"At muster this curious result was returned: There were with us one hundred and thirty-four men, eighty-four married women, one hundred and eighty-seven female domestics, seventy-four children above two years, thirty-five infants in arms--making a total of five hundred and fourteen. I have reason to believe that the number was nearer six hundred, as many were not reported from fear probably that some would be taken prisoners. "On the 10th of April we set out from Kavallis, in number about one thousand five hundred, for three hundred and fifty native carriers had been enrolled from the district, to assist in carrying the baggage of the Pasha's people, whose ideas as to what was essential for the march were very crude. "On the 11th we camped at Masambonis, but in the night I was struck down with a severe illness, which well nigh proved mortal. It detained us at the camp twenty-eight days, which, if Selim Bey and his party were really serious in their intentions to withdraw from Africa, was most fortunate for them, since it increased their time allowance to seventy-two days. But in all this interval only Shukri Aga, the chief of Mswa Station, appeared. He had started with twelve soldiers, but they, one by one, disappeared, until he had only one trumpeter and one servant. A few days after the trumpeter absconded. Thus only one servant was left out of a garrison of sixty men who were reported to be the faithfullest of the faithful. "On the 8th of May our march was resumed. The route skirted the Mega Mountains at their southern end, and encountered the King of Uyoro. The first day's encounter was in our favor, and it cleared the territory as far as the Semliki River, of the Wanyoro. Meantime we had become aware that we were on the threshold of a region which promised to be very interesting, for daily, as we advanced to the southward, the great snowy range which had so suddenly arrested our attention and excited our intense interest on May 1, 1888, grew larger and bolder into view. It extended a long distance to the southwest, which would inevitably take us some distance off our course, unless a pass could be discovered to shorten the distance to the countries south. "Much, however, as we had flattered ourselves that we should see some marvellous scenery, the 'Snow Mountain' was very coy and hard to see. On most days it looked impending over us like a tropical storm cloud, ready to dissolve in rain and ruin. On its snowy cap shot into view jagged clouds, whirling and eddying round. Often at sunrise Ruwenzori would appear like a crag deeply marked and clearly visible, but presently all would be buried under mass upon mass of mist until the immense mountain was no more visible than if we were thousands of miles away; and then, also, the 'Snow Mountain' being set deeply in the range, the nearer we approached the base of the range the less we saw of it.