The Scenery Is Savage; There
Are No Terrific Cliffs Nor Towering Mountains To Make It What One
Usually Calls Wild Or Romantic, But There Is A Distinction About It
Which Is All Its Own.
This N.E. end has beautiful sand beaches on
the southern side, in front of the forested bank, lying in smooth
ribbons along the level shore, and in scollops round the
promontories where the hills come down into the lake.
The forest on
these hills, or mountains - for they are part of the Sierra del
Cristal - is very dark in colour, and the undergrowth seems scant.
We presently come to a narrow but deep channel into the lake coming
from the eastward, which we go up, winding our course with it into a
valley between the hills. After going up it a little way we find it
completely fenced across with stout stakes, a space being left open
in the middle, broader than the spaces between the other stakes; and
over this is poised a spear with a bush rope attached, and weighted
at the top of the haft with a great lump of rock. The whole affair
is kept in position by a bush rope so arranged just under the level
of the water that anything passing through the opening would bring
the spear down. This was a trap for hippo or manatee (Ngany
'imanga), and similar in structure to those one sees set in the
hippo grass near villages and plantations, which serve the double
purpose of defending the vegetable supply, and adding to the meat
supply of the inhabitants.
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