430 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
we are now in the very middle of this continent, and it 
would he just as bad to return as to go on, we shall con- 
tinue our journey, that we shall toil on, and on, by this 
river, and no other, to the salt sea.”* 
A loud shout of applause greeted me as I concluded, 
and Manwa Sera followed it up, and in a few spirited 
words said that they were bound to let the Wanyam- 
wezi see of what stuff the sea children were made, and, 
turning to the Arabs, he asked them to look at the black 
men who were about to perform what they dreaded. 
Uledi, the coxswain, on behalf of the boat-boys, said that 
I was their father, and though every one else should 
refuse to move farther, Frank and I might step into the 
boat, and he and his friends would dare the long journey 
that very day ! 
There was ample work for us all before setting out on 
our adventurous journey. Food had to be procured and 
prepared for at least twenty days. Several of the canoes 
required to be repaired, and all to be lashed in couples, 
to prevent them from capsizing ; and special arrange- 
ments required to be made for the transport of three 
riding-asses, wicli we had resolved upon taking with us, 
as a precaution in the event of our being compelled to 
abandon the canoes and to journey along the banks. 
Christmas Day we passed most pleasantly and happily, 
* A poetical friend on hearing this address brought to my notice a 
remarkable coincidence. In one of Tennyson’s poems, Ulysses addresses 
his followers thus : — 
“ My mariners. 
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me, 
That ever with a frolic welcome took 
The thunder and the sunshine and opposed 
Free hearts, free foreheads: come, my friends, 
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world. 
Push off, and sitting well in order smite 
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 
To sail beyond the sunset until I die. 
It, may be that the gulfs will wash us down ; 
It may be we shall touch the happy isles 
And see the great Achilles whom we knew. 
Though much is taken, much abides ; and tho’ 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” 
