42 THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



screens of lofty grass, which thinned out into a strag- 

 gling forest. After about an hour's march, as we 

 entered a small savannah, I saw the Fundi before al- 

 luded to running forward and changing the direction 

 of the caravan. Without supposing that he had taken 

 upon himself this responsibility, I followed him. Pre- 

 sently he breasted a steep and stony hill, sparsely clad 

 with thorny trees : it was the death of my companion's 

 riding-ass. Arrived with toil,— for our fagged beasts 

 now refused to proceed, — we halted for a few minutes 

 upon the summit. " What is that streak of light 

 which lies below?" I inquired of Seedy Bombay. "I 

 am of opinion," quoth Bombay, "that that is the water." 

 I gazed in dismay ; the remains of my blindness, the 

 veil of trees, and a broad ray of sunshine illuminating 

 but one reach of the Lake, had shrunk its fair pro- 

 portions. Somewhat prematurely I began to lament 

 my folly in having risked life and lost health for so 

 poor a prize, to curse Arab exaggeration, and to propose 

 an immediate return, with the view of exploring the 

 Nyanza, or Northern Lake. Advancing, however, a few 

 yards, the whole scene suddenly burst upon my view, 

 tilling me with admiration, wonder, and delight. It 

 gave local habitation to the poet's fancy : — 



"Tremolavano i rai del Sol nascente 



Sovra 1' onde del mar purpuree e d' oro, 

 E in veste di zaffiro il ciel ridente 



Specchiar parea le sue bellezze in loro. 

 D' Africa i venti fieri e d' Oriente, 



Sovra il letto del mar, prendean ristoro, 

 E co' sospiri suoi soavi e lieti 

 Col Zeffiro increspava il lembo a Teti." 



Nothing, in sooth, could be more picturesque than this 

 first view of the Tanganyika Lake, as it lay in the lap 



