Some Thought My Best Plan Would Be To Go Up The Nile, Which Seemed To Them The Natural Course To Pursue, Especially As The Nile Was Said, Though Nobody Believed It, To Have Been Navigated By Expeditions Sent Out By Mehemet Ali, Viceroy Of Egypt, Up To 3§ 22ï North Latitude.

To this I objected, as so many had tried it and failed, from reasons which had not transpired; and,

At the same time, I said that if they would give me œ5000 down at once, I would return to Zanzibar at the end of the year, March to Kaze again, and make the necessary investigations of the Victoria lake. Although, in addition to the journey to the source of the river, I also proposed spending three years in the country, looking up tributaries, inspecting watersheds, navigating the lake, and making collections on all branches of natural history, yet œ5000 was thought by the Geographical Society too large a sum to expect from the Government; so I accepted the half, saying that, whatever the expedition might cost, I would make good the rest, as, under any circumstances, I would complete what I had begun, or die in the attempt.

My motive for deferring the journey a year was the hope that I might, in the meanwhile, send on fifty men, carrying beads and brass wire, under charge of Arab ivory-traders, to Karague, and fifty men more, in the same way, to Kaze; whilst I, arriving in the best season for travelling (May, June, or July), would be able to push on expeditiously to my depots so formed, and thus escape the great disadvantages of travelling with a large caravan in a country where no laws prevail to protect one against desertions and theft.

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