Relics of a Departed Sea
MOORE, John Edward (or Edmund) Sharrock.
To the mountains of the moon being an account of the modern aspect of Central Africa, and of some little known regions traversed by the Tanganyika expedition, in 1899 and 1900 …
London, Hurst and Blackett, 1901.
8vo, xvi, 350, [4 (advertisements)]; title in red and black, coloured frontispiece, 86 sketches/photos, 3 maps (2 folding); closed tear to map at end (repaired to verso); very good in original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, vignette in black to upper cover, top edge gilt; slight wear to extremities; inscription to front free endpaper ‘To Dear Bernard from Dada Xmas 1904'.
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To the mountains of the moon being an account of the modern aspect of Central Africa, and of some little known regions traversed by the Tanganyika expedition, in 1899 and 1900 …
First edition recounting the journey of J. E. S. Moore and the Tanganyika expedition in central Africa between 1899 and 1900. Moore and the expedition were on the search for the so-called ‘mountains of the moon’, a legendary mountain range which they identified with the Rwenzori mountains straddling modern day Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Starting from Lake Tanganyika in modern day Tanzania, Moore and his companions travelled northwards, through the Usambara mountains, past Cyangugu (in modern day Rwanda), and around lakes Kivu and Edward (‘Albert Edward’) before reaching the so-called ‘mountains of the moon’. The travellers eventually managed to get as far north as the southern shores of Lake Albert (‘Albert Nyanza’), and also scaled a number of the smaller peaks which make up what is today known as Mount Stanley. They were among the first Europeans to reach the snow line of the Rwenzori mountains.
Moore’s main aim was to discover whether the marine fauna of Lake Tanganyika was particular to Tanganyika or common to other African lakes: his findings proved the former, and in doing so underlined the supposition made by earlier expeditions that Tanganyika should be viewed ‘as a relic – as the zoological remains, in fact – of a departed sea’ (p. 310). Moore’s findings were hailed upon his return to London, and studies since then have reinforced his notion that Lake Tanganyika is one of the oldest lakes in the world, with an estimated age of between three and six million years.
Moore’s narrative is supplemented with a number of his own sketches and photographs, and includes a large, detailed, foldout map by the surveyor and geologist Henry Fergusson, who accompanied Moore on the expedition.
Hosken, p. 144.
