54 
Central Africa, 
ague-laden air, and various other obstacles. It is not till 
the traveller reaches the high table-land, that he breathes 
healthy air, or has a chance of travelling without loss of 
life. All three travellers in Cameron's party had fever, and 
Dr. Dillon shot himself while in the delirium which accom- 
panied it. Murphy then turned back to the coast as soon 
as able, while Cameron resolved to struggle on alone toward 
the lake. After a weary journey he reached the lake. " At 
first," he says, "I could hardly realize it. Lying at the 
bottom of a steep descent was a bright blue patch about 
a mile long, then some trees, and beyond them a great grey 
expanse, having the appearance of sky, with floating clouds. 
* That the lake ! ' said I in disdain, looking at the small blue 
patch below me. ' Nonsense * It is the lake, master,' per- 
sisted my men. And then it began to dawn upon me that the 
vast grey expanse was the Tanganyika, and that which I had 
supposed to be clouds, the distant mountains of Ugoma." 
Cameron journeyed to Ujiji, in order to obtain the papers 
and journals of Livingstone, who had already sunk under 
the combined attacks of fever, exposure, and exhaustion. 
After performing this task, he determined to explore Lake 
Tanganyika, in order to discover its outlet, and to notice 
the rivers which act as " feeders." An immense number of 
rivers discharge into it, for during Cameron's voyage around 
about two hundred and fifty miles of it, — or about half its 
length, — he counted over one hundred of these " feeders." 
Elephants, crocodiles, hippopotami, and crafty natives are 
to be found during the whole length of the lake, while the 
shores are fringed by high, cavernous, beetling rocks and 
cliffs, which give a fantastic appearance to the whole lake. 
On the east side of this lake the population has almost 
been destroyed by the slave traffic ; but in the west the 
people were more safe, the country is more fertile, and the 
