CHAPTER XIII 



THE MFUMBIRO VOLCANOES 



' At my departure I had won his confidence enough to beg 

 his advice how I might carry myself there without offence of 

 others or of mine own conscience. ^^ Signer Arrigo mio," says 

 he, " / pensievi stntti ed il viso sciolto will go safely over the 

 whole world." Of which Delphian oracle (for so I have found 

 it) your judgment doth need no commentary,' — Sir Henry 



WOTTON. 



The range of mountains which bounds the western 

 banks of Lake Albert Edward runs almost directly 

 north and south, and in the latter direction forms 

 the western wall of the great Central African 

 trough, in which Lakes Kivu and Tanganyika lie. 

 As we approached the south end of Lake Albert 

 Edward, we found the shore-line trending away 

 towards the south-east, and the character of the 

 country becoming more like that of the east side of 

 the lake. The shore is low and fiat, and the water 

 exceedingly shallow ; sand-banks are seen miles out 

 in the lake, covered with countless thousands of 

 gulls and pelicans and wading birds, and hippos 

 abound everywhere. Along the water's edge is a 

 barrier of papyrus and yellow-flowering ambatch- 

 trees, in the branches of which are perched egrets 



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