VOYAGE TO KAGEI AND SHIPWRECK. 231 over our heads ; the hippos boldly poked up their ugly brown heads to stare at the passing canoes ; here and there a crocodile lay basking on the surface of the water, while, perched on some lofty tree, the beautiful black-and-white eagle (Malisetus vocifer) calmly surveyed the animated scene below. At other times the shore was clothed for miles with low, dense jungle, having open grassy spots where the crocodiles were wont to lay their eggs, and on the sloping sandy beach the waves of the great Lake broke with ceaseless murmur.

The beginning of July found me only a short distance from the island of Busu, owing to the almost interminable delays which were caused by the various local chiefs who had to furnish the rest of the canoes. These canoes, which are used in war and for travelling, are scattered about among the numerous islands off Uganda, and when the traveller wishes to collect ten or twelve in which to convey his goods and servants, he has to go from island to island, getting one here and another there, till he has made up the requisite number. Most of these canoes are brought from the Archipelago of Sesse, which, according to Mtesa, contains about four hundred islands, varying in size from a couple of acres to several square miles, some of the largest being from ten to fifteen miles in length, and three or four in breadth ; most of them are inhabited. I have myself seen between fifty and sixty of this