1907.] oil Across Widest Africa. 739 



a large disc, as big as a saucer, into the upper lip and occasionally even 

 in both lips. The northern tribes on the Shari go in for this fashion 

 of elongating the lips in a more exaggerated manner than the 

 Mandjia. Quite a number of photographs of these interesting types 

 will be found in " Across Widest Africa." 



I made an incursion into the German Cameroon, where I was 

 hospitably received by German officers. The natives were kept in 

 excellent order, and the country was gradually and sensibly being 

 improved. 



There are a great many interesting questions to investigate regard- 

 ing lake Tchad. They say that lake Tchad is drying up fast, and is 

 likely to disappear altogether. This is not exactly the case. Natur- 

 ally, like all lakes which depend on their supply of water from streams 

 with no outlet into the sea ; in climates where the evaporation is rapid 

 and where the absorption of the soil is considerable ; in a region where 

 the rainy seasons are not alike two years running, it follows as a 

 matter of course that when the rivers flowing into and forming the 

 lake do not carry the same volume of water, the level of the lake 

 cannot always be the same. For several years lake Tchad had actually 

 dried up in the northern portion, so much so that a French officer. 

 Lieutenant Freydenberg, was able to walk on foot from the northern 

 dune right into the centre of the lake, further exploring still on foot 

 tlie north-eastern part of lake Tchad as far as Kulua. 



The two principal rivers bringing water into the Tchad are the 

 Shari river, coming from the south-east, and the Komadugu, coming 

 from the west, the latter flowing into the northern part of the Tchad. 

 The Shari brings the largest volume of water. 



As you are well aware, the growth of reeds and grass and all sorts 

 of water plants in the swampy parts of the Tchad is enormous. This 

 thick vegetation decays and settles at the bottom of the lake. The 

 winds of the desert bring over a great quantity of sand, which settles 

 down at the bottom of the lake, with the decayed vegetable matter, 

 and on the top of it. Therefore the bed of the lake is constantly, and 

 fairly rapidly, raised. In the central portion of the lake we find a 

 regular barrage of grass and mud, forming a number of small islets 

 hardly above water. This barrage extends from east to west of the 

 lake, but south of it we find two large pockets of clear water, which 

 are always kept fairly well filled by the normal supply of water 

 brought by the Shari river. Again, in the north-westerly part of the 

 lake, north of the barrage, we have another pocket of clear water from 

 three to six feet deep, the water of this pocket being supplied by the 

 Komadugu. In the northern part of this pocket we find banks of 

 grass, some islets in course of formation and others already formed 

 and definitely emerged. This region of islets is contained almost 

 entirely north of a second barrage of grass and mud of a similar 

 formation, and almost parallel to the larger one we have found 

 stretching across the lake. In the south-west corner of the lake we 



