FIRST TIDINGS OF THE NILE. 
165 
promised, when we parted with him in England, to 
meet or have boats for us in November 1861 and un- 
til 1862. Plans were at once formed to send him a 
letter, and Eumanika gave us every facility, as the 
king above mentioned was his connection, having 
exchanged sisters with him. Although this intimacy 
existed, nothing would induce Eumanika to allow us 
to march there till a reply had been received. We 
were to be kept for months in suspense, until Baraka, 
the bearer of the despatch, should return. Although 
we told Eumanika repeatedly that we expected boats 
on the Nile for us, on the receipt of this important in- 
formation he would not allow us to advance — it would 
not be etiquette toward the northern kings ! Mean- 
while the king of Uganda luckily sent a message that 
he was most impatient to see the white men, and as a 
story was got up that no sick people nor donkeys were 
allowed to enter his territory, I had to remain till 
sufficiently recovered to march. Speke left on the 
1 Oth of January ; and Baraka, having bought the dis- 
guise of a native — a bark-cloth and spear — consulted 
magicians to find out whether this march would be 
prosperous ; he started on the 29th with several com- 
panions, and letters for the ships supposed to be 
Petherick's. These turned out to be a perfect myth — 
no such boats were there ; the nearest point that any 
lay at was Gondokoro, a place known in Europe for 
thirty years. But the Nubian soldiers of M. de Bono 
had worked their way from Gondokoro by land far 
south by means of their guns, and gave origin to the 
report we had heard. Feeling anxious about Baraka, 
my head man Frij went repeatedly to the sultan's 
brother, M'nanagee, asking whether anything had been 
