From the Cape to Cairo; the first traverse of Africa from south to north . s of the future, a future of Cooks tours, funicular railways,jjersonally conducted ascents (with a sermon and ginger-beer thrown in).How long ? A few short years, and where now the chimpanzee coughs tohis lady-love, and the stately elephant rambles to himself in undisturbedcontent, we shall hear the guttural growl of the Teuton, disputing theguide-tariff, and the raucous cry of Arry shooting for a tiddley. Well!thank God I have seen her first, seen her as she has stood for countless ages,wrapped in impenetrable mystery,
From the Cape to Cairo; the first traverse of Africa from south to north . s of the future, a future of Cooks tours, funicular railways,jjersonally conducted ascents (with a sermon and ginger-beer thrown in).How long ? A few short years, and where now the chimpanzee coughs tohis lady-love, and the stately elephant rambles to himself in undisturbedcontent, we shall hear the guttural growl of the Teuton, disputing theguide-tariff, and the raucous cry of Arry shooting for a tiddley. Well!thank God I have seen her first, seen her as she has stood for countless ages,wrapped in impenetrable mystery, undesecrated by human tread since theawful travail that gave her birth. The Mountains of the Moon—the veryname breathes mystery and romance, and fitly have romance and themyths of the ancients played round her crest, for is she not part mother ofthe Nile ? Alas! even as we gaze she fades away, a murky glow lightsup the evening sky, again .she .starts into bold relief, tis her last farewell !The mists eddy round those frowning crags, creeping here, drifting there, 200. TORO TO MBOGA 203 and the curtain drops, hiding all but the great black base. Such isRuwenzori, when she deigns to show herself; and only when there is rainin the air is she thus condescending. For although I spent nearly twomonths within sight of her, neither before nor after did I see her snowsagain. Scarcely less striking is the outlook to the north. Deep shade is alreadyon the terrific slope at our feet, while the setting sun still lights up the vastbasin of the Semliki and the Albert Lake. We seem to be standing onthe brink of a new world, ourselves in shade cast by the western spur, andthe eye wanders on over sunlit plain picked out with silver streaks, wherein places we catch a glimpse of the Semliki, and on till the lake liesgleaming like a sea of quicksilver, and yet on and on, ever-fading steel-blue to grey, till we can just see the black outlines of the hills against theblue-green sky, flecked with t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondonhurstandblac
