264 



THE SPECIAL COMMISSION, ETC. 



construction of this line, at any rate, as far as the ^lan Escarpment, had 

 to l)e imported from India. 



But iu spite of disappointments, checks, strikes, " wash-aways," dry 

 watercourses that turned into persistent floods, and perennial rivers which 

 suddenly ceased to flow, the railway did advance, until at the time of 

 writiuff it is now open for traffic the wliole way to Kavirondo Bay on the 



198. THE author's study AT KXTHBISE 



Victoria Nyanza. The blessings of this railway to inner Africa are almost 

 incalculable. The journey from London to Entebbe, the capital of Uganda,, 

 can be effected now in twenty-four days as against something like four 

 months in former times. The native of Uganda who wishes to trade with 

 his products on the East African coast or to journey far afield in quest 

 of profitable employment can reach that coast by steamer and railway 

 in a week at the outside, and return with the same certainty and speed. 

 All the accumulated commerce of East Central Africa will gravitate to the 

 fertile shores of the Victoria Nyanza, where there is everywhere abundance 

 of food. From any point on the shores of that lake commercial products 

 can be carried, easily and cheaply, by steamer, to the railway terminus, 

 and can be transported by the railway (it is to be hoped at reasonable 



