When A Large Fish Took The Bait, His First Rush
Unhitched The Ambatch-Float From The Point Of The Bamboo, Which,
Revolving Upon The Water, Paid Out Line As Required.
When entirely run
out, the great size and buoyancy of the float served to check and to
exhaust the fish.
There are several varieties of fish that exceed 200
lbs. weight.
A number of people now arrived from the village, bringing a goat, fowls,
eggs, and sour milk, and, beyond all luxuries, fresh butter. I delighted
the chief, in return for his civility, by giving him a quantity of
beads, and we were led up the hill towards Magungo.
The day was beautifully clear. The soil was sandy and poor, therefore
the road was clean and hard; and, after the many days' boating, we
enjoyed the walk, and the splendid view that lay before us when we
arrived at Magungo, and looked back upon the lake. We were about 250
feet above the water level. There were no longer the abrupt cliffs,
descending to the lake, that we had seen in the south, but the general
level of the country appeared to be about 500 feet above the water, at a
distance of five or six miles, from which point the ground descended in
undulations, Magungo being situated on the summit of the nearest
incline. The mountains on the Malegga side, with the lake in the
foreground, were the most prominent objects, forming the western
boundary. A few miles north there appeared to be a gap in the range, and
the lake continued to the west, but much contracted, while the mountain
range on the northern side of the gap continued to the northeast. Due
north and northeast the country was a dead flat, and far as the eye
could reach was an extent of bright green reeds, marking the course of
the Nile as it made its exit from the lake. The sheet of water at
Magungo being about seventeen miles in width, ended in a long strip or
tail to the north, until it was lost in the flat valley of green rushes.
This valley may have been from four to six miles wide, and was bounded
upon its west bank by the continuation of the chain of mountains that
had formed the western boundary of the lake. The natives told me that
canoes could navigate the Nile in its course from the lake to the Madi
country, as there were no cataracts for a great distance, but that both
the Madi and the Koshi were hostile, and that the current of the river
was so strong, that should the canoe descend from the lake, it could not
return without many rowers. They pointed out the country of Koshi on the
west bank of the Nile, at its exit from the lake, which included the
mountains that bordered the river. The small country, M'Caroli, joined
Malegga, and continued to the west, towards the Makkarika. The natives
most positively refused to take me down the Nile from the lake into the
Madi, as they said that they would be killed by the people, who were
their enemies, as I should not be with them on their return up the
river.
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