The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-02-10
Cameron and the Congo.

|
Cameron aud the Congo.
Tho recent journey OF Lieut. LovE1r
CAMERON, of the British navy, across the
continent OF Africa, is rightly regarded rs
an important geographical event. The
question which he was expected to de-
tetmiuc was one OF great interest. The
latest explorations of LIVINGSTONE had
established the existence Of vast lacus-
trne river system in Central Africa, far
south and southwest of the celebrated
Victoria and Albert lakes. which, IL not
the ultimate sources certainly appear u
be the principal feeders of the Nile. The
main stream in this network of lake rivers
was the Lualibi, lowing norihward, ana
separated from the Zlnziblr coast by the
Intervening Tangauyika lake. over three
hundred and nifty miles long, on whose
eastern shore stands the town of Uilji,
famou. In the history OF African explorl-
ton. Vas the Lullabl system connected
With tho Nile This was The question for
! CAMERON.
! IlvINGsroNE thought that it was. lie
/ found the Lullaha river flowing north
! ward at Nvangwe, the norihernm IS. point
/ he was able 70 reach. Il place about two
hundred miles west Of the northern end OF
Lake Tangnnyil.a. lie evidently supposed
that it maintained a northelsterly course
thence until 1t became part of the Nile
itself.
But this viow found little favor among
European geouhphers. Almost withodo
exception thcv were disposed to believe
-.
the upper waters OF the Congo, AMI made
their way into tle Atlantic instead OF the
Mediterranean. In support of this opinion
| they pointed not only to wcll-known geo.
graphical fnct-, but to a curious passage in
LvINGsToNE's own last journals. "Thc
medical education" he wrote ut Unyan-
yembe on Juno r. 1872, "has led me to IA
| continual tendency To suspend the judy
ment. What state OF blesselness il would
have been had | possessed the dead GER
tainty of HE homeopathic persuasion, and
rs soon as | found the Lakes Blngweolo,
Moero and kamolondo, pouring out their
waters down the great central valley, bel
lowed out, Hurrah! Eurcka! aud gone
| home in firm aud honest belief that had
settled it and no mistake. Instead OF that,
am even now not ut all cock-sure' that |
have not been following down what may
after all be the Congo"
To find out, then, whether this great sys-
TEN of drainage was really that OF the
Congo or not, was the main object Of Lieut.
CAMERoN's foot journey of three thousand
miles. He left Ujiji in March, 1874 crossed
the Tanganyika Lake, and marched thence
to Nyangwe, LIvINGsToNE's furthcst
point. Here he made two important dis
coveres. The first was that the surface of
the Luaaba was but fourteen hundred
feet above the sea level ut that place. AS
suming this observation to be correct-and
Lieut.. CAMERON is n trained scientific OBJ
! server-the Lunlaba cannot be an ailiuent
Of the Nile unless it runs NJ hill, for at the
well-known station OF Gondokoro the Nile
is about one hundred aud fifty feet higher
than the Lualaba AT Nyangwe. This is
according to the minimum result obtained
in measuring the altitude of the Milo Mt
Gondokoro. earlier measurements max NJ
the difference fully Ave hundred feet The
second discovery at Nyangwe was that the
Lualaba. Instead of flowing northward be-
You'd the town, rs LIvfNGSrONg suppo ed,
really here turns westward. THIS tended
to support the theory that it belonged to
the system OF the Congo.
Now, If Lieut.. CAMERON had been able
to follow down the course of this great
stream, he could have settled the question
forever. But inhospitable, treachcrous,
and warlillo tribes lay in the way, aud he
was not provided with au armed force by
whose aid ne could overcome them with
fire aud sword. Neither could he obtain
boats for the navigation of the river. Tho
path which he pursued on his march to the
western coast was therefore far TO the
south, much OF ii along what he describes
ms the watershed, from twenty to thirty
miles in width, between the tributaries OF
the Lualaba trending north ward, and tho
mountaineering aflldents OF the Zlm-
best. or the route which he followed,
twelve hundred miles have never before
been tnycrscd. The interior, he writes, is
"mostlya magnificent aud healthy coun-
try of uuspeakable richness" producing,
among other things, coffee, nutmegs, oil
palms, india rubber, copal, sugar cane,
rice, cotton, and wheat and containing
gold, silver, copper, and iron in abundance.
In November last, Lieut. CAMERON ana his
native followers arrived on the west coast
near Benguela, and thence proceeded to
81. Paul de Loanda, in the Portuguese
colony of Angola, whence his two letters
were forwarded to England. The regis
tered observations made during his jour
ney number nearly seven hundred.
On tho occasion OF reading the letters
before the Royal Geographical Society, q
pretty strong opinion was expressed on the
part OF Mr.. KEITH JOHNSTON the we'll
known geographer. to the effect that
] Lieut.. CAMERON had established the iden-