Emin's Misfortune
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.