304 



ACROSS AFRICA. 



[Chap. 



November, oval of two miles long by one wide, the longer axis lying east- 

 1874. nortli-east and west-soiitli-west, and around the margin was a 

 belt of floating vegetation. I could easily distinguish the huts, 

 and noticed that they were built on platforms, raised about six 

 feet above the surface of the water, supported on stout piles 

 driven into the bed of the lake. Some were oblong, and others 

 round, the former usually having a projecting roof over the 

 door. Their roofs and walls appeared to be constructed in a 

 manner precisely similar to that of the huts on shore. Under- 

 neath the platforms canoes were moored, and nets hung to dry. 



HUT IN MOllRYA. 



Men were swimming from hut to hut, notwithstanding re- 

 ports I had heard of enormous snakes, w^hose bite w^as fatal, in- 

 habiting the lake. The people live entirely in these huts, with 

 their fowls and goats, and only come ashore to cultivate pro- 

 vision-grounds and bring goats to graze. Their canoes were 

 simple " dug-outs," twenty or twenty-five feet in length, and 

 their paddles were like large, circular, shallow spoons with long, 

 straight handles. 



No chance of obtaining canoes offering, we started the next 

 morning on the return march to Kilemba, and, seeing some lake 

 villagers working in a field, I attempted to talk with them, but 



