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.