36 NOETH-EAST AFEICA. 



tlie Kalonga and Tangure rivers the coast is generally low, and here the shallow 

 water nowhere exceeds a few feet in depth for two or three miles from the land. 

 But farther south the shore is fringed by bare cliffs, varied with strips of red or 

 orange lichens, giving them the appearance of blocks of iron, and several have in 

 fact been found to consist of ferruginous ores. 



The most charming prospects are displayed towards the north-west in the 

 territory of U-Granda. Here the inlets along the coast appear to be divided by the 

 intervening wooded headlands into lakelets of unequal size. Limpid streams are 

 everywhere seen sparkling amid the dense masses of verdure ; down every dell 

 flows a silvery rivulet fringed with tall grasses or shrubs, above which are inter- 

 laced the branches of forest trees. Probably no other region in Central Africa 

 enjoys a more equable climate or a richer soil than this land of TJ-Ganda. The 

 plants of the temperate zone recently introduced by Europeans thrive well. 



Off the coast of U-Ganda an archipelago of four hundred islands, of which the 

 largest group bears the name of Sesse, stretches in a continuous chain between the 

 high sea and the creeks along the shore. The scenery of this insular world is even 

 more diversified and its vegetation more exuberant than on the opposite mainland. 

 Here magnificent timber clothes the slopes of the hills down to the beach, which is 

 everywhere bordered by masses of papyrus. Towards the west the basalt island of 

 Bukerebe, Stanley's Alice Island, raises its blackish walls over 300 feet above the 

 lake. But of all the insular masses lining the shores of Nyanza, the most remark- 

 able is that to which Stanley has given the name of " Bridge Island." This rock, 

 which lies not far from the north-east corner of the lake, consists of two basaltic 

 columns connected by an irregular elliptical arch with a spring of about twenty-four 

 and a depth of twelve feet. Trees have struck their roots deep into the interstices 

 of the rocks, which, overgrown with brushwood and tall grass, leave nothing 

 visible except two columnar masses of verdure hanging in graceful festoons down 

 to the water. Through this archway of tropical vegetation a glimpse is afforded 

 of the hazy coast-range bounding the horizon on the opposite mainland. 



The beauty of the Nyanza scenery is enhanced by the native craft which en- 

 liven its waters, and which are at times grouped in large fleets. Some of the 

 surrounding communities have sailing-boats ; the traders have launched vessels of 

 considerable size, resembling the dhows of the Zanzibari Arabs, and the European 

 missionaries have constructed sloops on the English model. But most of the skiffs 

 are still of a primitive type, mere barges with round sterns sunk deep in the water, 

 and sharp prows projecting clean above the surface and adorned with two antelope 

 horns and a bunch of feathers. From a distance they present the appearance of an 

 animal raising its neck above the water in search of prey. These boats, manned 

 by crews of from ten to forty-eight hands, carry neither mast nor sail, and are pro- 

 pelled only by the paddle. Rudely constructed of trunks of trees lashed together 

 with flexible branches, and caulked with a mixture of bark and mud, they offer 

 but a slight resistance to the waves ; hence accidents are frequent, although they 

 seldom venture far from the shore. 



Before the arrival of the Europeans the fleets of the king of U-Ganda seldom 



