ON THE WYE 83 



remember once standing on the banks of the 

 Nile at Cairo with Sir H. M. Stanley. 



" Look," said he, " that water passing us now 

 in all probability I saw at the sources of the 

 Nile six months ago. It has travelled ten or 

 twelve thousand miles (I forget the exact length), 

 and at its average rate it would take six months 

 to come from there here. It has been travelling 

 steadily along its own course, whilst it has taken 

 me just as long to get here ; so here again I 

 meet the same water that first greeted me in 

 the Mountains of the Moon." 



I set out in the hope of meeting with some 

 incident worth mentioning ; in that I have been 

 disappointed, but I do assure you that many 

 years have passed since I have had such an 

 ideal day for an afternoon's ramble, or a ramble 

 in scenery more pleasant and picturesque than 

 I have had on this Good Friday of the year of 

 grace 1902. 



