The Ethnology and Climatology of Central Africa. 201 
coast-range, running parallel to the Indian Ocean, forms its 
backbone, broken only by the Limpopo, Zambesi, and Juba 
rivers, Kilimanjaro and Kenia being the highest points. 
Another range is found to the west of the Victoria Nyanza, 
Mfumbiro, Ruwenzori, and Gambarabara being the highest 
peaks. This mountain range separates the great river 
systems. The mean elevation of the whole continent is 
greater than that of Europe or Asia, although it does not 
possess such high mountains. Indeed, if an oblique line be 
drawn from Loanda to Suakim, we find that it passes through 
a tableland varying in height from 3000 to 4000 feet. Tothe 
north and west the Nile and Congo drain a third of the con- 
tinent. It is remarkable to notice that the three great rivers 
—the Nile, the Congo, and the Zambesi—almost flow from the 
same spot, so low is the watershed. I may remark in passing 
that the Zambesi drains 750,000 square miles to the east, and 
the Orange River some 400,000 square miles to the west, but 
little of this water flows to the sea. 
The meteorological conditions of the continent are dis- 
tinguished by the regularity of the phenomena of weather, a 
regularity due to its massive form and equatorial position. 
When we examine the map showing the mean annual tem- 
perature, we find that it is very high; between the Tropic of 
Cancer in the north and the Orange River in the south it is 
80° F. And even during the most favourable months in the 
year, February and August, in the north and south respec- 
tively, it is only at high altitudes and in very smali areas that 
a temperature of 60° can be found. Along the coast-line the 
temperature is naturally influenced to some extent by the 
proximity of the ocean, but towards the east the sea has not 
a modifying effect, but increases the temperature by some 5 
to 10 degrees. The highest temperatures in Central Africa 
are to be found in two zones—one to the north of the equator, 
around the sources of the Nile, and the other between Lake 
Tanganyika and the Orange River, in both of which places 
the temperature is over 90° for a great part of the year. With 
regard to winds, the trade winds are the most important; north 
of the equator the prevalent trade winds are from the north- 
east ; south of it, from the south-east, with an intervening 
