UGANDA, AND THE XYAXZA LAKES 



42? 



Kavirondos going down to fill their water-jars 

 From a photograph by Kermit Roosei'ell 



the seat of the English 

 Governor of Uganda. 

 Throughout our passage 

 the wind hardly ruffled 

 the smooth surface of the 

 lake. As we steamed 

 away from the eastern 

 shore the mountains be- 

 hind us and on our right 

 hand rose harsh and bar- 

 ren, yet with a kind of 

 forbidding beauty. Dark 

 clouds hung over the land 

 we had left, and a rain- 

 bow stretched across their 

 front. At nightfall, as the 

 red sunset faded, the lone- 

 ly waters of the vast in- 

 land sea stretched, ocean-like, west and south into a shore- 

 less gloom. Then the darkness deepened, the tropic stars 

 blazed overhead, and the light of the half moon drowned 

 in silver the embers of the sunset. 



Next morning we steamed along and across the equator; 

 the last time we were to cross it, for thenceforth our course 



lay north- 

 ward. We 

 passed by 

 many islands, 

 green with 

 meadow and 

 forest, beau 

 tiful in the 

 bright sun- 

 shine, but 

 empty with 

 the emptiness 



Kavirondo bullock wagons * . 



From a photograph by Hermit Roosnelt 



