166 A SAIL UPON THE ALBERT LAKE.

the species which do occur, in localities that are so eminently suited for them farther south. Some herons (Ardea alba and A. comata) went on fishing around the steamer, quite regardless of the bustle, and a little farther away I noticed specimens of storks (Anastomus lamelligerus), Le Vaillant’s darter (Plotus Levaillanti), and cormorant (Phalacrocorax africanus). A few yabirus (Mycteria senegalensis) were searching an inundated low-lying piece of land, and on the margin of the lake a few Kgyptian geese (Chenalopex cegyptiacus) showed themselves. With the pelicans mentioned above as having been observed in the river, I close the list. Not a single plover was seen, nor yet a strand-snipe or a duck.

By noon we had enough wood on board, and with a very fresh wind we steamed, at about one-third of a mile from the shore, towards the south, having the western hills on our right. In height these range from 1200 to 1500 feet; they are for the most part thinly wooded, and their sides are often seamed with watercourses; thickets of bamboo appear in places. ‘The watercourses, however, are little more than rainchannels, and even in the rainy season they are often dry. Their direction is shown by the denudation and seaming of the hillsides, and by the scattered blocks of stone; they have, of course, in most cases followed the natural foldings and crevices of the rock. The level margin of the lake, the width of which varies considerably, is for a short distance well inhabited, but farther towards the south the huts disappear, and park-like land is intermingled with fine groups of trees, patches of desolate grass, and dense forest. On the east the mountain chain was scarcely visible, owing to the veil of mist that enveloped it.

After less than an hour, we came upon a long spit of sand, in the shape of a crescent. On keeping well to the west, we soon perceived that it was an island, and came to anchor at about fifty yards from its shore. This island hes somewhat farther south than our deserted station of Mahagi, which we recognised from three large trees growing there. Immediately behind Mahagi, which bears N.N.W. (334°), the western chain of hills descends with a gentle slope, and the more distant range behind comes into view. ‘The latter contains summits