HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



are often found floating on the surface of the lake, and 

 become a prey to the large fish eagle, which attacks them 

 and picks their eyes out, leaving them with enormous 

 gashes and with hollow eye sockets, looking as if they 

 had been attacked by sword — or thrasher — fish. 



Around the inner harbour there were large numbers 

 of beautiful crane and heron. Buck and gazelle were 

 very plentiful on and around the hills in the east. 



In connection with the construction of the Samuel 

 Baker, it is rather interesting to note that the Khedive 

 and Nyanza, which were running on the Nile and Lake 

 Albert some thirty years ago, could with their draught 

 of five and six feet go anywhere between Nimule and 

 Butiaba. When the Uganda Marine were about to 

 construct the Baker, they found it necessary to have a 

 draught of only about two feet. I have read most of 

 Stanley's and Baker's books, and do not recall that even 

 their deep draught boats experienced any difficulty in 

 reaching any part of the lake or Nile, south of Nimule, 

 or, as it was known in those days, " Dufile." Several 

 times during recent years the launch Kenia, with a 

 draught about three feet six inches, and even smaller 

 craft, have experienced no little difficulty in keeping off 

 the floating islands and shoals of the lake and river. 

 The floating islands consist of a substratum of decom- 

 posed foliage and reeds, dense enough to support an 

 upper layer of living vegetation, by whose roots and 

 tendrils the whole mass becomes solidly matted together. 

 I have had some experience with these islands myself, 

 on one occasion narrowly escaping being run down. 

 There is no doubt that great changes have taken place 

 in the bed of the Nile. It seems strange that proper 

 soundings of the river were not taken before the con- 

 struction of the Samuel Baker. There are some stretches 

 where even two feet of water cannot be found, and it 

 would be a serious undertaking to shove the Baker off 



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