Identifier: ourholidayinafri01whee (find matches)
Title: Our holiday in Africa
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Wheeler, W. W. (William Webb), b. 1854
Subjects: Wheeler, W. W. (William Webb), b. 1854
Publisher: (St. Joseph, MO : Press of Combe Printing)
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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ntly Mr. Paul J. Rainey, an Americanhunter, brought with him a pack of hounds, and with their as-sistance, killed sixty lions in a few weeks. Lion skins of goodqualitv sell here for fifty dollars each. We left Nairobi for Uganda on February 24, 1912, andfound the railway trip most interesting. Anticipating a coldnight, we took a large roll of blankets and wraps, all of whichwe used and w^ere still uncomfortably cold, although just underthe equator. There are a good many white settlers on farmsalong this part of the road. In fact, more farming is doneon this northwestern end of the road than we have seen else-where. We crossed the great Rift Valley in daylight. This isa crack in the earths surface, two thousand feet deep, andfrom one to twenty miles wdde. It is said to be two thousandmiles long, running north and south through the central partof the continent. It is a very extraordinary freak of nature,supposed to be caused by the earths cooling. There are sev- 39 OUR HOLIDAY IN AFRICA
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NAIROBI eral lakes along different places in this valley, some of themsweet and others salt. The land lies in fine shape for farmingin this Rift Valley and is nearly all fenced up. It is used asgrazing land for cattle and sheep, as the rains are too uncertainfor agriculture. Often no rain falls in this valley for fourmonths. VICTORIA NYANZA We reached Port Florence on Victoria Nyanza early inthe morning and at once went aboard the steamer Sir ClementHill—carrying capacity, two hundred and fifty tons; length,two hundred and twenty feet, for a six days sail, on this, thegreatest body of fresh water in the world—area, 32,165 squaremiles; Lake Superior being next with an area of 31,750 squaremiles. This lake is the source of the Nile, for thousands ofyears hidden from the sight of white man, and only discoveredabout fifty years ago by the explorer Speke. It is three thou-sand six hundred feet above sea level. Over the Ripon Falls,it pours out its tremendous volume of water to feed the

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