Lake Victoria to Khartoum 



medium of an old chief whom I had met before, 

 and who bargained for a whole hippo for himself 

 — to his own cheek — and one more for his village. 

 Rather extortionate it may seem, but I saw them 

 floatinor dead before I asked him to redeem his 

 promise ! Suffice it to say that he was as good 

 as his word. I won't state where we crossed, as 

 the dear old man might get "hotted," since his 

 action was not quite in accordance with the rules ; 

 but he played the game up to the hilt. 



The Congo mountains had long held a great 

 fascination for me ; and what was beyond ? 



After a real hard day's work navigating and 

 climbing, we reached our temporary goal, and 

 shook down anyhow for the night. Next morn- 

 ing the view was splendid from a level rocky 

 spur we had happened to strike the night before. 

 The mountain on which we stood, elevated per- 

 haps a thousand feet from the river bed, was a 

 high cone that rose a little in advance of that 

 range which stretched for miles behind us, as far 

 as the western shore of the lake, until, meeting 

 its sister piles beyond the water, it ran off towards 

 the Congo in confused and broken masses of 

 rock, thinly sprinkled with evergreens. Imme- 

 diately at one's feet the west shore of the Nile 

 swept in a broad semicircle from mountain to 

 mountain, marking a wide strand that soon rose 

 into an uneven and somewhat elevated plain. 

 To the north the river stretched limpid, indented 



240 



