A MISSION TO KABREGA. 493 



again. I shall now begin to give ivory in exchange for cloths 

 for my men. 



Junker has decided to go to Kabrega, and I hope he will 

 proceed from there to Uganda as soon as possible. I am 

 sending our apothecary, Vita Hassan, a brave young fellow, as 

 representative of the Government. He is first of all to take 

 up his abode with Kabrega, and I have given him full instruc- 

 tions. I gave a packet to Junker for the English Consul- 

 General in Zanzibar, containing, besides official letters, a 

 couple of lines for you. This morning (January 2) the 

 steamer KJiedive has taken the whole party to the lake, and 

 Junker and Vita are to disembark at Kibiro, whence they can 

 reach Kabrega in two days' march. Well, we will call down 

 upon them the old blessing, Q.D.B.V. Our chief aim now 

 is to obtain news through the missionaries in Uganda, even 

 though it may be old. My men's confidence in me is doubled 

 since they have seen the cloths. Now for a newspaper, and I 

 will hold my ground for two years more. But Junker must go 

 to Uganda for it, and I still do not know whether he will go. 



Wadelai, February 20, 1886. 



At last it seems as if a beam of hope were going to burst 

 upon us. But let me begin at the beginning. After his 

 departure, Junker wrote me a few lines from Kibiro, to say 

 that he had arrived safely, and was waiting for porters to go to 

 Kabrega. I received several contradictory reports from Lado. 

 I was informed that a strong detachment of Negroes (Dinka 

 [Elyab, Bor, Agar], Bari, Nyambara, Fajelu, Mandari) were 

 encamped behind Jebel Lado, with the intention of attack- 

 ing Lado and Rejaf. Then a female slave, who had been 

 captured by the Negroes in Ber, ran away from them and 

 came to Lado. She stated that she had gone in a boat 

 with her master from Bor to Fashoda, where she saw some 

 Shiluk quartered in the town. They had only burnt the 

 mudirie (Government offices). The river at Fashoda was 

 open. Soldiers and Danagla were stationed in Kawa, and 

 had made raids against the Shiluk. She had heard nothing of 

 the Faki (Mahdi). Next came the news that these Negroes 



