The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume XVI, No. 6 [‎379v] (111/232)

684
THE MONTHLY RECORD.
have formed parts of the former kingdom of Yabum. The main trade of the region
consists in the exchange of the cattle and sheep of the north for the kola-nuts of
the south. There is some demand for European articles, and satisfactory results
have followed from the establishment of Government stores at Wa and Gambaga,
at which all payments are made in British currency. In the rainy season the
White Volta would probably be navigable throughout the great part of its course
by stem-wheel steamers, there being apparently only two sets of rapids forming a
bar to navigation. The most important link in the chain of communication from
the coast will be the proposed railway from Accra to Pong on the Volta, but motor
cars, for which 70 miles of suitable road already exists, might prove of much value
as a means of transport. Experimental gardens are needed to test the capability
of the country to produce paying crops. The climate is appreciably better than on
the coast, for though the heat is great in March, April, and May, the air is free from
the oppressive moisture of the more southern districts. The report includes exten
sive vocabularies of the principal languages of the country. The map, which is
based principally on the valuable work of the late Mr. Ferguson, shows the
administrative subdivisions of the territory.
Organization of French Congo. —By a decree dated September 5 last, the
northern territories of French Congo have been formed into an administrative
province entitled Territoire militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad.” This
includes, firstly, the basin of the Kemo, a tributary of the Ubangi; and, secondly,
the basin of the Shari and its affluents (excluding concessions already made), as
well as the countries included within the French sphere by the Anglo-French
conventions of 1898 and 1899, i.e. Bagirmi, Wadai, and Kanem. All these terri
tories are placed under a commissioner, subordinate to the commissioner-general
of hrench Congo. The latter functionary has under his immediate control all the
territory of French Congo not included in the new province.
The Lemaire Expedition. —Captain Lemaire, leader of the Belgian Scien
tific Expedition to the Southern Congo basin, which left the mouth of the Zambezi
in 1898, arrived on September 3 last at the mouth of the Congo, having effected
the twenty-third crossing of Africa hitherto made in a little over two years.
Some additional details respecting the geographical work done along the Congo-
Zambezi watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. , with a map showing the routes followed, are given in the
Movement Geographique for October 21 and 28. Captain Lemaire’s Expedition
from Lofoi, on the Lufira, to Lake Dilolo, was commenced on June 28, 1899, and
on the return journey the watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. was followed with few intermissions from
22° to 2<° E. long, (in part in company with Major Gibbons), being crossed no
fewer than twenty-five times. The most important correction introduced into the
map as regards the position of the watershed The boundary between adjacent drainage basins. is its shifting to the north by more
than a degree between the meridians of 24|° and 254 E. As is pointed out by M.
"Wauters, the stream crossed by Capello and Ivens in 25^°, and taken by them
to be the source of the Lualaba, must in reality bend back towards the Zambezi
system, which thus receives a considerable northward extension. The sources of
the Kapombo (Kabompo) and Lunga (not to be confounded with the Lunga of
Capello) were found by Captain Lemaire to lie in about ll£° S. After tue^eturn
to Lofoi, the expedition made its way by Mpweto to Lake Tanganyika, which was
reached at Baudoinville on April 7 last. During his stay on the shores of the
lake, Captain Lemaire took a series of astronomical observations which confirm the
results gained by Mr. Fergusson, the surveyor attached to Mr. Moore’s expedition.
At Iowa, the shore of the lake has to be shifted 50 kilometres (over 30 miles) to
the west. From Tanganyika the expedition went west to the Congo by the usual
route through the Manyuema country, which was found to be completely pacified.