874 ABUNDANCE OF FISH. Chap. XIX. 



cake, an inch thick and as large as the blue bonnet of a Scotch 

 ploughman, was offered to us ; it was very dark in colour, 

 and tasted not unlike caviare, or salted locusts. 



Abundance of excellent fish are found in the lake, and nearly 

 all were new to us. The nipasa or sanjika, found by Dr. Kirk 

 to be a kind of carp, was running up the rivers to spawn, like 

 our salmon at home : the largest we saw was over two feet in 

 lenoth ; it is a splendid fish, and the best we have ever eaten in 

 Africa. They were ascending the riversln August and Sep- 

 tember, and furnished active and profitable employment to 

 many fishermen, who did not mind then being out of season. 

 Weirs were constructed full of sluices, in each of which was 

 set a large basket-trap, through whose single tortuous opening 

 the fish once in has but small chance of escape. A short 

 distance below the weir, nets are stretched across from bank 

 to bank, so that it seemed a marvel how the most 

 sagacious sanjika could get up at all without being taken. 

 Possibly a passage up the river is found at night ; but this 

 is not the country of Sundays or " close times " for either men, 

 or fish. The lake fish are caught chiefly in nets, although 

 men, and even women with babies on their backs, are occa- 

 sionally seen fishing from the rocks with hooks. 



A net with small meshes is used for catching the young fry 

 of a silvery kind like pickerel, when they are about two inches 

 long ; thousands are often taken in a single haul. We had 

 a present of a large bucketful one day for dinner : they tasted 

 as if they had been cooked with a little quinine, probably 

 from their gall-bladders being left in. In deep water, 

 some sorts are taken by lowering fish-baskets attached 

 by a long cord to a float, around which is often tied a mass of 

 grass or weeds, as an alluring shade for the deejo-sea fish. 

 Fleets of fine canoes are engaged in the fisheries. The men 

 have long paddles, and stand erect while using them. They 



