by Jules Verne
CHAPTER FORTY-FOURTH.
Conclusion.--The Certificate.--The French Settlements.--The Post ofMedina.--The Basilic.--Saint Louis.--The English Frigate.--The Return toLondon.
The expedition upon the bank of the river had been sent by the governorof Senegal. It consisted of two officers, Messrs. Dufraisse, lieutenantof marines, and Rodamel, naval ensign, and with these were a sergeantand seven soldiers. For two days they had been engaged in reconnoitringthe most favorable situation for a post at Gouina, when they becamewitnesses of Dr. Ferguson's arrival.
The warm greetings and felicitations of which our travellers were therecipients may be imagined. The Frenchmen, and they alone, having hadocular proof of the accomplishment of the daring project, naturallybecame Dr. Ferguson's witnesses. Hence the doctor at once asked them togive their official testimony of his arrival at the cataracts of Gouina.
"You would have no objection to signing a certificate of the fact, wouldyou?" he inquired of Lieutenant Dufraisse.
"At your orders!" the latter instantly replied.
The Englishmen were escorted to a provisional post established on thebank of the river, where they found the most assiduous attention, andevery thing to supply their wants. And there the following certificatewas drawn up in the terms in which it appears to-day, in the archives ofthe Royal Geographical Society of London:
"We, the undersigned, do hereby declare that, on the day hereinmentioned, we witnessed the arrival of Dr. Ferguson and his twocompanions, Richard Kennedy and Joseph Wilson, clinging to the cordageand network of a balloon, and that the said balloon fell at a distanceof a few paces from us into the river, and being swept away by thecurrent was lost in the cataracts of Gouina. In testimony whereof,we have hereunto set our hands and seals beside those of the personshereinabove 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, } Privates." RASCAGNET, GUIL- } LON, LEBEL, }
Here ended the astonishing journey of Dr. Ferguson and his bravecompanions, as vouched for by undeniable testimony; and they foundthemselves among friends in the midst of most hospitable tribes, whoserelations with the French settlements are frequent and amicable.
They had arrived at Senegal on Saturday, the 24th of May, and on the27th of the same month they reached the post of Medina, situated alittle farther to the north, but on the river.
There the French officers received them with open arms, and lavishedupon them all the resources of their hospitality. Thus aided, the doctorand his friends were enabled to embark almost immediately on the smallsteamer 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 recoveredcompletely 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 anybody who is greedy for excitement to undertake it. It gets very tiresomeat the last, and if it hadn't been for the adventures on Lake Tchad andat the Senegal River, I do believe that we'd have died of yawning."
An English frigate was just about to sail, and the three travellersprocured passage on board of her. On the 25th of June they arrived atPortsmouth, and on the next day at London.
We will not describe the reception they got from the Royal GeographicalSociety, nor the intense curiosity and consideration of which theybecame the objects. Kennedy set off, at once, for Edinburgh, with hisfamous rifle, for he was in haste to relieve the anxiety of his faithfulold housekeeper.
The doctor and his devoted Joe remained the same men that we have knownthem, 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 boldexplorers, and the Daily Telegraph struck off an edition of threehundred and seventy-seven thousand copies on the day when it published asketch 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 himselfand his companions the golden medal set apart to reward the mostremarkable exploring expedition of the year 1862.
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The first result of Dr. Ferguson's expedition was to establish, in themost precise manner, the facts and geographical surveys reported byMessrs. Barth, Burton, Speke, and others. Thanks to the stillmore recent expeditions of Messrs. Speke and Grant, De Heuglin andMuntzinger, who have been ascending to the sources of the Nile, andpenetrating to the centre of Africa, we shall be enabled ere long toverify, in turn, the discoveries of Dr. Ferguson in that vast regioncomprised between the fourteenth and thirty-third degrees of eastlongitude.