CHAPTER IV 



THE ALBERT NYANZA 



The grey dawn was approaching and gradually the 

 scene was unfolded to us. One of the boys murmured 

 " Nyanza," pointing to that marvellous picture of the 

 great Albert Lake with its smooth waters sparkling 

 beneath the moon's silvery rays, the faint ripple of the 

 tiny waves breaking on the sandy shore which in the 

 light of the moon we could see fading away to the north 

 towards Butiaba. A native fishing boat was dancing 

 on the surface close in to the beach. The occupant was 

 crooning in a musical strain. As I gazed down at the 

 calm waters, I almost fancied I could see Baker looking 

 down from the steep granite and red porphyry cliffs 

 at these placid waters, when, after years of hardship, 

 his tenacity was rewarded with a view of the lake from 

 which he had wrested the secret of the source of the 

 great White Nile. Simultaneously the shades of Speke 

 and Grant passed before me. In this great silence as 

 we overlooked the lake, dawn broke upon us. Slowly 

 the darkness around the stretch of sand and steep cliff 

 to our right gave way to the growing light. The silence 

 could be felt, and was rendered more remarkable by 

 the wild nature of the bushes and trees running down 

 the face of the escarpment and stretching to the water's 

 edge far below. 



To the south, I saw that the coast suddenly became 

 a great wall of granite rising hundreds of feet sheer from 



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