348 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
Tanganika, that thirty years ago the Arabs were able to 
ford the channel between Bangwe Island and the main- 
land ; that they then cultivated rice-fields three miles 
farther west than the present beach ; that every year 
the Tanganika encroaches upon their shores and fields ; 
and that they are compelled to move every five years 
farther inland. In my photograph of Ujiji, an inlet 
may be seen on a site which was dry land, occupied by 
fishing-nets and pasture ground, in 1871. 
I proceeded to Bangwe Island, before setting out on 
my voyage, and sounded the channel separating it from 
the mainland. Between a pebble-covered point of 
Bangwe and the nearest tongue on the mainland, 1 
dropped my lead thirteen times. In mid-channel I 
found 18, 21, 23, 24, 25, 22, 23, 20, 19, and 17 feet. 
The Wajiji lake-traders and fishermen have two 
interesting legends respecting the origin of the Tanganika. 
Ruango, the veteran guide, who showed Livingstone 
and myself the Rusizi river in 1871, and whose version 
is confirmed by Para, the other guide, related the first 
as follows : — 
“ Years and years ago, where you see this great lake 
was a wide plain, inhabited by many tribes and nations, 
who owned large herds of cattle and flocks of goats, 
just as you see Uhha to-day. 
“ On this plain there was a very large town, fenced 
round with poles strong and high. As was the custom 
in those days, the people of the town surrounded their 
houses with tall hedges of cane, enclosing courts, where 
their cattle and goats were herded at night from the 
wild beasts and from thieves. In one of these enclosures 
lived a man and his wife, who possessed a deep well, 
from which water bubbled up and supplied a beautiful 
little stream, at which the cattle of tlieir neighbours 
slaked their thirst. 
“ Strange to say, this well contained countless fish, 
which supplied both the man and his wife with an 
abundant supply for their wants ; but as their posses- 
sion of these treasures depended upon the secrecy which 
they preserved respecting them, no one outside their 
