ON LA KE A YA NZA . 737 



rounded and gracefully bent into the form of a swan's neck, two antelope 

 horns being fixed upon it, so that, what with the long curved neck and the 

 horns, a very strange effect is produced, especially when the boat is coming 

 on; almost, in fact, as if some antediluvian creature were gliding towards 

 you over the waters, and raising its head watchfully on high to follow some 

 prey upon which it means to dart. None of these craft carries sails, and, 

 indeed, the use of the latter is unknown among the Waganda. The boats 

 are propelled by paddles, the crew sitting two by two, and varying in number 

 from fourteen to twenty-four, in accordance with the size of the boat. 



"A considerable division of the promised fleet having now arrived, we 

 resolved to make a preliminary excursion upon the bay. Mr Stanley ordered 

 his vessel, the ' Lady Alice,' to be got in readiness. She is a beautiful little 

 craft, built of cedar, and constructed in water-tight sections, so as to be readily 

 taken to pieces and put together again. I went on board with my companion, 

 and all the canoes started at the same time, vying with each other to be ahead. 

 They soon outstripped us, and then set to work paddling round tho l Lady 

 Alice,' like so many tritons. On board one of them was the admiral, and 

 the official drum of that magnate kept noisily beating, at one time command- 

 ing the fleet to gather about the 'flag-canoe,' at another sending them off, 

 helter-skelter, in all directions. On one side stretched the boundless surface 

 of the Nyanza, on the other extended the shore which we had just left, pre- 

 senting together the gayest and most charming spectacle imaginable. The 

 knolls and hillocks round the lake, each covered with a robe of tender green, 

 and bathing its base in the shining waves, suggested so many water-god- 

 desses reclining on the sunlit grass, and dabbling their feet in the cool and 

 limpid ripples. I, indeed, was off and away in fancy, a thousand leagues 

 from life's realities ; and both Stanley and myself sat wrapped in a long 

 silence, trying to satiate our eyes and minds — without succeeding — upon those 

 prodigal glories of Nature which stretched far and wide about us. 



" Unhappily, after returning to camp, I was seized with a frightful 

 attack of neuralgia, and am sadly afraid that I must have proved a far from 

 agreeable associate for my good friend during the remainder of that day. 

 Mr. Stanley and the Admiral of the Uganda fleet had fixed upon the follow- 

 ing morning for their start, but that naval worthy was meanwhile in despair, 

 not having heard a word about his confiscated wives. It was too much 

 to be feared, indeed that his Majesty had added them pell-mell to that divi- 

 sion of his forces in which the effective list perpetually exceeds the esti- 

 mates." 



"April 17. 



" I have passed a horrible night. A most pitiless headache prevented 



me from snatching a moment of repose uutil daybreak. From the time when 



I lay down to three in the morning I tried to get sleep, reclining upon the 

 t 3 



