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waters are sweeter than honey, and more fragrant than musk, but that the waters are
changed in the course of the flow.
“Sheikh Izz Edin, son of Ibn Gamar, says in his book on medicine (and I have copied
from the autograph manuscript), that the source of the Nile is from Mount Gumr beyond
the equator by 11° and 20′. From this mountain start ten rivers from various sources, each
five of which flow into a great round lake, which is distant from the extreme uninhabited
country of the west by 57°, and from the equator 7° and 31′ to the south, and these two
lakes are equal, the diameter of each being 5°. Out of each one of these two lakes flow two
rivers which empty into one great lake in the first zone. It is distant from the uninhabited
country of the west by 53° and 30′. It is distant north of the equator 2°. Each one of these
four rivers empties itself separately into this great lake, and from it comes out one single
river, and this is the Nile. It passes through the country to Nubia, and joins another river,
whose source is from another part near the equator, from a great round lake whose
diameter is 3°, and which is distant from the confines of inhabited country on the west of
71°.
“After it has passed the city of Cairo, it reaches a town called Shatanuf, where it
divides into two rivers, both of which flow into the salt sea, one of these branches being
called the Rosetta River, and the other the Damietta River. This river reaches to Mansoura,
and there branches off from it the river called Ashmun, which empties into a lake there, and
the remainder flows into the salt sea near Damietta, and here I give a plan of Mount Gumr.
“The historian El Gahez, in his description of countries, says that ‘the source of the
river of Sindh[25] and the river Nile is from one place,’ and that he came to this conclusion
because ‘the two rivers rise at the same time, and because the crocodile is found in them
both,’ and that ‘the kind of land-cultivation upon both is the same.’ The historian Mashi, in
his ‘History of Egypt,’ says that in the country of Tegala is a Soudanese tribe of the same
name in whose land gold crops up, and that in their land the Nile splits and becomes two
rivers, the one branch being the Nile of Egypt, and the other being green, which flows
eastward and traverses the salt sea to the landing of Sindh, and this is the river called
Meharaam.
“The lake into which the water flows is called Biliha.[26] Part of the Nile flows to the
Soudan country, then passes to the east of Kussed, and then flows along one of the
mountains of this country and comes out at the equator. Then it passes out from a lake
there, and continues going westward to the country of Laknur, and thence northwards until
it flows into the great ocean. Then it flows to the country of Abyssinia, and thence to the
country of the Soudan, and then to the east of Dongola, until it comes upon the cataracts of
Assouan, thence it flows into the Mediterranean.
MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON.—MASSOUDI, 11TH CENTURY.
 “Makrisi says, ‘There is no difference of opinion. The Nile comes from Mount Gumr.’
Makrisi also says that ‘Merka-Eel, the son of Doobar-Eel, the son of Garabat, the son of
Asfusan, the son of Adam, on coming to Egypt with a number of the tribe of Arabat, settled
in Egypt and there built the city of Assus and other cities, and they dug the Nile until they
led the water down to them, because, before that time, it did not flow regularly, but used to
spread out over the land unto the country of King Mekronsé of Nuba. They regulated the
course of the Nile and drew from it various streams to their different cities which they had
built. They also led one stream to the city of Susan, then after the world came out of the
flood, and when time rolled on until the days of Berdashir, the son of Bzar, the son of Ham,
the son of Noah, the flow of the Nile was again regulated a second time, after it had been
completely ruined by the flood.’ But the historian Ibn Wasifsha says, ‘when Berdashir ruled
—and he is the first who became a priest and who practised magic and used to render
himself invisible—he sent the Prince Hermes to the great Lake,[27] whence the waters of
the Nile flow. It is also said that he regulated the stream, because formerly it used to
overflow in some places and not in others.’
“As for the place where are the copper statues, it contains fifty-eight figures, and
Hermes collected to these figures the water that flows out of the Nile, conducting the water
to them by vaulted conduits and aqueducts, so that the water would flow to the figures and
then come out from Mount Gumr, and thence flow from under the wall, and then pass out
through the mouths of these figures. He regulated and measured the quantity of water
flowing out, so as to allow to flow out that amount which is required for the land of Egypt,
viz., that it should rise only to eighteen cubits, each cubit having thirty-two digits. Were it
not for this the Nile would swamp all the countries that it passes through.
“El Welid, the son of Romah the Amalekite, was enabled to go to discover the sources
of the Nile. He occupied three years in preparing for his expedition, and then started with a
large army, destroying every tribe he came upon. He passed through the tribes of the
Soudan, and through the gold country, and there he saw golden sticks sprouting out. He
continued journeying until he reached the great Lake,[28] unto which the Nile flows
coming from the rivers which flow out from under Mount Gumr. He went on until he
reached the Temple of the Sun, and passed it until he reached Mount Gumr or Kamar,
which is a high mountain. He says that it is called Mount Gumr because the moon does not
shine except upon it because it is outside of the Equator.[29] He saw the Nile flowing out
from under Mount Gumr and coming down from the rivers of Mount Kaf. After the river
traverses the Equator it is joined by waters from a stream coming from the region of
Tekraan[30] in India, and this fountain starts from under Mount Gumr and flows in that
direction. It is said that the river Tekraan is like the Nile. It rises and falls at the same time,
and has in it crocodiles and fishes resembling those in the Nile.
“Some people have said that when they were there they saw neither sun nor moon, but
the only light was the light of the most merciful God like the light of the sun.
“Other explorers have said that the four rivers, Gihon, Sihon, the Euphrates, and the
Nile arise from one source—from a dome in the gold country, which is beyond the dark
sea, and that that country is a part of the regions of Paradise, and that the dome is of jasper.
They also say that Hyad, one of the children of Ees, prayed God to show him the extreme
end of the Nile. God gave him power to do this, and he traversed the dark river, walking
upon it with his feet over the water which did not stick to his feet, until he entered that
dome. This legend I have taken from El Makrisi’s book.”

The best description that I have been able to discover is by Scheabeddin,

an Arab geographer who wrote about 1400 A.D. He says:—
“The Isle of Mogreb (Africa) is in the midst of the seas which water it on all sides. To
the east it is bounded by the sea of Kulzum (Red Sea); to the south and west by the ocean
of which God only knows the extent and limits; to the north it has for limits the sea of
Kharz, which is that by which the Franks came into the Holy Land, by landing on the coast
of Syria.
“In the midst of the Isle of Mogreb are the deserts of the negroes, which separate the
country of the negroes from that of the Berbers. In this isle is also the source of that great
river which has not its equal upon the earth. It comes from the mountain of the moon
which lies beyond the equator. Many sources come from this mountain and unite in a great
lake. From this lake comes the Nile, the greatest and most beautiful of the rivers of all the
earth. Many rivers derived from this great river water Nubia, and the country of the
Djenawa. This river cuts horizontally the equator, traverses Abyssinia, the country of Kuku,
comes to Syene, cuts Egypt throughout its whole length and throws itself into the sea
between Tunis and Damietta.”

Abdul Hassan Ali, ibu el Hasseyn, ibu Ali el Massoudé, born at

Baghdad, and who came to Egypt 955 A.D., where he closed his accounts
with the world, and brought his many travels to an end, writes:—
“I have seen in a geography a plan of the Nile flowing from the Mountains of the Moon
—Jebel Kumr.
“The waters burst forth from twelve springs and flow into two lakes like unto the ponds
of Bussora. After leaving these lakes, the waters re-unite, and flow down through a sandy
and mountainous country.
“The course of the Nile is through that part of the Soudan near the country of the Zenj
(Zanzibar).”

As I finished the transcription of these interesting old legends, I said in

my heart: “As it happened unto the ancient authors, so it will happen unto
me. Why was I then more wise? I considered all travail, and every right
work—that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. Therefore I hated life,
because the work that is done under the sun is grievous unto me—for all is
vanity and vexation of spirit.”
 The following was kindly translated by His Excellency Count de
Landburg, the Consul-General at Cairo for Sweden and Norway.
“Chams ed-din Abu Abd Allah Mohammed ed
Dimachgê (born 1256 A.D., Dec. 1336 (31)), in his
geography, Mukhbat ed-dahr fê Ajaîb al-barr walbahr,
edited by Professor Mehren, St. Petersburg, 1866, says (p.
88), in the chapter dealing with the four rivers of Paradise:
—
The scholars say about this, that the Egyptian river
called the Nile is the river of Nubia. Its springs are in the
Mountains of the Moon, which divide the inhabited land to
the south of the equator, and that on the outside from the
southern unknown countries, whereof there is no
information. The number of its springs are ten rivers,
running with haste in ten valleys between high trees and
compact sands. The distance between the longest off
situated occidental is about fifteen days, and they all
together flow into two large lakes, the distance between
these being four days. The extension of the oriental lake
with all its islands and mountains is rather four days to him
that passes around it, and the extension of the occidental is
about five days to him that passes around it, and in both
these lakes, and in the land that lies between the streams
above mentioned, are the wild Sudan tribes, whose nature
resembles to that of the beasts. They do eat whomsoever
they assault, and he that catches anybody of another tribe,
kills him and eats him, as the game eaten. The situation of
these lakes is from 50-56° longitude from the springs of the
river, and from 6-7° latitude on the south of the equator.
The Oriental lake is called Kúkû and Tamim es-Sudanese,
and the occidental Damâdim and Galjûr and Hajami.
Farther issue from each of these two lakes four rivers,
running through populated valleys, where the Sudanese
have their settlements. These rivers are flowing near the
equator until 7° latitude, and flow all together into one long
and large lake, which is called Jawas and el Jamia (Arab: MAP OF NILE BASIN
the ‘Collector'), and which is called also Kûri[31] of the TO-DAY, FROM
Sudanese. Its circuit is about six days with the islands MEDITERRANEAN TO
Jawas and Kûri, inhabited by the Sudanese. From this lake S. LAT 4.
issue three big rivers. The one flows towards the west, and
is called Rhâna; another, turning to the south, flows to the
east, and is called ed Damadim, or the Magid Shu of the Negroes, and the third is the river
of Nubia, and is called the Nile. Its course is to the north until it flows into the
Mediterranean, as the river Damâdim flows into the Southern Sea, and the Rhâna river into
the Western Ocean.”
 CHAPTER XXX.

RUWENZORI: THE CLOUD-KING.

Recent travellers who have failed to see this range—Its classical history—The range of mountains
viewed from Pisgah by us in 1887—The twin cones and snowy mountain viewed by us in 1888 and
January 1889—Description of the range—The Semliki valley—A fair figurative description of
Ruwenzori—The principal drainage of the snowy range—The luxurious productive region known
as Awamba forest or the Semliki valley—Shelter from the winds—Curious novelties in plants in
Awamba forest—The plains between Mtsora and Muhamba—Changes of climate and vegetation
on nearing the hills constituting the southern flank of Ruwenzori—The north-west and west side of
Ruwenzori—Emotions raised in us at the sight of Ruwenzori—The reason why so much snow is
retained on Ruwenzori—The ascending fields of snow and great tracts of débris—Brief views of
the superb Rain-Creator or Cloud-King—Impression made on all of us by the skyey crests and
snowy breasts of Ruwenzori.

After the stories of the days of old, let us proceed to depict the
Ruwenzori range—which is the modern African term among the 1889.
June.
principal tribes of the Lake regions for what was called Montes Ruwen
Lunae or Mons Lune by the classical and European geographers, zori.
and by the Arab compilers of travels as Jebel Kumr—Gumr, or
Kammar—the Mountains of the Moon—as it was seen by us. Several
centuries have passed away since it was last seen by any one capable of
communicating an intelligent account of his travels, and it may be many
years will elapse before it is again seen by any English-speaking explorer.
The Nile route is closed for many a day to come: the advance of the
Manyuema, already spreading out far along the West like an immense line
of skirmishers, destroying and slaying as they march eastward and
northward, renders it very doubtful whether subsistence would be found for
an Expedition from the west; the ferocity and number of the Wara Sura, and
the treacherous character of the Wanyoro, make it very certain that only a
powerful force can ever be able to pass through Toro; and the shifting
events transpiring in Uganda, which influence Uddu and Ankori, suggest a
doubt, whether, in defiance of Uganda, the south-east route would be
practicable; and the eastern route also presents serious difficulties. For
these, as well as for other reasons, such as the failure of so many modern
travellers—Sir Samuel and Lady Baker, Gessi Pasha, Mason Bey in 1877,
our own Expedition in 1887, and Emin Pasha in 1888—to see what ought to
have been seen, it is quite necessary that a more detailed description should
be given of this range.
It is quite a mysterious fact that from the localities reached by Sir
Samuel Baker, Ruwenzori ought to have been as visible as St. Paul’s dome
from Westminster Bridge. And any person steaming round the Lake Albert,
as Gessi Pasha and Mason Bey did, would be within easy view of the snow
mountains—provided, of course, that they were not obscured by the dense
clouds and depths of mist under which for about 300 days of the year the
great mountain range veils its colossal crown.
Then, again, its classical history: the fables that have been woven about
it; its relation to the dear old Nile, the time-honoured Nile—the Nile of the
Pharaohs, of Joseph, Moses, and the Prophets; its being the source whence
so many springs of the Nile issue—its being the creator of the “Sea of
Darkness,” Lake Albert Edward, from whose bosom the Semliki—Nile to
the West, and the infant Kafur to the East—emerge, to feed the Albert on
one hand and the Victoria Nile on the other; the very mountain before
whose shrine Alexander and Cæsar would have worshipped—if the poets
may be believed; its rare appearance out of the night-black clouds; its
sudden and mysterious apparition on a large portion of that “illimitable
lake” of a modern traveller; its quaint title—the Mountains of the Moon, so
often sought in vain; its massive and rugged grandeur, and immense
altitude: all these explain why Ruwenzori demands more than a brief notice.
Who that has gazed on the Bernese Oberland for the first time will ever
forget the impression? In my twenty-two years of African travel both
discovery and spectacle were unique, and its total unexpectedness of
appearance, as well as its own interesting character and history, appeal to
me to describe as clearly as possible, and with some detail, what we saw.
While proceeding towards Lake Albert, in December, 1887, we obtained
a view from Pisgah of a long range of mountains, wooded to the summits,
which we estimated to be about 7,000 to 8,000 feet in height. It lay from
S.E. to S. On returning from the Lake, the same month, two enormous
truncate cones suddenly appeared into view, bearing S. ½ . They might, we
believed, be between 10,000 and 12,000 feet high. They were called the
Twin Cones, and we thought them remarkable features. The sight of them
suggested that in their neighbourhood, or between them and the Gordon
Bennett Mountain, would be found an interesting country.
 When returning to the Nyanza for the second time in April, 1888, the
Twin Cones were invisible; but on the 25th of May, 1888, when scarcely
two hours’ march from the Lake beach, lo! a stupendous snowy mountain
appeared, bearing 215° magnetic—an almost square-browed central mass—
about thirty miles in length, and quite covered with snow; situate between
two great ridges of about 5,000 feet less elevation, which extended to about
thirty miles on either side of it. On that day it was visible for hours. On
surmounting the table-land, the next day or so, it had disappeared. Not a
trace of either Twin Cones or Snowy Mountain was in view.
On returning for the third time to the Nyanza, in January, 1889, and
during our long stay at Kavalli for two and a half months, it was unseen,
until suddenly casting our eyes, as usual, towards that point where it ought
to be visible, the entire length of the range burst out of the cloudy darkness,
and gratified over a thousand pairs of anxious eyes that fixed their gaze
upon the singular and magnificent scene.
The upper part of the range, now divided distinctly into many square-
browed peaks, seemed poised aloft in a void of surprising clearness, domed
by a dark blue heaven as clear and spotless as crystal, and a broad zone of
milk-white mist enfolding it in the middle caused it to resemble a spectral
mountain isle sailing in mid-air—to realize a dream of an Isle of the Blest.
As the sun descended westerly the misty zone drifted away, and the floating
apparition became fixed to nether regions of mountain slopes, and the
sharply-cut outlines and broader details might be easily traced through the
binoculars. Though we were nearly eighty miles off, we could even see
ridgy fringes and tufted clumps of trees, resting on broad ledges, or on
mountain spires, or coping some turret-like crag, which leaned over
profound depths below. We even agreed that the colour of the bare rock
casques fronting the glare of the sun, and which were aligned against the
lucent blue beyond, were of a purplish brown. We saw that the side
presented to our view was singularly steep and probably unscaleable, and
that though the snowy fields seemed to be mere patches, yet many feathery
stretches descended far below the summit of a bare ridge which intervened
between the central range and the Balegga Hills, twelve miles from us, over
whose summit, Ruwenzori, sixty-five miles further, loomed large and
grand.
It will then be understood that a transparent atmosphere is very rare in
this region, and that had our stay been as short as that of previous travellers,
Ruwenzori might have remained longer unknown.
While we were advancing southward along the western flanks of
Mazamboni’s, and the Balegga Hills, during the month of May, 1889, the
great snowy range was frequently, almost daily, visible—not in its entirety,
but by fits and starts, a peak here, a mountain shoulder there, with
sometimes only a dim visage of the crowns, and at other times the lower
parts only in view. The snow gleamed white out of a dark and cloudy frame,
or the flanks, dark as night, loomed like storm-clouds, boding rain and
squalls. At rare periods the whole appeared with a brilliant sharp-cut
clearness that was very useful to us to map our future route.
Yet all this time we scarcely understood its character, and not until we
had crossed the Semliki river, and had traversed a great portion of the dense
and tall woods, which thrive in the hothouse atmosphere of the Semliki
Valley, had we any intelligent comprehension of it.
The average European reader will perfectly understand the character of
the Semliki Valley and the flanking ranges, if I were to say that its average
breadth is about the distance from Dover to Calais, and that in length it
would cover the distance between Dover and Plymouth, or from Dunkirk to
St. Malo in France. For the English side we have the Balegga hills and
rolling plateau from 3,000 to 3,500 feet above the valley. On the opposite
side we have heights ranging from 3,000 to 15,500 feet above it. Now,
Ruwenzori occupies about ninety miles of the eastern line of mountains,
and projects like an enormous bastion of an unconquerable fortress,
commanding on the north-east the approaches by the Albert Nyanza and
Semliki Valley, and on its southern side the whole basin of the Albert
Edward Lake. To a passenger on board one of the Lake Albert steamers
proceeding south, this great bastion, on a clear day, would seem to be a
range running east and west; to a traveller from the south it would appear as
barring all passage north. To one looking at it from the Balegga, or western
plateau, it would appear as if the slowly rising table-land of Unyoro was but
the glacis of the mountain range. Its western face appears to be so
precipitous as to be unscaleable, and its southern side to be a series of
traverses and ridges descending one below the other to the Albert Edward
Lake. While its eastern face presents a rugged and more broken aspect,
lesser bastions project out of the range, and is further defended by isolated
outlying forts like Gordon Bennett Mountain, 14,000 to 15,000 feet high,
and the Mackinnon Mountain of similar height. That would be a fair
figurative description of Ruwenzori.
The principal drainage of the snowy range is to the west, down into the
Semliki River, and south to the Albert Edward Lake. The Katonga flowing
into Lake Victoria, and the Kafur into the Victoria Nile, are both fed from
the eastern face of Ruwenzori. The Mississi River, emptying into Lake
Albert direct, rises from the northern extremity of the mountains.
During our journey southward, through the Semliki Valley and along the
shores of the Albert Edward, I counted sixty-two streams which descended
from Ruwenzori alone, the most important being the Rami, Rubutu, Singiri,
Ramilulu, Butahu, Rusirubi, Rwimi rivers, descending to the Semliki River;
and the Ruverahi, Nyamagasani, Unyamwambi, Rukoki, Nsongi and
Rusango rivers, pouring into the Albert Edward.
By boiling point the upper lake was ascertained to be at an altitude of
3,307 feet, and Lake Albert at 2,350 feet above the sea; thus making a
difference of level of 957 feet for about 150 miles of river. Therefore,
besides a strong current which we observed, and rapids, the Semliki River
must have a considerable number of great cataracts in its course from lake
to lake.
The Semliki Valley is noted for its hot-house character only for some
forty miles. That portion of it exposed to the sweep of the gales from Lake
Albert seems to have but a sour soil, for the yield of it is an acrid grass,
rejected by cattle, and thin forests of acacia; but between this and the
portion of exposed lake to the upper end is a soil so rich and so productive
that would rival the best soils in the world. The natives have long ago
discovered this fact, for they have gathered in multitudes of small tribes to
clear the thick forest and plant their banana and plantain stalks. One can
scarcely travel a mile in any direction without coming across a luxuriant,
heavy-fruited plantain grove. In no part of Africa may be seen such
abundance of food, not even in Uganda. Ten such columns as I led might
have revelled in abundance. The plantain fruit, when mature, measured
from twelve to eighteen inches in length, and thick as the fore-arm of an
ordinary man.
 BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF RUWENZORI, LAKE ALBERT EDWARD AND LAKE
ALBERT.

It occupied us sixteen days to traverse this rich forest region, generally

distinguished by the name of Awamba, after the tribe, and during that time
we had ten separate rainfalls, several of them lasting over nine hours, while
it thundered daily. Besides this, when we issued out of the forest, and clung
to the grassy foot of the range, at a few hundred feet of altitude above it, we
observed that, as far as we could see, the forest extended unbroken, except
by the numerous banana plantations. There were many lateral depressions,
marking the courses of the streams, but few elevations of any importance,
but over the whole slowly sailed the snow-white mist in broad, irregular
streams; these, in a few moments, became joined into a universal mass,
which to us, looking down upon it, resembled an inverted sky. All this was
very annoying to us as curious sightseers, anxious to know the strange
world we were in; but it furnished suggestions as to the reason why this part
was so especially prolific, and why Ruwenzori was so coy. No winds could
cool this portion of the valley, or waft the vapours away and clear the
atmosphere from an entire corner of the compass, owing to the extent and
great height of Ruwenzori. The great mountain intercepted every breeze
from east round to south, and prevented the everlasting exhalations of the
valley from being blown in that direction, but, on their reaching the intense
cold above, distilled them, and rediffused them in copious showers of rain.
From north to west the northern range of mountains obstructed the free
passage of the winds, and assisted to maintain that equable heat of the
valley that was necessary for the fostering of that marvellous vegetation. In
every camp of this region the smoke hung over us like a pall, smarting the
eyes and half suffocating us. In such a Nature’s conservatory as the Semliki
Valley, buried under its own perpetual warm exhalations, vegetation, as a
matter of course, finding every favourable element therein necessary for its
growth and nourishment, grows in riotous profusion. Where the humus is
deep we find a tall and stately forest, with an impervious underwood of
young trees, bound together and sometimes altogether hidden by countless
climbing vines and robust plants; where the humus is thinner, as near the
foot of the range, dense crops of cane-grass, from ten to fifteen feet in
height, flourish luxuriant and impenetrable. Every tree-stem has its green
robe of soft moss, dripping with dew, and each tree-fern or horizontal
branch has its orchids, or broad elephant-eared plant. Every rock is clothed
with lichens, and if but the slightest hollow is found in it, there will be seen
a multitude of tropic plants crowding every inch. In short, everywhere,
except upon the perpendicular face of a late-moved boulder, vegetation
thrives of every variety of greenness, form, and character.
About a day before we finally issued out of the forest region we were
made still further aware what curious novelties in plants a natural
conservatory can produce. Between Mtarega and Ulegga we were
astonished at the huge girth of the wild banana plant, some of them being
eighteen inches in diameter two feet above the ground. The fronds were
gathered at the top of the stalk like an artificial bouquet, but presently
spread out, two feet wide and ten feet in length, forming graceful curves
and a most cooling shade, the leaves circling the flowers, which were like
great rosettes with drooping tassels. There seemed to be no limit to the
altitude at which these wild bananas grew, though we observed that their
number on the mountain slopes became more limited above 8,000 feet. The
tree-ferns, reaching as high as thirty feet from the ground, presented
themselves in a series of narrow groves along the moist hollows or near
banks of streamlets, while an untold variety of smaller ferns grew in their
neighbourhood, as though they were determined to prove their relationship
to the giants of the fern family. Then the calamus, climbing from one tall
tree to another with resolute grasp, next attracted our attention. In the
neighbourhood of such fern-groves the trees were veritable giants, the
orchids in their forks were most numerous, and the elephant-eared lichen
studded the horizontal branches, while every tree was draped with soft
green moss, beaded with dew, and seemed sodden through excess of
moisture.
Though the forest region ends as we enter Ulegga, the interval between it
and Mtsora is so devoted to cultivation by the natives that it is only at the
latter place that we become fully aware that we have entered a new region.
Looking towards the W.N.W. we see the commencement of a brown grassy
plain, the very duplicate of that extending round the southern end of Lake
Albert. In appearance it is as flat as though the level bottom of a lake had
just appeared in view and continues thus to the Albert Edward Nyanza.
Between Mtsora and Muhamha we travelled along the edge of the low
plain or ancient bed of the northern portion of the Southern Nyanza, but
soon after leaving the last village we began to breast the mountains in order
to avoid the circuitous route along the plain round the promontory of
Sangwé-Mirembé.
As we journeyed towards the south-west over these hills we observed
that in the same manner as a change had come over the character of the
Semliki Valley the slopes of Ruwenzori had also undergone a similar
change. Instead of the thick forests which climbed up the lower slopes and
covered the ravines, and wild bananas and wonderful ferneries, and general
sappiness and luxuriance of the various species of vegetation, pastoral grass
waved on every slope and crest, while a healthful cool breeze caused us to
bless our fortune in having parted from the close, heated and moist
atmosphere of the Semliki.
But in two days’ march we observed that there was another change. We
were in a much drier climate, and the superficial aspect of the country was
much as might be expected from a comparatively rainless district—it was
that of a worn-out and scorched country. The grass was void of succulency
and nutriment. The slopes of the rounded hills presented grooves of a brick-
dust colour; here and there grew a stunted tree with wrinkled and distorted
branches and ugly olive-green leaves, too surely denoting that the best of
the soil had been scoured away or consumed by annual conflagrations, that
vegetable life was derived under precarious circumstances despite the
copious showers of the rainy season. As these hills, which constitute the
southern flank of Ruwenzori, present themselves, the plains below, between
their base and Lake Albert Edward, share their meagre, famished, treeless,
and uninteresting character. Though the vegetation differs, the gum-trees,
such as the acacia, the rigid black euphorbia, the milk weed, are indications
of a lean soil and salt-effusing earth, and in reality such is the character of
the bed of the receded Nyanza.
In brief words, the north-west and west sides of Ruwenzori, blessed with
almost daily rains and with ever-fresh dews, enjoy perpetual spring and are
robed in eternal verdure; the south and south-west sides have their well-
defined seasons of rain and drought, and if seen during the dry season, no
greater contrast can be imagined than these opposing views of nature’s
youth and nature’s decay.
There are many doubtless, like myself, who, while gazing upon any
ancient work, be it an Egyptian Pyramid or Sphynx, be it an Athenian
Parthenon, Palmyrene sun temple, Persepolitan palace, or even an old
English castle, will readily confess to feeling a peculiar emotion at the
sight. The venerableness of it, which time only can give, its associations
with men long ago gathered to their fathers, the builders and inhabiters now
quite forgotten, appeal to a certain sympathy in the living. For its history
there is a vague yearning; its age awakens something like exultation that we
little mortals can build such time-defying structures. But more powerful and
higher is that emotion which is roused at the sight of a hoary old mountain
like this of Ruwenzori, which we know to be countless thousands of years
old. When we think how long it required the melted snow to carve out these
ravines, hundreds of fathoms deep, through the rocky cone of the range, or
the ages required to spread out the débris from its sides and bosom to cover
the Semliki Valley and the Nyanza plains, we are struck dumb at the
immeasurableness of the interval between that age when Ruwenzori rose
aloft into being; and in reply to the still small voice which seems to ask
—“Where wast thou when the foundations of the earth were laid? Declare if
thou hast understanding,” we become possessed with a wholesome awe,
and can but feel a cheerful faith that it was good for us to have seen it.
Another emotion is that inspired by the thought that in one of the darkest
corners of the earth, shrouded by perpetual mist, brooding under the eternal
storm-clouds, surrounded by darkness and mystery, there has been hidden
to this day a giant among mountains, the melting snow of whose tops has
been for some fifty centuries most vital to the peoples of Egypt. Imagine to
what a God the reverently-inclined primal nations would have exalted this
mountain, which from such a far-away region as this contributed so
copiously to their beneficent and sacred Nile. And this thought of the
beneficent Nile brings on another. In fancy we look down along that
crooked silver vein to where it disports and spreads out to infuse new life to
Egypt near the Pyramids, some 4000 miles away, where we beheld
populous swarms of men—Arabs, Copts, Fellahs, Negroes, Turks, Greeks,
Italians, Frenchmen, English, Germans, and Americans—bustling, jostling,
or lounging; and we feel a pardonable pride in being able to inform them
for the first time that much of the sweet water they drink, and whose virtues
they so often exalt, issues from the deep and extensive snow-beds of
Ruwenzori or Ruwenjura—“the Cloud-King.”

VIEW OF RUWENZORI FROM BAKOKORO WESTERN CONES.

Though from the nearest point to the central range we were distant eight
English miles in an air line, during the few brief clear views obtained by us,
especially that from Bakokoro, examination through a good binocular
informed us of the reason why so much snow was retained on Ruwenzori.
As will be seen from the various sketches of the profile, the summit of the
range is broken up into many sharp triangular casques or narrow saddle-
shaped ridges. Each casque, separately examined, seems to be a miniature
copy of the whole range, and dented by the elements, time and weather,
wind, rain, frost, and snow, and every side of Ruwenzori appears to
represent, though in an acuter degree, the multitudinous irregularities of
slopes and crests so characteristic of its mighty neighbours which lie nearest
to us, and are fully exposed to the naked eye. Mostly all these triangular
casque-like tops of the range are so precipitous that, despite the everlasting
snowfalls hardened by the icy winds blowing over their exposed sides and
summits, very little snow is seen; but about 300 feet below, as may be
estimated, ground more adapted for the retention of the snow is found,
which in some parts is so extensive as to represent a vast field. Below this,
however, another deep precipice exposes its brown walls, and at the foot of
it spreads out another great field of snow joined here and there by sloping
ground, and this explains why the side of the range presented to view is not
uniformly covered with snow, and why the fields are broken up by the
brown patches. For quite 3,000 feet from the summit, as may be seen most
clearly from the view obtained from Karimi, there is illustrated a great
snowy continent enclosing numerous brown islands.
Naturally where the crests are so steep and naked, and where the walls of
the precipices are so lofty, the rough weather to which they are exposed
contributes to their dismantling and ruinous crumbling. Fragments of rock
and tons of rocky dust and particles tumble from above on the compressed
snow-bed below, which imperceptibly moves through the influence of
thawing and undermining of the bed by the trickling water, downwards
towards the valley a league below. As it descends the thaw increases, and
the movement of the snow-bed is more rapid, until, arriving in the
neighbourhood of tropic heat, or buried in a great cloud of tepid vapour
from the valley beneath, there is a sudden dissolution of the snow, and the
rocky fragments, débris and dust, borne by the snow, are hurled downward,
crashing through the ravines and over the slopes, until they are arrested in
the valley by some obstruction, and form a bank near the debouchure of a
ravine, or are scattered over many an acre below the smooth slope of a hill.
Sometimes these ascending fields of snow, by the velocity of their
movements, grinding and dragging power, weight and compactness of their
bodies, cause extensive landslips, when tracts of wood and bush are borne
sheer down, with all the soil which nourished them, to the bed rock, from
which it will be evident that enormous masses of material, consisting of
boulders, rock fragments, pebbles, gravel, sand trees, plants, and soil, are
precipitated from the countless mountain slopes and ravine sides into the
valley of the Semliki.
In front of the Rami-lulu River from the mountain there has been at one
time some such disastrous pouring of the ruins of a mountain side, so
sudden that the river was blocked, the tract there covered about six square
miles. Since that time the Rami-lulu has ploughed down to the former solid
rock-bed, and now flows between two very steep banks 200 feet high,
whence we can imagine the thickness of the débris.
Between Ugarama and Bukoko we discovered a very fertile tract close to
the base of the mountain slope, prodigiously prolific in its melons,
pumpkins, sugar-cane and millet; the subsoil is principally gravel and sand
mixed with a rich dark loam, but the immense number of large boulders
imbedded and half buried in the earth is a striking feature, and point to
glacial influence.
Between Bukoko and the mountains three miles away, and stretching
along their base southward for five or six miles, is another great tract
consisting of just such débris as the side of a mountain would naturally
consist in, but being principally of loose matter, it has assumed through a
long period of rainfalls a tolerably smooth gradated surface.
If we consider these circumstances as occurring periodically since the
upheaval of the great range, and that mighty subsidence which created the
wide and deep gulf now embraced by the Albert Edward Nyanza, the
Semliki Valley, and Lake Albert, we need not greatly wonder that
Ruwenzori now is but the skeleton of what it was originally: “Dust thou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return.” Its head has been shorn of much of its
glory of amplitude; its shoulders have been worn and abraded, through its
side scores of streams have channeled deep, and the ribs of it now stand, not
bare and denuded, but marking indisputably what wearing and battering it
has experienced since it was born out of fire. Slowly but surely the
mountain is retiring to the place whence it came. A few ages hence the
Albert Edward Nyanza will be a great plain, and at a later period Lake
Albert will share the same fate. Geographers of that far-off epoch will then
rub their eyes should they chance to discover the outlines of the two
Nyanzas and intervening valley as they were described in 1889.

RUWENZORI, FROM KARIMI.

On most days, the early hours of morning ushered into view a long,
solemn, and stupendous mass, dark as night, the summits of which appeared
to approach very closely to the cloudless grey sky. But as toward the east
the fast-coming day changed the grey to gold, faint bars of white clouds
became visible above, and simultaneously along the base of the range there
rose stealthily a long line of fleecy mist. This was presently drawn within
gaping valleys and fissures in the slopes, wherein it ascended with the
upward draught in rolling masses along the slants of their crooked
windings, gathering consistency and density as they ascended, yet changing
their shapes every instant. Detached portions floated to the right and left, to
attract unto them the straying and scattered mists issuing one by one from
profound recesses of the chasms. Then, united in a long swaying line,
robing the legions of hill shoulders, they issued into view from every flaw
and gap in the slope, and ranged in order, it appeared as though the
intention was to rally round the immense white range above. As the mist,
now dense and deep, began to feel the movement of the air in the higher
altitude, its motion became quicker, more sudden in assuming new forms,
and out of the upper ravines a host of restless, rolling white companies
joined the main line, the foremost surging boldly ahead and leading the
way, irresistibly, skyward.
By the time the sun is but a fourth of an hour above the eastern horizon,
and is beginning to expose the beauties that lie hid in snow-beds upon high
mountain-tops, and is playfully lavishing rainbow colours around their
borders and valances, lo! insensibly, as it were, the mist, now formidably
thick and broad, with bold and numerous vanguards, has approached the
snow, and rivals it in dazzling whiteness; and presently, receiving full in its
front the clear and strong sunshine, excels it in glory of colour and gilding,
and soon after rides over the snow and the purple pinnacles of the range in
splendid triumph. But as minute after minute adds more mass to the mist,
and the fermenting Semliki Valley, with exhaustless power, pours forth
army after army, which hasten to join the upper ranks extended motionless
along the slopes and over every proud alpine crest, the mist loses its beauty
and splendour of colouring, and becomes like a leaden-coloured fog, until
finally, so great has been the accumulation, it becomes black and terrible as
a tempest cloud, and thus rests during the entire day, and frequently until far
into the night. Sometimes, however, a half-hour or so before sunset, the
cloud is blown away, and peak after peak, crest after crest, snowy fields and
mountain shoulders emerge in full glory into light, and again we have a
short but glorious view before night falls and covers Ruwenzori with a still
darker mantle.
These brief—too brief—views of the superb Rain-Creator or Cloud-
King, as the Wakonju fondly termed their mist-shrouded mountains, fill the
gazer with a feeling as though a glimpse of celestial splendour was
obtained. While it lasted, I have observed the rapt faces of whites and
blacks set fixed and uplifted in speechless wonder towards that upper region
of cold brightness and perfect peace, so high above mortal reach, so holily
tranquil and restful, of such immaculate and stainless purity, that thought
and desire of expression were altogether too deep for utterance. What
stranger contrast could there be than our own nether world of torrid
temperature, eternally green sappy plants, and never-fading luxuriance and
verdure, with its savagery and war-alarms, and deep stains of blood-red sin,
to that lofty mountain king, clad in its pure white raiment of snow,
surrounded by myriads of dark mountains, low as bending worshippers
before the throne of a monarch, on whose cold white face were inscribed
“Infinity and Everlasting!” These moments of supreme feeling are
memorable for the utter abstraction of the mind from all that is sordid and
ignoble, and its utter absorption in the presence of unreachable loftiness,
indescribable majesty, and constraining it not only to reverentially admire,
but to adore in silence, the image of the Eternal. Never can a man be so fit
for Heaven as during such moments, for however scornful and insolent he
may have been at other times, he now has become as a little child, filled
with wonder and reverence before what he has conceived to be sublime and
Divine. We had been strangers for many months to the indulgence of any
thought of this character. Our senses, between the hours of sleeping and
waking, had been occupied by the imperious and imminent necessities of
each hour, which required unrelaxing vigilance and forethought. It is true
we had been touched with the view from the mount called Pisgah of that
universal extent of forest, spreading out on all sides but one, to many
hundreds of miles; we had been elated into hysteria when, after five
months’ immurement in the depths of forest wilds, we once again trod upon
green grass, and enjoyed open and unlimited views of our surroundings—
luxuriant vales, varying hill-forms on all sides, rolling plains over which the
long spring grass seemed to race and leap in gladness before the cooling
gale; we had admired the broad sweep and the silvered face of Lake Albert,
and enjoyed a period of intense rejoicing when we knew we had reached,
after infinite trials, the bourne and limit of our journeyings; but the desire
and involuntary act of worship were never provoked, nor the emotions
stirred so deeply, as when we suddenly looked up and beheld the skyey
crests and snowy breasts of Ruwenzori uplifted into an inaccessible altitude,
so like what our conceptions might be of a celestial castle, with dominating
battlement, and leagues upon leagues of unscaleable walls.
 CHAPTER XXXI.

RUWENZORI AND LAKE ALBERT EDWARD.

Importance of maps in books of travels—The time spent over my maps—The dry bed of a lake
discovered near Karimi; its computed size—Lessons acquired in this wonderful region—What we
learn by observation from the Semliki valley to the basin of the twin lakes—Extensive plain
between Rusessé and Katwé—The Zeribas of euphorbia of Wasongora—The raid of the Waganda
made eighteen years ago—The grass and water on the wide expanses of flats—The last view and
southern face of Ruwenzori—The town of Katwé—The Albert Edward Nyanza—Analysis of the
brine obtained from the Salt Lake at Katwé—Surroundings of the Salt Lake—The blood tints of its
waters—The larger Salt Lake of Katwé, sometimes called Lake of Mkiyo—The great repute of
Katwé salt—The Lakists of the Albert Edward: Bevwa, on our behalf, makes friends with the
natives—Kakuri appears with some Wasongora chiefs—Exploration of the large Katwé lake—
Kaiyura’s settlement—Katwé Bay—A black leopard—The native huts at Mukungu—We round an
arm of the lake, called Beatrice Gulf, and halt at Muhokya—Ambuscade by some of the Wara-Sura
near the Rukoki: we put them to flight—And capture a Mhuma woman—Captain Nelson and men
follow up the rearguard of Rukara—Halt at Buruli: our Wakonju and Wasongora friends leave us—
Sickness amongst us through bad water—The Nsongi river crossed—Capture of a Wara-Sura—
Illness and death among the Egyptians and blacks—Our last engagement with the Wara-Sura at
Kavandaré pass—Bulemo-Ruigi places his country at our disposal—The Pasha’s muster-roll—
Myself and others are smitten down with fever at Katari Settlement—The south side of Lake Albert
Edward and rivers feeding the Lake—Our first and last view, also colour of the Lake—What we
might have seen if the day had been clearer.

1889.
June
15.
Karimi.
 PROFILE SKETCH OF RUWENZORI AND THE VALLEY OF THE SEMLIKI.

Critics are in the habit of omitting almost all mention of maps when
attached to books of travel. This is not quite fair. Mine have cost me more
labour than the note-taking, literary work, sketching, and photographing
combined. In the aggregate, the winding of the three chronometers daily for
nearly three years, the 300 sets of observations, the calculation of all these
observations, the mapping of the positions, tracing of rivers, and shading of
mountain ranges, the number of compassbearings taken, the boiling of the
thermometers, the records of the varying of the aneroids, the computing of
heights, and the notes of temperature, all of which are necessary for a good
map, have cost me no less than 780 hours of honest work, which, say at six
hours per day, would make 130 working days. If there were no maps
accompanying books of this kind it would scarcely be possible to
comprehend what was described, and the narrative would become
intolerably dry. I relegate the dryness to the maps, by which I am relieved
from tedious description, at the same time that they minister to my desire of
being clear, and are beautiful, necessary, and interesting features of the
book; and I am firmly convinced that with a glance at the profile map of
Ruwenzori, the Semliki Valley, and Lakes Albert Edward and Albert, the
reader will know more of the grand physical features of this region than he
knew of the surroundings of Lake Michigan.
As we descend from Karimi to the basin of the Albert Edward the first
thing we become conscious of is that we are treading the dry bed of a lake.
We do not require a gifted geologist to tell us that. Five feet of rise to the
lake would increase its extent five miles to the north and five miles to the
south. Fifty feet of rise would restore the lake to its old time-honoured
condition, when its waves rolled over the pebbled beach under the shadows
of the forest near Mtsora. We find that we really needed to pay this visit to
the shores of the Albert Edward to thoroughly understand the physical
changes which have, within the last few hundred years, diminished the
former spacious lake to its present circumscribed limits. We should be liable
to censure and severe criticism if we attempted to fix a hard and fast date to
the period when Lake Albert extended to the forest of Awamba from the
north, and Lake Albert Edward extended from the south over the plain of
Makara to the southern edge of the forest. But it does not need a clever
mathematician to calculate the number of years which have elapsed since
the Semliki channeled its bed deep enough to drain the Makara plain. It is
easily computable. The nitrous, saline, and acrid properties deposited over
the plain by the receding lake have not been thoroughly scoured out yet.
The grass is nutritious enough for the hardy cattle, the dark euphorbia, the
acacia, and thorn-bush find along the edges of the plain a little thin humus
of decayed grass; but nine-tenths of it is grassy plain, and the tropic forest
of Awamba cannot advance its borders. The case is the same on the
southern plain of the Albert. We find there a stretch of plain twenty miles
long devoted to poor grass, fatal to cattle; then we find eight miles crossed
with a thin forest of parachute acacias, with here and there an euphorbia,
and then we are in the old, old forest.
 At every leisure hour my mind reverted to the lessons which I was
acquiring in this wonderful region. Time was when Ruwenzori did not exist.
It was grassy upland, extending from Unyoro to the Balegga plateau. Then
came the upheaval at a remote period; Ruwenzori was raised to the clouds,
and a yawning abyss 250 miles long and thirty miles broad lay S.W. and
N.E. The tropic rains fell for ages; they filled the abyss to overflowing with
water, and in time it found an outlet through what is known under the
modern name of Equatoria. The outflowing water washed the earth away
along its course, down to the bed-rock, and for countless ages, through
every second of time, it has been scouring it away, atom by atom, to form
Lower Egypt and fill the Mediterranean, and in the meantime the bottom of
the abyss has been silting up with the sediment and débris of Ruwenzori,
with the remains of uncountable generations of fish, with unnumbered
centuries of dead vegetation, until now, with the wearing away of the dykes
of rock and reefs in the course of the White Nile, two lakes have been
formed; and other dykes of rock appeared between the lakes, first as
clusters of islets, then covered with grass; finally, they caught the soil
brought down by glaciers, moraines have connected rock to rock, and have
formed a valley marvellous in its growth of tropic forest, and on each side
of this forest there are plains undergoing the slow process of crystalline
transformation, and on their lake borders you see yet an intermediate stage
in the daily increasing mud, and animal and vegetable life add to the height
of it, and presently it will be firm dry ground. Now dip a punting-pole into
the shallows at the south end of Lake Albert, and the pole drops into five
feet of ooze. It is the sediment borne down from the slopes of Ruwenzori by
the tributaries into the Semliki, and thence by the Semliki into the still
waters of the lake. And if we sound the depths of Lake Albert Edward, the
pole drops through four or five feet of grey mud, to which are attached
thousands of mica flakes and comminuted scales and pulverized bones of
fish, which emit an overpowering stench. And atom by atom the bed-rock
between the forest of Awamba and the Lake Albert Edward is being eroded
and scoured away, until, by-and-by, the lake will have become dry land, and
through the centre of it will meander the Semliki, having gathered the
tributaries from Ruwenzori, the Ankori, and Ruanda uplands, to itself; and
in the course of time, when the nitrous and acrid properties have been well
scoured off the plain, and the humus has thickened, the forest of Awamba
will advance by degrees, and its trees will exude oil and gum, and bear
goodly fruit for the uses of man. That is, in brief, what we learn by
observation from the Semliki Valley and the basin of the twin lakes, and
what will be confirmed during our journey over the tracts of lake-bed
between Rusessé and Unyampaka.
Between Rusessé and Katwé is an extensive plain, dipping
down in a succession of low terraces to the Nyama-gazani River, 1889.
June
and covered with pasture grass. This terraced plain is remarkable 16.
for its growth of euphorbia, which have been planted by Rusessé
generations of Wasongora to form zeribas to protect their herds .
from beasts of prey and for defence against the archers and
spearmen of predatory tribes, and which thickly dot the plains everywhere.
Many of these euphorbia, that stood in circles round the clustered huts,
were venerable patriarchs, quite five centuries old; hence we assume that
the Wasongora have been established in this region for a long time, and that
they formed a powerful nation until the Waganda and Wanyoro, furnished
with guns and rifles by Arabs, came sweeping through the land on their
periodic raids. Readers of ‘Through the Dark Continent’ will remember the
story of the Katekiro’s raid, that must have occurred about eighteen years
ago, and of the reported marvels said to have been met by the host, as they
travelled through a great plain where there were geysers spouting mud, hot
springs, intolerable thirst, immense loss of life, ruthless conflicts between
the native tribe and the Waganda, and bad water that killed hundreds. We
are now on the land which witnessed the raid of the Waganda, and which
then despoiled of its splendid herds of cattle. Since that time Kabba Rega,
with the aid of his musket-armed Wara-Sura, has occupied the land, usurped
the government of the country, and has possessed himself of every cow.
Captain Casati has informed me that he once witnessed the return of the
raiders from Wasongora, and saw the many thousands of cattle which they
had taken.
The wide expanses of flats, white with efflorescing natron, teeming with
hot springs and muddy geysers, turned out to be pure exaggerations of an
imaginative boy, and nothing of all the horrors expected have we seen
except perhaps a dreary monotony of level and uniformity of surface
features, grass fallen into the sere through drought, and tufts of rigid
euphorbia, so characteristic of poor soil. The silence of the plain is due to
the wholesale expatriation of the tribe; thirst, because, as we near the Lake
borders, the tributaries lie far apart; sickness, from the habit of people
drinking the stagnant liquid found in pits.
The grass of the plain grieved us sorely while travelling through it. The
stalks grew to the height of three feet, and its spikelets pierced through the
thickest clothing, and clung to every garment as we passed by, and became
very irritating and troublesome.
The two best views obtained of Ruwenzori have been those obtained
from Karimi, up a long, narrow valley, and from the plain near the Nyama-
gazani River. The last was the farewell view, the great mountain having
suddenly cast its cloudy garments aside to gratify us once more. In rank
above rank the mountainous ridges rose until they culminated in
Ruwenzori. From the south it looks like a range of about thirty miles in
length, with as many blunt-topped peaks, separated from each other by deep
hollows. Up to this time we had estimated the height as about 17,000 feet,
but the revelation of the southern face, shrouded with far-descending fields
of deep and pure snow, exalted it 1,500 feet higher in the general opinion. I
seized this opportunity to photograph the scene, that other eyes might view
the most characteristic image of Ruwenzori. Here and there may be seen, as
in the pencil sketches, the dark patches, showing the more precipitous
portions of the slopes, which are too steep for the accumulation of snow.
The greater exhibition of snow on the southern face is due to the lesser
height of the intervening ridges, which on the north side shut out from view
the snowy range.
A few miles beyond the Nyama-gazani River, which is forty feet wide
and a foot deep, clear as crystal and beautifully cool, we entered the town of
Katwé, the headquarters of Rukara, the commanding chief of the Wara-
Sura. He and his troops had left the town the night before, and evidently in
such haste that he was unable to transport the grain away.
The town of Katwé must have contained a large population, probably
2,000. As the surrounding country was only adapted for the rearing of
cattle, the population was supported by the sale of the salt of the two salt
lakes near it. It was quite a congeries of zeribas of euphorbia, connected one
with another by mazy lanes of cane hedges and inclosures.
It is situated on a narrow grassy ridge between the salt lake of Katwé and
a spacious bay of the Albert Edward Nyanza. In length the ridge is about
two miles, and in breadth half a mile from the shore of one lake to the other.
 By boiling point the Albert Edward Nyanza is 3,307 feet, the
crest of the grassy ridge of Katwé is 3,461 feet, and the Salt Lake 1889.
June
is 3,265 feet above the sea. So that the summit of the ridge was 17.
154 feet above the Salt Lake and 112 feet higher than the Albert Katwé.
Edward Lake, and the difference of level between the two lakes
was 42 feet. The town is situated 0° 8′ 15″ south of the Equator.

THE LITTLE SALT LAKE AT KATWÉ.

After seeing to the distribution of corn, I proceeded across the ridge, and
descending a stiff slope, almost cliffy in its upper part, after 154 feet of a
descent, came to the dark sandy shore of the Salt Lake of Katwé, at a place
where there were piles of salt-cakes lying about. The temperature of the
water was 78·4° Fahrenheit; a narrow thread of sulphurous water indicated
84°. Its flavour was that of very strong brine.[32] Where the sand had been
scooped cut into hollow beds, and the water of the lake had been permitted
to flow in, evaporation had left a bed of crystal salt of rocky hardness,
compacted and cemented together like coarse quartz. The appearance of
these beds at a distance was like frozen pools. When not disturbed by the
salt-gatherers, the shore is ringed around with Ukindu palms, scrubby bush,
reedy cane, euphorbia, aloetic plants; and at Mkiyo, a small village
inhabited by salt-workers, there is a small grove of bananas, and a few
fields of Indian corn and Eleusine coracana. Thus, though the lake has a
singularly dead and lonely appearance, the narrow belt of verdure below the
cliffy walls which encompass it, is a relief. Immediately behind this
greenness of plants and bush, the precipitous slopes rise in a series of
horizontal beds of grey compacted deposit, whitened at various places by
thin incrustations of salt. There are also chalky-looking patches here and
there, one of which, on being examined, proved to be of stalagmite. In one
of these I found a large tusk of ivory, bones of small animals, teeth, and
shells of about the size of cockles. There were several of these stalagmite
beds around the lake.
One remarkable peculiarity of the lake was the blood tints of its water, or
of some deposit in it. On looking into the water I saw that this deposit
floated, like congealed blood, on and below the surface. A man at my
request stepped in, and at random; the water was up to his knees, and
bending down soon brought up a solid cake of coarse-grained crystallised
salt, and underneath it was a blood-red tinge. This reddish viscous stuff
gives the lake, when looked at from the crest of Katwé ridge, a purple
appearance, as though a crimson dye had been mixed with it.
Hundreds of dead butterflies of various colours strewed the beach. There
was not a fish seen in its waters, though its border seems to be a favourite
haunt for herons, storks, pelican, egrets.
The larger Salt Lake of Katwé, sometimes called Lake of Mkiyo, from
the village of that name, is about three miles long, and ranges from half to
three-quarters of a mile in width, and about three feet deep. The smaller
lake is in a round grassy basin about two miles east, and is a round shallow
pool half-a-mile across.
Every one acquainted with the above facts will at once perceive that
these salt basins are portions of the original lake occupying sunken hollows,
which were left isolated by the recession of the waters of the Albert Edward
Lake, and that evaporation has reduced the former sweet waters into this
strong brine.
Salt is a valuable article, eagerly sought after by the tribes round about.
The reputation of this deposit had reached Kavalli, where I first heard of the
greater Salt Lake as “Katto.” Flotillas of canoes come from Makara,
Ukonju, Unyampaka, Ankori and Ruanda, loaded with grain, to barter for
this article. Caravans arrive from eastern Ukonju, north Usongora, Toro and
Uhaiyana, to trade millet, bark cloth, beans, peas, tullabun or eleusine,
sesame, iron tools, weapons, &c., for it. The islanders of Lake Albert
Edward freight their little vessels with the commodity, and with dried fish
make voyages to the western and southern shores, and find it profitable to
carry on this exchange of produce. The possession of Katwé town, which
commands the lakes, is a cause of great jealousy. The Wasongora owned it
formerly, then Antari of Ankori. Kakuri, the island chief, became heir to it,
when finally Kabba Rega heard of the rich deposits, and despatched Rukara
to occupy the town.
Our march into Ukonju had instantly caused the Wara-Sura to evacuate
the plain of Makara, and our approach to Katwé had caused a speedy flight
of Rukara and his army of musketeers and spearmen. Wakonju, to the
number of 150 men in our camp, and Wasongora were joining, and
supplying us with information gratuitously.
In the afternoon of the first day’s arrival at Katwé we saw a flotilla of
canoes approaching from an island distant about three miles from the shore.
The crews were cautious enough to keep just within hail. We were told that
they had been sent by Kakuri to ascertain what strangers were those who
had frightened Rukara and his Wara-Sura from the land, for they had done
good service to Kakuri and “all the world” by their acts. We replied in a
suitable manner, but they professed to disbelieve us. They finally said that if
we “burned the town of Katwé they would accept it as a proof that we were
not Wara-Sura.” Accordingly, the villages near the shore were fired, and the
crews cheered the act loudly.
The speaker said “I believe you to be of the Wanyavingi now. Sleep in
peace, and to-morrow Kakuri shall come with gifts to give you welcome.”
Then Bevwa, chief of our Wakonju, stood on a canoe which was in the
lake and asked, “Ah, you children of Kakuri, the great chief of the sea, do
you remember Kwaru-Kwanzi, who lent Kakuri’s sons the spears to defend
the land from the Wara-Sura robbers. Lo! Kwara-Kwanzi, a true son of the
Wanyavingi, is here again. Rejoice, my friends, Rukara and his thieves have
fled, and all the land will rise as one man to follow in pursuit of them.”
The crews clapped hands, applauding, and half-a-dozen little drums were
beaten. Then the principal speaker of the islanders said, “Kakuri is a man
who has not had a tooth drawn yet, and he is not going to have one drawn
by any Mrasura alive. We have caught a dozen Wara Sura as they were
flying from Makara because of these strangers. Kakuri will see that they die
before the sun sets, and to-morrow he will see the chief of the strangers face
to face.”
 When they had paddled away, Bevwa was questioned as to these
Wanyavingi. What were they? Were they a tribe?
Then Bevwa looked hard at me and said—
“Why do you ask? Do you not know that we believe you to be of the
Wanyavingi? Who but the Wanyavingi and Wachwezi are of your colour?
“What, are they white people like us?”
“They have no clothes like you, nor do they wear anything on their feet
like you, but they are tall big men, with long noses and a pale colour, who
came, as I heard from our old men, from somewhere beyond Ruwenzori,
and you came from that direction; therefore must be of the Wanyavingi.”
“But where do they live?”
“Ruanda, and Ruanda is a great country, stretching round from east of
south to S.S.W. Their spears are innumerable, and their bows stand higher
than I. The king of Usongora, Nyika, was an Myavingi. There are some
men in these parts whom Kabba Rega cannot conquer, and those are in
Ruanda; even the King of Uganda will not venture there.”
When Kakuri appeared next morning he brought us gifts, several fish,
goats, bananas and beans. Some Wasongora chiefs were with him, who
offered to accompany us, in the hope that we should fall in with some of the
bands, as we journeyed towards Toro and Uhaiyana. The island chief was a
physically fine man, but not differing in complexion from the dark
Wakonju; while the Wasongora were as like in features to the finest of the
Somali types and Wa-galla as though they were of the same race.
Kakuri was requested to bring his canoe in the afternoon, and
freight them with salt to deposit on his island, as I would have to 1889.
June
continue my journey eastward in a day or two. Therefore all the 18.
afternoon about 100 islanders were busy transporting salt to Katwé.
Kakuri Island, and the Wakonju who followed us did a good
business by assisting them. They walked into the lake to a distance of 100
yards, the depth being up to their knees, and stooping down, conveyed great
cakes of the crystallized salt to the shore, and across the ridge to the canoes
in the Albert Edward Lake.
Having found a cumbrous and heavy canoe, but somewhat large, on the
19th, it was manned with twelve men, and I set out to explore. At about 11
A.M. I had got to a distance of eight miles, and halted in front of Kaiyura’s
settlement, which consisted of eighty-one large huts, and was rich in goats
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