THE EXPLORATION OF LAKE CHAD 67 



next moment vanished so magically that all the " boys " 

 declared he had gone to his home under the water. We 

 camped the night on a large island promontory, where 

 there was evidence that Budumas had lately landed, for 

 piles of reeds had been cut and were left drying for the 

 building of their canoes. 



This land Hes in a north-east by east direction from 

 Kaddai and distant about ten miles. It is connected with 

 the west shore by the tracts of marsh I had just skirted and 

 in my opinion forms a tongue of land from the eastern shore 

 of the Lake. This was borne out by the fact that in my 

 rambles over the land I came across kob, which it is hardly 

 likely would have come from the western side through the 

 reed-belts. Therefore we may conclude that the Lake is at 

 this point no more than ten miles wide and divided north 

 and south into two parts by the great barriers of reed. From 

 this point I continued for a distance of about seventeen miles 

 in a north-easterly direction. There were small islands in 

 my course, while to the right lay bays and headlands of 

 reed which, without doubt, form part of the eastern shore 

 hne. 



Towards the end of the journey we came across a large 

 Buduma fishing-fleet. The desire to get a guide or at least 

 some information was still uppermost in my mind, so we made 

 in their direction. At first they mistook us for other Budumas, 

 for in the white heat glare over the water, our boat without 

 her mast and sail looked at a distance very much like two 

 Buduma canoes moving along together as is often their 

 wont. It is their habit to plunder one another whenever 

 they get the chance and evidently they considered us an easy 



