250 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xix 



receives at its northern end the waters of the river 

 Omo which rises in the Shoa highlands. 



The lake contains hippopotamuses, fishes, and croco- 

 diles : its shores are " haunted by immense numbers of 

 birds, including geese, ducks, flamingoes, cormorants, 

 divers, herons, ibises, plovers, gulls, and storks." The 

 birds are most abundant at the northern end where the 

 shore is sandy and there are pools cut off from the main 

 body of the lake. 



Lake Stefanie. This lake was discovered by Teleki 

 (1889) and named in honour of the Archduchess Stefanie. 

 widow of Crown Prince Rudolf. It lies to the cast of 

 the northern end of Lake Rudolf, in that portion of the 

 Rift Valley where this remarkable depression loses its 

 well-defined character. At the time of its discovery the 

 lake was about sixty miles long and fifteen broad, lying 

 at an altitude of 1740 feet; the water is brackish. At. 

 the time of its discovery there were indications of 

 shrinking. On the beach and in the air there were 

 thousands of scavenger birds, such as vultures, crows. 

 cormorants, marabou storks and the like, glutting them- 

 selves with fish, which lay about in great quantities in 

 various stages of decomposition. Donaldson Smith, a 

 few years later, found the lake to be thirty-seven 

 geographical miles long and fifteen broad. In no part 

 was the lake more than twenty feet deep. There were 

 eight islands which formed sanctuaries for millions 

 of aquatic birds. In 1899 Harrison found the lake 

 dried up. 



This chain of lakes in the Rift Valley is of great 

 interest, especially in relation to the formation of those 

 bodies of water of which the Dead Sea and Salt Lake in 

 Utah are the best known examples. 



Usually a fresh- water lake has an outlet : failing this 

 its water becomes brackish, for, although many of these 

 brackish lakes receive very large quantities of fresh 

 water from the rivers flowing into them, the condensation 

 due to evaporation, especially under a tropical sun, soon 



