22 NAIVASHA AND VICTORIA NYANZA 



the relics of a boat, which, from its appearance, must 

 have been brought there by the first explorers twenty 

 years ago ; it was never less than half full of water, 

 which kept two boys busy baling with empty oil- 

 cans, and the one and a half broken paddles threatened 

 every moment to be reduced to none at all. Half- 

 way across are two small islets, one a favourite 

 breeding-place of herons and ibises, which nest 

 there in hundreds, the other apparently a play- 

 ground of the hippos, to judge from the trampled 

 reeds and the crashing and gruntings which issued 

 from it at night. As we beached the boat on a 

 narrow spit of sand, we disturbed a pair of green- 

 shanks, which whistled as they went away, and 

 reminded me of many happy days spent searching 

 for their nests in Sutherland. The island is an 

 almost perfect crescent in outline, nearly a mile in 

 length and a quarter of a mile across at its widest 

 part, tapering away to a fine point at either end. 

 From high ground in the middle there is a steep 

 fall to the lake on one side, the inner curve of the 

 crescent ; on the other side is a gentle slope covered 

 with grass and shrubs to a fringe of swamp and 

 reeds bordering the lake. On this sunny slope were 

 hundreds of willow-wrens, singing (in December) as 

 perfect a song as in an English woodland in June. 

 The tangle by the lake-shore is the haunt by day of 

 many water-buck, which swim over from the main- 

 land and find there a sanctuary from their enemies, 

 the lions and hyenas. 



