This was a puzzling question.
Had Dr. Livingstone been in good health, his usual hardihood and
indomitable spirit had answered it in a summary way. He might
have borrowed some cloth from Sayd bin Majid at an exorbitant
price, sufficient to bring him to Unyanyembe and the sea-coast.
But how long would he have been compelled to sit down at Ujiji,
waiting and waiting for the goods that were said to be at
Unyanyembe, a prey to high expectations, hoping day after day
that the war would end - hoping week after week to hear that
his goods were coming? Who knows how long his weak health had
borne up against the several disappointments to which he would be
subjected?
Though it was with all due deference to Dr. Livingstone's vast
experience as a traveller, I made bold to suggest the following
courses to him, either of which he could adopt:
Ist. To go home, and take the rest he so well deserved and, as he
appeared then, to be so much in need of.
2nd. To proceed to Unyanyembe, receive his goods, and enlist
pagazis sufficient to enable him to travel anywhere, either to
Manyuema or Rua, and settle the Nile problem, which he said he
was in a fair way of doing.
3rd. To proceed to Unyanyembe, receive his caravan, enlist men,
and try to join Sir Samuel Baker, either by going to Muanza, and
sailing through Ukerewe or Victoria N'Yanza in my boats - which I
should put up - to Mtesa's palace at Uganda, thus passing by
Mirambo and Swaruru of Usui, who would rob him if he took the
usual caravan road to Uganda; thence from Mtesa to Kamrasi,
King of Unyoro, where he would of course hear of the great white
man who was said to be with a large force of men at Gondokoro.
4th. To proceed to Unyanyembe, receive his caravan, enlist men,
and return to Ujiji, and back to Manyuema by way of Uguhha.
5th. To proceed by way of the Rusizi through Ruanda, and so on
to Itara, Unyoro, and Baker.
For either course, whichever he thought most expedient, I and my
men would assist him as escort and carriers, to the best of our
ability. If he should elect to go home, I informed him I should
be proud to escort him, and consider myself subject to his
commands - travelling only when he desired, and camping only when
he gave the word.
6th. The last course which I suggested to him, was to permit me to
escort him to Unyanyembe, where he could receive his own goods,
and where I could deliver up to him a large supply of first-class
cloth and beads, guns and ammunition, cooking utensils, clothing,
boats, tents, &c., and where he could rest in a comfortable house,
while I would hurry down to the coast, organise a new expedition
composed of fifty or sixty faithful men, well armed, by whom I
could send an additional supply of needful luxuries in the shape
of creature comforts.
After long consideration, he resolved to adopt the last course,
as it appeared to him to be the most feasible one, and the best,
though he did not hesitate to comment upon the unaccountable apathy
of his agent at Zanzibar, which had caused him so much trouble and
vexation, and weary marching of hundreds of miles.
Our ship - though nothing more than a cranky canoe hollowed out of
a noble mvule tree of Ugoma - was an African Argo bound on a nobler
enterprise than its famous Grecian prototype. We were bound upon
no mercenary errand, after no Golden Fleece, but perhaps to
discover a highway for commerce which should bring the ships of
the Nile up to Ujiji, Usowa, and far Marungu. We did not know
what we might discover on our voyage to the northern head of
the Tanganika; we supposed that we should find the Rusizi to be
an effluent of the Tanganika, flowing down to the Albert or the
Victoria N'Yanza. We were told by natives and Arabs that the
Rusizi ran out of the lake.
Sayd bin Majid had stated that his canoe would carry twenty-five
men, and 3,500 lbs. of ivory. Acting upon this information, we
embarked twenty-five men, several of whom had stored away bags of
salt for the purposes of trade with the natives; but upon pushing
off from the shore near Ujiji, we discovered the boat was too
heavily laden, and was down to the gunwale. Returning in-shore,
we disembarked six men, and unloaded the bags of salt, which left
us with sixteen rowers, Selim, Ferajji the cook, and the two
Wajiji guides.
Having thus properly trimmed our boat we again pushed off, and
steered her head for Bangwe Island, which was distant four or
five miles from the Bunder of Ujiji. While passing this island
the guides informed us that the Arabs and Wajiji took shelter on
it during an incursion of the Watuta - which took place some years
ago - when they came and invaded Ujiji, and massacred several of
the inhabitants. Those who took refuge on the island were the
only persons who escaped the fire and sword with which the Watuta
had visited Ujiji.
After passing the island and following the various bends and
indentations of the shore, we came in sight of the magnificent bay
of Kigoma, which strikes one at once as being an excellent harbor
from the variable winds which blow over the Tanganika. About
10 A.M. we drew in towards the village of Kigoma, as the east wind
was then rising, and threatened to drive us to sea.
