Pushing forward, the travelers crossed a narrow strip of uninhabited territory, and entered the famous and unknown kingdom of Karagwe.
Throughout this kingdom the caravan received the kindest of treatment from the king and his people under the village chiefs. No taxes were exacted, and food was supplied at the king's expense. Speke writes of the kingdom: "The farther we went in this country the better we liked it, as the people were all kept in good order, and the village chiefs were so civil that we could do as we liked."
VICTORIA NYANZA.
Speke thus describes the scene when he caught his first glimpse of the lake: "Next day, after crossing more of those abominable rush drains, while in sight of the Victoria Nyanza, we ascended the most beautiful hills, covered with verdure of all descriptions. I felt inclined to stop here a month, everything was so very pleasant. The temperature was perfect. The roads, as indeed they were everywhere, were as broad as our coach roads, cut through the long grasses, straight over the hills and down through the woods in the dells, a strange contrast to the wretched tracks in all the adjacent countries.
"The huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a fault could be found with them; the gardens the same. Wherever I strolled, I saw nothing but richness, and what ought to be wealth. The whole land was a picture of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the background.
"Looking over the hills, it struck the fancy at once that at one period the whole land must have been at a uniform level with their present tops, but that, by the constant denudation it was subjected to by frequent rains, it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales which now so much pleased the eye."