90 CANOES AND A VOYAGE 



water, whither they had been forced to retire on our 

 arrival. Eggshells of crocodiles were scattered about 

 over the sand, so that it was also a favourite resort, or 

 at any rate a resting place, of these reptiles, but none 

 were seen, which was fortunate, as a bathe in the clear 

 water was found most refreshing in the evening. The 

 little sandy neck was so narrow that one could choose 

 calm or rough water to bathe in, according to the time 

 of day. In the early morning the usual northerly land 

 breeze blew, and the water on the south side of the neck 

 was absolutely calm, to be ruffled during the heat of the 

 day by the southerly wind. 



Next day I was awakened at 4 a.m. by the sound of 

 waves breaking on the south side of the beach, the sign 

 of a distant storm, which reached us about seven : the 

 usual burst of thunder and heavy rain. At about nine 

 the sky began to clear, and eventually the day became 

 brilliant, but with such a steady strong wind that it was 

 impossible to go anywhere in the canoe. I spent the 

 morning taking photographs, and getting a view of the 

 spacious distances from the top of the ridge of the island. 

 The views were superb ; it was v/onderful to look south 

 and see nothing but bluest water with white capped waves, 

 and to think that there were ten score miles of it between 

 oneself and the mainland. 



In the near distance lay Nkosi, the southernmost of 

 all the isles of Sesse, and to the east the long high ridges 

 of Kuye and Buguye,. with some smaller isles to the 

 immediate west and north-west. 



In the evening the strength of the wind abated a little 

 and the white caps were no longer seen, so that I was able 

 to struggle down the more sheltered west side of the 

 isle and see the waves breaking on the point, although the 

 wind was still sufficiently strong to make it very hard 

 work for both paddlers and myself steering. The sky at 

 sunset was full of wind and promise of rain to come, 



