AMID THE SNOW PEAKS OF THE EQUATOR 



257 



deal has been done towards checking the 

 spread of sleeping sickness, no means of 

 successfully treating it after infection 

 has taken place has yet been discovered; 

 it is invariably fatal. 



The destruction that has been caused 

 in Central Africa by the terrible scourge 

 of sleeping sickness is almost incalcu- 

 lable; enormous areas of the lake-shore 

 and whole archipelagos, where there was 

 a swarming population only a few years 

 ago, have been rendered absolutely deso- 

 late by sleeping sickness. I visited a 

 few islands and a strip of shore not far 

 from Entebbe and walked through large 

 grass-grown villages where scattered 

 bones were the only signs of humanity 

 to be seen. It has been computed that 

 more than 200,000 people have died of 

 the disease in Uganda alone during the 

 last seven years, and this is probably 

 well within the mark. Apart from the 

 appalling waste of human life, it involves 

 a very serious loss to the state, which 

 cannot afford to lose a large and thriv- 

 ing population living along its main 

 waterway. One of the effects was to be 

 seen in the increasing difficulty of in- 

 ducing porters and laborers to remain at 

 Entebbe, where they are afraid of catch- 

 ing the disease. 



There is also the not inconceivable 

 possibility of its being turned into an 

 anti-European weapon. An unscrupu- 

 lous agitator could easily persuade a 

 half-educated people that the white men 

 were responsible for the disease, and 

 that the obvious remedy was to turn 

 them out of the country. Happily only 

 four Europeans have been attacked by 

 sleeping sickness in Uganda, though the 

 number in the Congo Free State is prob- 

 ably a good deal greater. (See also 

 page 273.) 



As one travels westward from the Vic- 

 toria Nyanza across Uganda the country 

 becomes daily poorer and less populated. 

 The rich elephant-grass country of the 

 Kingdom of Uganda is left behind and 

 the road traverses rocky highlands. The 

 latter are more picturesque, there are 

 more flowers, and occasionally one can 

 see a distant view of hills and valleys; 



but one day's march is very like another, 

 uphill and down dale yesterday and to- 

 day and tomorrow. 



After 15 days' marching the character 

 of the country changed more rapidly; 

 undulations became steep hills, and val- 

 leys and swamps became clear moun- 

 tain streams. The delight of drinking 

 and washing in pure water instead of in 

 the boiled mud, to which one was be- 

 ginning to get accustomed, is a thing of 

 which it is difficult to speak calmly. At 

 a beautiful torrent with steep wooded 

 banks I came unexpectedly upon a family 

 bathing-party of yellow baboons, of all 

 sizes from that of a mastiff to a small 

 terrier ; they ran about on the rocks and 

 barked in the most alarming manner, and 

 I was not at all sorry that the river was 

 between us. 



IN SIGHT OF RUWENZORI 



There must be very few places in the 

 world where one can walk in a couple of 

 days from hot plains grilling under the 

 Equator to a land of Alpine frosts and 

 snows, where sun-helmets and mosquito- 

 nets give way to furs and blankets, and 

 the campfire serves no longer to scare 

 away the lions, but to warm the shiver- 

 ing traveler. I have seen snow-capped 

 peaks in New Guinea within 100 miles 

 of the Line, but dense forests and the 

 cannibalistic propensities of the natives 

 make their exploration impossible with- 

 out an armed escort. But it can be done 

 in Ruwenzori, and, it seemed to me, 

 after the many weary miles left behind, 

 one of the most enchanting walks of my 

 life. The path wound slowly up a wide 

 valley through woods and fields and large 

 gardens of bananas, crossing here and 

 there a small tributary stream. 



It is common to speak of Ruwenzori 

 as a mountain, but it is in reality a range 

 of mountains, with at least five distinct 

 groups of snow-peaks. It has been de- 

 scribed as the highest mountain in Africa, 

 at least 20,000 feet high, and with an 

 extent of thirty miles of glaciers; its 

 height, as determined by the Duke of the 

 Abruzzi, is slightly less than 17,000 feet, 

 so that both Kilimanjaro and Kenia are 



