“The water ran deep between its banks, which were covered with fine grass, soft cloudy acacia, and festoons of lilac convolvuli, whilst here and there, where the land had slipped above the rapids, bared spaces of red earth could be seen, like that of Devonshire; there, too, the waters, impeded by a natural dam, seemed like a huge mill pond, sullen and dark, in which two crocodiles, lying about, were looking out for prey. From the high banks I looked down upon a line of sloping wooded islets lying across the stream, which divide its waters, and, by interrupting them, cause at once both dam and rapids. The whole was more fairy-like, wild, and romantic than--I must confess that my thoughts took that shape--anything I ever saw outside of a theatre. It was exactly the sort of place, in fact, where, bridged across from one side-slip to the other, on a moonlight night, brigands would assemble to enact some dreadful tragedy. Even the Wangwana (Zanzibaris) seemed spellbound at the novel beauty of the sight, and no one thought of moving till hunger warned us that night was setting in, and we had better look out for lodgings.” Speke describes the Ripon Falls, where the Nile leaves the lake, as by far the most interesting sight he had ever seen in Africa. The falls are stemmed by rocky islands and crowned by magnificent trees.[72] “It was a sight that attracted one to it for hours,--the roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger-fish, leaping at the falls with all their might, the Basoga and Baganda fishermen coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at the margin of the lake. The scene made, in all, with the pretty nature of the country,--small hills, grassy-topped, with trees in the folds, and gardens on the lower slopes,--as interesting a picture as one could wish to see.” This was Speke’s furthest point eastward in connection with Nile discovery. He confesses in his book that he has missed much by not going through Busoga to see the northeast corner of the lake. Had he done so, he might have cleared up at the very beginning the most disputed portion of that lake’s geography. At the northeast corner of the Victoria Nyanza is a long and narrow gulf which we now term Kavirondo Bay. This gulf figures on Speke’s map as a semi-independent Lake Baringo. Stanley, in his circumnavigation, wholly overlooked it, as its mouth is blocked by islands. Joseph Thompson read a quarter of the riddle. One-half was guessed by Mr. C. W. Hobley, and the remaining quarter was cleared up by an expedition under Commander Whitehouse. [Illustration: RIPON FALLS, FROM BUGUNGA, WHERE SPEKE FIRST SAW THEM.]