and down, ever chirping their wheedling, persuasive
song. Qn a firm bough extended over
the wave sits tfce glossy and sleek diver, contented,
sated with his finny prey, or, perched
upon the tall branch of some towering sycamore
or teak, may be seen the white-collared fish-
eagle, uttering at intervals his weird shrill call
to his mate— a despairing, wailing cry. Presendy,
from some distant tree, at a commanding height,
is heard the response, in the same doleful strain.
But from Katenga, as far as the Bald Mount,
near Mugolwe, the crests of the ridges are
tawny and treeless. From Tanga to Mdanga
Cape, gaps and chasms, inlets and bays, like
those above described are numerous, and between
Kabogo River and Missossi Mount there is a bay
with five separate streams, descending from heights
of 2000 feet in long silvery threads to the lake.
The mountains seem to be dissolving in tears,
for through every ravine or cleft or gap, chasm
or rift, streams roll with impetuous course to
the lake. Wherever foothold is obtained on a
square-browed hill, terrace, or slope, cultivated
fields and villages are seen, while on either side
of them the cliffs drop sheer to profound depths.
The topmost height of Mount Missossi is about
3000 feet above the lake. As the lake is very
wide between Goma and Ujiji— about forty
miles— the waves rise very suddenly and drive
in long billowy ridges against the massive and
firm base of the mount, and when the south-
easters prevail, the gale has command of sixty
miles of dear water from Kabogo Cape. Navigation
in canoes; while the wind is rising, is very
dangerous.
We left Kabogo River’s safe haven about 7
P.M., and at nine were pulling by Missossi Mount,
exposed to a rising gale of great power about
half a mile off a lee shore. To avoid being
swept on the rocks, which were all afoam, we
had to row direct eastward, and to handle both
boat and canoe very delicately to avoid foundering.
For two hours we laboured hard to get
a mile to windward and then, hoisting sail, we
flew northward, just grazing the dreadful rocks
of Mdanga Cape.
Nature, as already seen, has been in most
frantic moods along the western coast of the
Tanganika, but in Goma, where she has been
most wanton, she has veiled herself with a
graceful luxuriance of vegetation. Where the
mountains are steepest and highest, and where
their springs have channelled deepest, there the
pillared mvule and meofu flourish most and attain
their greatest height, and in loving fellowship
they spread themselves up opposing slopes and
follow the course of the stream in broad belts
on either side down to the edge of the lake.
Underneath their umbrageous foliage grows a
tropical density of bush and plant, meshed and