96 



THE LAKE REGIONS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 



to be ready at a moment's notice ; each man usually 

 has his dagger stuck in his belt, and on long trips all are 

 provided with bows and arrows. These Africans cannot 

 row ; indeed they will not use oars. The paddle on the 

 Tanganyika is a stout staff, about six feet long, and cut 

 out at the top to admit a trefoil-shaped block the size of 

 a man's hand: — it was described in South Africa by Cap- 

 tain Owen. The block, adorned with black paint in 

 triangular patches, is lashed to the staff by a bit of whip- 

 cord, and it seldom lasts through the day without break- 

 ing away from its frail tackling. The paddler, placing one 

 hand on the top and the other about the middle of the 

 staff, scoops up as it were, the water in front of him, 

 steadying his paddle by drawing it along the side of the 

 canoe. The eternal splashing keeps the boat wet. It 

 is a laborious occupation, and an excessive waste of 

 power. 



The Lake People derive their modern practice of navi- 

 gation, doubtless, from days of old; the earliest accounts 

 of the Portuguese mention the traffic of this inland sea. 

 They have three principal beats from Ujiji : the northern 

 abuts at the ivory and slave marts of Uvira ; the western 

 conducts to the opposite shores of the Lake and the island 

 depots on the south-west ; and the southern leads to the 

 land of Marunga. Their canoes creep along the shores 

 like the hollowed elders of thirty bygone centuries, and, 

 waiting till the weather augurs fairly, they make a des- 

 perate push for the other side. Nothing but their ex- 

 treme timidity, except when emboldened by the prospect 

 of a speedy return home, preserves their cranky craft from 

 constant accidents. The Arabs, warned by the past, 

 rarely trust themselves to this Lake of Storms, preferring 

 the certain peculation incurred by deputing for trading 

 purposes agents and slaves to personal risk. Those who 



