Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/815

Rh Z A L Z A M 765 enters the Kassai by two arms, 820 feet and 200 feet in breadth, in 4 17 S. lat. and 20 15 E. long., its bright yellow waters forming a strong contrast with the brown of the larger stream. The Kuango, a fine stream, with its head-waters in the same district as those of the Kassai, flows in a wonderfully straight course north to join that river in 17 30 E. long. It was ascended by Mechow in 1880 as far as the rocky ledge at Kikamshi or Kinganshi ; and, though it is only 3 feet high, the same barrier pre vented the ascent of Grenf ell s steamer in 1887. For 87 miles after receiving the Kassai or Kwa the Congo flows in a deep gorge, between banks sometimes 700 feet high. In 4 5 S. lat. it enters Stanley Pool, an island-studded lake 1147 feet above the sea, expanding southward of the main course of the river. Its rim is &quot; formed by sierras of peaked and picturesque mountains, ranging on the southern side from 1000 feet to 3000 feet in height.&quot; The banks offer considerable variety in character. A striking object on the north bank is the Dover Cliffs, so named by Stanley from their white and glistening appear ance, produced, however, not by chalk but by silver sand, the subsidence of which into the water renders approach to the bank sometimes dangerous. Towards the low r er end of the lake the country on both sides becomes comparatively low and flat, and at places swampy. On the south side, however, stands the great red cliff of Kallina Point (about 50 feet high), so named after an Austrian lieutenant drowned there in 1882. Hound the point rushes a strong current 7-|- knots an hour, difficult to stem even for a steamer. On the river, as it leaves the Pool, are situated (south side) Leopoldville, founded by Stanley in 1881, and Brazzaville, a station established by the French explorer De Brazza. Below Stanley Pool the Congo begins to break through the coast ranges, and forms a long series of rapids and falls, often enclosed between rocky shores, and even cliffs. Among the more important falls are those named Mahmey, Zinga, Ntambo, Uataka, Itunzima, Isan- gila, Ngoma, and Yellala. At Yellala, just above Vivi, the river escapes into the lowlands and is navigable for the rest of its journey to the sea (113 miles). Below Boma (5 48 S. lat.) it widens out and is interrupted by numer ous islands ; but it does not break up into several channels so as to form a delta, though there are various creeks that appear as if they might yet become deltaic outlets. Be tween Banana Point on the north and Shark Point on the south the mouth of the Congo has a width of 7 miles. At Banana Point (at which there is not a vestige of the plant w r hose name it bears) there is fair harbourage for sea-going vessels. Shark Point is also known as Padron Point, from the remains of a stone pillar (padrdo) erected by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cao (visited by Burton, 1863; by Daunett, 1887). The exploration of the Congo system has been accompanied and followed by one of the most remarkable political movements of modern times. On 15th September 1876 the International African Association was constituted, under the presidency of Leopold II., king of the Belgians, for the purpose of devising the best means of opening np equatorial Africa to civilization. Later on (25th Nqvembcr 1878) was founded under the same auspices a Comite d Etudes du Haut Congo, which afterwards became known as the International Association of the Congo. It was as an agent of this association that Mr Stanley undertook his epoch-making ascent of the river in 1879. In September the first permanent station of the association was founded at Vivi ; l in December the second at Jangila ; and in May 1881 the third at Manyanga. The associa tion was recognized as an independent territorial government by the United States in April 1884 and by Germany in November of the same year. An international conference for the regulation of the relations of the new state and the various European Govern ments was held at Berlin under the presidency of Prince Bismarck (15th November 1884-26th February 1885). The permanent neu- 1 See list of stations some of which have been since abandoned in Scot. Ueoijr. Mti j., 1885. trality of the Congo State territory, freedom of commerce in the Congo basin, and the abolition of the slave trade were among the main points established by the plenipotentiaries. In the close of 18S4 and the early part of 1865 the association was recognized by England (16th December 1884), Italy, Austria-Hungary, the Nether lands, France, &c. In April 1885 the Belgian chamber of repre sentatives authorized King Leopo.d to become sovereign of the new state the union between Belgium and the Congo to be purely personal. The total area of the Independent State of the Con^o, as it is officially designated, is estimated at 807,125 square miles, and its population may be about 40,000,000. It has a very limited coast -line, being hemmed in by French territory on the north and by Portuguese territory on the south. The southern limit is a conventional line from Nokki (on the south bank of the river below Vivi) across the continent to Langi Lake ; the northern limit follows the fourth parallel of N. lat. from 17 to 30 E. long. French territory occupies all the north bank of the river from Ngombi (15 E. long.) up to Lukolela. In 1888 the state main tained 146 white officials, and had a force of upwards of 1000 native soldiers (Zanzibaris, Haussas, and Bangalas). It has four steamers on the lower Congo and five on the upper. The value of the commerce is as yet only 560,000, the principal exports being india-rubber, ivory, coffee, palm nuts and oil, copul, and wax. As to the possibility of developing the country into a great consumer of European goods, there has been much and bitter discussion ; at the present stage it is admitted that it has no native product of value in sufficient quantity to pay for a large importation. The river, however, has recently been proved navigable for sea-going vessels as far as the capital, Boma, and no serious difficulties have been met by the engineers engaged in surveying a railway from the lower Congo up to Stanley Pool. See Stanley, The Dark Continent and The Congo ; Johnson, The Congo to Bolobo Thy. An Congo et au Kasai, 1888; Coquithat, Sur le Hunt Congo, 1SS8 ; Wiss- iiiaun, Wolf, (fee., Im Innern Afrikus, Ib88. ZALEUCUS. See LOCRI. ZAMBESI, the most important river on the East Coast of Africa (see vol. i. pi. II.), and the fourth largest on the continent, drains during its course of about 1200 miles an area of 600,000 square miles. Its head-streams, which have not yet been fully explored, are the Leeambye or lambaji, rising in Cazembe s country ; the Lungebungo, which descends from the Mossamba Mountains ; and the Leeba river, from the marshy Lake Dilolo (4740 feet), situated between 10 and 12 S. lat. and 22 and 23 E. long. These three rivers, reinforced by the Nhengo, unite to form the upper Zambesi (Leeambye), which flows at first southwards and slightly eastwards through the Barotse valley, then turns prominently to the east near its junction with the Chobe (Chuando or Linianti), and passes over the Victoria Falls. Thence, as the middle reach of the Zambesi, the river sweeps north-east towards Zumbo and the Kebrabassa rapids above Tete, and finally forms the lower Zambesi, which curves southwards until it reaches the Indian Ocean at 18 50 S. lat. Fed chiefly from the highland country which stretches from Lake Nyassa to inner Angola, its chief tributaries are the Loangwa and the Shire, the last an important river draining out of Lake Nyassa, and which in the dry season contains probably as great a volume of water as the Zambesi, and is much more navigable. Except for an interruption of 70 miles at the Murchison cataracts, the Shire is open throughout its en tire length to the lake. On the whole the Zambesi has a gentle current, and flows through a succession of wide fertile valleys and richly wooded plains ; but, owing to the terrace-like structure of the continent, the course of the river is in terrupted from point to point by cataracts and rapids. These form serious, and in some cases insurmountable, hindrances to navigation. Those on the lower Zambesi begin with its delta. The bar here was long held to be impassable, except to vessels of the shallowest draught ; but the difficulty was exaggerated partly through ignorance and partly in the interests of the Portuguese settlement of Quilimane, which, before the merits of the Kongone entrance were understood, had been already established on the Qua-qua river, 60 miles to the north. The Zambesi is now known to have four mouths, the Milambe to the