Ill THE VICTORIA NYANZA 31 



that he had to steer the vessel with great care, and with 

 some difhculty among them. 



Tliese rush ishxnds are pretty objects, and serve to 

 variegate the surface of the hike. The shallow parts of 

 the bays are also occupied l:)y that troublesome plant 

 Pistia st)y(fi<>frs, which is one of the constituents of the 

 sudd. The important elements of the sudd are papyrus 

 rushes, reeds, feathery grass and occasionally ambatch. 

 These are woven together by creeping plants of the 

 convolvulus order. Near the level of the water the 

 stems of the reeds and rushes are cemented together by 

 aquatic plants of which Pistia is the most conspicuous : 

 it is like a lettuce and has thick, pleated, succulent 

 leaves. The plant throws out rhizomes along the surface 

 of the water which in their turn bud, and the buds also 

 throw out rhizomes. On the lake, and the upper reaches 

 of the White Nile, Pistia is a common object quietly 

 floating down-stream. 



The Victoria Nyanza may be regarded as a huge 

 reservoir with one outlet, the Ripon Falls. Its chief 

 affluent on the west is the Kagera river, and the Nzoia 

 on the east. 



This enormous lake is visited by electrical storms of 

 extraordinary violence. I had heard a great deal about 

 these electric displays, and had the good fortune to 

 witness one from the deck of a steamer. The night was 

 very dark, and the sky Itecame illuminated by almost 

 persistent streams of yellow and blue electric light. 

 The effect could only be described as horrible. When 

 the steamer occupied the vortex of the storm, it 

 seemed as if the lightning hissed as it rushed into the 

 water of the lake. Whilst these streams of electric 

 fluid were coursing downwards from the sky, the clouds 

 were suffused by broad cascades and streams of light- 

 ning resembling the aurora borealis. The instantaneous 

 crashes of thunder following on the electric discharges 

 resembled the detonations of huge shells or 100-ton 

 o-uns. These storms are very common, and destroy the 



o 



