CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE GEOGRAPHY
OF AFRICA.

[We have been favoured by Mr. JAMES M'QUEEN with the following original information on the subject of African Discovery, which cannot fail to prove interesting to our readers.]-EDITOR.

AFRICA NEAR THE TROPIC OF CAPRICORN.

SOME very interesting particulars of the interior of Africa about two degrees to the North of the Tropic of Capricorn, and nearly in the meridian of 26 degrees East of Greenwich, have been communicated by the Rev. Mr. Livingston, who visited that quarter early in 1843. Passing over his journey from the Kuruman northwards to the Bakawini or Baquaina country, which had become known to us by the journeys of the Rev. Mr. Campbell and Mr. Moffat, we commence with that part of his journey north from the latter country, which is nearly under the Southern Tropic, to the westward of the Limpopo, and to the northwest of the Marikwa Rivers. His route lay near the eastern confines of the northern part of the Kalaharie Desert.

Mr. Livingston states, and states truly, that he has in that portion of Africa been "much further into the interior than any other European." He estimates the distance travelled both ways at about 400 miles, which is probably over-estimated, as he performed the whole in twenty-six days. This part of his journey he accomplished riding on the back of an ox, as waggons could not travel through a portion of the country where his route lay. During the whole journey, he slept on the ground with no other covering but a great-coat, but never caught cold, the climate being dry, mild, and salubrious. The atmosphere, he says, is exceedingly dry. There is no dew, and it seldom rains, and invalids going from unhealthy places to this quarter quickly recover their health. He visited the Bamangwato, Bakaa, and Makalaka, and many villages of the poor outlawed Bakalahari. Some of their villages are far in the desert; no waggon can approach them. They are terribly oppressed by other Bechuana tribes, by several of whom they are considered inferior beings. Their wants, he says, are wonderfully supplied. Their food consists of from forty to fifty different species of fruits, and thirty kinds of roots, all of which are tolerably palatable. They also feed much on locusts and wild honey. They are, he says, more attentive to instruction than any of the other tribes.

The Bakaa, or Bakka, dwell on a range of hills, situated in about 22 20 South latitude, and between the upper sources of the north-west branches of the Limpopo on the south, and the Sekame River on the north. (See Macqueen's Map of Southern Africa, 1840.) This tribe, he states, has a bad name amongst the other tribes, but which they probably do not deserve. The Bamangwato lie to the west, or rather to the

south-west, of the Bakaa; and the Makalaka dwell to the north, or rather north-north-west, of the Bakaa, and at no great distance south from the Great Lake. The tribes just mentioned live on the summit of a range of lofty, black basaltic rocks, once the scene of active volcanic operations. When standing on their tops, we see, says Mr. Livingston, in every direction, immense cup-shaped cavities, some of them as large as a London square, and at least 300 feet deep. Their bottoms are covered with vegetation, but their almost perpendicular sides have not yet formed a vegetable mould, while the outside portions of the same, being destitute of vegetation, take the forms of streams running down to the plain below. Some end in a point half-way down the hill; others gain the bottom, and others spread out, just as one may suppose streams of lava do. These rocks are rent and riven in every direction. The huge angular fragments which have slipped down, have, by impinging upon each other, and upon the rocks below, created innumerable cavities. The people belonging to the three tribes above mentioned fly into these cavities from their enemies, the fierce Matabili. They crawl into them on all-fours. A whole village will get into one. While the Matabili are besieging them at one outlet, they have another at a considerable distance, and out of sight, or on an opposite side, from which they issue to draw water, and get wood for cooking, &c. &c. The wild honey on which the Bakalahari feed is frequently found out by a bird that seeks it out, chirping when it is so engaged. Mr. Livingston has

followed one for four or five miles to the place where the honey was found.

"A short distance beyond my furthest point north, there is," says Mr. Livingston, "a fresh-water lake, called Mokkoro, or the Lake of the Boat," on account of the canoes which are found upon it. The banks are level with the water, and the surrounding country flat; hippopotami, alligators, and various kinds of fish, abound in it. Bamboo and other reeds grow on its banks; dangerous fevers prevail on its shores. There is also a fly which is extremely troublesome, and even destructive to cattle, during the dry season, but which disappears as soon as the rains begin to fall. Many nations live upon the banks and trade upon the waters of this lake. They are armed with guns, which they procure from the Portuguese on the East Coast. The lake is represented to be of great extent, and runs first from south-west to north, inclining to the north-west, and afterwards to the north-east. Other accounts represent it as extending in the form of the letter g. The position of this lake will be in about 20° 20′ South latitude, and 24° 30' East longitude, very nearly indeed the position wherein it is placed in Macqueen's Map above mentioned. The accounts of native travellers state, that small rivers run into it from the south-west, and that a considerable river flows from it to the north-east, and which consequently must join the Cuama, about sixty or eighty miles above Zumbo. The Lake Mokkoro is the same sheet of water known by the name of Mampoor, the latter title being, after the African custom, also given to it from a chief of that name, who dwells on its western shores. land in this part must be exceedingly elevated; for Mr. Cook, who visited

The

the country around the sources of the Swakop, Kuasip, and Fish rivers, in longitude 19 and 22° 30′ South latitude, found the thermometer early in December to sink to 30 degrees during the night, and at the same time the east wind is always the most cold and piercing: to the north-east of the lake mentioned, the mountains are covered with snow. This latter gentleman, who visited Walwich Bay, at the mouth of the Swakop River, about four years ago, states in a very positive manner, that to the north of that bay the sea runs a long way into the African Continent. If this is so, it will be very remarkable and important.

The Limpopo and its tributary streams, it may now be considered, certainly terminate in the Indian Ocean, to the South of Chuluwan and Holy Islands. When Mr. Moffat, on his late visit to Moselakatse, was on the banks of the Limpopo, he fell in with a man of the Baquiana tribe, who had been the guide of Dr. Cowan and his colleagues, in their journey from the Cape of Good Hope in order to proceed through the interior to the Portuguese settlements on the East Coast, and who conducted them from his country in a north-easterly direction, until they had crossed a large river which runs eastward to the Indian Ocean, where he left them, they intending to proceed down its banks, and thence to Sofala. This is curious and important, as Captain Owen was informed at Sofala that the travellers alluded to had been murdered about twelve days' journey distant in the interior. Captain William Cook was informed at Quilimane, by a man who had travelled much into the interior to the south-west, that such was the fate of the unfortunate travellers. They had formed a kind of stockade, in order to defend themselves against the hostile attack of a formidable body of natives, but in which they were overpowered and massacred. These facts leave no doubt regarding the fate of these unfortunate travellers, the part of the country nearly in which it took place, and also that the course of the river Limpopo and its tributaries is to the Indian Ocean at the point mentioned, even did not the Delta and streams which through it enter the sea at that place fully establish the fact.

The Bamangwato tribe previously mentioned is noted above the others for industry and wealth. Considerably to the north of them is a tribe named Bamagálalábsile, which seem to be the limits of the unmixed aborigines, as beyond them to the north-east is found a people half white, probably the descendants of some of the early Portuguese settlers from the shores of the Indian Ocean. All the countries to the north and the east of the Baquiana tribe abound with rivers; are hilly, woody, populous, and fruitful.

It is curious, and a proof of their general accuracy, that the early Portuguese African discoverers 'pointedly mention a large lake in the interior, in a direction nearly west from Sofala, and at a distance from the sea, corresponding accurately with the position of the lake Mokkoro.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS-EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA.

The Somalies, who inhabit a large portion of the N. E. Horn of Africa, are fond of claiming their descent from the Arabs, and which they report took place from an intermixture of marriages. From

recent and authentic intelligence, the following facts have been collected regarding this interesting portion of Africa, so well known to, and so much frequented by, the ancient world. The country adjoining Cape Gardafui is exceedingly beautiful, watered by numerous small streams, with an uncommonly fine salubrious climate. A considerable river, especially in the rainy season, enters the sea a little to the eastward of the meridian of 50 degrees of longitude. It takes its rise in high mountains about sixty miles south. This range extends to the westward (in some places its branches approaching very near the sea) along by Hurrur to the sources of the Webbe, until it joins the Shoan mountains in the country of Bulga and the upper part of the Hawash. The principal branch of the Webbe, which word signifies literally a running stream, in contradistinction to the waters of a still lake, rises to the eastward of the province of Gurague, and bends its course southward inclining to the east, in its progress joined by several considerable streams on either hand, until it approaches near Makdishu or Magadoxa, when it bends its course south-west, and is lost in a lake at no great distance from the sea, and about three days' journey north-east of the town of Juba, near the mouth of the Jub. To the eastward of Berbera the mountainous range rises upwards of 5,000 feet, and to the westward of the Mijerthyn hills the great plateau of the Marsangeli range, 6,000 feet high, affords an inexhaustible supply of frankincense. The country to the westward of Cape Halfoon changes its productions, and towards the interior coffee becomes very abundant. The climate in all these parts, especially in the mountainous districts, is most delightful and invigorating, abounding in large game, and lions also are numerous. The countless flocks of sheep which are brought from these interior parts and shipped at Berbera and other ports on that part of the African coast for the different ports in Arabia is truly astonishing. The Banians, who carry on the principal trade in these African ports, travel to the distance of twenty days' journey into the interior for the purposes of trade and the recovery of their health, without the slightest molestation or impediment; and they describe the country as being everywhere delightful and the climate very healthy, while the mountains in the district of Howea and around the sources of the Doara are so elevated that the cold is severely felt. This also is the case in all the districts to the eastward of Gurague, and round the sources of the different branches of the Webbe. A curious and important feature of this portion of Africa is the great valley of Wady Nogal, which extends from Ras el Khyle westward to the foot of the mountainous range near Berbera. This "Happy Valley," as it is called, extends in a straight line between two ranges of mountains. is well watered and very fruitful, and is spoken of in glowing terms by the natives thereof and by all who visit it. The people are described as a peaceful race, who subsist chiefly by the chase and by the sale of ostrich-feathers, myrrh, and honey. In every part of the sea-coasts of this portion of Africa the population express the greatest anxiety for a regular commercial communication with the English.

VOL. VI.—NO. 21. SEPTEMBER, 1845.

It

At Mombas, Mr. Krapf lately met with a native trader well acquainted with the countries to the southward of Gurague, who mentioned distinctly to him the great western branch of the Webbe, which he called Hillewi, and rising and running very nearly in the position laid down in the map lately constructed by Mr. Macqueen. This man also stated that the Webbe joined the Jub, which, after all, the former may do near the mouth of the latter during the rainy season. But if there is anything in this, the rude delineation which he has given would lead us to believe that it is a branch descending from the western side of the Jajan range and flowing into the Jub. Mr. Krapf also pointedly mentions, from different sources of information, that the Jub and the Gochob are one and the same stream, the principal branch passing between Gurague and Gingiro, a short distance to the eastward of the latter place. The Jub is consequently the Zeb or Zebbee of Gregorius and Ludolf, and the confounding of this name with the Kibbee or Gibbee has given rise to much confusion in the geography of this part of Africa. The Kibbee, Gibbee, or Guibbe, as the French call it, is clearly the river Geba, mentioned by Bruce, which traverses the province of Shat, and part of the country of the Djawi Galla. This river in its early course runs to the southward of and nearly in the same direction as the Maleg until it joins the Yabous.

At Brava and other parts of the East Coast, Mr. Krapf was repeatedly informed of the existence of a diminutive race of people in the interior northward of the Equator, and near about where the Dokos are placed in the map. One he saw, a man about thirty years of age, but who was not larger than a youth of twelve or thirteen. He had not an opportunity to examine wheher this diminutive stature proceeded from disease, or that it was really the natural growth. At a place on the coast, he saw two children of about eight or ten years of age, quite white, who had lost their parents, and who, he was informed, came from a great distance in the interior, and from the neighbourhood of a great lake. At first, he considered the colour might be the effect of disease; but after a strict examination, he was satisfied that it was quite natural. Various travellers and traders asserted, that there were white people on the shores of a great lake in the interior; and he was also told that white people came up from the West Coast, principally by water, to that lake. From other information lately received, it is distinctly stated, that a great lake in the interior lies due west, by compass, from the north point of the island of Zanzibar. Mr. Krapf had heard of two lakes, or, what is more probable, the same lake under different names, the one of which he calls Taganika, and the other Bahar Safe; the latter most probably that named Zarahwah in Arrowsmith's map, from which the river Luffia is said to flow. The distance, three and a half months' journey from the coast opposite to Zanzibar to the lake out of which the Luffia is represented to issue, would agree very well with the position of the lake, as given in the map (centre South latitude 4 degrees, and East longitude 33 degrees), when measured by the same scale as that by which the position of the northern part of lake Maravi has been determined, and