SOURCE OF THE NILE 299 



some of the king's shillings, has money to spend on 

 the white man's goods. The result is that the natives 

 of Uganda are economic assets, doing their parts toward 

 making it a prosperous and happy community. 



Now we pressed westward again until we had passed 

 Iganga, where we made camp near some native bandas. 

 We arrived at Jinja the next morning, and were quar- 

 tered at the rest house. It stands on a bluff below 

 which roars the Ripon Falls, source of the Victoria Nile. 

 Here it was that John Hanning Speke stood on July 28, 

 1862, after tracing out this beginning of the Nile, 

 during an exploration of Victoria Nyanza. 



We went down to the falls and watched the huge 

 volume of water as it poured from Lake Victoria into 

 the Nile, and reflected that so it had been spiUing tliis 

 flood for many thousands of years, even while the 

 Pharaohs were on the throne of Egypt. Now a bright 

 flash attracted my eyes ; fish were attempting to jump 

 up the falls. They would leap high, but always short 

 of the top. Being in a speculative mood, I wondered 

 how many fish, since fish were fish and began to leap, 

 had tried to conquer this avalanche of water to no 

 avail. Not a single fish has ever attained the top, 

 but still they keep trying, and the hawks and crocodiles 

 hope they never stop. Between the first and second 

 faU, a rock supports some treehke shrubs. Here a 

 colony of weaver birds have made a viUage of nests. 

 These were hanging over the swirhng waters safe 

 from aU harm, for unless their homes should drop into 

 the whirlpool below, nothing could happen to them on 

 their unique island. 



While I was photograpliing the jumping fish, the 

 Captain of the "Clement HiU" happened along. He 



