68 THE LAKE 



Mfumbiro range north of Lake Kivu, and from the country 

 between Lake Kivu and the north end of Lake Tanganyika, 



It is formed by the union of several other rivers, and 

 at first flows northwards and slightly westwards and then 

 turns abruptly eastwards, to flow eventually into the 

 lake at about the middle of the western shore, a little 

 north of Bukoba. It is of considerable geographical 

 interest that whereas the main affluent of the Victoria 

 Nyanja, and thus the chief ultimate source of the Nile, 

 arises from the south-eastern slopes of the IVIfumbiro 

 Mountains, the other side of the same mountains gives 

 origin to streams of which the most important is the 

 Rutchuru, flowing into Lake Albert Edward. 



From this lake the Semliki river flows into Lake Albert, 

 adding its waters to those brought from Lake Victoria 

 by the first part of the Nile, via Lake Kioga. 



So a very large part of the waters of the Nile above 

 Khartum have passed through Lake Albert. 



The numerous islands among which I worked vary 

 much in size, from Bugalla and Kome down to mere rocks 

 or shoals of sand. The commonest type is composed 

 of central grassy uplands rising a few hundred feet, with 

 a belt of forest along the water of breadth varying accord- 

 ing to the lie of the land. But some islands have practi- 

 cally no forest growth ; thus, Kiuwa is conspicuous as 

 being merely a conical, grass clad hill, with a thin fringe 

 of bushes near the water. On the other hand, Damba 

 is quite flat and almost entirely covered with dense 

 forest. Wema has one peculiarity ; one of its four 

 hills is crowned with forest, the base and the surrounding 

 terrain being grass clad. On the largest isles there is 

 much park-like country ; that is to say, the grass land is 

 dotted with fine trees, or clumps of small trees and bush 

 forming copses, and the grass being thin and only knee 

 high, this is delightful country for walking. The shores 

 of the islands vary much in appearance, but are rarely 



