THE MODERN TRAVELLER 7 



Singapore and such places on the other side ot 

 the Indian Ocean. 



But the true title to fame that belongs to 

 Mombasa rests on the fact of its being the starting- 

 point of the Uganda Railway. Work on the line 

 was begun in January, 1896, and after innumerable 

 difficulties had been overcome, and the colossal 

 sum of nearly seven millions sterling had been spent 

 on its construction, the railway was completed and 

 opened for traffic to the Victoria Nyanza in 1902. But 

 in spite of the great expense of keeping it in order, 

 repairing bridges and viaducts, and so on, the rail- 

 way was already paying more than its working 

 expenses within a short time of its completion. It 

 may safely be said, without exaggeration, that the 

 Uganda Railway has completely changed the face 

 of a great part of Equatorial Africa. Beautiful 

 countries, which a few years ago were thought to 

 be beyond the reach of any but the most venture- 

 some explorer, can now be visited by anyone who 

 can afford to take a railway ticket ; and the journey 

 to the Victoria Nyanza, which meant a toilsome 

 journey of three months with a big caravan from 

 the coast, or even longer by way of the Nile, can 

 now be accomplished in less than forty-eight hours. 

 Instead of spending many weeks at the coast in 

 collecting provisions, and servants, and porters, and 

 (very likely) an escort for the journey, the modern 

 traveller in East Africa installs himself comfortably 

 with his belongings in a first-class railway carriage, 



