Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 10.djvu/583

Rh, in the sepulchre of the Necropolis of Saggarale, of the fifth dynasty, upon which two pygmies are represented, having the features of Dr. Schweinfurth's Akka. He says the pygmies of antiquity were natives of Pun, which he indentifies with the modern Somali country. The Phœnicians came from Pun, and were not an Asiatic race, and near them dwelt a race of dwarfs called Bess, who still exist in the Somali country."

The district of Akem, in the north portion of Ashantee, has recently been visited. The country is fertile, heavily wooded, well watered, and highly auriferous. "The climate is humid throughout the year; the men are capable of undergoing great fatigue, but are incorrigibly idle, and the women do all the work. Among the men he found an extraordinary growth or enlargement of the cheek-bones under the eyes. It is in the form of horns on each side of the nose, and so long that in some instances the man had to squint violently to see at all. The growth begins in childhood. The skin is not broken, but stretches over the horns like a glove. This phenomenon he thought peculiar to the tribe in Akem, as he did not find it in any other. Photographs of these horned men, it is said, have recently been received in England."

The circumnavigation of the Mwutan Nizigi (Albert Nyanza) is the important event of the year in Africa, establishing the connection between this lake and the Nile. It appears that the White Nile is navigable the whole way from Dufli to the lake, a distance of 164 miles. About 100 miles from Dufli there is a large branch of the river, extending north-northeast in the direction of the Nyam-Nyams. The country east of the lake has also been explored, and a chain of military posts established from Gondokoro to both Mwutan Nizigi and the Ukerewe (Victoria Nyanza). The Somerset River was reached, and a station established at Masuidi, the capital of Unyora. The Somerset Nile, which connects the two lakes, is navigable from Mwutan Nizigi to Murchison's Falls; but from there to the Karuma Rapids it abounds in swift water, having a fall of 700 feet between Murchison's Falls and Foueira.

Mr. Stanley, after exploring Lake Ukerewe, crossed the country of Unyora to the Mwutan Nizigi, reaching that lake at a point where a deep gulf (Beatrice Gulf), formed by a promontory called Unsongora, runs out for thirty miles in a southwesterly direction. The position of his camp on the lake is 31° 24' 30" east longitude, and 25' north latitude. The country of Unyora extends along the eastern shore; that on the south shore is called Ruanda. On the west, opposite Gulf Beatrice, is Ukonju, peopled by cannibals, and the farther western shore to the north is the country of Ulegga. The people of the south and southwestern shores were very hostile. Stanley followed up the course of the Kitangule River, the main feeder of Lake Ukerewe, and circumnavigated Lake Windermere of Speke; and afterward, on