Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-11
Copyright. 1905. by Frank q. Carpenter)
Special Correspondence OF The Star.

Copyright. 1905. by Frank q. Carpenter,
Special Correspondence OF The Star
ENTEBBE.
TAkE a seat with me on the mud
veranda Of the mud hotel at
Entebbe and look out over
Lake Victoria. while / tell you
something OF this Uganda
protectorate which the British have re-
Gently added to their share of the white
mans burden. You had best keep your
hats on There are lizards and scorpions
in the matched roof overhead and some
NAV fall down upon US as we talk. I
advise YOU also to tie your shoes tight
and by no means to rest your bare feet
on the floor. 1t is true it is plastered
with COW dung and that ought to keep
out the ants and the jiggers- The latter
insects however. have 4 way of crawl
Ing in under ones toe nails and laying
little sacks of eggs in the skin. which.
If they hatch. may cause US the loss on
our toes. 7 have had ten llEgers taken
out of my feet since I came into eanda,
and. now. Epifras, my native servant
goes over my toes every morning.
On the Equator.
Do YOU see that black band> moving
across the path down there in front?
tack you if you come near it. They
are the famous warrior ants. whose bite
feels like red-hot pinchers and whose
heads have to be torn from their bodies
before they will let go. They are tar
more dangerous than that baby lion. VINO.
,s tied with clothesline ABOUT his neck
10 tree nearby He is only ABOUT as
big as a Scotch collie and is not old
enough to know how strong ne is. he
was brought in last night by traFelef
from Lake Tanganyika. who also owns
the two gray parrots with req tals.
which. perched in the tree aoove IT, are
alternately whstling and scoding.
Before we began our talk let US LOOK
around and try to realize Where we arr
This mud hotel is called the Equatorial
II is situated right on the equator ana
BY spreading out our legs we could al
most straddle the same. NeVertheIeSs.
we are about 400 feet above the sea. ana
the cool breezes from Victoria lake make
the air as delightful as Virginia in June.
There are oranges and lemons growing
out there in the garden. great heds OF
feathery papyrus are waving 10 aho iro
on the shores and we can see Tan oaims
with their whispering leaves everywhere
We are right on the edge of Victoria
Nyanza about as far inland as the west
ern shores Of Lake Erie are in from New
York and right in the heart OF the African
continent That lake was not known to
the world until about fifty years ago. and
today large part of the lands surround
ing it are UNEMPLOYED. the equator goes
right through the lake and it is only
about sixty miles south of it that the
German possessions begin. This part of
Lake Victoria belongs to Great Britain.
and all the vast territory extending from
here to tine Mediterranean. including
Uganda. the Sudan and Egypt. is practi-
calIy under the control of John Bull. lie
has every foot of land on each side the
Nile which begins its course b. flowing
out OF Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls. not
far from here. and winds it's way for
400 miles before it empties into the
Mediterranean sea. AS the crow flies the
distance is farther than from Philadei-
phia to the Great Sal; Lake: and the
country contains some of the richest lands
upon earth Every one knows of the
wealth of Egypt, which has never been
SO rich as since the British took hold
The Sudan !as vast territories equally
fertile: and Uganda away down here at
the Niles source among the highest of
the African mountains. is in some respects
richer than all.
Indeed the English officials tell me that