102 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



their stygian windings into magnificent open water and 

 Chad for the first time assumed the grandeur expected of an 

 African lake. 



Before leaving Chad, I will attempt to give a general 



CHAD ASSUMES THE GRANDEUR OF AN AFRICAN LAKE 



idea of the Lake, based upon the observations I was 

 able to make. As regards the size, I made it considerably 

 less than it was formerly supposed to be ; for instance, the 

 northern part, which used to be marked on the maps as sixty 

 miles across from the mouth of the Yo river, I found to be 

 not more than thirty, and my journey across the south basin 

 to the Shari mouth made it only forty-five miles instead of 

 ninety. There is an idea that the Lake is drying up, but 

 except for the loss of water caused by the disappearance 

 of the Bahr-el-Ghazal, my opinion is that it does not alter 

 very much, and I believe that the supposed greater area 

 formerly is largely due to inaccurate survey, and partly to 

 the fact that the villages on the Bornu side are several miles 



