88 REPORTS OF SPEKE AND GRANT. [chap. ii. 
that simple travelling was my object, and they were 
shortly convinced that I was intent npon espionage in 
their nefarious ivory business and slave-hunting. 
In conversing with the traders, and assuring them 
that my object was entirely confined to a search for 
the Nile sources, and an inquiry for Speke and Grant, 
I heard a curious report that had been brought down 
by the natives from the interior, that at some great 
distance to the south there were two white men who 
had been for a long time prisoners of a sultan; and 
that these men had wonderful fireworks ; that both had 
been very ill, and that one had died. 
It was in vain that I endeavoured to obtain some 
further clue to this exciting report. There was a 
rumour that some native had a piece of wood with 
marks upon it that had belonged to the white men; 
but upon inquiry I found that this account was only a 
report given by some distant tribe. Nevertheless, I 
attached great importance to the rumour, as there was 
no white man south of Gondokoro engaged in the 
ivory trade ; therefore there was a strong probability 
that the report had some connexion with the existence 
of Speke and Grant. I had heard, when in Khartoum, 
that the most advanced trading station was about 
fifteen days’ march from Gondokoro, and my plan of 
operations had always projected a direct advance to 
