ACROSS AFRICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Livingstone Search Expedition. — Motives for Volunteering. — Abandonment of 

 the Search. — A New Expedition decided upon. — Selected for the Command. — De- 

 parture from England. — Arrival at Aden. — Zanzibar. — Fitting Out. — Disadvan- 

 tages of having arrived with Sir B. Frere's Mission. — Difficulties in obtaining Men. 

 — Ordered to push on. — Ill-advised Haste. — The Start from Zanzil^ar. — Bagamoyo. 

 — The French Mission. — A Belooch Commander-in-chief. — Kaoli. — A Banquet. — 

 A Fire. — Paying Pagazi. — An Arab Festival. 



Long ago, when serving as senior lieutenant of H.M.S. Star, 1872. 

 on the East Coast of Africa, I had full opportunity of seeing 

 some of the cruelties and atrocities connected with the slave- 

 trade ; and the sufferings which I witnessed on board the dhows 

 — such as have been so graphically described by Captain G. L. 

 Sulivan, K.K., in "Dhow Chasing in Zanzibar Waters" — awoke 

 in me a strong desire to take some further part in the suppres- 

 sion of the inhuman traffic. 



I soon became convinced that unless it could be attacked at 

 its source in the interior of the continent, all attempts at its 

 suppression on the coast M'ould be but a poor palliation of the 

 fearful evil. 



I am, however, far from laying claim to having been actuated 

 solely by purely philanthropic motives, as some time previous- 

 ly my aspirations for travel and discovery had been excited 

 by reading papers descriptive of the expedition of Burton and 

 Speke in Somali land. And I became still more anxious to 

 undertake some exjjloration in Africa on hearing that Arab 

 merchants from Zanzibar had reached the West Coast ; for I 

 felt convinced that what had been accomplished by an Arab 

 trader was equally possible to an English naval officer. 



