Albert Nyanza

Albert Nyanza (Mwutan Nzige, Luta Nzige), a large lake of East Central Africa, is situated in a deep rock-basin, 80 miles NW. of the Victoria Nyanza. It is of an oblong shape, just about 100 miles long from N. to S., and 25 broad. On the E. it is fringed by precipitous cliffs, with isolated peaks rising 5000 feet above it. The lake itself lies 2400 feet above the sea, and 1400 feet below the general level of the country; its water is fresh and sweet, and it is of great depth towards the centre. The N. and W. shores of the lake are bordered by the Blue Mountains, nearly 10,000 feet in height. The existence of this vast lake first became known to Europeans through Speke and Grant in 1862; in 1864 Sir Samuel Baker was the first European to visit it, and named it after the Prince-Consort. In 1887 Emin Pasha recorded his conviction that the western part of the lake was filling up; on its shores Stanley met Emin in 1889; and Captain Lugard came hither from Uganda in 1890. The lake is a great reservoir or back-water of the Nile. The Somerset-Nile runs into its north-east corner, and the Nile issues out of its north-west corner. To the south-east of it lies the country of Unyoro. It has recently been proposed to dam this lake, so as to regulate the rising of the Nile, and improve the irrigation of Egypt.