302 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS— AFRICA. [May 23, 1859. 



Aided by the late Colonel Hamerton, our meritorious Consul at 

 Zanzibar, and by Seyd Majid, the second son of the Imaum of 

 Muscat, now the Prince of Zanzibar, the travellers made an 

 experimental journey from that place on the coast to Fuga in the 

 mountain country of Usambara. In tbeir last and great expedition 

 they again proceeded from Zanzibar. Their party consisted of 

 twelve Beloochees furnished by the kindness of the Sultan, some 

 negroes who had been slaves, and asses for the transport of goods 

 and for riding. Passing over the delta and low hilly country 

 called M'rima, they entered the mountainous coast range at about 

 120 miles from the coast. This range, which rises to a maximum 

 altitude of 6,000 feet, with a width of about 90 miles, is chiefly 

 composed of sandstone and crystalline rocks, the true character of 

 which will be ascertained when Captain Burton's specimens arrive. 



Descending from the coast range to the great interior plateau 

 land, at a lower level, and travelling over some poor lands, they 

 reached a rich country in which knolls or bosses of granite and 

 basalt rise up like rocks in an ocean. This country is exclusively 

 peopled by negroes, none of whom are Mahomedans, as are the 

 Somaulis and trading Arabs of the coast. 



Like the Negroes described by Livingstone, they have no special 

 religion, trusting solely to good and evil spirits. Such of them 

 as have sultans are on the whole peaceable, fire-arms being 

 rare among them. Their country produces cotton, tobacco, maize, 

 sweet potatoes, a great variety of pulses, manioc, yams, plantains, 

 and melons : they manufacture iron, cotton fabrics, have abundance 

 of cows and goats, and live in comparative comfort. 



From Kaze, in Unyanyembe, a spot where the Arab traders have 

 established a sort of mart, and where articles from the coast are 

 bartered for ivory and slaves, the travellers moved westerly until 

 they reached the long inland mass of water trending from S. to N., 

 which has been styled Uniamesi and Ujiji, but the real name of 

 which is Tanganyika. 



This lake was found to be 1,800 feet only above the sea, or about 

 half the average height of the plateau land west of the coast range. 

 It has a length of about 300 and a breadth of from 30 to 40 miles. 



This great internal mass of water was determined to be an insu- 

 lated depression into which streams flow on all sides. It was 

 crossed by Speke in the centre, and navigated conjointly with 

 Burton to near its northern end , where it is subtended by mountains 

 which were estimated to have a height of from 6,000 to 7,000 feet 



