The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume X, No. 6 [‎123v] (99/186)

638
THE MONTHLY RECORD.
V
view. M. Brasseur, who has twice extended his term of service in Katanga,
having first reached that country in 1893, hopes, before returning to Europn, to
complete the exploration of the Lubudi, the western tributary of the Lualaba.
Minor explorations have also been carried out recently within the great bend of the
Ubangi, and several tributaries of that stream in this neighbourhood have been
laid down (Mouvement Geoyraphique, No. 38, with map). The principal of these
seems to be the Lua, which, rising, it is thought, in the neighbourhood of the
station of Banzyville, on the upper Ubangi, and flowing across the region com
prised within the bend of that river, may possibly supply a means of communication
towards the upper posts. The chief tribes of this region, which is very populous,
are the Bwaka, the Gobu, and the Banza. Finall 3 r , we may briefly note the journey
lately made to the capital of the Muata Yanvo (Mouvtment Geographique, No.
40) by Lieut. Michaux, the first European to visit the central portion of Lunda
since Dr. Buchner (1878). The present ruler is the nephew of the chief visited by
the German traveller, and his capital is situated on the Luele, a left-bank tributary
of the Sankuru, in about 8 ° S. lat. It is an immense town of 30,000 in
habitants. Lieut. Michaux obtained an audience after some difficulty, and found
the Muata Yanvo friendly disposed.
Explorations in the Cameroons.— The third part of the Mittheiiungen aus
den Deutschen Schutzgebieten for the current year contains an account by Lieut.
Baron von Stein of the discovery of a small lake named Lungasi, dr Ossa, lying to
the north of the lower Sanaga, and connected with it by a narrow tortuous channel.
Ihe point of junction of this with the main river lies a few miles below the Edea
falls, and the idea is entertained by the German officer that the lake may mark the
position of a former course of the Sanaga towards the Cameroons estuary, which
had on other grounds been supposed to have once existed. Proceeding along the
connecting channel, which is deep, but varies in its flow according to the level of
the Sanaga, the traveller, after about 3 miles in a direct line, emerged into the most
open basin of the lake, which afforded a view of great beauty. The northern,,
western and in part the eastern shores are remarkably indented, the tongues of
and which project into the water rising steeply from its surface. Towards the
south-east the shores are low, which, Baron von Stein thinks, may possibly point to
a ormer connection with the Sanaga in this direction. The water-arms which run
owards the north ended in swampy ground overgrown with vegetation, and had
the appearance of having once extended further, but, at the present day at any rate,
there is no open-water route from the Sanaga to the Cameroons in this direction!
. 6 shores of lake are clothed with thick forest, abounding in elephants wild
jugs, antelopes, etc., while the surface is frequented with an unusual variety of
water-birds. The geological formation appeared to be gneiss with a covering of
laterite. Among recent journeys in the interior of the country, that by°the
°? vernor ^ ie Yaunde station and upper Sanaga deserves mention. An
account of it appears in the Deutsches Kolonialblatt for June 15 last. The river
t W h a p S n!l UCk m the f nei S hbourho °d of the Nachtigal falls, and some advance towards
pemng up of the route hence to southern Adamawa was made by the defeat of
was “ slave ' raidin S chief N gila. A colony of Hausas settled at his town
in r br0Ught t0 the Cam eroons, where they were settled
connfr °T' ^ S ovemor was anxious to explore the still unknown
country further east, but was obliged to leave the task to Lieut, von Carnap, who
part heTook 11 - This ° fficer is alread y know “ ^ the
part he took in Dr. Gruner’s expedition in the Togo Hinterland.
ofthe h mn hUngWe Mouiltains ’ German East Africa.-A short description,
of the Uchungwe mountains, situated in Uhehe, to the east of the lesser Ruaha