248 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
as the clear water on the eastern side of the lake. Dodson 
and I therefore, with a few boys, made a side trip to the 
south, taking the boat along, while the caravan proceeded 
to the river. 
The upper end of Lake Stephanie is a marsh, and a 
long line of reeds extends a distance of five miles into the 
lake near the western shore. The lake resembles a boot 
in shape. On its eastern and western sides it is sur- 
rounded by lofty mountains; the Tertala range on its 
eastern side ends abruptly about a mile and a half from 
the shore, but a low line of hills is continued from the 
range to what we may call the heel of the boot. Immedi- 
ately off this are eight islands, mere rocky masses, which 
form sanctuaries for millions of aquatic birds. I took 
several soundings far out in the lake, but did not find the 
water over twenty-five feet deep in any part. There are 
no people living immediately on the lake except at the 
northwest corner, but the mountain range on the western 
side is inhabited on its higher slopes by a part of the 
Amar tribe. The lake is thirty-seven geographical miles 
long and fifteen miles wide. 
We spent three interesting days on the lake, collecting 
and surveying. There were many species of birds here, 
which are distributed throughout Central Africa, but which 
I saw now for the first time, including a large black-colored 
cuckoo, a yellow-breasted sun-bird, and a gray weaver-bird 
which builds a nest resembling the bowl and stem of a 
tobacco pipe. The narrow hollow stems hang down about 
eight inches, and through these the birds have to crawl to 
reach their nests. On some dead bushes that grew im 
about four feet of water there was a community of cormo- 
rants which had just begun to sit. Dodson and I were 
too eager for a change of food to leave them unmolested, — 
and for a long time we had not been in a country where 
