The Sunday Oregonian., March 22, 1908, Magazine Section, Page 8, Image 54

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Smm of We. travel mmM0ri
wmm boof fresh I
1.1 1 - : F T -LANDING- 02V VZCTCIUA. ILAKE , AT
It 1 launched last year. The Sybil and Wln-
sjj , ' ! , ' nlfred are sister ships. They make reg-
v ' . ( ' ' lilar trips around the lake, in connection
l - 1 . with the Uganda Railway, the voyage
' from port to port requiring about ten
. V I days. It Is upon the Sybil that I am
. I fV ' ' r writing this letter.
; I I - X, ' T " - A Mid-African Steamer.
L fl-M 1 Af 3-Vflr fui.
' ..- ;J!2 ...j. 1 . iV I ::f:-
BY PltANK O. CARPENTER.
GET out your straw hats and pith
helmets, pack up your white cloth
ing and thin underwear, and fly
with me to the heart of the black conti
nent for a trip over the largest fresh
water lake of the world. Wo are on the
little steamship Sybil far out in Victoria
INyanza, with the mainland nowhere in
eisrht. The blue waters of the lake ex
tend out on all sides of us as far aa our
ryes can reach, and there are only Islands
In view. Some of the islands are high
and rocky. Others are bordered with
vwamps Rml beds of papyrus, filled with
vtrange birds and with huge black hip
popotami, whose bobbing heads may be
frequently seen as they swim about near
the shore.
In Kavirondo Gulf.
How delightful it is! We are right on
the equator, but the air is as cool as
Ohio in June or as our great lakes in
mid-Summer, save that the Invigorating
ozone of those regions is absent. Where
we took ship at Port Florence the natives
were going stark naked, and our boat
was loaded by a gang of blacks clad only
In breechcloths. and that out of respect
to the passengers. The Uganda railway
brought us right down to the lake, and
naked porters carried our luggage on
board. We remember how the blacks
ang as they worked, and how beauti
fully we could see every play of their
muscles as they carried the freight to
the ship.
We were all afternoon coasting the GuH
of Kavirondo before we entered the lake
proper, and our way was in and out of
volcanic hills for- a distance of 46 miles.
The gulf is over 40 milps long and 14
miles wide, and It is lined with great
hills all the way. Some of the peaks
kiss the sky, some are rounded and some
cone-shaped, but all are volcanic. This
Is especially so at the south. At the
north the country is lower and its hills
are spotted with straw villages.
The gulf has many Islands. It narrows
ns it goes inland, and it Is also narrow at
rt entrance, where there are lsiands of
nn'lous shape forming a great chain
which seems to shut out the lake. Our
first night wes spent In the front of
Iusinga Island, which is about six hours
from Port Florence. It being unsafe to
travel in many parts of these little-known
waters by night.
Victoria Nyania.
But before I go farther, let me tell
you something about this mighty African
lake. Slitting at home, in far-off Amer
ica, with the snow in the air and all the
surroundings of modern civilization about
you. it is hard to realize Just where and
Just what it is. The flat maps give one
but little tdea of the actual conditions.
Lake Victoria lies in the heart of east
Central Africa. Among the line of the
equator, on which we now are. it Is
To-) miles, or about as far as from New
york to Toledo, to the Indian Ocean.
Going westward along the same line it is
over twice as far to the Atlantic. It Is
only a few miles to the north of us that
(he Nile flows out on its way down to the
Mediterranean Sea, and by Us windings
the distance Is almost four thousand
miles. It ia over 2500 miles in a straight
line southeast to the Cape of Good Hope
and Just 584 miles by the Uganda Rail
way to Mombasa, where I entered this
part of Africa. I am only a few hundred
miles from the. headwaters of the Congo
and from Ihe southern shores of Lake
Victoria I could reach Lake Tanganyika
by a march of less than 2U0 miles, and
midway on that lake get Into a branch
of the Congo and float down to the Bea.
Bigger Than Lake Superior.
I have traveled over most of the great
lakefc of the world. I know those of our
own country well and likewise those of
Europe and South America. I have
crossed Lake TIticaca, which lies two and
one-half miles above the sea on the top
of the Andes, and have seen the Dead
Sea, which is a quarter of a mile below
the level of tlve ocean, on the edge of
the Holy Land. Omitting the Caspian
Sea, Victoria Xyanza is the biggest lake
of the world. It Is the largest body of
fresh water on earth, outranking Lake
Superior by about 1000 square mllesv If
you could pick it up and spread it over
the United States it would cover the
whole of South Carolina, or dropping it
Into New Gngland It wotiid drown the
states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut,
It is three-fourths the size of either Ken
tucky, Virginia or Ohio and is more than
half as large as all of our great lakes
combined. It la three times as big as
Lake Erie, and if one &uld put Lake
Erie and Lake Huron into one body they
would cover about the same surface. This
lake is twice as big as Tanganyika,
although It is only bait as long, and It
has three times the area- of Lake Chad,
which lies away off to the northwest,
above the French Congo, on the southern
edge of the Sahara. Lake Victoria is
almost quadrilateral in shape. Tanganyika
is a long, narrow trough between high
hills. Nyassa is long and narrow, and
so are Lake Rudolf and Albert Xyanza at
the north.
Victoria Xyanza is more like our own
Lake Superior than any of the other great
bodies of fresh water. It ilea in the
highlands, and might be said to be on the
roof of the African continent as Superior
is on the eastern roof of the Xorth
American continent. Lake Victoria Is.
however, more than six times as high
up in the air as Lake Superior and more
than seven times as high as Huron or
Michigan. It is about 4000 feet above the
sea. and Is within 000 feet of the altitude
of the Great Salt Lake.
As to the depth of the lake, its bot
tom has not been carefully surveyed, but
there are places which -measure over 600
feet. This is abont three times the depth
of Lake Brie, but not nearly so deep as
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND. 3IARCII 22, 1908.
Lakes, Superior, Huron and Michigan.
This lake has a mighty volume of water,
and Its surface rises 40 or 50 Inches during
some years. The volume is so great that
a dam might be placed at the source of
the Nile and give water for irrigation
for vast territories along the course of
that river, which are now undreamed of.
As to this matter, however, I will write
in the future.
In Black Africa. '
Until within the past few years this
region was one of the blackest parts of
the African continent. -Slavery was com
mon everywhere and cannibalism rife. No
one knew there was a lake here at all
until 1853, when Speke discovered the
southern shores; and we had no idea of
its extent until our own Henry M. Stan
ley went around the lake in 1S7S. As it
Is now, about the only inhabitants are
these queer tribes of African natives,
who In certain regions are still warring
with one another. I have described the
naked Kavirondo and some of their queer
customs. North of Victoria Nyanza are
natives who are as different from them
as the Americans are different from the
Japanese or Chinese. On the south are
other tribes with other strange customs,
and the whole lake is surrounded by a 1
dozen or more different peoples, each
different - from all the others In appear
ance and in their various grades of civil
ization. Navigating Lake Victoria In 1908.
No European boat had ever been seen
on this lake until Stanley came, and he
was told that the lake was so large that
It would take several years to go around
It. Before that the boats were such as
we now see used by the natives. They
consist of boards sewed together with
fiber of the raphia palm, 'and can only
be kept from sinking by Industrious ball
ing. I saw many of them at Port Flor
ence, and they are used more or less all
around the lake. The average boat Is
26 or more feet long, three feet wfSe
and two feet deep. It is made without
nails or any Iron whatsoever and is sel
dom fitted with sails. It is easily cap
sized in a storm, at which time the boat
men often jump outside and hold on to
the rim of the boat to keep from sinking
until the storm is over.
Stanley made a big rowboat, which he
called the Lady Alice. He started at
Speke Gulf, and by using a sail gradually
made his way around, covering many of
the points at which I shall call farther
on In these journeys. At present there
are four little steamers, belonging to the
British, on Lake Victoria. One of these
Is the Sir William McKlnnon, which was
brought up from the ocean In pieces be
fore the Uganda Railway was built and
here put together. It is still In com
mission and is used by the British of
ficials as a sort of dispatch boat.
The next two steamers are the Sybil
and Winnifred, each of about 600 tons,
and the other is the Sir Clement Hill,
which has 800 tons and which was
I wish I could show you this little
African- steamer. If it could be taken
up and transported to one of our
American rivers or dropped down upon
Lake Huron or Erie, it would not seem
much out of place, for the ship Is just
-about the same as some used on our
lakes. The differences lie in the people
and the management. The Sybil moves
by a screw. It has a smokestack in
the center and two masts before and
behind, with a lifeboat on deck. It has
about a dozen cabins, with a dark lit
tle dining saloon in the rear. The
cabins are lighted by electricity and
each has an electric fan. Back of the
dining saloon is a ledge up under the
portholes where the second-class pas
sengers sleep. The top deck haa a
double awning of canvas,-and at mid
day we are advised to keep our hats
on while sitting under It. The sun's
rays are strong in this latitude, and
one must protect his head even when
indoors if the roof Is not thick.
As to first-class passengers we have
only about a half dozen on the' Sybil,
and they and the English officers are
the only Europeans. The sailors are
half-naked natives, who get wages of
about 10 cents a day, and the steward
and cooks are Hindoos who are paid
a little more. The passengers are two
British officials on their way to serve
in Interior Uganda, a German surgeon
who Is bound for Mwanza in the
Kaiser's territories on the south of the
lake, a Congo trader who has about a
carload of beads and brass wire with
him to buy ivory and rubber, and a mis.
sionary who i going to Kampala, and
who will get off at Entebbe. In
addition to these are myself and son,
who will leave the boat at Entebbe for
Uganda.
We have also on board a half dozen
native soldiers, and one of these. is al
ways guarding the mall. The bags were
carried, under guard, onto the boat at
Port Florence, and a soldier with a
gun in his hand stands beside them day
and night throughout the voyage.
A Coming Tourist Center.
The prospect Is that Lake Victoria
will some day be as well known to the
globe-trotter as the Great Lakes of
America. The expense of coming here
Is too high for the ordinary traveler,
but the man who can pay the bille can
live on these boats almost as comfort
ably as at home. I mean as far as eat
ing and drinking are concerned, and as
respects the climate. There Is much to
be desired in the matter of freedom
from cockroaches, rats and other in
sects. I have never seen so many and
such wild animals of the roach kind be
fore. My cabin has some as large as
mice, and it seems to me that they
come out in the daytime and look At
one while they sharpen their teeth in
order to trouble him the better at
night.' The roaches run through the
dining-rooms, and when I put my foot
on one. as I do whenever it Is possible,
it leaves a grease spot as large as my
hand on the floor.
Another infernal insect is the jigger.
I. don't know where I got mine, whether
on shore or ship, but my native boy
has extracted the eggs of three of
these pests from under my toes during
the voyage. The jigger is a little in
sect which bores a hole In one's flesh,
choosing the foot, and usually places
under the toenails. It lays Its eggs
there in the form of a little sack about
as big as a pearl shirt, button, and
this' sack must be cut out at once. If
not, and the eggs hatch, they turn Into
worms, which eat about through the
flesh and often cause the loss of the
toe. The insect la supposed to have
originally come from South America,
but it has already traveled over this
half of Africa, and it is especially bad
about Lake Victoria.
As to mosquitoes, we have none here on
the lake and practically no flies except
the common house fly. The shores are
infested with the tsetse fly, whose bite
causes the sleeping sickness; but this
lives- only In the swamps and cannot
stand the light of the sun. There are
plenty of mosquitoes of all kinds on land,
and there arc 'swarms of midges in many
parts of "the lake. I saw such a swarm
this morning. It looked like a waterspout
rising from the surface. 1 thought, it was
one, and was surprised when the captain
told me that it was composed of myriads
of these midges, which are born in the
water and fly up at one time into
the air. They sweep over the lake in
great numbers, raining down upon the
boats as though they were so much black
pepper. They come in such quantities
that the men sweep them up with brooms
and throw them overboard. They even
get into the cabins and cover the dining
tables. ThiB is so when the ports are
covered with netting, and when every
open space is apparently protected. These
flies are perfectly harmless, and they do
not live more than a day.
What One Eats on Lake Victoria.
As to other matters, as I have said, tire
accommodations on the boat are good.
We have four or five meals a day, and
the Hindus cook well. This morning',
for instance, I Was awakened by my
black boy at T, who brought me a cup
of tea and a cracker. At 8:30 the break
fast bell rang and I went into the saloon
for a substantial meal of an orange.
GRADUAL DECAY OF FRANCE
Economic Reasons, Seclusion of the Aristocracy, and Decline of Once Universal French Tongne.
T IS now admitted on all hands that
the relative decrease of the French
population is calculated to change
very sensibly what used to be known as
the balance of power. Positive decrease
there is none as yet, seeing that the
births are still in excess of the deaths,
but the difference between the two is
become insignificant, and the population
manifests a uniform tendency to de
crease. For example, in the year 1906 the num
ber of persons born was greater than the
totaj of those who died by 26.651. But
then In Germany the balance to the good
was no less than 800,000. In Austria and
Great Britain the gain wa 500.000. and in
Russia it amounted to 2,000.000. France's
increase is thus seen to be very siender
aa compared with that of her neighbors,
and, to make matters worse. It is likely
to become smaller still. It is difficult
to avoid thia cheerless conclusion, if we
bear in mind that the average annual
excess of births over deaths during the
past ten years has amounted to 56,464.
Consequently, last year the rate of in
crease was less than that average by
over 100 per - cent. Under these circum
stances, the unemotional .statistician, ap
pealing to inexorable economic and other
laws, foretells for the near future an
excess of deaths over births, and the
beginning cf the end of a nation which
has played . a prominent part in the
history of the world.
There would, perhaps, be some grounds
for hope if the death-rate were abnor
mally great, and left a margin, part of
which might by dint of precautionary
measures be reclaimed. But, unhappily,
such Is not the fact. If it were, the num
ber of new-born children who swelled
the columns of mortality would be ab
normally great- Russia is a striking ex
ample. There the number of infants who
die during the first couple of years Is
appalling, but by the time the births
show a falllng-off, sanitary science will
be in a position to keep down the per
centage of infant deaths. But latter
day France has no such source to draw
upon. Infant mortality on the other side
of the Channel is already reduced to a
minimum, and is relatively less than in
other countries.
Neither can French patriots set down
the low birth-rate as a result of the small
number of marriages, and. entertain a
reasonable hope of eyeing that defect
gradually remedied. . The marriages are
not abnormally few, and they have been
increasing of late. Last year the number
of matrimonial unions was uncommonly
great; in fact, they not only exceeded the
average, but were not surpassed by the
totals recorded during any one year since
. S OAT TVHZCH
-LAKE, WCTCHZZL. ZT VZA5
some fried herring, bacon and eggs, with
marmalade and toast at the end. The
coffee served was grown about the lake
and was poorly made, but the tea, which
I next, ordered, was good. At 1 o'clock
we had a lunch of pea soup, boiled
tongue, roast mutton and chicken curry
with rice, ending up with a dessert of
California canned apricots- and native
fruits. - We shall have dinner at 8 o'clock
tonight, and our table will be lighted by
electricity. The meal will be about the
same as the lunch, and we shall prob
ably drink with It a glass or so of ginger
ale, while our English friends will wash
their throats with whisky and soda or
wine or beer, as they order. The cost of
such meals Is $1.65 a day, with extra
charges for drinks. I have before me the
wine list and' give a few of the prices.
A full peg of whisky and soda costs 8
annas, or about 2G cents, while a half
peg costs 16 cents. Brandy may be had
at the same prices. The word "pegs" for
"drinks" is used here on all bills of fare.
This is common throughout India, and
It arises from an old saying that every
drink of intoxicating liquors one takes is
a peg in his coffin. If you want a man to
take a drink with you you ask him to
come and have a peg, and there are cer
tain hours of the day which are known
as "peg times" or simply "pegs."
As for me, I am drinking the water of
the lake. Our missionary on board tells
me that it Is perfectly safe, and I know
It tastes as sweet as the waters of Lake
Erie.
As I write we are coming near land.
During a great part of today we have
been out of sight of anything but Islands.
Victoria Nyanza is 225 miles wide and
1S77. Still, from this quarter there might
perhaps be some room for improvement,
when we reflect that most of the couples
are described as no longer young, and
their marriages as marriages of reason.
That state of things is capable of better
ment, but how, and by whom? Three is
the average number of children to a mar
riage in France. The fourth child is what
the nation wants, and is likely to want
In vain, because the cause of its absence
is economic, and among individuals ego
tism is stronger than patriotism.
French people are heavily taxed, not
only by the state, but also by the city or
townfj, and the taxes are so distributed
that Jhey fall heaviest on large families.
Chilr4n are thus forcedly included In the
catelwry of luxtirfes which only the well-to-do
are willing or able to pay for. The
house-tax, for instance, makes no allow
ance for a numerous progeny, so that the
father of a large family who needs a
more spacious dwelling is taxed more
heavily than his neighbor who has but
one or two children to lodge. The in
cidence of many other Indirect taxes
tends In the same direction, and compels
people who are wont to count up in
advance the coat of living with the ac
curacy of a bookkeeper, leaving nothing
to Providence or to chance, to .regard
children as an expensive luxury. The
results are visible to all. The historian
may recount the story of France's de
cay without a word of regret, but patri
otic Frenchmen might, with advantage
to their country's cause, remember the
vast sums expended by the state In im
proving the breed and keeping up the
various races of horses, cattle, sheep and
fish, and might ask themselves whether
perpetuation of the race of men that
gave St. Bernard, Montaigne. Moliere
and Victor Hugo to the world is not
worth similar solicitude and equal sac
rifices. The money that goes to the en
couragement of horse-breeding, cattle
breeding and pisciculture is drawn large
ly from the pockets of those courageous
individuals who are toot afraid of a large
family. For they are the caryatides of
the financial fabric of the Third Repub
lic, which has forgotten the inner mean
ing of the words: "Are ye not of more
value than many sparrows?
The budget In France is enormous, and.
unlike the population, it is not stagnant.
For 1908 the estimates are not far re
moved from four milliards of francs, or,
say 160,000,000. And the chances that
expenditure will be cut down In the near
future are as slender as the chances that
the birth rate will go up. The reason
Is that in the latter case the tax
payers refuse to provide for children to
come, and in the former case they are
eager to make ample provision for them- ;
20SKZGAZ'&2
ZZT SECZZO&S
275. miles long, and there are places
where one can travel for a hundred miles
or so and" not see land. Here In th
north the shores are bordered with beau
tiful islands, some of which are wooded.
Others have grassy hills along the shores,
with high lands behind them. Som
'regions make one think of the Thousand
Islands of the St, Lawrence, end many
of the islets would not be out of place
if they were off the shores of Ireland or
in the English channel. These places
have a settled look, and at a distance
the country appears just like ours, savs
that it lacks houses and barns and has
thatched villages instead.
The Shores of Uganda.
We are now nearing the shores of
Uganda. The scenes from the ship ars
more like those of a settled civilized ter
ritory than the heart of the black conti
nent. The landscape reminds me of that
along our great lakes. Much of the
ground is cleared and there are clumps
of dark green woods here and there. In
one place there Is what seems to be
series of fields where the wheat or corn
has just been harvested, the shocks
standing out among the yellow stubble.
These shocks dot the country as regu
larly as though they were; so many
shocks of grain, and as we passed them
I had a discussion with a fellow-traveler
as to whether they might be -wheat or
corn. I bet upon the wheat and my
friend bet upon corn. We left the ques
tion to the captain, who brought out has
glass and showed us that what we
thought were shocks of grain were really
mounds of yellow clay, the homes of
white ants.
selves, when they are old and uruible to
work. Old age pensions, relief for
maimed workmen and similar measures of
assistance for the living will swallow up ,
vast sums, which it will tax the in-'
genuity of finance ministers to mobilize.
It is worth noting that a commission
was appointed, under the Waldeck-Rous-seau
Cabinet, to investigate the whole
subject of the decrease of the population,
and to concert measures by which it
might be stayed. All aspects of the sub
ject were studied closely, and voluminous
materials gathered together which en
abled the members of the commission to
make a number of practical suggestions,
with a view to mitigate the evil. "What
will strike outsiders as amazing is tba
circumstance that the labors of this com
mission have not been read by the peo
ple's representatives, because the repub
lic was unable to afford the money neces
sary, for printing them. No funds to
print materials of this importance can
be found in a land which has a budget of
nearly four thousand million francs!
After this it is not surprising to learn
that the cultural Influence of France, who
100 years ago occupied the first place
among nations, Is rapidly diminishing.
Take the French tongue aa an illustra
tion. Formerly one-third of the civilized
peoples of the world expressed their
thoughts In the language of Voltaire and
Bossuet. Today only 50,000.000 look upon
French as their native tongue, and of
these a considerable percentage are Bel
gians, Swiss, Canadians. Creoles. English
has now taken th foremost place, and
even German, which is spoken by 116,
000.000, leaves France far behind.
It must be gall and wormwood to pa
triotic Frenchmen to reflect that part of
the overflow population of Germany, as
well as of Italy and Spain, finds a refuge
in France, occupying there the places
that ought of right to belong to the o..
spring of French parents. The seaboard
of the Mediterranean is" slowly becoming
defranchised. Already Algeria Is more
Italo-Spanish than French. LanguediDG,
from Nimes to Perpignan, is Invaded by
Spaniards from Catalonia. Italians have
found a home in the country between
Marseilles and Vintemille, while the Win
ter resorts of tha Cote d'Azur are 'he
haunts of flaxen-haired Teutons. The
French must console themselves as best
they may with the old-age pensions and
maimed workmen's state relief, late mar
riages and the reduction of obligatory
military service to a minimum, which
competent critics consider inadequate to
the requirements of national defence.
Dr. E. J. Dillon in Contemporary Review.
The paper cps used on milk bottles art
made at the rate or HOO.oOO a day, and on
man operates Ivc machines. ,