THE NIGER TO THE NILE—ALEXANDER. 389 
and about 3 feet wide. Lighter canoes are also made, for traveling 
over shallow water and for escapes from sudden attack. 
On December 23 we arrived back at Kaddai and Talbot left for 
England. 
By the middle of February, 1905, Gosling, after elephant hunting 
near the shore of the lake, left for Kusseri, our next objective, and 
a week later we started with the two boats once more to try and find 
a way across the lake to the Shari. We took the direction of the Yo 
mouth, with the idea of following the influence of its water. We 
passed an island on the way, where I counted a herd of sixty hippo- 
potami that had been driven to the lake by the falling of the river. 
Five miles beyond the Yo mouth we struck a northeasterly direction. 
At a Buduma fishing island I induced two boys to come with me as 
guides. For 16 miles we found good open water, and then our course 
lay through a mass of small islands, through which we struggled on 
for 10 miles, the men often wading and pushing up to their chests in 
mud. The next morning I found that we were near the east shore of 
the lake, for there were horsemen to be seen on the land about a 
mile beyond the island. 
My difficulties were increased by the Harmattan wind. It would 
rise daily at 9 a. m., and by 12 o’clock the sun would be blotted out 
by a dense, damp mist, through which we had to grope our way, 
miserably cold. To show how strangely the water shifts with the 
wind, one morning, in retracing our course of the evening before, we 
found the water had gone, leaving numbers of fish of enormous size, 
some 4 feet long, stranded. As I could find no passage southward, 
and my men were worked out, I decided to retrace my way to Kaddai 
and refit for another attempt. 
On March 2 I took the same course as our first, again determining 
to find a southwest passage, but the reeds still proved impassable. 
On the outward journey we came upon a large Buduma fishing fleet. 
At first they mistook us for other Budumas, whom they considered 
an easy prey, for it is their habit to plunder one another when they 
get the chance. Accordingly they closed up ready for attack. But 
soon they realized their mistake, and the tables were turned. Before 
we could get up to them, many of the boats burst into flames, and 
the Budumas, swimming like otters, underneath the water, disap- 
peared into the reeds. Hidden in the boats we found four slave boys, 
who were the victims of a traffic carried on between the Budumas and 
Tubus. They were in a shocking condition, and we took them back 
and released them at Kaddai. 
We then determined to try and cut through the reeds. We worked 
steadily for two days, cutting a distance of about 800 yards, and 
beyond that I waded a mile, but there was no end to the reeds and 
“ maria ” bush, 
