ACROSS LAKE CHAD 219 



scaled monstrosity, and next it a cat - fish with huge 

 whiskers. None of these was recommended as deli- 

 cate eating, but the other two, of the king-fish type, 

 were excellent. 



The task we had set ourselves was to traverse the 

 southern portion of Lake Chad. When Lieutenant 

 Boyd Alexander explored the lake in 1904-5 he dis- 

 covered that it was divided into two distinct parts, 

 and that the barrier of fifteen miles of shrub and 

 rush between one portion of the lake and the other 

 was practically impenetrable. The northern basin is 

 fed by the Yo river. It is smaller, shallower, nowhere 

 more than four feet in depth, and so silted up with 

 mud and rushes that progress is very difiicult. The 

 people are shy, and have no intercourse with their 

 southern neighbours. 



The southern part of the lake is fed by the Shari. 

 It is bigger and deeper, and in some places the 

 depth is sixteen feet. Our intention was to cross to 

 Kaua Baga on the Northern Nigerian shore — not by 

 the shortest route, but by one that would enable us 

 to visit some Buduma islands on the way. 



On the third day the wind had abated a little, 

 and we emerged from the mouth of the river to the 

 open waters of the lake ; but we were premature, 

 and breakers swept in on us. Our Kotoko polers 

 had no experience of heavy seas, and as their canoes 

 would sink were they to ship any water, we tied 

 up to some rushes on a tiny sand-bank. 



At noon the wind went down, and we set out 

 again, though the pitching was still considerable, 

 while at times the waves ran so high that destruction 

 seemed imminent. 



