Chapter I. 



Stuhlmanii, Scott Elliot, Moore, Johnston and, in fact, all 

 the others who have visited and explored the range of 

 Ruwenzori after Stanley, have accepted his interpretation of 

 Ptolemv's text. Indeed, unless we admit that the ancient 

 geographers nuist have had in one way or another some 

 concealed source of information as to tlie facts, we find our- 

 selves under the necessitv of reoardin^ tliem as gifted with 

 prophetic jjowers. Be that as it niay, the legend of the 

 "Mountains of the Moon" is a tale of tlie past, and 

 Ruwenzori, established at last in its own exact place on the 

 map, known in all the details of its structure, measured in 

 every dimension, no longer runs the risk of being lost from 

 the memoi'v of man. 



We will now return to the story of its exploration. 



On the 1st of June, 1888, after his first sight of the snow-clad 

 summits of Ruwenzori, Henry Stanley was forced to return on 

 his track, and, re-crossing the vast forest of the Congo, to join 

 his rear-guard camp, where one of the ghastliest tragedies 

 recorded in the historv of African ex})loration had taken jilace 

 in his absence. 



He did not return to Ruwenzori mitil tlie next year, 1889, 

 when he skirted the whole Avestern slope of the range. He 

 then traversed the plain ])etween Lake Albert Edward and the 

 mountains, and, turning northwards, followed their eastern slopes 

 as far as the head of Lake Ruisamba. He thus spent more than 

 three months, from April to Julv, in the innnediate neighbourhood 

 of the range, and saw the snowy peaks again and again. 

 Wishino- to o-ather more accurate knowledge of the shape and 

 structure of these mountains, he dis])atc]ied Lieutenant 

 W. G. Stairs on a joiuney of exjaloration among them. 



Lieutenant Stairs left the camp of Bakokoro, 3,860 feet above 



