on had died,
many were sick and disabled, and 89, discouraged by their
misfortunes, deserted. They were now in a hostile region, and were
attacked by natives day after day in succession, but after much hard
fighting they got away and labored onward toward the Victoria
Nyanza, which they reached on January 27th, near its southern shore.
This event was celebrated with great joy and cheerfulness; they felt
that they were out of the wilderness. Six weeks were now consumed in
a voyage around Victoria Nyanza.

During the absence of the exploring party, Frederick Barker, who had
been left in the camp on the lake, died of fever, leaving Pocock and
Stanley the only white men in the party. It was here that Stanley
met King Mtesa, the King of Uganda, a benevolent and mild-mannered
Pagan, who had previously been converted to Mohammedanism, and now
accepted the Christian religion with equal cheerfulness and
good-nature.

On his way westward Stanley passed through the regions of King
Rumanika, an eccentric character, at whose court the white man heard
many strange stories of unknown regions in the heart of the
continent. From this point Stanley went southwardly to explore that
part of Lake Tanganyika which lies south, and this he found to be
three hundred and twenty miles long, averaging a width of
twenty-eight miles. It has no known outlet, and a sounding line of
two hundred and eighty feet found no bottom.

His next march from Tanganyika to the River Lualaba was toilsome and
perilous and beset with dangers almost incredible. At Nyangwe
Stanley touched the most distant point in Central Africa ever
reached before by white man. Here he met with Tippoo Tib, the famous
Arab trader. This man, who has always seemed to be master of the
destinies and fortunes of the wild, roving tribes in the interior,
agreed to accompany Stanley on his exploration of the Lualaba or
Great River. If it had not been for this agreement with Tippoo Tib,
it is most likely that Stanley's expedition would have ended then
and there, and we never should have known, as we now know, that the
Congo and the Lualaba are one river, the second largest in the
world. Its line extends from its month on the west coast of Africa
more than half-way across the continent, and it has its rise in the
great lakes of the interior. To this vast stream Stanley has given
the name of Livingstone.

The object of Stanley's journey now was to throw light on the
western half of the con