Cerc6 Kil.

Ie! MU ROUN EM CRIE IER (GON OU NIM 1. A VISIT TO THE MoNnBUTTU (1883).

(Written at Ladé, November 1883.)

THE WELLE AND THE KIBALI—A DESCRIPTION OF THE STEPPE—ANCIENT CULTIVATION—WOODED “SINKS” — RESULTS OF DENUDATION — THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MONBUTTU—THE ORIGIN OF THE MUNDU— FOOD—AGRICULTURE—CANNIBALISM—THE “BUSHMEN” OF THIS DIS-TRICT —AKKA ARMS—THE MONBUTTU FORESTS—YANGARA’S PALACE —-TRIBAL MIGRATIONS — THE ELEMENTS WHICH COMPOSE THE MON-BUTTU PEOPLE OF TO-DAY — MONBUTTU WOMEN — ABUNDANCE OF INDIARUBBER — DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS—IRON ORE—OUR RAPID RETURN.

AT noon on the 16th of June 1883, after a long and tiresome march through the grassy waves of the sun-scorched steppe, we stood at last on the brink of the Welle, the large river which rolls its waters towards the west. It is enclosed in steep clayey banks and edged with lofty trees. The breadth of the stream and its freedom from all reeds and from oldriver-channels give a youthful aspect to this “Son of the Mountains.” One could not help wondering whence the mysterious river came and whither it went. Dr. Junker’s extensive and splendid exploring work has left hardly a doubt as to the connexion of the Welle with the Shari, and has been a great step towards the solution of the latter question.* The former, however, remains undecided, the more so as the A-Madi of Légo, whose mountain territory is divided * This doubt appears to be now removed by the discovery of the great tributary of the Congo, the Mobangi, by Mr. Grenfell, and by the latest discoveries of Dr, Junker.—F. R.