chap, xyil] NEITHER LETTERS NOR SUPPLIES. 
4 63 
have gone to Zanzibar, but the general opinion was 
that we had all been killed. At this cold and barren 
reply, I felt almost choked. We had looked forward 
to arriving at Gondokoro as to a home; we had ex¬ 
pected that a boat would have been sent on the chance 
of finding us, as I had left money in the hands of an 
agent in Khartoum—but there was literally nothing to 
receive us, and we were helpless to return. We had 
worked for years in misery, such as I have but faintly 
described, to overcome the difficulties of this hitherto 
unconquerable exploration; we had succeeded—and 
what was the result ? Not even a letter from home to 
welcome us if alive! As I sat beneath a tree and 
looked down upon the glorious Nile that flowed a few 
yards beneath my feet, I pondered upon the value of 
my toil. I had traced the river to its great Albert 
source, and as the mighty stream glided before me, the 
mystery that had ever shrouded its origin was. dissolved. 
I no longer looked upon its waters with a feeling 
approaching to awe, for I knew its home, and had 
visited its cradle. Had I overrated the importance 
of the discovery ? and had I wasted some of the best 
years of my life to obtain a shadow ? I recalled to 
recollection the practical question of Commoro, the 
chief of Latooka.—“ Suppose you get to the great lake, 
what will you do with it ? What will be the good of 
it ? If you find that the large river does flow from it, 
what then ? ” 
