AFRICA.
—Among the Belgians no less than six commercial societies have been constituted to explore the Congo.
—The Livingstone Inland Mission has founded a new station at Ngoma's Town, one hundred kilometers up the river from Stanley Pool.
—The merchants of Lisbon have constituted a company for the navigation of the Quanza. They have constructed to this effect in England a steamer, the Serpa Pinto, which was to be delivered in September.
—The Scotch Presbyterian Church have decided to furnish a steamer for the use of the Old Calabar Mission. The young people throughout the church have been requested to take up the matter and secure the money by the time the steamer is ready.
—According to a dispatch from Sierra Leone the Queen of Massah, with the consent of the native chiefs, has authorized the annexation of the neighboring territory of Sherbro to the English possession, which will thus extend without interruption from Sierra Leone to Liberia.
TRAVELING IN AFRICA.
—The fever of speculation reigns at Axim and in the districts of the Golden Coast. From the climate and the conditions of exploration, the working of the mines proceeds slowly. Commander Cameron, director of the West African Goldfields Company, has introduced upon his grant the hydraulic processes employed in California.
—The Journal of Geneva announces that the International African Association is occupied at present in seeking colonists who will receive gratuitously land in the countries of the Congo, of which Stanley has taken possession. It is negotiating to attract the Germans, and already the Prussian journals speak of the creation of a German Consulate.
—Flegel has offered to the African German Society to make a new exploration in a region entirely unknown, which extends to the Congo; or, if they choose, to return toward the west to Mount Cameroon. The Government of the German Empire has granted a sum of 50,000 francs for this exploration. On the other hand, some private individuals of Lagos, where Flegel has resided since his last voyage, have furnished him funds with which to conduct an exploration to the basin of the Niger and to Bénoué, in the advancement of science and commerce.
—Mr. Petersen and Dr. Sims have founded at Stanley Pool a new station for the Livingstone Inland Mission. Dr. Sims very quickly commenced to heal the sick, which gained him the confidence of the natives. These latter do not labor hard enough to produce from their land the provisions necessary for the number of Europeans established at Stanley Pool, and the price of provisions has greatly increased. The steamer, Henry Reed, destined for the Upper Congo was to start out the first of August.