10 
Central Africa. 
on the very threshold of the discovery. This lake lies six 
hundred miles inland, and dangers of various kinds have to 
be faced before the explorer can look upon its peaceful 
bosom. Malaria prevails near the coast, tsetse fly assails 
the horses ; swamps, jungles, and forests have to be pushed 
through, and when the traveller has done all this and 
mounted to the high table-land, where he will find the lake, 
he has to fight his way, by fair means or foul, through 
robber tribes, treacherous kidnappers, and crafty thieves. 
And amid all these perils, happy is the traveller who escapes 
death by dysentery, or fever, returning to tell the tale of his 
wanderings and escapes, to more fortunate hearers. Tan- 
ganyika is longer and narrower than the other celebrated 
lakes, being nearly, if not quite, five hundred miles in length 
from north to south, but somewhat narrow, possessing a 
very general breadth of from fifty to seventy miles. The 
London Missionary Society have selected the shores of this 
lake for their operations. 
Lake Nyassa lies to the southward of Tanganyika, with a 
length of about three hundred miles, and a breadth of fifty 
' or sixty. It is surrounded by high mountains and bold 
clifi's, while a dense population live in the country bordering 
on this lake. This population is ever disturbed by the 
raids of slave-stealers, who devastate the towns, and render 
life and Hberty unsafe. The Missions of the Scottish 
Churches are placed on the borders of this lake. The 
Universities' Mission have also planted stations between 
Nyassa and the coast. 
The Albert Nyanza and Victoria Nyanza lie to the 
northward of the two first mentioned lakes, and are, as 
before mentioned, two of the Nile fountains. The Victoria 
Nyanza is an immense inland sea, containing about twenty- 
one thousand square miles, and equal in size to Scotland. 
