THE VICTORIA NYANZA 



39 



In West Africa the negroes search diligently for the 

 fish in its encysted state, and they are particularly fond 

 of it and can keep it as a provision in the clod which 

 envelops it. 



The Papyrus is a beautiful rush with a long green 

 stem sometimes twenty feet high, which is not com- 

 pletely circular. The stems are crowned with tufts 

 of delicate filaments, which were used by the ancient 

 Egyptians to make garlands for the shrines of the o-ods. 



A Raft iiia<le of the dried Papj'rus Stems. Used by 

 the Kaviiondos on the Victoria N\'anza. 



The leaves are apple-green. The pith used for making 

 writing material by the ancient Egyjjtians earned for 

 this plant the name of " paper reed," it occupies that 

 portion of the stem which lies beneath the surface of 

 the water. The j^apyrus flourishes in the swamps of 

 Uganda, around tlie shallow margins of the Victoria 

 Nyanza and in the White Nile, l»ut it is extinct in 

 Lower Egypt. 



