THE SALT LAKE AND SEMLIKI VALLEY. 131 



Captain Lugard's opinion of its value. I have 

 found the salt from it carried right across Mpororo 

 and Karagwe to the Unyamwesi country. The 

 whole of Ankole and the Wanyuema are depen- 

 dent on it for a necessary of life, and it will most 

 certainly be a very important item in the future 

 development of the country. 



The salt is produced apparently by precipita- 

 tion from the water of two springs, entering the 

 lake underground, and seems to be deposited 

 regularly every day. Saline incrustations in the 

 soil and in most of the crater lakes appears to 

 be very common about the Salt lake, though I 

 cannot profess to understand the reason. Even 

 the water of the Albert Edward is slightly salt 

 (at any rate bad) in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of the ridge referred to above. It is, however, so 

 far as I could find, only the Salt lake proper 

 which yields a really useful kind. Some of the 

 others are even said to be poisonous. 



This situation is a most unfavourable place for 

 Europeans to occupy permanently. One reason 

 being the absence of any plantations anywhere 

 near the fort. The whole country is of alluvial 

 and recent volcanic origin, and it is only when 

 one either crosses the lake to the borders of the 

 Victoria plateau, or penetrates the outer border 

 of the hills, that any cultivation worth mention- 

 ing can be found. 



Of course this difficulty is not insurmountable, 



