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Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Yanvo’s kingdom ; but as the valley descends eastward its northern 
side appears to rise to the range of the Kone and Muehinga Moun- 
tains, and the valley becomes deeper and narrower where it cuts 
through the high edge of the plateau eastward, to reach the coast. 
Lake Nyassa, a tributary lake of the Zambezi, lies in a deep 
longitudinal hollow near the edge of the plateau, only retained 
by the high barrier of the N’jesa Mountains. The narrow valley 
of the Shire river, which flows from it, continues this hollow to 
the Zambezi. Lake Shirwa is similarly situated, but has no outlet, 
and in consequence its waters, in distinction to the fresh sweet 
water of the other lakes, are brackish. The approximate area of 
each of the eleven great lakes of this region, so far as their 
extent is known, is as follows : — 
Victoria Nyanza, . 
Square Miles. 
29,900 
Albert Nyanza, 
25,400 
Piaggia’s Lake, 
11,000? 
Tanganyika, 
10,400 
Nyassa, 
8,600 
Bahari N’go, 
6,000 ? 
Bangweolo, . 
3,700 
Moero, . 
2,000 
Ulenge, 
1,000? 
Shirwa, 
800 
Liemba, 
700 
99,500 
The whole extent of water surface in this Lake Region is then 
nearly 100,000 square miles, an area not far short of that of the 
British Isles. A more definite notion of the great extent of these 
inland seas of fresh water may perhaps be obtained, if we observe 
that a direct passage across the Victoria Lake, from shore to shore 
(in its presently believed extent), corresponds in length to a voyage 
across our North Sea from Hull to Rotterdam, or from the east- 
most land of Scotland at Peterhead, to the Norway coast. 
The more important of the rivers of the Lake Region have been 
noticed in speaking of the routes taken by the travellers who have 
discovered them. One of the main hindrances to the exploration 
