THROUGH AFRICA FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO. 441 



was evident that the country between Kivu and the Albert Edward is 

 the ke.Y to the whole modern geographical and geological problem of 

 Africa, as probably Ruwenzori is the key to the problem of the past. 

 To summarize: The Rusisi Valley for 60 miles is obviously the old lake 

 bed of Tanganyika. Lake Kivu has been lifted up with the gradual 

 rise centering round and radiating north and south from the volcanoes. 

 The surrounding hills still inclose papyrus swamps at the lake level, 

 and some of these, having been pushed up by local movement, have 

 become drj" lawns. 



I can only describe the Kivu region as having the appearance of 

 having bubbled. The north shore of Kivu is flat and slopes gradually 

 up to the volcanoes, sloping down gradualh^ again on the north side, 

 till the dead level of the lower Ruchuru Valley is reached — another 

 obvious lake bed, part of which was drained dry but yesterday. A few 

 small lakelets even are held still on this northern slope, and there are 

 many marshes and lagoons on the dead level. North of Lake Albert 

 Edward we find the old disturbing influence, Ruwenzori. But Lake 

 Ruisamba and its surrounding swamps to the east and the Semliki 

 Valley to the west carry on the idea. The northern half of the Semliki 

 Valley is a dead level with many swamps, and then comes the Albert 

 lake. 



The lakelike reach of the Nile, narrowing at the Dufile Rapids (another 

 center of disturbance in remote ages), and again widening till the 

 swamps of the Rohl Bahr-el-Ghazal, Bahr-el-Jebel, and Bahr-el-Zaraf, 

 which can only be adequately described as a reed-grown sea, is a further 

 indication of the proba1)ility of an existence of a vast iidand sea, or 

 arm of the sea, of which the great African lakes of to-day are but a 

 f ragmentary sur v i val . 



The east coast of the Albert Edward lake is practically uninhabited; 

 a very few miserable natives live in the dense thickets of thorn bush, 

 and their huts are most carefully concealed. Their staple crop is the 

 sweet potato, and they spear fish and kill an occasional hippopotamus 

 in traps. They complained of having been raided by the people of 

 Ankoli. On arrival at the north end, Kaihura ferried us and all our 

 belongings across the narrow neck of Lake Ruisamba. Their canoes 

 are similar in make to the canoes of the Waganda, but not of such elab- 

 orate design, being made of ax-hewn boards, sewn together with 

 ])anana-fiber cord; they are very capacious, and are so well fitted that 

 thev leak much less than would be expected from their construction. 

 The Sudanese ofiicer at Katwe entertained us for two days, when, hav- 

 ing recovered sufficiently from the severe fever from which I had been 

 suffering, we started for Toro, and six days later arrived at FortOrerry, 

 the headquarters of the district. There are immense numbers ot ele- 

 phants in Toro, and we went up to the Msisi River, which flows into 

 the southeast corner of Lake Albert, for a fortnight's shooting. Being 



