THE SEMLIKI RAPIDS 135 



and to verify the existence of the discredited ' Saddle 

 Mountain.'* 



A few miles to the north of Beni, after it enters 

 the forest, the Semliki runs through some broken, 

 hilly country, which interrupts the placid course of 

 the stream and forms a series of magnificent rapids. 

 Guided by the thunder of the water, which can be 

 heard at a distance of many miles, we wandered by 

 devious tracks through the forest, and after burrow- 

 ing through a tunnel in the dense undergrowth, at 

 length came out at a spot where the whole volume 

 of the river plunged headlong over huge boulders 

 through a channel which was in some places not ten 

 yards wide. It is presumably owing to these rapids 

 that crocodiles, which swarm in the Lower Semliki 

 and in Lake Albert, do not ascend higher. They 

 are not found at Fort Beni, where some of our party 

 used to bathe daily in the river, to the great delight 

 of the populace, and they are absent from Lake 

 Albert Edward. 



There is a large population and a wide area of 

 cultivation along the edge of the forest. There are 

 many indications of the forest having extended in 



'■'- Viewed from Beni, Mount Speke is seen a little to the 

 north of Mount Stanley, and it presents very much the 

 appearance of a great saddle. There can be no doubt that 

 this is what the earlier Belgian travellers, who saw Ruwenzori 

 from the west side, described as ' Saddle Mountain.' Later 

 explorers thought that the Belgians referred to the highest 

 peak (Mount Stanley), and concluded that ' Saddle Mountain ' 

 was non-existent. 



