VICTORIA NYANZA 



60S2 



VIENNA 



ing land and minerals in the region. Victoria 

 Falls are over twice as high as those at Niagara 

 (see NIAGARA FALLS AND RIVER). 



VICTORIA NYANZA, nian'za, the largest 

 lake in Africa, and the headwaters of the River 

 Nile. Its area of 26.000 square miles is about 

 nine-tenths that of Lake Superior, the only 

 larger fresh-water body in the world. It lies 

 partly in German East Africa and partly in 

 British Uganda (see map, opposite page 81). 

 Victoria Nyanza was discovered in 1858 by 

 Speke and Burton, and named for the reigning 

 English queen. Nyanza is the native name for 

 lake. 



The lake is 3,775 feet above sea level, drains 

 an area of 92,000 square miles, and has an an- ( 

 nual rainfall of seventy-five inches. At the 

 point where it opens into the Victoria Nile it 

 drops over Ripon Falls. Navigation has been 

 carried on by steamboats since 1898, and by 

 native craft for an unknown number of years. 

 The lake is rocky and shallow, but is well 

 stocked with fish. Its numerous islands were 

 once populated, but the fatal sleeping sickness 

 (which see) has driven all of the natives to 

 regions not infested with the carrier of the dis- 

 ease, the tsetse fly. Entebbe, Port Bell and 

 Jinja, the chief Uganda ports on the lake, are 

 connected with the Uganda Railway terminus 

 by regular steamship lines. Jinja is also con- 

 nected by railway with Lake Kioga. 



VICTORIAVILLE, a town near the center of 

 Arthabaska County, on the Grand Trunk Rail- 



way, thirty-seven miles by rail southeast of 

 Three Rivers, sixty-six miles southwest of Que- 

 bec and 108 miles northeast of Montreal. There 

 is auto-bus connection with Arthabaska, the 

 county town, two and a half miles southeast. 

 Victoriaville receives abundant electric power 

 from Shawenegan Falls, and has become an im- 

 portant manufacturing center. Among its many 

 products, which have an annual value of nearly 

 SI, 000,000, are chairs and other furniture, ma- 

 ple syrup, cheese, clothing, soda water, springs 

 and mattresses, perfumes and builders' supplies. 

 There are a Roman Catholic college, convent 

 and academy for boys. Population in 1911, 

 3,028; in 1916, about 4,500. 



VICUNA, vikoon'ya, an alert, active animal 

 of the camel family, found at great elevations 

 in the most desolate parts of the mountains in 

 South America. It belongs to the same group 

 as the llama, guanaco and alpaca. It subsists 

 on grass, and is usually found in herds of from 

 six to fifteen females, with one male as guide 

 and protector. The vicuna is smaller than the 

 guanaco, being about two and one-half feet 

 high at the shoulder, and has a long, slender 

 neck, protruding muzzle and long, pointed ears. 

 It is hunted for its fine, short wool, which is 

 light brown in color, more valuable than that 

 of the alpaca and equal in quality to that of 

 the merino sheep. The vicuna has never been 

 domesticated, and is trapped when hunted, in- 

 stead of being shot, so its hide will not be in- 

 jured. See GUANACO. 



THE STORY OF VIENNA 



IENNA, vecn'a in German WIEN, 

 veen, until 1918 was the capital of the Austro- 

 Hungarian monarchy and the metropolis of 

 Austria-Hungary, in population the fourth city 

 among European municipalities, and the seventh 

 among the cities of the world (see CITY, page 

 1393). The city is now simply the capital of 

 little Austria. The most recent official census 

 (1911) reported the population as 2,031,498, but 

 in 1914 there was an estimated population of 2,- 

 149,800. About three-fourths are Roman Catho- 



lics and are of German blood; it is in its sym- 

 pathies a German city. It lies on the right bank 

 of the Danube, at the head of a beautiful plain 

 between the Carpathian and Alps mountains, 

 and is 330 miles southeast of Berlin. Though 

 the population is less than that of the German 

 capital, the area of Vienna is three times that 

 of Berlin. 



The Austrian capital is a remarkable city 

 from many points of view. In the number of 

 imposing public buildings, representing the best 



