'DISCHARGE OF LIGHTNING." 915 



further rise of two hundred feet, which the ' waste-pipe ' of the Lukuga will 

 preseutly render impossible. 



" The fact that this is not an island, but a peninsula, makes a deep gulf 

 penetrate S.S.W. between Masansi and Ubwari. I have taken the liberty 

 of calling this great arm of the lake ' Burton Gulf,' in honour of the discoverer 

 of the Tanganyika, as Speke Gulf distinguishes a somewhat similar forma- 

 tion in the south-east section of the Victoria Nyanza. From the top of one of 

 the Ubwari hills X gazed westward — the first white man who has ever enjoyed 

 this privilege, for there is always some trouble in Ubwari. It being a clear 

 day, by means of a field-glass I obtained an extensive view — at some distance, 

 it is true — of the impenetrably savage countries west of Burton Gulf. The land 

 lies in lengthy mountain waves, with deep valleys between, for twenty or thirty 

 miles, when, finally, the great table-land of this part of Central Africa again 

 presents itself, and is seen to join at a cloudy distance, after a deep curve 

 south-west, the plateau of Groma. These valleys between the mountain 

 waves give rise to many small rivers, all of which have their exit into the 

 lake on the west side of Burton Gulf. 



" Such are some of the most remarkable effects of that grand convulsion 

 which disparted the table-land of Central Africa, and formed this enormous 

 chasm of the Tanganyika in its bosom. Nor has this convulsion occurred so 

 very remotely but that it might, in my humble opinion, be measured in lapse 

 of years by competent scientific men. It appears, also, that the agencies 

 which produced this extraordinay change are not quite dead in this part of 

 Central Africa, for about eighteen months ago, I hear, a mountain in Urundi 

 was precipitated from its position and toppled over, burying several villages, 

 with all their inhabitants. This disaster occurred near Mukungu, in 

 Urundi. 



" About three years ago the surface of the Tanganyika Lake, in the 

 neighbourhood of Ujiji, was observed to be blackened with large lumps and 

 masses of some strange, dark substance, which, as they were swept upon the 

 shore of Ujiji, were picked up, examined, and wondered at. The Wajiji 

 called it, and still continue firmly in their belief, the ( discharge of lightning.' 

 The Arabs called it pitch, and collected large quantities of it. Requiring 

 some substance to caulk my boat before setting out on the voyage of ex- 

 ploration, I was presented with some of this 'discharge of lightning,' or 

 pitch, and found it was asphaltum, which most probably escaped through 

 some vent in the bed of the Tanganyika, since on no part of the shores 

 could I obtain, after diligent inquiry, the slightest information of its 

 source. "Henry M. Stanley." 



Referring to the foregoing letter, on the day of its publication, the 

 " Daily Telegraph " says : — 



" Once again we are enabled, with a great and natural satisfaction, to 



