122 THE PLAINS OF RUISAMBA 



wise when the bird is chasing insects, it can turn 

 and twist in flight as quickly as a peewit. 



Although we were so close to Ruisamba, we did 

 not explore the lake very much, chiefly on account 

 of the extraordinary discomfort of the native canoes, 

 which are very small dug-outs and hardly capable of 

 holding more than one person. It would be worth 

 while to take a collapsible boat to Ruisamba, and 

 explore the lake carefully from end to end, and 

 navigate the river between it and Lake Albert 

 Edward — a thing which, I believe, has never yet 

 been done. On its west side the lake is surrounded 

 by a dense barrier of papyrus, through which the 

 natives have cut narrow tunnels to the open water 

 for their canoes. The people live almost exclusively 

 by fishing, and the fish that they sometimes brought 

 us were the best that we got from any of the great 

 lakes. 



About the end of May there came a message from 

 Mr. Knowles, the Sub-Commissioner, inviting us to 

 ofo to Toro to meet the Duke of the Abruzzi, who 

 was expected to arrive there on his way to 

 Ruwenzori. Some of the party were away shooting 

 in the Semliki Valley, so it fell out that I was the 

 only member of the expedition available to accept 

 the invitation. The necessity of walking along 

 a blazing hot and thirsty road for sixty miles and 

 back aofain mig^ht have been welcomed as an excuse 

 for declining in another ccnuntry, where society was 

 plentiful ; but after several months of camp life one 



