A PLEA FOR THE SAVAGE 



above the famous Ripon Falls. The ferry boys had been 

 advised by the Jinja agent of my approach, and had a 

 large canoe ready waiting for me. It was a huge thing, 

 nearly sixty feet long, constructed of planks and fibre, 

 about five feet in beam, with a long keel that ran out from 

 the bow and curved up about four feet like the Swedish 

 or Norwegian skates. The top of the prow was fantasti- 

 cally decorated with carving and a bunch of grass. 

 Loading the ricksha and my boxes aboard, the craft 

 moved away from the shore as the silent crew dipped 

 their paddles deep in the smooth, placid, shimmering 

 waters. From the opposite bank came the lights of the 

 Clement Hill dancing across the waters. Her winches 

 were working hard at the cargo that she was taking 

 aboard. 



That crossing of the Somerset Nile, winch took close 

 on twenty minutes, was a thing to be remembered for 

 all time. The strong current against which the native 

 paddlers struggled hard, the smooth waters, buzzing 

 flies, and the blaze of radiance from the Clement Hill, the 

 lights from whose deck and port holes sent shimmering 

 rays over the great expanse of water to greet us as we 

 neared the other shore, on reaching which I stepped out 

 once again on terra firma and stretched my limbs after 

 the cramped position that one has to adopt in native 

 craft. When off-loading the ricksha, it was found that 

 one of the springs had broken. I was thankful that it 

 had lasted until the journey's end. 



Jinja is situated at the head of Napoleon Gulf in the 

 ex-kingdom of Usoga. It is well known to the sportsman 

 and traveller for the hippo shooting that may be had in 

 the vicinity. The celebrated Ripon Falls, down which for 

 centuries the overflow from the Victoria Lake has poured 

 itself at the rate of ten million gallons per minute, on 

 its way northwards to Lake Albert, are just above the 

 pier. I am told that the breadth of the falls is 850 feet. 



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