CHAPTER XU 
Cameron’s Journey Across Africa 
V ERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, a commander in the British 
navy, had the distinction of being the first man to cross Africa 
from east to west, preceding Stanley in this exploit. He 
passed through numbers of hitherto unknown countries, had multi¬ 
tudes of adventures, and finally reached the coast a complete wreck, 
on the verge of death. As the first after Livingstone to reveal the 
mysteries of tropical Africa, the story of his exploits is one of leading 
importance. 
Like Stanley, he went out to “find Livingstone, ,, sent by the 
Royal Geographical Society of London, Dr. Dillon, an old friend of 
his, accompanying him. Leaving England in November, 1872, he 
proceeded to Zanzibar, where stores and men were obtained, among 
the latter being Bombay, who had been the chief of Captain Speke’s 
followers. On February 2, 1873, the party reached Bagamoyo, its 
starting point on the mainland. Here carriers were hired, about two 
hundred of them, and in a few days more the party set out on its long 
and toilsome march. 
Though the journey through what is now German East Africa 
was replete with adventures and misadventures, it covered somewhat 
familiar ground, and we shall pass on with the travelers to the Arab 
jsettlement of Unyanyembe, of which we have spoken in the story of 
Livingstone and Stanley. Here a long delay was made, owing to the 
difficulty of obtaining carriers to continue the journey. Fever attacked 
the whites of the expedition, Cameron, Dillon and Lieutenant Mur¬ 
phy, the last named having joined at Aden. Its effects were so serious 
in the case of Dillon and Murphy that they were obliged to retrace 
their steps to the coast, during which Dillon, in a paroxysm of the 
fever, killed himself. 
On October 20, 1873, Cameron received an important letter, 
signed by Jacob Wainwright, of the Livingstone expedition. Obscure 
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