8 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



feet below the level of the land ; in the dry season 

 they are betrayed from afar by a green line of livelier 

 vegetation streaking the dead tawny plain. The Arabs 

 seldom dig their wells deeper than six feet, and they 

 complain of the want of " live-water" gushing from the 

 rocky ground, as in their native Oman. The country 

 contains few springs, and the surface of retentive clay 

 prevents the moisture penetrating to the subsoil. The 

 peculiarity of the produce is its decided chalybeate 

 flavour. The versant of the country varies. The 

 eastern third, falling to the south-east, discharges its 

 surplus supplies through the Rwaha river into the 

 Indian Ocean ; in the centre, water seems to stagnate ; 

 and in the western third, the flow, turning to the north 

 and north-west, is carried by the Gombe nullah — a 

 string of pools during the dry season, and a rapid un- 

 fordable stream during the rains — into the great Mala- 

 garazi river, the principal eastern influent of the Tan- 

 ganyika Lake. The levels of the country and the direction 

 of the waters combine to prove that the great depres- 

 sion of Central Africa, alluded to in the preceding chap- 

 ter, commences in the district of Kigwa in Unyamwezi. 



The climate of the island and coast of Zanzibar has, 

 it must be remembered, double seasons, which are ex- 

 ceedingly confused and irregular. The lands of Un- 

 yamwezi and Uvinza, on the other hand, are as 

 remarkable for simplicity of division. There eight 

 seasons disturb the idea of year ; here but two — a 

 summer and a winter. Central Africa has, as the 

 Spaniards say of the Philippine Isles, 



" Seis mezes de polvo, 

 Seis mezes de lodo." 



In 1857 the Masika, or rains, commenced throughout 

 Eastern Unyamwezi on the 14th of November. In the 



