CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 
3^8 
in its phraseology, it indicated the death of some one, and when Chu- 
mah, the bearer of the letter, was questioned, he confirmed the fear that 
it was Livingstone that had died. This sad fact rendered the main 
purpose of the expedition useless, but there were hopes of obtaining 
some of the deceased hero's effects and also of completing the re¬ 
searches he had attempted, and Cameron determined to push on. / 
On February 18, 1875, he arrived at Lake Tanganyika, the great* 
central sea which had been discovered fifteen years before by Captain 
Burton, and took up his temporary residence at Kawele, a port of 
Ujiji. Being assured that there was no possibility of traveling west 
of the lake for three months more at least; and it being very important 
to wait until a caravan set forth for the coast at Zanzibar, as Cam¬ 
eron wished to forward the box of Livingstone's papers that had’ been 
left at Ujiji; he formed a plan of exploring the southern shores of the 
lake, which had not been thoroughly examined. 
The scenery on the shores of this lake he found to be most beau¬ 
tiful, and the tall red sandstone cliffs, their color mingling with the 
vivid green of the thick foliage on the banks, with the deep blue of 
the sky overhead, and the blue of the great expanse of water stretching 
around, presented a brilliantly colored picture that cannot soon be 
forgotten. 
Rounding two headlands, Cameron came upon the part of the 
lake which had not yet, as he believed, been explored. On nearing 
the southern end the scenery became very grand. Enormous masses 
of rocks piled upon each other to an immense height, sometimes in 
the shape of obelisks, pyramids, and vast temples, overgrown with 
trees jutting out from every crevice, with gigantic creepers fifty or 
sixty feet long, overhung the lake, with great caves and hollows dis¬ 
cernible through the thick fringe of vegetation at their base. On these 
shores some gorillas, looking larger than men, were seen, but they 
quickly vanished out of sight. 
On May 9th Cameron had found his way to Ujiji again, and there 
he was gladdened by the sight of a letter from home, only a year old! 
This letter had had a curious fate. The caravan by which it was sent 
had been dispersed by robbers, who seized everything, including the 
letters, but they in turn were defeated by another caravan, and the 
