SIGNIFICATION OF " TANGANYIKA." 907 



in Kibisa or Kibisa-Kisawahili, the name of the water, and was so often told 

 it was Jemba or Liemba. Hence Livingstone wrote that he had ' discovered 

 another lake, not very large, with two islands in it. Four rivers discharged 

 into the lake. The shores very pretty, romantic, &c.' And in a subsequent 

 letter he said, < I find that this Lake Liemba is joined to Lake Tanganyika.' 

 Imperfect investigation also, it seems, did not, therefore, exempt Livingstone 

 from ever committing mistakes. Exploration of this part of Lake Tanganyika 

 (the south end) discovers it as tallying with the above description of Liemba. 

 Sakarabwe village, where the good Doctor was brought to by one of the chiefs 

 of Kitumkuru as he came from Kabwire, and where he halted some time, was 

 shown to me. The ' two islands ' are Ntondwe and Murikwa ; the four rivers 

 are the Wizi, the Kitoke, Kapata, and Mtombwa. 



" The natives of Marungu and Ugubba occupy the western third, called 

 Tanganyika-Kimana, from which it is evident that had Burton and Speke, 

 the discoverers of this lake, happened to have first marched to Fipa, instead 

 of being informed about the ' Tanganyika,' we should probably have heard of 

 this lake as Lake Liemba, or Riemba. Had they journeyed from westward 

 to the lake, it is to be doubted much whether we should have heard of it as 

 Tanganyika at all ; undoubtedly, they would have enlarged upon the vast 

 length, sea-like expanse, and romantic shores of Lake Kimana. In the same 

 manner as all large bodies of water are spoken of by the Waganda as Ny- 

 anzas, so the Wajiji speak of them as Tanganyikas. 



"In my endeavours to ascertain the signification of the term Tanganyika, 

 and in the attempts of the Wajiji to explain, I learned that they really did 

 not know themselves, unless it might be because the sea was so large, and its 

 surf always made a noise, while a canoe could make a long journey on it. 

 From all which I came to suppose that its signification was Large, Great, or 

 Long Lake ; Stormy Lake ; Sounding Waters, or High Wave Lake, &c. I also 

 learned that there was an electric fish called Nika in the lake, but then Tanga 

 stood in the way of it being called after the fish ; neither was the creature 

 itself so very remarkable an object as to give its name to such a vast body of 

 water. Questioning in this manner only worried the natives, and I did not 

 obtain a satisfactory solution of the difficulty until happening, as is my custom 

 to write down as many native names for objects as I can gather from all dia- 

 lects for the purpose of comparing them, I came to ' Kitanga,' a small lake, 

 pool, or pond ; a lake on which no canoes travel, and ' Nika,' a plain. It ap- 

 peared to me that the meaning of the word was now obtained ; that Tanga- 

 nika signifies The plain-like Lake, especially from the fact that a plain is 

 universally taken in Inner Africa as a standard object for comparing or illus- 

 trating level bodies of earth or water of considerable extent, in the same man- 

 ner as the word Bahr, or Sea, is used by the sea-coast people. 



" On the voyage to the Lukuga, Cameron's chief guide, Para, whom I also 



