54 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



that we were not left long in doubt, for just as the boats 

 were packed and ready to go forward on another day of 

 discovery, scanning the eastern horizon, I beheld two horse- 

 men about a mile away upon the land. This could be no 

 other than the eastern shore, so that we had practically 

 crossed the Lake ! But it was impossible to effect a landing, 

 as a vast mud bay studded with small islands lay between 

 us and firm land. It was a great surprise to me to discover 

 that the crossing had been accomplished in thirty miles, 

 since the ordnance map in my possession made it at least 

 sixty. 



We now retraced our course, and the whole of the morning 

 of March 1 was spent in dragging the boats back through the 

 mud and shallows that marked our path of the evening 

 before. About noon, when we were once more in 2 ft. water, 

 we took a south-easterly course skirting the belt of innumer- 

 able islands and shallow bays which barred the eastern shore. 

 So we journeyed on for two days at a very slow pace and 

 without much incident to vary the monotony. The average 

 depth of the water was 2 ft. and sometimes the mud gave 

 way to a hard bottom. 



In the afternoon of the second day, on rounding a small 

 island w^e came upon a canoe. Our appearance was so sudden 

 that the occupants had no time to run away. There were 

 two men and the wife of one of them with her baby boy. 

 They were typical Budumas of the northern part of the 

 Lake, who are a rough lawless people, originally coming 

 from a country to the north-west of Kanem. They have 

 no community, but wander about the Lake in families or 

 small bands. They are a dwindling race, owing, most prob- 



