114 
TEAVELS IN CENTEAL AFEICA. 
after my interview with Amabile — we met Abd il Majid and his 
three boats on his return to Khartoum. In defence of his disobey- 
ing my instructions and returning before he was overtaken-byime^; 
he repeated the same reasons for leaving Gondokoro as assigned 
by Amabile. < . ; . 
The history of his movements had been as follows : 
In the absence of any intelligence of Captain Speke or.his expedi- 
tion^ on his arrival at Gondokoro about the end of December, 1861, 
Abd il Majid proceeded to my station at M^ayo (formerly misnamed 
Neambara), and after supplying them with their requirements, was 
attacked by illness, which incapacitated him from any exertion. 
He therefore deputed in his stead Mussaad, the agent of the station, 
to proceed southwards in the direction indicated, with as ‘many men 
as could possibly be spared from the station, in search of: Captain 
Speke and his party.' .Mussaad, who accompanied Abd il. Majid 
down the Nile, informedjme .that this search was prosecuted during 
seventeen marches ; (a direct distance of about eighty-five miles) , 
through Jawila, Baga, Kegalo, into Bakoa. The districts of Fegalo 
and Bakoa were found in an exceedingly disturbed state, owing to 
the incursions of the Ncam Neam : Avhole populations had fled 
from their settlements, agriculture had been neglected, and a state 
of destitution and famine hitherto unwitnessed prevailed j to that 
extent, that after four consecutive dayshsubsistence on bulbs, Abots,[ 
and the wild fruits of the forest, the escort, hearing mo tidings of 
better prospects in advance, expressed themselves determined to 
give up the search. Mussaad, having learned the existence of a 
large expanse of water but four days'’ journey distant, and in his 
direct line of march to the southwards, expressed a hope that it 
might be the Victoria Nyanza, and was most anxious to push for it. 
This lake, formerly reported by me to the Boyal Geographical 
