n
of what is in all probability the bed of one of the dried-up Saharan
rivers. Coming from the Tibesti highlands the Bahr-el-Ghazal has a
south-westerly trend to Lake Chad. Near the lake the valley was formerly
swampy, and at high-water the lake overflowed into it. There was also at
one time communication between the Shari and the Bahr-el-Ghazal, so that
the water of the first-named stream reached Chad by way of the
Bahr-el-Ghazal. There is now neither inlet nor outlet to the lake in
this direction, the mouth of the Ghazal having become a fertile millet
field. There is still, however, a distinct current from the Shari delta
to the east end of the lake--known to the natives, like the depression
beyond, as the Bahr-el-Ghazal--indicative of the former overflow outlet.

Besides the Shari, the only important stream entering Lake Chad is the
Waube or Yo (otherwise the Komadugu Yobe), which rises near Kano, and
flowing eastward enters the lake on its western side 40 m. north of
Kuka. In the rains the Waube carries down a considerable body of water
to the lake.

Lake Chad is supposed to have been known by report to Ptolemy, and is
identified by some writers with the Kura lake of the middle ages. It was
first seen by white men in 1823 when it was reached by way of Tripoli by
the British expedition under Dr Walter Oudney, R.N., the other members
being Captain Hugh Clapperton and Major (afterwards Lieut.-Colonel)
Dixon Denham. By them the lake was named Waterloo. In 1850 James
Richardson, accompanied by Heinrich Barth and Adolf Overweg, reached the
lake, also via Tripoli, and Overweg was the first European to navigate
its waters (1851). The lake was visited by Eduard Vogel (1855) and by
Gustav Nachtigal (1870), the last-named investigating its hydrography in
some detail. In 1890-1893 its shores were divided by treaty between
Great Britain, France and Germany. The first of these nations to make
good its footing in the region was France. A small steamer, brought from
the Congo by Emile Gentil, was in 1897 launched on the Shari, and
reaching the Chad, navigated the southern part of the lake.
Communication between Algeria and Lake Chad by way of the Sahara was
opened, after repeated failures, by the French explorer F. Foureau in
1899-1900. At the same time a French officer, Lieut. Joalland, reached
the lake from the middle Niger, continuing his journey round the north
end to Kanem. A British force under Colonel T.L.N. Morland visited