Geographical Notes

Abstract

WE regret to learn of the death of Lieutenant Tappenbeck in the Cameroons. He, with Lieutenant Kund, had been doing good work in the Cameroons interior, as they had before done in the Congo region. Lieutenant Kund has returned to Berlin, and has been describing the results of his second journey into the interior. In general, he and his companions followed the same route as on the previous expedition, and were received in quite a friendly way by the natives who had before attacked them. Very interesting observations were made as to the ethnological conditions of the South Cameroons region. A spot was selected for a station, of which the late Lieutenant Tappenbeck was to have been chief. The region is close to the limit of distribution of the Bantus, and there is a considerable variety of ethnological mixtures. Within the limits of the primæval forest, which lies behind the narrow coast stretch, the explorers came upon an almost dwarfish tribe, with yellow skins, hunting in scattered hordes, and building only temporary shelters for themselves. On the plateau, again, the explorers met with a free and friendly population of large, strong, and handsome men, with a well-organized social system. Quite different from the degraded coast people and the decaying forest people, these highland tribes have preserved the original good features of their race; and among them, Lieutenant Kund thinks, the scientific and industrial development of the Cameroons might be carried out.