Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 1.djvu/303

 the Mountains of the Moon. Now the old legend, which states that these hills are the cradle of the Nile, appears to be not far from the truth, inasmuch as they border upon Lake Ukéréoné, the supposed reservoir for the waters of the big river.

From Kafuero, the central market of the native merchants, he perceived at length on the horizon the long-sought lake which Captain Speke got a glimpse of on the 3rd of August, 1858.

Samuel Ferguson was moved. He had almost arrived at one of the principal points of his expedition, and, telescope in hand, he did not lose a corner of this mysterious country which his gaze thus drank in.

Beneath him the ground appeared generally exhausted; there was scarcely a hollow cultivated; the plain, dotted here and there with mounds of medium elevation, became level as it approached the lake; fields of barley took the place of rice. There was the plantain, from which the wine of the country is made, and the "mwani," a wild plant that yields coffee. A collection of fifty circular huts, covered with a flowery thatch, constituted the capital of Karagwah. They could easily distinguish the astonished faces of a race apparently good-looking and of a yellowish-brown color. Women of a most incredible corpulence were working in the fields, and the doctor astonished his companions by informing them that this stoutness, which is highly appreciated, is obtained by an obligatory diet of curdled milk.

At mid-day the "Victoria" was in 1° 45' South latitude; in an hour the wind carried it over the lake. Captain Speke called this Lake "Victoria" Nyanza. In this place it measures ninety miles wide. At its southern extremity the captain found a group of islands which he designated the Archipelago of Bengal. He pushed his researches as far as Muanza on the eastern side, where he was well received by the sultan. He made a triangulation of this part of the lake; but he could not procure a boat either to cross it or to visit the great island of Ukéréoné. This very populous island is governed by three sultans, and only forms a peninsula at low water.

The "Victoria" approached the lake more towards the north to the doctor's great disappointment, who wanted to