INTRODUCTION. xv the region of the Nile-sources must again relapse into the gloom of night. Such, at least, for a considerable time was the general conviction, until, one day, from beyond the domain of the bloodthirsty tyrant of Uganda, from Msalala, the Christian mission station by the southern shore of Lake Victoria, suddenly there rose the voice of Junker. He announced that he was safe, and that Emin with the soldiers who had remained faithful to him was safe also; so too was the Italian explorer Casati. All three had succeeded in securing their liberty amidst the break-down of the Egyptian authority in the Soudan. The time had come for Dr. Junker to realise the truth of what in 1883 he had written in his diary, that if the events he dreaded should come to pass, there would be no alternative but that he must take a southern route. After two years and a half of suspense, of struggle and privation, the explorer resolved to attempt his retreat by this southerly route, that he might make Egypt and Europe aware of the existence and critical position of these last de fenders of the lost Soudan. It was another year b