142 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 



Africa in 1863, he had met with Captain Speke, who told him of his 

 discovery of the Victoria Nyanza, and of the existence of another large 

 lake which the natives called the Liita Nzige. 



*'Speke expressed his conviction that the Luta Nzige must be a 

 second source of the Nile, and that geographers would be dissatisfied 

 that he had not explored it. To me this was most gatifying. I had 

 been much disheartened at the idea that the great work was acco:::- 

 plished, and that nothing remained for exploration; I even spoke to 

 Speke, 'Does not one leaf of the laurel remain for me?' I now heard 

 that the field was not only open, but that an additional interest was 

 given to the exploration by the proof that the Nile flowed out of one 

 great lake, the Victoria; but that it evidently must derive an addi- 

 tional supply from an unknown lake as it entered it at the northern 

 extremity, while the body of the lake came from the south. The fact 

 of a great body of water such as the Luta Nzige extending in a direct 

 line from south to north, while the general system of drainage of the 

 Nile was from the same direction, showed must conclusively that the 

 Luta Nzige, if it existed in the form assumed, must have an important 

 position in the basin of the Nile." 



After a long and toilsome journey Sir Samuel and his devoted 

 wife, who had accompanied him on this expedition, reached the vicinity 

 of the lake. Both Baker and his wife were suffering from fever and 

 its efifects; they had had great difficulty in finding porters, and the 

 prospect before them was most depressing and discouraging. Matters 

 were very bad, but they were soon to become worse. On the fourth 

 day they came to the River Kafoor, which, bending south, they were 

 obliged to cross. This could be done only in a very curious way. The 

 whole stream was matted over with a carpet of floating weeds, so 

 strong and so thick that it was sufficient to bear the weight of a man 

 if he ran quickly. The width was about thirty yards. Baker started, 

 begging his wife to follow him rapidly, keeping exactly in his foot- 

 steps. When he was half-way across, he turned to see why she was 

 not with him, and, to his horror, saw her standing in one place, and 

 sinking through the weeds, her face distorted and purple, and almost 

 at the moment of his catching sight of her, she fell headlong down 

 with a sunstroke. 



