THE RIVER KITANGULE. 
195 
where the Nile was seen by Speke to make its exit 
from the lake. It reminded me, when ferrying it, of 
the Hoogly ten miles above Calcutta. Every other 
stream entering the lake was walked across, none had 
to be ferried ; and they were so numerous that nine 
and ten might be forded in as many miles ; this was 
a daily occurrence when marching on the western 
shore of the lake. The accumulation of these streams, 
and the rivulets (no rivers) known from Arab infor- 
mation to be in the eastern or unexplored portion of 
the Victoria Nyanza, form a boundless sea of 20,000 
square miles, never traversed from one side to the 
other. All these arteries throw in an immense mass 
of water, and though the greatest of them is the 
Kitangule, still it is 160 miles distant by water from 
the point whence the Nile issues from its parent re- 
servoir, the Lake Nyanza, at 21 miles north latitude. 
The country between the Kitangule and the Ka- 
tonga, a distance of 100 miles, is a parallel series of 
grassy spurs tapering down to the lake's shores on 
the east. There are many beautiful spots on the 
route — high grounds from which, for a quarter of the 
horizon, are seen the waters of the lake, or the coun- 
try undulating and park-like, covered with tall waving 
grasses, and overlooked by rocks. The curves, sweeps, 
and inclines of the hills often blended together in 
great beauty — never making the path inconveniently 
steep or too long in ascent or descent. All the cul- 
tivation was on these slopes, as the plains between 
them, sometimes six miles across, were ankle-deep in 
water and mud in this month of May; or where the 
valley was narrow, water would have accumulated in 
a drain four feet deep, across which the "Waganda 
