CENTRAL AFRICA. 



151 



that M'tesa treacherously procured the assassina- 

 tion of Linant de Bellefonds at the hands of the 

 escort assigned to him by the king himself. The 

 two great lakes are connected by a river which 

 may be regarded as a continuation of the Nile, and 

 which hence gets the name of the Victoria Nile ; 

 but owing to a difference of 450 metres between 

 the altitude of Lake Albert (G70 metres) and that 

 of Lake Victoria (1,120 metres), this river is not 

 navigable. Just below its exit from Napoleon Bay 

 it forms the Ripon Falls and the Isamba Rapids. 

 After receiving an affluent, the Luadcherri, which 

 has its source in a vast swamp, it traverses Lake 

 Ibrahim, discovered by Long in 1874. Farther 

 down it receives the waters of the Kafoor, which 

 flows from the mountains of Uganda, and soon it 

 passes between steep banks. Below the Falls of 

 Karuma it forms eight rapids or cascades within 

 a length of 30 kilometres. Finally, before enter- 

 ing Lake Albert, it has a precipitate fall of 20 

 metres. This fall, known as Murchison Fall, sur- 

 rounded as it is by a luxuriant vegetation, and 

 commanding a view of the beautiful lake as far as 

 the Blue Mountains, forms, says Baker, the most 

 wonderful landscape imaginable. 



There is no longer any doubt that the Victoria 

 N'yanza, and not the Tanganyika, is the upper 

 reservoir of the Nile ; but which one of its many 

 affluents can lay claim to being the true source of 

 that stream ? At one time it was supposed to be 

 the Kadjera, which forms two Alpine lakes, Win- 

 dermere and Akenyara, and which has its origin 

 in the elevated plateau of Uzinza. But now the 

 true source of the Nile is supposed to be the 

 Shimyu, which comes from the south and pours 

 into Speke Gulf, in the southeast corner of Lake 

 Victoria, a volume of water greater than that of 

 the Kadjera. One degree south of the line lies, 

 midway between the two great lakes, the moun- 

 tainous region of Ankori and Ruanda, recently 

 visited by Stanley; it is a remarkable country. 

 The ever-verdant valleys are constantly watered 

 by innumerable torrents, and the peaks of the 

 mountains rise to an elevation of 4,000 or 4,500 

 metres. Here we find the bold crags of the Alps 

 and the beautiful landscapes of the Tyrol beneath 

 the blaze of an equatorial sun ; here are combined 

 the life-giving air of high stations in Europe and 

 the equable climate of the equinoctial zone. Noth- 

 ing more can be desired for sustaining health and 

 the capacity for toil, and hence a population of 

 European origin might easily live and thrive in 

 this climate. 



Just below Lake Albert, in latitude 3° south, 

 lies Lake Tanganyika, discovered in February, 



1858, by Burton and Speke. Like Lake Como, it 

 resembles a great river, its length being 670 kilo- 

 metres, while its width in some places is not over 

 20 or 30, and in no place is it much over 100 

 kilometres. Its area is 37,000 square kilometres, 

 or about half the area of the Victoria N'yanza. 

 Lake Tanganyika is situated in a prolongation of 

 the fissure in which lies Lake Albert, and, inas- 

 much as it is some 150 metres higher than Lake 

 Albert above sea-level, Livingstone and Grant 

 supposed that it emptied into the latter lake, and 

 thus was the true source of the Nile. Tangan- 

 yika is fed by over 100 streams, most of which 

 have a rapid fall as they enter it, owing to the 

 abrupt rise of its shores. In 1871 Living- 

 stone and Stanley carefully inspected the north- 

 ern end of the lake, expecting there to discover 

 the supposed exit of the Nile. But, instead of 

 an outlet, they found a small stream, the Ruzizi, 

 carrying into Tanganyika the waters of Lake 

 Kiro. Thus the problem was solved: it was seen 

 that Tanganyika does not belong to the Nile basin ; 

 but then what becomes of the surplus water of 

 the lake ? This question was settled in 1873 by 

 Cameron. Having surveyed all the bays and af- 

 fluents of Tanganyika, he discovered at about the 

 middle of the western shore a river, the Lukuga, 

 which, instead of entering the lake, forms the 

 exit for its waters. So abundant was the aquatic 

 vegetation in this stream, that he was unable to 

 follow its course in his boat; but, nevertheless, 

 while making his way to Nyangwe, he found that 

 this outlet of the Tanganyika falls into a great 

 river, the Lualaba, which is in all probability iden- 

 tical with the Congo or Zaire. This mighty river is 

 also fed by a number of other lakes situated in 

 the same region, namely, Lake Bangweolo, on 

 whose shore Livingstone met his death, Lake Mo- 

 ero, Lake Kamalondo, Lake Kassali, described by 

 Cameron, Lake Langi, and Lake Sankorra. 



At only a little distance from the southern 

 extremity of Lake Tanganyika, but 200 metres 

 lower, commences Lake Nyassa, which fills the 

 same fissure, for it has much the same breadth 

 and the same north-and-south direction, with 

 a slight bend to the east. Nyassa being only 

 one-half as long as Lake Tanganyika, its area is 

 only about 1,500 square kilometres. It empties 

 into the Zambesi through the Shire, whose course, 

 lying through a mountainous region, is highly 

 diversified. Lake Nyassa, being situated at no 

 great distance from the Mozambique coast, is 

 more accessible than the other lakes. It is on its 

 southern shore that the Scotch Missionary Society 

 have founded their station of Livingstonia, a place 



