The area drained by the lake covers, with the lake itself, 92,240 sq. miles. A detailed survey was made of the lake by Sir William Garstin. (See British Bluebook, Egypt, 1902.) Discovery and Exploration.—The quest for the Nile sources led to the discovery of the lake by J. H. Speke in 1858. In 1862 Speke and J. A. Grant partially explored the north-west shore, leaving the lake at the Nile outlet. It was circumnavigated by H. M. Stanley in 1874. The invitation sent by King Mtesa of Uganda through Stanley to the Christian missionaries led to the despatch from England in 1876 of the Rev. C. T. Wilson, to whom we owe our first detailed knowledge of the lake. Wilson and Lieut. Shergold Smith, R.N., made, in 1877, the first voyage across the lake. Lieut. Smith and O'Neill were in the same year murdered on Ukerewe island. In 1889 Stanley further explored the lake, discovering Emin Pasha gulf. In 1890 the ownership of the lake was divided by Great Britain and Germany, the first degree of south latitude being taken as the boundary line. The southern portion, which fell to Germany, was visited and de scribed by scientists of that nation. At the instance of the British Foreign Office a survey of the northern shores was carried out in 1899-190o by Commander B. Whitehouse, R.N. The same officer,
in 1903, undertook, in agreement with the German government, a survey of the southern shores. There is steamer service on the lake, weekly from Kisumu to Uganda ports and back, weekly round the lake and fortnightly between the Sessi islands and Entebbe. The lake is connected with the coast by rail from Kisumu to Mombasa, and there is a line from Jinja northwards to Namasagali. The lake is now entirely surrounded by British territory, the southern half being in Tanganyika territory, the northern in the Uganda protectorate and a small portion of the east coast is within the confines of Kenya colony. BIBLIOGRAPHY.-See NILE and UGANDA and the British Bluebook Egypt No. 2 (1904). This report, which is mentioned above also summarizes the information of previous travellers, whose works are quoted. In 1908 the British Admiralty published a chart of the lake (scale 4 in. to the mile). See also E. G. Ravenstein, "The Lake-level of the Victoria Nyanza," Geog. Journ. Oct. 19o1; Sir H. H. Johnston, The Uganda Protectorate (London, 1902).