FORTIFIED VILLAGE NEAR LADO.
Before leaving Cairo, where he had an interview with Dr. Junker, Mr. Stanley wrote to the chairman of the relief committee in London, in which he explained the objects of the expedition as follows:
ISMAEN ABOU HATAB, TRUSTED OFFICER OF EMIN PASHA.
"The expedition is non-military—that is to say, its purpose is not to fight, destroy, or waste; its purpose is to save, to relieve distress, and to carry comfort. Emin Pasha may be a good man, a brave officer, and a gallant fellow, deserving of a strong effort of relief; but I decline to believe, and I have not been able to gather from any one in England an impression that his life, or the lives of the few hundreds under him, would overbalance the lives of thousands of natives, and the devastation of immense tracts of country which an expedition strictly military would naturally cause. The expedition is a mere powerful caravan, armed with rifles for the purpose of insuring the safe conduct of the ammunition to Emin Pasha, and for the more certain protection of this people during the retreat home. But it also has means of purchasing the friendship of tribes and chiefs, of buying food, and paying its way liberally."
VILLAGE IN THE VALLEY OF THE BENGO.
The point where he expects to meet Emin Pasha is purposely kept secret, but it will probably be at the southern end of Lake Albert, unless King Mwanga threatens trouble, in which case the march may be directed to Wadelay, on the White Nile. Stanley's fighting force, in case he is opposed by hostile natives, will consist of sixty Soudanese soldiers, in addition to the Zanzibaris, Somalis, and other east and west coast natives, enlisted in his expedition. When he went to Cairo he specially requested that a small force of Soudanese should be placed at his command. Volunteers were called for, and out of a large number who offered their services sixty picked men were chosen. These men are fine specimens of the soldiers who composed the larger part of the force with which Egypt held her Central African provinces. It was of such soldiers as these that Emin Pasha wrote these words last year: