142 



THE WESTERN PROA INCE 



bordering the east shore of Lake Albert. It contains, as I have ah-eady 

 said, forest at the head of Lake Dweru ; then a much drier region round 

 the south end of Euvvenzori (where the rivers flowing from the mountain 

 to the lake have carved for themselves deep, broad, Colorado-like gorges in 

 the sloping tableland) ; a valley offering park-like scenery of grass and trees 

 on either side of the Upper Semliki : and finally it is swept over by a 

 great tropical forest that overflows from the Congo waterslied across the 

 Semliki almost to the north-western slopes of Ruwenzori. North of this 

 forest a harsher conutry of salt marsh and grass steppe supervenes, the 

 marshes thicken, join together, and constitute the south end of Lake 

 Albert. 



The eastern and western shores of this lake are narrow strips of land 

 immediately overhung by the frowning cliffs of the L'nyoro and Bulega 

 Plateaux. The ground here is so constantly impregnated with salt that 

 very little vegetation grows beyond euphorbias. The water of the lake 

 anywhere near the west, east, or south shores is scarcely fit to drink, owing 

 to the salt it contains, but the Albert Nyanza is full of fish, and swarms 

 with water-liirds and crocodiles. At the north end of the lake, where the 

 Victoria Nile enters and the Albert Nile leaves, there are many sandbanks, 

 floating islands of vegetation, and >uil(l obstructions; and the dangers to 





Il6. MARABOU STORKS ON THE NILE 



navigation are added to by the numerous and hostile hippopotamuses. 

 North of Lake Albert the country is mainly a grassy plain, with few 

 inhabitants away from the river banks, and vast herds of big game. 

 Thenceforth down the Nile, except in the rocky gorges of the rapids between 



