Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/62

 the Kalonga and Tanguré rivers the coast is generally low, and here the shallow water nowhere exceeds a few feet in depth for two or three miles from the land. But farther south the shore is fringed by bare clifPs, varied with strips of red or orange lichens, giving them the appearance of blocks of iron, and several have in fact been found to consist of ferruginous ores.

The most charming prospects are displayed towards the north-west in the territory of U-Ganda. Here the inlets along the coast appear to be divided by the intervening wooded headlands into lakelets of unequal size. Limpid streams are everywhere seen sparkling amid the dense masses of verdure ; down every dell flows a silvery rivulet fringed with tall grasses or shrubs, above which are interlaced the branches of forest trees. Probably no other region in Central Africa enjoys a more equable climate or a richer soil than this land of U-Ganda. The plants of the temperate zone recently introduced by Europeans thrive well.

Off the coast of U-Ganda an archipelago of four hundred islands, of which the largest group bears the name of Sesse, stretches in a continuous chain between the high sea and the creeks along the shore. The scenery of this insular world is even more diversified and its vegetation more exuberant than on the opposite mainland. Here magnificent timber clothes the slopes of the hills down to the beach, which is everywhere bordered by masses of papyrus. Towards the west the basalt island of Bukerebe, Stanley's Alice Island, raises its blackish walls over 300 feet above the lake. But of all the insular masses lining the shores of Nyanza, the most remarkable is that to which Stanley has given the name of "Bridge Island." This rock, which lies not far from the north-east corner of the lake, consists of two basaltic columns connected by an irregular elliptical arch with a spring of about twenty-four and a depth of twelve feet. Trees have struck their roots deep into the interstices of the rocks, which, overgrown with brushwood and tall grass, leave nothing visible except two columnar masses of verdure hanging in graceful festoons down to the water. Through this archway of tropical vegetation a glimpse is afforded of the hazy coast-range bounding the horizon on the opposite mainland.

The beauty of the Nyanza scenery is enhanced by the native craft which en- liven its waters, and which are at times grouped in large fleets. Some of the surrounding communities have sailing-boats; the traders have launched vessels of considerable size, resembling the dhows of the Zanzibari Arabs, and the European missionaries have constructed sloops on the English model. But most of the skiffs are still of a primitive type, mere barges with round stems sunk deep in the water, and sharp prows projecting clean above the surface and adorned with two antelope horns and a bunch of feathers. From a distance they present the appearance of an animal raising its neck above the water in search of prey. These boats, manned by crews of from ten to forty-eight hands, carry neither mast nor sail, and are propelled only by the paddle. Rudely constructed of trunks of trees lashed together with flexible branches, and caulked with a mixture of bark and mud, they offer but a slight resistance to the waves; hence accidents are frequent, although they seldom venture far from the shore.

Before the arrival of the Europeans the fleets of the king of U-Ganda seldom