enterprise, supported by the intelligence and good-will of its ruler, to
the position which it held in the pages of Eastern history.

1878.

S. W. B.

ISMAILIA.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

In the present work I shall describe the history of the Khedive of
Egypt's expedition, which I have had the honour to command, as the first
practical step that has been taken to suppress the slave trade of
Central Africa.

I shall not repeat, beyond what may be absolutely necessary, that which
has already been published in my former works on Africa, "The Albert
N'yanza" and "The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia," but I shall adhere to
the simple path taken by the expedition. This enterprise was the natural
result of my original explorations, in which I had been an eye-witness
to the horrors of the slave trade, which I determined, if possible, to
suppress.

In my former journey I had traversed countries of extreme fertility in
Central Africa, with a healthy climate favourable for the settlement of
Europeans, at a mean altitude of 4,000 feet above the sea level. This
large and almost boundless extent of country was well peopled by a race