KARAGWE. 245 



where, and particularly at Butenga, where I saw 

 some very pure specimens of ore. It is hard to 

 see what could be done with it. If the valleys 

 were filled with swamp-rivers, as in Uganda and 

 Urundi, and as no doubt they were originally, then 

 it would be just as fertile ; but these swamp-rivers 

 have become dry alluvium, and the only chance of 

 utilising them would be either by building broad 

 tanks or by making wells wherever possible. 



I crossed the watershed of the Kagera and Uriji 

 lake at Butenga. It is at least 6,000 feet high, 

 and the descent is as usual extremely steep. 



The shortest distance from Tanganyika to the 

 Victoria lies a little south of Uriji, and is only 

 about 180 miles according to recent maps ! 



This line, however, after keeping pretty close 

 to the Kagera river, crosses the headwaters of a 

 branch of the Malagarasi, and then over some 

 mountainous country to Amranda, at the head of 

 Einin Pasha gulf. It would probably be extremely 

 expensive and difficult to build a railway along it. 



If there had been an outlet from Uriji to the 

 Victoria Nyanza, which does not seem to be the 

 case, then the nearest approximation to this direct 

 line would be by the route that I followed from the 

 Uriji basin. 



After leaving Kakaruka, which is within the 

 latter drainage area, I ascended a long, Hat valley 

 of the usual type to Mgaira. Then a very steep 

 climb of 400 feet led on to a broad, gently sloping 



