The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-12-13
The Congo River.

Thanks to Stanley's pluck and energy,
the ell-founded belief that Livingstone's
Lualaba was no other than the Congo has
now been fully justified; aud henceforth,
the Congo must rank with the three or
four great rivers of the globe. 1t is to
Africa what the Amazon is to South Amer
ca, the Mississippi to North America, the
Yang tse- Kiang to Asia. 1t certainly ex-
ceeds the Nile in volume, and possibly
also in area of drainage. Rising in the
upland, north of Lake Nyassa, it flows
nOrtherly through the great interior basin
of Africa, until it reaches point about
the second degree of north latitude
Qong. "a deg. E) when it swerves to the
westward, then to the southwestward, I'M
til it approaches the coast. Where Liv-
ingstone was stopped the Lualaba was
noble stream from 1000 to 5000 yards
wide; after making the great bend near
the equator it develops into a still broad
er stream, from two to ten miles wide,
choked with islands. At the cataracts,
where the river breaks through the coast
mountains, the stream narrows to 500
yards or less; then spreads out into a
broad stream from two to four miles
wide, with current flowing about three
miles an hour. The volume of water dis
charged is enormous; Captain Tuckey's
estimate-2, 900, 900 cubic feet minute
is probably not so far from the truth. At
its mouth the Congo is a thousand feet
deep, and the water has been found to be
perfectly fresh nine miles from the coast.
For forty miles out the sea is perceptibly
frcshened by the vast volume of fresh wa
ter poured into it, The tide is felt as far.
as the first cataract, 140 miles up the
river. In its lower course the river
spreads out into extensive swamps COW
cred with mangrove and palm trees.
The first successful explorer of the
lower Congo was Captain Tuckey, who
assembled the river to a considerable dis
lance above the cataracts, when he
was forced to turn back. The belief was
that the Congo drained some large lake
north of the equator, and was continu-
alton of the Niger.
The next to reach the Niger was Cap
tain Hunt, of the British steamer Atecto,
in 1857. Six years later Captain Burton
attained the same point. In 1872 Lieu
tenant Granby's expedition for the relief
of Livingstone assembled still further, but
was recalled in consequence of Living
stones death. Cameron's failure to de-
scend the river is fresh in the memory of
all. He was forced to take a'more south
erly course to the coast by the opposition
of the cannibal tribes, through whose
territory Stanley's progress was contin-
uous battle. The German expedition, un-
der Captain Won Homeyer, which started
in 1875 to explore the lower Congo to
prepare the way for German colonization,
will probably be heard from through
Stanley, when details are heard of his haz-
ardous yet successful journey. One i'm
portant point in connection with the flu
ture of the Congo is already apparent;
Cameron's scheme for the development of
the Great Interior Basin by means of
steam navigation is likely to be long de-
layed. The great cataracts near the
equator, not less than those near the coast,
must ever present serious distractions to
the commercial development of the in
terior.-,ScientJic american.