[To face p. 353
D E B R A Z Z A .
If
CH AP TER X V I
CONGO FRANÇAIS
In which a paean in honour of the great Ogowé explorers is sung by the
Voyager, to which is added a great deal of very congested information
on the geography in general of Congo Français.1
B E F O R E leaving the Ogowé region I must attempt to give
you a general résumé of its geography ; for my own journals
kept, while in it, contain this information in so scattered a
state, that no one save an expert in this bit of Africa would
understand the full bearing of them ; and it would have to be
an enthusiastic expert who would take the trouble of piecing
the information together.
My reason for going into these geographical details at
all, is that I think I may say no region in Africa, certainly
no region of equal importance, is so little known in England.
The history of the exploration of the upper regions of the
Ogowé may be written in the life of one man, that of the
greatest of all West African explorers, M. de Brazza ; and it
is impossible for any one to fail to regard him with the
greatest veneration, when one knows from personal acquaintance
the make of country and the dangerousness of the
native population with which he has had to deal and with
which he still deals, restlessly but wisely pushing always
onwards to expand the territories of the country of his
1 I have used the names of places as they have been published by the
various travellers referred to ; but, owing to the kindness of Mr. R. B. N.
Walker, I have since my return had from him a list of these names
spelt in conformation with the native pronunciation, and, thinking that
they may be valuable to subsequent travellers, I will occasionally append
them in footnotes.