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Show BIG AFJtICAN LAKES. TRAVELER'S SOLUTION OP THE TANGANYIKA MYSTERY. IFftunn of tho Ills; Lnhot rountt lo Ho YUiollr lAtti.trlno lotronool Dam Up a airootu and Tarn tho tYoler Itio Ollirr ar (1 I The mystery that has always sur-I sur-I rounded the great lakes ot Central 1 Africa la largely aolvcd In tho new number of the (leogrnphlcal Journal by .Mr J. K. B, Moore. His explorations explora-tions bate linked together much Information In-formation previously rather fragmentary. fragmen-tary. Tanganyika was discovered by llurton and Spcke In 1857, and tho latter lat-ter bruiight to Kngland a few shells picked up on Its shore which found their way to the Hrltlsh museum. Some of them puzzled Iho experts, for, though taken from n fresh water lako ery far Inland, they strongly resembled resem-bled genera which Inhabit tho soi, They hail also a curiously old world aspect, ns If they wero lineal descend-lints descend-lints ot shells which lived about tho tlmo when the limestones called oolites ool-ites wero formed, or considerably before be-fore our chalk was deposited. Hut the little known about Africa had led geologists ge-ologists to suppoto that, at any rate, tho central nnd southern parts had been nboo tho sea far longer than this. In course of time, howovcr, mora discoveries wero mad In Tanganyika, including shells of similar types, po-(ullar po-(ullar fishes, crabs, prawns, sponges, nnd even a Jelly flsh In fact, n number num-ber of creatures, all suggesting that their ancestors had been marine. Then In 1897 Mr. Moore visited tho lako and brought back collections which placed the matter beyond doubt. Hut the settlement ot that question only raised another. In what way did Tanganyika Tan-ganyika communlcato with tho aca? Somo ten years ago Prof, Suess, ot Vienna, Vi-enna, by piecing together the Informa tion gathered by travelers In the more central parts ot Africa, camo to the conclusion that tho continent on Its eastern sldo waa traversed by a re-markable re-markable group ot rifts, which had resulted In the formation of valleys. In theso lay tho longer and narrower of the African lakes. Ho traced the "rift system" from Syria, along tho valley of the Jordan, down the Hed sea, southward Into Atrlca, Near I-ako Iliidolf It divides tho two branches opening out to Inclose a broad tract of highlands In the middle of which la the wide Victoria Nyanza. Tho western nrm paaaea through the Albert Al-bert lake, Klvu and Tanganyika, turning turn-ing eastward from the south end ot tho last to tho head of Nyassa, Here It la very probably Joined by the eastern east-ern branch, which can be traced for a long way, passing to tho west of Kenya and Kilimanjaro. Thoso great rifts would seem to bo the natural I lines of connection with the ancient I peaan. arl, it aa.thst could, ba tracked by seelne which of the lakes contained tho strange creatures of Tanganyika, So a second expedition waa organized, headed by Mr. Mooro to examlno tba wholo chain ot lakes along the western west-ern "lllfn Valloy," from Nyassa to tho Albert Nyanza. Ills former expedition expedi-tion had mado It almost certain that Nyassa had never been In communication communi-cation with tho aea. Consequently, tho way could not havo been from tho south, In Tanganyika he found still moro evidence of nn ancient marine fauna which had tenanted Its waters nt a time when tho lako covered a much larger area, nut neither In Klvu nor In the Albert Edward lake, nor In the Albert Nyanza could he discover dis-cover any traces of these marine croa-turra, croa-turra, Their fauna, like that ot Nyassa, Ny-assa, was wholly lacustrine. Mora than that, Mr. Moore found that the river draining Klvu descends as a torrent through an upland region to the old head of Tanganyika nnd that the former for-mer lake la cut nil from the Albert Ildward by n huge mass of volcanoes some of which aro still active. Strangn as It may seem ho gives good reasons for believing that Klvu had been formed by tho outbreaking of these volcanoes, which havo dammed up a stream that formerly ran to tho north till the water at lost found an outlet out-let In tho opposite direction down to Tanganyika, Thus, strange ns It may seem, tho sea can only hnve lain to tha west, over the present basin ot tho Congo. Ixmdon Standard. |