The catchment basin of the lake is 244,000 square kilometres of which 60,000 are water. Most of the important streams feeding the lake traverse extensive marshes and swamps and must lose a great part of their waters by evaporation. According to Capt Lyons (Appendix III of Sir William Garstin’s report), the climate of the lake basin is typically that which is known as equatorial; two rainy seasons and two dry seasons make up the year, the rains coinciding more or less with the equinoxes and the dry seasons with the solstices, except that the second minor rains are delayed about 1 to 2 months after the autumn equinox. As Capt. Lyons hopes soon to publish a monograph on the meteorology of the Nile valley, I shall say little about the details of rainfall of the different catchment basins, contenting myself with broad principles and main features. March, April and May form the greater rainy season, and October, November and December the lesser. The rainfall of the former season may be considered twice as heavy as that of the latter, but it is the latter which practically decides the height of the lake in the following year. This, according to Capt. Lyons, is due to the fact that in the summer months, when the rainbelt lies to the north of the lake, the dry south winds must blow across the lake basin even though the diurnal reversal of winds on the lake is not mastered by them. These dry winds greatly increase the evaporation, and there is a marked diminution of the water between July and November, which must be primarily due to the increased evaporation. [Illustration: PLATE III. RIPON FALLS PLAN AND SECTION Scale 1 : 6.000 Lith. Sur. Dep. Cairo. Victoria Nile upstream of Ripon Falls]