SCENERY 69 



anything but beautiful. The most picturesque scenery- 

 is the narrow channel between two islands where the 

 blue water is bounded on each side by dense vegetation ; 

 for example, the lovely passage between Damba and Kome, 

 only a few hundred yards wide. 



Forest lies on either side, and in front a narrow belt 

 of bright green papyrus, growing at the water's edge. 

 A belt of reeds springs from the slightly deeper water, 

 and in front of this again the still blue surface is carpeted 

 with leaves of water-lilies, whose blue or pink flowers 

 stand up a little out of the water. 



An open shore, with beach of finest white sand or 

 pebbles, is not uncommon, with a forest belt terminating 

 abruptly som^e yards away from the water. Here there 

 is always evidence of the subsidence of the lake level 

 in the shape of raised beaches at the edge of the forest. 

 Such a strip of shore is termed a " fly beach," since it 

 provides ideal conditions of food and shelter for the 

 Tse-tse. 



In some places the shore is formed of bare rock of a 

 spongy texture and red brown in colour, shelving gently 

 into the water, or sometimes forming small cliffs. Here 

 and there a stream of lava makes a strip of lighter colour, 

 embedded in which are fragments of quite different 

 rock, like plums in a duff. 



A sm-all headland on which was pitched my camp on 

 Damba ended in a face of grey rock perhaps 20 feet 

 high, in which was a crevice filled with water- worn 

 pebbles at least 12 feet above the present highest level 

 of the lake, showing how the water had receded. 



On a flat rocky coastline the forest often comes quite 

 to the water's edge, the trees actually overhanging the 

 water, and there are usually abundant ferns. Long 

 stretches of very low lying marshy shore are common, 

 and are more or less under water during the high level 

 of the lake in the heavy rains. Lush grass and reeds 



