Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/550

 The Vua-Jiji are noted boat-builders, who show with pride many large decked barges, which were the queens of the lake before the Europeans had launched their steamers on its waters. Under their white instructors they have become skilful pilots, and no longer find it necessary to offer so many sacrifices of goats or poultry to the spirits of the storm when rounding the dangerous headlands. The difficulties

of the route to the coast are also daily diminishing, and this journey, which even in 1880 still took about six months by caravan, may now be made in forty-five days. The chief inconvenience is the tsetse fly, which infests a part of the way, and thus prevents pack or draft animals from being employed in the transit trade.