178 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



the various ridges drain the surface of the hills, and are 

 the sites of luxuriant cultivation. The people of Ka- 

 ragwah, averse to the labour of felling the patriarchs 

 of the forest, burn " hois de vctche," like the natives of 

 Usukuma. North of Magugi, at Katanda, a broad flat 

 extends eastwards: the path thence descends the nor- 

 thern counterslope, and falls into the alluvial plain of 

 the Kitungure River. 



Karagwah is thus a mass of highlands, bounded on 

 the north by dependent Unyoro, on the south by Usui, 

 eastward by the tribes of Wahayya and Wapororo, upon 

 the lacustrine plain of the Nyanza ; on the south-west 

 it inosculates with Urundi, which has been described as 

 extending from the north-eastern extremity of the 

 Tanganyika Lake. Its equatorial position and its 

 altitude enable it to represent the Central African 

 prolongation of the Lunar Mountains. Ptolemy de- 

 scribes this range, which he supposes to send forth 

 the "White Nile, as stretching across the continent for 

 a distance of 10° of longitude. For many years this 

 traditional feature has somewhat fallen into discredit : 

 some geographers have changed the direction of the 

 line, which, like the Himalayas, forms the base of the 

 South African triangle from east and west to north and 

 south, thus converting it into a formation akin to the 

 ghauts or lateral ranges of the Indian peninsula ; whilst 

 others have not hesitated to cast ridicule upon the 

 mythus. From the explorations of the " Mombas 

 Mission " in Usumbara, Chhaga, and Kitui, and from 

 the accounts of Arab visitors to the lands of Umasai 

 and the kingdom of Karagwah, it appears that from the 

 fifth parallel of S. lat. to the equator, an elevated mass 

 of granite and sandstone formation crosses from the 

 shores of the Indian Ocean to the centre of Tropical 



