The Katanga 



stream ; it had been there for six days. This mishap, I was 

 told, was due as much to the proverbial intemperance of 

 the river captain as to the nature of the river itself. 



Like all African river steamers, the Barofi Janssen uses 

 wood for her boilers, so it was not until the operation of 

 " wooding " was accomplished by piling up every available 

 space on the steamer with logs from a wood station on 

 the banks that we got fairly under way, nightfall finding us 

 nearing Lake Kisale, close to which the captain tied up for 

 the night. 



Until one comes out into the open waters of this lake 

 the view is dull and uninteresting, bounded as it is by papyrus 

 swamps, but here many interesting birds and water-plants 

 are to be seen. Then again on leaving the lake the papyrus 

 swamp is replaced by lacustrine plains which form low but 

 solid banks to the river, where herds of elephant, buffalo, 

 and other game are seen. Farther downstream as we approach 

 Ankora the banks are forested with splendid palms of several 

 kinds, principally of the oil (Elais), borassus, and ivory- 

 nut species. As these are mirrored in the dark and 

 winding river the whole makes a panorama of exceeding 

 beauty. 



Some seven years ago this region was the centre of a 

 thriving palm-oil industry and was thickly populated by the 

 Baluba natives engaged in cultivating the Elais palm and 

 extracting the thick oil to be obtained from the fruit, but 

 with the advent of what may be termed the sleeping sickness 

 epidemic which ravaged Central Africa in the last decade, 

 these natives were exterminated, the district being now 

 practically deserted and given over to immense herds of 

 elephant and buffalo, who roam there unchallenged. 



7 



