carried me on their necks, or, like a child, in their
arms. On some marches we had to cross ten different
waters, and, to avoid others, long detours were
made to get upon higher grounds.
The now famous Victoria Nyanza, when seen for
the first time, expanding in all its majesty, excited
our wonder and admiration. Even the listless Wan-
yamuezi came to have a look at its waters, stretching
over ninety degrees of the horizon. The Seedees
were in raptures with it, fancying themselves looking
upon the ocean which surrounds their island home of
Zanzibar, and I made a sketch, dotting it with imaginary
steamers and ships riding at anchor in the bay.
On its shores are beautiful bays, made by wooded
tongues of low land (or points such as Boonjacko and
Surree Points, guarding the Katonga river) running
into the lake, with very often a rounded detached
island at their apices. The low islands of Sesseh lie
on the western shore of the lake. A deep fringe of
the papyrus generally hid the view over its waters.
When standing here, the hoarse tromboning of the
hippopotamus, wishing to come out to graze, echoed
from out these rushes. The harbours of the natives
were cleared spaces composed of a spongy mass of
seeds, rotten reeds, sticks, and roots. In front, for
twenty yards, a short rush with a circular leaf grew,
breaking the small surfing waves on the lake from two
to three hundred yards, showing that it was of no
depth. In the distance, large boats paddled along
from the mainland to the islands of Sesseh. One, of
five planks sewn together, having four cross bars as
seats, was brought to convey me to Uganda; but
after four of us had got into it with some loads, the
craft was so cranky that such a voyage would have
been madness, the water streaming m. Her bows
and stem were pointed, standing for a yard over
the water, with broad central plank from stem to
stern, rounded outside, answering for a keel, and well
adapted for gliding through papyrus.
The flora along this tract did not afford muc
variety. The most graceful tree on the route was the
wild date-palm, growing in clumps of three and four
upon the bare green hills : its crested plumes waved
in the breeze, giving almost animal life to the silen
scene. Birds’ nests, or clusters of Indian red fruit,
hung in pendants from the branches. We met with
a new acacia, whose thin pods were broad andnumer-
ous; on looking at the tree, the crop was so abundant
that the leaves were all but hidden by the frnib cw
large trees were seen; they probably got killed by the
different varieties of lichens and parasites which
covered them. One acacia with a flat top was netted
over with bushes of them, as if they had been planted
on the tops of the branches. The north-east sides ot
trees were observed to have the most moss upon their
trunks, denoting that it was the dampest wind at that
particular locality and position. On the 14th of May
I was sheltered from the rays of the sun by the boughs
of the coffee-shrub, then with clusters of green berries
bowing down its branches till within reach. Each
vearly growth or produce could be seen by looking
at the number of knots in the branches. No care or
pruning was observed, and the roots near the trunk
grew very much above the soil. On the grounds facing
the lake, 20 or 30 miles south of the equator,
quantities must be grown, as some houses there were