CHAPTER XXVII.
TRAVELING EASTWARD.—MEASURING HEIGHTS.—INSTRUMENTS USED.—REACH MOUAOU-KOMBO.—APPREHENSIONS OF THE PEOPLE.—PALAVER WITH THE CHIEF.—AN UNLUCKY SHOT.—HOSTILITIES COMMENCED.
Several days have passed away since I have left the Pigmies and the village of Niembouai, and I am traveling toward the rising sun. The country is getting more and more mountainous as we advance eastward, the forests are very thick, the jungle is very dense, and many of the trees are of immense size. An apparently perpetual mist shrouds the summit of many of the hills, where it rains almost every day, though on the sea-shore it is the dry season. Village after village of the wild Ashango inhabitants of the country have been passed by us; many are deserted. The people are afraid of me, and do not wish to see me.
Some of the mountains we passed had queer names. One was called Birougou-Bouanga. I remember well Birougou-Bouanga; it was 2574 feet in height.
In order to know the elevation of the country as I traveled along, I had two kinds of instruments with me—aneroids, and an apparatus for ascertaining at what point water boils. The boiling apparatus was a queer-looking instrument, and was a great object of fright to the negroes. The illustration gives you an idea of the instrument. Here is a policeman's lantern; in it is a lamp, and on the top is a kind of kettle in which water is put when to be used. To the kettle is attached by a screw a thermometer, the bulb of which is immersed in the water. A short time after the lamp is lit, the water boils and forces the mercury along the tube; then the degrees are read off on the instrument. With this reading entered on the tables which are made for this instrument, the height of the place where you are is obtained.
INSTRUMENTS FOR OBSERVATIONS.
1. Iron Bottle for Quicksilver. 2. Aneroid. 3. Thermometer. 4. Artificial Horizon. 5. Sextant. 6. Glass to measure the cubic inches of Rain. 7. Rain-gauge and Bottle. 8. Policeman's Lantern with Thermometer, a. 9. Brass Tube in which to keep the Thermometer, a.
The aneroid looks very much like a large watch, but having only one hand. The higher you ascend, the lower the reading, on account of the atmospheric pressure. This reading, referred to a table, gives the height, as by boiling water. Any one of you, procuring these instruments when going in the country, can amuse himself when he travels in taking the height of the hills and mountains he passes over.
On my return from the country of the Dwarfs I found improvements in the boiling apparatus, and also in the artificial horizon. There is now a very small artificial horizon, invented by my friend Captain George, of the British Navy, and it is very portable, especially when compared with the old one travelers had to use. It will be a great boon to explorers. I doubt that a more useful and safe one to the traveler can be made. Captain George, I am very happy to say, is the gentleman who taught me how to take astronomical observations, and how to calculate them.