The Exploration of the Albert Nyanza. 103 though encumbered in an extraordinary way with floating islands, always remains sufficiently deep.

"We found no sand-banks. All these islands, composed of grass and papyrus with their roots strongly intertwined, have generally a width of from four to six yards, but are not habitable. Some are from three to four miles long, but do not however impede the navigation. They frequently change their position, because if a stong hurricane rises, the wind, blowing among the bushes, drives the islands along with a rapidity of four or five miles an hour, throwing them upon other islands of a similar nature, or against the banks of the river, so that they are overturned in the water. From these causes, the river continually changes its aspect, and it is impossible to give an accurate plan of it on the maps. The map therefore that accompanies my narrative cannot be exact in indicating the course of the channels. It is also difficult to indicate the velocity of the current. In certain places it is a mile an hour, while in others it varies from two to three miles ; taking the average, it may be calculated about two miles an hour.

The banks of the river, especially the right one, are thickly inhabited. The natives are of a bronze colour, and all, without distinction, cover part of the body with skins of antelopes or goats ; they are diligent agriculturists. Their arms consist of lances and arrows ; the houses of the villages are not scattered at wide distances, as in the greater part of the African regions, but are grouped together and surrounded by fences.

At three in the afternoon we came to a very perilous passage, closed to the south, and the vessels had great difficulty in passing this channel by the aid of cords and men. After five hours' work we came into the principal stream, but on arriving here I perceived we had mistaken the way, and that there must be another channel. It was necessary therefore for me to form a more exact idea of the place, since the way