AFRICAN RIVERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4351, 1 March 1875, Page 3

AFRICAN RIVERS.

j (From the Melbourne Leader.) Africa, the reproach of the geographers, a distinction which it, however, shares with Australia, is year by year, if.not month by month, becoming better known. There are always more than , one expedition in the field pushing their way beyond the boundaries of the previously, known regions. There are now twoior three English exploring parties in the great-lake ..country. Lieutenant Cameron, whep last heard of, was at the south end of the great lake Tanganyika, where he had discovered its outlet. The current of the outflowing stream was small, about a mile and a quarter an hour, and he went only four or five miles down, Ins,further progress being stoppedby floating grass and enormous rushes. He believes that. this stream joins the Lualaba, and !that the Lualaba is the Congo. The evi- , dem?e in favor, of this view is extremely slight. It was Lieutenant Cameron’s intention, in May last,; to trace'down the Lualaba to the western coast. ; The journey would, he estimated, occupy-fifty days, so that he may now be considered overdue ,at the mouth of the Congo.; Mr. Stanley, the leader of- the Press expedition, -is supposed to have left Zanzibar in the middle of November, proceeding towards the Victoria Nyanza lakes, thence to the Albert Nyanza, where some geographical problems await solution. In this, however, he may be forestalled, for Colonel Gordon is already on the ground, with the same object in view. Beyond this point, Mr. Stanley has a roving commission, and he cannot himself tell where next he is likely to be heard from. Before starting for the interior ■he did some good work in exploring the mouth of the river Lufiji,-which appears likely to become a highway for trade, and to offer commanding points for operating against the slave trade.. The recent annexation of Darfur to Egypt will open a new highway to explorers which will not-long remain unused. Lieut. Grandy, who had been sent out by the Congo route to search for Livingstone, sent a report of Ids proceedings to the Geographical Society, and it- was read at the meeting of the 14th, December. It claims for the Congo the distinction of being one of the grandest rivers in the world, but it is navigable for only 110 miles from its mouth.