CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



Just as before the actual accomplishment of our journey 

 when, impatient to be moving upon the way, we had to tarry 

 many tedious months while the scheme and its arrangements 

 were being thought out, weighed, and put in order ; so it is 

 with the narrative which attempts to set forth the history of 

 this Expedition. It will be necessary, I fear, to keep the 

 reader waiting for the plain, progressive story of our travels, 

 while an account is given of the somewhat tedious details 

 of constitution and equipment. 



The scheme was germinating in my mind for many years. 

 The idea did not come as a sudden impulse to be acted upon 

 as one might take a ticket to the farthest point upon a line. 

 It was rather the result of a succession of thoughts leading 

 naturally one from the other till a chain was Hnked with 

 such perfect sequence that it stimulated the imagination to 

 put it to the test. 



Every explorer looks upon the map of that part of the 

 world which particularly calls him, and endeavours to find 

 a spot that still affords opportunity for the special powers 

 he may possess for finding out the secrets that it hides. 

 The mountaineer will set his heart upon the ascent of some 

 unconquered height. Thus Ruwenzori, the highest peak of 

 the African continent, had attracted the attention of m?ny a 



