928 LIFE OF DA YID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



prospect of entering either one of them causes me to thrill with delight, 

 though merely anticipating what lies ahead. ' Shall I search for the head of 

 the Alexandra Nile, or shall I continue along the right bank of the Lualaba ?' 

 such is the alternative which agitates the silent hours of night with me. Shall 

 I, after arriving at Nyangwe, strike north-easterly, and take this coy and 

 maiden Nile-fountain by surprise where she first issues from her oozy bed in 

 the angle of some dewy valley, and trace her thence through all her sportive 

 career, amid flower-decked lakelets or the breadths of ever- vernal papyrus ; 

 or where she rushes with fresh-born vigour and youthful ardour by fragrant 

 meads and forest-clad slopes to the three blue Nyanzas, to meet her kindred 

 gathered from all points of the compass as tribute-bearers to King Nilus, the 

 Lord of Floods? Or shall I worship at the shrine of the majestic Lualaba; 

 view with awe and reverence his broad glassy bosom ; watch him unfold his 

 strength, and launch himself against rocks with angry roar until the woods 

 and valleys resound with the name of this terrible monarch; witness him 

 receiving his homage from other potentates of less renown, and follow his 

 waves through the dark unknown land to where he finally discharges his 

 flood to the ocean ? Both courses are equally enticing, both present splendid 

 openings for geographical research ; but which I shall adopt will be best known 

 after I reach Nyangwe. 



" In the meantime, I lay at the feet of the good and exalted Princess of 

 Wales an explorer's tribute — all that he has discovered, measured, and surveyed 

 of the Alexandra Nile — for ever to be associated with the Victoria Nile. 



" Henry M. Stanley." 



"Ujiji, August 13th, 1876. 



" I must leave off writing letters, and must hurry away, for times are 

 sad, very sad, in Ujiji. A malignant epidemic is raging here, devouring the 

 population at the rate of from forty to seventy-five persons daily. It is a 

 small-pox of the most fatal kind. Few attacked by it have escaped. The 

 same evil influences which nourish this pest cause other ailments to prevail — 

 namely, dysentery, chest diseases, and typhoid fevers. You may perceive by 

 the dates of my letters to you how many days I have required to write off a 

 couple of letters, and make two surveys. I returned from my circumnavigat- 

 ing voyage on Tanganyika August 1st; this is now the 13th. Thirteen days 

 to write two letters ! It is true ; but the time has been mostly spent fretting 

 in bed, from repeated attacks of fevers. 



"When I landed from my boat I received a budget of bad news only. 

 Five deaths had already occurred in the Expedition during my absence of 



