THE SALTNESS OF THE LAKE 205 



his fire will be carefully folded up in a piece of 

 banana-leaf and attached to his spear or stick, as the 

 case may be. 



One of the drawbacks to travelling on Lake Kivu 

 is the scarcity of water. The water of the lake itself 

 is salt and undrinkable, and though there are numbers 

 of streams running down the mountain-sides, they 

 are lost before they reach the lake. It is probably 

 this extreme saltness which explains the absence of 

 crocodiles from the lake, though they are plentiful 

 enough where the Rusisi runs into Tanganyika. 

 Nor are there any hippos in the lake, but one would 

 not expect to find them, as the shores are almost 

 everywhere steep and rocky, and there are none of 

 the shallow mudbanks and papyrus swamps in which 

 hippos delight. Otters, which are always as much 

 at home in salt as in fresh water, abound, and you 

 may often see a dozen or more playing together 

 when the water is calm. They are much less 

 nocturnal in their habits than the otters in Europe, 

 and not nearly so timid. They utter a number of 

 different sounds — barks and grunts, and a shrill 

 whistle, which is very like the whistle of a widgeon. 



Towards its southern extremity the country about 

 Lake Kivu changes in character. The hills become 

 much lower and less mountainous ; and trees, except 

 for a few palms along the water's edge, disappear 

 almost entirely, and are replaced by luxuriant grass, 

 on which large herds of cattle and sheep are seen 

 grazing. To the south of Kwijwe there is a group 



