The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-01-09
The Congo.

u - TIA VI
The Congo, unlike most other great
rivers, has no delta When, BY its
own laLors of erosion of deposition, its
actual channel shall be so ar obstruct-
ed rs to make fresh means of exit de-
sirable, they will no doubt he found,
and the excavation of such auxiliary
branches is even suspected to have al
ready begun. But at present it dis
charges into the sea by a single, un-
broken estuary, seven ana one-half
miles across, IN which sounding line
of 200 fathoms does. not everywhere
touch bottom, and a current runs of
five TO seven knots an hour. The
enormous volume OF tire outflow may,
from these data, be imperfectly est
mated; and, in point of fact, the Con-
go. although osermat-hed as regards
the length of its course by more than
one rival stream. stands second only to
the Anna on for the unvarying cQpious-
ness Of its waters. Captain; Burton
places at the surprising hyare of 1t
least 2,500.OO0 cubic feet per second the
volume of water borne by it,. and the
admitted and sober estimate is 2,OOl.-
0s6. : Nowsthe mississippi, xhen %at-
the height of its March flood, car
ries down no more than l,5OO,-
900; it sinks in November to
22s,OOo, and It's mean dis
charge is 675, 900 cubic fest q second;
while the Ganges has less than third
of the contents Of the giant stze1Mp 81
North America. Moreover, the Congo
never runs low. It swells, indeed. and
sinks, rs the rainy and dry seasons sue.
coed each other. but within krelS ttyely
narrow range of oscillation, Such ex-
treme Inequalities as are observed in,
the Nile and Niger are here partially
compensated by the alternating periods
of Hents drawing their stores from
opposite sides of the equator. At Boz
ma, accordingly. the difference between
the levels of the river in January, when
it is lowest, does not exceed four or
five feet, though higher up, in the mar
rows, it may amount to twelve. or eyen
sixteen. This noble stream was first
made known to Europe through the
enterprise of . hardy Portuguese navl-
gator. Dogo Cam, commissioned by
,ioao Ii. to extend the scope and on.
nance the glory of his reign by mari
time discovery reached its mouth in
1884, and planted, IN token of Portu-
guese supremacy. an inscribed coll
umn on its southern shore,
The river (Which has borne as
many names as the Moon god
dessj hence became knewn as the Rio
do Padrao. or River of the Pillar. But
in q chart of 1913 the name of the
..Congo'' (Rio do Manicongo) APP
peared. and has prevailed. 1t was de-
rived from the then powerful and we'll
organized native kingdom of Congo,
miami Congo signifies liking" of
Congo since disintegrated into null
titude OF sordid chieftainships. through
which the stream flowed to the sea.
The. euphonious appeliation of the
- aire'L-a corruption of the 10 III
title Mad, ..rIver''-was first used by
De Barros in his decades. Q552,)
and was consecrsted BY the verse Of
Camoens:
.Alli O mui erande RENO esta de Congo,
"a ce8vortid0'a fe d. hFietos-s--
Por OF d I, o Zaire pas a cl tro iongo.
X relOs an los nunca visto.
Within the last few years Mr.. Stanley
has endeavored. but without success,
to associate the Congo with the name
and eminent services Of Livingstone;
while in its higher reaches-a striking
testimony to the narrow circumscrip-
ton Of tribal horizons lis uatis dHsik-
nations rival in number and arc fre-
auently borrowed from those of 1t
tributaries. Edis6argh Review.
Bears, wildcats, coons and deer il