Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/538

 forth follows to the Lu-Bilash, or Upper Sankuru river. At this point the conventional frontier, drawn across unexplored or little known regions, trends southwards along the Lu-Bilash valley towards its source on the plateau, beyond the Congo-Zambese divide, following the left side of Lake Bangweolo and the Lua-Pula valley to Lake Moero, and thence in a straight line to Cameron Bay, at the south-west extremity of Tanganyika. From this point it runs nearly due north along the west side of Tanganyika and east of Lake Muta-N'zige to 4°N. latitude, which has been adopted as its northern limit, westwards to the U-Banghi river, which, with the right bank of the Congo as far as Manyanga, separates the new state towards the west from the French possessions. Below Manyanga, a tortuous line passing south of the sources of the Niari and its affluents westwards to the coast between Cabinda and Banana, completes the vast periphery of the Congo State, which comprises about half of the fluvial basin, or 780,000 square mikes in superficial extent. But of this vast domain, only a few riverain stations have been occupied, such as Ba-Ngala on the right bank of the Congo in the territory of the Ba-Ngala nation, and Luluaburg, on the Lua-Lua affluent of the Kassai.

The rest of the Congo basin is also distributed amongst European Powers, Germany claiming all that part of East Africa confined north-west and south by Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyassa, from this vast strategic base commanding at once the Upper Nile, Zambese, and Congo basins. France possesses the part of the basin lying between the Upper U-Banghi and Manyanga, while Portugal has officially occupied all the territory watered by the affluents of the Lower Congo and of the Kwango, south of the Free State. The latter power also regards herself as the future "protector" of the Lunda State, as well as of the southern part of the basin not yet distributed amongst the European States. But all the Congo States alike, as well as those in the east draining to the Indian Ocean, between the Zambese and the fifth parallel of north latitude, are declared open to the trade of the world. All flags without distinction of nationality have henceforth free access to the whole seaboard of these territories, as well as to the rivers discharging into the surrounding waters. All differential charges are interdicted in respect of shipping, and all imported merchandise is free of entry and transit dues.

This region, in which the upper affluents forming the Congo descend more than half the fluvial slope from 5,000 to 2,000 feet, had already been visited by Lacerda towards the close of the eighteenth century. But his journey, like those of other Portuguese explorers, attracted little attention, and the country continued to be unknown until revealed to the outer world by Livingstone's memorable expeditions. This pioneer (1869-1878) was succeeded by others, such as Cameron (1874), Giraud (1884), Capello and Ivens (1885), whose itineraries have been connected at various points.