The New York Herald Newspaper, March 26, 1877, Page 3

STANLEY. Tanganyika, or the Lake of the Plain. Investigations of Its Geo- graphical Character. SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM. Poetical Accounts of Its Origin Derived from the Natives, Does It Discharge Its Waters by the Lukuga? ‘Some Inaccuracies in Came- ron’s Account. EXPERIMENTAL = »EXAMINATIONS. Usist, August 7, 1876, Lake Tanganyika, despite its extreme length, is to be Subject no more to doubts and fanciful hypotheses, for it has been circumnavigated ana measured and its enormous const line laid down and fixed as accurately a8 a pretty good chronometer and solar observations will admit, Captain Burton’s discovery is now a com- pleted whole, with no corner indeiinite, no indentation unknown, We must banish from our charts Mr. Cooley’s grand United Tanganyika and Nyassa, and Sir Samuel Baker’s no leas grander idea of Upper and Lower Tanganyika, as also’“Avingatone’s United Lake Liemba and Lake Tanganyika, Its total circumnavi- gation dispels all erratic ideas and illusions respecting its length and breadth, and furnishes us with a com, plete knowledge, as far as our prescnt necessities ro- quire, of its aflluents and effluents. i THE TANGANYIKA PROBLEM. I write this letter, however, to explain the problem ef the Tanganyika, which has puzzied Livingstone and 80 many explorers, and induced so many able cartog- faphers to publish wild conjectures instead of solid facts and truths, and I take for my texts once more certain items from Lieutenant Verney Cameron’s Iet- ter to the Geographical Society, dated May 9, 1874: “I bave been fortunate enough to discover the outlet of the Tanganyika, “The current is smali (1.2 knots), a8 might be ex: pected from the levels, “It is believed to flow into the Lualfba, between the Jakes Moero and Kamarondo, “I went four or five miles down it, when my further ‘progress was stoppod by the floating grass and enor-- mous rushes, “Tho river, the Lukuga, 1s about twenty-five miles ®outh of the group of islands Captain Speke explored,”” It is not fair to criticise suct a brief letter as this, evidently written hastily after the discoverer’s arrival in Ujij!, nor have 1 any such intention; but it serves a8 a preface to what I am about to say, and it serves in a measure to mark the boundaries of difference be- tween Lieutenant Cameron and myself. 1 send youa shart of the Lukuga Creck, to enable your readers to understand clearly one of Nature’s secrets in Central Alrica. I shall briefly remark upon the above state- ments CAMERON'S DISCOVERIES ANALYZED, Lieutenant Cameron says ho haa been ‘fortunate enough to discover the outlet of tho Tanganyika,’’ He certainly has discovered Lukuga Creek, and, as I entertain friendship toward the gallant gentleman, I ‘will admit that be has discovered what has never beon the outlet, what js not the outlet, bat what will bo within a few years the outict of the Tanganyika, for as yet there is no outlet, as we understand tno term, for an outflowing river or effluent. “Tho current 1s small (1.2 knots), as might be ex- pected from the levels,” Having differed with tho first | must differ with the second statement, though reluctantly; but l impute the cause to his over-hurry ana imperfect levels. The chict who accompanied Cameron says that he stayed but ashort time, and such a currept as he mentioned might well be caused by the monsoon wind blowing up the creek, but for more details and experiments testing this current I must refer you below. ‘Iv is believed to flow into the Iualaba, between the lakes Moero and Kamurondo.” More about the flow below, but Mocro is pronounced “‘Meveru’’ by all men, natives or Arabs, and of Kamarondo ‘Lake’? 1 can hear nothing except a distinct and emphatic denial of there being such a lake; but all who know anything of it say there isa river called the Kama- Jondo, or Kamarondo, a largo tributary of tho Lualaba, or Ugarowa, “1 went four or five ‘miles down it, when my fur- thor progress was stopped by tho floating gruss and enormous rushes.” Lieutenant Cameron proceeded about three miles, and made his expertmonts at Lumba, His progress ‘was stopped by the papyrus, which perhaps belongs to the specics of grass, but all the specimens of puro grasa seen in the Lukuga Creek at presont may be eaten by a healthy ags in fifteen minutes. “The river, the Lukuga, 1s about twenty-five miles south of-the group of islands Captain Speke explorea,”” ‘Tue entrance to the Iukuga Creek is situate in latitude © deg. 49 min. 30 gee. south, while Kasenge Island ts in satitude 6 deg. 35 min. 30 sec, south, making the Lukuga just fourteen geographical miles south of Kasenge, discovered by Speke,” BTANLEY’S POINTS OF DIVYKRENCE WITH CAMEKON, Beyond these few points l bave no cause to differ ‘with Lieutenant Cameron, To him alone belongs the credit and honor of the discovery of the Lukuga Creek, the future outles of Lake Tanganyika, I followed bis course inch by inch, marked each of his camps and employed tho same guides, Where ho cut across deep bays, and floally cut across Tanganyika Lake without reaching the south ond by nineteen geographical miles, 1 diverged from his track and completed what he had left undone, in the hope, since I was on the Jake and captain of my own boat, to find bim in error, but after all my troublo 1 only came to the Lukuga Creek to discover that he is entitled to the honor of the discovery of the future outlet of the Tanganyika, Imagining that because there was not at present what ean be called an outfowing river visible at Lukuga Creek, 1 explored after Cameron as tar as Kasenge, whence Cameron returned to Ujiji, leaving the north- ern half unexplored, and then eontinued tho explora- tion along tho coasts of Ugubba, Goma, Kavunvweh, Karamba, Ubwari, Masangi—all new ground, unvisited by any white map—and came to the point where Liv: ingstone and myself left off in 1871; thence to Uji, after having explored every corner and river mouth, bay, and crock in search of the present outlet, or, if tho Lakuga must neecas be called an outlet, in soarch Of another outlet, A distanco of over 800 geograph- fea) miles has been traversed by me; but though I have made several intoreating discoveries during the long Lukuga Creek. DIFYERRSCES DO NOT IMPLY ERROKS. I hope nono of Lieutenant Cameron’s triends wil; take offence becuase I have found errors in his state- ments, Differences do not always imply errors. In this case his errors have arisen from baste and ap im- perftct examination of the Lukuga Creek. He 1s not deprived of the credit of the discovery of the Lukuga, nor of the credit of having gone through much trouble and hardsbip in bis Tanganyika voyage, It is dificuit for one man to be perfectly exact. Gne explorer loses @ date, and having no means to right bis error or take lunars is corrected by the next; one explorer rogards an object one way, another regards it in quite an Opposite way; one traveller bears ono statement and obtains one version of a thing directly tho reverse of bis successor; one traveller contents himself with merely hearing of a fact, another is not content until he has explored it for himself, which makos avast difference, Thero are more errors in the Eng- lish Admiralty chart of the East African coast than thero aro in ali the maps of she Cen- tral African travellers’ routes, 1 have found uo such absurd error in Barton's, Speke’s, or Grant's or Livingstone’s maps, as I found inthe Admiraity chart, where Kissomang Point stands for Kisima Mafla (or Mafia’s well), Lot Cameron's friends, then, rest content, for in this letter I shall have to correct myself, Livingetone and Burton, TRADITIONS OF THE WAJUI, I begin, aftor this lengthy preamble, with tradition, the mother of history. The Wajii, a tribe now occupy- ing asmall country near tho centre of the eastern Coast of tho Tanganyika, immigrants long since from Urimdi, have two interesting traditions respecting the origin of Lake Tanganyika, The first relates that the portion of this continent now occupied by the Grout Lake was a plain “years and years and years ago;” that on this plain wasa largo town, near where is not known, Ia this town lived a man‘and his wife, with au inclosure round their dwelling, which contained a remurkably deep well or fountain, whence an abundant supply of fresh fish was obiained for their wants, The existence of the fountain and its treasure was kept a profound secret fronf all their neighbors, as the revelation of its existence had been strictly prohibited by father to son for many generations within this particular family, lest some heavy calamity aimly foretold would happen if the prohibition was not strictly re- spected; and, remembering the injunction, the owners of the fountain lived long and happily, ana fresh fish formed their main food each day. The wife, however, ‘Was not very virtuous, for she permitted another man im secret to share the love which should have been solely bestowed on ber proper husband, and, among other favors, she frequently gave to her lover some of the fresh fish, a kind of delicious meat he haa ever before tasted, and which roused his utmost | curiosity to ascertain whence ehe obtained it, Fora long time he ceased not to ask, which the woman Steadily refused to tell AN APRICAY EVR, One day the husband was compelled to begin a jour- ney to Uvinza, but before departure he strictly cn- Joined his wife to look after his house closely, to admit nO gossips within bis doors, and, above all, not to sbow the fountain, This African Eve solemnly prom- ised to comply with his instructions, though secretly she rejoiced at the prospect ‘of his absence, A few hours alter her husband’s departure sbe left her house to seek her lover, and when she found him she said to him, “You have fora long time demanded to know whence 1 obtained that delicious meat you have so often praised. .Comervith me, and 1 will show you.” African Evo then took bim to her house, in opposition to her husband’s commands; but as with a view to en- hance the glories of the fountain and the pleasure of viewing the Osh sportfully displaying their silver sides in the water she first ontertained her lover with the fish cooked In various ways, nor was she noglect- ful to satisfy his thirst with wine of her own manutacture, Then, when her lover began to beimpationt at the delay, and having no other canso to postpone the exhibition, sho invited him to follow ber, A fence of water cane plastered over with mud enclosed the wondrous fountain, within whose crystal depths he saw the fish. For some time he gazed on the brilliant creatures with admiration; then, seized with a desire to handle one of them and regard them more closely, he put his hand wishin the water to catch one of them, when suddenly the well burst forth, the earth opened her womb and goon an enormous lake replaced the plain. Within a few days the husband, returning trom Uvinza, approached Ujiji, and saw to his astonishment a large lake whore once a plain and many towns stood, and he knew then that bis wife bad revealed the secret of the mysterious fountain and that punishment had fallen upon her ana her neighbors because of her sin, NATIVE THKORIES ANOUT THE LAKKS, The other tradition imparted to me by the ancients of Ujiji relates that a long time ago—how long no one can tell—-the Luwegeri, a river near Urimba, flowing wostward into a valley, was met by the Lukuga, flow- ing eastward, and its waters, driven backward by the easterly flowing river, spread over the valley and formed the Tanganyika, Honco the Luwegeri is termed the mother of the Lukuga. The Wagubba havo also their tradition, which is that along time ago, near Urungu, there was a small hill, hollow within and very deep, full of water. This bill one day burst, and the water spread over the land und | became a lake. Tho chief at the mouth of the Lukuga says that for- morly the Lukuga was @ small river flowing into the Tanganyika, receiving many others as it descended to- ward tho lake, but the Tanganyixa, Qlling up, “swale lowed” the Lukuga and made a small lake or an arm of the Tanganyika, which until two years ago during the rainy season discharged its surplus water into the Tanganyika, The last two years, howevor, the Tanganyika has risen so high that the neutral ground last rainy season, between the Tanganyika’s Lukuga and the Lukuga flowing to Rua, bas been ine undated, and the two Lukugas have become one, So much for traditions and native information, MODERN UYPOTUKSES. From traditions we proceed to hypotheses, which, as will be seen, have been as wild as the abovo tradi- tions, Mr, Cooley, a member of the Geographical Society, on the strength of an acquaintance with a half caste Arab, who had traded to certain parts in Central Africa, wrote the results ot what he bad gath- ered in ‘Inner Africa Laid Open,” wherein those who run may read and find much unwisdom, as has since been conclusively proved. The Tanganyika, according to Mr. Cooley, is connected with Nyassa, Living- stone, also, the first of Africam explorcrs, was greatly misled and greatly in error about the Tanganyika Ho said he tested a cure rent throe months by means of water plants, which kept continually arifting northward. Misled by these drifting water plants he constantly wrote and spoke about Upper and Lower Tanganyika The Upper was supposed to be the Albert Niyanza; the Lower, Bur. voyage none of them deserves our attention like the ! | CENTRAL AFRICA. Stanley’s Survey of Lake Tanganyika. NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 1877.--TRIPLE SHEET. ; the Lukuga Creek— MitWaKGi Road, ANSTF 1 ioe A foe Samani Fi tig Village Sal LY Be yih, “ged Rs | SCALE ONE. INCH TOA MILE | | \ Seen rm yi’ “4 yan, pe Rod Biutt, Ui XCCO Taf if i & aun 'S a ZA Cysts i Z ZA HY | Say nets ep So RAN // hing LAKE/TANGANIKA= REFERENCES The lines drawn across Lukuga separate and serve to distinguish the several dotted tracts as follows:— No. 1.—Dense papyrus, with nine and twelve feet of water beneath. No, 2.—Papyrus mud banks enclosing open pools of still water. No. 3.—Was, before last rainy season (November, 1875, to April, 1876), dry land—i. e a dry tract of alluvial deposit, thickly overgrown with water canes and dotted with a few tamarinds. spoke to me about continuing down the river as far as the Albert Niyanza. Sinco this circumnavigating voyuge of mine I do not wonder at all that Livingstone was so firm in his belief, for at the extreme south end and far up the west coast I find he had made diligent search for the outlet. On foot he trudged from Cazembe’s country to the frontier of Ugubba, and only took boat then to proceed by water to Ujij. On his last march I also find that he nade direct way to tho ‘Tanganyika, { have notseon his journals, though no doubt they have been pobiished by this, From Ponda’s village, as far as Ukituta, I find be has coasted along the lake, Camp after camp was shown to me, and it appears to me that he only desisted from the search when he had united his last route to his tormer one. From which it Is apparent that he made strenuous efforts to discover tho lake's outlet, though, unfortunately the more the pity after such courageous striving—uns‘ccessfully, 1 never looked at tho grim heights of Fipa, as I sat in my bout, without wondering how the aged traveller was able to hold out so long after such tall climbing. My men also assisted my admiration by pointiug out some tremendous mouttain which had occupied them an entire day to chmb. 1 recollect also attending the Geographical Soirée of . end) discovers the south end tallying with the abovo 1874, which was held at Willis’ Rooms, and seeing pendant from top to bottom of the wall an enormous map, illustrating broadly enough the “Hypothosis of Sir Samuel Baker,’ which was an hypothetic marriage of the Albert Niyanza witb tho Tanganyika, Heedless of the obstacles that hinder the explorer in Airica, with one dab of a paint brash he had annihilated Ruanda, Mkinyaga, Unyambenya, Chamali, Nashi and Ezige, and a broad, winding, river ke lake nearly eight hundred gevgraphical miles in length, astonished the scientific and unscientific world, STANLEY'S CONJECTURES. On reading over the duplicates of my letters, sont gome months ago to the coast, I proudiy perceive that I havo cause to congratulate myself for having ap- proached pretty near the truth; but’ it must be ad- mitted that ny conjectures were not broached until I had paid a second vieit to Lake Tanganyika, and had viewed with surprise the great rise of the luke which had taken place during an interval of five years. Io my letters | ask, “Can it be possibie tnat Lake Tan- ganyika 19 filling up, and that the Lukuga is but a par tial affluence?” Now that traditions, hypotheses and conjectures must give way before the hight thrown Upon the subject by careful and exact exploration, it will be seen that my conjectures were not uniounded, DERIVATION OF THE TERM TANGANYIKA, 1 forget who it was who sail that tne word Tal yika was derived from the Kiswahili words Kuchan- ganya or Kuchanganika, which means in English to ton’s Tanganyika, So, certain was he of this that when ho and I proceeded to explore North Tanganyika he mix, Whether it was Mr. Cooley or Captain Burton, it must be admitted to have been & most ingenious ox- planation; but the word bas the fatal objection of hav- ing been borrowed from a foreign language, becauso it has an accidental similarity with a Kijiji term, Whether Kiswabill or some other more northern lan- guage must be taken, for the mother language cannot be settled for some centuries yet; and, until itis deli- nitely known by 4 compurizon of languages und dia- lects and a knowledge of the course of ancient immi- gration, itis greatly to be doubted whether the inter- pretation should be admitted as the correct one. Among the inquiries made by me around this lake has beeu the significution of the word Tanganyika, which I discover to be only adopted by the Wajiji, Warundi, Wazige, Wavira and Wagoma, which united | inhabit about # third of the shores of the lake, The | Wawendi, Waiipa, Warungu and Wawemba, who in- habit the southern third, call it Jemba, or Riemba, or | lemba—Tbhe Lake, It will be rememvered that | among some of the discoveries Livingstone suid he had made was thatof Lake Liemba, or Lake Lake. No doubt Livingstone asked often enough of the na- tives of Urmya, probably in Kibisa or Kibisa-Kisawa- hili, the natne of the lake and was as often tuid it was Jemba or Liemba, Hence Livingstone wrote that he had “discovered another luke, not very largo, with two islands in it, Four rivers discharged into the lake, | Luke shores very pretty, romantic,’ &c, Andia a subsequent lotter said, ‘I fod thatthis Lake Liemba ts Jomed to Luke Tanganyika,” Impertect investigay tion also, it seems, does not exempt Living: stone [rom committing mistakes. Exploratioa | of this part of Lake Tanganyika (the south | | description of Liemba, Sakarabwe village, where ho was brought to by one of the chiefs of Kitumkara as he came irom Kabwire, and where ho halted some | time, was shown to me, The “two islands” are | Ntondwe aod Murikwa; the four rivars aro the Wizi, tho | Kitoke, Kapata and Mtombwa, | TANGANYIKA-KIMANA, | ‘The natives of Marungu and Ugubba occupy the west- | ern third, called Tanganytka-Kiteana, from which it is | evident that had Barton and Speke, the discoverers of this lake, happened to have first marched to Fila aud | had not been informed about the Tanganyika, we should probabiy have heard of this lake as Lake Liemba or icmba, Ur bad they journeyed from westward to Lake Tanganyika it is to be doubted much whether we should have heard of Lake Tanganyika atall, Un- doubtedly they would have enlarged upon tho vast length, sea-like expanse and romantic shores of Lake Kimana, In the same manner as ail large lakes are spoken of by the Waganda Niyanzas, so the Wojiyi speak of them as Tanganyikas, In my endeavors to ascertain tho signification of the term Tanganyika, and in the attempts of the Wajiji to explain, I learned that they did not know themselves, unless it might be because it was large, and its surf always made a noise, and a canoe could make a long journey on i From which I came almost to suppose that its signification was Large, Great, or Long Lake, Stormy Lake, Sounding Waters, of Groat Wave Lake, &c. I also learned that there was au electric fish called nika in the lake, but thon Tanga stood in tho way of it being called after the fish; neither was tho 2 vast body of water, Questioning 1m this manner only worried the natives, and I did rot obtuia # satisiactory solution of it until happening, as is my custom, to write down ag many native names tor objects ax L can gather from all dialeets for the purpose of compar- or pond, or a lake on which no canoes travel, and Nika, a plain, Lt appeared. to mo that the meauing of the word was satisfactorily obtained; that Tanganyika siguities the plain-lke lake, as much 80 a8 Irom the fact that a plain is universally taken in iuper Africa as same manner as the word “babr,” or sea, is used by the seacoast people, GEOLOGICAL CHANGES, During tho lake voyage to the Lukuga, Para, the chiet guide of Cameron, whom I also employed, pointed out several instances of changes that had oc- curred since Cameron had been on the lake, Sand beuches, which in many instances had served their cunoes as 4 shelter fromthe lake waves, had become Hooded with three to tour feet water above; low pots of land had become totally insulated, istands had been formed and others had been submerged; in the words of the guide, “The Tanganyika truly was swallowing the land very fast.’? But the best known chai atthe mouth of the Luxuga, Two years ago—if Para and the chief at the entrance are to be believed —there stood a Jong beach of white sand extending trom Mkampemba on one side to Kara Point on the Opposite side, cut by a channel 400 or 600 yards wide, much nearer Mkampemba than Kara Point, Several | Arabs, surprised at the change, confirmed Para’s state- ment. 1 jound, instead of this beach, a line of break- ers roiliug over with a depth of from two to five feet, from Mkampemba to Kara Point; and as Cameron's halting place was no longer a shelter for canoes we Were compelled to proceed further in, about three- quarters of a mile, The chiet, Kawe-Nyange, who took Cameron in his canoe up the creek, Was Very aflable, remembered the white mao very well, and explained some of the won- deriul things that had been shown him, and finally ex, Dressed a doubt ag to whether he should permit ine to ascend the Lukuga, as he feared that the other jfwhite man had throwy some medicine into the water, which had caused the Tanganyika to | much country, The beach between ow o aud Kara was, covered with angry white waves, and a fishing village on the beach Was destroyed, and the Mitwansi was covered with water, [fone white man could make so many changes in the country, what might not two white men dot | Kawe-Nyange was, after a little while, laughed out of his fears, and was encouraged with ample gilts to take bis men with him to show me the land and water round about, THY RIDDLE OF THR LUKUGA. All l could hear about the Lukuya, whether at Ujiji or trom the chief at the mouth, only added to the dit- ficulty of comprehending the real state of things. Lieutenant Cameron stated that he bad discovered the outlet of the Tangapyika, with a current of about 1.2 knots av hour! Arabs’ who had crossed the Lukuga scores of times said that 1t was not an outiluwing river, but an inflow- ing river, Wagubba, from Monyis, said that there were two Lukugas, one flowing east and one flowing west, anda | bank or ridge of dry Janu separated the two, Ruango, one of my guides, said that he bad crogsed | it five times; that ft was a smati river tlowing into the | ‘Tangunyika; that if I found it towed in any other dl- | rection than into the Tanganyika he would return his hire to mo, Para, Camerbn’s chief guide, said that the white man could not have seen the water flow toward Rua, simply because it did not flow there. A native at Tembyve said that last year there wero two Lukugas, one flowing to Tanganyika, another to Rua; but this year’s rain had joined the two rivers and made them one, flowing west. Kawo-Nyange, the chic! at the entrance to the Lu, kuga, sald that he would show mea river flowing to the Tanganyika, and above a little way a river flowing to- ward Rua. A sub-chief of his said that formerly there were two Lukugas, one flowing to the lake, another flowing to- ward Rua; but these last two years’ raius had risen the Tavganyika so much that the lake had “swallowed” the Lukuga, flowing into it, and had become jomed to the Lukaga, tlowing to Rua; but that this union with the Rua Lukuga was not continual, only during the hours of the sourncast monsoon (Manda); that each afternoon, alter the wind had calmed, the river returned as usual to the lake, Lastly, 1 may mention that Mr. J. F, de Bourgn, ©, E. and F.R, G8., a gentloman engaged vy mo to construct me a viank chart of Central Africa, has drawn, near the position occupled by the Lukuga in toword tho fanganyika, I must say that, wherever the gentlemen obtained bis information, ho has ilus- trated the sudject exactly as it wasa few yours ago. As the case stands to-day no one 1 exactly right or very wrong. Exploration and close investigation of this geographical phenomenon reconcile ail those con- trary statements; but, without the above chart illus. ON THE LUKUGA, * In company with Kawb-Nyango and some of his peo- ple we sallod ap a fine open stroam-like body of wator, | ranging in width from 90 to 450 yards of open water. From bank to bank there was a uniform width of from 400 to 600 yards, but tie sheltered bends, undisturbed | by the monsoon winds, nourished dense growths of No, 4.—Source of the Luindi or Luimbi River, flowing northwesterly. ‘ | Caper AST Salting Tite: PEON ‘Wviene Sie ean: eust wind we balted at the place which Kawe-Nyange pointed out as tho utmost limit of the ascent made by Cameron, a small bend among the papyrus plants, few hundred yards northwest from the Lumba’s mouth, Asa first proof of what Kawe-Nyange had said about a Lukuga flowing into the lake and another flowing out of the lake, he pointed out the returning water bub. caused by the southeast wind, for which he reccived an encouraging word, A BOAT SURVRY OF THE LUEUGA, After landing at Lumba all who were not required by me im the deliberate investigation 1 was about to make with tbe aid of the boat, 1 hada proper camp made and a quiet cove cleared, where the boat and canoe could lie close to the bank, | then procceded further np the Lukuga. When about 100 yards higher up we arrived at the utmost limit of open water, and from bank to bank, Here we stopped for a short time, and with a portable level tried to detect a current, ‘The level indicated none, We then pushed our way through about twenty ia of the papyrus piante, until we were stopped by mudbanks, bluck as piteh, enclosing slime and paddles pregnant with seething animal life, [ caused four men to stand in the boat, and standing ob their shoulders with an oar for sup- port 1 tried to obtain a general view of what lay ahoad and around us. [saw the bed of tho creck or river choked from bank to bank with the papyrus plants, except where they enclosed sinall pools of still water, and about a mile or so highor up I saw trees which seemed to ine to stand exactly in the bed, Descending from my uneasy perch, i caused two of my men to proceed opposite ways on the mud toward the banks. Percoiving, after watehing them a short time, that the muddy 0020 waa not firm enongh to sustain a man’s weight, I recalled them, and returned to open water again, RXPERIMENTS ON THE CURRENTS, 1 now began another experiment to test the existence of a current. 1 took a piece of board, with which I had provided myself befureband, and cut out a disk a» foot in diameter. Into this disk I bored tour holes, through which I rove a stout cord and suspended to it at the distance of five feet an earthenware pot, which, filed with water and held in suspension by the board, would uaniistakably mark the existence of a current, Into ono side of the board I drovo a jong spike with agmall ball of cotton tied round the head This done 1 measured along straight reach of wator, 1,000 teet with a tape line, both ends of the track dis. ltinctly marked by a ribbon of sheeting tied to the papyrus, When these preparations had beon completed I proceeded to the southeasterumost end, and in the centre of the creek dropped tho disk and attached tho pot in the water, und noted the timo by chronometer, while we rowed tar away from it, The monsoon wind blew vory strongly at the time, The distance which the disk floated between 23h, 22m. 20s, and 2ib, 22m, was 822 feet from southoast to northwest, Second attempt, afternoon, wind, boecalmed, disk floated from northwest to southcast—that is, lake. word—169 feeg ia 19 minutes 80 seconds, VISITING THK MITWANSI, ju 80 remarkable an objoct as to give its name to such J ‘This closes our exporiment ior tho Gratday, The ing them, [| came to Kitangs, a smai! jake, poul { a standard opject for comparing or illustrating level | | bodies of earth or water of considerable extent, in the | | with each question, a small lake with a river flowing out of it | trating the survey, 1 would despair of making my | | meaning very clear. bles, which “fought,” he said against the small waves | an apparentiy impenetrable mass of papyrus grow | | second day, with Giftcen of the expedition, accom- pamied by the chief aad tea of bis peopie, we started ufoot northwestward. Keeping as closely as the nature of the bushes and the watercourses would pet> | anit co the iukugs, I observed that the trend of the watercourses and streams was from porthwest to south 40d south-southeasterly. Alter a march of a couple of hours we came to Eiwani village, where the road Jrom Monyis to Cuguvwa and Luweiezi ciossed the Lukaga. At Elwant we augmented our party with two of the villagers, then descended by a geatie slope to the Mitwansi, At the base of the siepe we cume to the bed ocenpied by the Kibamba and Lukaga, The former wus a small sluggish stream with a trend southeasterly, Crossing th'x we came tq the dried bed of « periodical river; whether it should be called the Lukuga or the Kibamba it would be difficult to say. Prostrate and withered water cane showed that the flow of the water in the season was = lakeward, A few yards further ou we came to where this bed Grst became most, with @ dense growth of water cane flourishing and checking all progress, except by the well trodden path, whick now ran through tunnels caused by the water canet embracing above our heads Gur way now wat through what might be called a swamp, now over & firm path of dark brown clayey mud, then through shallow hoilows, with water up to the ankles, whica now and then deepened to the knees. Finally we ar- rived im the middle of the Mitwansi, and Kawe- Nyapge halted to point out triumphantly the water flowing indisputavly westward, The water was up to the knees and felt cold. but on putting a thermometer into it I found it to be only 68 deg. Fahrenheit, about 7 deg. cooler than the Lukuga Creck. By pressing the caue down with our feet to ailow a free passage for tho water, the flow perceptibly quickened. Borne by two men, I crossed over until 1 stood on the other bank, ond observed that the cane-choked bed was very uneven, Sometimes the water was so deep that the men sank to the hips, but the average depth Was about eighteen inches, ‘trees, now doad, in the centre of the bed, which proved the statement of the Dutive true, that not long ago the Mitwansi tract was dry enough to nourish tamarind tres, ‘Thig last rainy season bas changed it now, tor ince its termination the tract has become inundated, anda continual water. flow has been observable. Tho name Lukuga clings to ‘this bed until it passes the Kiganja Ridge, when it be- comes known as tho Luind} (some call it the Leimbi), which, flowing by Miketo’s Land, passes through Ka- Jumbi’s in Rua, and empties into the Kamalondo, a tributary of the Lualaba, This road or ford, as it must now be called, is daily traversed by men, women and children, who require to cross from one bank to the other, and is about three miles northwest from Lumba, or six miles from Mkampemba, THE RESULTS ATTAINED, The result of four days’ experiments and investiga- tlons and inquiries proves that as far ag the southeart end of the Mitwanst tract, which may be called a marsh or an ooze, reco ving and absorbing a large quantity of water pressed aguinss it by the daily south- east wind, there is no current, but that, on the con- trary, the surplus waters whic» cannot be absorbed by the already repleted ooze on the wind subsiding re- turn to the Ia (hat for the space of two miles from the southeast end of the Mitwanai the entire bed from bank to bank 18 cuoked by immovable mudbanks en closing stagnant pools and stream-like expanses of water, odged round with impenetrable growths of ras plants; that at the third mile, where the ancient lacustrine deposit is of a firiner qaailiy, and water cane replaces the papyrus, thero first becomes discernible an ooze, a trickle and a flow westward, which, proceeding westward at the base of the Kivanja ridge, i# attracted to one proper channel and ap- proaches the dignity of a river, when it becomes known as the Luindi. HOW ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS ARE MADE, This Mitwans! is a tract of alluvial deposit, and ts the result of the united action of tne lake winds (which trom the end of April to the middle of Novem- ber prevail from the southeast) and tho feebie corrent of the former affluent Lukuga. Tho current, as mav be expected from the very limited area it drained, was mot daily during nearly seven months annually by the waves of the lake, which encroached yearly nearer and nearer to its source, and the detrital matter which would have becn borne into the lake by a stream of greater torco was deposited amid the papyri. This plant flourishes in still water and sweet water lagoons in quiet bends of rivers, and once it has thoroughly obtained root it becomes almost as immova- ble ‘a3 a forest. As the waters of the lake advanced with its annual rise they destroyed year somo small portion of the force of the Lukuga current, and the water plante and other organic débris floating down the stream no sooner felt tho influence of the lake wind thag they were heaped up amid theso papyri; other débris borne direct from tho lake, such as floating canewood, earthy matter from the banks and the bar, were pressed against them, sometimes thrown among them, Soil, sand, decomposing vegetation sunk on them, bore them down with their weight, and thus tho process of entombing the earlier débris created finally a tract of clayey mud and ooze, oat of which a luxu- rant growth of papyrus shot their brash-like heads as dense as a field of corn, While the Lukuga was a river it will be seen that there was a constant prectprtation of detrital matter and as steady an accumulation of tt in one locality, untit the river became annihilated, and only its bed, now filled by the creck, and the small tributary streams mark its former course. Since the Tanganyika has risen to tho level of the Mitwansi—whether this year, last year or two years ago matters not much which—a change must be looked for, and with the advance of years this change will vecomo more decided and posi- tive. The mud and ooze with the papyrus of the Mitwansi is too feeble an obstacle to resist the rising floods received each year by the Tanganyika, while there is a steep slope at the western end ready to re- celve the surplus water; the consequence will be that five years hence, perhaps a little later, an efflaent will be formed of magnitude and force, for the flat of Nature has gono forth to the Tanganyika, “Thus bign shalt thou rise, and no higher,” In which results, so patiently attained, I see no opposition to Lieutenant Cameron’s claiming the honor of the discovery, but a simplo reconetiiation of all apparently opposing statements. The whole was a perplexing riddle to me, which the more 1 thought of - the more complicated it grew, aud only a personal ex- amination of the sceno would ever have enabled me to understand, unloss some traveller had illustrated his explorations with a chart like tho above, FHILOSOPIIG OBSERVATIONS, In the absence of the scientific geologist | must take upon mysolt to suggest a few thoughts to those of yous readers who may becomo interésted in this subject of the Lukaga, and who are more able to deal with it. 1 cannot sulisiietorily account to myself for the exist. ence of this imtercsting phenomenon otherwise than by supposing the formation of the extraordinarily deep depression in the bosom of the broad plateau riehiy filled by tho waters of tho Tanganyika to bo poste diluvian, If the ideas of one accustomed to read geological history, aud to analyzo puuses of the pase ages from existing traces in the hard rock or moun. tain contour, may be permitted to see the light, L would say that subsequent to the universal deluge, or the retroat of the ocean to its prosent bed, the Maln- z gurazi and the Luwegeri River have flowed over this provent ‘enormous gulf, and cban- nollea their way for their oxit westward, first severing the Kiyanja from the Kilunga ridge, This enormous guif was in these day: pparently firm plateau, with the same rolling surface as Unyam- wert and Uhna now present; and the two rivers, jomned by others of less magnitude, flowed on undix turbedly to the Lualaba for centuries, perhaps ages, For in what other manner could this deep break in what must evidently have vecn long ago one frm, un- broken, compact ridge, Lave become so smoothly worn down, a thousand feet and more, so low as to permit the geatly flowing Luindi@o sweep by its base from the east? It required a mightier volume of water than the Luind@i, with no other source of supply than the ose of the Mitwansi, three miles cast of Kiyanja, and uoul the present year such supply must have been scanty in the extreme, GREAT GKOLOGICAL CHANGES If it will be grunted that such was, or might have been, the condition of tiie region at that time, the subsequent changes which took place are easy enough to arrive at. We may imagine volcanio agency, thon, as heaving up this plateau, rending up tho solid earth and heaping along tho edges of the deep chasms it created into lengthy tines of mountaia ranges and changing its former smooth rolling sutiace into ite preseng rugged and uneven aspect, Tho great stream which ly drained all this section and rolled berweemy