THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 477 



down and beating the water. The interpreter explained that the 

 white man was very much shocked at such rudeness, that his visit 

 was a peaceable one, with no other desire than to buy grain of 

 them, if they would sell. This speech did not mollify their anger, 

 for they shouted back that they were not slaves and had not sown 

 their land to sell the grain to strangers. Stanley attempted to 

 proceed quietly out of their reach, but several canoes were 

 launched and filled with warriors who were anxious for a fight ; 

 they evidently wanted a fresh supply of human meat, and desired 

 particularly to sample a white man. A brisk breeze was blowing, 

 which enabled Stanley to sail away from his pursuers, while his 

 large canoe was manned by such excellent boatmen that it 

 bounded over the water with equal swiftness away from the 

 hungry man-eaters. 



At the end of fifty-one days from the time of departure from 

 Ujiji, Stanley had completed the circumnavigation of the lake and 

 returned to his old camp. He found the extreme length of the 

 lake to be 810 miles and the coast line 930 ; its breadth ranges 

 from ten to forty-five-miles, with an average of twenty-eight 

 miles, making its superficial area 9,240 miles. Repeated sound- 

 ings with a plummet line of over 1,200 feet in length failed to 

 find any bottom one mile from shore. 



FACTS ABOUT LAKE TANGANIKA. 



STANLEY proved by his careful explorations of the lake that it 

 had no outlet at the time he was there. The body of water had 

 formerly occupied a much higher altitude, and then had an outlet 

 through the Lukuga river, on the west coast, which flowed into 

 the Livingstone, or Congo river; but an earthquake, or some 

 great internal disturbance, at some remote period, had sunk the 

 bed of the lake until its waters fell below the level of the river, 

 and it was in that condition when first discovered by Burton and 

 Speke. Several large rivers, however, continued to pour their 

 waters into the lake, which had risen to such an extent during 

 the interval of four years between Stanley's first and second 

 expeditions, as to cover large tracts of land that had formerly 

 lain high and dry. The lake had gained a sufficient altitude in 



