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THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



season, at which time also trees begin to bud and birds 

 to breed, is about the period of the sun's greatest 

 southern declination, and the diminution of tempera- 

 ture displays in these regions the effects of the tepid 

 winds and the warm vernal showers of the Euro- 

 pean continent. There is no Vuli, and thus the 

 climate is unrefreshed by the copious tropical rains. 

 About the middle of November the country is visited 

 by a few preliminary showers, accompanied by a violent 

 tramontana, and the vital principle which appears 

 extinct starts once more into sudden and excessive 

 activity. Towards the end of December the Masika, or 

 rainy season, commences with the wind shifting from 

 the east to the north and north-east, blowing steadily 

 from the high grounds eastward and westward of the 

 Nyanza Lake, which have been saturated by heavy falls 

 beginning in September. The "winter" seldom ex- 

 ceeds the third month, and the downfall is desultory 

 and uncertain, causing frequent droughts and famine. 

 For this reason the land is much inferior in fertility to 

 the other regions, and the cotton and tobacco, which 

 flourish from the coast to the Tanganyika Lake, are 

 deficient in Ugogo, whilst rice is supplanted by the 

 rugged sorghum and maize. 



Arab and other travellers unaccustomed to the 

 country at first suffer from the climate, which must 

 not, however, be condemned. They complain of the 

 tourbillons, the swarms of flies, and the violent changes 

 from burning heat to piercing cold, which is always ex- 

 perienced in that region when the thermometer sinks 

 below 60° — 55° F. Their thin tents, pitched under a 

 ragged calabash, cannot mitigate the ardour of an un- 

 clouded sun ; the salt-bitter water, whose nitrous and sa- 

 line deposits sometimes tarnish a silver ring like the 

 fumes of sulphur, affects their health; whilst the appetite, 



