RETURN TO KAGEHL 769 



Wiro Peninsula, where we purchased meat, potatoes, milk, honey, bananas, 

 ripe and green, eggs, and poultry, and, while at anchor, cooked these deli- 

 cacies on board with such relish and appetite as only starving men can pro- 

 perly appreciate, grateful to Providence, and kindly disposed to all men. At 

 midnight, taking advantage of a favourable breeze, we set sail for Usukuma. 

 About three a.m. we were nearly in mid-gulf, and here the fickle wind failed 

 us ; after which, as if resolved we should taste to the utmost all its power, it 

 met us with a tempest of hailstones as large as filberts from the north-north- 

 east. The sky was robed in inky blackness ; not a star was visible ; vivid 

 lightnings, accompanied by loud thunder-crashes, and waves which tossed us 

 up and down, as though we were imprisoned in a gourd, lent their terrors to 

 this fearful night. Again we let the boat drift whither it might, as all our 

 efforts to keep on our course were useless and vain. Indeed, we began to 

 think that the curse of the people of Bambireh, ' Go, and die in the Nyanza,' 

 might be realised after all, though I had much faith in the staunch craft 

 which Messenger, of Teddington, so conscientious^ built. 



"A grey, cheerless raw morning dawned at last, and we discovered 

 ourselves to be ten miles north of Kwoma, and twenty miles north-west of 

 Kagehyi, at which latter place my camp was situated. We put forth our 

 best efforts, hoisted sail, and, though the wind was but little in our favour at 

 first, it soon rewarded our perseverance, and, merrily brushing the tall waves, 

 came booming astern of us, so that we sailed in triumph along the well-known 

 shores of Usukuma straight to camp. Shouts of welcome greeted us from 

 shore, when even many miles away ; but, as we drew near, the shouts changed 

 to volleys of musketry and waving of flags, and the land seemed alive with 

 leaping forms of glad-hearted men, for we had been fifty-seven days awa}' 

 from our people, and many a false rumour of our deaths, strengthened each 

 day as our absence grew longer, was now dissipated by the appearance of 

 the ' Lady Alice ' skimming joyously to her port of Kagehyi. As the keel 

 grounded, over fifty men bounded to the water, dragged me from the boat, 

 and danced me round camp on their shoulders, amid much laughter, clapping 

 of hands, grotesque wriggling of human forms, and Saxon hurrahing. Hav- 

 ing vented their gladness, they set me down, and all formed a circle, many 

 deep, to hear the news, which was given with less detail than I have had the 

 honour to write to you. So ended our exploration of Lake Victoria Nyanza." 



The second portion of Mr. Stanley's despatches appeared in the " Daily 

 Telegraph" a few days after the appearance of the preceding. " The se- 

 cond portion of Mr. Stanley's despatches," they say, " which we publish this 

 morning, gives very interesting particulars of his visit to, and reception 

 by the King of Ukerewe, and afterwards of his punishment of the natives of 

 Bambireh, who had behaved so treacherously towards him, as described in 

 the letter which we printed on Monday. Subsequently, escorted by two 

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