chap, xii.] THE LAKE CHANGES ITS CHARACTER. 
353 
been formed of decayed vegetation, from which the 
papyrus rushes took root;—the thickness of the floating 
mass was about three feet, and so tough and firm that 
a man could walk upon it, merely sinking above his 
ankles in the soft ooze. Beneath this raft of vegetation 
was extremely deep water, and the shore for a width 
of about half a mile was entirely protected by this ex¬ 
traordinary formation. One day a tremendous gale of 
wind and heavy sea broke oft large portions, and the 
wind acting upon the rushes like sails, carried floating 
islands of some acres about the lake to be deposited 
wherever they might chance to hitch. 
On the thirteenth day we found ourselves at the end 
of our lake voyage. The lake at this point was between 
fifteen and twenty miles across, and the appearance of 
the country to the north was that of a delta. The 
shores upon either side were choked with vast banks 
of reeds, and as the canoe skirted the edge of that upon 
the east coast, we could find no bottom with a bamboo 
of twenty-five feet in length, although the floating mass 
appeared like terra Jtrma. We were in a perfect 
wilderness of vegetation. On the west were mountains 
of about 4,000 feet above the lake level, a continuation 
of the chain that formed the western shore from the 
south ;—these mountains decreased in height towards 
the north, in which direction the lake terminated in a 
broad valley of reeds. 
We were told that we had arrived at Magungo, and 
that this was the spot where the boats invariably 
crossed from Malegga on the western shore to Kam- 
rasi’s country. The boatmen proposed that we should 
land upon the floating vegetation, as that would be a 
short cut to the village or town of Magungo ; but as the 
swell of the water against the abrupt raft of reeds 
threatened to swamp the canoe, I preferred coasting 
until we should discover a good landing-place. After 
skirting the floating reeds for about a mile, we turned 
sharp to the east, and entered a broad channel of water 
bounded on either side by the everlasting reeds. This 
A A 
