296 



GEOGRAPHICAL PEOGEESS AND DISCO VEEY. 



nous plants, and that they do not require 

 Hindoo mahouts to manage them. Leopold had 

 the Englishman Carter bring four elephants 

 with thirteen mahouts to Zanzibar, where they 

 landed safely in May, 1879. While the ele- 

 phants, which carried a load of five hundred 

 kilos, were making their way through difficult 

 jungles and morasses to Mpwapwa, in company 

 with a train of ninety porters and a guard of 

 soldiers, Captain Popelin, Lieutenant Dutalis, 

 and Dr. Van den Heuvel set out from Zanzibar 

 to join the caravan. Dutalis sickened and re- 

 turned, and, from the first caravan, Eankin, 

 Carter's lieutenant, and several of the mahouts 

 turned back. On September 3d they all set 

 out from Mpwapwa. The caravan reached Ka- 

 rema, having made the quickest journey be- 

 tween the coast and the lake ever accom- 

 plished ; but on the way three of the elephants 

 had died. Whether any one of the deaths was 

 owing to climatic causes or to the hardships 

 of the route is not known. In order to avoid 

 the possible objections to the use of Indian 

 elephants, a station was established at Simba 

 for the purpose of training African elephants 

 for the service. As it takes many years for an 

 elephant to grow large enough to bear a bur- 

 den, the experiment will be a long one. King 

 Leopold bears the expenses, and has ordered 

 trained elephants from India to serve as decoys. 

 Th3 elephants were not poisoned by the tsetse- 

 fly, and, although they winced at first, they soon 

 became indifferent to its bite. At Tabora, 

 Popelin purchased land for a station, and Dr. 

 Van den Heuvel remained to erect the build- 

 ings. The loss of so many of their emissaries 

 impelled the Association to fit out a third ex- 

 pedition, composed of the Belgians Burdo and 

 Eoger, and the Englishman Cadenhead, the lat- 

 ter to assist Carter in the direction of the ele- 

 phants. They left Zanzibar in January, 1880. 

 Burdo succeeded in bringing several asses safe- 

 ly to Mpwapwa, although this animal was sup- 

 posed from former experiments to be too tender 

 to bsar the fatigues and unable to survive the 

 tsetse-bite. In April they reached the station 

 at Tabera. Cadenhead went forward to join 

 Carter. Burdo and Eoger, leaving Tabora in 

 May, were deserted by their carriers, and wait- 

 ed for relief from Karema. Carter and Caden- 

 head, on their march from Tanganyika to the 

 coast, were set upon and killed by bands of 

 Simba and Mirambo. Another expedition was 

 sent out by the Association in June, under 

 Captain Eamaecker, who is accompanied by 

 Lieutenants Belen and Becker, Demesne, a pho- 

 tographer, and three mechanics who are to 

 put together and navigate a steamboat which 

 the expedition takes with it. 



The expedition organized by the British Ge- 

 ographical Society, which started from Zanzi- 

 bar in May, 1879, under the direction of Keith 

 Johnston, with Joseph Thomson as compan- 

 ion, and one hundred and fifty picked carriers, 

 lost its leader, who succumbed to the malarial 

 climate at the very start. Thomson continued 



the work of the expedition and accomplished 

 more than was expected of it. Lake Nyassa 

 was reached by an unexplored route through 

 the lands of the treacherous Wakhutu and the 

 hostile Mahenge, and over deserts and lofty 

 mountains. After a brief rest the explorer 

 crossed an elevated plateau of rolling land 

 from the north end of Nyassa to the south 

 shore of Tanganyika. With a few attendants, 

 Thomson visited the Lukuga, to determine the 

 question whether it was an outlet or not. He 

 explored this river in its downward course for 

 several miles. After narrowly escaping death 

 at the hands of the savage Warua, he rejoined 

 the body of his followers, and sailing down the 

 lake returned to Zanzibar by the caravan route, 

 having occupied about a year in the expedi- 

 tion. The Lukuga flows out of the lake in a 

 general west-northwest course as far as Meke- 

 to, and there turns to the westward, entering 

 the Congo at its great westerly bend. Mr. 

 Thomson is a trained geologist, and gave espe- 

 cial attention to the geological features of the 

 regions which he visited. The low country of 

 the east coast of Africa is formed of two, or 

 perhaps three, raised beaches, which have been 

 lifted above the sea-level in recent times. The 

 soil is red sand and clays overlying coral rock. 

 The sand is derived, by erosion, from the coast- 

 ranges of mountains, which are composed of 

 hornblende and ferruginous rocks. In the 

 sands of the coast-region is found the valuable 

 gum-copal. The tree which yields it is now al- 

 most extinct. Behind the coast country, of re- 

 cent formation, is a strip of carboniferous forma- 

 tion, extending from Mozambique to the equa- 

 tor. This belt, extending along the foot of the 

 mountains, is of variable width, rising here and 

 there into hills and small ranges, and has a hori- 

 zontal stratification. There are dark-red sand- 

 stones, interbedded with lava, limestones, and 

 shale, and, on the Eovuma, coal-beds. The 

 coast-ranges of mountains are formed of schists, 

 gneiss, and the highly metamorphosed rocks. 

 The granitic formation, which extends through 

 the great interior plateau of Africa, commences 

 on the other side of this coast-range, which 

 extends from Abyssinia to the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and rises in this region to the height of 

 7,000 feet. The plateau between these and 

 the mountains of the lake-region has an eleva- 

 tion of from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. This tract is 

 marked by undulating hills and valleys and 

 level stretches, where the Kafir-like Wabena, 

 Warori, Wahehi, Wagogo, and Masai tribes 

 hunt and herd their cattle. These races are 

 constantly quarreling and warring among them- 

 selves. A higher plateau, 7,000 to 9,000 feet 

 high, consisting of clay slates in horizontal 

 beds, commences with what appears to be 

 a great fault, revealed by intrusive rocks. In 

 the upper plateau are smooth, round moun- 

 tains formed by denudation. In the vicinity 

 of Lake Nyassa the marks of gigantic disturb- 

 ances, and even of recent volcanic action, are 

 apparent. At ten miles' distance from the 



