THE WONDERS OF AFRICA.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 25 January 1901, Page 4

THE WONDERS OF AFRICA.

An Island Sea.

At a recent mectiug in London of the Boyal Geographical Society Mr J. E. S. Moore gave an interesting account of a recenl < xpedition to the region of Tanganyika, i!.e .ejects of which were to pursue further the investigations of the fauna) floral, geography, and geology of Tanganyika, and to gonorih With the same objects via Kivu and the Albert Edward Nyanza as far as the Albert Nyanza. Mr Moore explained that the necessity—or, at any rate, the desirability—of further knowledge of the physiograhical features and of the squatic fauna and flora of the great African lake grew out of what, in want of a better name, he described as the Tanganyika problem. Tanganyika, as he had found in his first expedition, contained fish of a type which were distinctly oceanic, and. moreover, exactly resembled specimens found in geological strata. The question was : In what way had Tanganyika been connected with the ocean '? Was it north or south or west'?

The Great Rift Yalley. North of Tanganyika the great valley of the lake is continued as a trough-like depression among the surrounding high plateaux, and beyond the lake itself it is floored with a flat mass of lacustrine and alluvial deposits covered with euphorbia and grass, and extending for some thirty miles north of the lake. The shores of Lake Kivu are formed by a continuation of the great Tanganyika trough, which from this point onwards cuts its way northwards through what appears to be a uniformly unbroken series of eruptive granitoid plateaux, which stretch in unbroken monotony east and west of the valley as far as the coast of the Albert Kyanza. The valley of Tanganyika, although belonging to the same watershed is physically discontinuous from that of Kivu, and apparently always had been, just as that of Tanganyika is discontinuous from that of Nyassa and the depressions to the south. A Former Inland Sea. Mr Moore, who spoke of his great indebtedness to the German Consul at TJj ji, declared, as a result of his work, that Lake Kivu, the Albert Edward, and Nyarzas presented only the characteristics of pond life. There was no vestige of any of the halolimnic animals in any of the lakes in the rift-valley north or south of Tanganyika, but this fauna did appear to extend into the Congo valley, and consequently, when the question was raised in what direction Tauganyika was stocked from the sea, he suggested looking westward. Much of the Congo basin had undoubjedly in former ages been covered by the sea. The Greatest Volcanoes in the World. The volcanoes north of Kivu were the largest active group of volcanoes in the world. The crater of one was over 13,000 ft high. Some beautiful photo.graphs of the volcanic region, of the Mountains of the Moon, and the lakes were here thrown on the screen. Mr Moore said that it was obvious that

•enormous quantities of volcanic matter had been recently poured into the riftvalley, immediately north of Lake Kivu, and had filled the valley up to a great height, and it was on this account, he believed, that the lake, which was 5,000 ft above sea level, appeared to be full, and for the same reason the Busisi outlet to the south had, he believed, been recently acquired, and was geologically speaking, quite new. He did not think that there could be any doubt that the volcanic mass had acted in this way as a dam across the valley, causing the lake to rise and ultimately flow over to the south, its connection with Tanganyika and with the Congo watershed being thus secondary, and of quite recent origin. The Mountains of the Moon.

Mr Mcore proceeded to give an account of his ascent of the northern snow ridge of Ngomwimbi, part of the range known as the Mountains of the Moon. The results of this ascent, which was attended with great difficulty and danger, led to the conclusion that the existance of an extensive high plateau in the centre of the Ruwenzori range must be dismissed as a myth. The Mobko valley and several of its branches run completely through the range, forming in the west between the high snow-peak passes, which are known to the natives, and by which they say they have crossed into the Samliki valley on the other side. Broadly speaking, the whole range is composed of three more or less disjointed masses. There is a great central mass of wild and very lofty mountains, at least four of the peaks of which are snow-capped, while on the north and south of it there are deep valleys, which are again bounded by the white snow peaks to the north and south. So far as he could tell, this central portion seemed to be the highest. Three of the valleys between the central and northern peaks contain glaciers, and the Muboko itself rises in the great glaciers, which faces the upper part of the valley. Fore&ts of Heath. The lecturer gave a very graphic account, of the difficulties of the ascent, accompanied by his Swahills, who, with practically nothing on felt the cold very much as thoy reached the snow line. On the lower slopes of the mountain were huge forests of bamboo, and to these succeeded heath. But the heath was not as we know it in England. The trees grew to height of 60ft, and resembled the Alpine forests, only on a gigantic scale. For centuries these trees had grown, died, and rotted away, with the result that the true ground was covered with a spongy mas 3 of vegitation, 40ft or more deep. As they were crossing this heath belt, every now and then a carrier would disappear in this vegitable mass, and would have to be hauled out by ropes from a hole 40ft deep. One peculiarity of the mountains was this. Lying almost immediately under the Equator it was a region of almost perpotual summer; hence the snow line never varied as in the Alps, and the vegitation came almost up to the line of perpetual snow. This snow itself was in strata, as during the day it partially melted and at night froze. Mr Moore described the wonder of his boys at first seeing ice. One of them seized hold of a large piece, declaring he would take it to Ujiji, as a trophy, and was much astonished at its melting.