518 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
water ; but that no native journeyed by river, it being 
too dangerous. 
The Wangwana, weakened by scant fare and suffer- 
ing from pining vitals, were intensely affected when I 
announced to them that we were not far from the sea. 
Indeed one poor fellow — distinguished in the first 
volume as the coxswain of the Lady Alice during the 
adventurous circumnavigation of Lake Victoria — was 
so intoxicated with joy that he became outrageous in 
his behaviour. Still I did not suspect that this was 
madness, and when he advanced to me and embraced 
my feet, saying, £e Ah, master ! El liamd ul Illali ! We 
have reached the sea ! We are home ! we are home ! 
We shall no more be tormented by empty stomachs and 
accursed savages ! I am about to run all the way to 
the sea, to tell your brothers you are coming ! ” the idea 
of his lunacy was far from my mind. I attributed his 
tears and wildness simply to excess of emotion and 
nervous excitement. I replied to him soothingly ; but 
he, seizing his parrot and placing it on his shoulder, 
plunged into the woods. After a few seconds’ reflection, 
it occurred to me that the man was a lunatic, and I 
sent three men instantly to bring him back, and to 
recover him by force if necessary ; but after four hours’ 
search they returned unsuccessful, and I never saw 
the sage Safeni more. We probably might have been 
able to recover him after several days’ search ; but 
valuable as he had been, and dear as he was, death by 
starvation threatened us all, and we were compelled 
to haste — haste away from the baleful region to kinder 
lands. 
On the 26th of July I obtained by observation south 
latitude 5° 9'. 
From the bend below Itunzima Falls we had a straight 
stretch of four miles, on a river which recalled to our 
minds reminiscences of the quiet-flowing stream below 
Chum biri. Clinging to the left, we had a glorious grey 
sandbank, backed by growths of wild olive and a narrow 
belt of forest trees, in which the tracks of game were 
numerous. The right bank was similar, and dome-like 
