70 THE LAKE 



make these spots very attractive to hippos, and the 

 soft soil is churned up along their regular tracks. A 

 very curious plant flourishes here, for all the world like 

 a small lettuce floating on top of the water. It propagates 

 very rapidly, probably by budding, so that many square 

 yards of water may be covered by it, and patches often 

 are driven out to sea by a land breeze. The curious 

 ambatch tree, with its short thick trunk of extraordinarily 

 light, pithy wood, scanty leaves and j^ellow papilionace- 

 ous flowers, flourishes on marshy shores, and the graceful, 

 tall, smooth " Makindu " (wild date) palm is plentiful. 

 Only one other species of palm is met with on the islands, 

 a species called " Ekibo " by the natives, having a short 

 stem and very large dark green leaves, whose mid-ribs 

 are often used as rafters for houses, or, when young, 

 furnish the fibre used in sewing the planks of the canoes. 

 On low lying sandy or muddy shores a species of cane 

 growing to a height of 10 feet sometimes forms thickets 

 very unpleasant for one to penetrate owing to the sharp 

 points of the narrow, hard leaves. Several bushes are 

 very characteristic of the lake shore ; one ^ is known to 

 the Baganda as " Oluzibaziba," and forms dense thickets ; 

 it has leaves very much like those of a poplar in shape 

 and setting, which are the favourite food of the Situtunga 

 antelope. Another, called " Kinsambwe," has harsh, 

 hairy leaves, with rather a rank odour ; and a third, ^ 

 with leaves much like ambatch, was called by the natives 

 " Omuvuvumye." Several flowering plants sometimes 

 made patches of colour ; one like a small herbaceous 

 sunflower grows in banks of bright yellow ; another 

 (Ipomaea) rambles over bushes and spreads wide its purple 

 convolvulus-like flowers, while a third, called " Anyam- 

 berege " by the natives, sends up tall shoots on which grow 

 flowers much reminding one of single hollyhocks ; bright 

 yellow, with a velvety patch of purple brown at the 



1 Euphorbiacpae , Alchornea chordnta. ^ PapiUonaceae. 



