2 
TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
the Uoyal Geographical Society to effect a meeting with Captains 
Speke and Grant from Zanzibar^ and to supply them with the 
necessary boats and stores at Gondokoro for their conveyance down 
the Nile to Khartoum. 
Therefore, in April 1861, we bade farewell to my weeping mother, 
sister, and her husband, on the landing-stage, and embarked at 
Liverpool on the night of April the 17th, in the steamer Pac- 
tolus,^^ belonging to the Messrs. Moss. The commander. Captain 
Carroll, kindly .gave up to us his comfortable cosy cabin on deck. 
April 20th. — M^e are in the Bay of Biscay; the weather very 
rough, but, being excellent sailors, we enjoy it, though the sea 
drenches us occasionally, 
April 2l5zf. — A gale last night : we rose to watch the grand 
effect. Morning dawned bright and beautiful; the high sea sub- 
siding, were able to take solar observations. 
April 22nd . — A glimpse this morning of the Portuguese coast ; 
weather charming. A shoal of porpoises roll around the steamer, 
as if trying a race with her. At six p.m. a sudden squall; night 
glorious. Passed Cape St. Vincent when the moon was high. The 
following morning rose an hour before the sun; carpenters busy 
putting up awning on deck ; ships and the graceful little feluccas 
are in sight. Our glasses (from Carey in the Strand) are splendid. 
At noon passed Trafalgar Bay : no lighthouse is there, neither is 
there one on the opposite coast — Cape Spartel. The absence of 
those highly-prized beacons renders navigation here very hazard- 
ous. Caught my first glimpse of Africa, that vast land where my 
home is so soon to be. Of Spain, with its sunny mountains and 
cool glades, we had wondrous peeps. Steamed close to the rock of 
Gibraltar, and are now in the Mediterranean. 
