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Livingstone Mountains

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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A band of highlands in German East Africa, forming the eastern border of the rift-valley of Lake Nyasa, at the northern end of the lake. In parts these highlands, known also under their native name of Kinga, present rather the character of a plateau than of a true mountain range, but the latter name may be justified by the fact that they form a comparatively narrow belt of country, which falls considerably to the east as well as to the west. The northern end is well marked in 8° 50' S. by an escarpment falling to the Ruaha valley, which is regarded as a north-eastern branch of the main riftvalley. Southwards the Livingstone range terminates in the deep valley of the Ruhuhu in 10 30' S., the first decided break in the highlands that is reached from the north, on the east coast of Nyasa. Geologically the range is formed on the side of the lake by a zone of gneiss running in a series of ridges and valleys generally parallel to its axis. The ridge nearest the lake (which in Mount Jamimbi or Chamembe, 9° 41' S., rises to an absolute height of 7870 ft., or 6200 ft. above Nyasa) falls almost sheer to the water, the same steep slope being continued beneath the surface. Towards the south the range appears to have a width of some 20 m. only, but northwards it widens out to about 40 m., though broken here by the depression, drained towards the Ruaha, of Buanyi, on the south side of which is the highest known summit of the range (9600 ft.). North and east of Buanyi, as in the eastern half of the range generally, table-topped mountains occur, composed above of horizontally bedded quartzites, sandstones and conglomerates. The uplands are generally clothed in rich grass, forest occurring principally in the hollows, while the slopes towards the lake are covered with poor scrub. Native settlements are scattered over the whole range, and German mission stations have been established at Bulongwa and Mtandala, a little north of the north end of Nyasa. The climate is here healthy, and night frosts occur in the cold season. European crops are raised with success. At the foot of the mountains on Lake Nyasa are the ports of Wiedhafen, at the mouth of the Ruhuhu, and Old Langenburg, at the north-east corner of the lake. (E. HE.)