Abstract
THE report published by Lieut, von Nimptsch, of the German army, gives some very interesting details of the journey he made with Herr Wolff, a traveller in the service of the Congo Free State, and which has resulted in the discovery of a river likely to be of material value to traders with the Congo. The Congo, in its course from the south-east, makes a very wide bend to the north, and then descends again to the Atlantic, a very large tract of country being embraced in this curve. Within this is the River Kassai, which Lieut, von Nimptsch regards as being of even greater importance to commerce than the Congo itself. Describing their journey he says that, as far as Luebu, the Kassai flows through wide plains, well adapted for cultivation and pasturage, and forests of palms and gutta-percha trees. There are many villages on the banks, and the travellers met with great civility in all of them save one, the inhabitants of which fled at their approach. “One tribe,” adds Lieut, von Nimptsch, “was remarkable for its joviality. The natives accompanied the steamer in their canoes, and when we could, organised dances and songs in our honour.” There is a great deal of ivory all along the Kassai, and large pieces of the finest quality were readily given in exchange for empty boxes and tins. They discovered several affluents of the Kassai, and they calculated that they were navigable for a distance of 250 miles. “But the most important affluent,” the report goes on to say, “is that which Herr Wolff explored in the steamer Vorwarts during the months of February and March. He ascended this stream to a distance of 430 leagues from its mouth, and one of its northern affluents brought him to within a week's march of Nyangwe. He might have gone still further had his steamer not met with an accident, for there are no cataracts in this river. All this network of navigable water, extending over more than 3000 miles, is most admirable, and in future it will be possible to travel eastward from the Atlantic, reaching Nyangwé and then Lake Tangyuteka by leaving the Congo at the mouth of the Kassai, without being obliged to ascend the whole of the former stream, thus avoiding the Stanley Falls.”
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Geographical Notes . Nature 34, 226 (1886). https://doi.org/10.1038/034226a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/034226a0