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Show - CENTRAL AFRICAN SPLENDORS. The : British are pushing their way into central Africa. "We say the British, but all. the work is going go-ing on under the name of the "Government of the Anglci-Egyptian Sudan." The Nile'route is opened to Uganda on the coast of the great lake of Victoria Nyanza. and it is said by Mr. Freshfield that "one of the. largest tourist companies expects soon to sell tickets to Victoria Nyanza by way of the Red sea, returning by the Nile." Mr. Freshfield says the Jieart of the Ruwenzori mountain is about 150 miles west of this seconl largest larg-est of fresh water lakes, and he believes these mountains moun-tains will be frequently visited by tourists in the coming years,, and that from some points of vantage on the range practically the whole region of the Nile's source will Be within view. At the foot of the . mountains to the south is Lake Albert-Edward, ' and ninety miles to the north is Albert Nyanza. These three lakes are the sources of the waters that go to form the Upper White Nile. , - These mountains rise from 11,000 to 14,000 feet above the surrounding plateau. ., . The New York Sun says : rThose who ha-ce .been there say that on a clear 1 morning the two larger of these lakes would bo plainly in view. When we visit the top of our Mount Washington we may distinguish the Adirondacks on the western horizon. The distance is about 140 miles, which is nearly as greatas that between Ruwenzori - and Victoria Nyanza, while the sightseer on the African Afri-can range is more than twice as high above the general gen-eral surroundings as the tourist on top of the Ameri- can mountain." And on these mountain Heights a traveler could see what no one onthe lake has ever seen, for the tre- mendous lake has never been crossed, but to the mountain climber could be unfolded all the sources of the Nile, and all the wealth of the marvelous trop-. trop-. ie scenery, producing perhaps the most beautiful panorama ever unfolded to mortals. It is said that Julius Caesar longed to know the source of that great river, but from Caesar's day to ours the mystery remained unsolved. But at last the veil has been withdrawn; the locomotive has found its way there, and little 6teamers ply around the shores of that next to the greatest of fresh water lakes. It is in the very heart of "darkest Africa," and that the locomotive has pushed its way there is a sign that the continent is about to be redeemed, that the barbarism is slowly to be obliterated, and the homes of settlers are to fill that region, the very existence ex-istence of which was an unsolved problem for ages. That will be a great trip down the Red sea and along the east coast of Africa to the railroad station, . then from that railroad station the journey to the lakes, and then from the lakes following the Nile through Sudan, and ' then down the great river to . where the pyramids have held their watch as thousands thou-sands of years have rolled away. It all means that Egypt is to be recreated ; that the valley of the Nile is to take on some of the splendors which were gathered gath-ered there when Memphis and Thebes were founded, when old Ramesis was king, and when Egypt was the center and starting point of civilization. The cry pretty soon in England will be, "See Europe and see America if you please, but see Africa Afri-ca first." When the first cabins are built and when the first crops are planted, then if the spirits of Livingstone Liv-ingstone and Stanley are together, from the ether they will smile down and in voices unheard in this world will say to each other, "The work that we began be-gan in the profound depths of that Central Africa . has begun to bear fruit." |