VICTORIA LAKE. 127 



of the lake ; the depth here was insignificant. The bay is 

 enclosed on all sides by mountains, except towards the south 

 and south-east, where an apparently unbounded horizon meets 

 the eye. Well-wooded islands, of which Naluvali (named by 

 Stanley, Bellefond's Island) and two islets are situated at the 

 very outlet of the bay, add to its beauty. The shores also, as 

 far as could be made out from our standpoint, are well wooded, 

 especially those of Koja. A thick girdle of reeds fringes the 

 water's edge almost everywhere, and in the shallows stretches 

 far out into the lake. I saw no papyrus. The Waganda 

 praise the quality of the water highly, but, owing to the 

 cloudy state of the sky, I was unable to form an opinion as to 

 its colour. In spite of the strong wind, boats containing two 

 or three persons were to be seen plying from shore to shore ; 

 one man steers with a shovel-shaped oar, and another paddles. 

 The bows of the boats are curved upwards and ornamented 

 with horns, as well as with outriggers projecting above the 

 water-line on either side, to prevent capsizing. 



A little boat lay by chance upon the shore ; its planks had 

 been joined together by means of loam and strips of bark 

 cloth ; it also had outriggers, but the prow, instead of being 

 turned up, jutted out in the shape of a long triangular beak, 

 probably intended to help in forcing the way through the reeds. 

 The boat was easily managed, but wind and waves prevented 

 our making much progress. Even at a distance of a hundred 

 feet from the shore, the depth of the water appeared consider- 

 able, the bottom up to this point consisting of coarse-grained 

 sand, covered with fine grey mud. Crocodiles and hippopo- 

 tami were numerous, but birds, probably owing to the state 

 of the weather, were not to be seen. I could obtain neither 

 snails nor shells. Fish are dried and sent to the market at 

 Rubaga ; there are here fishermen by trade. 



Threatening rain and the late hour compelled us to turn 

 homewards sooner than we wished, and on the way a perfect 

 deluge of rain broke over our heads, and obliged us to seek 

 shelter in a village situated not far from the road, for the 

 Waganda do not like being out in the rain. While we were 

 waiting, the men directed my attention to a trough divided by 

 a partition into two parts, and large enough to hold two men ; 



