120 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

land again, and in the afternoon passed the island of Kome, and ran along the coast of Uzinja, finally reaching Kagei about noon on January 12th, having thus been nine days at sea.

On going up to our quarters in the village, almost the first person to greet me was one of our carpenters, a man of the name of Sisamani, who had been with Smith, and was supposed to have been killed. As soon as I saw him I thought there was some chance of the report of the murders being false, and I at once demanded his story, but it only confirmed the news which Hassani had brought, and proved beyond a doubt that both my poor comrades had indeed fallen.

I began at once to collect all the information I could get about the massacre from the Wang'uana and others, and also from a young Msukuma chief called Nunda, who had been over to Ukerewe with Smith, and had escaped from the fight.

It was very difficult indeed to get anything approaching to a connected account of the sad affair, and there are many details of it which are still obscure, and which probably will never be cleared up in this world ; but the following is the story which I think is nearest the truth.

After the purchase of the dhow (which, it must be understood, we were told was free of all claims on the part of Lukonge) and Smith's and my departure for Uganda, things went on very smoothly for a time, till O'Neill caught a negro, Hamis by name, a