To Lake Albert Edward i79 



after a boat journey of two days. Dewatt wished to accompany 

 Weidemann thither. Czeczatka was instructed to set out on the 

 difficult march by way of the western marginal mountains to 

 Kasindi. Weidemann and his caravan were compelled to make 

 long detours because the road to the south-east of the lake was 

 closed by extensive swamps, which swarmed with hippopotami. 

 All things considered, this march promised to be far from enjoy- 

 able, as the surface of the lake had risen through frequent down- 

 pours of rain during the last few days, and had overflowed the 

 banks. No choice was left, however, and the caravan set off on 

 its journey, accompanied by the somewhat ironical good wishes 

 of those who remained behind. 



Next day, as our small flotilla glided along the eastern banks, 

 we passed great herds of hippopotami lying lazily in the hot sun 

 on the sand-banks or stretching their coarse heads out of the water, 

 puffing and snorting noisily. 



As all the boats have to be propelled by means of long poles, 

 we always kept in the shallow water close to the banks. The 

 fishing folk venture very reluctantly into the middle of the lake, 

 and with good reason, for the squalls which frequently rise chum 

 up the water into large waves, which seriously imperil the fragile 

 and usually leaky boats. The boats on Lake Albert Edward 

 were of a very different type from those which we had previously 

 met with. Isolated specimens of dug-outs are occasionally seen, 

 but the majority of these craft are fashioned out of thin planks 

 joined together with bast fibre. As this primitive method of 

 boat-building is very inadequate, the water sometimes streams 

 through the side planks in heavy jets, and has to be bailed out 

 constantly during a journey. 



We landed at the small village of Katanda after a voyage of 

 five hours in the glowing heat. The construction of the place 

 afforded quite a new and remarkable sight to us, for resting on 

 rafts, it floated in the centre of a creek of the lake abounding in 

 reeds and rushes. Unfortunately the population had fled in fear 

 at our approach. No human being could be seen ; only a few 

 hungry dogs howled dismally from the roofs of the huts. As we 



