The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

804 SOUTH AND KAST Al'KK'A.l'll^^I( AI,FlCATlIlKSThe llufiji (llu I'ijii, Rulu (liu-l''u|, and Wami llivcrs, wliicli water the regionof coustliiuds till rLccutly kiiowu by the general name of tlie Zanzibar coast, fromthe neighbouring island of Zanzibar, are characterised by basins whose natural limitsarc in many places somewhat undecided. On the south-west the lofty chain of theLivingstone Mountains separates the farthest sources of the llufiji from the torrentsrushing impetuously down to Lake Nyassa. This watershed is continued northwardsby other ranges, the Yomatema heights and plateaux, all of which fallcontinually in this direction. Hence in the Ugogo territory crossed by the caravanroutes, the transition is very gradual between the hcadstreams of the Malagazi,flowing to the Congo basin, and those running east to the Indian Ocean. Here thedivide is formed by an extensive tableland standing at a mean altitude of from -i/jOOto 4,000 feet, and in the most elevated parts rising to 4,300 feet. 1 lere and there theuniform surface is broken by a few granite crests cropping out through the prevailingsandstone and reddish laterite formations. Northwards the horizon islimited by the table mountains which are inhabited by the Wahimia people, andwhich from a distance appear to rise a few hundred yards above the level of tlieplateaux.The mountain ranges, properly so called, arc developed entirely within the basinsof the rivers flowing seawards, between the dividing tablelands and the seaboard.To these ranges Burton has given the name of the "African Ghats," comparingtheir outlines to those of the Indian Ghats which form the outer escarpments ofthe Deccan. But unlike the Indian Ghats, these Usagara ranges are not merelythe outer escarj^ment of an elevated jjlateau, but, although to a less degree, presentalso the aspect of true mountains on their inner or landward slopes, rising on thisside in steep scarps above the tableland on which they stand. Connected with theLivingstone range by a slightly inclined plateau, which is carved into terraces bythe llufiji headstreams, and which rises in some of its crests to altitudes of nearly6,600 feet, the Usagara system ramifies into two parallel main chains runningsouth-west and north-cast, in the same direction as the seaboard north of Zanzibar.Nevertheless these chains present great irregularities in their general outlines. Inmany places they throw off transverse spurs, and amid the chaos of crests everj'-where bounding the horizon it is often impossible to follow the main axis of thesystem. The Rubeho hills, which here form the waterparting between the Eufijiand the Wami basins, present on the whole the a.spcct of a ridge disposed in thedirection from north-west to south-east. In the southern or Eufiji basin occursome coalfields, whose economic value has been dilfeicntly estimated by explorers.The Usagara (U-Sagara) Mountains are mainly of granite formation, interspersedhowever with diorites and other eruptive rocks, as well as with schists and sandstones.The highest crests exceed 6,500 feet, and the Eubeho Pass, crossed byBurton and Speke in 1858, would appear to stand at an elevation of 5,700 feet.These pioneers gave it the name of the " Terrible Pass," owing to the ruggedcharacter of the escarpments and the wild disoider of the boulders which, exhausted