OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC. 
543 
eating to think of anything else much ; but I may say 
that the people cry out joyfully, while their mouths are 
full of rice and fish, ‘ Verily, our master has found the 
sea, and his brothers, but we did not believe him until 
he showed us the rice and the pombe (rum). We did 
not believe there was any end to the great river ; but 
God be praised for ever, we shall see white people to- 
morrow, and our wars and troubles will be over.’ 
“ Dear Sirs — though strangers, I feel w r e shall be great 
friends, and it will be the study of my lifetime to remem- 
ber my feelings of gratefulness, when I first caught sight 
of your supplies, and my poor faithful and brave people 
cried out, 4 Master, we are saved ! — food is coming ! ’ 
The old and the young — the men, the women, the children 
— lifted their wearied and worn-out frames, and began 
to chant lustily an extemporaneous song, in honour 
of the white people by the great salt sea (the Atlantic) 
who had listened to their prayers. I had to rush to my 
tent to hide the tears that would issue, despite all my 
attempts at composure. 
“ Gentlemen, that the blessing of God may attend 
your footsteps whithersoever you go is the very earnest 
prayer of 
“ Yours faithfully, 
“ Henry M. Stanley, 
<£ Commanding Anglo-American 
Expedition.” 
At the same hour on the morning of the 7th that we 
resumed the march, Kaclieehe and Uledi were despatched 
to Boma with the above letter. Then, surmounting a 
ridge, we beheld a grassy country barred with seams of 
red clay in gullies, ravines, and slopes, the effects of rain, 
dipping into basins with frequently broad masses of 
plateau and great dyke-like ridges between, and in the 
distance south-west of us a lofty, tree-clad hill-range, 
which we were told we should have to climb before 
descending to N’lamba N’lamba, where we proposed 
camping. 
Half an hour’s march brought us to a market-place, 
