Obstacles which further back would have been regarded as great hindrances were now made little of; success seemed assured to all, and the men even began to rehearse their triumphal entry into Ujiji. One more difficult river, the Lusugi, we had to cross. We reached its banks, down a rocky descent, late one night in a heavy fall of rain. We waited an hour or two next morning till the river had somewhat subsided, and then commenced work. Two or three volunteers swam across with a stout rope, which was then hauled tight across the stream. The porters, holding this rope in one hand, slowly but surely made their way across. Then the carts and sections were attached to a block running on the rope, and so, carefully attended by two or three men, were floated over in safety.
Ujiji was now only a few marches ahead. The view of the lake was caught at last, a narrow strip of its waters gleaming in the sun in the distance, and next morning we slowly marched into Ujiji in a compact body. The boat was duly launched and has now been for years at work on Lake Tanganyika in the cause of civilization and Christianity.
The completion of this journey, however, was but the commencement of a still larger enterprise in the region reached. Stations were established among the tribes on the lake shores; a larger vessel, with steam power, was built and launched on the lake, and a substantial mission was established and is still at work at a point which is only 400 miles from that point on the Congo river accessible to the steamers of the missions there.
All the work I have described was done at the expense of the London Missionary Society.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXPLORATION IN ALASKA.
(Accepted April 3, 1891.)
Washington, D. C., April 3, 1891.
TO THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY,
Washington, D. C.