Chapter II. 



about Avitli iirei;ul;ir and deejjly indented coasts, crowned with 

 mountains attaining to a height of 2,000 feet above the surface 

 of the lake, and inhabited by tribes which seem ahiiost to have 

 acquired special characteristics in their long separation from 

 the mainland. 



The most important and the greatest of all is the Island of 

 Buvuma, one of the iironii which crowds around the entrance to 

 Gulf Napoleon, and masks tlie exit of the Nile from tlie Victoria 

 Nyanza. Buvuma was formerly inhabited by a wari-ior tribe 

 A\lnch, relvino- upon a strong fleet, defended its independence 

 with great valour against the poA\-erful kings of Uganda. 



The sleeping sickness has turned into vast graveyards the 

 greater nmnber of the beaiitiful and fertile islands of the 



MAIIKET, ENTEBBE. 



archipelago. After depopulating whole districts of the Congo, it 

 appeared in Uganda between 1900 and 1902 and has spread 

 further and further, following the main routes of conununication, 

 invading step by step the territories of the Baganda, Basoga and 



52 



