OF THE VICTORIA NYANZA 
801 
My personal knowledge is confined to the area south of 
the Kavirondo Gulf, between Karungu and Kendu ; and the 
evidence which I was able to collect did not disclose a higher 
level of the lake in former times than about 800 ft. above 
the present water-line. At this altitude, viz. approximately 
4000 ft., I found quantities of well-rounded pebbles of quartzite 
and gneiss, especially at Kikongo, near the lake, and farther 
up the valley of the Kuja River, e.g. on the south side of its 
left tributary, the Olasi River, between Nangena and Nyaroya; 
and also along the low ridge above the Ogo Ford over the Kuja, 
viz. at about 16 miles in a direct line inland from the lake. 
I have already suggested 1 that this zone of pebbles at the 
4000-foot level marks an old beach-line of the Victoria Nyanza, 
and it is an extremely noticeable feature of the landscape that 
in the whole of this area the hills below this altitude are gentle 
and rounded, with particularly broad valleys, whilst abruptly 
above this level I noticed that the hills are pointed and terminate 
in rough and rugged crags. The same striking contrast is 
evident in looking northward across the Kavirondo Gulf from 
Kendu. It seems to me also to be more than a coincidence 
that on the western coast of the Victoria Nyanza gravel deposits 
and caves occur likewise at a height about 300 ft. above the 
lake in the cliffs of the coast of Buddu, north of the Kagera 
River. 2 This uniformity in level of the old beach-line on 
both the eastern and western shores would seem to indicate 
that a similar uniformity persists all round the lake. But 
the caves on Mount Elgon occur at heights varying from 
6100 to 7000 ft., i.e. as much as 3000 ft. above the present 
level ; whilst I was unable to find evidence of a beach-line 
higher than 300 ft. 
I find it difficult therefore to conceive that the waters of 
the Victoria Nyanza could ever have stood as high as 3000 ft. 
above the present level so as to be able to erode the caves of 
Mount Elgon, although I speak with great diffidence since 
I was not able to visit this mountain. On the other hand, it 
is equally difficult to understand how this vast volcano could 
1 ‘ The Miocene Beds of the Victoria Nyanza, &c.,’ Quart. Journ. Geol. 
Soc. t vol. lxx., 1914, p. 146. 
2 Sir William Garstin, Report on the Upper Nile, Cairo, 1904, pp. 32-39. 
