Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



land. Beyond lay the hazy blue woods and 

 plains of the Acholi country to the north, whilst 

 now at noontime the dimly seen Congo Moun- 

 tains reared their blurred rido^es against a 

 turquoise sky to the west. 



Here a most palatial hut had been prepared for 

 us under the direction of the chief, James Kago 

 — being a Christian, as many Waganda are, he 

 was given the name of James. The funny old 

 thing had spared himself no trouble to make us 

 comfortable, even going so far as to decorate the 

 interior with feathery papyrus and large bunches 

 of flowers. That afternoon the whole party went 

 off to see the Murchison Falls from above. This 

 entails an hour and a half's walk, but unfortu- 

 nately I had fever and so was unable to go and 

 see them on this occasion. Here we left Lieut. 

 Thompson and escort number two behind as we 

 settled ourselves for another river voyage. The 

 fleet this time consisted of another steam-launch, 

 the Kenia, slightly bigger than the Victoria, 

 and three steel boats, which were towed, one 

 behind the other, as we dropped down the Nile 

 to Nimule. The largest boat, the James Mart in, 

 took most of the heavy baggage, and then there 

 was the Kisingiri and the Good Intent ; in the 

 last Mr. Churchill and Mr. Marsh slept, towed 

 right behind the lot, thus escaping the noise and 

 smell of the engines in the launch. Moreover, 

 as we were generally steaming all night, this 



86 



