436 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
water, till finally they died away, leaving us all alone in 
our loneliness. 
But, looking up, I saw the gleaming portal to the 
Unknown : wide open to us and away down, for miles 
and miles, the river lay stretched with all the fascination 
of its mystery. I stood up and looked at the people. 
How few they appeared to dare the region of fable and 
darkness ! They were nearly all sobbing. They were 
leaning forward, bowed, as it seemed, with grief and 
heavy hearts. 
“ Sons of Zanzibar,” I shouted, “ the Arabs and the 
Wanyamwezi are looking at you. They are now telling 
one another what brave fellows you are. Lift up your 
heads and be men. What is there to fear ? All the 
world is smiling with joy. Here we are altogether like 
one family, with hearts united, all strong with the pur- 
pose to reach our homes. See this river; it is the road 
to Zanzibar. When saw you a road so wide ? When 
did you journey along a path like this ? Strike your 
paddles deep, cry out Bismillah ! and let us forward.” 
Poor fellows ! with what wan smiles they responded 
to my words ! How feebly they paddled ! But the 
strong flood was itself bearing us along, and the Vinya- 
Njara villages were fast receding into distance. 
Then I urged my boat’s crew, knowing that thus we 
should tempt the canoes to quicker pace. Three or four 
times Uledi, the coxswain, gallantly attempted to sing, 
in order to invite a cheery chorus, but his voice soon 
died into such piteous hoarseness that the very ludicrous- 
ness of the tones caused his young friends to smile even 
in the midst of their grief. 
We knew that the Vinya-Njara district was populous 
from the numbers of natives that fought with us by 
land and water, but we had no conception that it was so 
thickly populated as the long row of villages we now 
saw indicated. I counted fourteen separate villages, 
each with its respective growth of elais palm and banana, 
and each separated from the other by thick bush. 
Every three or four miles after passing Vinya-Njara, 
there were small villages visible on either bank, but 
