STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 



343 



as eight days before. This could only be Livingstone, for Baker, the 

 only other white man known to be in the interior, was comparatively 

 young, and consequently would not be gray-haired. By dint of large 

 bribes, Stanley aroused his men to something like excitement and 

 energy, and pressing forward as speedily as possible, paying large 

 tribute at every town, if only so as not to lose time, resisted continually 

 by the savage chieftains of the country, crossing quagmires and 

 streams, and, as the main track was infested by bands of warriors on 

 the warpath, plunging into jungle depths and the wildest parts of a 

 tropical wilderness, on November lo, the two hundred and thirty-sixth 

 day from Bagamoyo, at the head of his men, he surmounted a steep 

 and lofty ridge, and beheld the Tanganyika and Ujiji at his feet. 



His faithful Wangwana pressed forward and gave vent to their 

 feehngs in the most boisterous and characteristic fashion. There, in 

 front of them, lay the goal to which, through all their toil and pri- 

 vation, they had ever been pressing nearer. The days of trouble were 

 over, the hour of triumph had arrived. 



With his heart beating high with excitement, Stanley marshalled 

 his caravan in order, and then with horns blowing, guns firing and 

 flags flying, they descended the hill towards Ujiji. The people came 

 out in crowds to meet them, and in the midst of the uproar, Stanley 

 was accosted by Susi, the servant of Dr. Livingstone, who, in good 

 English, told him that the Doctor was indeed alive, though poor in 

 health. 



The news had quickly spread that a white man was coming, and 

 all the chief Arabs had gathered in front of the Doctor's house, there 

 to await the new arrival. For the rest — is it not a matter of history 

 and engraved in the hearts of thousands, to whom the story of the 

 great traveler and missionary has been as an epic? But let Stanley 

 tell his own tale once more. 



"I pushed back the crowds, and passing from the rear, walked 

 down a living avenue of people, until I came in front of the semi-circle 

 of Arabs, in front of which stood the white man with the gray beard. 

 As I advanced slowly towards him, I noticed' he was pale, looked 

 wearied, had a gray beard, wore a bluish cap, with a faded gold band 

 round it, had on a red-sleeved waist-coat, and a pair of gray tweed 



