658 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION E. 



though not always tropical in character. It is dismal in the extreme and swarms 

 with stinging ants and insects. The Semliki valley becomes an open grass plain 

 near Lake Albert. 



The huge ridge of Ruwenzori lies between the River Semliki and the plateau 

 north of the Edward depression. It is some seventy miles in length and about 

 thirty miles across in its widest part. Above the forest area, a little over 

 14,000 feet, are bare rocks, ice, and snow. Streams descend from the glaciers 

 through deeply scoured valleys on the east and west. Some small lakes lie 

 below the snow regions. The snow peaks of Ruwenzori are situated in an area 

 of about fifty-five square miles in the central part of the mountains. They 

 consist of three main groups, that reaching the greatest height being on the 

 west. Peak Margherita, the summit of the range, is 16,794 feet in altitude. 

 The snow line in the valleys comes as low as about 13,200 feet. It is but a few 

 miles north of the equator. 



Lake Albert bears a strong general resemblance to Lake Edward. Their 

 widths are much the same, some thirty miles across, though the former is about 

 100 miles in length— double that of Lake Edward. The mountains on the west 

 of the lake rise to an altitude of 7,000 feet and over, and in places fall sheer into 

 the water, while on the opposite side is a similar escarpment which runs close 

 to the lake. At the northern end this line of hills diverges eastwards, leaving 

 a broad scrub-covered plain. Native market-places have been established at the 

 Government stations, and there every morning a brisk trade is carried on in food- 

 stuffs, &c. 



There is iron ore in the highlands, which is smelted for the making of weapons 

 and agricultural implements. An extraordinary absence of animal life is notice- 

 able in the mountains ; except in certain parts, which are visited by elephants in 

 the wet seasons, the country is destitute of wild animals and birds. The low- 

 lands, however, are rich in game. The lake swarms with hippopotamuses and 

 crocodiles, more especially at the mouths of the small streams. 



In the narrow strip of country between the Congo-Nile watershed and Lake 

 Albert the inhabitants differ widely. Korovi appears to be the meeting-point 

 of the Bantu and Nilotic peoples. The Balegga and Bavira are of Bantu origin 

 and are closely allied. Northwards of Korovi the country is inhabited by the 

 Lendu, a finer and a darker tribe than either the Balegga or Bavira. The Lendu 

 are warlike and treacherous, and we had several men killed whilst in their 

 country. The native kingdom of Ankoli, one of the three kingships in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the lakes, may be said to stretch so far westwards as the shores of 

 Lake Edward. Its population can be roughly classified as the Bahima, the 

 aristocracy, and the Baefo, the cultivators and serfs. In Bunyoro, on the west 

 of Lake Albert, the natives have a custom of extracting the four lower front 

 teeth, which causes the upper teeth to grow forward. The Baamba live in the 

 forest country on the west of Ruwenzori. Their villages are built on the tops 

 of ridges, and a stout wooden stockade encircles them. The Baamba fear the 

 pigmies ; these little people neither cultivate the land nor do any cultivation. 

 They do not even built huts. They prey on the crops of their larger neighbours, 

 and in return do them service when fighting and hunting. The Batwa or Bambutu 

 dwell in the forest on both sides of the River Semliki. They are pigmies, standing 

 about four feet high. Though there are several different kinds of pigmies, they 

 appear to have no tribal organisation. 



3. Report on the Geodetic Arc in Africa. — See Reports, p. 75. 



4. Through the Heart of Asia from India to Siberia. 

 By Lieutenant P. T. Etherton, FM.G.S. 



The expedition from India through Gilgit, Hunza, across the Pamirs, and 

 thence through Chinese Turkistan, Mongolia, and Siberia to the Trans-Siberian 

 Railway was undertaken by Lieutenant Etherton, Indian Army, for the purpose 

 of big-game shooting and the study of the larger fauna of Central Asia and 



