VOYAGE TO KAOEI AND SHIPWRECK. 241 having been delayed by sickness and the large amount of repairs required by the Daisy : these were now nearly finished, and he was preparing to proceed to Uganda to join me.

' A fortnight's work saw our little boat ready for the voyage, and on August 23rd I set off, accompanied by Mackay, for my fifth voyage across the Nyanza, hoping to reach Uganda in three or four days. But we were destined to be disappointed. We made but slow progress the first day, and, the wind having completely died away, we anchored at night off the island of Ukerewe. Next morning we set sail with a strong S.E. breeze, and ran rapidly up the strait between Wiru and Ukerewe. This channel is usually a dangerous one, as there is a bar at its eastern entrance, but as the Lake was unusually high, being at least three feet above its normal level, there was water enough on this bar for us to cross it easily. We had a very heavy cargo on board, and being short-handed, I decided not to steer directly for Murchison Bay, as I had hitherto done, but to make for the coast of Uzongora. I intended to fetch the land a little south of the Kagera river, and then run up the coast, so as to escape the heavy seas which are often met with in mid-lake, and which we were especially likely to encounter at this season, as the rains were coming on, and frequent storms were to be expected. Accordingly, on rounding the western side of Ukerewe, we steered N.W. by W., and on VOL. I. H