THE LAKE REGION OF AFRICA.
Almost all the lakes of Africa are, comparatively speaking, quite shallow, and bear evidence of being the remains of much greater bodies of water that existed in past ages. It is believed that the whole district now drained by the Zambesi River and its tributaries was, at one time, a great fresh water lake.
Many traces of the lake still exist. The whole of the vast area drained by the Zambesi system is covered with a bed of tufa, which is a soft, porous stone formed by deposits from water. This bed of tufa in the Zambesi region is more or less hardened, according to the exposure it has had to atmospheric changes.
The great fissure of the Victoria Falls has, no doubt, drained in no small degree an enormous valley, to leave only the deeper portion of what was originally a sea, but is now known as Lake Nyassa.
Traces of ancient beaches along its borders afford proof that the lake is much diminished in size.
Livingstone writes, that in no part of Africa had he found so dense a population as upon the shores of Lake Nyassa. Along the south side of the lake there was an almost unbroken line of villages.
It is upon the shores of this lake that much care is bestowed upon the graves. The burying grounds are all well protected, and have good broad paths running through them.
The graves are, in almost every instance, shaded by the deep foliage of the fig tree. Those of the men are distinguished from those of the women by the various implements or utensils which they were in the habit of using during life.
Here, a bit of fishing net, or a bit of broken paddle, tells the story of a fisherman's life; there, a mortar and pestle used for pounding corn, or the bucket used for sifting the meal, tells the story of the domestic life followed by the woman who now lies resting from all labor.
On each grave are the fragments of what were once utensils for holding food. They have been placed there to signify that their late owners have passed beyond the need of daily sustenance.
Lake Tchad is, perhaps, one of the most interesting lakes of Africa. It is, in fact, an immense inland sea, situated in Soudan, a portion of North Africa.
It has an elevation of about eight hundred feet above the level of the sea. According to some writers, it is from two to three hundred miles long and one hundred and forty miles broad.
Although not an especially attractive lake, it is a very interesting one. Its placid waters stretch far away to its distant banks, fringed with tall water reeds. Often numerous hippopotami may be seen resting in its depths, their ugly noses barely showing above the surface.
Here and there light barks may be seen floating. Many of these are so far in the distance that only the gleam of their sunny sails is visible to the beholder.
Ordinarily, the depth of the lake is from eight to fifteen feet; in some years the water has attained a much higher level along its shores.
Crocodiles abound in these waters, as well as the hippopotami, or river horses. Fish and water fowl are also plenty.
Dr. Barth, the explorer, states that the lake has no apparent outlet, yet its waters are perfectly fresh. From the north the Waube, a river some four hundred miles in length, enters it. From the south the Shari, a stream about eighteen hundred feet broad in its lower course, discharges its waters into the lake.
Lake Tchad seems to be divided into two distinct sections, the open water and the strip of swampy land which surrounds it. The open water, or true Tchad, is dotted with numerous islands. These consist mainly of elevated, sandy dunes. Only the most elevated of these islands afford shelter, but such as are inhabited have a dense population.
The people on these lake islands build numerous boats. Some are twenty feet in length. One writer describes a boat which was fifty feet long, and but six and one-half feet wide.
The explorers, Barth and Overweg, describe Lake Tchad as a remarkably fine sheet of water. They visited the lake during the dry season, and found the lowlands in the vicinity grassy meadows. During the wet season these lands are usually under water.
Doubtless the ground surrounding the lake was a portion of the former bed of a much larger sheet of water. Along its shores the papyrus is found. This is like the plant from which the ancients about the Nile manufactured their paper. Various other reeds, some of them from ten to fourteen feet high, grow in abundance, there being two distinct varieties of these gigantic reeds.
Interwoven in this thicket of reeds grows a variety of climbing plant with bright yellow blossoms. Another peculiar plant, which floats or rests upon the water, the natives call by a name which signifies "homeless fauna."
As these two explorers, Barth and Overweg, approached open water, after leaving the swampy ground in the nearer vicinity of the lake, they came upon an expanse of quite deep water. Shortly after, they disturbed a herd of kelara, a variety of antelope that is very fond of the water. Proceeding on their way, they came to water so deep that, by stooping in the saddle,—for they were on horseback,—they could easily have drunk from it. This draught, however, would not have been very refreshing, for the water was warm and full of vegetable life.
Lake Tanganyika is situated in East Central Africa, at an elevation of over twenty-seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. It has a length of upwards of four hundred miles, while its breadth is from ten to fifty miles. In shape it is like a leech, with the small end tapering to the north. This small or northern end lies about two hundred miles southwest of Victoria Nyanza Lake.
Burton and Speke, two African explorers, have given a vivid description of the approach to the lake, as well as of the lake itself.
Burton regarded the Malagarazi River as the western boundary of "The Land of the Moon." It is in this section of country that Lake Tanganyika is situated.