Page:The empire and the century.djvu/820

 Mountains of the Moon, rises out of the very centre of the 'Rift' valley. It is girdled on one side by the Albert Edward Nyanza and on the other by the Semliki River. Its snow-fed torrents have consequently no other outlet than either the stream or the lake, and their waters must therefore help eventually to swell the volume of the Nile.

To those who have never visited Uganda it is difficult to give any but a faint idea of the scenery of the country in which the Nile has its birth. Every variety of landscape is here met with, and the beauty of this region can scarcely be surpassed elsewhere.

Lake Victoria is bounded on the east and north-east by a chain of lofty mountains, from which long spurs run down to the water, ending in a succession of noble headlands of bold outline. The scenery of this portion of the lake is grand and impressive, differing from that of the opposite shore, where the landscape is softer, and possesses the charm due to low-rounded hills and to an undulating and well-wooded country. Here there are no abrupt elevations, and the numerous bays and inlets are fringed to the water's edge with a tropical vegetation. Behind the coast-line stretches an expanse of alternating hill and valley, densely populated and richly cultivated, bearing evidences of much prosperity.

The Victoria Nyanza presents an endless series of contrasts. In the open water, where no land is visible, it more resembles a sea than a lake, and the storms, which frequently lash its surface into waves of consider able size, tend to impress this resemblance vividly upon the navigator.

Near the coast, however, the islands are so numerous and so close together that the dividing expanses of water are practically land-locked, and so sheltered that storms can have no effect upon their secluded havens. Many of these islands cover a large area, and contain hill-ranges of considerable height. Others are mere rocky elevations rising from the lake, a few acres in