4th. About nine o'clock A.м. arrive at Gari-n-maiyaki, a large walled place in the plain. 5th. About the same time reach Baki-n-kogí, a small village situated on a river which unites with the Kaduna. 6th. About ten o'clock reach Gorji, a large walled town with a considerable market, lying upon a hill over the river called Baki-n-kogí, but identical with the Kaduna. Much tobacco. Ledé is 4 days' journey from Gorji. Going from the E. towards Raba :-Jangaru, Gorji, Akăre, Yakâji, Jemâgu, Rafi-n-kădâ (with many crocodiles), Makera, Bakánne (one of the most considerable places), Mákua, Raba. Coming from the N.:-Tshédia, Daba, Karofi, Gotomeji, Búllada, Jéngi (the native town of Sultan Masaba), Raba. Going S. from Raba :-Lemú, Za (situated in the river Egga). 2. Mozambique to Lake Nyassi. Earlier than I expected I have been forced to return from my journey to Adamaua, Mohammed Loél, the governor of that region, having suspected my objects in exploring his country. At Yola a prospect opened to me of alluring magnitude. I there met a very amiable Arab, Sherif Mohammed ben Ahmedu, a native of Mokha in Yeman, who had travelled all over the eastern shores of the African continent, from Jard Hafún as far down as Sofála, and had penetrated from Mozambique to Lake Nyassi, and who, being well acquainted with the English, declared himself ready, for a sum of 300 dollars, to be paid at Zanzibar, to penetrate with me across the continent in the direction of that magnificent lake. Nyassi being the great centre of the commerce of an immense part of Central Africa, I am sure we should have to go scarcely a month's journey from Baia in that direction, before we fell in with the frequented road to that market. I must satisfy myself, however, with giving you my friend's itinerary from Mozambique to Nyassi, which, as far as I know, is quite new. I should have been able to give many corrections for that part of the continent, if the order of the governor had not driven me away from Yola. But I entertain strong hopes to see my Sheríf again. Itinerary. 1st day. Sleep in Sembe, the landing-place on the coast after having crossed the channel. 2nd. Mesoka, a place paying tribute to the Portuguese, and on friendly terms with them. 4th. Muguru, the first place of the Mókkua or Mákua, with a governor of the name of Mosir. All the houses are of gesh. 6th. Encamp on the banks of the Mezizima, a small rivulet, but containing water at all seasons of the year. The whole country is flat. 8th. Inati, a large place of the Mókkua (with a governor of the name of Namakoma), situated at the southern foot of a mountain, which is visible at four days' distance. 10th. Encamp at a part, full of trees, on the banks of the river Lori, which, though not navigable, is of considerable size. 14th. After a four days' journey through a level country, reach, in the evening of the fourth day, Marabázi, a pretty village of the Mókkua, situated on the river. 15th. Between one and two o'clock P.M. arrive at Méto, the residence of Malia, the powerful chief of the Mókkua, situated in a valley enclosed by low mountain ranges. The country is hilly, but cultivated. 16th. After a journey of about 8 hours, pass the night. 18th. Sleep on the banks of a river enclosed by rocky heights. 21st. Sleep in a village situated at the foot of a large mountain, after having on the second day passed a rivulet running towards the sea, like all the abovementioned watercourses. 22nd. Sleep on the banks of the river Luvúma, containing water at all seasons of the year. 23rd. Between one and two o'clock P.M. enter the territory dependent on the tribe of the Mohiau, commencing at the village Mokoiyaiha, situated beyond a chain of almost isolated mountains. Beyond this village, where you pass the night, the entire country is cultivated. 26th. After about 2 hours' journey, enter the mountains (all the country, on the 24th and 25th days, being flat), and reach a village of the Mohiau, called Murinde, situated at the foot of a mountain. 28th. Arrive on the banks of the rivulet Lyyinde, issuing from a lake called Killúa and joining the Luvúma. Both days the country passed is flat. 29th. Chánia, a settlement of the Mohiau. 30th. Enter a large mountain-chain, containing numerous springs; and sleep in a village situated in the midst of the mountains. 31st. Reach Menímam, a small village situated beyond the mountains, on a rivulet running E. 32nd. Sleep in a village situated in another mountain-chain, after having, about noon, passed a broad ancient road which has the appearance of a dry watercourse, and which avoids the mountains and runs from S. to N. This road, respecting which my informant was quite full of astonishment, and which is the common talk of the people of all the country round, as being a monument of former ages, is called Mulíla. 33rd. A steep descent from the village where the last night was passed brings you about noon down to the shore of Lake Nyassi. You sleep in the village of Moála, where a market is held, though the great market-place of Nyassi is Ngómbo, 3 days N. of Moála. A white rock rises in the lake not far from Moálá. In crossing the lake from Ngómbo to its western side, where the capital of the sultan of Nyassi is situated, you pass one night on an island. The lake neither rises nor falls at any season of the year. My informant thinks it most probable that the Nile takes its origin from this lake, though he did not visit its northern part. To the W., or rather to the W.N.W., of Nyassi, he heard of another extensive lake, called Timbáze, distant about a month's journey. XVIII.—The Limpopo, its Origin, Course, and Tributaries. By Mr. THOMAS BAINES. Read January 9, 1854. On the northern side of the Vaal river, dividing the waters that flow into it from those that swell the streams to the northward, lies a tract of high land, from 60 to 100 miles in breadth. The northern side of this high land is called the Witte Water's Raandt; and farther west, where the Mariqua rises, it is named the Zwart Ruggens. Opposite to the Witte Water's Raandt, and nearly parallel to it, is the Magálie's-berg, or Cashan Mountains, leaving a valley of 6 or 7 miles in width, and 60 or 80 in length, between them. Out of the Raandt springs the Oori or Krokodil river, forming the main source of the Limpopo, which, after traversing the valley, passes through a neck in the Magálie's-berg, within mile of the dwelling of the late Andries Pretorius, the commandant of the Dutch emigrant boers. On the western side it receives through other necks or poorts in the mountain, the waters of the Masuquaána, near which, on the N. side of the mountain, stands the village of Rustenberg and the Klikling or Eland river. To the N. of this, in about 25° S. latitude, lies Pilan's-berg, with the kraal of the chief, from whom it is named, under its eastern face. Near the junction of the Masuquaána with the Oori, or as it may now be called the Limpopo, the combined streams pass through the Fly-poort at the southern extremity of the Waterberg, or Mural Mountains of Captain Harris. The river then taking a N. or N.N.E. course, receives the Mariqua; the Notuang; the Malaphi; the Luitzanie; the Zoquiene, a small brackish river; the Paqua; the Macloutse, a large river disappearing at intervals in the sand; and the Shash or Shazie. The main stream turns gradually more eastward, and from this point runs directly towards the rising sun in June or mid-winter. What course it takes afterwards I am unable to say; but that it does not run into Delagoa Bay seems, from the testimony of Mr. Coqui, who has crossed the sources of all the rivers flowing into that bay, tolerably certain. From the high land between the Macloutse and the Shash, Mr. M'Cabe informed me that to the W.N.W. appeared a mountainrange, dim and indistinct in the blue distance; but his hunters, though they rode 50 miles or more in that direction, were obliged to return for want of water. To the S.E. and across the Limpopo, were seen the Blue-berg; and farther E., the point of Zoutpan'sberg, the residence of the old commandant, Hendrik Potgieter. Let us now take up the stream again at its source, and enumerate its tributaries on the eastern side. One of these, the Jeukskei, or Yoke-key river, so named from a broken yoke's key having been found on its bank, possesses an interest, from the probability of its having been the hunting-ground of Captain Harris, and the key possibly a memento of one of the mishaps occasioned by his mutinous waggon-driver. Farther E. are the Apie and the Pienaar rivers, which, after passing through the Magálie's-berg by the Wonderboom and Derde poorts, join the Limpopo near the Fly-poort. From thence VOL. XXIV. the Waterberg stretches about N.E.; and under its southern side is a warm-bath or spring, where the Dutch assemble to hear service, on the periodical visits of their minister. From the N.W. side of the mountain flow the Baclapatre or Maclapatre, the Tlalla, the Palhalla or Rhoebok river, and the Magàliquaine. On the eastern side of the Waterberg, as before mentioned, and on the southern face of the Zoutpan's-berg, lie the fort and village of the old commandant, Hendrik Potgieter. Between the latter mountain and the Blue-berg is the residence of a tribe of Kafirs, said to retain many of the customs of the Mahometan religion, and on that account called by the Dutch, Zlámzie (Islám's) Kafirs; and to the N. of this is the drift by which the boer's commando crossed the Limpopo for the purpose of attacking Moselikatse, who occupies the regions to the northward, and who, threatened with the vengeance of the surrounding tribes, is checked in his progress northward by a large river, over which the natives refuse to ferry him. Returning again to the Magálie's-berg, we take the northeastern road, and crossing the Eland and Elephant rivers, both running to the N., cross the Magniet's-hoogte, the rocks of which possess so powerful a magnetic property that particles of dust and small stones adhere to the tires of the waggon-wheels. Mr. Coqui gave me a piece, weighing about 2 lbs., capable of lifting a nail or knife blade, and possessing in addition, a decided polarity. A few miles beyond, Origstadt appears in a deep valley, and a wilderness of rugged mountain scenery. To the northward the Elephant river, having received the waters of the Eland river, flows to the N.E., under the name of the Pellulah or Lipalula, and is supposed to join the Limpopo, after passing through the Drakensberg. From Origstadt the road continues to the eastward till it reaches the Drakensberg, a mountain-range, which, rising near Natal, stretches parallel with the coast to an unknown distance northward. The descent of this mountain- for it only shows a steep face towards the sea-occupies an entire day; and after crossing the Manice, the Omquinie, and the Tamati rivers (all of which rise in the Drakensberg, and can therefore have no connection with the Limpopo) a broad open country, thinly sprinkled with bush, and covered with all kinds of wild animals, presents itself; a spring of clear water and a forest are also found here. The Mattol, a broad, marshy, sluggish river, has next to be crossed near the point where it joins the Bay of Delagoa. The usual outspanning-place is on the beach, in front of a tongue of sand, on which stands the fort and village, containing about twenty miserable huts, of Lorenzo Marques. To the eastward of the fort the Manice falls into the bay, having 8 fathoms at its mouth, and 2 at about 40 miles up, to which distance some of the smaller slave schooners proceed for the purpose of receiving their cargoes from the great dealer in human beings in those regions, the Kafir chief, Manekos, who holds the country to the eastward of the river. A nearer route than that last mentioned leads from Delagoa Bay to Origstadt, across the Tamatie, the Omquinie, and the Manice, near their junction, where they form a large and sluggish sheet of water, most probably that seen by Louis Triechardt some twenty years ago. Canoes are used by the natives there; and the boers think of settling the country under the Drakensberg, where it is proposed, in consequence of the unhealthy situation of the old town, to build another, to be called Liebenburg, or New Origstadt. XIX.-Explorations into the Interior of Africa. Extracted from Communications received from Lieut. - Col. STEELE, F.R.G.S.; Read June 12, 1854. Town of Sekeletu, Linyanti, 20th September, 1853. MY DEAR COLONEL,-As soon as I could procure people willing to risk a journey through the country lately the scene of the gallant deeds of the Boers, I left Kuruman; and my companions being aware of certain wrathful fulminations uttered by General Piet Scholtz to deter me from again visiting the little strip of country which the Republicans fancy lies between Magaliesberg and Jerusalem, our progress was pretty quick till we entered lat. 19°, at a place that I have marked on my map as the Fever Ponds. Here the whole party, except a Bakwain lad and myself, was laid prostrate by fever. He managed the oxen and I the hospital, until, through the goodness of God, the state of the invalids permitted us again to move northwards. I did not follow our old path, but from Kamakama travelled on the magnetic meridian (N.N.W.), in order to avoid the tsetze (fly). This new path brought us into a densely wooded country, where the grass was from 8 to 10 feet high. The greater leafiness of the trees showed we were in a moist climate, and we were most agreeably surprised by the presence of vines growing luxuriantly, and yielding clusters of dark purple grapes. The seeds, as large as split peas and very astringent, leave but little room for pulp, though the grape itself is of good size. The Bakwain lad now became ill; but, by the aid of two Bushmen, we continued to make some progress. I was both driver |