tion were uncertain whether that
great body of water was a lake or a chain of lakes.

Stanley was asked by the editor of the _London Daily Telegraph_ if
he could settle these great questions if he were commissioned to go
to Africa. He replied, "While I live there will be something done.
If I survive the time required to perform all the work, all shall be
done." James Gordon Bennett was asked by cable if he would join in
the new expedition. His sententious reply flashed under the ocean
was: "Yes. Bennett." And Stanley's second great work was already
determined upon.

Only six weeks were allowed for preparation, and when it was noised
abroad that Stanley was taking another expedition into the heart of
Africa, he was overwhelmed with offers of volunteer assistants, and
with a great variety of strange contrivances to help him on his
journey. Finally, all preparations being concluded, he left England
August 15, 1874, accompanied by only three white men, Frank and
Edward Pocock and Frederick Barker. These men, with the goods and
other needed articles for the expedition, were sent on ahead, and
twenty months after his last previous departure from Zanzibar,
Stanley was once more at that point of departure, ready to begin his
preparations for another plunge into the heart of the Dark
Continent.

Some of the black men who had been with him on his previous journey,
when he searched for Livingstone, were found at Zanzibar, and they
were all eager to go with him again, and when he was ready to depart
he had in his company 224 persons, some of the black men taking
their wives with them. The company after leaving Zanzibar landed at
Bergamoyo, on the mainland, November 13, 1874, and five days later
his column boldly advanced into the heart of the Dark Continent. The
general direction of the expedition was at first nearly westerly,
then turning to the north it was aimed for Victoria Nyanza. The
march was obstructed by marshy regions, overflowing with recent
rains. Moist exhalations and poisonous vapors prevailed, and the
first month was a gloomy one. Stanley's own weight in thirty-eight
days fell from 180 pounds to 130 pounds, and the three young
Englishmen with him were greatly reduced in strength and flesh. One
of these, Edward Pocock, was prostrated, and though he was carried
back to the high, dry table land nearer the coast, he died and was
buried in that lonely region.

By January 21, 1875, 20 of the black men of the expediti