The next day we began the circumnavigation
o f the Windermere. T h e extreme length o f the
lake during the rainy season is about eight miles,
and its extreme breadth two and a half. It lies
north and south, surrounded b y grass-covered
mountains, which rise from 1200 to 1500 feet
above it. There is one island called Kanko-
ro g o , situated midway between Mount Isossi
and the extreme southern end. I sounded three
times, and obtained depths o f 48, 44, and 45
feet respectively at different points. The soil
o f the shores is highly ferruginous in colour,
and, except in the vicinity , o f the villages, produces
on ly euphorbia, thorny gum, acacia, arid
aloetic plants.
On the 9th we pulled abreast o f Kankorogo
Island, and, through a channel from 500 to 800
yards wide, directed our course to the Kageta,
up which we had to contend against a current
o f two knots and a half an hour.
T h e breadth o f the river varied from 50 to
100 yards. T he average depth o f all the ten
soundings we made on this day was 52 feet
along the middle; close to the papyrus walls,
which grew like a forest above us, was a depth
o f 9 feet. Sometimes we caught a view o f hip-
potamus creeks running up for hundreds o f yards
on either side through the papyrus. Ajt K a g a y yo ,
on the left bank, we landed for a short time to
take a view o f the scene around, as, while in the
river, we could see nothing except the papyrus,
the tops o f the mountain - ridges o f Karagwe,
and the sky.
W e then learned for the first time the true
character o f what we had imagined to be a
valley when we gazed upon it from the summit
of the mountain between Kafurro and Rumanika’s
capital.
The Ingezi, as the natives called it, embraces
the whole space from the base o f the mountains o f
Muvari to that o f the Karagwe ridges with the
river called Kagera, the Funzo or the papyrus,
and the Rwerus or lakes, o f which there are
seventeen, inclusive o f Windermere. Its extreme
width between the bases o f the opposing mountains
is nine miles; the narrowest part is about
a mile, while the entire acreage covered b y it
from Morongo or the falls in Iwanda, north, to
Uhimba, south, is about 350 square miles. The
Funzo or papyrus covers a depth o f from 9 feet
to 14 feet o f water. Each o f the several lakes
has a depth o f from 20 to 65 feet, and they
are all connected, as also is the river, underneath
the papyrus.
When about three miles north o f Kizinga, at
5 P.M., we drew our boat close to the papyrus,
and prepared for our night’s rest, and the Wanya-
mbu did the same.
The boat’s crew crushed down some o f the
serest papyrus, and, cutting o ff the broom-like