II 
THE UGANDA RAILWAY 
U. R. These are the initials of one of the most 
romantic railways in the world. It starts from 
Mombasa and follows in the main the old caravan 
route to Kavirondo. After many difficulties encountered 
in its construction and a great expenditure of money, 
the first locomotive ran into Kisumu (Port Florence), on 
the Victoria Nyanza, in December, 1901. The distance 
from the sea-coast to the terminus at the lake is 580 
miles. From Port Florence steamers convey passengers 
and goods across the lake to the towns on the northern 
shore : the chief of these being Entebbe, Kampala, and 
Jinja. The distance from Port Florence to Entebbe 
is 175 miles. The country traversed by the rail¬ 
way is very interesting. After leaving Mombasa and 
crossing the bridge over the Makupa creek the line 
ascends a steep grade which affords an excellent 
view of the island and glimpses of the sea : it passes 
through groves of cocoa-nut palms, orange and pome¬ 
granate trees, and banana plantations. Later the 
railway traverses the Taru desert, which is covered 
with scrub and small trees, the timber of which is 
large enough to be used as fuel for the engines. Wood 
is used almost exclusively for the engines, and the heaps 
of coal so common around big stations and junctions in 
Europe are here replaced by long stacks of logs, each log 
measuring six feet in length. In some parts of the 
journey the logs are obtained from the tall juniper 
trees, and they are as fragrant as cedar-wood. 
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