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The expedition upon the
bank of the river had been sent by the governor of Senegal. It consisted of two
officers, Messrs. Dufraisse, lieutenant of marines, and Rodamel, naval ensign,
and with these were a sergeant and seven soldiers. For two days they had been
engaged in reconnoitring the most favorable situation for a post at Gouina,
when they became witnesses of Dr. Ferguson’s arrival.
The warm greetings and
felicitations of which our travellers were the recipients may be imagined. The
Frenchmen, and they alone, having had ocular proof of the accomplishment of the
daring project, naturally became Dr. Ferguson’s witnesses. Hence the
doctor at once asked them to give their official testimony of his arrival at
the cataracts of Gouina.
“You would have no
objection to signing a certificate of the fact, would you?” he inquired
of Lieutenant Dufraisse.
“At your
orders!” the latter instantly replied.
The Englishmen were escorted
to a provisional post established on the bank of the river, where they found
the most assiduous attention, and every thing to supply their wants. And there
the following certificate was drawn up in the terms in which it appears to-day,
in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society of London:
“We, the
undersigned, do hereby declare that, on the day herein mentioned, we witnessed
the arrival of Dr. Ferguson and his two companions, Richard Kennedy and Joseph
Wilson, clinging to the cordage and network of a balloon, and that the said
balloon fell at a distance of a few paces from us into the river, and being
swept away by the current was lost in the cataracts of Gouina. In testimony
whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals beside those of the persons
hereinabove named, for the information of all whom it may concern.
“Done at the
Cataracts of Gouina, on the 24th of May, 1862.
“(Signed),
“SAMUEL FERGUSON
“RICHARD KENNEDY,
“JOSEPH WILSON,
“DUFRAISSE, Lieutenant of Marines,
“RODAMEL, Naval Ensign,
“DUFAYS, Sergeant,
“FLIPPEAU, MAYOR, PELISSIER, LOROIS, RASCAGNET, GUILLON, LEBEL,
Privates.”
Here ended the
astonishing journey of Dr. Ferguson and his brave companions, as vouched for by
undeniable testimony; and they found themselves among friends in the midst of
most hospitable tribes, whose relations with the French settlements are
frequent and amicable.
They had arrived at
Senegal on Saturday, the 24th of May, and on the 27th of the same month they
reached the post of Medina, situated a little farther to the north, but on the
river.
There the French
officers received them with open arms, and lavished upon them all the resources
of their hospitality. Thus aided, the doctor and his friends were enabled to
embark almost immediately on the small steamer called the Basilic, which ran
down to the mouth of the river.
Two weeks later, on the
10th of June, they arrived at Saint Louis, where the governor gave them a
magnificent reception, and they recovered completely from their excitement and
fatigue.
Besides, Joe said to
every one who chose to listen:
That was a stupid trip
of ours, after all, and I wouldn’t advise any body who is greedy for
excitement to undertake it. It gets very tiresome at the last, and if it
hadn’t been for the adventures on Lake Tchad and at the Senegal River, I
do believe that we’d have died of yawning.”
An English frigate was
just about to sail, and the three travellers procured passage on board of her.
On the 25th of June they arrived at Portsmouth, and on the next day at London.
We will not describe the
reception they got from the Royal Geographical Society, nor the intense
curiosity and consideration of which they became the objects. Kennedy set off,
at once, for Edinburgh, with his famous rifle, for he was in haste to relieve
the anxiety of his faithful old housekeeper.
The doctor and his
devoted Joe remained the same men that we have known them, excepting that one
change took place at their own suggestion.
They ceased to be master
and servant, in order to become bosom friends.
The journals of all
Europe were untiring in their praises of the bold explorers, and the Daily
Telegraph struck off an edition of three hundred and seventy-seven thousand
copies on the day when it published a sketch of the trip.
Doctor Ferguson, at a
public meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, gave a recital of his journey
through the air, and obtained for himself and his companions the golden medal
set apart to reward the most remarkable exploring expedition of the year 1862.
The first result of Dr.
Ferguson’s expedition was to establish, in the most precise manner, the
facts and geographical surveys reported by Messrs. Barth, Burton, Speke, and
others. Thanks to the still more recent expeditions of Messrs. Speke and Grant,
De Heuglin and Muntzinger, who have been ascending to the sources of the Nile,
and penetrating to the centre of Africa, we shall be enabled ere long to
verify, in turn, the discoveries of Dr. Ferguson in that vast region comprised
between the fourteenth and thirty-third degrees of east longitude.
THE END
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