CHAPTER II 



LAKE TANGANYIKA ; KIGOMA AND UJIJI AND OUR START FOR 



THE NORTH 



" Partly for the sake of gold 

 At the Rainbow's End, 

 Glamour of old tales told 



A t the gloom of day. 

 Partly, too, for the peace 



Wide spaces lend. 

 Sought we the soft release 

 Of the Far Away." 



The Pioneers. Verse I. 



LYING between the third and ninth parallels of 

 latitude south of the equator, Lake Tanganyika 

 is the longest lake in Africa, being four hundred miles 

 in length, and an average of thirty miles in breadth. It 

 stands, surrounded by great mountain ranges which form 

 a vast abyss, at 2,756 feet above sea level. Its greatest 

 depth has never yet been fathomed but it is most certainly 

 well over four thousand seven hundred feet. The " dogs of 

 war " seem to have taken away some of its mystery and 

 charm, but not one whit of its interest for the naturalist. 

 The votaries of destruction intent on their foul work have 

 no time to spare for nature-study, excepting in so far as 

 it concerns their stomachs. Thus it is that Tanganjdka 

 still offers a rich harvest for the collector and many of its 

 problems still await solution. Although it lies in the centre 

 of the great African rift-valley and is surrounded on three 

 sides by other large and small lakes, it remains isolated 

 and unconnected with all save Lake Kivu, and this connec- 

 tion has occurred only in comparatively recent times. Owing 



II 



