1901.] Through the Heart of Africa from South to North. 545 



stable average fall of 20 feet to the mile. High mountains confine 

 this valley on either side until within a few miles of Kivu they close 

 in and two narrow passes — through one of which the Euzizi flows — 

 take the place of the hitherto wide valley. 



As the crow flies the two lakes are only 60 miles apart. Lake 

 Kivu is an ideal and in many respects a remarkable lake. It is 

 60 miles long with a water surface 4900 feet above the sea level. For 

 some two feet above the water the action of the waves washes the 

 banks clear of vegetation. 



Fragments of older formations cemented together by molten lava 

 present the appearance of a clumsily made rockery at home. So 

 steep are the banks that the swimmer can dive into deep clear water 

 from the shore on most parts of the lake, and can do so without fear 

 of falling into the open jaws of a hungry crocodile, for neither these 

 reptiles nor hippopotami find a home in Kivu, probably owing to the 

 non-existence of shallows, sand banks and water reeds. There are 

 two large mountainous islands in the lake, and all around except on 

 the northern shore, undulating hills rise to ranges of mountains on 

 the east and west. The lava from the active volcanoes of Umfumbira 

 or Kirunga is washed by the lake in the north, and from them a lava 

 valley extends far towards Lake Albert Edward, to be finally re- 

 placed by a white brackish sand. The mountain range to the west 

 of Kivu stretches northwards along the western shore of Albert 

 Edward until it strikes the Semliki valley, which separates it from 

 the Mountains of the Moon — the mighty Ruenzori range. The water 

 of Albert Edward is brackish, and holds large herds of hippopotami ; 

 on the shallow eastern shores the pelican, too, is to be seen in large 

 flocks, and in greater numbers than I have noticed elsewhere. From 

 the time I quitted Kivu I had passed through first a hostile and then 

 a famine-stricken country. However, I never found it necessary to 

 fire a shot, though on one or two occasions I quite expected I should 

 have to defend myself against hordes of armed savages who sur- 

 rounded me. Fortunately they invariably receded as I approached, 

 and as I travel quickly they had little time to mature hostile plans. 

 I was not sorry to find myself and my small caravan at Fort George 

 on the north of Albert Edward, where there is a small garrison of 

 Soudanese troops under a native non-commissioned officer. The one 

 noticeable point about Lake Albert Edward is that the eastern shore 

 runs in a north-easterly and not in a northerly direction as in the 

 published maps. 



The Uganda Protectorate has been so prominently before the 

 public the last few years that it is rather in advance of an explorer's 

 sphere, so I will not waste time by describing a country which has 

 been so voluminously treated during the last five years. One fact 

 about Uganda is, however, worthy of record. For nearly two years 

 I had been moving rapidly through Africa, and had nearly completed 

 8000 miles when I entered Toro, the south-western province of ihe 

 Protectorate. Here, for the first time, I found myself among natives 



Vol. XVI. (No. 95.) 2 o 



