Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
page 48 of 206 (23%)
page 48 of 206 (23%)
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M. du Chaillu first proved that the Ogobe was formed by two
forks, the northern, or Rembo Okanda, and the southern, or Rembo Nguye. The former is the more important. Mr. R.S.N. Walker found this stream above the confluence to be from 1,800 to 2,100 feet wide, though half the bed was occupied by bare sand-banks. Higher up, where rocks and rapids interfered with the boat-voyage, the current was considerable, but the breadth diminished to 600 feet. The southern branch (also written Ngunie) was found in Apono Land (S. lat. 2deg.), about the breadth of the Thames at London Bridge, 700 feet. In June the depth was ten to fifteen feet, to which the rainy season added ten. M. du Chaillu also established the facts that the Nazareth river was the northern arm of the Delta, and that the Fernao Vaz anastomosed with the Delta's southern arm. The only pelagic islands off the Gaboon coast are the Brancas, Great and Little; Corisco Island, which we shall presently visit; Great and Little Elobi, called by old travellers Mosquito Islands, probably for "Moucheron," a Dutchman who lost his ship there in 1600. The land about the mouths of the Ogobe is a mass of mangrove swamps, like the Nigerian Delta, which high tides convert into insular ground; these, however, must be considered terra firma in its infancy. The riverine islands of the Gaboon proper will be noticed as we ascend the bed. Pongo-land ignores all such artificial partitions as districts or parishes; the only divisions are the countries occupied by the several tribes. |
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