A HOPEFUL FUTURE. 509 given me extreme pleasure, and have richly repaid me for many of the sorrows and hardships I have undergone. I could never have believed that I, a stranger, and my poor people, could have received such generous thoughts, and that any one would be ready to make such sacrifices for us. If, however, the people in Great Britain think that as soon as Stanley or Thomson comes [I shall return with them, they greatly err. I have passed twelve years of my life here, and would it be right of me to desert my post as soon as the opportunity for escape presented itself? I shall remain with my people until I see perfectly clearly that both their future and the future of our country is safe.

The work that Gordon paid for with his blood, I will strive to carry on, if not with his energy and genius, still according to his intentions and in his spirit. When my lamented chief . placed the government of this country in my hands, he wrote to me :—“ I appoint you for civilisation and progress’ sake.” I have done my best to justify the trust he had in me, and that I have to some extent been successful and have won the confidence of the natives is proved by the fact that I and my handful of people have held our own up to the present day in the midst of hundreds and thousands of natives, J remain here the last and only representative of Gordon’s staff. It therefore falls to me, and is my bounden duty, to follow up the road he showed us. Sooner or later a bright future must dawn for these countries; sooner or later these people will be drawn into the circle of the ever-advancing civilised world. For twelve long years I have striven and toiled, and sown the seeds for future harvest—laid the foundation-stones for future — buildings. Shall I now give up the work because a way may soon open to the coast? Never! If England wishes really to help us, she must try, in the first place, to conclude some treaty with Uganda and Unyéoro, by which the condition of those countries may be improved both morally and politically. A safe road to the coast must be opened up, and one which shall not be at the mercy of the moods of childish kings or disreputable Arabs. This is all we _ want, and it is the only thing necessary to permit of the steady development of these countries. If we possessed it, we could