I70 TO LAKE ALBERT EDWARD 



more comfortable than the native canoes, which are 

 made of rough planks loosely sewn together with 

 strings of banana fibre, and are consequently very 

 leaky. The Nyanza is about seventy miles long, 

 with an average width of about twenty-five miles. 

 Propulsion by long bamboo poles meant following 

 every curve of the coast-line, and our progress was 

 not very rapid, but in a country where nobody is in 

 any hurry two or three days more or less are a 

 matter of no moment. 



The Belgians have instituted an excellent system 

 of rest-houses down the west side of Lake Albert 

 Edward. At intervals of a day's canoe journey — 

 that is, from ten to twenty miles — they have built good 

 mud-houses in a cleared space near the shore, and 

 round some of them they have even made a garden, 

 where tomatoes and sweet-potatoes are grown for 

 the use of travellers. There is a custodian, generally 

 an ex-soldier, in charge of the place, and he keeps a 

 flock of sheep and goats, one of which a State official 

 is entitled to take in case of necessity. The in- 

 habitants of the village, if there happens to be one 

 near by, are required to provide water and firewood 

 for passing travellers, and to carry their baggage 

 between the canoes and the camp. Travellers are 

 few and far between, so this tax, which they pay 

 in labour to the State, cannot be called very 

 oppressive. 



After crossing the outlet of the Semliki, which is 

 inconspicuous and might easily be overlooked if 



