The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

352 SOUTH AXD EAST AFRICA.By taking advantage of the general lie of the land, the Tana itself might in thesame way ho connected with the lower course of two other rivers, the Kifili andthe Sahaki, which reach the coast more to the south. The natives are unanimousin asserting that during the periodical inundations, its current traverses the interveninglake and overflows into the southern alluvial tracts, flooding the depressionsto a sufficient depth to allow light craft to pass from one fluvial basin to the other,keeping to the inner or land side of the dunes which here fringe the coast. Thistransverse navigable waterway is even continued southwards bej'ond the Sabaki bylacustrine cavities which are regularly flooded during the rainj' season.According to Thomson, there would appear to be distinct evidence of upheavalall along this coast. The coral terrace formations have been raised in some placesfrom 50 to over 60 feet, and farther inland from 120 to about 200 feet above thepresent sea-level. But indications of an opposite phenomenon are said to havebeen observed in the neighbouring Tangata inlet. Whether through subsidence ofthe ground, or the erosive action of the marine waters, several villages with theirpalm-groves have here entirely disappeared.Flora.Apart from the mountainous district, the whole region stretching from theIndian Ocean to the upper Pangani, Sabaki, and Tana fluvial basins may be comparedin its general aspect to a uniform carpeted floor over which the runningwaters have traced a number of variegated designs. This level floor takes thename of Nyika, that is to sa)', "Savage Land," or "Wilderness," lacking sufiicientmoisture to support a vigorous tropical vegetation. Here the arid soil produceslittle beyond short herbaceous growths, thornj^ scrub, and here and there a fewstunted trees. Nyika is in fact a true veld, and would certainly have been sonamed by the Dutch settlers in South Africa. Its Wanyika inhabitants supposethat the rains are the property of the Swaheli people, because the}' possess theKoran, that is, the great book of divine magic ;and Krapf tells us that envoysfrom the inland tribes are frequentlj' sent to the governor of Mombaz to beg thefavour of a few much-needed showers. But for a space of at least 12 miles inbreadth along the seaboard, the coastlands, being fertilised hj the marine vapours,are clothed with a rich mantle of tropical vegetation. Towards the interior alsothe monotonous Nyika plains are interrupted by the highlands which intercept themoisture-bearing clouds, while the running waters descending from these uplandssupport a growth of riverain forests winding in narrow green belts across thecountry. The cocoanut-palm, which usually occurs elsewhere only along theseaboard tracts, here penetrates through the river valleys into the interior as far asthe slopes of the Ndara hills, a distance of some 70 miles from the coast.The vegetation which encircles the base of Kilima-Njaro to a height of about3,000 feet, seems all the more beautiful and diversified for the striking contrastpresented by it to the arid and almost waterless wilderness of the Njaka coimtry.Nevertheless the forest growths of these lower buttresses have scarcely a tropical