After leaving Bumbireh, Stanley next landed and camped at Dumo Uganda, which is a two days’ march north of the Kagera River and two days south of the Katonga River. This camp he selected for his expedition because it was intermediate, whence he could start on a northwest, west, or southwest course for the Albert Nyanza, after ascertaining from Mtesa which was best: for between the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza are very powerful tribes, the Wasagara, Wa Ruanda, and Wasangora especially, who were continually at war with Mtesa.
Here Stanley remained several days, until he could procure force sufficient from Mtesa to pierce the hostile country through which alone he could penetrate to the Albert Nyanza, the aim of his present expedition. He himself was of opinion that unless the Emperor gave him a force of fifty thousand men, it would be almost hopeless to expect that they could hold their ground long enough to enable him to set out on a two-months’ voyage of exploration and find on his return the expedition still intact and safe. On presenting these views to the Emperor, he and his chiefs assured Stanley that two thousand men were amply sufficient, as Kabba Rega would not dare to lift a spear against the Waganda, because it was he (Mtesa) who had seated Kabba Rega on the throne of Kamrasi. Though not quite convinced with the assurances Mtesa gave him that there would be no trouble, Stanley entreated him no further, but accepted thankfully General Samboozi and two thousand men as escort.
The march across Uganda, west and northwest, was uninterrupted by any event to mar the secret joy Stanley felt in being once more on the move to new fields of exploration. The party made a bold show of spears and guns while marching across the easy swells of pastoral western Uganda.
Arriving at the frontier of Unyoro, they made all warlike preparations, and on January 5th entered Kabba Rega’s territory. The people fled before them, leaving their provisions behind them, of which free use was made. On the 9th they camped at the base of Mt. Kabuga, at an altitude off 5500 feet above the sea. East of the low ridge on which they camped the Katonga River was rounding from the north to the east on its course toward Lake Victoria, and west of camp the Rusango River boomed hoarse thunder from its many cataracts and falls as it rushed westward to Lake Albert. From one of the many spurs of Kabuga they obtained a passing glimpse of the king of mountains, Gambaragari, which attains an altitude of between 13,000 and 15,000 feet above the ocean.
On the summit of this high mountain Stanley came across a strange, pale-faced tribe of natives, complexion almost European—a handsome race, some of the women being singularly beautiful. Their hair is kinky, but inclined to brown in color. Their features are regular and lips thin; but their noses, though well-shaped, are somewhat thick at the point. Several of their descendants are scattered throughout Unyoro, Ankori, and Ruanda, and the royal family of the latter powerful country are distinguished by their pale complexions. The Queen of Sasua Islands, in the Victoria Nyanza, is a descendant of this tribe.
Whence this singular people came Stanley was unable to determine, further than to surmise from a clew which he mentions, viz.: that the first King of Kishakka, a country to the southwest, was an Arab, whose cimeter is still preserved with much reverence by the present reigning family of Kishakka.
This mountain is an extinct volcano, and on the summit is a crystal clear lake about five hundred yards in length, from the centre of which rises a column-like rock to a great height. A rim of firm rock, like a wall, surrounds the summit, within which are several villages, where the chief of this singular tribe and his people reside.
The first King of Unyoro gave them the land around the base of the Gambaragari mountain, wherein through many vicissitudes they have continued to reside for centuries. On the approach of an invading army they retreat to the summit of the mountain, the intense cold of which defies the most determined of their enemies. Several years ago Emperor Mtesa despatched his Prime Minister with about one hundred thousand men to Gambaragari and Usongora; but though the great General of Uganda occupied the slopes and ascended to a great height in pursuit, he was compelled by the inclement climate to descend without having captured more than a few black slaves, the pale-faced tribe having retreated to their impregnable fortress at the summit.
About four years previous to this, when exploring the Tanganyika with Livingstone, they heard that there existed a race of white men north of the Uzigo. At that time Livingstone and Stanley smiled at the absurdity of a white people living in the heart of Africa; but here Stanley actually sees them, and discovers the truth of the report.
After leaving the Gambaragari mountain and its pace-faced inhabitants, Stanley penetrated through the Unyoro country to the borders of the Lake Albert; but finding it utterly impossible, through the determined opposition of the natives, to procure any canoes, he was forced to return to Uganda, to discover other routes and countries more amenable to reason and open to friendly gifts than hostile Unyoro or incorrigible Ankori.