Again the tedious operation had to be performed, and the
grass was fired in many places on the opposite side of the swamp, while
we waited until the cleared way was sufficiently cool to allow the
march. We were perfectly black, as the wind brought showers of ashes
that fell like snow, but turned us into Ethiopians. I had led the way on
foot from the hour we left Fatiko, as, the country being uninhabited for
five days' march between that place and Kamrasi's, the men had more
faith in my steering by the compass than they had in the native guide. I
felt sure that we were being deceived, and that the woman Bacheeta had
directed the guide to take us to Rionga's. Accordingly that night, when
Canopus was in the meridian, I asked our conductor to point by a star
the direction of Karuma Falls. He immediately pointed to Canopus, which
I knew by Speke's map should be the direction of Rionga's islands, and I
charged him with the deceit. He appeared very much astonished, and asked
me "why I wanted a guide if I knew the way?" confessing that Karuma
Falls were "a little to the east of the star." I thanked Speke and Grant
at that moment, and upon many other occasions, for the map they had so
generously given me! It has been my greatest satisfaction to have
completed their great discovery, and to bear testimony to the
correctness of their map and general observations.
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