A LIVELY CHASE

Both of these officers agree that the southern end of the lake is closed by a mass of ambatch, and that a large river
reported as yards in width flows INTO the Albert Nyanza. On the other hand, the well known African explorer Mr.
Stanley visited the lake SOUTH of the ambatch limit, to which he was guided by orders of the King Mtese;. At that
spot it was called the Mwoota Nzige;, the same name which the lake bears th roughout Unyoro, therefore there can be
no reasonable doubt that it is the same water. The description of the ambatch block and the river flowing into the lake
explains the information that was given to me by native traders, who declared they had come by canoe from Karagwe;,
via the Albert Nyanza, but that it would be difficult without a guide to discover the passage where the lake was
extremely narrow and the channel tortuous into the next broad water. Colonel Gordon has continued the amicable
relations established by myself with the Unyoro chief Rionga, and with Mtese;, King of Uganda. The commercial aspect
of the equatorial provinces is improving, but our recent experience in South Africa must teach the most sanguine that
very many years must elapse before the negro tribes become amenable to the customs and improvements of civilized
communities. The expedition of which His Highness the Khedive entrusted to my command laid the foundation for
reforms which at that time would have appeared incredible in Egypt. The slave trade has been suppressed through the
agency of British influence, persistently supported by the Khedive; Darfur, the hot bed of slave hunting, has been
conquered and annexed; Colonel Gordon has the supreme command of the entire Soudan; Malcolm Pach a is commissioned
to sweep the slave traffic from the Red Sea. With this determination to adopt the ideas of Europe, the Khedive has
passed through the trying ordeal of unpopularity in his own country, but, by a cool disregard for the hostility of the
ignorant, he has adhered to a policy which has gained him the esteem of all civilized communities. He has witnessed the
bloody struggle between Russia and Turkey, and though compelled as a vassal state to render military assistance to the
Sultan, he has profited by the lesson, and has determined by a wise reform to avoid the errors which have resulted in
anarchy and desolation throughout the Ottoman Empire. In the year the slave hunting of Central Africa was condemned.
Since that time Englishmen have been honoured with the special attention of the Khedive, and have been appointed to
posts of the highest confidence. European t ribunals were established in the place of consular ju risdiction. British
government officials have been invited to reform the financial administration, and Mr. Rivers Wilson has been induced
to accept the responsible office of Minister of Finance. Nubar Pacha has been recalled to office, and he must regard with
pride the general confidence occasioned throughout Europe by his reappointment. The absolute despotism hitherto
inseparable from Oriental ideas of government has been spontaneously abrogated by the Khedive, who has publicly
announced his determination that the fut u re administ ration shall be conducted by a council of responsible ministers.
England has become the great shareholder in the Suez Canal, which is the important link with our Indian Empire. At the
alarm of war we have already seen the fleet of steam t ran sports hurrying through the isthmus, and carrying native t roops
to join the British forces in the Mediterranean. We have learnt to know, and the Khedive has wisdom to understand,
that the bonds between Egypt and Great Britain are inseparable. At the same time we have been aided by the cordial
alliance of France in promoting the advance of free institutions and the growth of European influence in the
administration of the country. England and France, who struggled in hostile rivalry upon the sands and seas of Egypt,
are now joined in the firm determination to uphold the integrity of the great canal of Suez, and these powers and leaders
of civilization will become the guides and guardians of Egyptian interests. The reforms already sanctioned with a new
era of justice and economy will insure the confidence of British capitalists; the resources of Egypt will be developed by
engineering skill that will control the impetuosity of the Nile and protect the Delta alike from the scarcity of drought,
and from the risk of inundation. The Nile sources, which from the earliest times had remained a mystery, have been
discovered by the patience and industry of Englishmen; the Nile will at no distant period be rendered navigable
throughout its course, and Egypt, which for actual existence depends alone upon that mighty river, will be restored by
Eastern history. ISMAILIA. INTRODUCTORY. In the present work I shall describe the history of the Khedive of
Egypts expedition, which I have had the honour to command, as the first practical step that has been taken to suppress
the slave trade of Central Africa. I shall not repeat, beyond what may be absolutely necessary, that which has already
been published in my former works on Africa, The Albert Nyanza and The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia, but I shall
adhere to the simple path taken by the expedition. This enterprise was the natural result of my original explorations, in
which I had been eye witness to the horrors of the slave trade, which I determined, if possible, to suppress. In my
former journey I had traversed countries of extreme fertility in Central Africa, with a healthy climate favourable for the
settlement of Europeans, at a mean altitude of feet above the sea level. This large and almost boundless extent of country

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