DISCOVERY OF THE VICTORIA N'YANZA. 



Eelooch guard, on seeing the Shaykh hold back, at 

 first raised objections, and then began to bargain. He 

 fixed a pay of one gora, or fifteen cloths per man, as 

 the only condition on which I should get their ser- 

 vices ; for they all declared that they had not only 

 been to Ujiji, the place appointed by Sultan Majid 

 and their chief before leaving Zanzibar, but that they 

 had overstayed the time agreed upon for them to be 

 absent on these travels. Considering the value of time, 

 I acceded to this exorbitant demand ; moreover, the 

 dry season had now set in, and the Arabs at this 

 period cease travelling, from fear of being caught by 

 droughts in those deserts which lie between this place 

 and the east-coast range, where, if the ponds and 

 puddles dry up, there is so little water in the wells 

 that travelling becomes precarious. Further, I had 

 not only to go through a much wilder country than 

 we had travelled in before, two and a half degrees off, 

 to discover and bring back full particulars of the 

 N'yanza, but had to purchase cattle sufficient for pres- 

 ents, and food for the whole journey down to the 

 coast, within the limited period of six weeks. The 

 Arab depot now came into play to satisfy this sudden 

 and unexpected call upon our store of cloths. There 

 were ten Belooches fit for service, and for each of them 

 a gora was bought at the depot, at a valuation of 10 

 dollars each, or 100 the lot. In addition to this, they 

 received an advance of 15 maunds of white beads in 



