The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-02-04
ACROSS AFRICA.
The Important Discoveries Lieutenant Cameron
Has Made.

The letters of Lieut.. Cameron, which
were read before the Royal Geograph-
ical Society on the 18th inst, were not
so clear and ineligible as could be
wished, but they are certainly of great
interest. As is well known, it was Cam
eron's original intention to descend the
Lualaba to the coast. When, however,
he arrived at Nyangwe, the most north
ly point reached by Livingstone, he was
unable to procure canoes, and was
forced to abandon his intended route.
He thereupon proceeded, first, in a
southerly direction, and for a part of
the way through the valley of the Lo-
name, until he reached the head waters
Zambeze, in longitude % deg, latitude
IL deg, and from thence he marched to
the west coast of Benguela, by way of
Bihe, following the general direction of
Magyar's route, as it was suggested by
these columns that he would probably
do. The entire distance travelled by
Cameron on foot is estimated at 1858
miles, and the number and accuracy of
his astronomical observations, taken, as
they were, in the most difficult circum-
stances, have amazed his scientific coun-
trymen.
The geographical discoveries made in
the course of this unequaled march are
of very great importance. Cameron
found that the Lualaba at Nyangwe
flowed in a westerly instead of a north
erly direction, as reported by Living
stcne, and that its height above the sea
is only 1, 400 feet. As this is 923 feet
below the level of the Albert Lake, and
500 feet below the level of the Nile at
Gondokoro, there is no longer any pos
sibility that the Lualaba flows into the
Albert Lake, Or has any connection
whatever with the Nile. Its identity
with the Congo has, therefore, been
proved by Cameron's surveying instru-
ments as conclusively as it could have
been had he descended the river to its
mouth--a journey which would really
have been of less value to geographers
than that which he actually made.
Cameron's explorations west of Liv-
ingstone's Lualaba have rendered it
probable that the Lomame flows from
Livingstone's conjectural Lake Lincoln,
but have overthrown the theory that it
is the West Lulaba, discovered by the
Pombeiros, precisely where they asserted
that they crossed it, and he moreover
ascertained that it is larger and more
important than Livingstone's Lualaba-
The latter's imaginative map must,
therefore, be again revised. The Lua-
laba of the Pomberios must no longer
be confounded with the Lomame, and it
must be regarded as the true Lualaba or
Upper Congo, of which Livingstone's
smaller Lualaba is tributary. Of course
this is not very ineligible except to
those who have Livingstone's map be-
fore them, but it is important, not only
as a contribution to African geography,
but also ss a new confirmation of the
value of the early Portuguese explora-
tions, which have been so arbitrarily
discredited, and unjustly ridiculed by
English geographers.
Another discovery of remarkable in
terest made by Cameron is that of Lake
Mohrya, on which he found lake villages
such as those which existed in Switzer-
land prior to historic times. Hitherto
our knowledge of the ancient lake
dwellers has been TO a great extent con-
jectural. 1t has been imagined that
ages had passed away since the last
lake dwelling sank out of sight and
memory. But here in the heart Of
Africa is found a people whose habits
are, no doubt, Identical with those of
the Swiss lake dwellers. 1t is the dis
oovery of a lost page of human history,
and its value to anthropologists can not
be overestimated.
The fact that the sources of the Congo
and Zambeze are so near to one another
that their waters mingle in the rainy
season, is made the occasion of a rather
visionary project by Lieut.. Cameron.
He asserts that canal twenty miles
long, cut through level plain, would
connect the two great rivers and open a
highway for CONNER through the Gen.
ter of Africa, from the Atlantic to the
Indian Ocean. He intiInates that COM
pany with a capital of from one to two
million pounds could cut this canal, and
shave Africa open" in about three years.
1t is quite possible that it would not be
a difficult matter to connect the two
rivers in the manner proposed. 1t
would still, however, be necessary to
make the cataracts of the Congo and
the Zambeze passable by vessels-a task
which the present generation would
hardly venture TO undertake. 1t would
doubtless be less difficult. to connect the
head waters of th' Missouri and Colum-
bia rivers, which are but three miles
apart; but there is hardly money enough
in the whole United States to pay the
cost of rendering such a water route
across the American Continent navi-
gable.
Much as Cameron has accomplished,
he has still left something for Stanley
and other explorers to do. He does not
appear to have personally verified his
assertion that Tanganyika discharges
itself through the Lukuga into tine Lua-
laba The vexed problem of the outlet
of this lake is, therefore, still to be finally
solved. .-HeJO York Times.
WHERE DOES IT ALL COME FROM
Pints and quarts of filthy Catarrh dis
charges Where does it all come from?
The mucous membrane which lines the
chambers of the rose, and its little
glands, are diseased, so that they draw
from the blood its liquid, and exposure
TO the air changes it into corruption.
This life liquid is needed TO build up the
system, but il is extracted. aud the sys-
tenn is weakened by the loss. To cure,
gain flesh and strength by using DR..
Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery, which
also acts directly upon these glands, cor
recting them, and apply DIR. Sage's
Catarrh Remedy with DR.. Pierce's Nasal
Douche, the only method of reaching