78 



THE CENTRAL PROVINCE 



placed on the " Wholly Protected " list, and may not now be killed 

 without a special licence. 



When tourists flock in numbers to the Victoria Nyanza, steamer trips 

 will certainly be made down the centre of the Sese Archipelago. The 



67. A (KEEK ON THE VICTORIA NYAXZA 



waters of the lake are calm in these sheltered passages, and are deep 

 blue. The islands often rise high from the water's edge, and exhibit 

 all tints in the gamut of green, from the dark black-green of the primaeval 

 forest to the emerald green of the banana plantations and the pale 

 greenish yellow of the higher downs where the grass is short. In places 

 where the rock is exposed it is generally a grey granite. Chocolate and 

 white fishing eagles, fawn-coloured Goliath herons, and bronze-tinted 

 darters frequent the trees overhanging the water. !>andy coves are 

 dotted with couples of the Nettopus, or Pygmy goose, an exquisite little 

 bird, as gaily painted as a mandarin duck, which I have illustrated in 

 another part of this book. 



Besides the islands already placed on the map, and which it will be 

 noticed are never very far from the mainland, all round the lake there 

 is a legend that an island or group of islands exists in the very centre of 

 the Nyanza. The entire surface of this great lake (some 27,000 square 

 miles in area*) has never been thoroughly explored yet. Owing to the 



* Some authorities give the area at 26,900 square miles, but as not all the gulfs 

 are properly explored yet, this estimate cauuot be regarded as final. 



