[The Discovery of the Source of the Nile by John Hanning Speke]@TWC D-Link book
The Discovery of the Source of the Nile

CHAPTER XV
18/26

Everybody ran to see them at once, though the march had been long and fatiguing, and even my sketch-block was called into play.

Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I expected; for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view by a spur of hill, and the falls, about 12 feet deep, and 400 to 500 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 passenger-fish, leaping at the falls with all their might; the Wasoga and Waganda fisherman 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, grassy-topped, with trees in the folds, and gardens on the lower slopes--as interesting a picture as one could wish to see.
The expedition had now performed its functions.

I saw that old father Nile without any doubt rises in the Victoria N'yanza, and, as I had foretold, that lake is the great source of the holy river which cradled the first expounder of our religious belief.

I mourned, however, when I thought how much I had lost by the delays in the journey having deprived me of the pleasure of going to look at the north-east corner of the N'yanza to see what connection there was, by the strait so often spoken of, with it and the other lake where the Waganda went to get their salt, and from which another river flowed to the north, making "Usoga an island." But I felt I ought to be content with what I had been spared to accomplish; for I had seen full half of the lake, and had information given me of the other half, by means of which I knew all about the lake, as far, at least, as the chief objects of geographical importance were concerned.
Let us now sum up the whole and see what it is worth.


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