332 
THE ALBERT N’YANZA. 
fciIAP XII. 
and as one of the greatest objects in nature, I determined 
to honour it with a great name. As an imperishable 
memorial of one loved and mourned by our gracious 
Queen and deplored by every Englishman, I called 
this great lake “ the Albert Nyanza ” The Victoria 
and the Albert lakes are the two sources of the 
Nile. 
The zigzag path to descend to the lake was so steep 
and dangerous that we were forced to leave our oxen 
with a guide, who was to take them to Magungo and 
wait for our arrival. We commenced the descent of 
the steep pass on foot. I led the way, grasping a 
stout bamboo. My wife in extreme weakness tottered 
down the pass, supporting herself upon my shoulder, 
and stopping to rest every twenty paces. After a 
toilsome descent of about two hours, weak with years 
of fever, but for the moment strengthened by success, 
we gained the level plain below the cliff. A walk of 
about a mile through flat sandy meadows of fine turf 
interspersed with trees and bush, brought us to the 
water s edge. The waves were rolling upon a white 
pebbly beach : I rushed into the lake, and thirsty with 
heat and fatigue, with a heart full of gratitude, I 
drank deeply from the Sources of the Nile. Within a 
quarter of a mile of the lake was a fishing village 
named Vacovia, in which we now established ourselves. 
Everything smelt of fish—and everything looked like 
fishing; not the “ gentle art” of England with rod and 
fly, but harpoons were leaning against the huts, and 
lines almost as thick as the little finger were hanging 
up to dry, to which were attached iron hooks of a size 
that said much for the monsters of the Albert lake. 
On entering the hut I found a prodigious quantity of 
tackle; the lines were beautifully made of the fibre 
of the plantain stem, and were exceedingly elastic, and 
well adapted to withstand the first rush of a heavy 
fish ■ the hooks were very coarse, but well barbed, and 
varied in size from two to six inches. A number of 
harpoons and floats for hippopotami were arranged in 
