New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-15
AFRICAN LAKES AND PEAKS.
A CURIOUS RECORD OF ANCIENT EARTH
SHAKINGS

THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY Being tne az
rativc OF a Journey to Mount Kenya ana LAKE LAX.
Natural History. Anthropology and fu'1Te
Prospects Of British East Afrlca. bS
- S OF the British Museum (Natural His
tory. PIP xxi 422. Imported by Charles s'I'o-
ners Sons
One important purpose which DR.. Gregory re-
veals in this volume is to restore in imagination
the antique topography OF Southwestern ASIA
and Eastern Africa according TO the testimony
Of both science and tradition. In order to
realize what that vast region was like within the
racial memory of men, one must think OF the
shore of the Indian Ocean as much further 20
the southwark than 1t now is. and of the East
ern Mediterranean Sea as not in existence at
all The whole Of the Levant was then dry land
and the watershed between the rivers which
flowed TO the west and those tributary to the
Southern Ocean is supposed TO have been near
where the island Of Cyprus now lies. Inc Mic
was probably much shorter river than IL Is
now. its true sources perhaps being those OF 'hc
Yo-called Blue Nile. certainly not the great iaNes
of Equatorial Africa. Those lakes msleau oi
draining down the Egyptian valley. poured III
these remote ages by turns into the rivers IKE
tho Congo flowing 10 the Atlantic. or into
streams that made their way 20 the East Inc
condition Of the land around those lakes al
the time was apparently not unlike that ABOUT
the headwaters of the Mississippi River al the
present day, where a comparatively small move
uent OF the terraine changes the course of
rivers from south to north or from nor'h 10
south.
The Red Sea was not then in existence But
through the valley which 1t now fills there RAJ.
n river. either the historic Jordan Of Palestine
prolonged or a river TO which the Jordan was
tr,hutarv For a reason we'll known 10 those
who make a study Of fishes. this ancient stream
for which Dr Gregory proposes the name OF the
Erythraean River, must have been Joined before
q reached the ocean by a river which rose
anoone the African lakes. A din. Renaissance
of this state Of things Is preserved, says the
author in the folklore of the races Which sun
tnhabit the region THE Arabs tell us that the
Red Sea is simply water that did not dry UP
after Noah's Deluge The somali say that When
their ancestors crossed from Arabia TO AFRICA
there was a land connection between the two
across the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb The ma
.ives Of I-Nu at the southern end of the line
have O folklore that goes back 10 the time
when Lake Tanganyika was formed by the
flooding Of fertile plain. rich in cattle ana
plantations And at the northern end Of the
valley we have the accounts Of the destruction
of the towns Of Sodom and Gomorrah
That to say, there Il Il NtllfN INV POI '--''
submerged by the sea. extending from the
Syrian Desert in Asia southwark almost 10 me
Cane of Good Hope. a distance of not less than
1000 miles which is unlike anything else on
the globe. but is strangely uniform in Its own
main asnects. From end to end il is like a vast
trough and scattered along its floor is a series
of thirty lakes. of which only one has an outlet
TO the ocean. pr. Gregory not the first 70
,oint ont this valley. Others had alluded 70 the
great depression extending from the Dead sea
10 Lake Tanganyika. Even ancient students OF
geography and natural history repeated win
wonder the universal popular impression That
certain great rivers of Asia We're Identical win
African rivers The connection was supposed
10 exist under the ocean, but with half the
present area of the Indian Ocean added 10 the
terra frma Of Asia and Africa, these puzzilhS
remarks of antique scientists could he explained
on perfectly natural grounds 1t remained Tor
Professor suess. of Vienna. to give the idea
clear expression His map showed at once tha'
the lakes Of Africa were Of two absolutely diff
ferent types. Some. like the Nyanza are al
most round. while others. Tanganyika and the
Nvasa for example. are long and narrow. What
the map cannot show is that their immediate
surroundings vary according to their form. The
round lakes have low shelving shores, while
"the long ones lie like hords between nigh
nrac,pitous cliffs" Now, these two classes or
lakes are definitely placed with relation to each
other The long ford-like lakes occur on two
lines which pass one on either SIDE OF 'he
Nyanza and meet at Basso Narok Qake Ru-
dolf) Thence the line continues northWard as
q long strip Of low land dotted with lakes and
old lake basins and sinking IN places below the
level of the sea. This extends to the southern
end of the Red Sea. which repeats the structure
Of the ford-like lakes larger scale; II is
long and narrow and, excluding some STRIPS OF
coast deposits. has high. precipitous shores
From It's northern end the Gulf OF Akaba leaas
20 another valley with similar characteristics
ora from this the Dead Sea and the Jordan
Valley continue the same type OF geographical
structure till It ends on the plains of Northern
Syria"
Without this novel element the geology OF
Africa has hitherto been looked upon as devoid
of interest The continent a whole in It's
rocks in the changes due to the action or water
or the other forces that modify strata promised
no addition 10 the knowledge gained IN other
regions Stones and plants were alike mohoto-
nous and UNMARRIED throughout enormous 'N-
panses and the problems offered by nauVe
man seemed more vexatOus than Interesting
compared with those suggested IN other quar-
ters of the world. But the very fact that Africa
geologically is so modern is now seen TO nave
its value In the lake region, which Dr. Hres-
DRY happily names the Rift Valley there Is evil
dence Of great earth movements almost WITHIN
the limits of recorded history perhaps even
contemporary with the early records OF Egypt
and Babyonia. In these earth movements
there seems even a geological basis for the
legend OF a deluge widespread and as de-
structive as that mentioned on Assyrian tablets
and in the pages Of Hebrew history. DR.. Greg
DRY points out also that the Rift Valley, taken
as a whole bears a curious resemblance to some
Of the depressions that are now marked on the