There is a great deal in Mounteney Jephson, though he was supposed to be effeminate. He is actually fierce when roused, and his face becomes dangerously set and fixed. I noted him during the late battle aboard, and I came near crying out "Bravo, Jephson!" though I had my own stick, "big as a mast," as the Zanzibaris say, to wield. It was most gallant and plucky. He will be either made or marred if he is with this Expedition long enough. Captain Nelson is a fine fellow, and without the ghost of a hobby: he is the same all round, and at all hours. Stairs, of the Royal Engineers, is a splendid fellow, painstaking, ready, thoughtful, and industrious, and is an invaluable addition to our staff. Jameson is still the nice fellow we saw; there is not an atom of change in him. He is sociable and good. Bonny is the soldier. He is not initiative. He seems to have been under a martinet's drill. * * * * * _March 16th, 1887._ At Cape Town, Tippu-Tib, after remarking the prosperity and business stir of the city, and hearing its history from me, said that he formerly had thought all white men to be fools. "Really," I said; "Why?" "That was my opinion." "Indeed! and what do you think of them now?" I asked. "I think they have something in them, and that they are more enterprising than Arabs." "What makes you think so, particularly now?" "Well, myself and kinsmen have been looking at this town, these big ships and piers, and we have thought how much better all these things appear compared to Zanzibar, which was captured from the Portuguese before this town was built, and I have been wondering why we could not have done as well as you white people. I begin to think you must be very clever." "If you have discovered so much, Tippu-Tib, you are on the high road to discover more. The white men require a deal of study before you can quite make them out. It is a pity you never went to England for a visit." "I hope to go there before I die." "Be faithful to us on this long journey, and I will take you there, and you will see more things than you can dream of now." "Inshallah! if it is the will of Allah we shall go together." * * * * * On the 18th March the _Madura_ entered the mouth of the Congo River, and dropped her anchor about 200 yards abreast of the sandy point, called Banana.