VIEWS OF LAKE TANGANYIKA.
Burton considered the march from the Malagarazi River to Lake Tanganyika
the worst part of his journey. It led through a perfect wilderness, with
all the diversities of jungle, swamp, rugged hills, and rocky ravines
swept by mountain torrents.
After much labor, Burton and his followers reached the lake. His first
feeling was one of disappointment.
Having traveled through screens of lofty grass, which gradually thinned
out into a scanty forest, he climbed a steep, stony hill, thinly covered
with thorny trees. From the top of this hill he could see a faint streak
of light below. This he judged was the lake. Seen through the veil of
trees and the broad rays of sunshine, the lake seemed to be shrunken in
its proportions.
As he advanced a few steps, the whole scene burst upon his view. He was
filled with admiration, wonder, and delight at its beauty. To quote his
words:--
"Nothing could be more beautiful, more picturesque, than the first view
of Lake Tanganyika, as it lay in the lap of the mountains, basking in
the gorgeous tropical sunshine. Below and beyond a short foreground of
rugged and precipitous hill-fold, down which the footpath zigzags
painfully, a narrow strip of emerald green, never sere, and marvelously
fertile, shelves towards a ribbon of glistening sand, here bordered by
sedgy rushes, there cleanly and clearly cut by the breaking wavelets.
"Farther in front stretched the waters, an expanse of the lightest and
softest blue, in a breadth varying from thirty to thirty-five miles, and
sprinkled by the crisp east wind into tiny crescents of sunny foam.
"The background is a high and broken wall of steel-colored mountain,
here flecked and capped with pearly mist, there standing sharply
penciled against the azure sky. Its yawning chasms, marked by a deep
plum-color, fall towards dwarf hills of mold-like proportions, which
apparently dip their feet in the wave.
"To the south, and opposite the long, low point behind which the
Malagarazi River discharges the red loam suspended in its violent
stream, lie the bluff headlands and capes of Uguha; and, as the eye
dilates, it falls upon a cluster of outlying islets speckling a sea
horizon.
"Villages, cultivated lands, the frequent canoes of the fishermen on the
waters, and, on a nearer approach, the murmur of the waves breaking upon
the shore, give something of variety, of movement, of life to the
landscape, which, like all the fairest prospects in these regions, wants
but a little of the neatness and finish of art,--mosques and kiosks,
palaces and villas, gardens and orchards,--contrasting with the profuse
lavishness and magnificence of nature, and diversifying the expanse of
excessive vegetation, to rival, if not to excel, the most admired
scenery of the classic regions.
"The riant shores of this vast crevasse appeared doubly beautiful to me
after the silent and spectral mangrove creeks on the East African
seaboard, and the melancholy, monotonous experience of desert and jungle
scenery, tawny rock and sun-parched plain, or rank herbage and flats of
black mire. Truly it was a revel for soul and sight."
In further accounts this same author describes the African canoe, which
is simply a scooped-out log. In such a climate as that of Africa a canoe
cracks, and for want of calking it often becomes so leaky as to require
constant baling. The crew take turns in thus keeping the craft from
sinking.
A canoe of this sort has neither masts nor sails. In place of a rudder
there is an iron ring in the stern. The steering, however, is really
done by the paddle. There are no oars, and the paddle, which takes the
place of oars, is exceedingly clumsy.
The crew seat themselves on narrow benches, two sitting in a space
scarcely large enough for one person. In the center of the canoe is a
clear space about six feet long. This is used to store the cargo,
passengers, cattle, slaves, and provisions.
In describing the natives Burton says: "The lakists are an almost
amphibious race, excellent divers, strong swimmers and fishermen. At
times, when excited by the morning coolness and by the prospect of a
good haul, they indulge in a manner of merriment which resembles the
gambols of sportive water fowls.
"Standing upright and balancing themselves in their hollow logs, which
appear but little larger than themselves, they strike the water
furiously with their paddles, skimming over the surface, dashing to and
fro, splashing one another, urging forward, backing, and wheeling their
craft, now capsizing, then regaining their position with wonderful
dexterity.
"They make coarse hooks, and have many varieties of nets and creels.
Conspicuous on the waters and the villages is the dewa, or otter of
Oman, a triangle of stout reeds, which shows the position of the net. A
stronger kind, and used for the larger ground fish, is a cage of open
basket work, provided like the former with a bait and two entrances. The
fish, once entangled, cannot escape, and a log of wood used as a
trimmer, attached to a float-rope of rushy reeds, directs the
fisherman."
The results of Burton's trip up and down the lake, owing to the
obstinacy of the native guides, were not very important. The shores of
the lake he found to be very muddy, and the landscape bright and green
with vegetation. The inhospitable natives, although favored with every
blessing of so luxuriant a climate, were ignorant and barbarous.
Tanganyika is probably the longest fresh water lake in the world. It
occupies an area of nearly thirteen thousand square miles, and has a
coast line of nine hundred miles in extent.