SOURCE OF THE NILE 303 



settlement of Butiaba, which consists of a collection of 

 huts huddled near the beach. The entire industry of 

 the place is that of running, or assisting to run, the 

 good ship "Samuel Baker," which carries the mails to 

 the landings around the lake, and incidentally watches 

 after the king's business in general. 



The day was spent in arranging aU the details for our 

 crossing on the morrow. There was no end of red 

 tape; it requiring as much fuss to cross Lake Albert 

 as it does to cross the Atlantic, but if it cost as much 

 in proportion to cross the Atlantic, Europe and America 

 would be total strangers. Although transportation 

 charges are high in tliis country, food supphes are more 

 than reasonable. I bought some fresh fish from a 

 native, paying two shiUings for ten large fish, lotahng 

 about fifty pounds. They were fine and tasty. My 

 only regret was that it would soon be impossible to 

 get more of them. Chickens were also cheap, two 

 shillings buying four of good size. 



We returned to the rest house atop the escarpment 

 to spend the night, and that evening, as I sat on the 

 wide veranda, I gazed out over the flats below. As I 

 watched the moonhght play on this beautiful lake, I 

 reflected that it was not until after the outbreak of 

 our own Civil War that this second reservoir of the 

 Nile was known to civihzation. During that period, 

 Sir Samuel Baker, accompanied by his heroic wife, 

 'discovered tliis great inland sea, which he named 

 Albert Nyanza. 



The lake is hemmed in on its two long sides by 

 mountains on the west and by the sheer wafls of the 

 escarpment on the east. It averages tliirty miles in 

 width and is about one hundred miles long. The 



