From Naples to Entebbe. 
floating islands formed by tangled masses of aquatic plants, upon 
which germinate and grow the papyrus, nymphsea and other 
species, which afford shelter to myriads of aquatic birds. 
The north coast of the gulf forms a level plain. On the 
south side, at a short distance from the shore, a series of 
volcanic peaks, more or less rounded on the top, rise gradually 
into a chain of wild mountains, culminating in a jagged ridge, 
overtopped by a high and fissured cone nearly 4,000 feet above 
the lake. 
Navigation on the Victoria Nyanza ceases with nightfall. 
On the evening of the 6th of May accordingly the Winifred , 
which had started at half-past two in the afternoon, cast anchor 
near to the Island of Rusinga where she was to pass the night, 
at the point where the Gulf of Kavirondo opens into the lake. 
The steamer was immediately surrounded by native canoes. 
These are large boats of slender form, carrying twenty rowers 
or more, not roughly hollowed out of tree-trunks, but built 
regularly from the keel upward with boards held together by 
fibre cords and the interstices caulked with fibre and resinous 
gums. The prow is armed with a long sharp point, covered at 
ordinary times by the “ prow of peace,” the extremity of which 
is turned vertically upward and is frequently adorned with 
feathers, horns of animals, etc. 
The evening was now closing in. The slender canoes were 
leaving the sides of the Winifred. The fine nude torsos of the 
native oarsmen strained every' muscle to the rhythmical stroke. 
The sharp click of the oars on the rowlocks was already dying 
out in the distance. The waves broke with a gentle murmur on 
the shore of the island. In the shallow water the hippopotami 
lifted their ungainly heads from among the reeds, while flights of 
birds sought their roosting-places on the scattered rocks with 
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