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. Moreover, I knew that the negroes who would
have to go with me, as long as they believed I had property in
advance, would work up to it willingly, as they would be the
gainers by doing so; whilst, with nothing before them, they would
be always endeavouring to thwart my advance, to save them from a
trouble which their natural laziness would prompt them to escape
from.
This beautiful project, I am sorry to say, was doomed from the
first; for I did not get the œ2500 grant of money or appointment
to the command until fully nine months had elapsed, when I wrote
to Colonel Rigby, our Consul at Zanzibar, to send on the first
instalment of property towards the interior.
As time then advanced, the Indian branch of the Government very
graciously gave me fifty artillery carbines, with belts and
sword-bayonets attached, and 20,000 rounds of ball ammunition.
They lent me as many surveying instruments as I wanted; and,
through Sir George Clerk, put at my disposal some rich presents,
in gold watches, for the chief Arabs who had so generously
assisted us in the last expedition. Captain Grant, hearing that
I was bound on this journey, being an old friend and brother
sportsman in India, asked me to take him with me, and his
appointment was settled by Colonel Sykes, then chairman of a
committee of the Royal Geographical Society, who said it would
only be "a matter of charity" to allow me a companion.
Much at the same time, Mr Petherick, an ivory merchant, who had
spent many years on the Nile, arrived in England, and
gratuitously offered, as it would not interfere with his trade,
to place boats at Gondokoro, and send a party of men up the White
River to collect ivory in the meanwhile, and eventually to assist
me in coming down. Mr Petherick, I may add, showed great zeal for
geographical exploits, so, as I could not get money enough to do
all that I wished to accomplish myself, I drew out a project for
him to ascend the stream now known as the Usua river (reported to
be the larger branch of the Nile), and, if possible, ascertain
what connection it had with my lake.
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