pass anywhere without trouble. Indeed I feel
sure that, had enough money been at my disposal
at that time, I might have led 5000 Englishmen,
5000 Americans, 2000 Frenchmen, 2000 Germans,
500 Italians, 250 Swiss, 200 Belgians, 50
Spaniards and 5 Greeks, or 15,005 Europeans,
Africa. But the time had not arrived to depopulate
Europe, and colonize Africa on such
a scale, and I was compelled to respectfully decline
accepting the valuable services o f the applicants,
and to content myself with Francis John
and Edward Pocock, and Frederick Barker—
whose entreaties had been seconded b y his
mother, on my return from America.
I was agreeably surprised also, before departure,
at the great number o f friends I possessed in
England, who testified their friendship substantially
b y presenting me with useful “ tokens o f
their regard ” in the shape o f canteens, watches,
water-bottles, pipes, pistols, knives, pocket companions,
manifold writers, cigars, packages of
medicine, Bibles, prayer-books, English tracts
for the dissemination o f religious knowledge
among the black pagans, poems, tiny silk banners*,
go ld rings, &c. &c. A lady for whom I have
a reverent respect presented me also with a
magnificent prize mastiff named “ Castor,” an
English officer presented me with another, and
at the D o g s ’ Home at Battersea I purchased a
retriever, a bull-dog, and a bull-terrier, called
r e s p e c t iv e ly b y th e Pococks “ Nero,” “ B u ll,” and
“ Jack.”
There were two little farewell dinners only
which I accepted before my departure from
England. One was at the house o f the Editor
o f the D a ily T elegraph, where I met Captain
Fred. Burnaby and a few other kind friends.
Captain Burnaby half promised to meet me at
the sources o f the Nile. T he other was a dinner
given b y the representative o f the New York
H erald, at which were present Mr. George
Augustus Sala, Mr. W. G. Stillman, Mr. George
W. Smalley, and three or four other journalists
o f note. It was a kindly quiet good-bye, and
that was my last o f London.
On the 15th August 1874, having shipped
the Europeans, boats, dogs, and general property
o f the expedition— which, through the kindness
o f Mr. Henry B a y le y , o f the Peninsular and
Oriental Company, and Mr. William Mackinnon,
o f the British India Steam Navigation Company,
were to be taken to Zanzibar at half-fares— I
left England for the east coast o f Africa to be gin
my explorations.