The New York herald., 1877-11-14
stunIey's Description OF the Great
Luniaba Congo Rivcr-Frank
PocOck's Death.

We are at last enabled to present to the
readers Of the HERALD an accurate descrip-
ton, from the pen OF Henry NJ. Stanley,
of the great river whose course from
Nyangwe to the Atlantic Ocean he has ex-
plored with so much courage, endur-
ance and success. The announcement
of Stanleys arrival on the West Coast
OF Africa awakened in the minds of all stu
dents of geographical science the liveliest
curiosity regarding the details of his Won
derful journey. He was safe, and had
brought with him the secrets Of Central
Africa, the solution Of the mystery
that had SO long baflied explor-
ers and left the geographical features
of half great continent still open
| to speculation. He had won the prize
which Livingstone had sacrificed his lite i'll
striving for, and was, above all living ex-
plorers, tho only one qualified to fill the
blank which still remained open on the map
Of Africa. Therefore geographers and those
interested in the extension Of human knowl-
edge have been impatiently waiting for the
details of his work. the number OF miles
he had travelled, the parallels OF latitude
and the meridans he had crossed, the actual
description of the wonderful river which
has been opened to commerce by his energy
and daring. This long desired information
has at length commenced to arrive, and the
HERALD, whose representative Stanley has
been in all his work of exploration, hastens
to lay it before the people Of America as the
London Daily Telegraph does for the peoples
of Europe.
The letters we print this morning, al-
though only Introductory to the story Of the
great march and canoe voyage from Nyangwe
to the Atlantic, arc yet filed with geographi-
cal information of the highest interest.
They are the authoritative declarations of
the only man who knows on the subject
of the Congo or Lualaba River and
are rich in all that makes such statements
valuable Stanley prefaces his description
of the great river by correcting an erroneous
impression as to the propriety Of calling it
the Congo. He says the territory of Congo
is Of a very limited area and lies southwark
Of the lower section Of the river and
between the ocean and range
Of mountains which border on the
great inland African basin. AS many
names are given to the river from its source
downward as there ore distinct tribes inhab-
iting its banks, and he declares that for
geographical purposes the proper name is
that given it by Livingstone, who first discov-
cred it-that is, the Lualaba. In o carefully
prepared map which he sends with his letters
A.. IS <ha ho IF 41,a 1cxv
sections Of its principal afauents are laid
down, together with the sites Of the two
groups Of cataracts which break its flow
near the Equator, on the twenty-sixth
meridian OF east longitude, and for $50
miles above the Falls Of Yellala, near
the coast The source Of the main
| river lies eastward Of Lake Bang
weolo or Bemba, in about 33 degrees
east longitude, and the lake forms its first
great basin. Livingstone died when ex-
ploring this inland sea, and was convinced
that it formed part Of the lacustrine
system of the Nile Stanley believes that
Livingstone desired to prove it to be
so on account of his religious and
classical regard for the mighty river of
old Egypt, whose lower valley is filed with
relics OF early civilization and biblical asso-
Citations But, although Stanley confesses
to similar desire, he furnishes the evil
dence that Livingstone was in error
and that the Lualaba empties the
drainage waters of eight hundred and sixty
thousand square miles into the Atlantic
Ocean.
The brave old Doctor expressed tho most
decided objection to being made "black
mans meat" in any effort to connect the
Lualaba with the Congo, and therefore
pursued his Nile theory to the end; but,
as Stanley remarks, scientific geogra-
pliers were unable to reconcile the
water volume Of the Lualaba with
any possible affluent Of the Nile. This
flow Stanley establishes by measurements
at Nyangwe to be one hundred and twenty
four thousand cubic feet per sccond--a VOL
ume too enormous to be carried by any
Of the Niles known tributaries from the
westward, even though the Lualaba had
not been actually followed to the Atlantic
Even the natives and Arab merchants at
NyunBwe uiScuSScu eAo couroe VI Inc
Lualaba, and opinion was as much
divided on the subject in that
Central African town, as in the geographical
societies Of Europe and America. But now
| that oil doubts are set at rest forever the
interest centres in the new found river and
the character of the countries it traverses We
will leave to the reader ofStanley letters the
enjoyment of tho information they contain
and simply point out how consistent with
probabilities are the speculations of the
explorer as to the origin of this mighty
stream, which Stanley classes as the ANA
zon of Africa while ranking the Nile with
the Mississippi. He says tho Lualaba
furnishes water enough for three
| Niles. and SUGGESTS TINT its forma-