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. TURKEY in EUROPE, including the Archipelago, Greece, the Ionian Islands, and the South part of Dalmatia. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 40 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. 6 SELECTED LIST. BRITISH ISLES. BRITISH ISLES. — WALL MAP. Constructed on the basis of the Ordnance Survey, and distinguishing in a clear manner the Cities, County and Assize Towns, Municipal Boroughs. The Railways are care- fully laid down and coloured, and the Map from its size is well suited for Public Offices, Institutions, Reading-Rooms, &c. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 81 inches by 90. Price, coloured, mounted on mahogany roller, and varnished, £3. BRITISH ISLES. — DAVIES'S NEW RAILWAY MAP of the BRITISH ISLES, and part of France. Scale, 22 miles to an inch ; size, 31 inches by 38. Price, coloured in sheet, 6s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 9s.; or on roller, varnished, 15s. ENGLAND and WALES. — LARGE SCALE RAILWAY and STATION MAP of ENGLAND and WALES. In 24 sheets (sold separately). Constructed on the basis of the Trigonometrical ^Survey. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 3 miles to an inch ; size of each sheet, 20 inches by 28. Price, plain, Is. ; mounted in case, 2s. 6d. ; coloured, Is. 6d. ; mounted in case, 3s. Size of the complete Map, 114 inches by 128. Price, plain, in case or portfolio, £1 : 8s. ; coloured, in case or portfolio, £1 : 8s. ; mounted on cloth to fold, in case, coloured, £4 : 4s.; on can- vas, roller, and varnished, £4:14:6; on spring roller, £9 : 9s. ENGLAND and WALES. — STANFORD'S PORTABLE MAP of ENGLAND and WALES. With the Railways very clearly delineated ; the Cities and Towns distinguished according to their Population, &c. Scale, 15 miles to an inch ; size, 28 inches by 32. Coloured and mounted on linen, in case, 5s. ; or on roller, varnished, 8s. ENGLAND and WALES.— WALL MAP. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 50 inches by 58. Price, mounted on mahogany roller, varnished, 21s. SCOTLAND.— WALL MAP, showing the Divisions of the Counties, the Towns, Villages, Railways, &c. Scale, 8 miles to an inch; size, 34 inches by 42. Price, coloured, mounted on mahogany roller, and var- nished, 12s. 6d. SCOTLAND, in COUNTIES.— With the Roads, Rivers, &c. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 12 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted in case, 5s. IRELAND, in COUNTIES and BARONIES, on the basis of the Ordnance Survey and the Census. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 31 inches by 38. On two sheets; coloured, 8s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 15s. IRELAND. — WALL MAP, showing the Divisions of the Counties, all the Towns, Principal Villages, Railways/ &c. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 34 inches by 42. Price, coloured, mounted on roller, varnished, 12s. 6d. IRELAND.— STANFORD'S PORTABLE MAP of IRELAND, Coloured in Counties, with Railways and Roads clearly indicated. Scale, 9 miles to an inch ; size, 28 inches by 37. Coloured sheet, 5s. ; mounted in case, 7s. 6d. A smaller Map, coloured sheet, 2s. 6d. ; mounted in case, 4s. 6d. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. MAPS. 7 LONDON. MODERN LONDON and its Suburbs,* extending from Hamp- stead to the Crystal Palace, and from Hammersmith Bridge to Greenwich; showing all the Railways and Stations, the Roads, Footpaths, &c. Scale, 6 inches to the mile ; size, 5 feet by 6. On six large sheets, 25s. ; mounted on linen, in case, or on roller, varnished, 42s. COLLINS' STANDARD MAP OP LONDON is admirably adapted for visitors to the City. Scale, 4 inches to a mile ; size 34 g inches by 27. Price, plain, in case, Is. ; coloured, Is. 6d. ; mounted on linen, ditto, 3s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 7s. 6d. BRITISH METROPOLIS. — DAVIES'S NEW MAP of the BRITISH METROPOLIS. Scale, 3 inches to a mile ; size, 36 inches by 25 1. Price, plain sheet, 3s. 6d. ; coloured, 5s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 7s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 10s. 6d. With continuation southward beyond the Crystal Palace, plain sheet, 5s. ; coloured, 7s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, lis. ; on roller, varnished, 15s. RAILWAY MAP of LONDON and ENVIRONS— STAN- FORD'S SPECIAL MAP of the RAILWAYS, RAILWAY STATIONS, TRAMWAYS, POSTAL DISTRICTS and SUB-DISTRICTS in LON- DON and its ENVIRONS. Scale, 1 inch to a mile ; size, 24 inches by 26. Price, coloured and folded, Is. ; mounted on linen, in case, 3s. PARISH MAP of LONDON.— STANFORD'S MAP of LONDON and its ENVIRONS, showing the boundary of the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works, &c. Scale, 2 inches to a mile ; size, 40 inches by 27. Price, in sheets, 6s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 9s. ; on roller, varnished, 12s. LONDON and its ENVIRONS.— DAVIES'S MAP of LONDON and its ENVIRONS. Scale, 2 inches to a mile ; size, 36 inches by 28. Price, sheet, 4s. ; coloured, 5s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 8s. ; or on roller, varnished, 14s. ENVIRONS of LONDON.— A MAP of the ENVIRONS of LON- DON, including twenty-five miles from the Metropolis. Scale, f of an inch to a mile ; size, 36 inches by 35. Prices, on one large sheet, coloured, 8s.; mounted, in case, 10s.; on roller, varnished, 14s. ENVIRONS of LONDON.— DAVIES S MAP of the ENVIRONS of LONDON. Scale, 1 inch to a mile ; size, 43 inches by 32. Price, sheet, plain, 4s. ; coloured, 5s. 6d. ; mounted in linen, in case, 8s. ; or on roller, varnished, 14s. ENVIRONS of LONDON.— STANFORD'S NEW MAP of the COUNTRY TWELVE MILES round LONDON. Scale, 1 inch to a mile ; size, 25 inches by 25. Price, plain, folded in case, 2s. 6d. ; coloured, ditto, 3s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, ditto, 5s. 6d. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. SELECTED LIST. ASIA. GENERAL MAP of ASIA. — By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 300 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. NORTHERN ASIA, including Siberia, Kamtschatka, Japan, Mant- chooria, Mongolia, Tchoongaria, Tibet, and the Himalaya Mountains. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 170 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 4s. ; mounted, in case, 7s. CENTRAL ASIA. — STANFORD'S MAP of CENTRAL ASIA, includ- ing Teheran, Khiva, Bokhara, Kokan, Yarkand, Kabul, Herat, &c. Scale, 110 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 17. Coloured sheet, 2s. 6d. ; mounted, in case, 5s. ASIA MINOR, &C. (TURKEY in ASIA). With portions of Persia, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucasian Mountains. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 55 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. INDIA. — STANFORD'S NEW PORTABLE MAP of INDIA. Exhibit- ing the Present Divisions of the Country according to the most Recent Surveys. Scale, 86 miles to an inch ; size, 29 inches by 33. Coloured, 6s.; mounted on linen, in case, 8s.; on roller, varnished, lis. INDIA.— MAP of INDIA. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 90 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. CEYLON.— MAP of CEYLON. Constructed from a Base of Triangula- tions and corresponding Astronomical Observations. By Major- General John Fraser, late Deputy-Quartermaster-General. Reconstructed by John Arrowsmith. Scale, 4 miles to an inch ; size, 52 inches by 78. Eight sheets, coloured, £2 : 5s. ; mounted, in case, £3 : 13 : 6 ; on roller, varnished, £4 : 4s. ; spring roller, £6:16 : 6. CEYLON. —COFFEE ESTATES of CE ^LON. Map showing the Position of the Coffee Estates in the Central Province of Ceylon. By J. Arrow- smith. Size, 15 inches by 20. Sheet, coloured, 3s.; mounted, incase, 5s. BURMAH, &C. — A Map showing the various Routes proposed for con- necting China with India and Europe through Burmah, and developing the Trade of Eastern Bengal, Burmah, and China. Prepared under the direction of John Ogilvy Hay, F.R.G.S. Scale, 33 miles to an inch ; size, 27 inches by 32. Coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. BURMAH and ADJACENT COUNTRIES.— Compiled from various MSS. , and other Documents. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 24 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. CHINA.— MAP of CHINA. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 90 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. CHINA and JAPAN. — STANFORD'S MAP of the EMPIRES of CHINA and JAPAN, with the Adjacent Parts of British India, Asiatic Russia, Burmah, &c. Scale, 110 miles to an inch ; size, 38 inches by 24. One sheet, full coloured, 8s.; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 14s. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. MAPS. AFRICA. GENERAL MAP of AFRICA.— By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 260 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. EGYPT.— MAP of EGYPT, Compiled from the most authentic materials, and founded on the best Astronomical Observations. By Colonel W. M. Leake, R.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Scale, 10 miles to an inch ; size, 34 inches by 52. Two sheets, coloured, 21s. ; mounted, in case, 28s. ; on roller, varnished, 36s. EGYPT.— MAP of EGYPT : including the Peninsula of Mount Sinai. By J. Arrowsmith. New Edition. Scale, 26 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. AFRICA (NORTH-WEST) . — MAP of NORTH-WEST AFRICA, in- cluding the Coast of Guinea, and the Isle of Fernando Po, on the South, and the Western parts of Egypt and Darfur, on the East. By J. Arrow- smith. Scale, 130 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. AFRICA, SOUTH. — MAP of SOUTH AFRICA to 16 deg. South Lati- tude. By Henry Hall, Draughtsman to the Royal Engineers, Cape Town. Scale, 50 miles to an inch ; size, 34 inches by 28. Two sheets, coloured, 10s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 13s. 6d. ; on roller, var- nished, 15s. AFRICA, SOUTH-EASTERN— MAP of SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA. Compiled by Henry Hall. Scale, 25 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, 4s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 6s. AFRICA (WEST COAST).— MAP of the WEST COAST of AFRICA. Comprising Guinea and the British Possessions of Sierra Leone, on the Gambia, and the Gold Coast, &c. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 50 miles to an inch. Two coloured sheets ; size of each, 22 inches by 26, 6s. ; mounted, in case, 10s. CAPE of GOOD HOPE and SOUTH AFRICA.— MAP of SOUTH AFRICA, Cape Colony, Natal, &c. By Henry Hall. Scale, 50 miles to an inch ; size, 29 inches by 17. Sheet, price 4s. 6d. ; mounted, in case, 6s. 6d. CAPE COLONY (EASTERN FRONTIER) . — MAP of the EASTERN FRONTIER of the Cape Colony. Compiled by Henry Hall. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 38. Sheets, 18s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 25s. ; on roller, varnished, 31s. 6d. NATAL.— A MAP of the COLONY of NATAL. By Alexander Mair, Land-Surveyor, Natal. Compiled from the Diagrams and General Plans in the Surveyor-General's Office, and from Data furnished by P. C. Sutherland, Esq., M.D., F.R.S., Surveyor-General. Scale, 4 miles to an inch ; size, 54 inches by 80. Coloured, Four Sheets, £2 : 5s. ; mounted, in case, or on rollers, varnished, £3. NAT AL.— MAP of the COLONY of NATAL. Compiled in the Surveyor- General's Office. Size, 11^ inches by 14^. Sheet, coloured, Is. ; mounted, in case, 2s. 6d. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. 10 SELECTED LIST. AMERICA. CANADA. — MAP of UPPER, and LOWER CANADA, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, Cape Breton Island, Newfoundland, and a large portion of the United States. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 35 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 26. Two sheets, coloured, 6s. ; mounted, in case, 10s.; on roller, varnished, 15s. BRITISH COLUMBIA. — NEW MAP of BRITISH COLUMBIA, to the 56th Parallel North Latitude, showing the New Gold-Fields of Omi- neca, and the proposed routes for the Inter-Oceanic Railway. Scale, 25 miles to an inch ; size, 39 inches by 27. Price, in sheet, coloured, 7s. 6d. ; or mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. UNITED STATES and CANADA.— STANFORD'S NEW RAIL- WAY and COUNTY MAP of the UNITED STATES and TERRI- TORIES, together with Canada, New Brunswick, &c. Scale, 54^ miles to an inch ; size, 57 inches by 36. Two sheets, coloured, 21s ; case, 25s. ; on rollers, varnished, 30s. UNITED STATES.— STANFORD'S HANDY MAP of the UNITED STATES. Scale, 90 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 25. Coloured sheet, 7s. 6d. ; mounted, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 15s. UNITED STATES.— STANFORD'S SMALLER RAILWAY MAP of the UNITED STATES. Scale, 120 miles to an inch ; size, 29 inches by 17|. Two sheets, coloured, 4s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 6s. 6d. CENTRAL AMERICA.— BAILEY'S MAP of CENTRAL AMERICA, including the States of Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. Scale, 8 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 27. Sheet, 7s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 10s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 14s. MEXICO.— A GENERAL MAP of the REPUBLIC of MEXICO. By the Brigadier-General Pedro Garcia Conde. Engraved from the Original Survey made by order of the Mexican Government. Size, 50 inches by 37. Sheets, price 10s. 6d. ; mounted on linen, in case, 18s. BERMUDAS.— MAP of the BERMUDAS. Published by direction of His Excellency Major-General J. H. Lefroy, C.B., R.A., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bermudas. Scale, 24 miles to an inch ; size, 62 inches by 63. Mounted, in case, or on roller, varnished, 21s. WEST INDIA ISLANDS and GUATEMALA.— Showing the Colonies in possession of the various European Powers. By J. Arrow- smith. Scale, 90 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 22. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. JAMAICA.— A NEW MAP of the ISLAND of JAMAICA. Prepared by Thomas Harrison, Government Surveyor, Kingston, Jamaica, under the direction of Major-General J. R. Mann, R.E., Director of Roads and Surveyor-General. Scale, 2| miles to an inch ; size, 64 inches by 27. Mounted, in case, or on roller, varnished, 21s. BARBADOES. — Topographical Map, based upon Mayo's Original Survey in 1721, and corrected to the year 1846. By Sir Robert H. Schom- burgh, K.R.E. Scale, 2 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 50. Two sheets, coloured, 21s. ; mounted, in case, 28s. ; on roller, varnished, 37s. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. MAPS. 1 1 AUSTRALASIA. AUSTRALIA. — LIBRARY MAP of AUSTRALIA. In Nine Sheets. Constructed from the most recent Official Documents furnished by the Surveyors-General, showing the Details of Recent Explorations, and including a Supplementary MAP of TASMANIA, on the same Scale. Size, 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches ; scale, 26 miles to an inch. Price £2:12:6; mounted in case or on rollers, varnished, £4 : 4s. ; spring roller, £7 : 7s. AUSTRALIA.— GENERAL MAP of AUSTRALIA. With all the Recent Explorations, Tracks of the Principal Explorers, the Roads, Railways, Telegraphs, and Altitudes. Originally Drawn by and En- graved under the immediate superintendence of the late John Arrow- smith. Revised and Corrected to present date. Scale, 80 miles to an inch ; size, 44 inches by 26. Sheets, coloured, 6s. ; mounted in case, 10s. AUSTRALASIA— SCHOOL MAP of AUSTRALASIA. This Map includes Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Borneo, and the Malay Archipelago. The Natural Features are accurately and distinctly repre- sented, and the Tracks of all the Australian Travellers up to the present time are laid down. The divisions of the British Possessions into Pro- vinces and Counties are shown. Scale, 86 miles to an inch ; size, 58 inches by 50. Price, mounted on linen, on roller, varnished, 13s. AUSTRALIA.— STANFORD'S SCHOOL MAP of AUSTRALIA. Scale, 86 miles to an inch ; size, 42 inches by 34. Price, mounted on linen, on roller, varnished, 9s. AUSTRALIA.— MAP of AUSTRALIA and TASMANIA. Scale, 225 miles to an inch ; size, 14 inches by 11. Price, coloured sheet, Is. 6d. ; mounted in case, 3s. WESTERN AUSTRALIA.— With Plans of Perth, Fremantle, and Guildford. From the Surveys of John Septimus Roe, Esq., Surveyor- General, and from other Official Documents in the Colonial Office and Admiralty. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 16 miles to an inch ; size, 40 inches by 22. Two Sheets, Coloured, 6s. ; in case, 10s. SOUTH AUSTRALIA.— Showing the Division into Counties of the settled portions of the Province. With Situation of Mines of Copper and Lead. From the Surveys of Capt. Frome, R.E., Surveyor-General of the Colony. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 14 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, Coloured, 3s. ; in case, 5s. NEW ZEALAND. — With all recent Topographical Information, New Administrative Divisions, Railways, Submarine Telegraphs, etc. Size, 24 inches by 42 ; scale, 25 miles to an inch. Price, mounted in case or on roller, varnished, 9s. NEW ZEALAND.— STANFORD'S MAP of NEW ZEALAND. Compiled from the most recent Documents. Scale, 64 miles to an inch ; size, 17 inches by 19. Full- coloured, in sheet. 2s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 3s. 6d. NEW ZEALAND. — Constructed from the most recent Official Docu- ments. Scale, 38 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. Sheet, coloured, 3s. ; mounted, in case, 5s. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. 12 SELECTED LIST. LONDON ATLAS MAPS. New Editions. LOUDON ATLAS MAPS, originally drawn by, and engraved under the immediate superintendence of the late John Arrowsmith, with all the minute and painstaking care for which he was distinguished, and forming a portion of the " London Atlas of Universal Geography." New Editions of the following Maps, corrected to date, are now ready. Size of each Map, 26 inches by 22. Price, Coloured Sheet, 3s. ; Mounted in Case, 5s. each : — EUROPE —Scale, 140 miles to an inch. ENGLAND.— Scale, 18 miles to an inch. SC OTL AND.— Scale, 12 miles to an inch. IRELAND— Scale, 12 miles to an inch. AUSTRIAN EMPIRE.— Scale, 28 miles to an inch. DENMARK.— Scale, 13 miles to an inch. FRANCE— Scale, 31 miles to an inch. GERMAN EMPIRE (EAST).-Scale, 25 miles to an inch. GERMAN EMPIRE (WEST).-Scale, 21 miles to an inch. GREECE.— Scale, 15 miles to an inch. ITALY (NORTH).— Scale, 20 miles to an inch. ITALY (SOUTH).— Scale, 20 miles to an inch. NETHERLANDS and BELGIUM.— Scale, 13 miles to an inch. RUSSIA and POLAND.— Scale, 90 miles to an inch. RUSSIA-ACQUISITIONS of RUSSIA.-Scale, 160 miles to an inch. SPAIN and PORTUGAL —Scale, 30 miles to an inch. SWEDEN and NORWAY —Scale, 35 miles to an inch. SWITZERLAND.— Scale, lOi miles to an inch. TURKEY in EUROPE.— Scale, 40 miles to an inch. ASIATIC ARCHIPELAGO.— Scale, 170 miles to an inch. CENTRAL ASIA— Scale, 100 miles to an inch ; size, 21 inches by 14£. CHINA.— Scale, 90 miles to an inch. BURMAH.— Scale, 24 miles to an inch. BURMAH and COCHIN CHINA.-Scale 72 miles to an inch. AFRICA.— Scale, 260 miles to an inch. EGYPT.— Scale, 26 miles to an inch. WEST INDIA ISLANDS.-Scale, 90 miles to an inch. TRINIDAD.— Scale, about 4 miles to an inch. PERU and BOLIVIA.— Scale, 80 miles to an inch. NORTH POLE.— Scale, 350 miles to an inch. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. MAPS. 1 3 GEOLOGICAL MAPS. BRITISH ISLES. — GEOLOGICAL MAP of the BRITISH ISLES. By Professor A. C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., Director-General of the Geologi- cal Surveys of the United Kingdom. Scale, 11 ^ miles to an inch ; size, 50 inches by 58. Price, mounted on rollers, varnished, 42s. ENGLAND and WALES. By Andrew C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., and G.S., Director-General of the Geological Surveys of Great Britain and Ireland, and Professor of Geology at the Royal School of Mines. This Map shows all the Railways, Roads, &c, and when mounted in case folds into a convenient pocket size, making an excellent Travelling Map. Scale, 12 miles to an inch ; size, 36 inches by 42. Fourth Edition, with Corrections and Additions. Price, in sheet, £1 : 5s. ; mounted on linen, in case, £1 : 10s. ; or on roller, varnished, £1 : 12s. ENGLAND and WALES. Showing the Inland Navigation, Rail- ways, Roads, Minerals, &c. By J. Arrowsmith. Scale, 18 miles to an inch ; size, 22 inches by 26. One sheet, 12s.; mounted, in case, 15s. SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND.— GEOLOGICAL MODEL of the SOUTH-EAST of ENGLAND and Part of France ; including the Weald and the Bas Boulonnais. By William Topley, F.G.S., Geological Sur- vey of England and Wales, and J. B. Jordan, Mining Record Office. Scale, 4 miles to an inch horizontal, and 2400 feet to an inch vertical. Coloured and varnished in black frame, to hang up, £5 ; or packed in case for safe transit, £5 : 5s. LONDON and its ENVIRONS. Scale, 1 inch to a mile ; size, 24 inches by 26. Compiled from various authorities by J. B. Jordan, Esq., of the Mining Record Office. Price, folded in cover, 5s.; mounted on linen, in case, 7s. 6d. ; or on roller, varnished, 9s. IRELAND.— A GEOLOGICAL MAP of IRELAND. Founded on the Maps of the Geological Survey of Sir Richard Griffith and of Professor J. Beete Jukes. By Edward Hull, M.A., F.R.S., Director of H.M. Geo- logical Survey of Ireland. Scale, 74 miles to an inch ; size, 31 inches by 38. Price, in sheets, 25s. ; mounted on linen, in case, 30s. ; on rollers, varnished, 32s. SOUTH AFRICA. — GEOLOGICAL SKETCH MAP of SOUTH AFRICA. Compiled by E. J. Dunn from personal observations, com- bined with those of Messrs. A. G. and T. Bain, Wylie, Atherstone, Pinchin, Sutherland, and Button. Scale, 35 miles to an inch ; size, 34 inches by 28. One sheet, 10s. ; mounted in case, 13s. 6d. ; on roller, varnished, 16s. CANADA and the ADJACENT REGIONS, Including Parts of the other BRITISH PROVINCES and of the UNITED STATES. By Sir W. E. Logan, F.R.S., etc., Director of the Geological Survey of Canada. Scale, 25 miles to an inch ; size, 102 inches by 45. On eight sheets, £3 : 10s. ; mounted on linen, on roller, varnished, or in two parts to fold in morocco case, £5 : 5s. NEWFOUNDLAND.— GEOLOGICAL MAP of NEWFOUNDLAND. By Alexander Murray, F.G.S., assisted by James P. Howley, and Drawn by Robert Barlow. Scale, 25 miles to an inch ; size, 26 inches by 26. One sheet, 10s. ; mounted, in case, 12s. 6d. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. 14 SELECTED LIST. STANFORD'S NEW SERIES OF SCHOOL MAPS, Prepared under the direction of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and of the National Society, are patronised by Her Majesy's Government for the Army and Navy Schools, the Commis- sioners of National Education for Ireland, the School Boards of London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Brighton, Bristol, Bradford, Canterbury, Derby, Glasgow, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Leicester, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Nottingham, Oldham, Perth, Scarborough, Stockton, Sunderland, West Bromwich, &c. ; and are used in the chief Educational Establishments of Great Britain and the Colonies. The Series comprises the following Maps, size 58 inches by 50, coloured, mounted, and varnished, each 13s. Eastern Hemisphere. Western Hemisphere. Europe. British Isles. England. London. India. Scotland. Africa. Ireland. North America. Asia. South America. Holy Land. Australasia. Also, size 42 inches by 34, each 9s. Scotland. Ireland. | Australia. | New Zealand. Old Testament. | New Testament. | Acts and Epistles. Journeyings of the Israelites. The British Isles. Size, 75 inches by 90, price 42s. The World in Hemispheres. Size, 102 inches by 90, price 26s. This New Series of Large School Maps has been drawn and engraved with the utmost care, and is constructed upon the principle of combining with geographical accuracy and systematic arrangement the bold outlines and lettering requisite for teaching. STANFORD'S NEW PHYSICAL SERIES OF WALL MAPS, for use in Schools and Colleges. Edited by A. C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., &c, Director-General of the Geological Surveys of the United Kingdom. The series of Orographical Maps has been prepared in order to supply the want long felt in Schools where Physical Geography is taught, of good and reliable scientific Maps ; and that these Maps fulfil those conditions, the favourable reviews of the Educational and Scientific Press sufficiently testify. They are uniform in scale and size with the Political Series already in use, and which has acquired so great a popularity, and will be found as accurate and useful in teaching Physical Geography as the Companion Series has been in Political Geography. The following are ready, size, 50 inches by 58, mounted on rollers and varnished, each 30s. British Isles. I Europe. Asia. I North America. England and Wales. | Africa. South America. Also, size, 34 inches by 42, mounted on rollers and varnished, each 18s. Scotland. I Ireland. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. MAPS. 15 DIAGRAMS OF NATURAL HISTORY. These Diagrams, compiled by the eminent Scientific Men whose names are appended, are drawn with the strictest regard to Nature, and engraved in the best style of art. The Series consists of Eleven Subjects, each arranged so that it may be mounted in one sheet, or be divided into four sections, and folded in the form of a book, thus rendering them available either for Class Exercises or Individual Study. Price of each, mounted on roller and varnished, 6s. ; or folded in book form, 4s. I. CHARACTERISTIC BRITISH FOSSILS. By J. W. Lowry, F.R.G.S. Exhibits nearly 600 of the more prominent forms of Organic remains found in British Strata. II. CHARACTERISTIC BRITISH TERTIARY FOSSILS. By J. W. Lowry, F.R.G.S. This Diagram is similarly arranged to No. 1, and illustrates upwards of 800 specimens of the Tertiary Formation. III. FOSSIL CRUSTACEA. By J. W. Salter, A.L.S., F.G.S., and H. Woodward, F.G.S., F.Z.S. Consisting of about 500 Illustrations of the Orders and Sub-Orders, and showing their Range in Geological time. IV. The VEGETABLE KINGDOM. By A. Henfrey. Arranged according to the Natural System, each Order being illustrated by numer- ous examples of representative species. V. The ORDERS and FAMILIES of MOLLUSCA. By Dr. Woodward. Represented in six classes : Cephalopoda, illustrated by 20 examples ; Gasteropoda, 4 Orders, illustrated by 180 examples ; Pteropoda, illustrated by 18 examples ; Conchifera, illustrated by 158 examples ; Brachiopoda, illustrated by 11 examples ; and Tunicata, illustrated by 20 examples. VI. M YRIAPODA,— ARACHNIDA,— CRUSTACEA, — AN- NELIDA,— and ENTOZOA. By Adam White and Dr. Baird. The numerous Tribes represented under these Orders are illustrated by upwards of 180 examples, including Centipedes, Spiders, Crabs, Sand- hoppers, Sea-mice, Serpulas, Leeches, &c. VII. INSECTS. By Adam White. Contains nearly 250 drawings of the different Orders : Coleoptera ; Euplexoptera ; Orthoptera ; Thysanoptera — Thripidae, &c. ; Neuroptera ; Trichoptera ; Hymenoptera ; Strepsip- tera — Hylecthrus rubis ; Lepidoptera ; Homoptera — Heteroptera ; Dip- tera ; and Aphaniptera. VIII. FISHES. By P. H. Gosse. Showing over 130 of the most con- spicuous types, arranged in their Orders and Families. IX. REPTILIA and AMPHIBIA. By Drs. Bell and Baird. Con- tains 105 figures of the principal typical forms. X. BIRDS. By George Gray. Contains drawings of 236 of the leading illustrative specimens. XI. MAMMALIA. By Dr. Baird. Exhibits 145 of the chief illustra- tions selected from the several Orders. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. CATALOG U ES ISSUED BY EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, S.W. 1. ATLASES and MAPS. — General Catalogue of Atlases and Maps published or sold by Edward Stanford. New Edition. 2. BOOKS. — Selected List of Books published by Edward Stanford. Naval and Military Books, Ordnance Survey Publications, Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, and Meteorological Office Publications, published on account of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 4. LONDON and its ENVIRONS.— Selected List of Maps of London and its Environs, published by Edward Stanford. 5. ORDNANCE MAPS.— Catalogue of the Ordnance Maps, published under the superintendence of Col. Cooke. Price 6d. ; per post 7d. 6. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND. — Catalogue of the Geological Maps, Sections, and Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland, under the Superin- tendence of Andrew C. Ramsay, LL.D., F.R.S., Director-General of the Geological Surveys of the United Kingdom. Price, 6d. ; per post, 7d. 8. ADMIRALTY CHARTS.— Catalogue of Charts, Plans, Views, and Sailing Directions, &c, published by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 224 pp. royal 8vo. Price 7s. ; per post, 7s. 4d. 9. INDIA. — Catalogue of Maps of the British Possessions in India and other parts of Asia, with continuation to the year 1876. Published by order of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council. Post free for Two Penny Stamps. 10. EDUCATIONAL.— Select List of Educational Works, published by Edward Stanford, including those formerly published by Varty and Cox. 11. EDUCATIONAL WORKS and STATIONERY— Stan- ford's Catalogue of School Stationery, Educational Works, Atlases, Maps, and Globes, with Specimens of Copy and Exercise Books, &c. 12. SCHOOL PRIZE BOOKS.— List of Works specially adapted for School Prizes, Awards, and Presentations. 14. BOOKS and MAPS for TOURISTS.— Stanford's Tourist's Catalogue, containing ° List, irrespective of Publisher, of all the best Guide-Books and Maps suitable for the British and Continental Traveller ; with Index Maps to the Government Surveys of England, France, and Switzerland. *** With the exception of those with price affixed, any of the above Cata- logues can be had gratis on Application ; or, per post, for Penny Stamp. EDWARD STANFORD, 55 CHARING CROSS, LONDON. Agent, by Appointment, for the sale of the Ordnance and Geological Survey Maps, the Admiralty Charts, Her Majesty's Stationery Office and India Office Publications, &c. i