AN AFRICAN EXPLORER.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1279, 7 November 1911, Page 4

AN AFRICAN EXPLORER.

* VISIT OF DR. KARL KUtfM. FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE. To-day Dr. Karl Kunim, F.R.G.S., will arrive from the south, where ho has been lecturing on the Sudan. Dr. Kunim is a distinguished traveller and explorer, and lias been called tho Livingstone of tho North, lie was sent out to Africa on an exploring expedition, aud n-.ado many valuable disoovcries in Southern and Western Sudan. In doing so he crossed the Continent of Africa from tho Niger to the Nile. He is one of tho first Englishmen to have achieved such a feat. Where a few million people wero suppossd to live it was found that the population numbered from 70,000,000 to 80,000,(K)0, Dr. Kumm was 60 impressed with tlie.-e poopjo that on returning to England lie ollert'd himself as a missionary, and greatly assisted in founding tho Sudan United Mission, whoso aim is to better the conditions of those blacks, and savo them from the inlluonco of Mohammedan prophets. Dr. Karl lvuiiim's remarkable journey from the Niger to the Nile has achieved several results v.'hich may exercise a permanent effect upon tho future of savago Africa. There are still for influenco largo areas in which slave raiding in its most gruesome aspects is practised without check, l'lie topographical results of the expedition can bo better appreciated ii i ' ,avc ' K ' cll examined bv tho oval Geographical Society, but the fact that tlicv havo marked out a new routo across tho Sudan alone gives them suflieie.nt importance. The traveller's experiences appear lo havo been as arduous as they wero pictnre-sque. / fom Northern Nigeria, the chief field of operations of the Missionary Society with which he is associated, Dr. Kumm passed into German territory—the hintei"land of the Kamcrim Colonv—a,nd t.houco into the Shari division of tho French Congo. It is in his progress from this point until he reached the Anglo-EgTpt-lan outposts in tho Bahr-01-Ghazal—that is, m central stages of his journey—that the geographical interest of Dr. Jiumm's expedition is mainly found. Lieut. Bovd Alexander, pn his great march from tlio Niger to the Nilo a few years ago, ascended the Shari basin and its southern limits,, and afterwards passed eastward along tho Übangi, tho great northern tributary of the Congo River. Mr. Savage Laiidor, on his journey acrow widest Africa in tho reverse direction, also ma<io his way to tho Übangi from the Bahr-el-Chazal, and thence descended the Shari basin. Thus in both cases a glance at tho map will show that the routes of tho-o travellers made fl big dip to tho south. Dr. Kumnv's routo between Lako Chad i«nd tho' Nile is also indented southwards, bpt not to tho same extent. He seems to have pushed up to the valley of one of the eastern tributaries of the Shari, made his way across Dar Runga to tho south . of tbe Wadai proper, and then continued castw\nds to the Coupo-Nile watershed, striking across the rivers which run southwards to tho Übangi. On existing maps the features of (his country are sketehed ill, only in the vaguest possible, manner, and in this section of his journey Dr. ICumm may bo credited with pioneer explorations, lie had to ba content with laying down his route from prismatic compass observations. But even the simplest maps, based oa accurate observations, bcconi6 of value in rotation lo a country wliich is practically unknown, and it has to be remembered that tho geographical results of an expedition aro not confined to tho ninps which tlio traveller brings homo witli him. The information oollccted by Dr. Kunun about the physical characteristics of tho country through which his journey extended and about the tribes which he encountered ought to form an interesting addition to knowledge of the conditions in the remote intorior ol' Africa. For tho rost, Dr. Kumm had a very largo following, and the difficulty of obtaining food supplies reduecd ono and all to tho [joint of starvation. That only one man died before relief was found at a frontier station 111 the Sudan is a striking testimony to Dr. Kunim's powers of management and leadership.