New-York tribune., 1901-02-10
THE AFRICAN LAkES MYSTERY.
AN ENGLISH TRAVELLERS SOLUTION OF IT.
From The London Standard
NeKVOrE.

AN ENGLISH TRAVELLERS SOLUTION OF IT.
From The London Standard
The mystery that has always surrounded the
great lakes of Central Africa is largely solved
III the new number OF The Geographical jour
nal" by Mr. j. +. s. Moore His explorations
nave linked together much information pre-
vously rather fraGmentary. Tanganyika
discovered by Burton and Spoke in 1851. and the
latter brought 10 England IL few shells picked
up on it's shore, which found their way To- the
British Museum. Some of them puzzled the ex-
perts, for. though taken from fresh water lake
very Ear inland, they strongly resembled genera
which inhabit the sea. They had also u curiously
old World aspect. if they lincai
soendants of shells which lived about the time
when the limestoneS. called oUlites, were formed,
or considerably before chalk was deposited
But the little known about Africa had led ,el llo-
gists To- suppose that any rate the central
and southern parts had been above the fo-
longer than this In course of time. however.
more discoveries were made in Tanganyika in
ClutlnS shells OF similar types. peculiar fishes.
crabs. prawnS. sponeeS, and even a jelly fish
IN fact number Of creatures. all suggesting
that their ancestors had been marine Then. in
1924. Mr Moore visited the. lake. and iTuuahu
back collections which placed the matter bryond
doubt. I!ut the settlement of that question only
raised another In what way did Tancauyika
communicate with the sea-
SOM ten years ago Professor Sucss If Vi
emma. 10y pr"inG together the information gath
cred by travellers in the more central parts Of
Africa, came to the conclusion that TIN conii-
mont ON IT'S eastern side traVerSed hy
remarkable group of riffs which had resulted
longer and narrower of the African lakes lie
traced this riff system from Syria. .luH. the
valley ot thu Jordan down In. Rcd Sea. scout H.
ward into Africa Near Lake Rudolf ii divides.
tho two branches opening out to iri'lus.
broad tract - highlands, lU the middle of which
is IN" widr Victoria Nyanza- the western arm
uaSs'~ through thu Albert \yanza. Albert Ed
ward Lake. kIyu and TangIuy ika. turning east
ward from IN" south end uf the last the head
'i NyaSsa- Her IL is very probably joined by
tne eastern branch. which b- traced for
long NAY. ItSsinl 10 thc west of kenyi and Kill
UauJaTu Thcs" great riffs would seem 70 be
th- natural lines of connection with the ancient
ocean. aTd If So, that could be- tracked hy ser-
ing Nhirh 81 tn" lakes contained the strange
creatures "t fdnSdnEIka- So second eNpedI-
tlOu organized. headed by Mr.. Moore 20
"NItuin" thr whole chain of lakes along the
western "Rlft Valley from Nyassa To the Al
bert NyanZa His former expedition had made
il almost certain that NYass; had never been In
communication with the sea Consequently the
way could not have been from the south. In
Tangauyika hc found still more evidence of
ancient marine fauna which had tcnanted it's
waters at a time when the lake covered IA much
larger But neither in kivu. in the
Albert Edward Lake nor i'm the Albert NyanZa
could he discover any traces of these marine
creatures. Their fauna. like that of NyaSsa,
wholly lacustrine. More than that. MIR.
Moore found that the river draining kivu de-
scendS a torrent through upland region
10 the old head Of Tanganyika. and that the
former lake is cut off from the Albert Edward
10y huge mass of volcanoes, some of which
still active. Strange il may seem. he gives
good reasons for believing that kiVu has been
formed 10y the Outbrcaking Of these volcanoes.
which have damned up a stream that formerly
To- the north till the water at last found an
outlet in the opposite direction down to Tangan-
yika. Thus strange il may SEEM the sea
can only have lain to the west over the present
basin of the Congo.