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EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XIX 
receives at its iiortliern end the waters of the river 
Omo which rises in the Shoa highlands. 
The lake contains hippopotamuses, fishes, and croco¬ 
diles : its shores are “ haunted by immense numbers of 
birds, including geese, ducks, flamingoes, cormorants, 
divers, herons, ibises, plovers, gulls, and storks.” The 
birds are most abundant at the northern end where the 
shore is sandy and there are pools cut off from the main 
body of the lake. 
Lake Stefanie. This lake was discovered liy Teleki 
(1889) and named in honour of the Archduchess Stehinie, 
widow of Crown Prince Rudolf. It lies to the east of 
the northern end of Lake Rudolf, in that portion of the 
Rift Valley where this remarkable depression loses its 
well-defined character. At the time of its discovery the 
lake was about sixty miles long and fifteen broad, lying 
at an altitude of 1740 feet; the water is brackish. At 
the time of its discovery there Avere indications of 
shrinking. On the beach and in the air there were 
thousands of scavenger birds, such as vultures, crows, 
cormorants, marabou storks and the like, glutting them¬ 
selves with fish, which lay about in great quantities in 
various stages of decomposition. Donaldson Smith, a 
few years later, found the lake to be thirty-seven 
geographical miles long and fifteen broad. In no part 
was the lake more than twenty feet deep. There were 
eight islands which formed sanctuaries for millions 
of aquatic birds. In 1899 Harrison found the lake 
dried up. 
This chain of lakes in the Rift Valley is of great 
interest, especially in relation to the formation of those 
bodies of water of which the Dead Sea and Salt Lake in 
Utah are the best known examples. 
Usually a fresh-water lake has an outlet : failing this 
its water becomes brackish, for, although many of these 
brackish lakes receive very large quantities of fresh 
water from the rivers flowing into them, the condensation 
due to evaporation, especially under a tropical sun, soon 
