The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1896-01-17

ouracy. There is Spanish globe In the
NATIONAL library at Paris. produced about
1880, which gives, with wonderful approx
nation to the truth, the course Of the
Kongo as discovered by Stanley. The
river issues from lake, flows north, de-
scrlbes large curve to the north Of the
equator, then turns west and southwest to
the Atlantic. There are at least ten diff
ferent maps Of the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries, in various libraries Of
Europe, on which the Kongo Is represent
ed as issuing from a considerable mass
OF water in the far interior, though most
or the geographers of the last century
paced its sources only about 300 miles
inland, and depicted the river as flowing
north for some distance and turning abb
ruptly to the sea.
1t seems perfectly evident that white
travellers, whose names have fallen into
oblivion, crossed or nearly crossed the
continent In the sixteenth century There
Is no doubt also that many centuries be-
fore these forgotten travellers outlined
the course OF the Kongo some Of the larg-
er features of Central Africa We're fairly
well known. Herodotus knew something
ABOUT rnem, and Ptolemy fell but little
snort OF locating accurately the Central
Arrlcan lakes; and yet Central Africa
was almost a perfect blank on the maps
OF fifty years ago.
Livingstone, Stanley and their success
sors nave therefore been engaged in the
main In replacing on The maps features
that In their large aspects were known
before This is perhaps the most conspic-
uous illustration of the fact, now and then
observed in the case of explorers in our
day, that sometimes they bring home in
formation that is good and true, but the
world discreo4rs it, and they may be in
their graves for years before justice is
70 fhnfp -
knowledge.
We are aware that these views as to the
origin Of the sixteenth and seventeenth CEN
tnry maps are not approved by some geog-
raphers who think the maps are based, as
to the lake regions. upon information given
by the ancients, and as to the Kongo basin
upon no data WORTH mentioning. But their
arguments seem to fall to the ground before
the evidence Of the maps themselves. Take,
for instance, the map of equatorial Africa
from the "Atlas Historique" on which DR..
Peters pamphlet is based. 1t has just
been published in the Movement Geog-
raphique 1t is very imperfect, but we
might have derived from it, before Stanley
floated down the Kongo a fair idea Of the
real course of the Kongo to the sea. 1t
gives a far more accurate notion Of the
photography of the southern part of the
Kongo basin than appeared on the large
map of the Kongo in 1885. It shows the
great forest through which Stanley traV-
eled to Albert NyanZa, and places it on
the map with approximate correctness. 1t
says that this forest is inhabited by the
Bake Bake dwarfs Stanley called them
the Tekke Tekke dwarfs. 1t denotes a
large region as inhabited by cannibals, but
places this country too far to the east.
1t gives a better idea Of the real outline Of
Victoria NyanZa than Capt. Speke's map
itself. All this detail is shown about two
degrees too far to the south, but this error
appears throughout, and the relative posi-
ton of the various features is shown with
approximate accuracy.
Not the slightest hint Of nine-tenths Of
this detail is given by the ancient geogra-
piers; and it is inconceivable that this map
could have approached the truth in so
many respects fortuitously. The theory
that the natives themselves supplied this
information to Europeans on or near the
coast seems equally untenable, for we have
overwhelming evidence that their geog-
raphic contribution to the work of explorers
has been Of very slight value.