St. Paul daily globe., 1885-06-30
THE CONGO VALLEY.

In MS new DOCK on Cn6 congo valley, anu
which is being published in eight languages.
Mr.. HENRY M. STANLEY shows that the
Congo is over three thousand miles in
length, its lower course being navigable for
distance of 110 miles. At Stanley falls
the river carves its way through a plateau
1,511 feet above the level of the ocean. He
says that Sin curving course of !, ,06S miles
from east to west, and from % miles north
of the equator to deg. 13 min. north and
down to deg. II min. south of the equator,
across nine degrees of longitude the slope
of the descent has been four inches to the
mile.Y The superficial area drained by the
various tributaries ''is 1,O90, 900 square
statute miles, into which we have direct
navigable access by steam of $3.50 miles"
''This," he adds, ''by passing one rapid, we
may increase to over six thousand miles.
The wealth of Equatorial Africa lies in this
section" The population of Nyam-Nyam
country alone he estimates to be 1000, 900.
Among the vegetable growths are
the oil palms, each yielding an
nually from five hundred to one
thousand nuts; the gum of the India
rubber plant in immense profusion; white
gum copal and other species useful for var
nishes; vast extents of forests veiled with
the Orchilla moss and vegetables producing
fibres fit for the manufacture of paper, rope
and grass cloths.
The Congo in volume Is equal to the Nile,
the Zambezi and the Niger together but ut
terly barren of classic association. "There
is mighty breadth of living water slowly
moving toward the sea-" the explorer at
one point writes, ''but 1 can detect no boat,
large or small. Over all the vast area of
land, visible upland and plain, see no as
piring dome or chimney, nor even the like
ness of a human structure. Not even a
column Of smoke threads through the silent
air to suggest the thought that 1 am not
alone. All is Nature, large, ample, un-
touched and apparently unvisited by man."
Even the brilliant African skies seem to
have lent relief to the scene. For as we
read ''African sunshine always appears to
me, with all its great heat, to be kind of
superior moonlight, judging from its effects
on scenery. Its effect is a chill austerity-
an indescribable solemnity, repelling I'M
sociability."
/ Speaking of the climate Mr. STANLEY says:
T'"Ih he mean of highest observation Of tenn
perature is only 900 Fahrenheit, while the
mean of the lowest is 81 .. Clad in clothes
suitable for work, a European could perform
as much work on the Congo as he could in
England, provided roof or awning was
above his head. The heat of the sun on a
clear day rises from 100 to lis which is
naturally dangerous if a person stands still
and exposes himself to it," Under this
torrid heat the European not trained by ex-
perience in the tropics to guard agaiast fatal
alterations of bodily temperature will evi-
IDENTIFY be an easy prey to the climate. Mr..
STANLEY describes the case of a new set
tier, who, having been under sun heat of
lis >, arrives at cool place where the
thermometer registers ~ Q. Here he rests
and regales himself with the comparatively
cool breeze, but only to find that the effect
of the change is followed by fever, which
may soon lay him low.