The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-22
WORLDS BIGGEST
ESHN|ATER BODY
Victoria Nyanza, Greatest OF At
rican Lakes, Even Outranks
Lake Superior.
$500
NOW NAvIGATED BY STEAMERS
Queer Features Of Life and
Travel-Islands OF the
Lake.
NOW NAvIGATED BY STEAMERS
ny FRANK G. CARPENTER.

| ~ ON LAKE VICTORIA.
Get out your straw hats and pith
helmets, pack up your white clothing
and thin underwear. and fly with me
to the heart of the black continent for
a trip over the biggest saltwater
! little steamship SybiI far out in Vic
| toria Nyanza, with, the mainland no.
where in sight. The blue waters of
1.-THE lake extend out on all sides of US;
There are only islands In view. Some
| OF the islands are high and rocky.
Others are bordered with sWamps and
beds of papyyrus. nlled with !, strange
ami. whose bobbing heads may be fire.
quently seen as they swim about near
the shore.
I In Knvirondo Gulf.
How delightful it Is. We are right
| on the equator. but the air is as cool
| as Ohio in June or as our Great Lakes
| in midsummer save that the invigor-
ating ozone of those regions Is absent
Where we took ship at Port Florence
1.-THE natiyes We're going stark naked.
BLACKS clad only in breechcoths. and
that out, of respect to the passengers.
1.-THE Uganda Railway brought us right
down 20 the lake. and naked porters
1 member how the blacks sang as they
worked. and how beautifully we could
see every play of their muscles as they
! carried the freight to the ship.
i We We're all afternoon coasting the
Gulf OF Kavirondo before we entered
the, lake proper, and our way was in
and out Of volcanic hills for a dis
over forty miles long and fourteen
| miles WIDE and 1t is lined with great
hills all the way. Some of the peaks
kiss the sky, some are rounded and
some cone shaped. but all are VOL
canic This is especially so 1T the
south. At the north the country is
lower and its hills are spotted with
| straw villages.
The gulf has many islands 1t mar
| rows as 1t goes inland. and it is also
narrow at the entrance. where there
are Islands of curious shape, forming
| a great chain which seems to shut out
the lake. Oul, first night was spent in
| front of Lusnga Island which is about
| sin hours from Port Florence, it being
unsafe to travel in many parts of these
| little known waters by night.
Victoria Nynnzn.
| But before | go father let me tell
you something about this mighty Afri-
lean lake. Sitting at home, In far-of
America. WITH the snow in the air and
\ all the surroundings of modern civil
lizhtion about you. 1t is hard to- realize
Lust where and Just what It is. The
nat map gives one but little idea of
| tho actual conditions. Lake Victoria
4 lies in the heartlof East-Central Africa.
Along the line Of the equator, on which
we now are, it is 700 miles. or about
as far as from New York to Toledo,
to the Indian Ocean. Going Westward
along the same line, 1t Is over twice
as far to the Atlantic. Il Is only few
miles to the north of us that the Nile
flows out on its way down to the Med
! iterranean Sea- and by It's winnings
the distance Is almost 1000 miles, 1t
i Is over $500 miles in straight line
southeast to the Cape of Good Hope, and
j lust 5s4 miles by the Uganda Railway
to Momhasa whore | entered this part
of Africa am only a few hundred
miles from the headwaters Of the lNon..
| Lake Victoria ] could reach Lake Tan