The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-15 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

In -London, on Monday evening, the Earl of Dutlerin,
K.P., President of the Royal Geographical Society for the
present year, took the chair for the second time since his
election to the presidential chair. The noble Lord, on
entering the theatre of the London University, in which the
meeting was held, was very warmly received.
The usual formal business having been disposed of,
a paper was read by Mr. T. J. Comber on the subject
of an exploration from Mount Cameroons and a
journey through Congo to Makuta. The author's
travels were undertaken in connexion with the
medical missionary work of the Baptist Missionary
Society. He was the first European to visit many of
the places he described situate on the inland
side of the Cameroon Mountains. Among other
discoveries he made was that of an inhabited
island in latitude 445, long. 918. On the Livingstone
river, in another part of Africa, on the Congo, the
Baptist Missionary Society had resolved to establish a
mission and it was this resolution which led him to
San Salvador and Makuta. At Makuta sanitary
arrangements and dress were, he found, superior to
that of the coast towns. The natives he had found
very friendly, and he had no doubt that a groat and
good work would speedily be done among them.
The President called upon Captain Burton, who
said that some years ago when in the district referred
to, and when in this country there existed considerable
excitement on the subject of garotters and their opera-
tions, he offered the authorities of Carneroons to place
a thousand of the worst of these gentlemen on the
mountain 4,000 ft. above the level of the sea. (Laughter.)
It was decided, however, that we ought to consume our
crime at home. (Renewed laughter.) He felt a great in.
in the missionary operations on the Congo. They
were now, as, doubtless, they were all aware, engaged
in an African war, and he remembered that Cetywayo,
the King with whom we were at war, used to say,
"First the missionary, next the consul, then come
army." (Laughter.) When he (Captain Burton) was
in the district referred to by Mr. Comber travelling
was next to impossible. Now, however, that was not
so. He could not get the natives to move. If he had
rum they insisted on drinking it before they set out,
and when they drank it they could not. (Laughter.)
If he did not give it they would not stir a step.
In reply to Mr. Hutchison, of the Church Mission-
ary Society, Captain Burton expressed the opinion
that the society would be quite justified he establishing
a sanitarium on Mount Cameroons, and this opinion
was confirmed by Mr. Comber.
The substance of a paper sent by the late Captain
Patteson to Sir Theophilus Shenstone and communi-
cated by the Foreign Office was then read by Sir
Henry Barkly, late Governor of the Cape Colony. It
said,—
"The Bareangwato territory is now ruled over by the
Chief Khame. Its soil is sand, covered for the most
part with stunted bush. In the winter season it is
badly watered. Of the rivers, only the Limpopo,
Z smbesi, and Zouga, or lake river, run continuously.
There are many small rivers in the interior, which
contain pools, and where water can be procured
by digging. The open country is sparsely in-
habited by Veld people of two classes, the
Bakala and Masarwa. The former enjoy the right
to possess cattle and gardens ; the latter neither.
They are slaves, living on game and roots. Under
the present chief, Khame, their condition is much im-
proved; he does not permit them to be sold. They are
ebtaining guns, indeed, and becoining somewhat
troublesome to their masters. Shoshong, the capital
town, is badly watered by a small source becoming a
sand river in the Kloof. The number of inhabitants
is estimated at 10,000, of whom 2,500 are fighting men,
divided into five regiments commanded by .the
chief's • brothers. A fair proportion of the men
and some of the women are adopting European cos-
tume : the remainder are clothed in the skims of wild
animals. They do not drink spirituous liquors, and
but few smoke. Their means of living are almost en-
tirely derived from the chase. The women cultivate
gardens in the plain. Some advance may be said to
have been made in agriculture, as they have in use
about forty imported ploughs. Several villages are in
the neighbourhood of Shoshong ; and a town, Bamaer-
wapong, especially belonging to Khame, lies about
three days by the waggon north-east of it, well watered,
with good land for cultivation. Baseleca, another town
among the mountains, one day east of Bamaer-
wapong, was formed by refugees. The white inhabit-
ants, traders, and their families have a settlement of
nine stores with other buildings somewhat ad-
vanced on the plain. They number 23 adult males, six
adult females, and 13 children. Khame, Chief of the
Barnaugwato, is about 40 years of age, tall, active,
earnest, and quiet in manner, brave, gentlemanly in
bearing, said to be a sincere Christian, anxiods to
elevate his people, and realizing that the best means
of doing so is by a more intimate connexion with the
English people. He has one wife and four children;
the eldest boy is about ten years of age. His history
is chequered. The eldest sop of Setchome, he came)
early under the teaching of the, missionaries, second-
ing that of his tnether, who was a remarkable
woman, not professing Christianity, still with en-
lightened views as to progress, social life, and its
duties. All bear witness to the just manner in which
Khame rules, to his great consideration for his people,
, and to his fearletti administration of justice irrespec-
tive of colour. According to native law, all property
is vested in the chief, who grants permission to build
and guarantees undisturbed residence to all the
tradbris as long as the laws are eomplied with, but
will not permit such buildings 'to be sold." Sir
Henry Barkly, haying read the abstract of the paper,
expressed his opinion as the eesult of the inquiries that
-had been made that the death of the intrepid explorer
—Capeain Patterson—whose loss the society had so
. much ieltion to lament—and of his brave conaphhione

was due to accident or natural causes, and that opinion
was shared, after careful invatigation' by air Bartle
Frere.• Sir Henry then conveyed the thanks of the
meeting to the author of the first and the reader of the
second paper.
Lord Dufferin then proceeded to express his regret
at being compelled, in consequence of his appoint.
ment as Ambassador at St. Petersburg, to resign the
presidency of the Society, which had been so recently
conferred upon him, and concluded by saying that "he
had the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that when
at length he might return to find a seat on those
benches there would be fewer among the number of
their explorers who would have had a longer expe-
rience of an Arctic climate than himself." (Laughter
and applause.)