THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 121 



superior to those who preceded him or came after, for he 

 managed so well as to avoid collisions with the natives, and 

 to leave Africa with the good will of all its savage kings and 

 chiefs, all of whom were treated with kindly consideration and 

 bettered by reason of his visit among them. 



EXPEDITION OF 



SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OFF FOR THE NILE. 



SAMUEL WHITE BAKER, subsequently knighted in recognition 

 of his services as an African explorer, thus begins the account of 

 his first expedition up the Nile : 



"In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the 

 sources of the Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African 

 expedition of Captains Speke and Grant, that had been sent 

 by the English Government from the South, via Zanzibar, 

 for that object. I had not the presumption to publish my 

 intention, as the sources of the Nile had hitherto defied all 

 explorers, but I had inwardly determined to accomplish this 

 difficult task or die in the attempt. From my youth I had been 

 inured to hardships and endurance in wild sports in tropical 

 climates, and when I gazed upon the map of Africa, I had a wild 

 hope, mingled with humility, that, even as the insignificant worm 

 bores through the hardest oak, I might by perseverance reach the 

 heart of Africa. 



