LAKE FISHERY. 175 



are called Rugo'i and Kyente ; across these, very steep paths 

 lead to the country on the other side, and to Kabrega's capital. 

 In the opposite direction lies the gleaming lake, backed 

 on the distant shore by a range of hills with a south-west 

 trend. 



The bay of Kibiro is rather shallow, and its waters are the 

 haunt of vast shoals of fish, in consequence of which the natives 

 are industrious fishers. In this pursuit they use large canoes 

 hollowed out of bamboo stems, and frequently spend the entire 

 day on the lake. Their oars are bamboo poles and a kind of 

 shovel. In spite of this primitive and laborious mode of pro- 

 gression, these people, especially in favourable weather, not 

 infrequently venture to cross the lake to Mahagi, for the 

 purpose of selling fish ; sometimes, indeed, leaving their boats 

 under the care of Songa, they go over to the other side 

 of the hills, where they find a better market for their wares. 

 It sometimes happens, on these voyages across the lake, 

 that the fishermen suffer much from sudden storms and bad 

 weather, and many of them have gone to the bottom. The 

 fish are generally so imperfectly dried — for although abun- 

 dance of salt occurs everywhere, nobody thinks of using it 

 for curing fish — that they give out a most unpleasant odour, 

 but this does not seem to render them at all unpalatable to 

 those who consume them. This trade in dried fish is carried 

 on in all the districts beyond the hills on both sides of the lake. 

 The chief species of fish that I myself noticed were small 

 Mormyrus and large Hydrocyon. 



In the neighbourhood of Kibiro there is not a single square 

 inch of cultivated land ; consequently the place produces no 

 corn, no vegetables, no bananas, &c. Even sweet potatoes, 

 which are an indispensable article of diet in other parts of 

 Unyoro, are not planted here, and are only occasionally brought 

 for sale in small quantities from beyond the hills ; consequently, 

 corn of all kinds is a very valuable present — in fact, the most 

 valuable one can make ; it is also a much-prized article for 

 purposes of barter. All the necessaries of life required by the 

 inhabitants of Kibiro are carried down the steep mountain 

 paths on people's heads ; all the energies of the native popula- 

 tion — that is, of the women, for the men are lazy and work 



