222 FROM KIVU TO TANGANYIKA 



they rowed across with absurd little paddles, which 

 looked like elongated salt-spoons. If you do not 

 travel by night on Tanganyika, you must start 

 betimes in the morning, as the daily wind quickly 

 raises a sea, which is very dangerous for the clumsy 

 dug-out canoes. Two or three times we Were caught 

 unawares in it before we had reached a convenient 

 camping-place, and six inches of water in the bottom 

 of the canoe, in spite of the manful baling of the 

 paddlers, irretrievably spoilt a quantity of valuable 

 plants and butterflies. Our paddlers were merry 

 fellows and enthusiastic fishermen, which is always a 

 sign of grace. At every camp they armed themselves 

 with bamboo rods and lines and little metal hooks, 

 which they baited with banana or manioc, and spent 

 the afternoon at their favourite amusement. They 

 waded into the shallow water and cast most dexter- 

 ously, but though they whistled softly all the time, 

 a sure way (so they said) of attracting the fish, I 

 never saw them catch anything larger than a 

 minnow. 



The scenery of the western shore of Tanganyika 

 is exceedingly beautiful, and the lake itself is an 

 unending joy with its quickly changing moods of 

 sunshine and storm. The few evenings of our short 

 voyage, when we dined by the water's edge under 

 the gorgeous moon, are among my happiest recol- 

 lections of Africa. On the whole, I am inclined to 

 place Tanganyika before all the other lakes I have 

 seen in Africa for beauty, perhaps excepting my first 



