HISTORY OF TANGANYIKA, 



135 



(first printed in 1852), whilst affording substantially 

 correct details, such as the length of the Lake — 100 

 leagues — the capability of navigation, and the one large 

 island — Ubwari — are curiously intermingled with the 

 errors of theoretical conclusion. Subsequently Pigafetta 

 (1591) writing upon the authority of Portuguese in- 

 quirers, affirms that there is but one lake (the N'yassa) 

 on the confines of Angola and Monomotapa, but that 

 there are two lakes (the Nyassa and the Tanganyika), 

 not lying east and west, as was supposed by Ptolemy of 

 Alexandria, but north and south of each other, and 

 about 400 miles asunder, which give birth to the Nile. 

 From that epoch dates the origin of our modern mis- 

 conceptions concerning the Lake Region of Central 

 Intertropical Africa. The Nyassa and the Tanganyika 

 were now blended, then separated, according to the 

 theories or the information of the geographer ; no ex- 

 plorer ventured to raise from the land of mystery the 

 veil that invested it ; and the " Mombas Mission " added 

 the colophon by confounding, with the old confusion, 

 the Nyanza or Ukerewe, a third lake, of which they 

 had heard at Mombasah and elsewhere. It is not 

 wonderful then that Dr. Vincent suspected the existence 

 or the place of the Central Lake, or that the more ig- 

 norant popularizers of knowledge confounded the waters 

 of the Nyassa and the Ngami * 



which in describing actualities wanted nothing but a solid foundation of 

 data. The geographer's principal informant in 1834 was one " Khamisi bin 

 Tani," civilised into " Khamis bin Osman," a Msawahili of Lamu who 

 having visited the Nyassa, Maravi or Kilwa Lake, pretended that he had 

 travelled to the Tanganyika Lake. I cannot allow this opportunity to pass 

 without expressing my gratitude to Mr. Cooley for his courtesy in supplying 

 me with references and other information. 



* In the 'Westminster Review' (New Series, No. XX.) occurs the 

 following passage, which sufficiently illustrates the assertion in the text ; the 

 critic is discussing Mr. C. Andersson's 'LakeNgami,' &c. &c. (London, 185G) : 



k 4 



