DISCOVERY OF THE VICTORIA N'YANZA. 59 



canoes, coasting along its shores by the Karagwah 

 district to as far, I believe, as the Line. His wife, 

 a pretty, crummy little creature of the Wanyoro tribe, 

 came farther from the north than anybody present, 

 and gave me the names of many districts in the 

 Uganda country, which, she says, lies along the sea- 

 shore. She had never heard of there being any end 

 to the Lake, and supposed, if any way of going round 

 it did exist, she would certainly have known it. It 

 is remarkable that the Arabs should not be better 

 acquainted with the ground that lies to the eastward 

 of Kibuga, which evidently shows us that there must 

 be some insurmountable difficulties between that place 

 and Kikuyu, whither the Arabs go trading via Mom- 

 bas from Zanzibar ; for if a passage were open by which 

 they could get to Kikuyu, exactly one-third of the 

 distance which they now travel via Unyamuezi to 

 Zanzibar would be saved. This suggests a probability 

 that the Lake expands considerably as it continues 

 north to the northward of the Line, and is so broad 

 that canoes cannot cross it there, as they can to the 

 southward of the equator. It is well known that there 

 is no communication between the east and west shores 

 of the lake, excepting by a few occasional canoe-parties 

 coasting along the southern end, because the waters 

 are so very broad they dare not venture. That there 

 can be no high mountain-range intersecting the N'yanza 

 from the watercourses which we hear of north of the 

 equator, as some people have supposed, is evident from 



