When ready to be baked seven or eight of the bottles are placed together and covered with a pile of dry grass, which is set on fire. Only a gentle heat is needed, and wood-fires are not used, as the high temperature would crack the bottles. Captain Speke says a good workman will make four large pots in a day. Their picturesqueness and perfect shape often surprise the stranger. In some regions the pottery turns black when baked, while in others it becomes red, on account of the iron in the soil.
We will leave Frank engaged in the inspection of specimens of African workmanship, and return to Doctor Bronson and his nephew, whom we left at the head of the White Nile, beginning the exploration of the Albert N'yanza.
[CHAPTER XVI.]
THE ALBERT N'YANZA.—ACCOUNT OF ITS DISCOVERY.—INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST DAY'S VOYAGE.
LAKE SCENE IN CENTRAL AFRICA.
The Khedive was headed for the western shore of the lake, or rather she turned her prow in a westerly direction, as she steamed away from the head of the Bahr-el-Abiad, or White Nile. Doctor Bronson said that the village Magungo, at the mouth of the Victoria Nile, was not more than twenty-five miles away in the opposite direction. Frank looked with his glass, and easily made out the indentation in the shores of the lake that marked the point where the river flows into the Albert N'yanza.