CHAPTER I. 



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The Discovery and previous Explorations of Ruwenzori. 



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Stanley's first sight of the Snow-peaks — Ruwenzori and the " Mountains of the 

 Moon " of Ptolemy — Discussions and Dissensions between Geographers — 

 Exploration of Stairs, Stuhlmann and Scott Elliot — Moore discovers the 

 Glaciers at the head of the Mobuku Valley — Repeated attempts to climb the 

 Mountains from the Mobuku Valley — ^Ascent made by David upon the 

 western slope — British Museum Expedition — First peaks ascended — What 

 was known about Ruwenzori in the beginning of 1906. 



On the 24th of May, 1888, 

 Henry Stanley, in the midst of 

 his longest and most venturesome 

 African journey, vrhile crossing the 

 narrow strip of coast which forms 

 the south-west bank of La ke Albert 

 Nyanza, between Nsabe and 

 Badzwa, beheld for the first time 

 the snowy peaks of Ruwenzori : 

 " When about five miles from 

 Nsabe camp, while looking to the 

 south-east and meditating upon 

 the events of the last month, my 

 eyes were attracted by a boy to a mountain, said to be covered 

 with salt, and I saw a peculiar-shaped cloud of a most beautiful 

 silver colour which assumed the proportions and appearance of a 



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