COULD SPEKE RETURN!
VICTORIA NYANZA AND THE NILE
1864 TN Kensington Gardens, not far from the Broadwater, a plain granite obelisk bears this inscription :— In Memory of SPEKE A happy chance placed the equestrian statue of Energy, by G. F. Watts, hard by this monument, as if symbolical of the great explorer's indomitable force of will.
The narrative of Speke's marvellous journeys through the unknown and inhospitable spaces of East Africa reads like a romance. But could he return to the scene of his labours, and view the changes that a few brief years have witnessed, would he not exclaim that this is a greater romance than any ? What would he have said if he had been told, when he discovered the vast inland sea which he named Victoria Nyanza, that in half a century's time English and German armies would be fighting each other beside these waters in a life and death struggle, whose theatre of war extended to almost every quarter of the globe ?
Speke could boast with St. Paul that he was in journey- ings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness ; in weakness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst. It was in August, 1858, that he first cast his eyes on the mysterious " nyanza," concerning which he had heard so much vague talk from the natives. So it actually existed, and was not a figment of their imagina- tion. But was this in truth the great reservoir-source of the immortal Nile ? Did its waters run out to the north or to the south, or was there no outlet at all ?
These problems had to be left unsolved for the present.
Speke had made a hurried rush from Kaze, on Lake Tanganyika, where he left Burton ; and thither he had to retrace his steps without delay. But he knew now the task that lay before him. It inflamed his very being. He returned to England and made preparations for his great adventure. Starting from Zanzibar in October, 1860, he— this time with Grant—found himself once more at Kaze in January, 1861. But eighteen months were to elapse before he reached the outlet whence the waters issue from the lake to fertilize the rich delta of Egypt. These eighteen months constitute an Odyssey. The contents of a single chapter of Speke's journal run thus : "First taste of Usui taxation—Pillaged by Mfambi—Pillaged by Makaka—Pillaged by Lumeresi—Grant stripped by M'yonga—Terrors and defections in the camp—Driven back to Kaze with new tribulations and impediments." And all this in the lifetime of many of us ! But not only in dangers did Speke share the experiences of Ulysses. If the Homeric hero was besought to tarry with Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa and her father, Alcinous, Speke had to submit to prolonged hospitable detention from Mtesa, King of Uganda, and other poten- tates and their queens—especially their queens ! To us who know the lake the route selected by Speke in this expedition seems almost incomprehensible. lie marched northwards through Uganda, far to the west of Nyanza, and never saw its waters until he had overshot his mark, and reached the Nile considerably below its exit from the lake. With great difficulty he marched up the river to the spot where the stream dashes out in a tumultuous cascade, which he christened the Ripon Falls. He had learnt the great secret which had baffled investigators for two thousand years. He descended the Nile to the Mediterranean. .
And now ? Could Speke return there would be no need of a tedious voyage round the Cape, or a long sojourn at Zanzibar for .the collection of .porters and stores. A few weeks' journey via the Suez Canal (how he would hold up his hands at this marvel of engineering !) takes him to Mombasa, the port of British East Africa now . known as Kenya. He lands at his leisure in the morning, and, conveyed in a curious .trolley, has. time to visit the -old Portuguese fort and the picturesque Roman Catholic cathedral, and enjoy a lunch at the club. He proceeds to the station and seats himself in a comfortable first-class compartment of the mail train. Punctually at 2.45 the train _steams away on its journey into Central Africa.
Quantum mutat= ab ! At four o'clock there is a few minutes' halt at Mazeras, where the explorer has time to visit the delightful government botanical- gardens. At six o'clock a Well-cooked dinner awaits him at Samburu, and at ten he can, if he desires it, obtain further refresh- ments at Voi. His sleeping accommodation is then ready for him. At one o'clock the next day he reaches Nairobi, the capital of Kenya ; but for two hours before this he has been passing through the national reserve of wild animals, where, regardless of the train, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, and deer of every kind skip and gambol at their will.
Thirty years ago someone pitched a tent on the prairie where Nairobi now stands. If our traveller cares to break his journey here for twenty-four hours he will find beauti- ful avenues, streets with shops that would do credit to Bond Street, a palatial club, government house, churches, comfortable bungalows, golf links, and at least two hotels where, in equipment, attendance and menu, the dining- rooms compare not unfavourably with similar establish- ments in London. But perhaps he prefers to go on at once to the great lake. An hour for an excellent lunch at the station restaurant, and the train proceeds on its way. Before dusk there are glorious views to be seen from the carriage windows, for the line is ascending the Highlands where English men and women build houses, create plantations and farms, and turn the wilderness into a garden. As the train climbs higher and higher, up to eight thousand feet, it becomes distinctly cold ; and several blankets are needed in the night. The next morning there is the descent to the Nyanza Valley, and at 9.50 the train reaches Kisumu, the terminus of the Uganda railway on the shores of the lake, three thousand five hundred feet above sea level. Not two years or so to attain Victoria Nyanza, but a mere trifle of forty-three hours ! And this Kisumu is Nairobi on a smaller scale, with hotel, club, golf links, avenues, bungalows, gardens, fine shops, some, kept by Europeans, others. by Indians ; and in addition to all this there is a spacious. and busy dockyard, where steamers can be built. A few minutes' march from the railway station takes our traveller to the wharf, where the 'Clement Hill,' as fine a passenger steamer as he could wish for, is ready to convey him across the lake, and land him the next day at Entebbe, the capital, of Uganda. There is a fine fleet of some fifteen steamers on the lake, and plenty of work for all of them, with native passenger traffic and rich cargoes of naerchandize, cotton, coffee, sugar, bark, rubber, cattle, and much besides. Within the lifetime of many of us no European had ever seen this inland sea, and its very existence was doubtful.
Entebbe is exceedingly beautiful, and, right away, as it might be thought, from all civilization, all civilization is here. It is Nairobi over again, with more charming natural surroundings, and the glorious lake at its feet. Here the traveller can hire a motor-car and drive on an excellent road (Uganda is-proud of her roads) twenty-five miles through super-tropical scenery to 'Kampala, the commercial capital of Uganda—another centre of civiliza- tion. A railway covers the eight miles to Port Bell ; and thence a steamer will convey the explorer some sixty miles to Jinja, where he can feast his eyes on the Ripon Falls, and feel with pride that he has seen the source of the Nile. So simple it is nowadays. And yet when we read Speke's account of his perils and adventures, and realize the tremendous pluck and grit of the man, may it not be that there was more of joy for him in his journeyings than all these modern conveniences can give to us ?
E. C. Cox,
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