Volume Ii Part 13 (2/2)

With respect to the exploration of the upper stream, these pages, compared with the records of the ”First Congo Expedition,” will show the many changes which time has brought with it, and will suggest the steps most likely to forward the traveller's views.

At some period to come explorers will follow the line chosen by the unfortunate Tuckey; but the effects of the slave-trade must have pa.s.sed away before that march can be made without much obstruction. When Lieutenant Grandy did me the honour of asking my advice, I suggested that he might avoid great delay and excessive outlay by ”turning” the obstacle and by engaging ”Cabindas” instead of Sierra Leone men. At the Royal Geographical Society (Dec. 14th, 1874) he thus recorded his decision: ”For the guidance of future travellers in the Congo country, I would suggest that all the carriers be engaged at Sierra Leone, where any number can be obtained for 1s. 3d. a day. From my experience of them I can safely say they will be found to answer every requirement, and the employment of them would render an expedition entirely independent of the natives, who, by their cowardice and constant desertion, entailed upon us such heavy expenses and serious delays. My conviction, after nearly four years of travel upon the West African coast, is this: if Sierra Leone men be used, they must be mixed with Cabindas and with Congoese ”carregadores,” registered in presence of the Portuguese authorities at S. Paulo de Loanda.

I conclude with the hope that the great Nzadi, one of the n.o.blest, and still the least known of the four princ.i.p.al African arteries, will no longer be permitted to flow through the White Blot, a region unexplored and blank to geography as at the time of its creation, and that my labours may contribute something, however small, to clear the way for the more fortunate explorer.

Appendix

I.

METEORLOGICAL

Instruments used for alt.i.tudes:-- Pocket aneroid, corrected +0.55, ”R.G.S”

Casella's Alpine Sympiesometer, corrected to 67 (F.).

N.B.-- Returning to Fernando Po, found that part of the liquid has lodged in upper bulb, and therefore corrected index error by standard aneroid 1.15 (Symp. = 29.258, and standard, 30.400).

Observations at the Congo mouth in February, 1863 (from log of H.M.S. ”Griffon”).

Thermometer Barometer Winds Place Engine in sea. Force & Direction Room. A.M. P.M.

86 76 29.90 (1) S.E. (1) N.N.W. Loanda.

92 77 29.92 (1) S.W. (2) W.N.W. En route to Congo.

108 76 29.90 (1) S. (3) S.S.W. En route to Congo.

86 78 29.90 (2) S. (3) W. En route to Congo.

88 78 29.90 (2) S.W. (2) S.S.W. En route to Congo.

94 80 29.90 (2) S.E. (2) S.W. En route to Congo.

90 83 29.90 (2) S. (2-3)S. Congo.

90 80 29.90 (0) Calm (1) W. Congo.

(Signed) F. F. Flynne, a.s.sistant-Surgeon in Charge.

Place and Date. Time of Day. Thermometer. Symp. Remarks.

9th September 6 a.m. 65 28.00 cor. 29.12 Cold morning, light wind from N.N.E., Banza nokki 9 a.m. 72 27.70 cor. 28.82 threatened rain, 8 a.m.; noon misty, on hills above Noon. 78 27.90 cor. 29.02 day hazy; 3 p.m., sun hot, wind cooler river 3 p.m. 80.5 27.85 cor. 28.97 from west; evening, stiff sea-breeze, 6 p.m. 72 27.90 cor. 29.02 people complain of cold; night, heavy dew.

10th Sept. 6 a.m. 67 27.90 cor. 29.02 Misty morning, warm at 9 a.m., wind; noon, Same place, 9 a.m. 75 27.75 cor. 28.87 hot sun, high sea-breeze; 3 p.m., hot Nokki. Noon. 83 27.85 cor. 28.97 sun, cool west wind; cloudy evening; 3 p.m. 85 27.75 cor. 28.87 windy night, dew cold and heavy.

6 p.m. 74 27.85 cor. 28.97 Alt.i.tude of Nokki above sea, 1,430 feet.

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