37 ° 
CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 
The country of Ulunda was entered’ on the 27th of July, 1875. 
The privations of hunger now began to be felt severely by Cameron 
and his men, as beads were no longer of use, and the people would 
exchange provisions only for slaves, cloth and gunpowder, none of 
which could be given them. The great river of South Africa, the 
Zambesi, was now not far distant, and we find that on August 8th it 
was only fourteen miles to the south of the camp. Cameron remarks 
that by a short system of canals the two rivers, the Congo and Zam¬ 
besi, might be united, so closely do they approach each other even at 
this part. 
O11 October 10th Cameron finally left Alvez and his crew behind 
him, and again set forth alone. The first place of any importance that 
was reached was the town of Kagnombe, which is of considerable 
size, being three miles in circumference; but as large space is occu¬ 
pied by cattle and pig-pens and tobacco-gardens, the population is not 
so large as the size of the town might lead one to expect. The expe¬ 
dition had now reached Portuguese West Africa and in this town was 
the house of Signor Goncalves, a very kind-hearted old Portuguese 
gentleman, who entertained the travelers most hospitably. The nov¬ 
elty of anything like civilized life again was a perfect delight to Cam¬ 
eron. There was actually a clean white cloth spread upon the table! 
and the meal, consisting of biscuits, butter and other “canned deli¬ 
cacies/' washed down with wine and coffee, was a royal feast to him 
after the long privations of the way. But, alas, he was to find that 
those privations were not yet at an end! 
The men day by day became more and more helpless, and Cam¬ 
eron, pondering on the one hundred and twenty miles that had still to 
be traversed to the coast, made up his mind that something decisive 
must be done. The result of his cogitations was this: to abandon 
tent, boat, bed and everything, except his instruments, journals and 
books, and, with a few of the strongest men, to push on without delay 
for the coast, and send assistance from thence as speedily as possible 
to the ailing men who were behind. Having decided on this move, 
it was quickly carried out. Everything was left but about twenty 
pounds weight of things, which were carried by the men in turns 
on the way. Bombay was left in charge of the other men, and forced 
