442 



GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



waters, and partly from the difficulty of ob- 

 taining interpreters and porters to traverse the 

 unfriendly region. Capt. Burton had proposed 

 to reach the great lakes of the interior, and 

 thus prepare the way for seeking the source of 

 the Nile, by an expedition westward from Zan- 

 zibar at a distance of 4 or 5 S. of the equa- 

 tor. Arriving after great difficulty and danger 

 in 1858 at Kazeh, midway between Lake Tan- 

 ganyika and the coast, he was taken sick there 

 and was compelled to send forward his com- 

 panion, Capt. Speke, to continue the explora- 

 tion alone. After visiting Lake Tanganyika, 

 Captain Speke proceeded to the southern ex- 

 tremity of a long lake called by the natives 

 Nyanza, which they asserted extended 400 

 miles to the north; and had its outlet in a river 

 frequented by white men. Capt. Speke be- 

 came at once strongly impressed with the be- 

 lief that this lake was the long sought source 

 of the Nile, and as he could not descend the 

 lake he returned to Kazeh and, communicated 

 his belief to Capt. Burton, who received it 

 with sneers, and finally quarrelled with him on 

 that ground. Capt. Speke returned to Eng- 

 land, and having laid his views, and the reasons 

 which induced him to entertain them, before 

 the Royal Geographical Society, that body, to- 

 gether with several liberal gentlemen, provided 

 the necessary means for undertaking another 

 expedition which should give him the oppor- 

 tunity of testing his theory and perfecting the 

 discovery which he believed he had made. 



It was in October, 1860, that, with an outfit 

 as complete as he could obtain, and accompa- 

 nied by Capt. Grant, like himself, an officer of 

 the Indian army, Capt. Speke reached Zanzi- 

 bar, and with a caravan of more than 200 men, 

 consisting of a few Hottentots, who proved 

 only a burden, 25 Beluchs or Balochs, an es- 

 cort through Uzaramo, sent by the Sultan of 

 Zanzibar, 75 freed slaves under an Arab cap- 

 tain, 100 negro porters, and a supply of mules, 

 donkeys, and goats, set out for Uzaramo. The 

 travellers were constantly annoyed by the de- 

 sertions of these porters and escorts, which 

 often compelled them to hire others, frequently 

 worthless vagabonds, at exorbitant rates, and 

 as often caused them heavy losses of their 

 goods, stolen by the deserters, or plundered 

 by the natives of the countries through which 

 they passed. Only 18 of the whole number en- 

 gaged remained with them through their jour- 

 neyings, and these, whom Capt. Speke calls his 

 "Faithfuls," were treated with great consid- 

 eration at Cairo, and sent back, with an addi- 

 tional year's pay as bounty, by the Oriental 

 Company's steamers to Zanzibar. From Uza- 

 ramo, the expedition passed through Usagara, 

 an upland country, where Capt. Grant was at- 

 tacked with the acclimating fever. This fever 

 did not leave Lira entirely while he remained 

 in the country, recurring at intervals of about 

 a fortnight, though lighter in the latter part of 

 their journey. As soon as Capt. Grant was 

 convalescent, Capt. Speke left him and, having 



ascended the hilly Usagara range to the more 

 level lands of the interior, penetrated into the 

 wild region of Ugogo, where the inhabitants 

 usually have abundant crops and herds, but 

 were this year suffering from a terrible famine, 

 the result of an extensive drought. They 

 were a fierce, savage people; so avaricious 

 ordinarily that they would not admit caravans 

 into their villages. The wild game killed by 

 Capt. Speke and his company in this country 

 was at once seized by these people, and an ex- 

 orbitant Twngo or toll exacted for the use of 

 the ground on which they encamped. The 

 two travellers (for Grant had recovered suffi- 

 ciently to join his companion) reached Unya- 

 muezi, or the Country of the Moon, about the 

 end of January, 1861, with the loss by deser- 

 tion of more than a hundred men, while over 

 one half of their animals were dead, and alike 

 proportion of their property stolen, and the 

 famine made their expenses unprecedentedly 

 high. The inhabitants of Unyam-uezi, or " Men 

 of the Moon," as the Hindoos, who formerly 

 traded with the Eastern Coast, called them, are 

 the greatest traders in Africa. They are quite 

 intelligent, and smelt iron from the ore in their 

 own country, and manufacture iron implements 

 very expertly. They also weave cotton and 

 keep many flocks and herds. But with this 

 partial civilization, they are great smokers and 

 drinkers, and lack courage. In this country the 

 travellers encountered famine again and war 

 between a young brigand chief and the Arab 

 traders who visited the country, and were 

 compelled to return to Kazeh to reenforce their 

 caravan, and endeavor to make arrangements 

 for peace. After many delays and wearisome 

 experiences of native extortion, Captain Speke, 

 leaving Grant at Kazeh, passed through Uzinza 

 and Sorombo, when he was compelled to re- 

 turn to Kazfch by the refusal of his whole camp 

 to go forward, because, as they alleged, it was 

 an enemy's country. From Kazeh Capt. Speke 

 sent back to the coast for more beads and 

 clothes, and fifty armed men, and having ob- 

 tained them, he moved forward, and after 

 much trouble reached the beautiful country of 

 Karague, where King Rumanika, an Abyssinian 

 by birth, welcomed them cordially, and treated 

 them with great kindness. Here the highest 

 standard of beauty for woman is extreme 

 obesity, and the king's wives and daughters 

 were fattened till they could not stand. Leaving 

 his friend Grant, who was again ill,with the kind- 

 hearted Rumanika, Capt. Speke pushed on to 

 Uganda, and while traversing that country, on 

 the 28th of January, 1862, caught sight of 

 Lake Nyanza for the first time in this expe- 

 dition. He reached the capital of Mtfcsa, 

 the King of Uganda, on the 19th of 

 February, and by a judicious mixture of 

 audaciousness and prudence, succeeded in 

 gaining the favor of this tyrant, who seems 

 to have been a second King of Dahomey. To 

 gratify the caprice of the king, one at least of 

 his subjects is executed daily, usually for some 



