PREVIOUS GREAT CONTROVERSIES 287 



members, too, for all -the riding asses died. But Burton, in spite of his own 

 worries, found time to head a raid against some Arab slave traders, whom he 

 defeated, thus freeing a number of captives who were being dragged away 

 from their homes. 



After traversing a land where a great part of the natives were dying o£ 

 smallpox, the expedition reached a beautiful country, over which great herds of 

 zebras and antelopes roamed. This, however, did not last long. Beyond it 

 were dreary swamps. The Zanzibar mercenaries grew mutinous. Time and 

 again, when all else failed, Burton used a star sapphire which he carried as 

 an amulet, to enforce obedience from the superstitious negroes. In spite of 

 the awe that he inspired in them, they plotted to kill him. While hunting one 

 day, followed by two negroes, who were not aware that he spoke their dialect, 

 he overheard them arranging to take his life. Without a word, without even 

 turning, he thrust his dagger backward, stabbing one to death. The other, 

 falling on his knees, begged for mercy. 



On another occasion some more plotters, having made their plans around 

 a wood fire, went away to gether more wood. Burton, stealing up, put a 

 canister of powder among the embers. When the assassins returned and kin- 

 dled the fire anew "there weren't any assassins," as one of Burton's biographers 

 succintly puts it. Both these stories, though not printed in any of Burton's 

 works, were told by him to intimate friends on his return from Africa. 



After passing through a realm where no self-respecting man, from King 

 down, was sober after midday, and where obesity and beauty were synonymous 

 tenns regarding women, the explorers on Feb. 13, 1858, saw "a long streak 



of light." 



"Look, master, look !" shouted the Arab guide, "behold the great water !" 



It was Lake Tanganyika. 



The two Englishmen set about the exploration of the great lake's shores, 

 but were not very thorough. While in a boat they were caught in a terrible 

 storm, during which they despaired of ever reaching land again. 



They set out from Tanganyika for the coast on May 26, 1858. Burton 

 and Speke were both sufifering severely from malaria and complications: in 

 fact, part of the time the former was nearly paralzyed, the latter almost blind. 



When they reached Kazeh Speke announced to his chief that he desired 

 to look for another lake, which he understood from the natives was somewhere 

 in the neighborhood. Whether owing to illness or other reasons, Burton re- 

 fused to accompany Speke on this side trip. :Moreover, he seems to have made 



