Savage Africa. 5 
This portion of the continent has been described as a high 
table-land, intersected with chains of mountains, and deep 
depressions or swamps, which lead to immense lakes or 
inland seas. Only near the sea, is the land low-lying ; it 
gradually ascends towards the interior, until a very general 
average height is reached of about 3,000 feet above the 
level of the water. This high table-land is well supplied 
with water, plentiful in game, abounding in dense forests 
and thickets, while through it, mighty rivers take their way, 
seeking their outlets in the distant ocean. In this large 
plateau or table-land, are to be found the following lakes :— 
Albert Nyanza, Victoria Nyanza, Alexandra Nyanza, Lake 
Tanganyika, Lake Kamolondo, I^ake Lincoln, Lake Nyassa, 
Lake Bangweolo, and Lake Chad, beside many other 
smaller lakes. From these deep hollows and lakes, flow 
the Nile, Congo, and Zambesi, beside a large number of 
smaller streams. The White Nile flows northward, for 
4,200 miles; the Congo, now re-named the Livingstone 
River, flows northward and westward for 4,000 miles, 
eventually discharging itself into the Atlantic; and the 
Zambesi flows eastward into the Indian Ocean. The lakes 
appear to be immense crevasses, or chasms, in this high 
table-land of Central Africa. Livingstone formed the opinion 
that many rivers had diminished, or disappeared, also, in 
this table-land, by reason of its spongy, marshy character, 
in some places, and because of earthquakes in others. 
Respecting this lake and river system, very little was 
known to this present generation, until the discoveries made 
by explorers of the last twenty-five years opened up, little 
by little, the wonderful secret. It seems, however, that our 
forefathers were not so utterly ignorant of Africa and its 
people, for an old chart of Africa has been discovered, 
which was published at Rome, in 1591, together with a 
