140 
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
and quoted a few pa^es back^ ill prepared me for so wilful an 
effusion of slander and calumny. The blow was as bard as I could 
well bear; therefore^ in accordance with the advice of friends at 
home^ and considering the distance I was from the scene of action 
to answer through the press^ I decided^ in lieu thereof^ at a future 
date to enter proceedings against Captain Speke. His subsequent 
deplorable deaths while on my way home^ unfortunately deprived 
me of this satisfaction. 
With a view to embrace the whole of these unwarrantable asper- 
sions,, I must again refer to Mr. Baker^s letter of 2nd February, 
1863, wherein he states : An accusation was sent to the Consul- 
General against you, signed by nearly all the Europeans at Khar- 
toum, including the official declarations of two Consulates, charging 
you with some former participation in slavery. Of course the seals 
of numerous natives ornamented the document.^"’ 
Without further comment upon the absurdity of my prosecuting 
others in the event of my ever having exposed myself to a similar 
charge, I will simply lay before an impartial public a few of the 
most important documents I thought, under the circumstances, it 
would be to my interest to acquire. 
To understand the first two documents, it will be necessary for 
me to carry the reader back to the year 1859, when, for the first 
time, I left Khartoum for England. Twelve months afterwards, 
the Austrian Consular Agent, Dr. Natterer, now deceased, reported 
at length, in German, to his Consul-General at Alexandria upon 
the horrors of the recently established slave trade on the White 
Nile. Translated into French by Her Majesty's Agent, his report 
reached me through the Foreign Office in December, I860. In it 
the following passage occurs ; 
Hereusement qu'aucun Autrichien et soit dit a Fhonneur de 
