II 



THE UGANDA RAILWAY 



U. R. These are the initials of one of the most 

 romantic railways in the world. It starts from 

 Mombasa and follows in the main the old caravan 

 route to Kavirondo. After many difficulties encountered 

 in its construction and a great expenditure of money, 

 the first locomotive ran into Kisumu (Port Florence), on 

 the Victoria Nyanza, in December, 1901. The distance 

 from the sea-coast to the terminus at the lake is 580 

 miles. From Port Florence steamers convey passengers 

 and goods across the lake to the towns on the northern 

 shore : the chief of these being Entebbe, Kampala, and 

 Jinja. The distance from Port Florence to Entebbe 

 is 175 miles. The country traversed by the rail- 

 way is very interesting. After leaving Mombasa and 

 crossing the bridge over the Makupa creek the line 

 ascends a steep grade which affords an excellent 

 view of the island and glimpses of the sea : it passes 

 through groves of cocoa-nut palms, orange and pome- 

 granate trees, and banana plantations. Later the 

 railway traverses the Taru desert, which is covered 

 with scrub and small trees, the timber of which is 

 large enough to be used as fuel for the engines. Wood 

 is used almost exclusively for the engines, and the heaps 

 of coal so common around big stations and junctions in 

 Europe are here replaced by long stacks of logs, each log 

 measuring six feet in length. In some parts of the 

 journey the logs are obtained from the tall juniper 

 trees, and they are as fragrant as cedar-wood. 



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