The expedition under Baker headed upstream towards Karuma Falls, where it was the intention to cross to the south side. They had a picturesque march of about fifteen miles, through an open forest, with the river, which was about one hundred and fifty feet wide, close at hand. It was a beautiful sight, as it came roaring and foaming in many cascades. Here and there the course of the river was broken by rocky islands. On these islands villages and plantain groves were visible.
Baker found the people along this section superior to those of Latooka and Obbo. They were modest in their manners, and well clothed. They were good blacksmiths, and the pottery which they made was of a higher order than that of the other tribes mentioned.
Baker, with the thought of the lake still before him, pushed on, though often discouraged, and suffering from fatigue and fever. In the course of the journey the expedition had to cross a river. It could be done only in a very peculiar way. The whole stream was covered with a matting, or carpet, of tangled, floating weeds. This was so thick and strong as to bear the weight of a man, if he ran quickly across its surface. The width of the stream was about thirty yards.
Here Mrs. Baker almost lost her life; for, when about halfway across, she was overcome with a sunstroke, and began to sink rapidly through the weeds. Her husband and some of his men seized her and dragged her across the current, though they sank to their waists in the weeds before they succeeded in getting her to the bank.
CHAPTER XXVI.
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."