As The Great Highway To India, Egypt Is The Most Interesting Country To
The English.
The extraordinary fertility being due entirely to the Nile,
I trust that I may have added my mite to
The treasury of scientific
knowledge by completing the discovery of the sources of that wonderful
river, and thereby to have opened a way to the heart of Africa, which,
though dark in our limited perspective, may, at some future period, be
the path to civilization.
I offer to the world my narrative of many years of hardships and
difficulties, happily not vainly spent in this great enterprise: should
some un-ambitious spirits reflect, that the results are hardly worth the
sacrifice of the best years of life thus devoted to exile and suffering,
let them remember that "we are placed on earth for a certain period, to
fulfil, according to our several conditions and degrees of mind, those
duties by which the earth's history is carried on." (E. L. Bulwer's
"Life, Literature, and Manners.")
THE ALBERT N'YANZA.
CHAPTER I.
THE EXPEDITION
In March, 1861, I commenced an expedition to discover the sources of the
Nile, with the hope of meeting the East African expedition of Captains
Speke and Grant, that had been sent by the English Government from the
South via Zanzibar, for that object. I had not the presumption to
publish my intention, as the sources of the Nile had hitherto defied all
explorers, but I had inwardly determined to accomplish this difficult
task or to die in the attempt. From my youth I had been inured to
hardships and endurance in wild sports in tropical climates, and when I
gazed upon the map of Africa I had a wild hope, mingled with humility,
that, even as the insignificant worm bores through the hardest oak, I
might by perseverance reach the heart of Africa.
I could not conceive that anything in this world had power to resist a
determined will, so long as health and life remained. The failure of
every former attempt to reach the Nile source did not astonish me, as
the expeditions had consisted of parties, which, when difficulties
occur, generally end in difference of opinion and retreat: I therefore
determined to proceed alone, trusting in the guidance of a Divine
Providence and the good fortune that sometimes attends a tenacity of
purpose. I weighed carefully the chances of the undertaking. Before
me - untrodden Africa; against me - the obstacles that had defeated the
world since its creation; on my side - a somewhat tough constitution,
perfect independence, a long experience in savage life, and both time
and means which I intended to devote to the object without limit.
England had never sent an expedition to the Nile sources previous to
that under the command of Speke and Grant. Bruce, ninety years ago, had
succeeded in tracing the source of the Blue or Lesser Nile: thus the
honour of that discovery belonged to Great Britain; Speke was on his
road from the South; and I felt confident that my gallant friend would
leave his bones upon the path rather than submit to failure.
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