CHAPTER III. 



REGION OF THE GREAT LAKES. 



HE basin of the Victoria Nyanza, including that of the Upper Nile 

 as far as its passage across the Albert Nyanza (MVutan Nzigeh), 

 comprises a superficial area which may be estimated at some 170,000 

 square miles, although this estimate cannot claim to be more than 

 a very rough approximation to the reality. Pending a more exact 

 knowledge of the parting lines between the great river basins, we must be satisfied 

 with rude calculations according to the spaces enclosed in the meshes of the 

 intersecting lines of latitude and longitude. This vast region, which has a mean 

 altitude of over 4,000 feet, forms part of the great continental divide. The waters 

 it sends down to the Egyptian river bring it within the Mediterranean basin ; but 

 it approaches far nearer to the Atlantic seaboard, while its southern extremity lies 

 within 240 miles of the Indian Ocean. As regards its facilities of communication 

 with the outer world, the Victoria Nyanza naturally gravitates towards the social 

 and commercial system of which Zanzibar is the centre. Even after the water 

 highway of the Nile is again opened, and intestine warfare has ceased to harass 

 the riverain commimities, European explorers will find it most convenient still to take 

 the route, ascending from the Indian Ocean to the plateaux, which has ever been 

 followed by the Arab traders. 



Although forming the water-parting between the Mediterranean, Indian, and 

 Atlantic basins, the Nyanza region is far less elevated than some other parts of the 

 continent. Except towards the sources of the Tangure, where Mfurabiro rises to 

 a height of probably 10,000 feet, and farther north, where the still loftier Gam- 

 baragara stretches parallel with the meridian, the plateau nowhere develops elevated 

 highlands. The plains are broken only by hills and ridges rising a few hundred 

 yards above the normal level, and presenting no insurmountable obstacles to the 

 exploration of the interior. Amongst these Upper Nilotic lands those especially 

 bordering the northern and western shores of Nyanza are almost unrivalled in 

 Africa, and scarcely elsewhere surpassed, for the charm and variety of their scenery, 

 their abundant waters, exuberant vegetation, and fertile soil. The inhabitants of 

 U-Nyamezi, south of the lake, are less favoured in these respects. Here hill and 



