I immediately employed the soldiers in the construction of a cattle kraal, lest the prowling Umiro should endeavour to scare the animals during the night. On 21st March we started at 6 A.M., and marched thirteen miles through forest. We at length reached water, but it was so thick with mud that the horses refused to drink it. On the 22nd we were compelled to march twenty-three miles, as the water was quite undrinkable, the few muddy pools having been stirred into paste by the buffaloes and elephants. We now reached the grand Victoria Nile, flowing beneath cliffs of seventy or eighty feet in depth, through magnificent forest. It was refreshing for all parties to obtain pure water after the miserable fluid we had lately been compelled to drink. In the evening a sheik and several people, who had known me formerly, crossed the river from the Unyoro side, and desired an interview. They reported that the Khartoum traders had almost destroyed the country, and they begged me simply to judge with my own eyes. I must now extract from my journal the entry of the date, as, although briefly written, it will convey the impression of the moment:-- "March 23, 1872.--We marched three miles east, along the banks of the beautiful Victoria Nile, through fine open forest, until we halted on a high cliff exactly opposite, the last station of Abou Saood, commanded by a vakeel named Suleiman. "It is impossible to describe the change that has taken place since I last visited this country. It was then a perfect garden, thickly populated, and producing all that man could desire. The villages were numerous; groves of plantains fringed the steep cliff's on the river's bank; and the natives were neatly dressed in the bark cloth of the country. "The scene has changed! "All is wilderness! The population has fled. Not a village is to be seen! "This is the certain result of the settlement of Khartoum traders. They kidnap the women and children for slaves, and plunder and destroy wherever they set their foot. "Seleiman and Eddrees, two vakeels, who were well known to me as forming a portion of Ibrahim's party on my former journey, now came across the river to visit me. "The cunning Abou Saood has never told them of the expiration of the government contract with Agad & Co., neither had they any warning of my expected arrival. "I explained the exact state of affairs. "The principal sheik of the district, with many people, came to see me. The chief, Quonga, was one of my old acquaintances, and was formerly the favourite adviser of Kamrasi. "Kamrasi died about two years ago. His sons fought for the succession, and each aspirant sought the aid of the traders. This civil strife exactly suited the interests of the treacherous Khartoumers. The several companies of slave-hunters scattered over the Madi, Shooli, and Unyoro countries represented only one interest, that of their employers, Agad and Co.