would give me more cause for anxiety than the acknowledged hostility of
the natives.

I made arrangements with a Circassian trader, Koorshid Aga, for the
purchase of a few oxen, and a fat beast was immediately slaughtered for
the men. They were shortly in the best humour, feasting upon masses of
flesh cut in strips and laid for a few minutes upon the embers, while
the regular meal was being prepared. They were now almost affectionate,
vowing that they would follow me to the end of the world; while the late
ringleader, in spite of his countenance being rather painted in the late
row, declared that no man would be so true as himself, and that every
"arrow should pass through him before it should reach me" in the event
of a conflict with the natives. A very slight knowledge of human nature
was required to foresee the future with such an escort:--if love and
duty were dependent upon full bellies, mutiny and disorder would appear
with hard fare. However, by having parade every morning at a certain
hour, I endeavoured to establish a degree of regularity. I had been
waiting at Gondokoro twelve days, expecting the arrival of Debono's
party from the south, with whom I wished to return. Suddenly, on the
15th February, I heard the rattle of musketry at a great distance, and a
dropping fire from the south. To give an idea of the moment I must
extract verbatim from my journal as written at the time.

"Guns firing in the distance; Debono's ivory porters arriving, for whom
I have waited. My men rushed madly to my boat, with the report that two
white men were with them who had come from the SEA! Could they be Speke
and Grant? Off I ran, and soon met them in reality. Hurrah for old
England! they had come from the Victoria N'yanza, from which the Nile
springs .... The mystery of ages solved. With my pleasure of meeting
them is the one disappointment, that I had not met them farther on the