184 A SAIL UPON THE ALBERT LAKE, ing on a sandy bottom. It issues from a mountain ravine, and has clear cold water all the year through. This alone is used for drinking by the people of Kibiro, for they state that the waters of the lake are salt—a belief which finds credit with our Arabs here, who call the lake Bahr-el-Malakh, 7.., salt-lake. The only real difference is this, that the water in the lake is soft, and always a little warm.

On my way back I noticed in the tall grass a great number of cylindrical fungi, about 1.6 to 2.0 in. high, and 4 in. in diameter. The crown consisted of a small brown closely-set cap, often punctured with holes; the stalk was smooth, and pale yellow in colour. The whole of the frame was shiny, and gave out the odour of rotten fungus. From the troughs in the saltworks I captured some specimens of the pretty little plover (Hgialites pecuarius), which frequents them in numbers, and on the lake-side a beautiful Buteo augur, var. nigra, which was busy catching mice—both birds being novelties in our country. I also procured some specimens of a tick, called by the Wanydro bilbo, which is greatly dreaded by Negroes, and, to judge from the size of the creature, their fear is not ill grounded. They employ a curious remedy against its attacks; a scale of the pangolin (Manis sp.), calcined and pulverised, is mixed into a salve with fat, and the preparation is then applied superficially. Ocymum canun is also useful for the same purpose.

By noon we had all our baggage on board and steam up, and with a strong south-west wind, which whipped the lake into short white waves, we started on our return journey. The steamer was full of sheep and goats. Hvery one of my people had been eager to purchase these animals, as well as salt and tobacco; and in order to encourage them in this commerce, I had given them some ox-hides and a quantity of cowries. We soon left the villages of Kibiro behind us, steering parallel to the uninhabited foreshore towards the north, where the hills appeared to be quite as lofty and as steep as at Kibiro. ‘The western shore was again enveloped in mist.

Our little boat rode gaily over the waves, but when we got about a mile and a quarter out into the lake she began to roll so much that the majority of my people were again helpless with sea-sickness, and most of them did not raise their heads again