324 



TEE UKAEA LAKES. 



of the Nyanja or TJkara Lake, Sadi declared 

 that it could be crossed by canoes in 6 full days, 

 paddling from sunrise to sunset, and that if the 

 men went right on, night and day, the voyage 

 was accomplished in three days. But the native 

 craft used upon those dangerous mountain 

 waters never dare to cross them : the voyager 

 may rush over the narrow parts of the Tan- 

 ganyika, but nothing would induce him to at- 

 tempt the physical impossibility of navigating 

 without chart or compass beyond reach and 

 sight of shore. It is an absurdity to suppose a 

 canoe-cruise across ; it is evident that a coasting- 

 cruise is meant. The total hours, assuming 

 the day to be 12 without halts, would amount to 

 72. Upon the Tanganyika I estimated the rate 

 at little more than 2 knots an hour, which 

 would make in round numbers 140 miles. Pro- 

 tracting this course from Bahari-ni, Sadi's term- 

 inus on the Eastern shore, at the rate of 3 knots 

 an hour, and without allowing for the windings 

 of the shore, the end would strike the entrance 

 of ' Jordan Nullah,' off the * Bengal Archipelago.' 

 But even 140 miles require reduction : an esti- 

 mate of the mean amount of error distributed 

 over the whole of Mr Wakefield's Boutes gives 

 an exaggeration of 1.24 : 1 ; and of course when 



