CHAPTER XU 



Cameron's Journey Across Africa 



VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, a commander in the British 

 navy, had the distinction of being the first man to cross Africa 

 from east to west, preceding Stanley in this exploit. He 

 passed through numbers of hitherto unknown countries, had multi- 

 tudes of adventures, and finally reached the coast a complete wreck, 

 on the verge of death. As the first after Livingstone to reveal the 

 mysteries of tropical Africa, the story of his exploits is one of leading 

 importance. 



Like Stanley, he went out to "find Livingstone," sent by the 

 Royal Geographical Society of London, Dr. Dillon, an old friend of 

 his, accompanying him. Leaving England in November, 1872, he 

 proceeded to Zanzibar, where stores and men were obtained, among 

 the latter being Bombay, who had been the chief of Captain Speke's 

 followers. On February 2, 1873, the party reached Bagamoyo, its 

 starting point on the mainland. Here carriers were hired, about two 

 hundred of them, and in a few days more the party set out on its long 

 and toilsome march. 



Though the journey through what is now German East Africa 

 was replete with adventures and misadventures, it covered somewhat 

 familiar ground, and we shall pass on with the travelers to the Arab 

 Isettlement of Unyanyembe, of which we have spoken in the story of 

 Livingstone and Stanley. Here a long delay was made, owing to the 

 difficulty of obtaining carriers to continue the journey. Fever attacked 

 the whites of the expedition, Cameron, Dillon and Lieutenant Mur- 

 phy, the last named having joined at Aden. Its effects were so serious 

 in the case of Dillon and Murphy that they were obliged to retrace 

 their steps to the coast, during which Dillon, in a paroxysm of the 

 fever, killed himself. 



On October 20, 1873, Cameron received' an important Tetter, 

 signed by Jacob Wainwright, of the Livingstone expedition. Obscure 



(367) 



