Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



Riviera, and I constantly felt that at any moment 

 I should catch a view of some crowded resort, 

 with a pleasure steamer pushing off across to the 

 opposite side. 



But this was an idle dream, and I realized at 

 last it was tropical Africa, and that I was the only 

 white man anywhere about. Moreover, I had been 

 told that the natives who lived on the other side, 

 amidst those fascinating and alluring blue mountains, 

 treated life with the utmost scorn, and never gave 

 a chance murder a thought. I inquired whether 

 canoes ever paddled across to the farther side. 

 They said at certain periods of the year it was 

 possible, but during the rainy seasons it was too 

 dangerous, as storms arose in a moment, whilst the 

 passage took them about eight hours by canoe. 

 North and south the lake presented a horizon of 

 sea. I was very eager to get down to the shores, 

 and hastily mounted my cycle in order to do so, 

 but luckily my orderly had sent me a porter to warn 

 me, who insisted on my getting oiT I soon saw 

 the reason. We had to descend an absolute cliff, 

 without exaggeration, and it was really wonderful 

 how any passage at all had been discovered down 

 it. The air was simply laden with a heavy seductive 

 scent, given off from a white flowering tree which 

 grew in great profusion. The porters had great 

 difficulty in descending the cliff, which is hardly to 

 be wondered at, carrying 60 lbs. on their heads. 

 We reached the bottom at last, after I had delayed 

 a great many times to gaze at the many striking 



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