So, the
ancient legend which made these mountains the cradle of
the Nile, came near to the truth, since they really border
upon Lake Ukereoue, the conjectured reservoir of the
waters of the great river.
From Kafuro, the main district of the merchants of that
country, he descried, at length, on the horizon, the lake
so much desired and so long sought for, of which Captain
Speke caught a glimpse on the 3d of August, 1858.
Samuel Ferguson felt real emotion: he was almost in
contact with one of the principal points of his expedition,
and, with his spy-glass constantly raised, he kept every
nook and corner of the mysterious region in sight. His
gaze wandered over details that might have been thus
described:
"Beneath him extended a country generally destitute
of cultivation; only here and there some ravines seemed
under tillage; the surface, dotted with peaks of medium
height, grew flat as it approached the lake; barley-fields
took the place of rice-plantations, and there, too, could be
seen growing the species of plantain from which the wine
of the country is drawn, and mwani, the wild plant which
supplies a substitute for coffee. A collection of some fifty
or more circular huts, covered with a flowering thatch,
constituted the capital of the Karagwah country.
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