Chap. XXV. INDIA AND AFEICA. 533 



hundred miles inland. So long as African rivers remain 

 in what we may call the brim, they present no obstruc- 

 tions; but no sooner do they emerge from the higher lands 

 than their utility is impaired by cataracts. The low lying 

 belt is very irregular. At times sloping up in the manner of 

 the rim of an inverted dinner-plate — while in other cases, 

 a high ridge rises near the sea, to be succeeded by a lower 

 district inland before we reach the central plateau. The 

 breadth of the low lands is sometimes as much as three 

 hundred miles, and that breadth determines the limits of 

 navigation from the seaward. 



The ascent to the Maravi country, and all along from 

 the west shore of the lake for at least three hundred 

 miles on the same meridian of longitude, is, as we sub- 

 sequently found, simply what Indians call a ghaut, like 

 that on the way from Bombay to Poonah. The African 

 ghaut from the west coast of the lake, which is 1300 feet 

 above the sea, rises as high above our point of starting 

 here, as the Indian one does from the level of the sea 

 at Bombay. The African Deccan is a little higher and 

 cooler than the Indian one is at Poonah. The African 

 huts resemble the native Indian ones near Dapoore, but 

 are much better built; in the possession of the plough, 

 the Indians have the advantage over the Africans, though 

 both cultivate very nearly the same grain. The soil and 

 general appearance of the country, trees, nullahs, rivers, 

 and undulating plains, are remarkably alike in both the 

 African and Indian Deccan. But, in Africa, we see patches 

 of fine long-stapled cotton, nearly equal to the Egyptian, 

 instead of the miserable stuff grown in India. The contrast 

 between the two countries, however, is very striking. In 

 India, the evidences of human labour are everywhere ajyparent 

 in roads, bridges, stone walls, ruins of temples, and palaces. 



