THE ENGLISH MAIL VIA SAN FRANCISCO STANLEY'S MARCH Letter From the Great Explorer. A STORY OF HARDSHIP AND HEROISM. THE SITUATION OF EMIN PASHA. A VAST AFRICAN FOREST TRAVERSED.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 365, 4 May 1889, Page 3

THE ENG LISH MAIL VIA SAN FRANCISCO STANLEY'S MARCH Letter From the Great Explorer. A STORY OF HARDSHIP AND HEROISM. THE SITUATION OF EM IN PASHA. A VAST AFRICAN FOREST TRAVERSED.

Dl.ak Sir, — A short, despatch briefly announcing that we hud placed the fust j instalment oi relief in the hands of Emm Pasha on Lake Albeit Nyanza was sent to jou by courier from Stanley Falls with letters to Tippoo Tib, the Arab Governor of the district, on the 17th, within three hours of our meeting with the rear coUunn of the expedition, and I now propose to relate to you the story of our movements from June 28, ISB7. I had established an intrenched palisade camp at Yambuya, on the lower Aruwimi just below the first rapids, and Major Edmund Barttelot, one of the senior officers with me, was appoiuted command-ant-J. S. Jamieson, a volunteer, being associated with him. On the arrival of all the men and goods from Bolobo and Stanley Pool, the officers, still believed to be Troup, Ward and Conny, were to report to Barttelot for duty ; but no important action or movement — according to the letter of instructions given by me to Bavttelot before leaving — was to be made without consulting with Jainicoon, Troup and Waul.

BARTTELOT'S COLUMNS. Columns under Bu-btelot's orders mustered 257 men. As I requested, the Major sent you a copy of the instructions issued to each officer. You are doubfclesd aware that the Major was to remain at Yambuya until the arrival of the steamer from Stanley Pool with the officers, men and goods left behind, and if Tippoo Tib's promised contingent of carriers had in the meantime arrived he was to inarch. His column followed oar track, which so long as it traversed the forest region would be known by the blazing of trees-, by our ; camps and zarabas, etc. If Tippoo Tib's carriers did not arrive, then if the Major preferred moving on to staying at Yarabuya he was to discard such things as mentioned in my letter of instructions, and commence making double and triple journeys by short stages until I should come down from Lake Nyanza and relieve him. The instructions were explicit and the ollicera admitted they were intelligible.

THE FIRST SKIRMISH. The advance column of 359 officers and men set out from Yambuya, June 28th. ]887. The first day we followed the river bank, marched twelve miles and anived in the large district of Yankonde. At our approach the natives fired the \ Hinges, and under cover of the smoke attacked the pioneers who cleaied the numerous obstructions before the (irtt village. The skirmish lasted fifteen minaces. The second day we followed the path leading inland but tending east. We followed this path Qve days through a dense population. Every art known to the native mind of molesting, impeding or wounding an enemy was resorted to, but we passed without the loss of a man. Perceiving that the path was taking us too far from oar course, we cut north-easterly. The track reached the river again on July sth. From this date until October 18th we followed the left bank of the Arir-vimi. After seventeen days' continuous marching- we halted one day for rest. On the twenty-fourth day from Yambuya we lost two men by desertion. In July we made four halts only. On -August Ist the h'r?t death occurred from dysentery, so that for thirty four days our cause had been singularly successful ; but as we entered the wilderness, which occupied nine days' marching through it, our sufferings b i gan to multiply, and several deaths occurred. The river at this time was of great use to us. Our boat and several canoe 3 relieved the wearied and sick of their loads, so that our progress, though not so brilliant as during the first month, was still .stsady.

AN OBSTINATE ENCOUNTER. On August 12fch we arrived at Airsibba. Thenathes made a bold front. We lost fi\e men through poisoned arrows, and to our great grief Lieutenant Stah'3 was wounded just below the heart, but, although suffering greatly for nearly a month, finally recovered. On the 15th, Jepson, commanding the land party, led his men inland, but, becoming confused, lost his way, and we were not reunited until the 21st. On August 15th we arrived at the district of Airjeli. Opposite our camp *vas the mouth of the tributaiy Nepoko On August 31st we met for "the first time a party of Manyema belonging to a caravan ot Ugarrowwas, alias Uledi Balyuz, who turned out to be a former tent - boy of Speke's.

HIS MISFORTUNES BEGIN. Our misfortunes began from thia date, for I had taken the Congo route to avoid the Arabs, that they might not tamper with my men and tempt them to desert by presents. Twenty-six of our men deserted within three days of this unfortunate meeting. On September 15th we arrived at a camp, opposite the station of Ugarrowwas. As food was scarce, he had devastated an immense region. We halted but one day near him, on such friendly terms as I could make with such a man. I made a trade and left fifty -six men with him. All the Somalis preferred to rest at Ugarrowwas to continuous marching. Five Soudanese also left. It would have been certain death for all of them to have accompanied us. At Ugarrowwas they might possibly recover. Five dollars a month per head was to be paid this man for their food. On September 18th we left Ugarrowwas.

AN AWFUL MONTH. On October 18th we entered a settlement occupied by Kilongalongas, a Zanzibar slave belonging to Abed-Bin-Salirn, an old Arab whose bloody deeds are recorded in the history of the Congo and the founding of its free state. This proved an awful month to us. Not one member of our expedition, white or black, will ever forget it. Our advance numbered 263 souls on leaving Ugarrowwas. Out of 389 we lost sixty men by s desertion and death between Yambuya and Ugarrowwas, and left fifty six men sick jn the Arab station.

STARVATION AND DESERTION. On reaching Kilongalongas wo discovered that he lost fifty-five men by starvation and desertion. They had lived principally on wi'd fruiterungi and a largo, flat, beanshaped nut. The slaves of Abed-Hin-Salim did their utmost to ruin the expedition short of open hostilities. They purchased our rifles, ammunition and clothing, so that when we left their station we were beggared — our men absolutely naked — and so weak physically as to be unable to carry our boats and about seventy loads of goods. We therefore left the goods and boats at Kilongalonofas under Sergoant Parke and Captain Nelson, the latter of whom was unable to march. After twelve days' march we arrived ul a native settlement called Ibwiri. Between Kilongalongas and Ibwiri our condition had not improved.

A DEVASTATED KECIION. The area of devastation had rcuched within a few miles of Ibwiri. The devastation was so complete thai not one native hut was left standing between Ugarrowwas and Ibwivi, and what had not been destroyed bj' the slaves of Ugatrouwas and Abed-Bin-Salim, the elephants destroyed and turned the whole region into a horrible wilderness. But at Ibwiri we were beyond the utmost reach of the destroyers, and were on a virgin soil, in a populous region, abounding with food. Our suffering fiom hunger, which began August 31st, terminated November 12th. Ourselves an. l the men weie skeletons. Out of 289 men we only numbered 174, several having no hope of iife left.

DESERTIONS AND EXECUTtONS. A halt was ordered for tho people bo recuperate. Hithoito they were sceptical of what wo told them ; their sud'eiin^s had been s>o awful, then calamities so numerous, and the forests bo endless that, apparently, they refused to bclic\ e that by-and-by we should see the plains and catlle of the Nyanza and white man, Emm Pasha, We felt as though we were dragging them along with a chain aiound their necks. " Beyond these i aiders," sa ; d I, " lies a country untouched, where food is abundant, where you will forgeb your miseries. So cheer up, boys; be men ; press on a little faster." They were deaf to our prayers and entreaties, for, driven by hunger and suffering, they sold their rides and equipments for a feu ears of Indian corn and deserted. With the expedition altogether demoralised, perceiving that piayers, entreaties and mild punishments were of no avail, we then resolved to visit upon the wretches the death penalty. Two of the worst oa^es were accordingly taken and hanged in the presence of all.

A REGION OF PLENTY. haired thirteen days in Ibwtri, reveiled on fowls, goats, bananas, corn, sweet potatoes, yarns, beans, etc. The supplies were inexhaustible and the people glutted themselves. Tho result was, I had 173 (one was killed by an airow), mostly sleek, robust men, when I set ouL for Albert "tSTyanzn, November 24th. There was still 126 miles to the lake, but with food such a distance seemed nothing.

A WELCOME SIUHT. On December l<*t we sighted open country from the top of a lidga connected with Mount Pisgah, so named because it was our first view of the land of promise and plenty. On December sth we emerged upon the plains and the deadly, gloomy forest was behind. After 160 days of continuous gloom I saw the light of day shining all around, making all things beautiful. We thought -\\e never saw gtass so green and a country so lovely. The men liteially leaped, yelled with joy and raced with their burdens. Ah, this was the old spitit ot former expeditions successfully completed, all of a sudden revived. Woo to the native aggtessor whom we nny meet, however powei ful he may be. With buch aspnit the men will (ling themselves like wolves on sheep; numbeto aie not considered.

TERRIBLE WAR-CRIES. On the 9th wo cunie to the country of the powerful chief Mazamboni. His villages were scattered over a great extent of country, so thickly there was no other road except through their villages or fields. From a long distance the natives sighted us and were prepared. We seized a hill as soon as we arrived id the centre of a mass of villages. About f our o'clock in the afternoon on the 9th of December we occupied it, building a zaritsa as fast as our billhooks could cut the brushwood. The warcries were terrible from hill to hill, pealing across the intervening valleys. The people gathered by hundreds from every point ; war-horns and drums announced that the struggle vvab about to take place. Such natives were too bold to be checked with little effort.

A SKIRMISH AND A PARLEY. A slight skirmish ended in our capturing a cow, the first beef we had tasted since we left the ocean. The night was passed peacefully, both sides preparing for the .morrow. On the mor"hing of the 10 Ih I attempted to open negotiations. The natives were anxious to know who we were. We were equally anxious to glean nows of the band that threatened the expedition. Hours passed in talking, both parties keeping a respectable distance apart. The natives said they were subjects to Uganda, but that Kabbarega svas the real King, Mazamboni holding the country foi' Kabbarega. They finally accepted some cloth and brass rods to shovv their King Mazamboni, and his answer was to begiven next clay. Meantime hostilities were suspended.

WAR DECLARED. The morning of the llfch dawned. Ab 8 o'clock we were startled by hearing a man proclaiming ib was .Mazamboni's wish that we should be driven back from the land. The proclamation was received in the valley around our neighbourhood with deafening cheers. Their word "kanwana" signifies make peace; "kurwana" signifies war. We were therefore in doubfc ; we rather hoped that we had heard wrongly, and I sent our interpreter a little nearer to ask if it was " kanwana "or " kurwana." " Kurwana !" they responded, and to emphasize the term threw two arrows at him, which dissipated all doubt.

STANLEY'S POSITION. Ouv hill stood between a lofty range of bills and a lower range. On one side of us a narrow valley 150 yards wide ; on the other a valley three miles wide. East and west the valley broadened into an extensive plain, and the higher range of hills was lined with hundreds preparing to descend. The broader valley was already mustering its army, and there was no time to lose. A body of torty men was sent under Lieutenanb Stairs to attack the forces in the broader valley. Jephson was sent with thirty men east, and a choice body of sharpshooters were sent to test the courage of those descending the slope of the highest range.

A FIERCE BATTLE. Lieutenant Stairs pressed on, crossed a deep, narrow river in the face of the natives, assaulted the first viliage and took it. The sharpshooters did their work effectually and drove the descending natives rapidly up the slope until there became a general light. Meanwhile Jephson was not idle. I He marched straight up the valley to Iho { eas>t, diiving the pcoplo back and taking

villages as he went. Ab 3 o'clock in the aifcernoon not a native was visiblo anywhere except on one small hill a mile and a half wesb.

ALBERT NYANZA. On the morning 1 of the 12th we continued our march. During the clay we had four little lights. On tho 13th wo marched straight ea^t, attacked by new forces every hour, till noon, when wo halted for refreshments. These wo successfully o\ ercame. At I p.m. wo resumed tho march, and fifteen minutes later I cried : " Prepare for a tight of Albert Nyanza." The men murmured, doubted and snid : " Why does the master continually talk this way ? Albert Nynnza, indeed ! Is not this a plain and can we not see the mountains ?" After fifteen minutes' march ahead, at 1.30 p.m. Lako Albert Nyanza was below them. Now it was my turn to jeer and fccoff at tho doubters, but a? I was about to ask them what they saw, so many came to kiss my hands and beg pardon, T could not say a word. This was my reward. The mountains, they said, wore the mountains of Ungoro, or rather its lolty plateau, Tbe wall of Kavalli, the objective point of the expedition, six miles from us as the crow Hies, was an altitude of 5200 feet above the ?ea.

A BEAUT [FUL PKOSPECT. The Albert Nyanza was over 2,900 foot below us. We stood in 1° 20' latitude south. The end of the Albert Nyanza lay largely mapped about six milos .south of this position. Right across to the eastern shoie every dent in its low, flat; shore visible, and traced liko a bilvery snake on the dark giound, was a tributary, Lanilike, flowing into the Albert Nyanza from the south west. After a short halt to enjoy the prospect wo commenced the rugged, stony descent. Befoie the rear guard descended a hundred feet tho natives of the plateau wo had ju*t left poured after them. Had they shown as much courage and perseverance ao they now exhibited, we might have been seiiously delayed. The rear guard was kept busy until within a few hundred feet of the Albert Nyanza plain. We camped at the foot of the plateau wall, the aneroids reading 2,500 feet above the sea level.

A NIC4HT ATTACK. A night attack was made, but our sentries drove the natives away. At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 14th we approached the village of Kankongo at the south-eastern corner of Albert Lake. Three houis wore spent by us in attempting to makefriends with the natives, butwestgnally failed. They would not allow us to go to the lake, because it might frighten their catole, and they would not exchange the blood of brotherhood with up, because they ne v er

heard of any good people coining from the , west side ut oho lake. They would not accept any presents from us, became they did not know who we weie. They would give u» water to drink, and wculJ show us our road up to Nianzassi.

TIDINGS OF EMIN. i But from these singular people we learned they had heard there was a white man at Angeiro, but had nover heaid of white men on the west side, nor hud they seen steamers on the lake; no canoes wcie lo be had except such as would nob hold men, etc. There was no excuse for quarrelling ; the people were civil enough, but they did not want us near them. Wo were, therefore, shown our path and followed it a few miles, and then camped half a mile from the lake.

A DELIBERATION. We then began to consider our position with the light thrown upon it by our conversation with tho Kakongo natives. My couriers from Zanzibar had evidently not arrived, or 1 presume Emm Pasha, with his two steamers, would hasepaid the southwest side of the lako a visit to inquire of the natives for our coming. My boat was at Kilongalonga 3 , 190 miles distant. No canoe was obtainable, and to sei/.c a canoe without the excuse of a quarrel my conscience would not permit. No trees anywhere of sufficient size to make canoes could be seen.

DETERMINED TO RETIRE. Wadelaiha was a terrible distance off and the expedition was reduced. We had used five cases of cartridges in five days' fighting on the plains, and a month of such fighting must exhaust tho stock. No plan wab suggested which seemed feasible to me except that of retreating to Ibwiri, build a fort, send our party back to Kilogalongas for our boat, store every load not convey able, leave a garrison in the foi t to hold it, and raise corn for us, march b :ck again to Albert Lake, and send the boat in search of Emm Pasha. This was the plan which, after a lengthy discussion with my officers, I resolved upon. On the 15th we marched to the right; of Kavili, on the west side of the lake. Years ago Kavili was destroyed.

ATTACKED BY THE NATIVES. At 4 p.m. someKakongo natives who had followed us shot arrows into our bivouac and disappeared as quickly as they came. At 6 p.m. we began the night march, and by 10 a.m. of the 16th gained the crest of the plateau once more, the Kakongo natives having persisted in following us to the slope of the plateau. We had one man killed and one wounded.

AGAIN AT IBWIRT. On January 7bh we were in Ibwivi. After a few days' rest Lieutenant Stairs?, with 100 men, was sent to Kilongalongaa, to bring the boat and goods. I al&o sent for Surgeon Parke and Captain Nelson. Out of thirty-eight sick, in charge of r

the officers, only eleven men were brought to tho pobt. Tho vest ' died or deserted. On the return of Lieutenant Stairs with tho boat the goods were sent to Un gar row was, who, being convalescent, I granted him thirty-nino days' grace. Soon after _ his departure I was attacked with gastritis, and had an abscess on my arm, but after a incnth of careful nursing by Dr. Purke I recovered.

AGAIN STARTS FOR ALBERT NYANZA. Foi by-seven clays having expired, I so*out again for Albert !s T yanza, April 2nd* accompanied by Jephson and Parke. Capbain Nelson, who had now recovered, was appointed commander at Fob Bodo in our absence, with a garrison *of forly- three men and boys. April 15th we arrived at Mozamboni's country again, but this time, after .solicitation, Moznmboni decided to take Uio blood of brobheihood with mo, though I had lit by rifles less on this visit.

TREATED LIKE BROTHERS. The example of Mozauiboni was followed by all Iho other chiefs as far as Albert Nyarua, and every difficulty seemed removed. Food and supplies, goats, sheep and fowls were gi\en in such abundance ' that our people lived royally. Two days' march from Albert Nyanza, the natives who came from Kavali said a " white man named Malejja, their chief, gave them a black packet to give me, his son. Would I follow them ?" "Yes, to-monow," I answered, " and if youi words are tmo I will make you rich "

WONDERFUL STORIES. They remained that night telling wonderful stories. They said he had ships as large a& an inland lillod with men, etc., which loft no doubt in our minds this white man was Emm Pasha. The next day's march brought us Lo Chief Ka\ali, who, aftor awhile, handed me a note fro:n Emm I'asha cohered with a strip of American oilcloth. The note was to the effect that a.s theie had been a native rumour that a white man had been seen at the south end of the lake ho had gone in his stsamcr to mako inquiries, bub had been unable to obtain reliable information, as the natives were terribly afraid of Kabbavega, the King of Unyoro, and connected every steamer with him. However, the wife of a Nyamassi chief had told a native ally of his, named Mego, that he had seen us in the Mozamboni country. ITo therefore begged mo to remain where I was until he could communicate with me. The note was bigned Dr. Emm, and dated March 26th. The next day, April 23rd, Jephson was despatched with a strong force to take the

t boat to the Nyanza. On the 26th, the boat's crew sighted Mawa Station, the southernmost point belonging to Emm. L J acht and Jephson were hospitably received by the Egyptian garrison. The boat's crow 3 ay they were embraced one by one, and that they never had such attention shown them as by these men, who hailed them as brothers.

TFIE MEETING WITH EMIN. On April 29bh we again reached the bivouac ground occupied by us on December 16th. At 5 o'clock in bho afternoon of that day we saw the Khedive steamer seven miles away steaming toward us. Soon after 7 o'clock ia the evening Emm Pasha and Signor Casati and Jephson arrived at our camp, where they were heartily welcomed by us. The next day we moved to a better camping-place, three miles above Nyamassi, and this spot Emm Pasha also made his camp. We were together until M.iy 25th. That day I left him, leaving Jephson, three Soudanese, and two Zanzibaris in his care. In return he caused to accompany me three of his irregular^ and 102 Madhi natives as porters. Fourteen days later I was at Fort Bodo, where wer6 Captain Nelson and Lieutenant Stairs. The latter had returned from Ugarrowwas twenty - two days after I had set out for the lake, bring ing with him, alas, only sixteen men out of fifty-six. All the rest dead. My twenty couriers, whom I had sent with letters to Barttelot, had safely left Ugarrowwas for Yambuya, March 16tb.

FORT BODO. Fort Bodo was flourishing, with nearly ten acres under cultivation. One crop of Indian corn had been harvested and was in the granaries, and they had just commenced planting again. On Juno 16th we left Fort Bodo with 111 Zanzibar and 101 of Emm Pasha'a people. Lieutenant Stairs had been appointed commandant of the fort, Nelson second in command and Surgeon Jfarke medical oflicer. The garrison consisted of fifty-nine rifles. I had thus deprived myself of all my officers in order that I should not be encumbered with tho baggage, pnnisions and medicines which would have to be taken if accompanied by Europeans, and every carrier was necessary for the vast stores which had been left with Barttelot. June 24th we reached Kilongalongas and July 19th Ugarvo\vwaB, The latter station was deserted. Ugarrowwas, having gathered as much ivory as he could obtain from that district, had proceeded down the river about three months before. Leaving this station and carrying sixty pounds of corn each, we went through and passed tho Avilderness unscathed, passing down the rher as fast as wo could go, daily expecting to meet the couriers, who had been .stimulated by a reward of £10 por head, or tho Major himeelf

leading the army of couriers. We indulged ourselves in the pleasing anticipations as we neared the goal.

TRAGIC INCIDENTS. August lObn wo overtook Ugarrowwas with an immense ILtilla of fifty-sevun canoe?. To our wonder, our couriers were reduced to seventeen. They related an awful sboiy of hairbieadfch escapes and tragic scenes. Three of their number had been slain, two were sfcilL feeble by reason of their wounds and all except five bore on their bodies the scars of arrow wounds. A week later, August 17bh, we met the rear column of the expedition at Unarya. There was a white man at the gate of the stockade, whom I at first thought to be Jamieson, but a noator view revealed the features of Bonney, who joined the medical service ol the army to accompany us.

BAD TIDINGS. " Well, my dear Bonney," I asked, " where is tho Major ?" "Dead," he replied. "Shot by the Manyuema about a month ago." ! "Good God!" I ciied. "And Jamieson ?" " Clone to Stanley Falls to geb more men from Tippoo Tib." " And Troup ?"' " Gone home invalided." " Y\ heie is Ward V" " At Bapgala." "Heaven alive ! Then you aro the only one here?" '* Yes, sir."

A RECORD OF A DISASTER. I tound the- rear column a terrific wreck. Out of 267 men only .se\enty-one remained, and out of tlie seventy-oi.c unly h'fty-tbiee were fit for service, and these were mostly scarecrows. Iho advance had performed the march from Yambuya j to Bunalia in sixteen day?, despite the native opposition. The rear of the column performed the same distance in forty-three days. According to Bonney, during the thirteen months and twenty days that had elapsed since he left Yambuya, the recoicl was only one of disaster, desertion and death. 1 have not the heart to go into details, many of which are incredible. Indeed, I have not the time, for, excepting Bonney, I have no one to assist me in re-organising our expedition. There are still far more loads than I can carry. At the same timo many articles that are needful are missing. For instance, I left for Yambuya with only a short campaigning kit, leaving my reserve clothing and personal effects in charge of the officers of the fort^

THE DESERTERS. The deserters from the advance column reached Yambuya to spread the report that I was dead. They had no papeis, but the officers accepted the report of the deserters as a fact. In January, Ward, at the officers' mess meeting, proposed that my instructions should be cancelled. The only one who appears to have dissented was Bonney. Accordingly my personal kit, medicine, soap, candles and provisions were sent down the Congo as superfluities. Thus after making this immonse personal sacrifice to relieve them and cheer them • up, I find myself naked and deprived of even the necessaries of life in Africa. i

A TRULY AFRICAN KIT. But strange to say, I have kept two hats, four pair 3 ot boots and a flannel jacket, and propose to go back to Emm Pasha, across Africa, with this truly African kit. Each man knew the road and did not need any stimulus by Nyanza and here. We only lost three men, one of them by desertion. I brought 131Zanzibarihere,andleft 59 atFort Bodo, a total of 190 men out of 389 ; a loss of 50percent. At Yambuya we left 257. There are only 71 left, 10 of whom will never leave the camp ; a loss of over 270 per cent. This proves thatj though the sutlerings of the advance were unprecedented, the mortality was not &o great as in camp at Yambuya. Thy survivors of the rear column are thin and most unhealthy looking. I have thus rapidly sketched ouv movements since June 28th, 1887. I wish I had the time. I write this amid the hurry and bustle of departure and amid constant interruptions.

THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED. You will, however, have gathered from this letter bhs nature of the country traversed by us. We were 160 days in the forest. The grass land was traversed by us in eight days, and the limit of the forest along the edge of the grass land is well marked. We saw it extending northeasterly, with its curves, bays and capes like the seashore. Southwesterly it preserved, the same character.

THE FOREST AREA. North and south the forest area extenchs from Nyangive to the southern borders of Monbuttu. East and west it covers all the territory from the Congo, at the mouth of the Aruwimi, to about east longitude 25deg., latitude 40deg. How far west beyond the Congo the forest reaches I do not know ; but the superficial extent of tb.3 tract thus described totally covered by the forest is 246,000 square mile*,. North of the Congo, between the Upoto and the Aruwimi, the forest, embraces another 20,000 square miles.

THE NATIVE DIALECTS. Between Yambuya and Albert Nyanza, we came across five distinct languages at least, spoken by the Wanyero, Wanynnkere, Wanya, Kuander, Wahha, and the people of Karangwi and Ukerwe. The land lies gently from the crest of the plateau above Albert Nyanza clown to the Congo River, from an altitude of 5 ; 500 feet to 1,400 feet above the sea.

LOFTY MOUNTAINS. South of our track through the grass land the face of the land is much broken by groups of cones or isolated mountains or ridges. Toward the north we saw no land higher than six thousand feet above the sea, but bearing 2lsdeg. magnetic at a distance of about fifty miles from our camp on the Nyanza, we saw a towering mountain summit covered with snow, probably 17,G00 or 18,000 feet above the sea. It is called Ruevenzori, and will probably prove a rival to Kilimanjaro. lam not sure it may not prove to be the Gordon Bennett ] mountain in Gambaragara, but there aye two reasons for doubting it to be the same ; the first is, it is a little too far west for the position of the latter, as given me in 1576 ; the second is, j we saw no snow on Gordon Bennett. I might mention a third, which is that the latter is a perfect cone apparently, while Ruevenzori is an oblong mount with a nearly levol summit, with two ridges extending northeast and southwest. I have only met three natives who have seen a lake toward the south. They agree that it is large, but not co large as Albert Nyanza.

THE AUUWIMI IiIVER. The Aruvvimi becomes known as the Suahli about 100 miles above Yam buya. An it nears Nepoko it is called the N"evoa. Beyond its confluence with the Nepoko ib is known as the Nowello. " Thvee bundrei miles from the Congo it is called the Niri, which is soon changed into Ituri, which name it retains to its source. Ten minutes' march from the Juri walers we?aw the Ny- j anza, like a inir>or in its immense gulf. I

EMIN PASHA. Before closing let mo touch more at large on the subject which brought me 'to this land, namely, Emm Pasha, who has two battalions of regulars under him. The first, consisting of seventy-five rifles, occupies. Duille, Honyn, Lahore, Maggi, Kirri, Bodden and Rcjaf. The second battalion, consisting of 640 men, 1 guard the stations of Wadelai, Fatiko, Mobagi and Osna, forming a lino of communication along the Nyanza and Nile, about 130 geographical miles in length. In the inteiior, west of the Nile, he retains three or fcir small stations, making fourteen in all. Besides these battalions, lie has a 1 expectable force of irregular soldiers, artisans, oooksand servant?.

Wliy EMIN DECLINED. " Altogether," he said, " if I con&ent to go away from here we shall ha\e about 8,000 people with us. Were lin your place, 1 would nob hesita'e one moment or be a second in doubt as to what to do. What you say is true, but we havo a large number of women and children, probably ten thousand people altogether, and how can all be gotten out of here, and besides we shall want many carriers ?" " Canieis for what?" I a&ked. "As for the women and children, you surely would not leave them, and they cannot travel."

STANLEY'S "REASONING. " The women must walk ; it will do them moie good than haim, and as for the little children load them on donkeys. Here you have 200 of them. Your people will not I travel very far the first month. Little by little they will get accustomed to ib. Our Zan/ibari crossed Ahica on my second expedition ; why cannot your black women do the same ?" "1 have no fear of them, they will do better than the men. They would require a vast amount of provisions for the road." " True, but you have thousands of cattle, which will furnish meat, and grain and vegetables for food. Well, we will defer ' further talk till to-morrow."

EMIN AGAIN VISITS STANLEY. May 1, 1888 — We halt in camp at Nobe Nobe. Emm Pasha came ashore trotn the steamer Khedive in a short time an J commenced the conversation again. Many arguments like the above were repeated. He said : " What you told me yesterday led me to think it best we should letire from here. The Egyptians willing to leave number about 100 men, besides women and children. Of these there is no doubt, and if I staved I should be glad to be rid of them, because they undermine my authority, nullify all my endeavours for a reti-eat. When I informed" them that Khartoum had fallen and Gordon Pasha slain, they always told the Nubians itwasaconcocted storyand that some day we should see the steamers ascend the river for their relief ; but of the regulars, who compose the First and Second battalions, lam extremely doubtful. They have led such a happy life here they would demur at leaving a country where they have enjoyed the luxuries they cannot command in Egypt. "The soldiers are married, several having harems. Many irregulars would also decline to follow me now. Supposing the regulars refuse to leave ? You can imagine my situation would be a difficult one. Would I be right in leav-, ing them to their fate ? Would it not be consigning them to ruin ? Should I leave them ammunition and return ? All discipline would be at an end. Disputes would arise and factions be formed. The more ambitious would aspire to be chiefs by force. Jfrom these rivalries hatred and slaughter would follow until none were left."

TAKE THE EGYPTIANS. " Supposing you resohe to what of the Egyptians ? ' I asked. " Oh, these I shall have to ask you to be good enough to take with you." " Now, will 3'ou, Pasha, do me a favour ?" I said to Captain Casati. " Are we to have the pleasure of your company to tho sea?" tor we had been instructed to assist him also, should we meet.

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