The map of this lake-shore emphasizes the extraordinary similarity of form in all the great lakes of Central Africa, with the one exception of the Victoria Nyanza. A glance at the map will show that the angular inclination and general form of Lake Nyassa, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Albert Edward, and Lake Albert have a wonderful resemblance to one another.
The next day we again descended on to the last lake level, and crossed the Ntungwe river. This river we crossed by means of an ingenious native bridge, which would suggest that the country at some time not very remote was much more densely populated. After passing through one or two insignificant villages, we camped by a small lagoon. The following morning we crossed the third stream which feeds these swamps, but I could not ascertain its name; and we were compelled to make a detour to the east to avoid some very dense strips of jungle, in which we found some carefully-hidden villages, strongly fortified by stockades. The natives had carefully closed the entrance, but appeared to be quite friendly; and here, with great regret, we said farewell to our Wanyabinga brother.
Our day's march brought us once more to the lake-shore, which was still swampy; and as reed was growing at a distance of one mile from the shore, it was evident that the lake was still very shallow, and in all probability the next few years will see another very considerable change in its area.
A few miles further on there is a small bay, where are two insignificant villages close to the lake. Here the natives cultivate dwarf banana-plants, and eke out a precarious existence by trapping hippopotami. They build a stout scaffold of logs and fasten thereto a booby-trap, consisting of a heavily-weighted spear-head.
These villages were on the frontier of Visegwe's country, who is one of Kaihura's chiefs. Here my fever assumed a serious form; my temperature at one time rose to 108.4, but the motherly attentions of Sharp pulled me through; and when I was sufficiently recovered to be moved, he procured a gigantic dug-out canoe, in which I was paddled to Katwe, the frontier post of the Uganda Protectorate.
Sharp marched up the lake-shore, and with the assistance of Kazinga, ferried all the loads and boys across the narrow neck of Lake Ruisamba. The ferry is not more than four hundred yards wide, and with considerable trouble the cattle were induced to swim the distance. Two natives seized each beast by the horns, and, swimming by its side, assisted it across. Fortunately there were no crocodiles in the vicinity. The canoes were of extraordinary structure, and are peculiar to Lake Albert Edward, although they approximate to the type of canoe to be found on the Victoria Nyanza; some of them are very large. They are made of axe-hewn boards, sewn together with banana fibre.
CHAPTER XIV.
KATWE TO TORO.
As we had never heard that the boundary between the Uganda Protectorate and the Congo Free State had been definitely settled, we were surprised to find the Congo flag flying almost within shooting distance of the fort; and on our sending over to buy fish, we found that the natives across the border were not allowed to sell to us. Furthermore, the Soudanese officer in charge told us that the trade in salt had almost died out, as the Congo officials stopped their natives from bringing ivory or food to barter. It is hard to understand why the hard-and-fast line of the thirtieth parallel has been adhered to, when there is the natural boundary of the Semliki. With that boundary there would be no severance of the possessions of a chief, whereas now some of the land of Kaihura is Belgian and some English, and an uneducated native cannot be expected to serve two masters with different laws and widely-separated methods of treating him.
In the fort we were also shown the bullet-marks of the rebel Congo troops, who had attacked the fort because the Effendi refused to give up the fugitive Belgian lieutenant who had taken refuge there. As Colonel Lugard remarks in his Rise of our East African Empire, the fort stands in a very strong position; but there was no Congo fort in his time.