262 ABUNDANCE OF FISH. Chap. X. 



fine drifting snow. Thousands lay in the boat when she 

 emerged from the cloud of midges. The people gather 

 these minute insects by night, and boil them into thick 

 cakes, to be used as a relish — millions of midges in a cake. 

 A kungo 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 is found in the lake, and 

 nearly all were new to us. The mpasa, 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 length ; it is a splendid fish, 

 and the best we have ever eaten in Africa. They were 

 ascending the rivers in August and September, and 

 furnished active and profitable employment to many 

 fishermen, who did not mind their 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 occasionally 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 



