  Major Wissmann went to the river Kingani to welcome the travellers, taking saddled horses with him which Emin and Stanley mounted. Accompanied by the major and Lieutenant Schmidt, they entered Bagamojo. The streets were decorated with palm branches and crowded with the dusky population extending good wishes to the approaching travellers. As they came near the major’s headquarters at their left they beheld the expanse of the Indian Ocean, a great, clear, blue, watery plain. “Look, Pasha,” said Stanley, “we are at home.” “Yes, thank God!” he replied. At the same instant the batteries fired a salute, announcing to the war vessels lying at anchor that the governor of the Equatorial Provinces had arrived in Bagamojo. They dismounted at the door of the German officers’ mess and were escorted to a veranda, decorated with palm branches and flags. Several round tables stood there and an elegant breakfast was served to which they did ample justice. The Pasha had never been in a happier mood than he was that afternoon when, surrounded by his friends and countrymen, he answered a thousand questions about the life he had led during his long seclusion in the interior of Africa. About four o’clock the rest of the expedition entered the city. The people were conducted to cabins near the shore, and when the bearers threw down their burdens and the sick men and women and tired children were provided for, all felt the greatest relief and understood the significance of this arrival at the seacoast. In the afternoon a banquet was given at which thirty-four persons were present, including the German officers and physicians, the commanders of the war vessels, various missionary fathers and Emin and Stanley as the guests of honor. Major Wissmann conducted his guests to a long dining-hall, below the windows of which the Zanzibarites were celebrating the end of their troubles by dancing and singing. The feast was an excellent one and was seasoned with universal joyousness. Major Wissmann made a speech of welcome to his countryman, “the meritorious and famous governor of the Equatorial Provinces.” The Pasha replied in a manner that delighted the whole company. He was particularly happy and genial and went from one end of the table to the other greeting his friends, and then stepped out upon the veranda. Suddenly Stanley’s valet whispered to him that the Pasha had fallen from the veranda wall and was dangerously hurt. Owing to his short-sightedness he had mistaken a window for a door, and stepping out had plunged to the ground. All rushed out and found him lying unconscious and near him a little pool of blood. Emin was taken to the hospital and at first suffered great pain. As his recovery from the fall would inevitably be slow, Stanley left on the sixth of December on the Somali, escorted to Zanzibar by the whole flotilla—the English war vessel Tortoise, the German vessels Schwalbe and Sperber, and Wissmann’s three steamers. He was received with great enthusiasm at Zanzibar and was overwhelmed with honor later in England, while Emin lay upon his sick bed in Bagamojo. |
|
