The Zigzag Path To Descend To The Lake Was So Steep And Dangerous That
We Were Forced To Leave Our Oxen With A Guide, Who Was To Take Them To
Magungo And Wait For Our Arrival.
We commenced the descent of the steep
pass on foot.
I led the way, grasping a stout bamboo. My wife in extreme
weakness tottered down the pass, supporting herself upon my shoulder,
and stopping to rest every twenty paces. After a toilsome descent of
about two hours, weak with years of fever, but for the moment
strengthened by success, we gained the level plain below the cliff. A
walk of about a mile through flat sandy meadows of fine turf
interspersed with trees and bushes brought us to the water's edge. The
waves were rolling upon a white pebbly beach; I rushed into the lake,
and thirsty with heat and fatigue, with a heart full of gratitude, I
drank deeply from the Sources of the Nile.
CHAPTER XXI.
The cradle of the Nile - Arrival at Magungo - The blind leading the
blind - Murchison Falls.
The beach was perfectly clean sand, upon which the waves rolled like
those of the sea, throwing up weeds precisely as seaweed may be seen
upon the English shore. It was a grand sight to look upon this vast
reservoir of the mighty Nile and to watch the heavy swell tumbling upon
the beach, while far to the south-west the eye searched as vainly for a
bound as though upon the Atlantic.
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