STANLEY IN UGANDA. 717 



"I mustered the men of the Expedition yesterday, and ascertained it to 

 consist of three white men and one hundred and sixty -six Wanguana soldiers 

 and carriers, twenty-eight having died since leaving Ituru, thirty days ago. 

 Over one-half of our force has thus heen lost by desertion and deaths. This 

 is a terrible fact, but I hope that their long rest here will revive the weak and 

 strengthen the strong. The dreadful scourge of the Expedition has been 

 dysentery, and I can boast of but few patients cured of it by medicine, though 

 it was freely given, as we were possessed of abundance of medical stores. A 

 great drawback to their cure has been the necessity of moving on, whereas a 

 few days' rest, in a country blessed with good water and food, would have 

 restored many of them to health ; but good water and good food combined 

 could not be procured anywhere but here. The Arabs would have taken 

 nine months or a year to march this long distance, while we have performed 

 it in only one hundred and three da} 7 s, including halts. As I vaccinated 

 every member of the Expedition on the coast, I am happy to say that not 

 not one has fallen a victim to small-pox. 



" I leave this letter in the hands of Sungoro, a Msawabili trader, who 

 resides here, in the hope that he will be enabled shortly to forward it to 

 Unyanyembe, as he frequently sends caravans with ivory; but a copy of it I 

 shall take with me to Uganda, and deliver to Mtesa, the king, to be con- 

 veyed, if possible, to Colonel Gordon. Since leaving Mpwapwa I have not 

 met one caravan bound for Zanzibar ; and after leaving Ugogo it was impos- 

 sible to meet one, or to despatch couriers through such dangerous countries 

 as we have traversed. The letters containing the account of our exploration 

 of the Victoria Nyanza and our subsequent march to the Albert Nyanza I hope 

 to be able to deliver personally into the hands of Colonel Cordon, and in 

 this expectation I remain, yours obediently, Henry M. Stanley." 



" March 5. — The boiling point observed by one of Negretti and Zambra's 

 apparatus this day was 205° 6' ; temperature of air, 82° Fahrenheit. The 

 boiling point observed by another instrument by a different maker was 205° 

 5'; temperature of air, 81°. Fahrenheit. The barometer at the same time 

 indicated 26.90 inches. The mean of the barometrical observations at Zan- 

 zibar was 30.018. The mean of the barometrical observations during seven 

 days' residence here has been 26.138." 



Stanley's next letters are written from the capital of King Mtesa, in 

 Uganda. They were entrusted to the care of Colonel Linant de Bellcfonds, 

 whom he metatMtesa's capital on a mission from Colonel Gordon, the object 

 being to make a treaty of commerce between Mtesa and the Egyptian 

 Government. Subsequently, on his return, De Bellefonds' company were 

 attacked by the Bari tribe, and out of forty-one all but four were massacred. 

 Whether one of the survivors kept possession of the documents^ or whether 



