210 MACQUEEN ON THE GEOGRAPHY [May 9, 1859. 



this to be the source of the Sabact, but it is more probable that it is 

 the main stream of the Kile. 



The Amara, he says, dwell between 2° and 3° N. lat., and have 

 some tribes of copper-coloured people, who dwell near the equator, 

 subject to them. No Mussulman can venture to enter this country.". 



The President introduced Captain Speke to the Meeting, and explained 

 that he had within the last two days only returned from the place to which 

 Mr. Macqueen's paper more particularly had reference ; and could therefore 

 supply some useful information. 



Captain Speke, f.k.g.s., said : After arriving at Zanzibar, we had to wait 

 a considerable time, some months, until the masika, or rainy season, would be 

 over, before we could j^enetrate into the interior. It was generally advised 

 that we should do so. During the interim Captain Burton and myself made 

 a short coast tour, first to Mombas, and then proceeded down the coast to 

 Pangani. Leaving that place, we ascended the Pangani river, and arrived at 

 Chongwe, a small miUtary station belonging to Prince Majid. Here we were 

 supplied with a small escort of Belooch soldiers, who accompanied us across 

 some hills, by an upper route, toFuga, the capital of Usambara, where we were 

 hospitably entertained by King Kimwere, a great despot reigning there. 

 After visiting him for one day, the shortness of our supplies compelled us to 

 retrace our steps by a forced and rapid march, following down close along the 

 banks of the same river until we again arrived at Pangani. Thus ended our 

 initiatory tour in Eastern Africa. The rainy season or masika was spent by 

 us at Zanzibar, in constructing the equipment of a caravan. There is a 

 singular tribe of negroes in the interior of Africa, called Wanyamuezi — the 

 literal translation of which signifies people of the moon. These strange people 

 are professionally voluntary porters : they annually bring down ivory to the 

 coast in barter for themselves, or otherwise for the Arabs. At the close of 

 the rainy season Captain Burton and myself left Zanzibar, with a caravan 

 mustering about eighty men ; having jDreviously sent on some supplies in 

 anticipation of our arrival. Unable to collect a sufiicient caravan for the con- 

 veyance of our kit, we purchased a number of donkeys (about thirty). Thus 

 completed, and with an escort of twelve Belooch soldiers, given us by Prince 

 Majid, we commenced our journey westward, and arrived (by slow degrees 

 travelling over a low alluvial plain, up the course of the Kingani river) at 

 Zungomero, a village situated under the coast range, which struck us as bear- 

 ing a good comparison with the western ghauts of India. We might call this 

 range the Eastern Ghauts of Africa. There we were detained by severe 

 illness a considerable time. Afterwards we crossed these eastern ghauts, the 

 maximum altitude of which I ascertained to be about 6000 feet. On the 

 western side of this longitudinal chain of hills we alighted on an elevated 

 plateau, an almost dead flat, ranging in level from 3000 to 4000 feet above the 

 sea. Here we had cold easterly winds, continuing through the entire year. 

 Proceeding onwards, we arrived at the Tanganyika Lake, called by the Arabs 

 Sea Ujiji, a local name taken from the country on the eastern margin of the 

 lake, whither they go to traffic for ivory and slaves. This lake is in a 

 singular synclinal depression ; I found its elevation to be only 1800 feet ; 

 whereas the surrounding country (the plateau), as I said before, averaged from 

 3000 to 4000 feet. The lake is encircled at its northern extremity by a half- 

 moon shaped range of hills, the height of which I estimated (for I could not 

 reach its summit) to be at least 6000 feet. They may extend to a height much 

 greater than that ; however, we could not take any observations for deter- 

 mining it. After exploring this lake we returned by the former route to 

 Unyanyembe, an Arab depot, situated in latitude 5° south, and about SS*^ 



