influential man, he was appointed a junior captain
with prospects o f promotion and higher pay.
Subsequently, however, on the shores o f L ak e
Victoria, it was discovered— for in Africa people
are uncommonly communicative— that Msenna
had murdered eight people, that he was a
ruffian o f the worst sort, and that the merchants
o f Zanzibar had experienced great relief when
th e y heard that the notorious Msenna was about
to bid farewell for a season to the scene o f so
many o f his wild exploits. Msenna was only
one o f many o f his kind, but I have given in
detail the manner o f his enlistment that my
position may be better understood.
Soon after my return from the Rufiji delta,
the B. I. S. N. Company’s steamer E uph ra tes had
brought the sectional exploring boat, Lady A lic e ,
to Zanzibar. Exceedingly anxious for the portability
o f the sections, I had them at once
weighed, and great were my vexation and
astonishment when I discovered that four o f
the sections weighed 280 lbs. each, and that one
weighed 310 lbs.! She was, it is true, a marvel
o f workmanship, and an exquisite model o f a
b oat, such, indeed, as few builders in England
or America could rival, but in her present condition
her carriage through the jungles would
necessitate a pioneer force a hundred strong
to clear the impediments and obstacles on the
road.
While almost plunged into despair, I was informed
that there was a v e ry clever English
carpenter, named Ferris, about to leave b y the
E uphrates for England. Mr. Ferris was quickly
made acquainted with my difficulty, and for a
“ consideration” promised, after a personal inspection
o f the boat, to defer his departure one
month, and to do his utmost to make the sections
portable without lessening her efficiency. When
the boat was exhibited to him, I explained that
the narrowness o f the path would make her
portage absolutely impossible, for since the path
was often only 18 inches wide in Africa, and
hemmed in on each side with dense jungle, any
package 6 feet broad could b y no means be
conveyed along it. It was therefore necessary
that each o f the four sections should be subdivided,
b y which means I should obtain eight
portable sections, each 3 feet wide, and that an
afterpiece could easily be made b y myself upon
arriving at the lakes. Mr. Ferris, perfectly comprehending
his instructions, and with the aid
given b y the young Pococks, furnished me
within two weeks with the newly modelled L ad y
A lice . But it must be understood that her success
as a safe exploring boat is due to the conscientious
workmanship which the honest and
thoroughly reliable boat-builder o f Teddington
lavished upofi her.
T h e pride which the young Pococks and