St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-11-29
The My stery of TanganyiIxa.

Father Daull, Roman Catholic mis-
sionary at Lake Tahganyika, one OF the
large lakes OF Central Africa, writes that
since 1879 the level of the lake has fallen
about twenty.six feet. The natives are
now cultivating banana patches tor
about half mile lakeward on land that
twenty years ago was covered by the
lake. In other words the width of the
throughout its length Of 400 miles. Fort
Karema was built on hill whose base
was Tapped by the waves OF Tanganyika
but now gently sloping, cultivated
plain stretches between the tort and the
lake. Many OF the native villages in the
tribes that inhabit the thousand miles oil
coasts have been moved forward along
the new shore line. At present the level
OF the lake appears to be stationary Tor
there has been no perceptible change
within year or more.
Father Daull expresses his views on
the cause OF this remarkable diminution
in the volume of Tanganyika's waters.
In his opinion there was time, quite
number OF years ago, when the head of
the Lukuga river, which carries the
effectually damned by an accumulation
of tree trunks, herbage and sand so that
| finally none Of the water was able to es-
cape and the level of the lake began abb
normally to rise. This went on for a
number of years until at last the barrier
at the head OF the Lukuga was gradually
broken down and since then the waters
have been slowly falling and the lake has
been returning to its natural level.
Father Daull's observation of facts is
accurate but he seems to have got the
cart before the horse and has mistaken
the effect of the falling waters for the
cause that produced them. 1t has been
clearly shown by explorers that the bar
riers that sometimes form at the head OF
the Lukuga are not the cause of the
lakes diminution but the result of it.
Like many white man in Africa, Father
Daul has not been able to keep pace
with the geographical literature relating
to the very region where he lives.
All the evidence tends to show that
Tanganyika is subject to periodical rise
and fall of level due to meteorological
causes that are not fully understood
For period of years the water receipts
of the lake are steadily less than its out
flow and the evaporation from its sur
face, and then the lake recedes, the heac
OF the Lukuga becomes choked will
vegetation, no water enters the rlvel
from the lake and it partly dries up as il
receives only the drainage OF its valley
This was the condition of things wher
Stanley visited the Lukuga in 1876.
But the lake had been rising then for {
number of years. The succeeding cycl
was in progress when the water receipts
were steadily greater than the evapora
ton. Stanley said that if the lake con
tinued to rise, in two or three years NOR
it would burst through the vegetabl
barrier at the head Of the Lukuga ant
once more contribute its waters to tn
, Congo. This actually happened as Mis-
, sionary Hore and the explorer, Thorn
son, discovered, and almost simultane
. ously, the succeeding period of defcien
, water supply came in and the lake ha
been falling ever since. 1t seems to hav
reached the turning point again and W
E may soon expect to hear that the level c
! Tanganyika is rising = New York Sur