The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-03-22
On Lake Victoria.

On Lake Victoria. ~ EFT out your straw hats and pith helmets, pack up your white 0 clothing and thin underwear, and fly with me to the heart of the. black continent for a trip over the biggest fresh water lake of the world We are on the little steamship Sybf far out in Victoria Nyanza, with the mainland mo- where in sight. The blue waters of the lake extend out on all sides of us, as far as our eyes can reach, and there are only islands in view. Some of the islands are high and rocky. Others are bordered with swamps and beds of papyrus, filled with strange birds and with huge black hip popotami, whose bobbing heads may be frequently seen as they swim about near the shore.
 In kavirondo 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 tl:at the invigorating ozone of those regions Is absent Where we took ship at Port Florence the natives were going stark naked, and our boat was loaded by a gang of blacks clad only in breechcloths, and that out of respect to the passengers. The Uganda railway brought US right down to the lake, and naked porters carried our luggage on board. We remember how the blacks sang as they worked, and how beauti- fully we could see every play of their muscles as they carried the freight to the ship.
 We were all afternoon eoasting the Gulf of Kavirondo before we entered the lake proper, and our way was in and out or volcanic hills for a distance of 46 miles. The gulf is over 40 miles long and 14 miles wide and it 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 volcanic. This is es- pecially so at the south. At the north the country is lower and it's hills are spotted with straw villages.
 The gulf has many islands. It narrows as it 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. Our first night was spent in front of Lusinga island, which Is about six hours from Port Florence. it being unsafe to travel in many parts of these little known waters by night
 Victoria Nyanza.
 But before go farther let me tell you something about this mighty African lake. Sitting at home, in far-off America, with the snow in the air and all the surround ings of modern civilization about you, 1t IS hard to realize just where and just what 1t is. The fiat maps give one but little idea of the actual conditions. Lake victoria lies in the heart of east-central Africa, Along the line of the equator, on which we now are, 1t Is TOO miles. or about as far as from New York to To- ledo to the Indian ocean, Going west ward along the same line it is over twice as far to the Atlantic. It Is only few miles to the north of us that the Nile flows out on its way down to the Medi- terranean sea, and by it's windings the distance is almost 4OO0 miles. It is over 25Oo miles in a straight line southeast to the Cape of Good Hope, and Just 5S4 miles by the Uganda railway to Mombasa, where I entered this part of Africa. l am only a few hundred miles from the head waters of the Kongo and from the south ern shores of Lake Victoria I could reach Lake Tanganyika by march of less than 200 miles, and midway on that lake get into a branch of the Kongo and float down to the sea-
 Bigger Than Lake Superior.
 have travelled over most of the great lakes of the world I know those of our own country well and likewise those of Europe and South \ America. have crossed Lake Titicaca, which lies two and one -nalf miles above the sea on the top of the Andes, and have. seen the Dead sea, which is a quarter Of a mile below the level of the ocean, On the edge of the Holy Land. Quitting the Caspian sea, Victoria Nyanza is the biggest lake of the