164 A SAIL UPON THE ALBERT LAKE.

trees. Fields planted with ground-nuts and maize, small herds of cattle and goats quietly grazing, groups of people industriously weeding and sowing, women washing at the river, with little children playing around them—all this made up a picture of peace and prosperity such as, unfortunately, is seldom seen in this part of the world.

On being signalled by the steamer, the people immediately brought a quantity of dry wood, but to get it on board was a labour attended with some difficulty ; for, in the first place, the boat, owing to the shallow water, could not get close inshore, and in the next, the people found great difficulty in wading through the lake with the heavy beams on their heads, in consequence of’the strong wind. The chief, Boki, an old acquaintance, came to us in a boat propelled with oars of bamboo, and begged us to take some bamboos from him to Kibiro, as Kabréga wished for them. This was strange, because bamboos grow plentifully in Kabréga’s own country. The chief’s visit did not, however, last long, as the rolling of the steamer did not seem to be quite to his taste.

The wind was meanwhile beginning to blow more strongly, and, seeing that it was almost impossible to get the wood on board, we deemed it advisable to steam on to the wood-station, a little farther to the south, and there take in, early on the following morning, a sufficient supply to last us all the way to Kibiro and back, for no wood is to be obtained at that place. Accordingly we steamed first south, and then southwest, parallel to the mountain range. The foreshore in this part is well wooded, and the chain of hills runs up into some peaks of considerable elevation, whilst beyond them we saw now and again the summits of the more distant range. The flanks of the hills were very scantily wooded. Owing to the heavy rolling of the boat, the journey was not a pleasant one ; my people have no idea of the utility of ballast. Twice on the way we met enormous shoals of small fish, apparently proceeding northwards. ‘The water of the lake was for a considerable distance coloured hght bluish-green by them, and their continual movements occasioned a kind of bubbling, and at times much splashing. Here also large masses of Pistia were observable, likewise floating northward,