1880. } Geography and Travels. 749 
all around and reaching a much lower level than the platform, so 
that nothing is seen but a large cone elevated on poles. The 
Uchungwe mountains were next crossed. They are a large num- 
ber of mountains separated from each other and trending gener- 
ally north and south along the edge of the great plateau reaching 
to the west, rounded in appearance and covered with vegetation. 
From east to west there is a general rise in altitude up to 7000 
feet, and further south to 8000 and gooo. The plateau is about 
6700 feet above the sea ; its structure is of soft clay-slate till near 
Nyassa, where the rocks become volcanic. ; 
Across this table land of Eastern and Central Africa, they pur- 
sued their way through a bleak, monotonous moorland-like 
country, very scantily inhabited and called Uhehe. The inhabi- 
tants (Wahehe) depend to a great extent upon their cattle. The 
climate is Very trying. The temperature varies throughout the 
twenty-four hours from above 80° to below 50° with exceedingly 
cold north-west winds. 
On approaching the northern end of Lake Nyassa, Thomson 
western edge of the great plateau. He reached Mbungo, near 
the head of the lake on September 22, 1879. : 
Starting again from Mbungo on the 28th, the ‘expedition 
reached Pambete, on the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika, on 
the 4th of November. The width of the belt of land which sep- 
arates these two great navigable lakes was found to be two hun- 
dred and fifty miles. ; 
The Konde country which they first traversed lies at the north- 
west corner of Nyassa, and occupies a deep triangular indenta- 
tion in the central plateau which bounds it on all sides except on 
the east. “ Near the lake extends a broad plain of wonderful fer- 
tility, with a large population.” At a height of 3000 feet they 
ound a very broken, ridgy country. From the western limit of 
. 
lAta meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, Mr. Francis Galton, in speak- 
south 
dinary variations of temperature, marked atmospheric disturbances and peculiarities. 
in the direction of the winds south of the Cape of ope. “ The southern 
it attained a height of 
7000 or 8000 feet. The ld, therefore, be little doubt that the deflection eae 
