The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-11-12
THE MYsTERY OF T<NGANrIKA.
A Lake Whose Waters Are 10 Feet Lower
Thnl Thex Mers 20 Yaara Am.

Than They Wer~ 20 Years AGO.
Father Daull Roman Catholic missionary
at Lake Tonganyika. one OF tho large lakes Of
Central Africa, writes that since 1870 tho level
OF the lake has fallen about twenty six feet The
natives are now cultivatng banana patches for
about half mile lakcward on land that twenty
years ago was covered by tho lake In 9th or
words, the width OF the lake has been diminished
about mile throughout its length Of 400 miles
Fort Karoma was built on q hill whose base was
Tapped by the waves Of Tanganyika but now q
gently sloplng. cultivated plain stretches be.
tween the fort and the lake Many Of the native
villages In tho ten tribes that inhabit the thousand
miles Of coasts have been moved forward along
the now shore line At present the level Of tho
lake appears TO be stationary for there has been
no perceptible change within year moro
Father Daull expresses his views tho Gauss
Of this remarkable diminuton in tho volume Of
Tanganyika's waters In his opinion there
was a time, quite a number Of years ago, when
the head Of the Lukuga River. which carries
the waters OF the lake To the Congo was effect
SsIy Damned S by an aechmuis,i9n OF Tree trunks
waters was able TO escape and the level Of tho
lake began abnormally 70 rise. This went on
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 It's
Father Daulrs observation Of facts Is accurate
but he seems 10 have got the cart before the horse
and has mistaken the effect OF the falling waters
for the cause that produced them. II has been
clearly shown by explorers that the barriers that
sometimes form at tho head Of the Lukuga are not
the cause OF the lakes diminution but the result
Of it, Like many a white man In Africa, Father
Daull has not been able 10 keep pace with tho
geographical literature relating 10 the very re-
gion where he livcs
All the evidence tends 10 show that Tanganyika
In subject 10 periodical rise and fall Of level due 70
meteorological causes that are not fully under
stood. For period Of years the water receipts
Of the lake are steadily less than its outflow and
the evaporation from It's surface, and then the
lake recedes the head Of the Lukuga be-
comes choked with vegetation. no water enters
the river from the lake and 1t partly dres up as
II receives only the drainage Of its valley This
was the condition Of things when Stanley visited
the Lukugh In 1870
But tho lake had been rising then for number
OF years The succeeding cycle was in progress
when the water receipts were steadily greater
than the evaporation Stanley said that II the
lake continued IN nse. in two three years
II would burst through the vegetable barrier at
the head OF the l.ukuga and once more contribute
Its waters to the Congo This actually hap.
pened Al Missionary Hore and the explorer. Thorn
son. discovered. and almost simultaneously, tho
succeeding period Of deficient water supply came
in and the lake has been falling 'ince II
seems " have reached the turning point again
and may soon expect 70 hear that the level
OF Tanganyika Is rising,