A MISSION TO KABREGA. 493 again. I shall now begin to give ivory in exchange for cloths for my men.

Junker has decided to go to Kabréga, and I hope he will proceed from there to Uganda as soon as possible. JI am sending our apothecary, Vita Hassan, a brave young fellow, as representative of the Government. He is first of all to take up his abode with Kabréga, and I have given him full instructions. I gave a packet to Junker for the English Consul-General in Zanzibar, containing, besides official letters, a couple of lines for you. This morning (January 2) the steamer Khedive has taken the whole party to the lake, and Junker and Vita are to disembark at Kibiro, whence they can reach Kabréga in two days’ march. Well, we will call down upon them the old blessing, Q.D.B.V. Our chief aim now is to obtain news through the missionaries in Uganda, even though it may be old. My men’s confidence in me is doubled since they have seen the cloths. Now for a newspaper, and I will hold my ground for two years more. But Junker must go to Uganda for it, and I still do not know whether he will go.

WADELAI, February 20, 1886.

At last it seems as if a beam of hope were going to burst upon us. But let me begin at the beginning. After his departure, Junker wrote me a few lines from Kibiro, to say that he had arrived safely, and was waiting for porters to go to Kabréga. I received several contradictory reports from Lado. I was informed that a strong detachment of Negroes (Dinka [Hlyab, Bor, Agar], Bari, Nyambara, Fajelu, Mandari) were encamped behind Jebel Lad6, with the intention of attacking Lado and Rejaf. Then a female slave, who had been captured by the Negroes in Ber, ran away from them and came to Ladd. She stated that she had gone in a boat with her master from Bor to Fashoda, where she saw some Shiluk quartered in the town. They had only burnt the mudirié (Government offices). The river at Fashoda was open. Soldiers and Danagla were stationed in Kawa, and had made raids against the Shiluk. ‘She had heard nothing of ‘the Faki (Mahdi). Next came the news that these Negroes