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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