226 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



the line of highlands of which Njesa in Uhiao is sup- 

 posed to be the culminating apex : thus the feature would 

 correspond with the Eastern Ghauts of the Indian Penin- 

 sula. The general law of the range is north and 

 south ; in the region now under consideration, the trend 

 is from north by west to south by east, forming an angle 

 of 10° 12' with the meridian. The Usagara chain is 

 of the first order in East Africa ; it is indeed the 

 only important elevation in a direct line from the coast 

 to western Unyamwezi ; it would hold, however, but 

 a low grade in the general system of the earth's moun- 

 tains. The highest point above sea-level, observed by B. 

 P. Therm., was 5,700 feet ; there are, however, peaks 

 which may rise to 6,000 and even to 7,000 feet, thus ri- 

 valling the inhabited portion of the Neilgherries. As has 

 appeared, the chain, where crossed, was divided into 

 three parallel ridges by longitudinal plains. 



Owing to the lowness of the basal regions at the sea- 

 ward slope, there is no general prospect of the moun- 

 tains from the East, where, after bounding the plains 

 of K'hutu on the north, by irregular bulging lines of rol- 

 ling hill, the first gradient of insignificant height springs 

 suddenly from the plain. Viewed from the west, the 

 counterslope appears a long crescent, with the gibbus to 

 the front, and the cusps vanishing into distance ; the 

 summit is in the centre of the half-moon, whose profile 

 is somewhat mural and regular. The flanks are 

 rounded lumpy cones, and their shape denotes an igneous 

 and primary origin, intersected by plains and basins, the 

 fractures of the rocky system. Internally the lay, as 

 in granitic formations generally, is irregular; the ridges, 

 preserving no general direction, appear to cross one 

 another confusedly. The slope and the counterslope 

 are not equally inclined. Here, as usual in chains fring- 



