320 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



For in a single night, and without the reinforcements of the 

 rain, the Lake will march up at the call of the east wind and 

 subdue the land for half a mile, or, in a few hours sink so 

 fast that numbers of great fish are left stranded. Nor can 

 one believe the shy lake-dwellers real, who on sight of our 

 approach move in their canoes like shadows across the 

 twilight, dive into the Lake and disappear, never to be 

 seen by us again. 



The removal of the base from Yo, thirty-six miles north 

 of Kaddai, necessitated several journeys of the boats, so 

 that that part of the Lake along the western shore became 

 well known to us. The boats took a course varying from 

 one and a half to two miles from the land, where the average 

 depth of water was 3 ft., with a hard bottom. This was 

 in December. In March the depth was 4 ft., an increase 

 probably to be accounted for by the Lake having received 

 its full complement of water from the Yo river. 



With the exception of a few reed-islands where there is 

 no firm ground, there is good open water all the way in a 

 broad stretch sometimes extending twenty miles out, but 

 nowhere deeper than 4 ft. 



The shore here is quite open, with rough grass, frequented 

 by kob, gazelle and large herds of hartebeest. This grass- 

 land belt is about a mile and a half wide, and beyond it he 

 thick woods of mimosa. 



All the way, the shore line curves in gentle bay forma- 

 tions, and the Lake can be reached without difficulty, for 

 there is hardly any marsh and the land is firm with a 

 sandy soil. 



The object that we set ourselves in this first journey was 



