50 
LAKE RUDOLPH 
this barely sufficed for our needs. Frequently we had to drink 
half lake and half condensed water. Our porters, curiously 
enough, flourished on this water and hardly seemed to notice 
its brackishness, while, as I think I have said, our stock thrived 
well on it. 
During the rainy season, which I should think is from 
June until October, the eastern side of Rudolph must be prac- 
tically impossible for any transport, owing to the huge rivers 
which come down from the Abyssinian border. Some of 
these must be 200 yards wide, and judging from the debris, 
carry at least 10 feet of water. They appear to rise and fall 
very rapidly, as in every river bed innumerable bones of fish 
were to be seen which had been suddenly left high and dry as 
the waters subsided. 
The whole of the eastern shores of Lake Rudolph abound 
with numbers of birds of brilliant and variegated plumage, 
and would furnish a most interesting study to any ornitho- 
logist. Numbers of these birds live on fish. I observed two or 
three kinds of duck, a very common type having a brown body 
with a white head. There were also two varieties of snipe, one 
very much larger than the other, and countless guinea-fowl. 
It was interesting to note that on getting as far north as 
Alia Bay we suddenly came on the Burchell zebra and lost 
the Grevy’s completely. Here also were enormous herds of 
game of all sorts, including hundreds and hundreds of topi. 
There were in consequence many lions about, whose roaring 
could be heard as late as ten in the morning. A little to 
the north of Alia Bay we came on a large patch of reeds which 
extended about two miles into the lake. We saw a very fine 
herd of buffalo here but could not get a shot. The elephant 
from the country near Lake Stephanie were reported to visit 
this swamp during the rains. This was about the only spot on 
Lake Rudolph that we were troubled with mosquitoes. 
From this point onwards we traversed some very nice- 
looking country, and the smoke of very distant grass fires 
gave us an idea that we should soon come on some human 
beings. In this we were not disappointed, for we shortly after 
espied traces of cattle and later fell in with some natives very 
much resembling the Turkana in many ways, having the 
