A VIEW OF LAKE ALBERT NYANZA.
At a great distance to the northwest could be seen a lofty range of mountains. Baker learned from the natives that these mountains, beyond which he had fancied the lake must lie, were really its western boundary.
A few days later he had the pleasure of looking at this beautiful sheet of water. He was the first Englishman who had ever had the honor to prove its connection with the Nile.
He was about fifteen hundred feet above the lake when he first sighted it. "Opposite to him the lake was about sixty miles broad, but to the south and southwest lay a boundless horizon like the ocean. Immediately on the other side rose a grand range of mountains, some of them seven thousand feet high, and down two streams in their rifts plunged great waterfalls, visible even at that vast distance, to add their contributions to the fresh-water lake."
Here lay the long-sought-for lake. Wild waves swept over its surface, as he descended the steep declivity to reach its shore. In bold triumph they swelled and burst at his feet upon the white, pebbly beach. Filled with enthusiasm, Baker stooped and drank of the pure, fresh water from the vast reservoir before him.
Near by lay a little fishing village. Around the huts stood beautifully made harpoons, hooks, and the lines used by the fishermen. These fishing outfits were used not only to catch the gigantic fish, of two hundred pounds or more, which abound in the lake, but also the hippopotamus and the crocodile.
Baker found that the lake, which he named the Albert Nyanza,—as an imperishable memorial of one loved and mourned, not only by England's queen, but by all England,—has a length of about three hundred miles in a southwesterly direction. It then turns to the west, but its extent in this direction was not known at the time of Baker's explorations. The extent is believed to be not far from that of Victoria Nyanza, which covers an area of not less than thirty thousand square miles.
It seems remarkable that such a great reservoir had not been sought for before, or at least that the necessity for its existence had not been seen. Such a vast body of water would seem to be absolutely required to force a river like the Nile over a distance of twenty-five hundred miles to the sea. At the northeast corner, at Magungo, the river which forms the connecting link between the two feeders of the Nile enters this lake. Thirty miles to the north the great Nile flows out of the lake and wends its way to the sea.
Baker soon made preparations for a fortnight's voyage upon the lake. Two canoes, one twenty-six, the other thirty-two feet long, were secured. Both these canoes were hollowed out of logs. In the smaller canoe a cabin was built.
The voyage was most interesting. The scenery along the lake was beautiful. Sometimes the mountains in the west were lost sight of, as the canoes kept within a hundred yards of the shore. Sometimes the cliffs would recede, and leave a meadow, more or less broad, at their base. Frequently the rocky column would descend vertically into deep water. "Again, a grand mass of gneiss and granite, eleven hundred feet high, would present itself, feathered with beautiful evergreens, with every runnel and rivulet in its clefts fringed with graceful wild date trees." Hippopotami floated lazily about in the water, while crocodiles, roused to alarm by the canoe, would rush out of the bushes to hide themselves in the depths of the lake.
The water was beautifully transparent. A crocodile that Baker killed with his rifle sank to a depth of eight feet, yet his bleeding form could be plainly seen at the bottom of the lake.
Once, an elephant came down out of the forest to bathe. On another occasion, fourteen of these immense animals were seen sporting in a sandy cove, and enjoying themselves by throwing jets of water in all directions.
When the expedition had gone about ninety miles, the lake began to contract. Vast beds of reeds extended to a distance of a mile from shore. They were of the nature of the floating vegetation in the stream where Mrs. Baker so nearly lost her life.
Not caring to cross on this frail support, Baker and his party followed the shore for a mile, till they had passed this mass of floating vegetation, and found a broad, still channel bordered with reeds on each side. Here was the river which links the Albert to the Victoria Nyanza.
The river between the two lakes has a course of about two hundred and fifty miles. There is a succession of cataracts below Karuma Falls. They occupy some forty miles of the river bed.
The mouth of the Victoria Nile is still water. It has a width of half a mile. The river at the mouth, as it tranquilly enters the lake, presents a strong contrast to the current at Karuma Falls, where the water comes seething and boiling, rushing and tearing over the rocky bed.
Baker and his party found the eastern, or Magungo, shore of the lake to be a delightful section, bordered by enormous trees. The soil was firm and sandy, in some instances rocky. The country beyond the shore of the lake rose in a rapid incline towards the town of Magungo, which is built on an elevated ridge about a mile away.
While Baker's party waited along the shore of the lake, some of the natives arrived from the villages, bringing a goat, some fowls, eggs, milk, and fresh butter. In return, Baker gave the chief a quantity of beads, which greatly delighted this child of nature.
The march up the hill to Magungo was now in order. The day was clear and bright. The soil was sandy and rather poor, but the road was hard and well kept.
A splendid view lay before the little party as they reached Magungo and looked back upon the lake. They were now fully two hundred and fifty feet above the level of the water. The country seemed to have a general elevation of about five hundred feet, for five or six miles, when it began by gentle undulations to descend to the lake.
The most prominent objects to be seen were the mountains on the Magella side, forming the western boundary, while in the foreground lay the lake.
A few miles to the north there appeared an opening in the ridge. The lake, much contracted, continued to the west, while the mountain range on the north side of the gap extended on to the northeast.
The country due north and northeast was remarkably level. As far as the eye could see, an expanse of bright green reeds marked the course of the Nile, as it made its exit from Albert Nyanza Lake.
At Magungo the width of the sheet of water was about seventeen miles. It continued its course in a long strip to the mouth, where it lost itself in a level valley of green rushes.
Baker and his party could not yet persuade themselves that the quiet, tranquil stream issuing from Albert Nyanza was the same which rushed impetuously on its way at Karuma Falls.
It remained, then, to prove the statements of the guide that the Nile was dead water for a considerable distance from its junction with the lake; that a great waterfall rushed down from the mountain to swell the current near Karuma Falls; and that the river was simply a succession of cataracts in its course to these falls.
On the assurance of the chief of Magungo, and of some of the natives, that these falls were within six days' marching distance, Baker's little party embarked in canoes for the purpose of exploring the river and assuring themselves of its identity with the stream which made its exit from the lake.