584 Htfnas of tbe fRofc, fRffle, anb (Sun 



hardships and encountering frightful perils, often carrying 

 their lives in their hands for weeks, they were the lions 

 of Society. The Royal Geographical Society awarded 

 Baker its Gold Medal " for the relief of Captains Speke 

 and Grant, and his endeavours to complete the dis- 

 coveries of those travellers," the Khedive bestowed upon 

 him a decoration, the Paris Geographical Society granted 

 him its Gold Medal, the University of Cambridge con- 

 ferred upon him an Honorary Degree. Mr. Gladstone, 

 then Chancellor of the Exchequer, wrote to Sir Roderick 

 Murchison : " Baker has done us very great honour in 

 a distant and barbarous land : he has made another 

 great discovery ; the lives dearest to him have been 

 imperilled ; and he has achieved his work without costing 

 the State a shilling." Clearly, then, something must be 

 done for Baker. The Queen and her Ministers rose 

 nobly to the occasion, and showed their appreciation 

 and admiration of the explorer's distinguished services 

 by conferring upon him a knighthood ! 



Sir Samuel Baker having thus by accident stumbled 

 upon his true vocation in life, and having proved him- 

 self a born leader of men, returned to Egypt in 1867 

 resolved to do all that in him lay to suppress the 

 horrible slave trade, of which he had witnessed the 

 appalling effects during his journey of exploration to 

 the lake Albert N'yanza. The Khedive entrusted him 

 with a firman to conduct an expedition into the interior 

 for the suppression of the slave trade, the introduction 

 of commerce, the opening of the great lakes to naviga- 

 tion, and the establishment of military and commercial 

 depots throughout Central Africa. 



