s were "reduced
to the appearance of pipe-sticks." But, emaciated as he was, he made
his way onwards, till the explorers were rewarded by finding a
"beautiful sheet of water lying snugly within the folds of the hills,"
which they named the Little Windermere, because they thought it was
so like "our own English lake of that name. To do royal honours to
the king of this charming land, I ordered my men," says Speke, "to
put down their loads and fire a volley."

The king, whom they next visited, was a fine-looking man, who, with
his brother, sat cross-legged on the ground, with huge pipes of black
clay by their sides, while behind them, "squatting quiet as mice,"
were the king's sons, six or seven lads, with little dream-charms under
their chins! The king shook hands in true English fashion and was full
of inquiries. Speke described the world, the proportions of land and
water, and the large ships on the sea, and begged to be allowed to
pass through his kingdom to Uganda. The explorers learnt much about
the surrounding country, and spent Christmas Day with a good feast
of roast beef. The start for Uganda was delayed by the serious illness
of Grant, until at last Speke reluctantly decided to leave him with
the friendly king, while he made his way alone to Uganda and the Lake
Victoria Nyanza. It was the end of January 1861 when the English
explorer entered the unknown kingdom of Uganda. Messengers from the
king, M'tesa, came to him. "Now," they said, "you have really entered
the kingdom of Uganda, for the future you must buy no more food. At
every place that you stop for the day, the officer in charge will bring
you plantains."

[Illustration: M'TESA, KING OF UGANDA. From Speke's _Journey to
Discover the Source of the Nile_.]

The king's palace was ten days' march; the way lay along the western
coast of the Lake Victoria Nyanza, the roads were "as broad as our
coach roads cut through the long grass straight over the hills and
down through the woods. The temperature was perfect. The whole land
was a picture of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the
background."

On 13th February, Speke found a large volume of water going to the
north. "I took off my clothes," he says, "and jumped into the stream,
which I found was twelve yards broad and deeper than my height. I was
delighted beyond measure, for I had, to all appearance, found one of
the branches of the Nile's exit from the Nyanza."

But he had not reached the Nil