at night is occasionally very sensible. Clay-slate and various schists are the prevailing rocks, iron-ore abounds, and a wild vine grows bearing blue berries. On April 18th, Lieutenant Le Marinel arrived at Msidi's capital, which at that time had a population of six to nine thousand souls. Having established his companion Legat in a station built to the east of the Lufira, the leader of the expedition returned by a more northerly route to Lusambo, where he arrived on Aug. 11th, together with Mr. Swan, of Mr. Arnot's mission, who had joined his

caravan.

Of the three expeditions despatched in 1891 by the Katanga Company, that led by M. A. Delcommune was the first to reach Bunkeya, Msidi's capital. This expedition left the residence of the Arab" slave-hunter Gonga Lutete, on May 18th, 1891. Its members included Lieutenant Hakansson, Dr. P. Briart, and M. Diederich, a mining engineer. It successively passed through Lupungu's stockade, Moina Goio, and quite a number of Luba "street-villages," one of which had a length of 5 miles. The Lomami was crossed in lat. 7° 31', and on July 19th the expedition arrived at Kilemba Museya's, who is both son and nephew of Cameron's Kasongo Kalombo. After a visit to Lake Moryo, to the north, and to the lake region of Usamba, far to the south, M. Delcommune started for Lake Kasali, which he reached on August 27th. In skirting that lake he passed through Kikonja, where Lieutenant Hakansson and twelve men of the rear-guard were killed by the Baluba. The Lualaba was crossed near the Lovoi confluence, where its volume was 890 cubic feet a second, thus proving it to be inferior to the Luvwo, Eastern Lualaba or Luapula, which in the same month of the following year was found to discharge 1830 cubic feet a second at its outflow from the Mweru.

M. Delcommune, in his subsequent journey to Bunkeya, made his way partly along the valley of the Lufira, partly over the Kibala mountains, and reached Msidi's capital on October 6th, 1891. Msidi, by that time, had become a "lion grown old." He was very desirous that his visitor should assist him in his conflicts with the revolted Basanga; but M. Delcommune very wisely refrained, and prosecuted, instead, the exploratory work with which he had been charged. Having moved to the station on the Lufoi founded by his predecessor, he started in November for the copper mines of Katanga and Ntenke. A very difficult march took him thence to Musima on the upper Lualaba. A fearful famine reigned in the land; the country was absolutely deserted, and his men had to live on mushrooms and wild fruit. Many of them died by the road. At Musima he built boats for a descent of the river-a tedious task, as trees of suitable size were rare in that grass-land. A start was made at length on February 25th, 1892. The river was about 60 yards wide with a volume of only 200 cubic feet a second. It was full of rocks and rapids, which necessitated frequent No. III. MARC I, 1893.]

Q

portages, and ultimately, after having traversed a stretch of smooth water, M. Delcommune found himself stopped by the Nzilo Falls, where the river pours over a wall of rock down into a narrow gorge 1000 feet deep. The leader of the expedition very bravely attempted to overcome this obstacle by dragging his boats overland; but as it took him a month to advance 10 miles, and as an excursion to the Lufupa clearly demonstrated the impracticable nature of the country, he reluctantly gave up his task, and returned to Bunkeya, where he arrived on June 8th, 1892. Finally he turned north-eastward, and joined Captain Joubert at Mrumbi (Baudouinville) on Lake Tanganyika on August 20th. When last heard of M. Delcommune was with Captain Jacques at Albertville, and he intended, notwithstanding the disturbed state of the country, to effect an exploration of the Lukuga River.

The second expedition was led by Captain W. G. Stairs, who was accompanied by Lieutenant Bodson, the Marquis de Bonchamps, and Dr. Moloney. As an account of this expedition will probably shortly be furnished to the Society, we confine ourselves on the present occasion to a few notes. Captain Stairs left Bagamoyo on July 4th, 1891, for Karema, on Lake Tanganyika. He thence crossed the lake to Mrumbi (Captain Joubert's station), and started from that place on October 31st for Bunkeya, following, in the main, the routes first traversed by his predecessors Reichard and Sharpe. On November 19th he crossed the Eastern Lualaba, or Luvwa (“river "), at Ngwena, a place two days' journey below Mpweto's. The river there is 300 yards broad, and quite unnavigable owing to its inconsiderable depth (not exceeding one foot in some places), the rocks which strew its bed, and a number of rapids. Even in the rainy season the river does not rise more than 30 inches. Its wooded islands are occupied by villages.

Captain Stairs arrived at Bunkeya on December 14th. Six days afterwards his companion, Lieutenant Bodson, shot Msidi in self-defence, but was himself shot by one of the attendant chiefs. For nine months past Msidi's ephemeral "Empire" had been a prey to civil war, provoked by the chief's rapacity and oruelty. Many villages had been destroyed, and entire districts abandoned by their inhabitants. The fields had remained untilled, and thousands fell victims to famine. Captain Stairs, immediately after Msidi's death, summoned the chiefs, and they willingly accepted the flag of the Congo State. Mkande Wantu was appointed chief of Bunkeya, but the "Empire" of the Garenganze was a thing of the past; it had not endured even for a single generation! On January 30th, 1892, Captain Bia arrived at Bunkeya, and Captain Stairs, whose health was failing, was thus able to leave for the coast, but he died at Chinde, on June 8th, on the eve of his return to Europe. Captain Bia, the leader of the third expedition, had associated with him Lieutenant Franqui, Lieutenant Derscheid, Dr. Cornet, and Dr. Amerlinck. The Princesse Clementine carried the leader and his

companions from Lusambo to Pania Matumba, Kachich's residence, on the Sankuru, which, above the falls discovered by Dr. Wolf, is known as Lubilash. They then proceeded by land, following the river for about 100 miles, as far as the confluence of the Luembe. The Lubilash is not likely to prove a very serviceable waterway, for it is shallow and fordable throughout. Up to where it receives the Kashimbi it follows a winding course through a broad valley bounded by wooded hills; next follows a wooded savannah, and higher up still the grass-land, with which travellers in Africa are familiar, where trees are found only in the ravines and round the villages. In the north the country had been laid waste by the Arab slave-hunters, but further south the Baluba dwelt in large villages, and cultivated manioc, maize, and bananas. The villages were not stockaded, the natives had but few guns, and were friendly.

The Luembe (Luwembe), which the expedition followed for twelve days as far as Moigonka (3420 feet), takes its course through a fertile valley. It is of considerable depth, in places, but its course is obstructed by rapids. All the villages beyond Moina Mpafu's (where Captain Bia established a "garrison" of three men) are defended by stockades, and this defence is adopted quite as much against the Arabs and Kasongo of Urua, as against neighbours who ought to be friends. A pastoral plateau (4050 feet), abounding in numerous-wooded ravines and stockaded villages, separates the Luembe from the Lomami (3480 feet), which was crossed in boats on December 21st. A low and swampy forest (3720 feet) separates the basins of the Lomami and Lovoi, a tributary of the Western Lualaba. It was at Kahamai, just before reaching the Lovoi, that Captain Bia crossed Cameron's track. The country to the eastward, as far as the Lualaba, is described as a wooded savannah; the villages are stockaded and hidden among trees. The natives are armed with bows, poisoned arrows and javelins, and are in the habit of waylaying caravans. Progress was rendered difficult owing to heavy rains, which flooded the whole of the country.

On January 2nd, 1892, Captain Bia reached Lake Kabele (3740 feet), a backwater of the Lualaba, with which it communicates by four channels which alternately fill and drain it. It is about 8 miles across, and fringed with a papyrus swamp. The Lualaba was reached at Mushimuna (January 19th), but Captain Bia crossed it higher up at Kisambo, where it is about 500 yards wide, with a feeble current and quite navigable up to the Bundwe Falls. Having crossed the Lualaba, Captain Bia went through grass-land to Kibanda (Chivanda) on the Fungwe, and visited the hot spring in the neighbourhood. He then

* Unless there is some gross mistake either in Lieutenant Le Marinel's or Lieutenant Derscheid's latitudes, the latter of whom places Kizinga on Lake Kabele in lat. 8° 52′ S., whilst Lieutenant Le Marinel tells us that he crossed the river in lat. 9° 12′ S, both expeditions must have crossed the Lualaba in the same locality.

crossed over lofty hills, where bamboo forests occupy an extensive area, and ultimately came out upon the plain of Manika, near the Lufira. On January, 1892, he was at Bunkeya.

Dr. Cornet states that the whole of the region traversed, with the exception presently to be stated, is occupied by horizontally-bedded crystalline schists and primary rocks (Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian). Between the Lovoi and the Manika plain the strata are tilted up, and concealed by a superficial deposit of recent age. Eruptive rocks of great variety abound in this disturbed region, and argentiferous ore was discovered.

In June last Captain Bia appears to have started for Lake Bangweolo.

DR. BAUMANN BETWEEN VICTORIA NYANZA AND

TANGANYIKA.

Dr. O. BAUMANN has accomplished a journey which throws considerable light upon the country between lakes Victoria and Tanganyika. Leaving Bukombi, on Smith's Sound, in the beginning of August, he travelled through Uzinja to the Emin Pasha Gulf. He left the Victoria Nyanza at Bukome (2° 48' S.) where Mr. Stokes has a station, and travelled westward through an uninhabited country until he reached Eastern Usui, whose chief, Kasasura, willingly supplied him with provisions, although declining to receive the traveller. Mr. Stokes and several Arabs have stores at the chief's capital. The ivory trade is important, and there is no trade in slaves. The country is intersected by numerous cliff-bound valleys, separated by broad, rolling plateaus, fairly well cultivated. Sorghum, manioc, sweet potatoes, and bananas are grown. The drainage is towards the Urigi Lake. Western Usui, or Uyagoma, is a stony land without perennial rivulets, and water is procured from wells. The inhabitants are Wazinja much mixed with Warundi, and the language of the latter is spoken. The chiefs are Wahuma. On August 28th Dr. Baumann crossed Mr. Stanley's route, and on the following day arrived at the poor village of Yarigimba, the chief of the country. Four days afterwards he reached the Kagera or Ruvuvu River, which separates Usui from Urundi; it was crossed in boats. The Warundi received their visitor with much rejoicing, for they conceived him to be a descendant of their king, Mwezi, who had been killed in battle about a generation ago, and had gone to the moon ("Mwezi "). Northern Urundi is a country of grass-clad mountains, on the slopes of which are built the villages hidden among groves of bananas and of trees with shining leaves, which supply bark

• Mwezi (“Moon ") is mentioned by Burton (Journal, R.G.S., 1859, p. 278).

for making cloth. The narrow valleys are full of running water, of en choked with papyrus swamps. The population is dense. Provisions (pulse, bananas, and cattle) are plentiful, and there are neither beggars nor thieves. The pastoral Watusi (Wahimi) occupy a great part of the country, and domineer over the Warundi. There is also a pariah tribe, the Watwa, who hunt and make earthenware. After a journey of four days through this country, Dr. Baumann, on September 11th, crossed the Akenyaru, also called Nyanza ya Akenyaru, although not a lake, as supposed by Mr. Stanley, but a navigable river, which broadens out occasionally into papyrus swamps. The Nyavarongo (Mworongo of Mr. Stanley) is a tributary of it. The Akenyaru separates Urundi from Ruanda. The character of the country remains the same, but the villages are cleaner and the agricultural products more varied. The people are kinsmen of the Warundi, and, like them, are under the Government of Watusi. Dr. Baumann was invited to pay his respects to King Kigere, who resides at Kizege, a few days to the southeast of the Mfumbiro, but he declined to do so. After four days' march in a westerly direction he once more crossed the Akenyaru, about one day's journey from its source, and re-entered Urundi. The mountains grew loftier, and numerous rivudets take their course through steep valleys in the direction of the Ruvuvu or Kagera. The Warundi were as enthusiastic as before, and their worship extended even to the white donkey of the man whom they supposed had returned from the moon. The Watusi, however, proved hostile, but their attacks on this and subsequent occasions were easily beaten back. Following a wooded mountain range, known as Misozi a Mwezi, or "Mountains of the Moon," which forms the watershed between the Nile and the Rufizi, Dr. Baumann, on September 19th, arrived at the source of the Kagera, which he is inclined to look upon as the true source of the Nile. The Warundi hold this locality sacred. In an ancient wood close by they used to celebrate the funeral rites of the Mwezi, whom they buried upon the summit of the Ganzo Kulu, which rises above the "Mountains of the Moon."

Dr. Baumann rested here one day, and then followed the dividing