The World and Its People Part 17

Deep banks covered with fine gra.s.s, beautiful acacias, and festoons of lilac-colored convolvuli stretched, along on either side of the stream.

He continued his journey up stream to Ripon Falls, through extensive village plantations recently despoiled by herds of elephants, and over rugged hills, to be rewarded by the most interesting scene he had yet found in Africa.

Speaking of the falls, he writes: "Everybody ran to see them at once, though the march had been long and fatiguing; even my sketchbook was called into play.

"Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I had expected; for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about twelve feet deep and four hundred to five hundred feet broad, were broken by rocks.

"Still, it was a sight that attracted one to it for hours: the roar of the waters; the thousands of pa.s.senger fish, leaping at the falls with all their might; the Wasoga and Waganda fishermen coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks, with rod and hook; hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water; the ferry at work above the falls; and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake, made in all, with the pretty nature of the country,--small hills, gra.s.sy topped, with trees in the folds and gardens on the lower slopes,--as interesting a picture as one could wish.

"I saw that Old Father Nile, without any doubt, rises in the Victoria Nyanza. As I had foretold, that lake is the great source of the holy river which cradled the first expounder of our religious belief."

Speke had seen fully one-half of the lake, and had gained enough information of the other half to feel a.s.sured that there was as much water on the eastern side of the lake as on the western, possibly more.

The head of the Nile, or its most remote feeder, he found to be the southern end of the lake. It gives to the Nile its surpa.s.sing length of above two thousand and three hundred miles.

Speke was disappointed that he could not get an opportunity to visit the northeast corner of the lake to find the connection, by means of a strait, which he had heard described, between Lake Victoria Nyanza and another lake, where the Waganda went to get their salt.

He discovered that from the southern point of the lake, on the west side, to the point where the great Nile stream issues, there is only one river of any great importance, while from the most southern point, round by the east to the strait, there are no large rivers.

The Arab travelers a.s.sured him that from the west of the snow-clad peak of Kilimanjaro to the lake, at the point where the first and second degrees of south lat.i.tude cut it, there were salt lakes and plains, in the midst of a hilly country. They further told him that there were no great rivers; that the country was but scantily watered, with only occasional rills and rivulets, and that they were compelled to make long marches to get water, when they started out upon their trading journeys.

Speke could not quite believe in the existence of a salt lake. His experience had taught him that the natives call all lakes salt if they find salt beds or salt islands in their vicinity.

Lake Victoria Nyanza he found to be nearly four thousand feet above sea level, or nearly two thousand feet above the alt.i.tude of Lake Tanganyika. It was plain to him, therefore, that there could be no connection between the two lakes.

Some notes from the journal kept by Speke are of interest here. "The first affluent, the Bahr-el-Gazal, took us by surprise. Instead of finding a large lake, as described in our maps, as an elbow of the Nile, we found only a small piece of water resembling a duck pond, buried in a sea of rushes. The old Nile swept through it with majestic grace, and carried us next to the Geraffe branch of the Sobat River, the second affluent, which we found flowing into the Nile with a graceful semi-circular sweep and good stiff current, apparently deep, but not more than fifty yards broad.

"Next in order came the main stream of the Sobat, flowing into the Nile in the same graceful way as the Geraffe, which in breadth it surpa.s.sed, but in velocity it was inferior.

"Next to be treated of is the famous Blue Nile, which we found a miserable river, even when compared with the Geraffe branch of the Sobat. It is very broad at the mouth, it is true, but so shallow that our vessel with difficulty was able to come up to it. It had all the appearance of a mountain stream, subject to great periodical fluctuations.

"The Atbara River, which is the last affluent, was more like the Blue River than any of the other affluents, being decidedly a mountain stream, which floods the country in the rains, but runs nearly dry in the dry season.

"I had now seen quite enough to satisfy myself that the White Nile, which issues from Victoria Nyanza at the Ripon Falls, is the true or parent Nile."

CHAPTER XXV.

THE APPROACH TO LAKE ALBERT NYANZA.

The accounts brought back by Speke of the discovery of Victoria Nyanza and the existence of another lake, which might prove to be a feeder of the Nile, so influenced a friend of his, Sir Samuel Baker, that he and his wife, a mere girl in years, started out with an expedition to make still closer explorations of the lake region.

The natives had given Speke very graphic accounts of the Nile's westward course, after leaving Victoria Nyanza, till at length its waters fell into a large lake. They had further informed him that this lake came from the south, and that the Nile entered at the northern extremity, and almost immediately made an exit from it in continuing its course to the north.

At the time this information was received by Speke, the country through which he would have needed to pa.s.s was in the midst of a native war, and no strangers could penetrate it. He was convinced, however, that the lake described must, in all probability, be a second source of the Nile.

Sir Samuel Baker and his wife had most interesting and thrilling experiences in their search for this supposed second feeder of the Nile.

Some sections of the country through which they traveled were most beautiful. Here were jungles and forests alternating with broad plains, and mountains rising to the height of three or four thousand feet.

Some of the people, too, were very interesting. Baker declared the Latookas to be the finest savages he ever met. They were nearly six feet in height, had fine foreheads, very good features, and finely formed bodies. Their manners were frank, good-humored, and polite. In this respect they were a strong contrast to the surrounding tribes. They seemed to him to be of Abyssinian or of Asiatic origin.

The description of the headdress of the men is interesting. It takes from eight to ten years to perfect the arrangement of this coiffure, and no doubt much pride is taken in this queer conceit of savage fas.h.i.+on.

"The hair is at first 'felted' with fine twine. As the fresh hair grows through this, the twine process is repeated, until at last a compact substance is formed, an inch and a half thick, trained into the form of a helmet, with a frontlet and crest of copper. Of course they never disturb this, and it lasts them their life time. They ornament it with beads, cowries, ostrich feathers, and other decorations."

As it is the custom of these savages to go without clothing of any description, these wonderful headdresses must indeed be the chief aim in the lives of those who are not called upon to follow the changes of fas.h.i.+on, like their more civilized brethren.

One of the towns that Baker visited in Latooka contained about three thousand houses. It was strongly fortified by palisades, with low entrances at short intervals. At night these entrances were closed by thorn bushes.

There was one main street, which was broad, but the other streets were mere lanes, so narrow that only one cow could pa.s.s at a time.

These lanes led to the kraals in different portions of the town. Here were housed the cattle, which comprised the chief wealth of the people.

The narrowness of the approaches to the kraals was an advantage, for they were thus easily defended from cattle thieves,--a common nuisance in this country.

The houses were conical in shape and, following the custom almost universal in Africa, were without windows.

Baker had noticed, as he approached the several towns of this section of country, a vast heap of human bones, mingled with bits of pottery. These he found to originate from the peculiar funeral rites of the people. If a man dies a natural death he is buried in the vicinity of his own door, and funeral dances in his honor are held for several weeks; the remains are then dug up, the bones cleaned, placed in an earthen jar, and carried out of town to their final resting place. In course of time these jars become broken, and the fragments, together with the contents, are scattered, or added to an already existing mound.

Baker, in his journey to the southwest, crossed the valley of Latooka.

After fording a river, he began the main ascent of the mountains. This he found to be an exceedingly difficult task. At the summit he found a plateau about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and situated on it was the highland town of Obbo.

The country was very beautiful. Here were bold granite peaks, some of them five thousand feet high, towering on all sides, and looking down upon the wooded valleys below. These valleys were narrowed by the advancing spurs of the mountains, each with a village to crown its summit. These villages looked down fully eight hundred feet upon the traveler.

The air was pure and delicious. On every side was a profusion of beautiful and fragrant flowers. Wild plums and other fruit were to be found in abundance.

The flow of the streams in this section is toward the northwest. Their waters take their course directly to the Nile, some thirty miles away.

The people are different from those of Latooka, not only in their speech but in their appearance. Instead of dressing their hair in the form of a helmet, they adopt the form of a beaver's tail for a coiffure.

The noses of these people are higher than those of the Latookas. They pay some attention, too, to their clothing, though their covering is very scanty.

They are courteous in their manners, and never ask for presents.

They had for their ruler at the time of Baker's visit a peculiar old man, a sorcerer, and from him Baker gained much information about the country.

Whenever this ruler traveled, it was upon the shoulders of one of his slaves. Always in starting upon a journey he had a retinue of a dozen or more bearers to take turns in carrying him.

From an interpreter Baker learned of a place called Magungo, situated upon a lake so large that no one knew its limits.

Later, Baker gained further information of Magungo from a native woman.

She described the lake as a white sheet of water, as far as the eye could reach, and added, "If you put a water jar on the sh.o.r.e, the water would run up, break it, and carry it away." In this simple fas.h.i.+on she intimated to Baker that there were waves of no little force on the lake sh.o.r.es.

Encouraged by the prospect of reaching the lake, Baker, with his expedition, continued on the march, pa.s.sing a village surrounded by bold granite cliffs, towering above it. The natives of this village perched like ravens upon the summits of these cliffs to await the approach of the white men. They were very friendly and very ceremonious in their dealings with their visitors.

The journey was continued through a region of prairies and swamps, which finally was replaced by a section of magnificent forest. Coming to an elevated spot, Baker saw a cloud of fog. This hung over a distant valley, and indicated to him the presence of the n.o.ble stream which he believed must join the two lakes.