CHAPTER XV 



Down the Victoria Nile 



THOSE who would leave British East Africa can do so by two* 

 routes. They can return by way of the Uganda Railway, 

 retracing their steps to Alombasa, and thence to Europe via 

 the Red Sea, or can go onward down the long course of the Nile, fol- 

 lowing that noble river from its headwaters in the Victoria Nyanza 

 to its delta on the shores of the Mediterranean. The first and one 

 of the most interesting parts of this journey lies within the kingdom 

 of Uganda and fits in with our description of that singular realm. 



About' two hundred miles from the Victoria Nyanza lies another 

 lake, the Albert Nyanza, small in comparison with the former, yet 

 anything but a dwarf, as it is more than one hundred miles long and 

 correspondingly wide. Between these two lakes, like a silver chain 

 of connections, wanders the Nile, now in a broad deep flow, now 

 rushing down many miles of rapids, now tumbling sheer downward 

 in great cataracts — the Ripon and Murchison Falls. Down this splen- 

 did river — known as the Victoria Nile in this section — we shall jour- 

 ney and gaze upon its varied and attractive scenes. 



The whole length of the Nile, from its lake course to its outlet 

 in the Mediterranean, is three thousand five hundred miles, and those 

 who follow it to its termination have a long journey to make, part by 

 foot-paths past the rapids, part by canoe and steamboat on the stream, 

 part by rail down its lower course, where for many miles now runs 

 the northern length of the Cape to Cairo Railway, a dream of Cecil 

 Rhodes, which is now in process of being realized. 



The Great Victoria Lake is lifted high in the air, almost on a 

 mountain top, for it is higher than the highest mountain in England. 

 From this lofty elevation of nearly four thousand feet the Nile flows 

 ever downward, now descending slowly, now rapidly, the steepest part 

 of its course being that with which we are now concerned. 



