roro south, continue on a south-by-west course, became broken and confused in Southern Kishakka, and were penetrated from the north-west by a wide valley, through which issued into the Kagera a lake-like river called Akanyaru. South-west was seen the course of the Kagera, which, above the confluence of the Akanyaru with it was only a swift-flowing stream of no very great depth or breadth. Such a river I thought might well be created by the drainage of Eastern Urundi and Western Ubba. My attention was drawn from the Kagera to the lake-like stream of Akanyaru, and several natives stated to me while looking towards it that it was an effluent of the Kagera, and that it emptied into the Albert Niyanza. Such an extraordinary statement as this should not be received and transmitted from me to you as a fact without my being able to corroborate it on personal authority. Exploration of the mouth of the Akanyaru proves that the Akanyaru is not an effluent, but is an affluent, of the Kagera. Beyond the mouth of the Akanyaru I dared not go, as the natives of Kishakka on the left bank, and Ugufu on the right bank, are a great deal too wild. I find that the long-legged race inhabiting the countries west of Uganda, Karagwe, and Uui, have a deadly aversion to strangers. The sight even of a strange dog seems sufficient to send them into a mad rage and paroxysms of spear-shaking and bow-bending. They are all kin to the long-legged mortals of Bambireh, who sounded the war-cry at the mere sight of our inoffensive exploring boat floating on the Victoria Lake. They are so dreadfully afraid of losing their cattle, that if one cow dies from sickness the whole country is searched to discover the stranger who has bewitched the animal to death, and, if such a person be found, his life is forfeit to the purblind, small-brained natives. Human beings frequently astonish one another in all countries with their hobbies, and by showing excessive fondness for gold, horses, dogs, cats, clothes, birds, &c., but the love which the Wasongora, Wanyankori, Wa-Ruanda, Wa-Kishakka, Wagufu, Wanyambo, and Watusi, exhibit for their cattle is an extreme, eccentric, and miser-like affection. A stranger might die in any of those countries for lack of one drop of milk. Generous and sweet-tempered as Rumanika proved himself, he never offered me even one teaspoonful during the time I was with him, and, had he given me a can, his people would have torn him limb from limb. From this excessive love for their cattle springs their hostility to strangers, which arises from a dread of evil or fear of danger to the kine. By maintaining a strict quarantine, and a system of exclusiveness, they hope to ward off all evil and sudden disaster. By comparing the information derived from natives of Ubimba, Ugufu, Kishakka, Urundi, and Ruanda, I am able to give you additional details of the source and course of the Kagera River, and I hold out to myself some small hope that in a few months from the present date I may be able to explore from another quarter a tract of country which, hypothetically, I believe contains the fountain-head of this river. Until that period let the following stand for the utmost of our knowledge of it. From a ridge near Mlagata Hot Springs, having an altitude of 6500 feet above the ocean, I obtained a view of the Ufumbiro Mountains, which have a height of about 12,000 feet. This group consists of two sugar-loaf cones and a ridgelike mass, and is situated about 40 geographical miles w.N.w. from Mlagata, forming a barrier at that spot between Mpororo and Ruanda. The course of all the main ridges and valleys from Ruanda to the Victoria Niyanza appears to be south by west. Nay, you may say that from Alexandria to the Nyassa Lake, the central portion of Africa seems to be formed into ridges, deep troughs, basins, or valleys, the length of which is from north by east to south by west, or from north-east to south-west. Regard the course of the Nile from Lake Albert to Alexandria, the position of Lakes Albert, Tanganyika, and Nyassa, as well as the Victoria Lake. Follow the course of the Mokattam range of mountains through Nubia, Abyssinia, Galla, Masai, and Usa gara; trace the plateaux of Masai, Unyamwezi, Urori, Ubisa, south to the Bechuana country, and you will perceive that the general trend of almost all the rivers, lakes, mountains, basins, and plateaux is from north-easterly to south-westerly. On a reduced scale it is even so with all the mountain-ridges and valleys between the Lakes Victoria and Albert. It seems as if the throes which Africa suffered—during that grand convulsion which tore her asunder heaved up these stupendous ridges, and sunk those capacious basins now filled with lengthy and broad expanses of crystal clear water-were keenest and severest about these lake-regions; for here the mountains are higher and the valleys deeper and narrower. We have no longer the wide, billowy plateau, the successive swells of which make travel and exploration tedious, but lines of mountains of enormous frame, separated from each other by deep, narrow valleys, with a hundred geological wonders presented to the view at a glance. From Mlagata Mountain, while looking towards the Ufumbiro cones, there were visible three lofty ridges separated by as many broad valleys. First was the Ishango and Muvari Ridge, west of the Kagera Lake and Valley, and west of this were two ridges, with the valley of Muvari between the two easternmost, and the valley of Ruanda between the two westernmost. The two latter appear to run parallel with each other from east and west of the Ufumbiro Mountains, and shut in the valley of the Ni Nawarango or Nawarongo River, which, rising in the Ufumbiro Mountains, flows south by west between Muvari and Ruanda, and enters the Akanyaru Lake, which is 30 by 20 miles in extent. From the Akanyaru Lake issues the Akanyaru River, between Ugufu and Kishakka, into the Kagera. The Kagera Proper, coming from the south-west, also enters the Akanyaru Lake, but leaves it south of Ugufu, and takes a curve north-easterly between Ugufu and Western Usui. West of Akanyaru I could obtain no certain intelligence. I have heard of another large lake lying west, but what connection it has with the Kagera, or whether it has any, I cannot learn definitely. One says that is an arm of Luta Nzige or Lake Albert, another declares it to be a separate water. Whatever it be, I trust I shall be able to discover at a later period. With the best intentions to prosecute my explorations along the Kagera, I was paralysed by famine in Usui and the hostility of the Warundi, and was therefore obliged to abandon exploration from this side of the Tanganyika. Summing up all the chances remaining for me to do good work without expending vainly my goods and the health and energy left in me, I saw it was useless to sit down and launch invectives against the intractable natives, and that it was far better and more manly to hurry on to other regions, and try Lake Albert by another route from the opposite quarter. You will perceive by this letter that I am now in Western Unyamwezi, about fifteen days' journey from Ujiji. What I propose doing now is to proceed quickly to Ujiji, then explore the Tanganyika in my boat, and from Uzige strike north to the Albert; and, if that road be not open, to cross the Tanganyika and travel north by a circuitous course to effect the exploration of the Albert. It may not be actually necessary to explore that lake, for Gordon or some of his officers may have accomplished the work, but I have no means of knowing whether they have done so or not; it therefore remains for me, if the feat be possible, to circumnavigate it. If it is not, I shall strike out for other regions, and continue exploration elsewhere, until my poverty of goods warns me to return. By the same bearer which conveys this letter to the coast I send four others, which have been kept by me until I had an opportunity to send them. Three, at least, I expected to put in person into the hands of one of Gordon's officers; but it was not fated to be so. From Ujiji I shall send the duplicates of these letters to the coast; and, before I quite leave that port, I expect to possess other geographical items to transmit to you. Gordon Pasha was kind enough to send me a 'Daily Telegraph' of Decem ber 24, 1874, and a ‘Pall Mall Gazette' of the same month, which I received in Uganda just before starting for the Albert Niyanza. In the Daily Telegraph' I saw a short letter from Cameron, dated May 3, 1873, wherein he says he has discovered the outlet of the Tanganyika to be the Lukuga. Cameron has been fortunate and energetic, and deserves credit for the discovery. But he says he has not quite circumnavigated the Tanganyika, because he did not think it worth while, after discovering the Lukuga. It may be, Cameron, by this omission, has left me something to discover in this quarter; but whether or not, the Lady Alice shall not quit the waters of that lake until I have finished the two-thirds left unvisited by me on my first expedition. In the 'Pall Mall Gazette' I read a more startling statement, which deserves from me as flat a contradiction as no doubt it has received from Colonel Grant. The article stated that Colonel Long, of the Egyptain service, had declared that he had just returned from a visit to the King of Uganda, and had discovered to his surprise that Lake Victoria was a body of water about 12 miles in width! Now, I do know it as a fact that Colonel Long, or Long Bey, was in Uganda in July, 1873; but if he states that the Victoria Niyanza is only 12 miles in width, he states what every snub-nosed urchin in Uganda would declare to be most astounding nonsense. The width of 12 miles is what I would give to Murchison Bay-a portion of which is visible from Kibuga, one of the Emperor's capitals. If Monsieur Linant de Bellefonds, of the Egyptian service, who discovered me in Uganda, is now in Europe, he is requested to publish his opinion of Lake Victoria, even from what he saw of it from Usavara. The 'Pall Mall Gazette' adds that it was always the opinion of Captain Burton that Speke had exaggerated the extent of Lake Victoria. Last year I sent you a map of the southern, eastern, northern, and north-west coasts of Lake Victoria. Enclosed in this packet you will find a sketch-map of the southwest coast, with which you may compare Speke's hypothetical outline of the Victoria Lake, and judge for yourselves whether Speke has been guilty of much exaggeration. HENRY M. STANLEY. Anglo-American Expedition Central Africa, MY DEAR PARENTS,-My heart yearns to you and home. It is now one year and five months since I heard a single word from you. I received your letters the day we left the coast. Since then Mr. S. received some papers from Colonel Gordon at Gondokoro in Egypt; and that is all we know about our homes. God only knows what has happened. There is no one knows the Pococks here, or Cookham Woods. I wrote a letter to you and Bill when we arrived in Uganda. Mr. S. was gone to the Sultan. Three months I was left alone with the goods. We were in Uganda five months-a land flowing with milk and honey. We then went to the Albert Niyanza through Unyoro, escorted by 2000 Waganda sent by the Sultan. We thought of seeing some white men at the Albert Niyanza; we reached there and saw the Lake, but had to retreat in great haste. We marched for sixteen days from two o'clock in the morning until sunset-hungry and thirsty, weary, footsore; and when we halted we had no bed, but lay on the ground. I became very sick from fever, which I thought would have carried me off. But my time was not come. On the road we passed a fine mountain crowned with snow, and many beautiful streams feeding the Niyanza. I cannot say anything about the people. All I know, they are bad. They train large dogs to fight like tigers. We left Uganda on January 1, 1876, and returned to Uganda on the 17th. When we reached Uganda the Waganda left us, and we travelled on to Karagwe. We crossed the Kagera River, the main source of the Nile, and VOL. XLVI. Ꭰ drank of its waters. When we reached Karagwe we fell in with some Arabs -a lucky hit. We discovered a lake here 80 miles by 30. There are also hot-water springs near the fall of the Kagera River, the springs, six in number, boiling. We left Karagwe in March for the Wilderness of Nine Days. While we were at Karagwe I visited the King, to show him the boat. He asked me, "Was I English?" I said "Yes." He said, "Speke was English, and he was a good man, so you must be good also." Speke travelled here fifteen years ago; his name is all the rage in Uganda and Karagwe, We are now in the country of Usambera-good people, and plenty of food. We have been nearly a month in the Wilderness, with but little food. An Arab has travelled with us to here; he leaves us here for Unyanyembe, and we go to Ujiji-about one month's march. The Arab will bring our letters to the coast. I hope when we reach Ujiji to find some letters and papers from home. I am sometimes lonely. I have no one to talk to but black people. Although I can talk Swahili nearly as well as English, I can't find anything in their company to amuse me. There is no comfort in this part of the globe-hot sun and cold nights. We have crossed rivers and swamps, up to our waists in mud and water, for days and days. Then, when we reach camp, there is no kind sister to make your bed; but a nigger will throw down a lump of grass as you would to a pig. Then our food is like cattle-food in England. It consists of dried beans and peas, and Matama corn, such as donkeys eat. What would I give now for an old crust such as you give to sailors, or some pudding, properly cooked. But no one knows about that here. If you cannot eat, go without. But, thank God, I enjoy good health. It is now three months since I had fever. I am strong and fat. In some places white men are thought cattle, in another they are great. There are many tribes of fine men, dressed in embogu-bark cloth. Many are naked; many are dressed in skins put about their shoulders. Many have long hair, others plait it in a thousand plaits, with beads sewn on; while the people of Uganda shave all off, and carry two spears and one shield, and the people of Karagwe use bows and arrows, and the people of Usui use one spear with which they spear a man or an ox-they don't throw it-while the people here use guns. F. J. Pocock. III.-Description of the Country and Natives of Port Moresby and Neighbourhood, New Guinea. By OCTAVIUS C. STONE, F.R.G.S. [Read, May 8th, 1876.] IN a short note addressed to the President from Anuapata (Port Moresby), last December,* I gave some account of my experiences in the Peninsula of New Guinea, and stated that, owing to the great difficulty, and at other times utter impossibility, of procuring native carriers or guides, I and my party had been unable to penetrate more than 25 miles inland. I now take the liberty of sending you a more detailed account of my observations, regretting only that, in a geographical point of view, it should not embrace so much of the Peninsula as I had hoped to have seen and been able to describe. * 'Proceedings' R. G. S., vol. xx. p. 266. In a former letter from Somerset I hazarded the opinion that Timor ponies would be eminently suited to insure the success of any lengthened journey into the interior; and having since proved, to my satisfaction, the unreliable character of the natives to act as carriers, that opinion is now strengthened. As a cattlecountry, the immediate neighbourhood of Anuapata is well adapted, and I would now venture to suggest the introduction of goats by any future Expedition proposing temporary location, as being one of the greatest boons it could import next to that of carrying power. They are hardy, breed quickly and plentifully, supplying some of the most nutritious diet for invalids and others. Geographical Features.-When we arrived at Anuapata on the 29th of October, 1875, the hills around presented a barren and parched-up appearance. They jut out into the sea in a succession of low conical mounds, averaging 400 feet high, forming a range on either side of the harbour, and becoming higher the further they recede from it. Their formation is limestone, and mixed with a covering of the poorest soil are fragments of decayed coral, while the sides are strewn with pieces of rock, among which a red translucent sort of flint, called by the natives vesika, is predominant, and also a white non-auriferous quartz. A seam of plumbago runs along the eastern shores of Fairfax Harbour, continuing in a more or less pure condition for a couple of miles, and it is the only metal which I positively know exists. The three villages of Anuapata, Tanapata, and Elevara, containing a total population of nearly 700, are situated on the beach east of the harbour, at a distance of 2 miles from its opening; behind them extends a valley of the same length; while Mount Tapaharti, rising, like the keel of a boat, 750 feet high, closes it in. The sides of all these hills partake of the same barren nature, being partially covered by open forests of gum-trees (Eucalypti), averaging 8 or 10 yards apart, the intervening spaces growing coarse grass, 6 or 8 feet high, which is annually burnt down in the month of September, when it has become dried, like hay, from the excessive droughts and solar heat. Patches of darkfoliaged scrub or jungle usually clothe each mountain gully and ravine, at rare intervals the lower portion of the hill-sides being similarly adorned. These trees are alive with the songs of birds, among which parrots and doves, of various species, are the most common. The hills along the coast must have risen from the sea-level within a comparatively recent epoch, for shells, such as the Chama, Strombus, Cypræa, Conus, Spondylus, Nerita, &c., like those existing in the sea at the present day, are found at a height of no less than 600 feet. The whole country is broken up into hills, mountains, detached chains, and valleys, |