The Albert
is the grand reservoir, while the Victoria is the eastern source, the
parent streams that form these lakes are from the same origin, and the
Kitangule sheds its waters to the Victoria to be received eventually by
the Albert, precisely as the highlands of M'fumbiro and the Blue
Mountains pour their northern drainage direct into the Albert lake. The
entire Nile system, from the first Abyssinian tributary the Atbara in N.
latitude 17 deg. 37 min. even to the equator, exhibits a uniform
drainage from S.E. to N.W., every tributary flowing in that direction to
the main stream of the Nile; this system is persisted in by the Victoria
Nile, which having continued a northerly course from its exit from the
Victoria lake to Karuma in lat. 2 degrees 16' N. turns suddenly to the
west and meets the Albert lake at Magungo; thus, a line drawn from
Magungo to the Ripon Falls from the Victoria lake will prove the general
slope of the country to be the same as exemplified throughout the entire
system of the eastern basin of the Nile, tending from S.E. to N.W.
That many considerable affluents flow into the Albert lake there is no
doubt. The two waterfalls seen by telescope upon the western shore
descending from the Blue Mountains must be most important streams, or
they could not have been distinguished at so great a distance as fifty
or sixty miles; the natives assured me that very many streams, varying
in size, descended the mountains upon all sides into the general
reservoir.
I returned to my hut: the flat turf in the vicinity of the village was
strewn with the bones of immense fish, hippopotami, and crocodiles; but
the latter reptiles were merely caught in revenge for any outrage
committed by them, as their flesh was looked upon with disgust by the
natives of Unyoro. They were so numerous and voracious in the lake, that
the natives cautioned us not to allow the women to venture into the
water even to the knees when filling their water jars.
It was most important that we should hurry forward on our journey, as
our return to England depended entirely upon the possibility of reaching
Gondokoro before the end of April, otherwise the boats would have
departed. I impressed upon our guide and the chief that we must be
furnished with large canoes immediately, as we had no time to spare, and
I started off Rabonga to Magungo, where he was to meet us with our
riding oxen. The animals would be taken by a path upon the high ground;
there was no possibility of travelling near the lake, as the cliffs in
many places descended abruptly into deep water. I made him a present of
a large quantity of beads that I had promised to give him upon reaching
the lake; he took his departure, agreeing to meet us at Magungo with our
oxen, and to have porters in readiness to convey us direct to Shooa.
On the following morning not one of our party could rise from the
ground. Thirteen men, the boy Saat, four women, and we ourselves, were
all down with fever. The air was hot and close, and the country
frightfully unhealthy. The natives assured us that all strangers
suffered in a similar manner, and that no one could live at Vacovia
without repeated attacks of fever.
The delay in supplying the boats was most annoying; every hour was
precious; and the lying natives deceived us in every manner possible,
delaying us purposely in the hope of extorting beads.
The latitude of Vacovia was 1 degree 15 min. N.; longitude 30 degrees 50
min. E. My farthest southern point on the road from M'rooli was latitude
1 degree 13 minutes. We were now to turn our faces towards the north,
and every day's journey would bring us nearer home. But where was home?
As I looked at the map of the world, and at the little red spot that
represented old England far, far away, and then gazed on the wasted form
and haggard face of my wife and at my own attenuated frame, I hardly
dared hope for home again. We had now been three years ever toiling
onwards, and having completed the exploration of all the Abyssinian
affluents of the Nile, in itself an arduous undertaking, we were now
actually at the Nile head. We had neither health nor supplies, and the
great journey lay all before us.
Notwithstanding my daily entreaties that boats might be supplied without
delay, eight days were passed at Vacovia, during which time the whole
party suffered more or less from fever. At length canoes were reported
to have arrived, and I was requested to inspect them. They were merely
single trees neatly hollowed out, but very inferior in size to the large
canoes on the Nile at M'rooli. The largest boat was thirty-two feet
long, but I selected for ourselves one of twenty-six feet, but wider and
deeper.
Fortunately I had purchased at Khartoum an English screw auger 1 1/4
inch in diameter, and this tool I had brought with me, foreseeing some
difficulties in boating arrangements. I now bored holes two feet apart
in the gunwale of the canoe, and having prepared long elastic wands, I
spanned them in arches across the boat and lashed them to the auger
holes. This completed, I secured them by diagonal pieces, and concluded
by thatching the framework with a thin coating of reeds to protect us
from the sun; over the thatch I stretched ox-hides well drawn and
lashed, so as to render our roof waterproof.
