PRELIMINARIES. 



5 



hood of Kilwa. Wisely, I repeat : the burghers of that 

 proud old settlement had, only a year before my arrival, 

 murdered, by means of the Wangindo savages, an Arab 

 merchant who ventured to lay open the interior. 



At the same time I had laid before the Council of the 

 Koyal Geographical Society my desire to form an expe- 

 dition primarily for the purpose of ascertaining the limits 

 of the " Sea of Ujiji, or Unyamwezi Lake," and second- 

 arily, to determine the exportable produce of the in- 

 terior, and the ethnography of its tribes. I have quoted 

 exactly the words of the application. In these days every 

 explorer of Central Africa is supposed to have set out 

 in quest of the coy sources of the White Nile, and 

 when he returns without them, his exploration, whatever 

 may have been its value, is determined to be a failure. 

 The Council honoured my plans with their approval. At 

 their solicitation, the Foreign Office granted the sum 

 of 1000£. for the outlay of the exploration, and the de- 

 funct Court of Directors of the late East India Companjf, 

 who could not be persuaded to contribute towards the 

 expenses, generously allowed me two years' leave of 

 absence from regimental duty, for the purpose of com- 

 manding the Expedition. I also received instructions 

 to report myself to his Excellency the Lord Elphin- 

 stone, then Governor of Bombay, and to Lieut.-Colonel 

 Hamerton, from whose influence and long experience 

 much was expected. 



When the starting-point came to be debated, the 

 Consul strongly objected to an Expedition into the in- 

 terior via Kilwa, on account of the opposition to be 

 expected at a port so distant from the seat of govern- 

 ment, where the people, half-caste Arabs and Wasa- 

 wahili ? who are under only a nominal control, still re- 

 tained a strong predilection for protection, and a violent 



B 3 



