merely selfish considerations. He had received two strangers, like sons rather than like passing visitors. During the intervals between his long and painful attacks he had exerted himself to his utmost in forwarding their views; in fact, he had made their cause his own. Though aware of his danger, he refused to quit, until compelled by approaching dissolution, the post which he considered it his duty to hold. He was a loss to his country, an excellent linguist and a ripe Oriental scholar, a valuable public servant of the good old Anglo-Indian school; he was a man whose influence over Easterns, based upon their respect for his honest and honourable character, knew no bounds, and at heart a "sad good Christian: "-the Heavens be his bed!

SECTION V.

The personnel of the E. African expedition when leaving the coast was composed as follows. As domestic servants I had brought from Bombay two Goanese "boys," who received exorbitant wages for doing a little of everything and nothing well; two negro gun-carriers were also engaged at Zanzibar. Said bin Salim, the Ras Kafilah, had, as attendants, four slaves, a boy and an acting wife, whose bulky beauties engrossed his every thought. The Baloch escort numbered thirteen men till one died at Unyanyembe: sent to protect us, they soon deemed it sufficient labour to protect themselves. Twenty negro slaves and twenty-five asses formed a mass of stubborn savagery which proved a severe trial of temper; and finally thirtysix Wanyamwezi return porters, of whom two died of small-pox and two were left behind when unable to advance, carried the outfit. The party did not long continue compact; and the reader may derive some idea of my troubles from the fact that, during our eighteen months of travel, there was not an attendant, from Said bin Salim to the most abject slave, who did not plan, attempt, or carry out desertion. At Unyanyembe, according to custom, the Wanyamwezi porters dispersed, and another gang was engaged to carry our goods into Ujiji. Leaving Msene, I found it necessary to dismiss the "Sons of Ramji," who had proved themselves dangerous by thwarting all my views. We were compelled to trust ourselves, without Arab, Baloch, or slave guard, to the wild Wajiji during our navigation of the Tanganyika Lake, a labour so perilous in native canoes that few merchants care to attempt it. At Ujiji the second gang hired, as is customary at Unyanyembe for the Lake journey, and paid in advance for return, disappeared bodily, and put me to the expense of engaging and paying a third troop. Finally, on our down march to the coast, when we wished to diverge but a few miles from the usual road, our fourth levy of Wanyamwezi porters left us in mass, preferring to sacrifice pay for three months of hard work rather than to march three stages out of the beaten path.

After the usual difficulties of departure and severe trials of patience on the road, we were delayed twelve days by severe sickness at Zungomero, in the head of the Khutu Valley. The mutiny of our Baloch escort lost us some time in the mountains of Usagara, and dissensions between Said bin Salim and one Kidogo, the Mtu Mku or Headman of the "Sons of Ramji," detained us a week at the Ziwa or Pond on the eastern confines of the Ugogo tableland. After many mishaps, such as the desertion of porters, the deaths of all our asses, and the consequent loss and waste of property, sometimes abandoned, at other times pilfered or plundered, we entered Unyanyembe, the head-quarter settlement of the Maskat Arabs in the land of Unyamwezi. Those warm-hearted men received me with peculiar hospitality, most cheering after having experienced the cold and calculating civilities of the African chiefs. We were delayed among them by sore illness, by the general unwillingness of our party to advance, and by the difficulty of hiring porters in the

sowing season,-the Masika or great Rains had set in. During the violence of this monsoon, we traversed the pestiferous region between Unyamwezi and Ujiji. The miasma so affected my companion that he could scarcely see to write, much less to survey or observe, and brought on in my case paraplegia, or a partial paralysis of the extremities, rendering a manchil, or hammock, the only means of advancing. On the 13th of February, 1858, we sighted the Tanganyika, or Lake of Ujiji, a spectacle which consoled us for the incessant worry and all the petty annoyances of the slave-path, together with the extortion, the unruliness, and the insolence of our party: it caused indeed a sensible relief in the grinding care ever present by the imminent prospect of a failure. Yet even this gleam of joy had its dark side: we had been compelled to part with our life-boat, and the only dow, or sailing craft, upon the lake belonged to an Arab merchant, living at Kasenge, a little island-depôt near the western shore. Captain Speke crossed the Tanganyika in vain he could not prevail upon the proprietor to accompany us, though he offered him the sum of 1007. for a fortnight's cruise. We had been electrified by the intelligence collected in different places where collusion was next to impossible, concerning a large river issuing northwards from the Tanganyika. Every thing-wealth, health, and even life-was to be risked for this prize. Accordingly, in two open canoes, or rather hollowed logs, we explored, during a month of African Monsoon Rain, the northern waters of that sweet sea, which saw for the first time the "Union Jack" floating over its dark bosom, and we returned in improved health, despite incessant drenchings and other discomforts far more serious, to Ujiji on the 14th of May, 1858. But we had failed to secure our prize the mysterious stream, according to all authorities consulted on the spot, enters instead of issuing from the lake.

At Ujiji, finding our resources exhausted by the prodigality or the dishonesty of Said bin Salim, I was compelled by want of supplies to desist from further exploration. And here it was that the over-economy of the viaticum originally granted to the Expedition was severely felt. We had broken through the hard crust of coast, we had escaped the perils of the slave-path, and we were becoming acclimatized in Central Africa, when the want of outfit alone put a stop to our progress. It was vain to linger,—to regret: we had but ten pieces of cloth and a few strings of beads, a quantity barely sufficient for a week's rations, to carry us from Ujiji to Unyanyembe, the nearest depôt, distant about 30 marches. Happily the good Snay bin Amir, our Arab agent at Unyanyembe, had bethought himself of forwarding a few necessaries selected from the load of the 22 porters, who were to overtake us in ten days. On this occasion we first received confirmation of Lieutenant-Colonel Hamerton's death, together with letters and papers, then a year and a half old. M. Ladislas Cochet, Consul de France at Zanzibar, had kindly taken our part with the Banyans, who after the fairest promises had neglected us with a provoking pertinacity, and Captain Mansfield, Consul of the United States. of America, favoured me with a note, enclosing an edifying tract. months afterwards, Captain Rigby, of the Bombay Army, having been appointed Her Majesty's Consul at Zanzibar, reached the island, and, by his influence with the Hindus, changed the aspect of affairs. But this good fortune came too late. We had been compelled to return from Ujiji to Unyanyembe, which we re-entered on the 19th of June, 1858.

Some

After a short delay for repose, and for recovering his sight and hearing, which had suffered severely from an accident, Captain Speke was provided with a gang of porters, and in 45 days he reached and returned from the southern creek of the Nyanza or Ukerewe Basin. The consideration of this reservoir, which topography supports tradition in determining to represent one of the lakes that feed the White or true Nile, is submitted to the calmer judgment of scientific geographers. The reasons for this belief which suggest themselves to my mind will be stated in the following pages.

VOL. XXIX.

C

Deeply impressed with the importance of his discovery, Captain Speke was compelled, through want of supplies, to return direct to Unyanyembe. It was indeed impracticable to penetrate by this line. The lake is still unnavigated; to travel along the south-eastern shores is, according to the universal voice of the Arabs, impossible, on account of the ferocity of the tribes, and in order to skirt the western bank, a large outfit, and perhaps years of obstacles and delays owing to the mutual jealousies of the great despots of the northern kingdoms, are necessary. Yet after Captain Speke's return we again agitated the advisability of remaining in the country until fresh supplies could be procured, for the purpose of visiting the northern kingdoms of Karagwah, Uganda, and Unyoro. The scheme appearing impossible, we applied ourselves to the means of marching upon Kilwa, thus avoiding a return by the same road that led us into the country. But as the former project was dismissed from the conviction that we could not depend upon assistance from Zanzibar, so the latter was frustrated by the unmanageable obstinacy of our porters. We wanted resources to bribe them into compliance, and the rapid flight of our leave of absence forbade those long delays which in these regions alone compensate for large expenditure.

On the 26th of September, 1858, the E. African Expedition bade adieu to Unyanyembe, and after a march eventless except in delays and difficulties caused by disease, desertion, drought, and a famine which had desolated the land, it arrived in early February of 1859 at the little maritime village of Konduchi. A "Battela," or Arab sailing craft, sent by Captain Rigby from Zanzibar, enabled Captain Speke and myself, after dismissing the Baloch guard, and losing to our gain the last of the "sons of Ramji," to visit the coast southwards as far as Kilwa Kisiwani, the island where still stand the vestiges of ancient "Quiloa." This cruise had for object the inspection of the unknown Delta of the great Rufiji River, a counterpart of the Zambesi in the south, and s waterway that appears destined to become the high-road of nations into Eastern Africa. Fate, however, again thwarted our schemes. The cholera, which after ravaging the island of Zanzibar had almost depopulated Kilwa, reduced our crew in three days from seven to two, and no man dared to engage himself on board the infected vessel. The river also was in flood, overflowing its banks, and its line appeared marked by heavy purple clouds that discharged a deluge of rain. Convinced that the season for travelling was ended, we turned the head of the Battela northwards, and on the 4th of March, 1859, after a suecession of violent squalls and pertinacious calms, we landed once more upo the island of Zanzibar.

SECTION VI.

The little state was at the time of our return in the height of confusion. His Highness Sayyid Suwayni, Sultan of Maskat, seizing the pretext of a tribute owed by his younger brother of Zanzibar, had embarked a host of Bedouni brigands upon five ships and several Arab craft: with this power he was, ne? believed, preparing a hostile visit to the island. The Baloch stations on the mainland were drained of mercenaries, and 7000 muskets, with an amount e ammunition which rendered the town dangerous, was distributed to slaves al other ruffians. Dows from Hadramaut brought down armed adventurers, w were in the market to fight for the best pay. The turbulent Harisi chiefs ( Zanzibar were terrified into siding with His Highness Sayyid Majid by th interest of Captain Rigby. But the consular representatives of the severs Christian powers could not combine in efforts to preserve the peace, and t Harisi, with their thousands of armed retainers, appeared to preserve an arm neutrality, which threatened mischief to the weaker of the rival brothers Trade was paralysed, the foreign merchants lost heavily, and no less thai

eighty native vessels were still expected at the end of the season from Bombay and the north. To complete the confusion, several ships collecting negro "emigrants" and "free labourers," per fas et nefas, were reported to Zanzibar by the authorities of the coast.*

After a fortnight of excitement and suspense, during which the wildest rumours flew through the mouths of men, it was officially reported that Her Majesty's steamer Punjaub, Captain Fullerton, H.M.'s I.N., commanding, under orders received from the Government of Bombay, had met Sayyid Suwayni off the eastern coast of Arabia, and had persuaded him to return.

Congratulations were exchanged, salutes were fired, the negroes danced and sang for a consecutive week, and with the least delay armed men poured in crowded boats from the island towards their usual stations. But the blow had been struck; the commercial prosperity of Zanzibar could not be retrieved during the brief remaining close of the season; and the strong impression that a renewed attempt would ensure similar disasters at a future time, seemed to be uppermost in every mind. †

Our labours being duly concluded, we now sought the first opportunity of quitting Zanzibar in comfort. His Highness Sayyid Majid had honoured me with an expression of desire that I should remain until the expected hostilities were brought to a close: the report, however, of the success of the Punjaub left me at liberty to depart. With grateful heart I took leave of a Prince to whose goodwill I had been mainly indebted for success, and who, at the parting interview, had offered me a passage homeward in one of his own ships of war. Happily, however, at that time a clipper-built barque, the Dragon of Salem, Captain M'Farlane commanding, was discharging cargo in the harbour preparatory to setting out with the south-west monsoon for Aden. The Captain consented to take us on board, and on the 22nd of March, 1859, the clove-shrubs and coco-trees of Zanzibar faded from our eyes. After crossing and recrossing three times the tedious Line, about the middle of April, 1859, we found ourselves anchored near the ill-omened black walls of the Aden Crater.

The crisis of our African sufferings had taken place during our voyage upon the Tanganyika Lake; in my case, however, the fever still clung like the shirt of Nessus. Mr. Frost, of Zanzibar, did not hesitate to advise a temporary return to Europe: at Aden his opinion was confirmed by the civil surgeon of the station, who recommended a lengthened period of rest. I bade adieu to the Coal-hole of the East on the 28th of April, 1859, and in due time greeted with becoming heartiness the shores of my native land.

The following pages contain the results of my exploration offered to the reader in a plain and unpretending form: they were written in the tent and under the tree with the objects which they describe in sight; they aim merely at correctly pourtraying the novel features of the country as they unfolded themselves to a traveller's eyes, and they claim for their defence his mercy and forgiveness under the apology which forms the motto prefixed to these

pages.

The period of my exploration from the first landing at, to the final departure from, the Island of Zanzibar was two years and three months. During that time, exclusive of coasting voyages from Mombasah to Kilwa and a visit to Fuga in Usumbara, the E. African expedition covered at least 2700 miles of

* No further allusion will be made in these pages to the system lately introduced by the slavers of civilized Europe; the question is somewhat of too political a nature to be discussed in a work devoted to geography. Yet, it is hoped, no honest man's mental vision can be so obfuscated as to be incapable of discerning the old evil, through its disguise of a new name.

The attempt, in fact, was renewed shortly after the first failure, but it terminated in the same way.

ground hitherto unvisited by Europeans, navigated the Tanganyika Lake in two of its three main lines, and discovered the great Nyanza or Ukerewe Sea. The total expenditure, including passage-money, outfit, fees and presents, was 25007., of which 1000l. was advanced by the Foreign Office, under the administration of an Expeditionary Committee of the Royal Geographical Society. Throughout the exploration but one man, a Baloch mercenary and a confirmed invalid, died, although no one escaped repeated attacks of sudden and severe sickness; and the only affray was a drunken riot caused by the barbarous tribes of Urundi, which ended in the accidental death of a Mjiji slave. Knowing that every Englishman who appears in the outer East, either with or without the sanction of his Government, is looked upon practically as the representative of his nation, I travelled without disguise. And with a view of opening to European commerce and civilization a road into the heart of Africa, a land of considerable resources, still suffering from the evils of total neglect on the part of other members of the human family,―we adhered in all points to the manners and customs of our country. By degrees the Arabs and even the Wasawahili, a jealous and suspicious race, lost all fear of us they even consented to carry to the coast our maps and reports, which were forwarded as often as the uncertain caravan-posts permitted and our prolonged and serious maladies allowed. Providence willed me to success in deciding a question which has been under the judge for the last three hundred years, the existence and the number of the Central African lakes, and the westward prolongation of the Lunar Mountains of the Greek geographers. A new light has also, I sincerely believe, been thrown upon a subject veiled in the glooms of three thousand years-the "coy sources of the White Nile. That thought solaced me through many a weary and many a painful hourthe belief that I was doing a work which may prove useful to mankind, and the hope that projects so auspiciously commenced may be as auspiciously pursued.

The original chapters of what is here presented to the reader were written upon the line of march in the tent and in the hut; my labour since returning to England has been confined to copying them for the press, and to collecting various elucidations. For the accuracy of the remarks upon the ethnology and the languages of the tribes, I alone am answerable. Captain Speke confined himself on the line from the coast to Ujiji to a survey of the country; his observations consisted of dead reckoning by compass bearings and time, estimation of distances checked by an almost daily latitude with sets of lunars for longitudes of crucial stations, computed by Mr. C. George, at the Map Rooms of the Society, and frequent determinations of altitudes by B. P. thermometer, which were corrected after his return to England. He wrote journals of his passage of the Tanganyika Lake, and his march from Unyanyembe to the Nyanza; both have been transferred to the following pages from the original diaries, in some parts corrected and modified by the reports of trustworthy and intelligent Arab travellers. I registered daily when health permitted meteorological observations with the barometer until the instrument was injured, and afterwards with the thermometer; and I made a variety of sketches and collections of vocabularies, which at a future time may see the light. We both kept field-books, which have been deposited with the Royal Geographical Society. I also placed in the hands of my employers a collection of objects illustrating the industry of the country, and especially of the cloths in greatest demand. Twenty-four skulls brought from the several regions have been transferred to the Royal College of Surgeons. The collection of rocks and soils which I made on the return march that made on the upjourney having been lost by plunderers-was placed at the School of Mines, and was described by the permission of Sir Roderick Murchison. The shells of