chap, xil] VOYAGE UPON THE LAKE. 341 
were all who came to see us off; they had a suspicion 
that bystanders might be invited to assist as rowers, 
therefore the entire population of the village had 
deserted. 
At leaving the shore, the chief had asked for a few 
beads, which, on receiving, he threw into the lake to 
propitiate the inhabitants of the deep, that no hippo¬ 
potami should upset the canoe. 
Our first days voyage was delightful. The lake 
was calm, the sky cloudy, and the scenery most lovely. 
At times the mountains on the west coast were not 
discernible, and the lake appeared of indefinite width. 
We coasted within a hundred yards of the east shore ; 
sometimes we passed flats of sand and bush of perhaps 
a mile in width from the water to the base of the 
mountain cliffs; at other times we passed directly 
underneath stupendous heights of about 1,500 feet, 
which ascended abruptly from the deep, so that we 
fended the canoes off the sides, and assisted our pro¬ 
gress by pushing against the rock with bamboos. 
These precipitous rocks were all primitive, frequently 
of granite and gneiss, and mixed in many places with 
red porphyry. In the clefts were beautiful ever¬ 
greens of every tint, including giant euphorbias ; and 
wherever a rivulet or spring glittered through the dark 
foliage of a ravine, it was shaded by the graceful and 
feathery wild date. 
Great numbers of hippopotami were sporting in the 
water, but I refused to fire at them, as the death of 
such a monster would be certain to delay us for at 
least a day, as the boatmen would not forsake the 
flesh. Crocodiles were exceedingly numerous both in 
and out of the water ; wherever a sandy beach invited 
them to bask, several monsters were to be seen, like 
trunks of trees, lying in the sun. On the edge of the 
beech above high-water mark were low bushes, and 
from this cover the crocodiles came scuttling down 
into the water, frightened at the approach of the 
canoe. There were neither ducks nor geese, as there 
