camp and followed them, hoping to arrive at Goimuyasso's on the Lomami before the Arabs — to reach the river before the Arab forces succeeded in crossing, being our only chance of checking their advance.

The first day's march nearly wore out the energies of the caravan. We crossed no fewer than twenty-five rivers and streams, all running into the Lurimbi, glimpses of which river we sometimes caught to the northward. Unluckily for us, there had been several storms during the previous week, and every stream had become a torrent. At 5 p.m. we camped, quite tired out, having marched without stopping for ten hours. Goimuyasso's town, which we reached on 26th October 1892, has a grand situation on the fertile banks of the Lomami River, here about two hundred yards wide, with the current running at about three knots.