The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stanley's Story, by A. G. Feather

The book, and this e-text, use ´ and ` for minutes and seconds of angle, respectively.

Please see the [Transcriber’s Notes] at the end of this text.

The cover image has been created for this text, and is placed in the public domain.

H. M. STANLEYEMIN BEY

STANLEY’S STORY

OR

THROUGH THE WILDS OF AFRICA

A THRILLING NARRATIVE

OF HIS

REMARKABLE ADVENTURES, TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES,
WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES AND AMAZING
ACHIEVEMENTS IN

The Dark Continent.

Giving Accounts of his Discovery of Dr. Livingstone, the Lost Explorer; his
Great Overland Journey Across the Dark Continent; the Great Mysteries
of the past five thousand years, as solved by him; his Exploration
of the Congo; the Founding of the Congo Free State, and the
Opening of Equatorial Africa to Commerce, Civilization
and Christianity; his Expedition to the Relief of
Emin Bey in the Egyptian Soudan, with its
Terrible Experiences of Starvation,
Misery and Death; and a
Resume of all his Wonderful Discoveries and their Great Value to
Geographical and Scientific Knowledge, to the present time,
and covering his entire career in

SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA.

From Information, Data, and the Official Reports

OF

HENRY M. STANLEY.

By our Special Foreign Correspondent,

COL. A. G. FEATHER.

RICHLY AND PROFUSELY EMBELLISHED WITH MANY FULL-PAGE PLAIN AND COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS.

PHILADELPHIA:
JOHN E. POTTER & COMPANY,
1111 and 1113 Market Street.

COPYRIGHT

By JOHN E. POTTER & COMPANY,
1890.
All Rights Reserved.

CAUTION.

The Engravings in this book, as well as the printed matter,
being fully protected by copyright, we desire to
caution all persons against copying or re-
producing in any form. Any one so
offending will be prosecuted.

DEDICATION.

TO THE
BRAVE AND FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS
THROUGH WHOSE

FIDELITY AND UNSELFISH DEVOTION TO DUTY, UNFALTERING COURAGE
AND PATIENT SUFFERING UNDER SEVERE TRIALS, HE WAS
ENABLED TO SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISH
HIS GREAT MISSION,

AS ALSO

To those Public Spirited Citizens

WHO THROUGH THEIR GENEROUS LIBERALITY SO ABLY AND
CHEERFULLY SUPPORTED

The Emin Bey Relief Expedition,
THIS VOLUME IS MOST CORDIALLY
DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

Fifty years have hardly elapsed since Dr. Livingstone first entered the dark and benighted regions of South Africa as a missionary. Till then the country had been little less than a sealed book to the outside world, and the student of geography only knew its face as a blank and unknown void. History also stood silent, giving little information or evidence of what these hidden recesses in the Dark Continent might contain. What knowledge the world did have was limited to the coasts, and that only obtained through the prominence given it by the atrocious slave trade—at that time the leading feature of its commerce. But what a mighty change has been wrought since then! To-day, thanks to the missionary spirit, labors and exploits of Livingstone, who first planted the germs of Civilization and Christianity within her borders, as well as to the patient and persevering spirit of the bold and intrepid Stanley, upon whose shoulders so fitly fell the mantle of the dead Livingstone, we are in possession of a more comprehensive map of Africa. History, too, is no longer silent. Her pages now teem with marvellous accounts of the wonderful regions developed by these and other daring explorers—with the still more remarkable tales of the immeasurable wealth lying dormant and quietly awaiting the developing arms of Commerce. Geography and Science have also received a mighty impetus through the discoveries made by these fearless adventurers into the wilds of the Dark Continent; and to-day we are enabled to record the fact that a satisfactory solution to the great problems, which for ages have so much mystified the world, has been arrived at. The return of Stanley and his followers, with the fruits of their experiences and the light which they are able to throw upon the subject, will give to the literature of the world an addition of almost incalculable value. The expedition will take historic rank with the famous “retreat of the ten thousand” under Xenophon. As the tale unfolds, of the arduous toils and dangers encountered in the vast African wilderness, wonder at its success increases.

Though much has been done since Livingstone’s time to fill up the blanks of Central Africa’s physical geography, no expedition has ever returned with a richer harvest of discoveries than Stanley’s last. The almost impenetrable forest of the Aruwimi, probably the largest of African forests—extending over four hundred miles of latitude and longitude—with a dense jungle in all stages of decay, resounding with the murmurs of monkeys and chimpanzees, strange noises of birds and animals, and the crashes of troops of elephants rushing through the dark and tangled copse, is an obstacle that, once surmounted, gives us the hydrography of the greatest lake-system of the globe, adds to the giant mountains of geography the stately and snow-clad Ruwenzori, whose rocky peak towers eighteen or nineteen thousand feet above sea-level, and to the lakes the Albert Edward Nyanza, whence issues the mysterious stream which fertilizes Egypt and makes the valley of the Nile the most marvellous seat of human culture, art and science.

In Stanley’s Story the reader has presented a most thrilling narrative of the terrible experiences encountered, as well as a graphic account of these wonderful discoveries and the amazing achievements accomplished by Mr. Stanley during his career in Africa. The subject—one of unparalleled interest—is presented in the characteristic style of the writer, from thoroughly reliable information, data, and the official reports of Mr. Stanley himself. It favorably commends itself to every lover of geographical science, as well as to the admirer of the marvellous in life and nature. It has been prepared in a popular form, and at a price much lower than books of like character and value, and very much lower than others which claim to give the story of Stanley in Africa, but are simply compilations from the writings of the different explorers who have in times past essayed to traverse its vast interior, and failed. Stanley, however, has not failed. Fate has decreed otherwise. His story has been told. It is the only authentic story, as recorded in these pages, and the reader will find it not only interesting but highly entertaining and thoroughly instructive throughout.

The Publishers.

CONTENTS.

List of Illustrations.

[Larger map]

MAP OF
EQUATORIAL AFRICA.
That vast fertile area hitherto marked
UNKNOWN,
the Scene of all the late great Exploring Expeditions,
showing
the extensive achievements of
HENRY M STANLEY & OTHERS.

STANLEY’S STORY·
OR,
THROUGH THE WILDS OF AFRICA.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.

A Brief Account of Africa — Its Ancient Civilization — Little Information Extant in Relation to Large Portions of the Continent — The Great Field of Scientific Explorations and Missionary Labor — Account of a Number of Exploring Expeditions, including those of Mungo Park, Denham and Clapperton, and others — Their Practical Results — Desire of Further Information Increased — Recent Explorations, notably those of Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley, representing the New York “Herald” newspaper.

A work of standard authority among scholars says that “Africa is the division of the world which is the most interesting, and about which we know the least.” Its very name is a mystery; no one can more than approximately calculate its vast extent; even those who have studied the problem the most carefully widely disagree among themselves as to the number of its population, some placing it as low as 60,000,000, others, much in excess of 100,000,000 souls; its superficial configuration in many portions is only guessed at; the sources of its mightiest river are unknown. The heats, deserts, wild beasts, venomous reptiles, and savage tribes of this great continent have raised the only barrier against the spirit of discovery and progress, elsewhere irrepressible, of the age, and no small proportion of Africa is to-day as much a terra incognita as when the father of history wrote. Many of its inhabitants are among the most barbarous and depraved of all the people of the world, but in ancient times some of its races were the leaders of all men in civilization and were unquestionably possessed of mechanical arts and processes which have long been lost in the lapse of ages. They had vast cities, great and elaborate works of art, and were the most successful of agriculturists. Noted for their skill in the management of the practical affairs of life, they also paid profound attention to the most abstruse questions of religion; and it was a people of Africa, the Egyptians, who first announced belief in the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul. Large numbers of mummies, still existing, ages older than the Christian era, attest the earnestness of the ancient faith in dogmas which form an essential part of the creed of nearly every Christian sect. The most magnificent of women in the arts of coquetry and voluptuous love belonged to this continent of which so much still sits in darkness. The art of war was here cultivated to the greatest perfection; and it was before the army of an African general that the Roman legions went down at Cannæ, and by whom the Empire came near being completely ruined. Indeed, it may with much show of argument be claimed that the continent over so much of which ignorance and superstition and beasts of prey now hold thorough sway, was originally the cradle of art, and civilization, and human progress.

But if the northern portion of the continent of Africa was in the remote past the abode of learning and of the useful arts, it is certain that during recent periods other portions of the continent, separated from this by a vast expanse of desert waste, have supplied the world with the most lamentable examples of human misery and the most hideous instances of crime. Nor did cupidity and rapacity confine themselves in the long years of African spoliation to ordinary robbers and buccaneers. Christian nations took part in the horrid work; and we have the authority of accredited history for the statement that Elizabeth of England was a smuggler and a slave-trader. Thus Africa presents the interesting anomaly of having been the home of ancient civilization, and the prey of the modern rapacity and plunder of all nations. It is natural, therefore, that in regard to the plundered portions of this devoted continent, the world at large should know but little. It is also natural that with the advancement of the cause of scientific knowledge, humanity, genuine Christianity, and the rage for discovery, this vast territory should receive the attention of good and studious men and moral nationalities. Accordingly we find that during a comparatively recent period Africa has become a great field of scientific explorations and missionary labor, as well as of colonization.

The first people to give special and continued attention to discoveries in Africa, were the Portuguese. During the fifteenth century, noted for the great advance made in geographical discoveries, the kingdom of Portugal was, perhaps, the greatest maritime power of Christendom. Her sovereigns greatly encouraged and many of their most illustrious subjects practically engaged in voyages of discovery. They were pre-eminently successful both in the eastern and western hemisphere, and one of the results of their daring enterprise is the remarkable fact that Portuguese colonies are much more powerful and wealthy to-day than the parent kingdom.

“The Child is father of the Man.”

The Portuguese sent many exploring expeditions along the coast of Africa, and in the course of a century they had circumnavigated the continent and planted colonies all along the shores of the Atlantic and the Indian oceans. Bartholmew Dias having discovered the Cape of Good Hope, the reigning sovereign of Portugal determined to prosecute the explorations still further, with the object of discovering a passage to India. This discovery was made by the intrepid and illustrious mariner, Vasco de Gama, November 20, 1497, a little more than five years after the discovery of America. He pursued his voyage along the eastern coast of Africa, discovering Natal, Mozambique, a number of islands, and finding people in a high stage of commercial advancement, with well-built cities, ports, mosques for the worship of Allah according to the Mohammedan faith, and carrying on a considerable trade with India and the Spice Islands. Of this trade, Portugal long retained supremacy. Other European powers also meantime established colonies at different places on the African coast, so that in the sixteenth century a considerable portion of the outer shell, so to say, had been examined The vast interior, however, long remained unexplored, and much of it remains an utterly unknown primeval wilderness to this day. The settlements and colonies of the Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English were for commercial purposes only, and added very little to the general stock of information.

VIEW OF ZANZIBAR.

It was not until a year after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States that any organized effort in behalf of discoveries in Africa was made. In the city of London a Society for the Exploration of Interior Africa was formed in 1788, but it was not until seven years afterwards, that the celebrated Mungo Park undertook his first expedition. Thus it was more than three hundred years from the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope before even a ray of light began to penetrate the darkness of benighted Africa. Meantime, great empires had been overthrown and others established in their place and beneficent governments founded on both continents of the western world.

The life and adventures of Mungo Park form a story of exceeding interest, between which and the life and adventures of Dr. Livingstone there are not a few points of remarkable coincidence. Park was a native of Scotland, and one of many children. He was educated also in the medical profession. Moreover, while he was making his first tour of discovery in Africa, having long been absent from home, reports of his death reached England and were universally credited. His arrival at Falmouth in December 1797, caused a most agreeable surprise throughout the kingdom. An account of his travels abounding with thrilling incidents, including accounts of great suffering from sickness and cruelty at the hands of Mohammedan Africans on the Niger, was extensively circulated. Many portions of this narrative were in about all the American school books during the first half of the nineteenth century, and the name of Mungo Park became as familiar as household words in the United States. In 1805, Park undertook another tour of discovery, which he prosecuted for some time with indomitable courage and against difficulties before which an ordinary mind would have succumbed. He navigated the Niger for a long distance, passing Jennee, Timbuctoo, and Yaoori, but was soon after attacked in a narrow channel, and, undertaking to escape by swimming, was drowned. His few remaining white companions perished with him.

The discoveries of this celebrated man were in that part of Africa which lies between the equator and the 20th degree of north latitude. They added much to the knowledge of that portion of the country, and keenly whetted the desire of further information. Several journeys and voyages up rivers followed, but without notable result till the English expedition under Denham and Clapperton in 1822. This expedition started with a caravan of merchants from Tripoli on the Mediterranean, and after traversing the great desert reached Lake Tsad in interior Africa. Denham explored the lake and its shores, while Lieut. Clapperton pursued his journey westward as far as Sakatu, which is not greatly distant from the Niger. He retraced his steps, and having visited England, began a second African tour, starting from near Cape Coast Castle on the Gulf of Guinea. Traveling in a northeastern direction, he struck the Niger at Boussa, and going by way of Kano, a place of considerable commercial importance, again arrived at Sakatu, where he shortly afterwards died. He was the first man who had traversed Africa from the Mediterranean sea to the Gulf of Guinea. Richard Lander, a servant of Lieut. Clapperton, afterwards discovered the course of the Niger from Boussa to the gulf, finding it identical with the river Nun of the seacoast.

DR. DAVID LIVINGSTONE.

Other tours of discovery into Africa have been made to which it is not necessary here to refer. The practical result of all these expeditions, up to about the middle of the nineteenth century, was a rough outline of information in regard to the coast countries of Africa, the course of the Niger, the manners and customs of the tribes of Southern Africa, and a little more definite knowledge concerning Northern and Central Africa, embracing herein the great desert, Lake Tsad, the river Niger, and the people between the desert and the Gulf of Guinea. Perhaps the most comprehensive statement of the effect of this information upon Christian peoples was that it seemed to conclusively demonstrate an imperative demand for missionary labors. Even the Mohammedans of the Moorish Kingdom of Ludamar, set loose a wild boar upon Mungo Park. They were astonished that the wild beast assailed the Moslems instead of the Christian, and afterwards shut the two together in a hut, while King and council debated whether the white man should lose his right arm, his eyes, or his life. During the debate, the traveler escaped. If the Mohammedan Africans were found to be thus cruel, it may well be inferred that those of poorer faith were no less bloodthirsty. And thus, as one of the results of the expeditions to which we have referred, a renewed zeal in proselytism and discovery was developed.

Thus, the two most distinguished African travellers, and who have published the most varied, extensive, and valuable information in regard to that continent, performed the labors of their first expeditions cotemporaneously, the one starting from the north of Africa, the other from the south. We can but refer to the distinguished Dr. Heinreich Barth, and him who is largely referred to in this volume, Dr. David Livingstone. The expeditions were not connected the one with the other, but had this in common that both were begun under the auspices of the British government and people. A full narrative of Dr. Barth’s travels and discoveries has been published, from which satisfactory information in regard to much of northern and central Africa may be obtained. The narrative is highly interesting and at once of great popular and scientific value. Hence the world has learned the geography of a wide expanse of country round about Lake Tsad in all directions; far toward Abyssinia northeasterly, as far west by north as Timbuctoo, several hundred miles southeasterly, and as far toward the southwest, along the River Benue, as the junction of the Faro. Dr. Barth remained in Africa six years, much of the time without a single white associate, his companions in the expedition having all died. Dr. Overweg, who was the first European to navigate Lake Tsad, died in September, 1852. Mr. Richardson, the official chief of the expedition, had died in March of the previous year.

But unquestionably the most popular of African explorers is Dr. Livingstone, an account of whose first expedition—1849-52—has been read by a great majority of intelligent persons speaking the English language. Large and numerous editions were speedily demanded, and Africa again became an almost universal topic of discourse. Indeed, intelligence of Dr. Livingstone’s return after so many years of toil and danger, was rapidly spread among the nations, accompanied by brief reports of his explorations, and these prepared the way for the reception of the Doctor’s great work by vast numbers of people. Every one was ready and anxious to carry the war of his reading into Africa. And afterwards, when Dr. Livingstone returned to Africa, and having prosecuted his explorations for a considerable period reports came of his death at the hands of cruel and treacherous natives, interest in exact knowledge of his fate became intense and appeared only to increase upon the receipt of reports contradicting the first, and then again of rumors which appeared to substantiate those which had been first received. In consequence of the conflicting statements which, on account of the universal interest in the subject, were published in the public press throughout the world, the whole Christian church, men of letters and science became fairly agitated. The sensation was profound, and, based upon admiration of a man of piety, sublime courage, and the most touching self-denial in a great cause to which he had devoted all his bodily and intellectual powers, it was reasonable and philosophical.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the English government should have fitted out an expedition in search of Livingstone. Accordingly, the Livingstone Search Expedition, as it is called, was organized early in the winter of 1871-72, and under command of Lieut. Dawson, embarked on its destination, on the 9th of February of the last year. The expedition reached Zanzibar April 19, and the members were most kindly received by the Sultan, Sayid Bergash, and greatly assisted by his Grand Vizier, Sayid Suliman. A company of six Nasik youths, originally slaves in a part of Africa through which the Search Expedition would pass, were being drilled for the purpose, and were expected to be of great assistance.

But before intelligence of the Livingstone Search Expedition at Zanzibar awaiting favorable weather, had arrived, the world was startled by the news that a private expedition, provided solely by the New York “Herald” newspaper, and in charge of Mr. Henry M. Stanley, had succeeded, after surmounting incredible difficulties, in reaching Ujiji, where a meeting of the most remarkable nature took place between the great explorer and the representative of the enterprising journal of New York. Unique in its origin, most remarkable in the accomplishment of its beneficent purpose, the Herald-Livingstone expedition had received the considerate approval of mankind, and Mr. Stanley had come to be regarded, and with justice, as a practical hero of a valuable kind. His accounts of his travels, his despatches to the “Herald” from time to time, the more formal narratives furnished by him, composed a story of the deepest interest and, when properly considered, of the greatest value. This interest has also been deepened and greatly strengthened by the later labors of Stanley in the great field made memorable by Livingstone; and in the results of later explorations we have it fairly demonstrated that the life-work of the elder explorer did not end with his death, but has fallen upon the shoulders of one in every respect qualified to carry on the good work.

To fully appreciate the work done and to thoroughly comprehend its bearing upon Christian civilization, the reader will find in these pages a brief resume of the most important incidents in the life history of Livingstone, with accounts of his several explorations into the African continent. Hence, these, in connection with those of Stanley respecting his later researches, will serve to make a volume of extremely interesting reading upon a subject of universal interest to all Christian people.

CHAPTER II.
GEOLOGY OF AFRICA—ANTIQUITY OF MAN.

The General Geological Formation of the Continent — The Want of Comprehensive Investigation — Singular Facts as to the Desert of Sahara — The Question of the Antiquity of Man — Is Africa the Birth-place of the Human Race? Opinions of Scientists Tending to Answer in the Affirmative — Darwinism.

It is to be greatly regretted that no comprehensive geological surveys of Africa have ever been made; because there are certain questions, eventually to be settled by geology, whose determination, it appears to be agreed, will be finally resolved by investigations in this continent. In a volume of this nature, designed for the general reader, those facts and reasonings only need be referred to which may be supposed to have the most interest. Reference has already been made to Sir Roderick Murchison’s exposition of the trough-shaped form of South Africa in his discourse before the Royal Geographical Society in 1852—an exposition which was so remarkably substantiated by Dr. Livingstone in his journey across the continent from Loanda to Kilimane. Though in its geographical configuration Africa is not greatly unlike South America, in its geological structure it much more resembles the northern continent of the western hemisphere. The Appalachian range of mountains extending through nearly the whole of the eastern portion of North America, parallel with the coast, and the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas in the west, bear a notable resemblance to those ranges of mountains in Africa, which, rising first in the northern portions of Senegambia, pursue a south-easterly, then a southerly course to near the southern limit of the continent, when they sharply bend toward the northeast, and with many lofty peaks, some of which reach the region of eternal snow, pass through Mozambique, Zanguebar, and end not until after they have passed through Abyssinia and Nubia, and penetrated the limits of Egypt. In Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, is the Atlas range, between which and the beginning of the other the distance is hardly so great as that between the southern limits of the Appalachian range and the mountains of Mexico. The course of each of the great rivers of these continents is also across the degrees of latitude instead of generally parallel with the equator, as is the case with the great river of South America. There is a similarity also between North America and Africa in an extensive system of inland lakes of fresh water and vast extent.

ARAB CHIEF OF CENTRAL AFRICA.

The geological structure of the mountains of Africa, especially of South Africa, appears to be quite uniform. They have a nucleus of granite which often appears at the surface and forms the predominating rock, but in the greater proportion of the mountains, perhaps, the granite is overlain by vast masses of sandstone, easily distinguished by the numerous pebbles of quartz which are embedded in it. The summit, when composed of granite, is usually round and smooth, but when composed of the quartzose sandstone is often perfectly flat. Of this Table Mount, in South Africa, is a notable illustration. The thickness of this stratum of sandstone is sometimes not less than 2,000 feet. Such is the case in the Karoo mountains of Cape Colony. When thus appearing, it may be seen forming steep, mural faces, resembling masonry, or exhibiting a series of salient angles and indentations as sharp, regular, and well-defined as if they had been chiselled. With the granite are often associated primitive schists, the decomposition of which seems to have furnished the chief ingredients of the thin, barren clay which forms the characteristic covering of so much of the South African mountains. In some places, more recent formations appear, and limestone is seen piercing the surface. The geological constitution of the Atlas Mountains, in northwestern Africa, presents old limestone alternating with a schist, often passing to a well-characterized micaceous schist, or gneiss, the stratification of which is exceedingly irregular. Volcanic rocks have here been found in small quantities. There are veins of copper, iron, and lead.

In Egypt we find the alluvial soil a scarcely less interesting object of study than the rocks upon which it rests. These are limestone, sandstone, and granite, the latter of which, in Upper Egypt, often rises 1,000 feet above the level of the Nile. Not many years ago were discovered about 100 miles east of the Nile, and in 28 deg. 4 min. of north latitude the splendid ruins of the ancient Alabastropolis, which once derived wealth from its quarries of alabaster. Farther south are the ancient quarries of jasper, porphyry, and verd antique. The emerald mines of Zebarah lay near the Red Sea.

The Atlas range in Algeria is better known than elsewhere. It is as described above, but at Calle there are distinct traces of ancient volcanoes. Iron, copper, gypsum, and lead are found in considerable quantities. Cinnabar is found in small quantities. Salt and thermal springs abound in many parts of Algeria, amethysts in Morocco, slates in Senegambia, and iron in Liberia, Guinea, the Desert of Sahara and many other parts of Africa.

Gold, gold-dust, and iron are among the best known of the mineral riches of Africa, and are the most generally diffused throughout the continent. In the country of Bambouk, in Senegambia, most of the gold which finds its way to the west coast is found. Here the mines are open to all, and are worked by natives who live in villages. The richest gold mine of Bambouk, and the richest, it is believed, yet discovered in Africa, is that of Natakoo—an isolated hill, some 300 feet high and 3,000 feet in circumference, the soil of which contains gold in the shape of lumps, grains, and spangles, every cubic foot being loaded, it is said, with the precious metal. The auriferous earth is first met with about four feet from the surface, becoming more abundant with increase of depth. In searching for gold the natives have perforated the hill in all directions with pits some six feet in diameter and forty or fifty feet deep. At a depth of twenty feet from the surface lumps of pure gold of from two to ten grains weight are found. There are other mines in this portion of Africa, gold having been found distributed over a surface of 1,200 square miles. The precious metal is not only found in hills, the most of which are composed of soft argillaceous earth, but in the beds of rivers and smaller streams, so that the lines of Bishop Heber’s well-known missionary hymn are truthful as well as poetical:—

“Where Afric’s sunny fountains,
Roll down their golden sands.”

The gold mines of Semayla, which are some forty or fifty miles northward of those of Natakoo, though nearly as rich as the latter, are in hills of rock and sandstone, which substances are pounded in mortars that the gold may be extracted. Barth judged that gold would be found in the Benue river, the principal eastern tributary of the Niger. Gold, silver, iron, lead and sulphur have been found in large quantities, and were long profitably mined in the mountainous districts of Angola. In Upper Guinea gold and iron are deposited in granitic or schistose rocks. The interior contains vast quantities of iron which might be easily mined, but the natives are not sufficiently enterprising to accomplish much in this respect. Gold is also obtained in the beds of some of the rivers of Guinea. In Mozambique, on the east coast, the Portuguese have for a great length of time had a considerable commerce in gold obtained from mines near the Zambezi, in the region near the western limit of that province. It has already been stated that here Dr. Livingstone discovered deposits of coal. Along the Orange and Vaal rivers, in extreme South Africa, have recently been discovered diamond fields which some noted scientists believe will yet prove to be among the richest in the world.

ARRIVAL OF THE EXPEDITION ON THE BANKS OF THE ZAMBESI.

Perhaps the portions of Africa which are the most interesting on account of geological investigations which have been made, are the valley of the Nile in Egypt, and the Desert of Sahara. It is well known that the river Nile annually overflows its banks in Egypt, and the inundation remaining a considerable period, a thin layer of soil is each year added to that which existed there before. This Nile mud, as it is called by geologists, has been the subject of considerable scientific examination for many years. In his work upon the “Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man,” Sir Charles Lyell gives a full account of certain systematic borings in the Nile mud which were made between the years 1851 and 1854, under the superintendency of Mr. Leonard Horner, but who employed to practically conduct the examinations an intelligent, enterprising, and faithful Armenian officer of engineers, Hekekyan Bey, who had for many years pursued scientific studies in England, was in every way qualified for the task, and, unlike Europeans, was able to endure the climate during the hot months, when the waters of the Nile flow within their banks. Sir Charles Lyell states that the results of chief importance arising out of this inquiry were obtained from two sets of shafts and borings—sunk at intervals in lines crossing the great valley from east to west. One of these consisted of fifty-one pits and artesian perforations made where the valley is sixteen miles wide between the Arabian and the Libyan deserts, in the latitude of Heliopolis, about eight miles above the apex of the delta. The other line of pits and borings, twenty seven in number, was in the parallel of Memphis where the valley is five miles wide. Besides Hekekyan Bey, several engineers and some sixty workmen, inured to the climate, were employed for several years, during the dry season, in the furtherance of these interesting investigations.

It was found that in all the works the sediment passed through was similar in composition to the ordinary Nile mud of the present day, except near the margin of the valley, where thin layers of quartzose sand, such as is sometimes blown from the adjacent desert by violent winds, were observed to alternate with the loam. A remarkable absence of lamination and stratification, the geologist goes on to say, was observed almost universally in the sediment brought up from all points except where the sandy layers above alluded to occurred, the mud closely agreeing in character with the ancient loam of the Rhine. Mr. Horner attributes this want of all indication of successive deposition to the extreme thinness of the film of matter which is thrown down annually on the great alluvial plain during the season of inundation. The tenuity of this layer must indeed be extreme, if the French engineers are tolerably correct in their estimate of the amount of sediment formed in a century, which they suppose not to exceed on the average five inches. It is stated, in other words, that the increase is not more than the twentieth part of an inch each year, or one foot in the period of 240 years. All the remains of organic bodies found during these investigations under Hekekyan Bey belonged to living species. Bones of the ox, hog, dog, dromedary, and ass were not uncommon, but no vestiges of extinct mammalia were found, and no marine shells were anywhere detected. These excavations were on a large scale, in some instances for the first sixteen or twenty-four feet. In these pits, jars, vases, and a small human figure in burnt clay, a copper knife, and other entire articles were dug up; but when water soaking through from the Nile was reached, the boring instrument used was too small to allow of more than fragments of works of art being brought up. Pieces of burnt brick and pottery were constantly being extracted, and from all depths, even where they sank sixty feet below the surface toward the central parts of the valley. In none of these cases did they get to the bottom of the alluvial soil. If it be assumed that the sediment of the valley has increased at the rate of six inches a century, bricks at the depth of sixty feet have been buried 12,000 years. If the increase has been five inches a century, they have lain there during a period of 14,400 years. Lyell states further on that M. Rosiere, in the great French work on Egypt has estimated the rate of deposit of sediment in the delta at two inches and three lines in a century. A fragment of red brick has been excavated a short distance from the apex of the delta at a depth of seventy-two feet. At a rate of deposit of two and a-half inches a century, a work of art seventy-two feet deep must have been buried more than 30,000 years ago. Lyell frankly states, however, that if the boring was made where an arm of the river had been silted up at a time when the apex of the delta was somewhat further south, or more distant from the sea than now, the brick in question might be comparatively very modern. It is agreed by the best geologists that the age of the Nile mud cannot be accurately, but only approximately calculated by the data thus far furnished. The amount of matter thrown down by the waters in different parts of the plain varies so much that to strike an average with any approach to accuracy must be most difficult. The nearest approach, perhaps, as has been observed by Baldwin, to obtaining an accurate chronometric scale for ascertaining the age of the deposits of the Nile at a given point, was made near Memphis, at the statue of King Rameses. It is known that this statue was erected about the year 1260 B. C. In 1854 it had stood there 3,114 years. During that time the alluvium had collected to the depth of nine feet and four inches above its base, which was at the rate of about three and a half inches in each century. Mr. Horner found the alluvium, below the base of the statue, to be thirty feet deep, and pottery was found within four inches of the bottom of the alluvium. If the rate of accumulation previous to the building of the statue had been the same as subsequently, the formation of the alluvium began, at that point, about 11,660 years before the Christian era, and men lived there some 12,360 years ago, cultivating the then thin soil of the valley. But it would appear to be certain that the average deposit is so slight annually that many centuries more than those formerly quite universally received as the age of the world for the stage of mankind’s achievements must have passed since the work of man’s hands have been buried under these vast deposits of alluvium. Thus, geology insists, is the fact of man’s existence, long before the historic era, conclusively established.

AN OBJECT OF INTENSE INTEREST.

The Desert of Sahara presents some interesting facts of the same nature. It has already been stated that this part of Africa was ocean within a comparatively recent geological period. Tristram and several French officers of scientific attainments, who have made geological examinations of large portions of the desert have shown that the northern margin is lined with ancient sea-beaches and lines of terraces—the “rock-bound coasts” of the old ocean. Numerous salt-lakes exist in the desert which are tenanted by the common cockle. A species of Haligenes which inhabits the Gulf of Guinea is found in a salt lake in latitude 30 deg. north and longitude 7 deg. east, separated, therefore, from its present marine habitat by the whole extent of the great desert, and the vast expanse of Soudan and Guinea. Geologists hence conclude that the existing fauna, including man, occupied Africa long before the Sahara became dry land. Reference has been made in the preceding chapter to the supposed remarkably beneficent effect this great expanse of desert, heated sands, and hot air, has upon the climate, and consequently upon the civilization of Europe.

It is probable that from the fact that Sahara was about the last extensive portion of earth to be abandoned by the ocean, that the general opinion became prevalent that the continent of Africa was, geologically, the most recent of the grand divisions of the earth. Though supposed to be the oldest in civilization, it has been supposed to be the youngest in geological constitution. I am informed by scientific men that on account of recent investigations and reasonings, the opinion has for some time been gaining ground that Africa is likely to be shown to be the oldest part of the globe in both respects, and to have been the original birthplace of the race of man.

The negroid race, comprehending the Negroes, Hottentots, and Algutos, are, it is claimed by many scientists, the most ancient of all the types of mankind, and since their appearance on earth vast geographical changes have taken place. Continents have become ocean and sea has become land. “The negroes,” says Lubbock, “are essentially a non-navigating race, they build no ships, and even the canoes of the Feejeeans are evidently copied from those of the Polynesians. Now what is the geographical distribution of the race? They occupy all Africa south of Sahara, which neither they nor the rest of the true African fauna have ever crossed. And though they do not occur in Arabia, Persia, Hindoostan, Siam, or China, we find them in Madagascar, and in the Andaman Islands; not in Java, Sumatra, or Borneo, but in the Malay Peninsula, in the Phillippine Islands, New Guinea, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Feejee Islands, and in Tasmania. This remarkable distribution is perhaps most easily explicable on the hypothesis that since the negroid race came into existence there must have been an immense tract of land or a chain of islands stretching from the eastern coast of Africa right across the Indian ocean; and secondly that the sea then occupied the area of the present great desert. In whatever manner, however, these facts are to be explained, they certainly indicate that the race is one of very great antiquity.” “It is manifest,” says Baldwin in his Pre-Historic Nations, “that Africa at a remote period was the theatre of great movements and mixtures of peoples and races, and that its interior countries had then a closer connection with the great civilizations of the world than at any time during the period called historical.” It is the opinion of this writer that the Cushite race—the Ethiopians of Scripture—appeared first in the work of civilization, and that in remote antiquity that people exerted a mighty and wide-spread influence in human affairs, whose traces are still visible from farther India to Norway. Nor is he by any means alone in the opinion that the Carthagenians, ages ago, sent their ships across the Atlantic to the American continent. The Cushites, or original Ethiopians originated in Arabia, but their descendents are still found in northern Africa from Egypt to Morocco. Of this race are the Tuariks, the robbers of the Great Desert, to this day among the most magnificent specimens of physical man to be found anywhere on the globe.

The final solution of these problems of the geological status of Africa, and the great antiquity of man can but be of the greatest interest to all thoughtful persons. Unquestionably their solution will be greatly hastened, should Dr. Livingstone succeed in the great enterprise upon which he is now engaged, and soon make known to the world the true sources of the Nile. His success therein would stimulate endeavor, study, exploration, and, it is to be hoped, comprehensive and systematic surveys of a continent the evidences of whose civilization in remote ages lie buried among the debris of countless centuries.

We know, from the imperfect investigations which have already been made, that cities have been engulfed in the sands of Sahara. We know that vast changes have taken place in the physical structure of the continent of Africa and of the world since the negro race first appeared. It is not improbable, therefore, that where for so many ages beasts of prey and savage tribes have occupied a land oppressed with heat and burdened with many ills, there may yet be found evidences of former civilization and power in greatest possible contrast to present barbarism and national weakness. And who shall say that when the face of the continent was changed, whether by a great convulsion or by a gradual process, some of the people did not migrate northward, cross the Mediterranean and populate the continent which has since become the abode of the highest civilization and the greatest intellectual culture? Who shall say that these races of remote antiquity were not possessed of culture and arts and literature placing them very high in the scale of civilization? Within the historic period those nations have passed away which were the acknowledged parents of modern culture and art. The power and versatility of the human mind, reason, eloquence, and poetry, were most sublimely illustrated by the Greeks, whose works still remain to benefit and instruct mankind. Yet the freedom and power of this wonderful people have for more than twenty centuries been annihilated. The people, in the eloquent diction of Macaulay, have degenerated into timid slaves; the language into a barbarous jargon; and the beautiful temples of Athens “have been given up to the successive depredations of Romans, Turks, and Scotchmen.” The vast empire of Rome has passed entirely away within a few centuries. She had herself annihilated Carthage leaving nothing, as we have seen, of the arts, literature, or institutions of a people whose ships had sailed on every wave from the Hellespont to the Baltic, and, not improbably, from the Mediterranean to the delta of the Mississippi. Other great nations are also known to have passed away or been destroyed, the nature of their civilization and institutions being left to conjecture based upon a few monuments or a few literary remains preserved by foreign writers. It being once established that man existed ages before what is commonly called the beginning of the historic period it would be simply logical, considering many national destructions which have occurred during the historic period, to conclude by analogy that races of remote antiquity flourished and passed away leaving no sign, which has been yet discovered, of their power and civilization. It is evident the historian Macaulay thinks it not improbable such may be the fate of England, and he expressly states in a well-known passage that the time may come when only a single naked fisherman may be seen in the river of the ten thousand masts. It is difficult, if not impossible, for mankind entirely to overcome the tendency to decay.

ARAB SLAVE TRADERS.

We shall presently see that Africa is a field upon which must soon be decided a great issue of politico-social importance; an issue which involves the abolition of polygamy, domestic slavery, and the suppression of the foreign slave trade. From what has gone before in this volume, it will have been seen that here, too, are likely to be most conclusively demonstrated the vast age of the world, the great antiquity of man, and the nature of his origin. In comparison of the settlement of this issue and the solution of these problems of science, even the discovery of the true sources of the Nile may be regarded as unimportant, except for the reason that Dr. Livingstone’s great achievement will arouse other men of science to similar sacrifices, labors, and fortitude. Thus Africa is found to present another remarkable contrast for our contemplation; for while civilization is there at a lower ebb than in any other grand division of the globe, the highest intellectual efforts of the most astute thinkers of the times are turning their best efforts thitherward, in the confident hope of greatly enlarging the sphere of human knowledge, and of extending the triumphs of science and civilization.

There are many, it is true, who imagine that the scientific inquiries which are being made in regard to the great age of the world, the races which existed long anterior to the historic period, and the origin of the human species are founded in a spirit of skepticism and hostility to Christian civilization, or, rather to Christianity as a religion. Doubtless there are many scientists who put no faith in Holy Writ, as much of it has been commonly understood. Others, and those among the most distinguished of men, are no less devout believers in Christianity than they are firm believers in the great age of the world and antiquity of man. The devotees of Christianity have in not a few instances mistaken an ally for an enemy. This was notably the fact, in an example which is here most appropriate, in the case of the modern origin of the science of astronomy. The Christian church, as then existing, pronounced as religious heresy the plain truth that the world moves, and that the sun neither rises nor sets, but is stationary—the sublime centre of a universe of planets and stars, and, perhaps, inhabited worlds, whose movements must be controlled, as the vast system must have been originated, by One of infinite wisdom and power and goodness. In due course of time it was discovered that astronomy did not militate against Christianity, and the church not only ceased putting astronomers in prison, but learned that the acceptance of all truth, come from whatever source it may, is a Christian duty. And many of the most distinguished astronomers have been no less earnest exemplars of the Christian system of religion than any monk who ever wore the pavements of a monastery and left the world no wiser or better than he found it.

As it was with astronomy, so it has been even of late years with the science of geology. The era of imprisonment for heresy had indeed passed by when men began to construct a comprehensive science on the study of rocks; but as their revelations became more extensive and more wonderful, it again appeared to many that here had arisen a formidable foe of Christianity, and the new science was assailed accordingly. It has not turned out that these disputants were as wise as they were zealous and as they were undoubtedly sincere. Though the sun never rises and never sets, we should be stupid indeed were we always, when speaking of his appearance on our horizon, or his disappearance therefrom, to state the fact in words of scientific accuracy. The world has never yet been slow enough justly to permit such waste of time and words. Not only the almanac-makers, but the most celebrated astronomers persist in saying that the sun rises and the sun sets. And, properly understood, it is perfectly true though scientifically false. To all appearance and for all practical purposes to the inhabitants of earth the sun does rise and set, and when one so says, whether inspired or uninspired, one simply conveys the idea that he intends to convey, and this is the province of language. As astronomy appeared to be utterly opposed by certain expressions in Scripture, but was found not to be, upon more liberal construction of the language, as well as more philosophical, so geology appeared to be, in its apparent demonstration of the vast age of the world, and, later, of the great antiquity of man, hostile to the received canons of the church, and especially subversive of the Mosaic account of creation and the generally received system of chronology. The conflicts thus arising have dissipated many erroneous theological constructions and dogmas, but they have in no manner affected the foundations of Christianity. There are many eminent geologists who are earnest Christians, and though Dr. Livingstone himself has done geology incalculable service he has done Christianity incalculably more. It may well be doubted whether any single theologian of the age has conferred more valuable service upon Christianity than Hugh Miller, the great geologist of Scotland, whose scientific works are, perhaps, the most fascinating of any in the English language.

There can be, then, no well-grounded fear of science overturning Christianity. It is more likely thereby to be in the end not only more thoroughly and correctly understood, but more firmly established and more generally adopted. Even the inquiry which is now receiving so much attention from men of thought—that into the origin of man—need not be deemed as fraught with any real danger to the system which has given the world its present civilization. Were it possible to establish Mr. Darwin’s theory of evolution—and that it is more than a theory cannot be claimed for it by its most devoted advocate—and establish man’s origin in the ape, still would the act of his creation into man from ape be an act of infinite power and goodness. For the infinite power and goodness of the act consist in the creation, by some means, of a being of intellectual and moral attributes. The act of divine power is in breathing into the nostrils the breath of life, and causing the being to become a living soul. Even Mr. Darwin will not dispute that the ape was in the long ages evolved from dust, nor that, so far as science has shown or probably ever can show, there is no being in the universe with capacity to evolve thought except only God, as shown in His manifold works, and man.

Whatever may be the result, therefore, of the interesting inquiries in commerce, religion, geography, geology, ethnology which now are being more and more directed toward Africa with each passing year, we may quite safely conclude, judging from the results of the past, that Christianity will come forth out of the conflicts that may arise, whether they be scientific or of other nature, with renewed beauty and power; with more liberal and enlightened views, doubtless, upon some questions which have been erroneously considered, but with greater influence on this account, and with brighter prospects of more speedily than might have been but for these conflicts extending the rule of her pure and beneficent morality among all the nations and tribes of men.

CHAPTER III.
THE RESULTS OF THE EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA.

The Result in Behalf of Science, Religion, and Humanity of the Explorations and Missionary Labors of Dr. Livingstone and Others in Africa — Review of Recent Discoveries in Respect to the People and the Physical Nature of the African Continent — The Diamond Fields of South Africa — Bird’s-Eye View of that Division of the World — Its Capabilities and Its Wants — Christianity and Modern Journalism Dissipating Old Barbarisms, and Leading the Way to Triumphs of Civilization.

It would be difficult to estimate the result present and sure to come, in behalf of science, religion, and humanity, of the explorations and missionary labors of Dr. Livingstone and others in Africa during a period which embraces but little more than a quarter of a century. The manner in which Livingstone conducted his missionary labors has already been pointed out, but more with reference to their connection with peoples outside of Africa: with men of letters, of science, and of trade in the civilized world: than with reference to the natives themselves. Nevertheless, it is a fact that the Christian religion has nowhere in Africa been anything like so generally adopted, practiced, and honored by the natives as in the country of the Bakwains. And it was among the Bakwains that Dr. Livingstone performed his principal missionary work. Among that people only did he establish a permanent missionary station. There he had his home in Africa: there his children were born. Unquestionably the labors of the Rev. Dr. Moffat, Dr. Livingstone’s father-in-law, were of the highest importance in some respects. The scene of his studies was at Kuruman, several hundred miles to the southward of Kolobeng where Livingstone was stationed. He translated the Scriptures into the Bechuana language, travelled and preached over a wide domain in South Africa, and accomplished vast good. But it was Livingstone who infused into the spirit of Christian propagandism practical wisdom and the argument of present as well as future good. He is the Franklin of missionaries, having wonderful power in showing pagans that, even so far as their temporal affairs and material prosperity are concerned, the religion of Him of Nazareth is the best policy. Much has been accomplished at the “Gaboon Mission” as it has been called, on the east coast, but it may be said that the principal good is in the mitigation of the woes of the slave trade, which here, with the aid of nations which keep cruisers off the coast, has received, perhaps, a mortal wound. Nevertheless, the tribes of this coast are exceedingly depraved, drunken, and ignorant. They are universally idolatrous and given to disgusting superstitions and habits. Scarcely more than a hundred miles in the interior are tribes of cannibals, which are doubtless succeeded by others practicing the horrid orgies of man-eating across the continent to Tanganyika Lake. But with the great decrease in the slave trade has sprung up among all these people a wish to engage in legitimate commerce. With half the ideas of Christian civilization which have been instilled into the Bakwains of South Africa, these unhappy people would soon find ways and means to conduct a large trade in ebony, India-rubber, ivory, and other products of their country so much prized by commerce. Those who live on the coast have become somewhat skilful and daring in navigation, their little vessels, made of great trees hollowed out and pointed, making considerable coastwise voyages. Upon the arrival of a vessel on the coast, great numbers of these canoes, filled with natives, are constantly moving about from ship to shore, too often carrying off the miserable beings from the baracoons. This terrible traffic completely done with, they must perforce seek other means of trade; and these their country happily affords in great abundance.

DISCUSSING THE FEAST OF GAME.

The Makololo of central South Africa, so often mentioned in this volume, were greatly improved by the restless genius of the warrior-statesman Sebituane, whose remarkable career has been delineated in these pages. These people, possessing a country of great beauty and fertility along the valley of one of the most magnificent rivers of the world; possessing also vast herds of cattle and many villages and towns; and endued by nature with tractable dispositions and ambitious spirit, continue greatly to profit by the teachings and example of Dr. Livingstone. Related to the Bakwains and with them speaking the Bechuana language, Christian ideas are rapidly gaining adherents, so that it is but reasonable to expect that ere long, that vast extent of country from Cape Colony to Londa, between the eastern and western coast “shells” of South Africa will have come under the benignant and progressive influences of Christian civilization.

The value of the results of Dr. Livingstone’s explorations to science can hardly be overestimated. Geography, geology, botany, natural history, ornithology, have all received new facts of value by his labors, while the latest intelligence from him clearly points to his speedy success, should his life be spared, in the solution of that problem in geography which for many years has elicited the studies of the learned and the adventures of the adventurous.

A STREET SCENE IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE.

But Dr. Livingstone has not been alone in giving the world intelligence of the long unknown continent. In the interest of commerce, England sent an expedition to central Africa in 1850 under Captain Richardson, with whom were associated Dr. Overweg and the celebrated Dr. Barth, upon the latter of whom the work of the mission devolved on account of the death of both of his colleagues. The result was published in a most elaborate work of which mention has been made in the early pages of this volume. Dr. Barth traversed the African Sahara from north to south and again from south to north, near the middle, passing through Murzuk, the capital of Fezzan, Ghat, Tintellust, the capital of Asben, Agades, and Katsena, whence on the journey out Dr. Barth proceeded to Kano, Messrs. Richardson and Overweg going to Lake Tsad. Dr. Barth remained in Africa about five years, exploring the country from east of Lake Tsad to Timbuctoo. All this vast country is inhabited by a remarkable people, or a variety of remarkable peoples, who are good horsemen, sustaining large armies, chiefly of cavalry, adroit robbers, cruel, vindictive, having the worst form of domestic slavery, but who number many millions of souls; cultivate vast tracts of land, raising corn, rice, millet, tobacco, cotton, and other products; have many extensive towns and walled cities, carry on great operations in manufactures, trade, and mining; and are almost constantly at war: for the different states are independent of each other, each empire governed by its own sheik, the lesser sovereignties by sultans. The common religion of the people is that of Mahomet, but there are remnants of pagan tribes, some of which are even yet independent, and wage deadly war with their cruel oppressors. The country is well watered, and may be generally described as a vast plain, diversified only at wide distances by insulated mountains of no great height. In this expanse, the general name of which is Soudan, or Soodan (Berr es-Soodan, “Land of the Blacks”), the most celebrated city, perhaps, is Timbuctoo, which, from remote antiquity, has been the meeting-place of many caravans and converging lines of traffic. Sokato, or Sukatu, was formerly a city of 50,000 inhabitants, but has of late years decreased in importance. It is noted for its excellent manufactures of leather and iron, and its general markets, which always bring together great numbers of people and a wonderful variety of articles for sale. Kano, the capital of the province of Houssa, has a population of forty thousand souls. The city is surrounded by a wall of clay, thirty feet high, and more than fifteen miles in extent. Much of the enclosed space is occupied by gardens and cultivated fields. The cotton cloth woven and dyed at Kano is the chief article of commerce. The fine cotton fabrics of the Timbuctoo market are really manufactured at Kano. Dyed sheep-skins, sandals, ivory, the kola nut are largely exported. Kuka, the capital of Bornu, is near Lake Tsad, but is a small city of inconsiderable importance. Yola, the capital of Adamwa, is larger than Kuka. It was in this province that Dr. Barth discovered the Benue river, a navigable stream and the principal affluent from the east of the Niger. There are many cities in this portion of Africa of far more importance than the capitals of Bornu and Adamwa. Polygamy is universally practiced, and there are probably more slaves than freemen throughout all the vast expanse between the equator and the Desert of Sahara, and Senegambia and Abyssinia.

In 1856, Captain Burton, whose “Pilgrimage to El Medinah and Mecca” (which he made in the disguise of a dervish) had just made a sensation in the reading world, explored, with the lamented Speke, a considerable portion of East Africa. The explorations of Grant and Speke in this portion of the continent were also of the greatest value. Thus was a knowledge of the expanse lying between Lake Nyassa, Tanganyika Lake, Victoria Nyanza and the Indian ocean made known to the world. The explorations of Sir Samuel Baker and others in search of the sources of the Nile are familiar to the intelligent public. At this moment there are at least two expeditions engaged in attempting to solve this interesting geographical problem, one, under the patronage of the Prince of Wales, the other under that of the Khedive of Egypt. With this latter is a representative of the same American journal whose Search Expedition under Mr. Stanley discovered the great discoverer on the shores of Tanganyika.

AFRICAN BIRD-LIFE.

The most interesting and valuable series of explorations from the west coast of Africa which have been made of late years were those by Paul B. Du Chaillu, an American traveller and student whose work has been freely quoted from in this volume. His explorations embraced some three degrees of latitude and six of longitude near the equator. He penetrated far into the country of the gorilla and the cannibal, and his researches in respect of the people, animals, vegetation, and birds of this part of the continent are confessedly of great value to science.

Thus, if we consider the known portions of Africa at the time Dr. Livingstone began his first expedition of discovery, and compare them with the known portions of Africa at the time of the finding of Livingstone by the “Herald” expedition, we shall see that nearly all South Africa and much of East Africa has been explored by Livingstone himself; that Baker, Burton, Speke, Grant have added much to our knowledge of the supposed regions of the upper Nile and the “lake country” of East Africa; that Richardson and Barth have informed us of the true nature of the Desert of Sahara, the latter adding a vast fund of information in respect to north-central Africa; that Du Chaillu’s explorations and direct information almost impinge upon the vast area, both upon the east and the south, explored by Dr. Livingstone. The unexplored regions of Africa, therefore, are now small in comparison of the regions explored and in regard to which trustworthy information has been gathered. Whereas, when Dr. Livingstone went to Africa, only the outer portions of the continent had been examined, the regions now unknown are a wide belt eastward of Lake Tsad; a considerable expanse south of Abyssinia; portions of the Desert of Sahara, and of Kalahari; and that expanse in equatorial Africa between the recent explorations of Livingstone among the supposed sources of the Nile and the eastern limit of Du Chaillu’s journeys. It is true that these still unexplored regions embrace the most interesting portion of the continent and extend over an area several times larger than that of France, but in comparison of the portions of this great division of the earth which have now come under the view and the study of civilized man, they are but like a little cloud in a clear sky.

Within the long explored regions of South Africa, a most important discovery in respect to commerce has recently been made. Reference can be had, of course, only to the discovery of the diamond fields of the Orange and Vaal rivers, some seven or eight hundred miles, by a traversable route, northeastward of Cape Town, but considerably nearer either Port Elizabeth in Cape Colony, or Port Natal on the east coast. Some twenty years ago England abandoned the tract of country now known as the Orange River Free State, and it was occupied by emigrant Boers, some of whom also proceeded still farther north and established the Trans-Vaal Republic—a region over which Great Britain never had dominion. The Boers are generally supposed to be descendants of the Dutch colonists, but by some they are believed to be descended of certain warlike North Germans, whom the Dutch employed to guard their distant settlements, giving them lavish grants of lands in return for their services. This latter opinion would seem to be substantiated by the fierce and warlike nature of the present race of Boers. The diamond fields commence near the junction of the Orange and Vaal rivers, and extend indefinitely up both those streams. The diamond region is described as “a desert country of bare rock and sand, far from the upland pastoral districts” where the Boers successfully conduct agricultural pursuits. The fields are reached by a journey of some eight hundred miles from Cape Town. The distance from Port Elizabeth is about five hundred miles; that from Port Natal about four hundred and fifty. By the Port Elizabeth route, the traveller passes over the Zumberg mountains, and over the Drakensberg range, should he start from Port Natal. By either route, the scenery is described as magnificent and calculated to put the traveller at once in love with the country. But the region between Port Natal and the diamond fields is more wild and desolate than that on either of the other routes, and great suffering is often experienced by the way.

A STRETCH OF THE NILE.

The first South African diamond is said to have been found in March, 1867. The fortunate person was a Dutch farmer named Schalk Van Niekerk, who was struck with the appearance of a stone with which some children were playing. It turned out to be a genuine diamond, and was purchased by Sir Philip Wodehouse, then governor of the Colony, for $2,500. In a short time the governor purchased several other fine and valuable stones. In May, 1869, the magnificent diamond “Star of South Africa” was discovered by a man named Swatbooy, near Sandfontein, on the Orange river. This was a diamond of eighty-three and a-half carats and was purchased for $56,500. Being cut, it produced a fine gem of forty-six and a-half carats, valued at $100,000. The finder of this diamond sold it for 500 head of sheep, 10 head of cattle, and a horse. In a single year since their discovery these fields have yielded more than five stones above forty carats. Professor Tennant thinks we shall have diamonds from South Africa exceeding the famous Koh-i-noor in size and equaling it in beauty when cut and polished. The Sultan of Matan, of the island of Borneo, has a diamond of the first water, weighing 367 carats, and worth at least $3,500,000. The Orloff diamond, belonging to the Czar of Russia, weighs 195 carats, but is worth only about $500,000 on account of being a little off color. It is not too credulous to believe that the diamond fields of South Africa may produce stones equal to these, and which will throw the fabulous “Moonstone,” about which Wilkie Collins has written one of his most fascinating stories, completely in the shade.

These diamond fields have already been visited by great numbers of explorers, many of whom have been exceedingly lucky, while others had better remained at home. Astonishingly few scenes of lawlessness and violence have been witnessed, a fact which is owing to the peaceful nature of the Africans who do the most of the digging. The result of the discovery of this extraordinary diamond region was greatly to lower the price of rough diamonds for a season. It is not believed that the price will be permanently affected. Only about one tenth of the African diamonds are of the first water. The ordinary trade in diamonds had been about $800,000 a month—$400,000 from the mines of South America and India, and $400,000 from private parties. The increase from the South African fields has not yet been $100,000 a month, or anything like it on the average. The introduction of machinery and of capital to direct and control the workings, will doubtless add largely to the yield of these precious stones. Rubies are also found here in large numbers, but they are generally small. The probability of the discovery of gold also is very great.

Reflecting upon all these recent explorations and discoveries in Africa, how different would be a bird’s eye view of that continent now from what it was when Dr. Livingstone first went ashore at Cape Town! The extreme southern portion of the continent is under the dominion of Great Britain. On the east and northeast are Natal and the Boer republics of Orange River and Trans-Vaal. Here, of course, we find a people not unlike the peasantry of Europe, with towns and cities and farms and manufactures and commerce. The political institutions are liberal, and popular education supported by the state, is becoming general. The original inhabitants of this region were the Hottentots, a race bearing more resemblance to the Mongols than to the negroes, having broad foreheads, high cheek bones, oblique eyes, thin beards, and a yellow complexion. They are of a docile disposition, and quick intellectual perception. They were possessed of vast herds of cattle and large flocks of sheep, but were enslaved by the Dutch. Emancipated in 1833 by England, they are still found all over this region—still enslaved by the Boers in their so-called republics—and in small bodies here and there to a great distance in the interior. The Caffres, who inhabit the eastern portion of South Africa north of the British possessions, and form a large proportion of the population of the northern part of Cape Colony, are described by Livingstone as “tall, muscular, and well made; they are shrewd, energetic, and brave; altogether they merit the character given them by military authorities of being magnificent savages! Their splendid physical development and form of skull show that, but for the black skin and woolly hair, they would take rank among the foremost Europeans.” Near the east coast of Africa the Caffres are brown or copper-colored. Their government is patriarchal, a petty chief presiding over each kraal or village, who is tributary to a higher chief, and these higher chiefs owe allegiance to the great chief, with whom they form the National Council. They live by hunting and raising cattle. Their women attend to the agriculture. They have no notion of a Supreme Being, but are exceedingly superstitious in respect to witches, spirits, and the shades of their ancestors. The missionary labors of more than forty years have made no perceptible impression upon this stalwart race except those who live under the British Colonial government, and these have only been partially won over to civilization. Caffre women are described as superior in beauty to the other native races of South Africa. Then, and farther to the left, still looking northward, we have the Bushmen, who are described by Livingstone as true nomads. Then we come to the Griquas, an independent people north of the Orange river. By Griquas is meant any mixed race sprung from natives and Europeans. These are of Dutch extraction through association with Hottentot and Bushwomen. Many of these have adopted Christianity. The human inhabitants of the Kalahari Desert are Bushmen and Bakalahari, the former supposed to be the aborigines of Southern Africa, the latter the remnants of the first emigration of Bakwains. Both of these singular people are possessed of an intense love of liberty, but the Bushmen live almost exclusively on wild animals, while the Bakalahari have an irrepressible love of flocks of domestic animals. They procure a precarious existence over the dry expanse of Kalahari. East of the Desert are the Bakwains, among whom Moffat and Livingstone labored. These, numbering many different tribes, inhabit a large portion of Southern Africa and by their migrations under Sebituane, have for a number of years also held a vast territory on the Chobe and Zambesi rivers, north of Lake Ngami. Many of the Southern tribes have embraced Christianity and all are noted for intelligence and the desire of progress. Between the Southern Bechuanas and their relatives the Makololo are the Bamangwato and the Bayeiye, the latter “the Quakers of Africa,” who do not believe in fighting. The former are sufficiently savage and indolent. They live round about Lake Ngami. To the westward of Kalahari and as far northward as the country under Portuguese dominion we observe a region possessing many fertile tracts. A wide expanse is called Namaqua Land, and is sparsely inhabited by Hottentots among whom live a few Dutch. Northward of these are the Damaras, whose domains extend far into the interior, but of whom little is known. Far up the east coast extends the country of Mozambique, long known to geography. Near the middle of this country the waters of the Zambesi empty into the Indian ocean. Far up this stream we find many tribes of ignorant men, all polygamous, but none, until we reach the watershed of central South Africa, devoted to disgusting fetiches. There, where the country is for a vast distance an immense flat, with a river, part of whose sluggish waters seek outlet in the Atlantic and part in the Indian ocean, we see negroes of the most savage nature and the most degrading superstitions. And as we cast our vision westward toward the Portuguese colony of Angola, we find them becoming more and more degraded, through the immense territory of the Balonda, until we reach the magnificent valley of the Quango, and begin to perceive the beneficent effects of civilization, even though its representatives have not been of the best. We shall look in vain over the whole expanse of Lower Guinea for notable prospects cheering to the cause of man’s advancement. Then extending our vision northward and eastward over what may for convenience sake be called the equatorial region of Africa, we shall observe great lakes and rivers on the east, the lakes scarcely less great in surface extent than those of interior North America, while at the west we perceive extensive rivers, and immense forests. Here the nobler wild animals do not live, but repulsive apes and cannibals possess the gloomy shade of the vast wilderness. Near the eastern portion of this expanse the great explorer of Africa is at this time engaged in traversing that now most interesting portion of the globe whence spring the sources of the Nile. Still farther north, and extending nearly across the continent, we see an immense territory crowded with a commercial, trading people, whose cities have been noted for ages through the reports of caravans which have brought their goods and gold across the great desert to the Mediterranean sea. On the right of the desert we find Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt. The desert itself is seen to have many oases, stately mountains, and in places a growth of singular trees. Its caravans are sometimes submerged by the terrible simoon; but the robbers of the desert are more cruel and destructive than the winds and sands. On the north of Sahara we see the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, where in ancient times the great rival of Rome exercised supreme authority, which was doubtless wrested from Carthage in a calamity to mankind. To the westward of this famous seat of ancient empire, the French now have a numerous and prosperous colony. Still farther westward and looking out upon the pillars of Hercules, live the remnants of that singular people who once possessed a large part of Spain, and whose melancholy fate has been rendered wonderfully interesting to the intelligent of all lands by the great and tender genius of our American Irving. The descendants of the old possessors of Granada, the builders of the Alhambra, may now be found in northwestern Africa, and penetrating deeply into the regions of the Desert, with little to suggest the ancient taste, and culture, and warlike prowess. With the exception of Liberia, and the English, Portuguese, Dutch, and French colonies, and of late some of the Bakwains who have become Christianized, the people of whom we are taking this rapid view are devoted to polygamy. As it exists throughout nearly the whole of the vast continent it is both a social and a political institution. Of all these people, perhaps those only who are actually progressive are the Bakwains, under Sechele, the Makololo, under Sekeletu, successor to the greatest of South African chieftains, Sebituane, some of the colonists of extreme South Africa, and a province or two of central West Africa.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

Confining our view now to the physical aspect of Africa, we perceive that the four great rivers are the Nile, the Zambesi, the Quango, or Congo, and the Niger. The Orange river of the south is of less magnitude, as is the Senegal of the west. Of these, the Nile is the greatest and most interesting, the most interesting river, perhaps, of the world. The Niger drains much of western and central Africa, and with its affluents forms a system of drainage for an immense empire. The Quango is the principal river of central South Africa, but between it and the Niger are the Gaboon and the Fernand Vas with their many affluents. The Zambesi is seen to drain a region many times larger than Great Britain. The Orange with its affluents is at least equal to the Ohio in the United States. All these rivers, with the exception of the Nile, force their way through mountains which reach in almost unbroken range around the continent from Abyssinia southwestward to Cape Colony, then northwestward to Senegambia, whence they shoot off in broken fragments over the Desert of Sahara.

VIEW ON THE LUALALA.

VIEW ON THE ZAMBESI.

The northern half of Africa is chiefly Mohammedan, the southern half chiefly pagan. In the north we have sheikhs, khedives, sultans, harems, intrigues, treachery, vindictiveness, and tortures. In the south we have man-eating, superstitions, fetiches, degradation, but, unquestionably as I think, very much less of man’s inhumanity to man. North and south, except where the English have control, domestic slavery exists in its most cruel forms, but nowhere in the world has it ever existed, perhaps, in such monstrous shape of iniquity as in central Africa under the rule of Islamism. Dr. Barth accompanied the sheikh of Bornoo on a predatory (slave-catching) expedition into the Musgu country on one occasion. He thus relates the principal business of a single day:

“The village we had just reached was named Kakala, and is one of the most considerable places in the Musgu country. A large number of slaves had been caught this day, and in the course of the evening, after some skirmishing, in which three Bornoo horsemen were killed, a great many more were brought in; altogether they were said to have taken one thousand, and there were certainly not less than five hundred. To our utmost horror, not less than one hundred and seventy full-grown men were mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood, the greater part of them being allowed to bleed to death, a leg having been severed from the body.”

The number of “slaves” (that is, free persons captured) on this expedition was about 4,000, of whom nearly 1,000, being full-grown men, were disposed of in the horrible manner above described.

—Those who have read the preceding pages can hardly help arriving at the conclusion that the capabilities and the wants of Africa are very great. Leaving out those portions of the continent which were known when Dr. Livingstone first reached South Africa, we find that there have since been discovered lakes, rivers, mountains, regions abounding in precious stones and metals, vast fertile plains, forests rich in valuable trees and vines, animals producing rare articles of commerce, peoples rude indeed and degraded but neither cruel by nature, vindictive, nor revengeful. Many of them are magnificent specimens of mankind, so far as physical nature is concerned, while a great majority of them are far above that which is too generally considered the typical African. They are by no means wanting in intellectual powers; and their almost universal love of children must be regarded as a most admirable and redeeming trait. Even the cannibals of the equatorial regions are unquestionably less cruel and infinitely less treacherous than the Mohammedans of north Central Africa, while the numerous tribes of Bakwains and Makololo are for the most part by nature gentlemen; brave, magnanimous, and reasonable. The Bakalahari are a pastoral people; and those who are fond of both children and flocks cannot be irreclaimably depraved. Over a large part of South Africa, idolatry is unknown; and skepticism is a much less powerful antagonist of Christian civilization than fetiches.

These people have many navigable rivers, vast extents of arable lands, large numbers of domestic animals, and some of them are wonderfully skilful in the manufacture of certain fabrics and tools. Perhaps it is hardly too much to say that the Fans (cannibals) of equatorial Africa are the best blacksmiths in the world.

There can be little doubt that many of these people would have adopted Christian civilization before this time but for polygamy. As has been said a moment ago this is both a social and political institution. The more wives a chief has the more fathers-in-law, the more friends, and consequently the more influence. We have seen how this long kept the chief Sechele from espousing Christianity. It appeared to his generous nature like a cruelty to return his supernumerary “wives.” It is difficult to see how any general progress can be made toward the adoption of Christian civilization by these people until this institution shall have been destroyed.

The abolition of domestic slavery is one of the greatest wants of the continent. In no part of pagan Africa is this inhuman system upheld by such barbarous practices as in many large portions under the sway of Islamism. In pagan Africa the captives of war are made slaves, but the adult males are not mangled and slain. Throughout a great extent of Mohammedan Africa the system of slavery is upheld by nameless atrocities in gratification of the terrible cruelty and scarcely less terrible lust of the most cruel and lustful people. The legend of Legree in Mrs. Stowe’s celebrated novel of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” is a pleasant fable in comparison of many acts pertaining to African domestic slavery of which truthful accounts might be given. It might appear that time is necessary to prepare a people so cruel for the reception of Christian civilization. The Boers of South Africa are exceedingly hard task-masters with their slaves, compelling them to do a great deal of hard labor and drudgery, but they have not been charged with blood-thirstiness.

This wide-spread system of domestic slavery is, of course, an important ally of the foreign slave trade but the slave trade is in some respects a wrong and unutterable woe of itself. There is a certain intronational slave trade, if we may so speak, in Africa, carried on between tribes which are independent of each other. The importance of a chief is often estimated by the number of his slaves and wives. Now that the recent explorations of white men have made intercourse between tribes of more frequent occurrence than formerly, a rude diplomacy has sprung up, which is chiefly exercised in matters pertaining to slaves and the purchase of wives. A chief strengthens himself at home by marrying as many of the daughters of his “head men” as he can, and among other tribes by the same course among them. A large number of slaves adds to the consideration in which he is held at home and abroad. Thus polygamy, domestic slavery, and the foreign slave trade are the great obstacles which stand in the way of civilizing the continent of the black man. And of these the greatest obstacle is the foreign slave trade. This, not only because of its own cruelty, fearful wrongfulness, and hideous practices, but because it gives the black man a fairly unanswerable practical argument against civilization. Dr. Livingstone expressly tells us, in letters which we have quoted, that the practices of the slave-traders are more horrible and cruel than even those of the man-eating Manyema. Is it to be expected that the natives of Africa will adopt a system which, so far as they see, is more cruel than the most horrible customs of their most degraded tribes? Those Africans only who have to any considerable extent adopted Christian civilization live at the greatest distance from the scenes of the foreign slave trade.

A DANCE BY TORCHLIGHT.

The first great want of Africa, therefore, is the suppression of the slave trade. This has been to great extent accomplished on the West Coast. It has not been accomplished on the East Coast because of the neglect of the British government. Not long since Zanzibar was visited by a terrible hurricane, whose destructive fury laid waste its shipping, its houses, and scattered death and desolation over a wide expanse. The affliction was very great, and grievous to be borne. The slave trade of Zanzibar is almost infinitely more cruel than the remorseless elements. Its speedy suppression is demanded by the united cries of Christianity and humanity. It is the undoubted duty of the government of Great Britain to heed this demand, and put an end to the woes which exist through the cupidity of British subjects and the inefficiency of British officials at Zanzibar.

The other great wants of Africa are the abolition of domestic slavery and the destruction of the system of polygamy. To accomplish these great objects will be no easy achievement, nor one, it is believed, which can be speedily brought about. It certainly can be done the more easily and the more speedily after the suppression of the foreign slave trade. Until that be done, it is simply impossible. That having first been brought about, the national characteristic of all African peoples will be found, it is confidently believed, to form an element of vast power in bringing the continent under the sway of civilization. That characteristic is the love of trade. It is another of the singular anomalies of this division of the world, that while it is, upon the whole, the least commercial of all, the people are natural traders. They are universally fond of barter. This may be called the African idiosyncrasy. Taking advantage of it, with his inculcations of religious truth, Dr. Livingstone’s labors at the time and afterwards were crowned with magnificent success. Those of his co-laborers who have succeeded have pursued the same plan. Thus throughout a vast expanse have slavery and polygamy passed away, and the institutions of Christian civilization been adopted in their stead by a people naturally intelligent, progressive, and brave.

A CAMP OF ARAB TRADERS.

Christianity and modern journalism ought, therefore, to unite in urging commerce to clasp hands with religion for the purpose of making a common triumph for trade and civilization over the vast continent much of which has so long sat in darkness. There, surely, are the foundations upon which a mighty commerce may be built; there, beyond question, is a vast field in which the labors of Christian propagandists have much to engage them, and much to encourage great zeal and self-denial. Journalism and Christianity thus succeeding in making a firm and earnest ally of Commerce, cannot help leading the way, in the good time of Heaven’s providence, to most gratifying triumphs of civilization; so that the gloom and misery of centuries shall be dispelled, and even Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

CHAPTER IV.
LIVINGSTONE’S SECOND (AND LAST) EXPEDITION TO AFRICA.

Again leaves England, March, 1858 — Resigning his position as Missionary for the London Society, he is appointed by the British Government Consul at Killimane — After a brief exploration along the Zambesi, he again visits England — Sails on his Final Expedition August 14th, 1865, and proceeds by way of Bombay to Zanzibar — Report of his Murder on the shores of Nyassa.

Among great men who have had much to do in directing the destinies of nations or any considerable number of mankind, there have been two kinds—one class, who supposed they controlled events and by imperial will and power mastered circumstances and the course of Providence; the other, composed of those who have modestly imagined they were but instruments in the hands of a Superior Power through whom some of his beneficent designs were to be accomplished. Among the former was Napoleon Bonaparte, who probably thought that in many particulars God was entitled to high respect, but that in the general conduct of military campaigns, He could not be compared with the French Emperor. It is historically true that the men of this class have generally inflicted great evils upon mankind. Of the other class of great men, David Livingstone is a conspicuous example; and the one thing of which he is the most unaffectedly ignorant is his own genius. “If the reader remembers,” he modestly remarks near the close of his work, “the way in which I was led, while teaching the Bakwains, to commence exploration, he will, I think, recognize the hand of Providence.” And he goes on to show how, previously to this, Sebituane had gone north and from a country larger than France expelled hordes of bloody savages, and occupied their country with a people speaking the language of the Bakwains. Then again he was singularly turned toward the west instead of the east coast of Africa, it thus happening that when he returned upon his great expedition across the continent, the country was at peace and his life saved. Meantime, Sechele himself at Kolobeng had become a missionary to his own people and they were becoming civilized. “I think,” he concludes, “that I see the operation of the unseen hand in all this, and I humbly hope that it will still guide me to do good in my day and generation in Africa.”

ATTACKED BY BUFFALOES.

But this explorer was withal eminently practical. He wanted British merchants as well as English missionaries to go to Africa, and thinking that philanthropy and profit were equally interested, he believed that the explorations he had already made fully justified the opinion that still further discoveries might completely demonstrate the fact that Africa was not only a great missionary field but might become of the greatest value in the commercial world through the production especially of cotton and sugar. “I propose,” he says, “to spend some more years of labor, and shall be thankful if I see the system fairly begun in an open pathway which will eventually benefit both Africa and England.”

From all which it is clear that the second expedition of Dr. Livingstone to Africa, and which had not at that time been concluded, was the result of a deliberate opinion that, with the blessing of heaven, he might be able to accomplish that which should result in great good to Africa and at the same time help to increase the trade and commerce of his own country. Impelled by such worthy and unselfish motives, he again left England in March, 1858, and sailed for Kilimane. He had resigned his position as missionary for the London Society, but the British government had appointed him consul at Kilimane, with the understanding that he was not on this account to give up his character of explorer. On the contrary, he was supplied with a small vessel, and accompanied by a number of scientific associates, made a number of exploring expeditions by which his ideas in respect to the production of cotton and sugar and the overthrow of the slave traffic were greatly encouraged, and the conclusion reached that it would not be long before the opening of commercial intercourse between European nations and the tribes of South Africa. It was afterwards discovered by Mr. Young, in charge of an English expedition of search, which proceeded far up the Zambesi river, that the memory of Dr. Livingstone was highly revered, and his influence manifested in the moral improvement of the people and the advancement of their material interests. Subsequently, Dr. Livingstone made an expedition in a large region of country drained by the river Rovuma, which, along the east coast of Africa is a sort of boundary between Mohammedan and Portuguese authority. For this expedition a steamer was provided, but it was found to be of too great draft of water to be of much service. Dr. Livingstone, therefore, with the object of accomplishing the great design of his second voyage to Africa, returned to England, having re-explored a large portion of country along the Zambesi and visited for the first time the tribes of a large extent of country several hundred miles north of the Zambesi in its eastward course. This return to England was, however, but a part of the expedition upon which he had started in 1858, or rather an episode in it, without which the original object—the discovery of the principal watershed of the African continent, including the sources of the Nile—would not have been accomplished. Whilst, therefore, Dr. Livingstone has made three voyages from England to Africa, it will be more convenient to group his series of explorations under the general heading of two great expeditions—the first under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, the second under those of the Royal Geographical Society, with special assistance from the British government.

For the completion of the series of explorations of this expedition, upon which the explorer was then still engaged, he left England, August 14th, 1865, accompanied by his daughter as far as Paris. Thence, he proceeded to Bombay, and provided himself with materiel and men for the work before him. From Bombay he proceeded to Zanzibar, and on March 28th, 1866, left that island accompanied by two boys—Chanma and Wakotasie—a number of Sepoys, several men from Johanna Island, and some Suahili from a school at Bombay, and having reached the main land proceeded to the interior by the river Rovuma. As he proceeded he from time to time sent back accounts of his progress and the interesting incidents of his explorations. But late in this year the leader of the Johanna men arrived at Zanzibar with a story that Dr. Livingstone had been murdered on the shores of Lake Nyassa by a band of Mazitus. The tale had such an air of truth that no one doubted it. Moosa’s story being fully credited, the world quite generally gave up Dr. Livingstone as lost. Dr. G. Edward Seward, resident agent of the English government at Zanzibar, condensed Moosa’s information into a dispatch to Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, of which the following is the principal portion:

“Zanzibar, Dec. 10, 1866.

“My Lord—I send you the saddest news. Dr. Livingstone, in his despatch from Ngomano, informed your Lordship that he stood ‘on the threshold of the unexplored.’ Yet, as if that which should betide him had already thrown its shadow he added:—‘It is but to say little of the future.’

“My Lord, if the report of some fugitives from his party be true, this brave and good man has ‘crossed the threshold of the unexplored’—he has confronted the future and will never return. He was slain, so it is alleged, during a sudden and unprovoked encounter with those very Zulus of whom he says in his despatch, that they had laid waste the country round about him and had ‘swept away the food from above and in the ground.’ With an escort reduced to twenty by desertion, death and dismissals, he had traversed, as I believe, that terra incognita between the confluence of the Loende and Rovuma rivers, at Nyomano, and the eastern or northeastern littoral of Lake Nyassa; had crossed the lake at some point as yet unascertained; had reached a station named Kompoonda or Mapoonda, on its western, probably its northwestern, shore, and was pushing west or northwest, into dangerous ground, when between Marenga and Mukliosowe a band of implacable savages stopped the way, a mixed horde of Zulus, or Mafilte and Nyassa folk. The Nyassa folk were armed with bow and arrow, the Zulus with the traditional shield, broad bladed spears, and axes. With Livingstone there were nine or ten muskets; his Johanna men were resting with their loads far in the rear.

THE RECEPTION OF DR. LIVINGSTONE BY AN AFRICAN CHIEF.

“The Mafilte instantly came on to fight; there was no parley, no avoidance of the combat; they came on with a rush, with war cries and rattling on their shields their spears. As Livingstone and his party raised their pieces their onset was for a moment checked, but only for a moment. Livingstone fired and two Zulus were shot dead (his boys fired too but their fire was harmless); he was in the act of reloading when three Mafilte leaped upon him through the smoke. There was no resistance—there could be none—and one cruel axe cut from behind him put him out of life. He fell, and when he fell his terror stricken escort fled, hunted by the Mafilte. One? at least of the fugitives escaped; and he, the eye-witness, it is who tells the tale—Ali Moosa, chief of his escort of porters.

“The party had left the western shores of Nyassa about five days. They had started from Kompoonda, on the lake’s borders (they left the havildar of Sepoys there dying of dysentery; Livingstone had dismissed the other Sepoys of the Bombay Twenty-first at Mataka), and had rested at Marenga, where Livingstone was cautioned not to advance. The next station was Mahlivoora; they were traversing a flat country, broken by small hills, and abundantly wooded.

“Indeed, the scene of the tragedy so soon to be consummated would appear to have been an open forest glade. Livingstone, as usual, led the way, his nine or ten unpractised musketeers at his heels. Ali Moosa had nearly come up with them, having left his own Johanna men resting with their loads far in the rear. Suddenly he heard Livingstone warn the boys that the Ma-zitus were coming. The boys in turn beckoned Moosa to press forward. Moosa saw the crowd here and there between the trees.

“He had just gained the party and sunk down behind a tree to deliver his own fire when his leader fell. Moosa fled for his life along the path he had come. Meeting his Johanna men, who threw down their loads and in a body really passed Moosa, his escape and that of his party verges on the marvelous. However, at sunset, they, in great fear, left their forest refuge, and got back to the place where they hoped to find their baggage. It was gone, and then with increasing dread they crept to where the slain traveler lay.

AN AFRICAN SUN DANCE.

“Near him, in front, lay the grim Zulus who were killed under his sure aim; here and there lay scattered some four dead fugitives of the expedition. That one blow had killed him outright, he had no other wound but this terrible gash; it must have gone from their description, through the neck and spine up to the throat in front, and it had nearly decapitated him. Death came mercifully in its instant suddenness, for David Livingstone was ever ready.

“They found him stripped of his upper clothing, the Ma-zitus had respected him when dead. They dug with some stakes a shallow grave and hid from the starlight the stricken temple of a grand spirit—the body of an apostle, whose martyrdom should make sacred the shores of that sea which his labors made known to us, and which now, baptized with his life’s blood, men should henceforth know as ‘Lake Livingstone.’”

Dr. Seward added the following postscript to his despatch to the foreign office:

“The date of Dr. Livingstone’s death is left as much to conjecture as the place of his grave. All that we certainly know is that he was at Nyomano on the 18th of May last; that he proceeded to Mataka, whence he sent a despatch to this Consulate. From Mataka he is said to have made for and struck Nyassa, which he crossed; but where, or where Mataka is, cannot be ascertained. The runaway Reuben, with the Sepoys, states that Livingstone left Mataka a few days before they set out on their return journey to Zanzibar. They were one month and twenty days on the road to Keelwa, which they reached during the latter days of September. It may be inferred from this that Livingstone left Mataka about the middle of last July. The Johanna men named six weeks as the probable time of their return journey from Mapoonda to Keelwa with the slave caravan. The fight with the Zulus took place sixteen days before they set out. They reached Keelwa in November, Zanzibar the 6th of December. Roughly then, we may conjecture the death of their leader to have happened during September. The statements of our informants as to time, distance, and direction are distressingly vague and untrustworthy.”

The publication of this despatch at once created a profound sensation throughout the civilized world. There being no apparent reason to doubt the truthfulness of the story, it was quite universally accepted, and most men lamented the death of the great explorer with unfeigned sadness. The obituary notices which appeared in the public journals and proceedings of many learned bodies demonstrated the fame of Dr. Livingstone in a manner which will surely be exquisitely agreeable to him when he shall read the eulogiums, as, it is to be hoped, he may soon do. Dr. Kirk, of Zanzibar, who had, in former years, accompanied Dr. Livingstone in some of his explorations, gave the man Moosa a long and careful examination and cross-examination, and the longer he proceeded the more terrible the facts connected with Dr. Livingstone’s death appeared. A letter from him, generally published and quoted by all journals, seemed to leave the painful reports fully and abundantly confirmed. The world’s sorrow, therefore, expressed in every proper way, was, to all appearance, entirely reasonable.

Nevertheless, there were those who did not put their trust in Moosa’s story. Among these was Sir Roderick Murchison, whose reputation for sagacity in England was very high. So early as 1844, Sir Roderick had announced, from the examination of certain rocks brought to him for study, the existence of gold in Australia, and had vainly endeavored to enlist the aid of government in behalf of practically testing the question. We have seen that he correctly decyphered the general geological formation of central South Africa before the practical discovery of the fact by Livingstone. By these and other things of like nature, Sir Roderick had acquired the reputation of a prophet. He could give no special reason for his opinion, but he did not believe Moosa’s story of Livingstone’s death, and the fact of his want of faith in it made many suppose there might be ground for doubt after all. Sir Roderick was sustained in his doubts by Mr. E. D. Young, an African traveler of considerable experience who came forward and said that Ali Moosa belonged to a treacherous race. Suppose he had betrayed Dr. Livingstone, how else than by a cunningly-devised story of his death could he prevail upon the British consul to pay him. Here, at least, was a motive for the story, and it soon had many to believe in it. The consequence was a variety of conflicting reports and conflicting opinions, in the midst of which the Royal Geographical Society organized a search expedition and placed it under the charge of Mr. Young.

ZULU WARRIOR.

On the 8th of August, 1867, the little steel boat “Search,” Mr. Young in command, was pointed up the Zambesi river, under the most explicit and comprehensive instructions from the Geographical Society. At Shupanga, the grave of Mrs. Livingstone was visited, and such attention given it as was required. On the 4th of September, Mr. Young heard of a white man having been seen on Lake Pamalombi, which is far south of Lake Nyassa, the scene of the reported death. Young proceeded thither and became convinced that the white man was Livingstone. Continuing the search, he found that his views were from day to day confirmed by the reports of natives and articles which the explorer had left with them subsequent to the time of his reported murder. The search was continued till toward the close of the year, with the result that Dr. Livingstone had certainly been seen at a long distance from the Lake Nyassa, months after he had been reported killed. The expedition under Mr. Young did not find Dr. Livingstone, but discovered enough to demonstrate that Ali Moosa’s story was an ably and cunningly devised romance. Then the Geographical Society received letters from Livingstone himself, which proved that he was alive and well in February, 1867, some six months after Moosa’s heroic but vain defense near Lake Nyassa. Authentic reports of his presence on Lake Ujiji in October of the same year were received. But about this time Sir Roderick Murchison published a letter in the London “Times” newspaper, confidently predicting, on intelligence which he supposed to be reliable, Dr. Livingstone’s return to England about the coming Christmas. It has since transpired that Sir Roderick was imposed upon by a round-about story from Trincomalee in the island of Ceylon, which had been based upon an entire misunderstanding of something that had been said by Dr. Kirk, British Consul at Zanzibar, and the report of which was first transmitted from Trincomalee.

Dr. Livingstone did not appear in accordance with his friend’s prediction, and the consequence was a new variety of reports of misfortune and death. Conjecture was free; nothing had been lately heard from him; the suspense of the public in regard to the fate of one in whom there was so deep and universal interest was absolutely painful. And it was at this time of intense public anxiety that an expedition was set on foot, the like of which had not previously been known and the complete success of which has bestowed upon its projector and commander imperishable renown.

CHAPTER V.
THE HERALD EXPEDITION OF SEARCH.

The Great Development of Modern Journalism — The Telegraph — James Gordon Bennett, Horace Greeley, Henry J. Raymond — The Magnitude of American Journalistic Enterprise — The Herald Special Search Expedition for Dr. Livingstone — Stanley as a Correspondent — The Expedition on its Way Toward Livingstone.

It has already been remarked that among the many important events which had occurred in Christendom during Dr. Livingstone’s first great series of explorations in Africa there were none of greater importance to mankind than the invention of the magnetic telegraph, and the prodigious development, consequent thereon—at least in great part—of the newspaper press. There is not so much difference in means of travel, between the great, lumbering wagon of Cape Colony, drawn by a number of oxen which get over a few miles in a whole day and the means of travel by the best of Americas great railways, as there is between the means of current daily intelligence in 1872 and the means of that current daily intelligence as they existed when Dr. Livingstone first placed foot in Africa. If a daily journal of the manner and style of one of that time were to be now established, it would be looked upon like a curious relic of the past or an old almanac.

A BAOBAB TREE.

Nor is it strictly just to attribute the wonderful development of public journalism since about the year 1840 wholly to the success of Prof. Morse’s invention of the magnetic telegraph. His success was largely due to the press, which at the time he sought aid of Congress in behalf of his discovery had already begun to be something more and something better than the mere organ of power or of party. At any rate it may with perfect safety be said that the practical success of Prof. Morse’s invention was considerably hastened by the influence of a public press into which had recently been infused an independent spirit and a consequent influence before unknown. Up to about the time of which we speak the most widely circulated journals of the United States had been printed at the National Capital, a city which had never been representative of the country’s trade, its literature, science, art, or labor. It was only the seat of government, the centre of the political power of a nation which claimed to lodge its political power in the people. Here flourished a number of journalists of the old school, whose skill in political manipulation, money making, and editorials without beginning and without end, can never be surpassed. There is at this time more intelligence of the current events of the day in the poorest daily journals of the “far West” than there used to be in the “national organs” of the respective political parties contending for the control of our national polity. That neither one nor the other could have justly claimed any great amount of practical wisdom may be asserted with confidence since the result of the rule of both—now one and now the other—for a long period of years was a civil war of long duration and exhaustive effects, growing out of a question which both the great parties of the times had “finally” settled by act of Congress and solemn resolution on more than one memorable occasion.

It was while this not very admirable fooling was about at its height, that certain knights of the quill, no less adventurous in their enterprises than Dr. Livingstone was in his explorations through the wilds of Africa, established themselves in the commercial metropolis of America, and soon became the head of a power in the land scarcely second to that of the government. If not a new estate in government, this power became a new estate in society. There sprang up an entirely new literature; a literature which, as regularly as the sun, appeared every morning, and soon came to be, to all well informed persons, about as necessary as the sun is to the physical world. There was no subject too abstruse, none too sacred, none too high, and few too low for the essays of the brilliant, daring, dashing minds which about this time threw themselves into the arena of journalism. Not a few who had been distinguished in the literature of former days became journalists, and the most celebrated of American novelists, the illustrious author of the “Leatherstocking Tales,” finding himself too “slow” for the times, became incurably disgusted with men who cared little for venerable antiquity, and spoke of thrones and principalities, and powers, not to mention the writers of books, with all the sarcasm, wit, and irreverence of Junius and with infinitely more popular power. Here was, as we have said, a new literature. What difference was it that the individual essays were only for a day? Every day there were essays equally good, and they treated of political topics more fully and candidly than political topics had ever been discussed before by public journals, and they also treated of almost everything else under the sun. Every advance in science, every attempt at social or political reform, every humanitarian endeavor, every attack upon abuse and crime claimed to be hallowed by the lapse of time, every current event of importance of every kind, whether of fact or of idea, here in this wonderful kaleidescope could be seen, and then seen to give way to new spectacles of equal interest. Here the people were educated. There never has been discovered a means of education so powerful and so universal. It is, doubtless, owing to the fact that so many minds in America capable of creating a “permanent literature” devoted themselves to this potential means of influence, thereby losing their individuality but for the time being augmenting their power, that we have not yet produced an American Thackeray or even an American Dickens. In the formative era of what may well be called journalism proper, a very large proportion of existing genius has been called into such active use, in America, that it has not had leisure for books. And even in England, many of the most distinguished thinkers have served their regular terms as journalists.

A REMARKABLE WASP NEST FOUND IN AFRICA.

Among the most celebrated of modern journalists was James Gordon Bennett, the founder of the New York “Herald” newspaper. A native of Scotland and a Roman Catholic in religion, he was educated for the priesthood, but whether, like John Randolph of Roanoke, he perceived that he had “too much spice of ‘old Nick’” in his composition for the sacred calling, or on other account, he did not take orders, but emigrated to America instead. After various fortune—generally misfortune—embracing teaching, translating, and associate-editorship, he embarked upon the “Herald” enterprise in 1835. It was not until some years afterwards, however, that this journal acquired any considerable reputation outside the city of New York, and inaugurated those news enterprises which made it so celebrated and a not unfaithful chronicler of the passing events of the whole world. During the era of “special correspondence” the “Herald” maintained an extensive corps of writers in Europe and other foreign countries, who ever gave to the paper great interest and value.

Meantime, other young men, since distinguished, had been educating themselves as journalists, and, like Bennett, through various fortune. Among them was Horace Greeley, who established the first penny daily paper ever published in the world, but its foundations soon gave way. In 1841 the “Tribune” was established, and Mr. Bennett discovered in the great and varied abilities of Mr. Greeley and Henry J. Raymond, assistant editor, rivals whom no assaults could repress, and whose influence soon began to be felt and acknowledged throughout the country. The warfare long waged between these journalistic giants was always sharp, often fierce. The intense rivalry greatly augmented the enterprise of the printing offices which at length became vast establishments, employing thousands of men, from the greatest intellects of the age to the ragged urchins on the street, and receiving and disbursing vast sums of money.

The invention of the telegraph added immensely to the scope and power of the daily press. Greatly increasing its expenditures, it also greatly augmented its circulation and profits. Its demand for brain-labor became perfectly prodigious, and it almost monopolized the genius of the land. In the city of New York there were established within a very few years after Morse’s invention had begun regularly to click the news of the day no less than four morning journals of acknowledged reputation throughout the world, and which upon certain memorable occasions of current intelligence have contained in their combined columns nearly as great an amount of reading matter as the whole of Bancroft’s history of the United States.[1] The average quantity of these journals’ reading matter, of interest to the general public, is equivalent, every day, to from three to five volumes of Bancroft’s distinguished work.

[1] As I write this, I take a copy of the Chicago “Tribune” of the day, and find, by actual calculation, that it contains reading matter, exclusive of advertisements, equivalent to more than 350 pages of Bancroft. Among this matter is a profoundly thoughtful speech by Horace Greeley, delivered hundreds of miles distant the night before.

Other cities of the republic have been little if any behind the commercial and financial metropolis, excepting only the city of Washington whose most successful journalism of the old school has given way at last till quite recently to a series of wretched failures.

Editorials of a journal published in the largest city of our Lake country, which was a straggling hamlet when Dr. Livingstone first went to Africa, have been known to make the proudest speculators of Wall street tremble, and powerful corporations to abandon long-conceived schemes of injustice. In an exhaustive article on the United States census of 1860, the New York “Tribune” said of the public press:

“The very great increase in the circulation of newspapers and periodicals during the last ten years is an evidence at once of a high degree of popular intelligence and of a high standard of journalistic ability. There is no doubt that this country has the best, and the best sustained public press in the world—the best, we mean, for the people and not merely the learned few. Newspapers penetrate to every part of the country, reach even the most obscure hamlet, and find their way to almost every household. Printing offices go with the vanguard of civilization toward the west, and in the ‘new country’ are about as numerous as the mills. The dailies of the great cities cannot be carried by the government mails; they have created, during the decade, an entirely new line of business, supporting thousands of families; on issues fairly joined they have defeated many of the most maturely considered measures of Congressional Committees.”

Having given the statistics in regard to the number and circulation of the periodicals and papers of the country at the time under examination, the article goes on to say:

“The total number of daily papers thrown from the press during the year is about half that of all the other papers and periodicals combined. Supposing each one to weigh an ounce, the weight of the whole number of daily papers printed in the United States during the year of the census was 28,644,678 pounds avoirdupois—enough to load 14,322 wagons with a ton each, or to make a train of them seventy miles in length. Were all the papers and periodicals printed in 1860 placed in such a train, it would reach from New York to Richmond. Should they be pasted into one vast sheet, they would make a covering for the continent, and leave a remnant large enough to shut out the sun from the British Islands.

“But, not to dwell upon the mere material aspect of the Public Press of America, it will suffice to say that if its records shall be preserved the historian of two thousand years hence who shall narrate the events which are now taking place, will find upon their dingy pages his best authorities and his most trustworthy sources of philosophical generalization. Not all that is left of Grecian literature, not all the grand works of the fine old Romans, give so correct a picture of the great peoples of antiquity as the daily papers of America are now taking of a people far greater than that whose phalanges swept down the barbarians from the Hellespont to the Indus, or than that ‘the tramp of whose legions echoed round the world.’”

To such magnificent proportions and such stupendous influence had the American press grown during Livingstone’s first sojourn in Africa. When he left England, its chief business was to chronicle small beer. When he returned its power was more than imperial, and all exercised through persuasion. As it had grown in America, so it had been immensely developed in other lands, but in respect of the publication of current intelligence at the time of the happening of events, the American press is not approached by that of any other country. There is more telegraphic news in almost any number of any Chicago daily, for example, than the average quantity of such intelligence in the London “Times.”

An additional impetus to the enterprise of journalism was given by the success of the Atlantic cable during Dr. Livingstone’s second great expedition to Africa. It is difficult to believe these great facts though they have occurred before our very eyes. This wonderful achievement of science, aided by the no less wonderful enterprise of the daily press of the United States, made the inhabitants of Christendom like next-door neighbors. A dispatch from Athens in Greece, was once published by all the evening daily journals of the United States at an earlier hour than its date. The difference of time and the “girdle round about the earth” put the inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley, as they took their suppers, in a situation in which they might have criticised an oration by Demosthenes before he had gone to bed, had Demosthenes belonged to this day and generation.

Thus had the press become the great means of the dissemination of knowledge, and by reason of the wonderful enterprise of its most distinguished representative men, far more potential in the affairs of the world than any potentate or any government. It had come to be acknowledged as of the greatest consequence in the dissemination of science, in popularizing literature, in aiding moral, social, and political reform. But the irrepressibility of its enterprising spirit, its superiority even to the most powerful government in respect of obtaining intelligence remained to be conclusively shown. And even this was done by the expedition of Mr. Henry M. Stanley, in the employ of the New York “Herald,” in search of Dr. Livingstone, long lost from Christendom in the wilds of central Africa.

So deep an interest did the government of Great Britain take in discovering the truth of the reports of the explorer’s death, first given to the world through the story of Ali Moosa, as condensed by Dr. Seward, English Resident Agent at Zanzibar—the substance of which appears in the preceeding chapter—that an expedition in that behalf was organized, and after many hundred miles of journeyings by river and land found unmistakable evidences that Moosa’s story was a cruel fabrication. So, too, when years had elapsed without definite information from Dr. Livingstone, and there arose a world of wild conjecture as to his fate, the British government again organized an expedition of search, which, as we have seen, was at last accounts from it at Zanzibar, well prepared for an expedition inland but waiting for a proper season at which to begin the journey.

HENRY M. STANLEY,
AS HE APPEARED ON HIS FIRST EXPEDITION.

Meantime the great discoverer is discovered in the heart of equatorial Africa by Mr. Henry M. Stanley, in command of an expedition of search sent out under the auspices of an American newspaper, the New York “Herald.” Thus did newspaper enterprise accomplish that in which the combined efforts of wealthy religious societies, learned corporate bodies, and one of the most powerful governments of earth had failed. A brief account of this unique expedition will be of interest:

During the civil war in the United States—1861-65—among the many “war correspondents” of the “Herald” was Mr. Stanley, just mentioned. He was not so much distinguished as a writer as he was valuable to the journal on account of his fearless nature and his restless activity. In imitation of Tennyson’s charge of the Light Brigade, he would pursue an item if the search should carry him “into the jaws of hell.” Restrained by no danger, almost insensible to fatigue, he could ride all day and write all night almost, and keep up this hard work for an indefinite period. After the war he went abroad and from various countries, generally out of the way of ordinary lines of travel, corresponded with the “Herald.” When the proprietors of that journal—the elder Mr. Bennett was then living—determined to organize a “Herald Special Search Expedition,” they naturally selected Mr. Stanley as its commander. This was in 1868. Mr. Stanley at once accepted the charge, and, after some hesitation as to whether he should proceed through Egypt up the Nile, or by way of Zanzibar and then westward overland, or by the line of the river Rovuma, the route taken by Livingstone, he at length resolved to go by way of Zanzibar. This is an island, and town also of the same name, off the coast of Zanguebar, and is toward the southern limit of Mohammedan rule in Africa. Here Mr. Stanley arrived in due season, and hence wrote his first letter in this special service, under date of February 9, 1869. It chiefly had reference to Livingstone’s previous explorations, the story of his death, and its refutation. But the report that he was only about a week’s march inland from Zanzibar also received a quietus, and Mr. Stanley was well nigh persuaded to retrace his steps to Egypt and proceed by way of the Nile, in consequence of the following note from the United States Vice Consul:

“Island of Zanzibar, Dec. 26, 1868.

“Dear Sir—I should be most happy to assist you in any way whatever; but, in reply to your note, I beg to assure you of my candid belief of his non-appearance. There is not the slightest probability of his ever coming again to this island. Dr. Kirk the British Vice Consul here, and who was with Dr. Livingstone for some years during his travels in Africa, thinks it more than probable that he will come out at the Nile, and has not the least expectation of having the pleasure of seeing him here. In September, 1868, Her Majesty’s ship Octavia, Sir Leopold Heath, C. B., left here, and as I see by the Bombay papers, on her arrival at Trincomalee, which is in Ceylon, reported that when she left Zanzibar Dr. Livingstone was reported within a week’s march of the coast. This, if you saw it, probably misled you also to believe he would come here, but it is hardly necessary to say that the statement was without the slightest foundation of truth, and was probably written from some entire misconception by the writer of some conversation which took place between him and Dr. Kirk. Trusting, however, you will succeed on the other side, I am, dear sir, very respectfully

“Francis R. Webb,
“United States Vice Consul.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Stanley determined to go on and telegraphing to an acquaintance residing at Khartoum, Upper Nubia, to send him word, if anything should be heard from Livingstone, went forward with the preparations for his journey. He was doubtless cognizant of the fact also, that the “Herald” had another Search expedition on foot to which the Khedive of Egypt was rendering generous encouragement and assistance. It may well be imagined that the drafts upon the “Herald” at this time for necessary outlays in the purchase of horses, asses, and supplies and the employment of a sufficient escort—mainly consisting of a number of Arabs—were not light. The preparations, after months’ delay, caused by war in the interior, were at length made, and the expedition left Zanzibar on the long-ago trail of the great explorer.

And here it will be proper, while we are awaiting intelligence of its difficulties and final great success, to speak of the previous life of him who was to make so many hearts glad by tidings of the safety of the most distinguished explorer of our times.

AN AFRICAN MUSICIAN.

CHAPTER VI.
HENRY MORLAND STANLEY.

His Nativity — Early Life — Comes to America — His Adoption by a New Orleans Merchant — His Career during the Civil War — Becomes Correspondent of the New York “Herald” — Sails for the Island of Crete to enlist in the cause of the Cretans, then at war — But changes his mind on arriving there — Instead Undertakes a journey through Asia Minor, the Provinces of Russian Asia, etc. — Attacked and plundered by Turkish Brigands — Relieved by Hon. E. Joy Morris, the American Minister — Goes to Egypt; to Abyssinia — Remarkable success there — His sudden call to Paris from Madrid by Mr. Bennett, of the “Herald” — Account of the Interview — Mr. Stanley goes to find Livingstone in command of the “Herald’s” Livingstone Expedition.

The subject of our sketch was born near Denbigh, Wales, in 1840. His parents’ name was Rowland. At three years of age he was sent to the poor-house at St. Asaph, to get an education. He, the poor, unpromising lad, remained until he had finished such an education as this institution could furnish, and then sought employment as teacher; and for a year was employed as such at Mold, Flintshire. But it was then that the strong instincts of his nature began to show themselves. He felt that a school-teacher’s life, however honorable and useful, could not be his, and with his scant earnings shipped as a cabin-boy in a ship bound for New Orleans. Arriving in safety, he began to look about for employment. By what lucky chance it happened we do not know, but he fell into the hands of a merchant named Stanley, who became so attached to the frank, energetic, ambitious youth that he finally adopted him and gave him his name. Thus the Welsh boy Rowland became the American youth Stanley. Fortune had certainly smiled upon him, and his future seemed secure.

But in his case, as in that of hundreds of others, the fate of war stepped in to mar his fair prospects at this stage of his career. The outbreak of the Rebellion led him into the ranks of the Southern Confederacy; but only for a brief period. He was taken a prisoner by the Union forces, and shortly thereafter, upon taking the oath of allegiance, was released on parole. As the Union cause really had his sympathies, he at once proposed to enlist in the Northern army. But whether the military authorities were afraid of this sudden conversion, or not daring to give too much freedom of action to one who showed by his whole bearing and language that there was no undertaking too daring for him to attempt, we are not told; but they put him, however, where he would probably have little chance to show what stuff he was made of—on board of the iron-clad ship Ticonderoga, he consenting to volunteer in the navy. Though totally unfit for service of any kind on board of a man-of-war, he soon became an acting ensign. At the close of the war he looked about for some field of active service, and what little war he had seen seemed to fit his peculiar character. Hearing that the Cretans were about to attempt to throw off the Turkish yoke, he resolved to join them. He proceeded to that country in company with two other adventurous spirits in 1866, after having first made an engagement with the New York “Herald” as its correspondent. But upon arriving at his destination he found occasion to become displeased with the leaders of the revolution, and declined to volunteer in the army of the famous little island.

AN ARAB COURIER

“His chief recommendation at this time,” says a great journal, “was his energy and industry and fearlessness in collecting facts, not the style in which he told them; for although he had previously shown some indications of literary ability, his pen was as yet neither practiced nor fluent.” His energy, industry and fearlessness were doubtless better appreciated in the “Herald” office than by the general public; but his reputation as a writer grew with time, and he constantly performed his correspondential duties to the satisfaction of his experienced employers.

It appears that he had a sort of roving commission from the “Herald,” and now undertook a journey on foot with a few traveling companions of his own country, by which it was contemplated to pass through Asia Minor, the provinces of Russian Asia, the Khanates, Bokhara, and Kiva, Eastern Turkestan, and so through China to the coast. This project came, however, to a disastrous end. The little party had not penetrated more than about an hundred miles from Smyrna, when it was attacked by Turkish brigands, completely plundered, and compelled, in consequence, to return. Arriving at Constantinople in a most sorry plight, the members of the party were kindly received by the Hon. E. Joy Morris, then United States Minister to the Turkish Sultan, and their wants supplied by a check upon the generous Minister’s private banker. An account of the affair, written by Mr. Stanley, had appeared in a public journal of the country, so that Mr. Morris had been apprised of the facts—afterwards fully substantiated in a court of justice—before the travelers appeared, in shabby attire, attesting a needy situation.

On the return of Mr. Stanley to Constantinople, a few years after this event, and during the last year of Mr. Morris’ official residence in Turkey, he called upon that gentleman. He had then just come from Egypt. We here give Mr. Morris’ description of Stanley, in his own words:

“The uncouth young man whom I first knew had grown into a perfect man of the world, possessing the appearance, the manners and the attributes of a perfect gentleman. The story of the adventures which he had gone through, and the dangers he had passed during his absence were perfectly marvellous, and he became the lion of our little circle. Scarcely a day passed but he was a guest at my table; and no one was more welcome, for I insensibly grew to have a strong admiration and felt an attachment for him myself. Instead of thinking he was a young man who had barely seen twenty-six summers you would imagine that he was thirty-five or forty years of age, so cultured and learned was he in all the ways of life. He possessed a thorough acquaintance with most of the Eastern countries, and, as I took an interest in all that related to Oriental life, we had many a talk about what he had seen and what I longed to see. He stated to me that he had a sort of roving commission for the ‘Herald,’ but that he had exhausted all known countries, and was at a loss to understand where he should go next. I said to him, ‘Stanley, what do you think of trying Persia? That is an unexplored country, and would well repay a visit, if you could get back with your life.’ Stanley thought over the proposal, and rapidly came to the conclusion he would go. I busied myself in procuring him letters of introduction to the Russian authorities in the Caucasus, in Georgia, and in other countries through which he would have to pass. He saw the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople in person, who was so well impressed with him that he made extra exertions to facilitate his progress to the mysterious home of the Grand Llama. I had some time previous to this had a Henry rifle sent me from a friend in New York, as a specimen of American art, and this I presented to Stanley, with my best wishes for the success of his undertaking. He started on the desperate enterprise some time after, and my table thereby lost one of its most entertaining guests. When I say desperate enterprise I mean it, for Persia is to a European a practically unexplored country; and in consequence of its weak government and the marauders with which it abounds, a journey to Zanzibar or Unyanyembe would be a safe trip compared to it. How Mr. Stanley accomplished the task he undertook the columns of the ‘Herald’ will tell. I received a letter from him, while on the way, narrating the hospitable manner in which he had been entertained by the Russian authorities, and the way in which he had astonished them by the performances of his Henry rifle. His journey through the Caucasus and Georgia was a sort of triumphal march, though he was looked upon as a lost man by all who knew anything of the East. The route he took was an entirely new one, as he went in a kind of zigzag way to Thibet, and he must have a charmed life to have come through so much peril in complete safety.”

EQUIPPED FOR WAR.

A considerable portion of the year 1868 was spent by Mr. Stanley in Abyssinia, where he accompanied the British expedition against King Theodore. He went with the English army as far as Magadla, and upon several occasions was enabled to transmit accounts of the expedition, embracing most important news, to the “Herald” in advance of intelligence sent to the British government. The people of America were thus supplied with intelligence of this singular British foray in northeastern Africa in advance of the people of England. These remarkable successes in Abyssinia were highly appreciated by the “Herald,” and considerably enhanced the correspondent’s abilities and services in the special line he was working upon. And it was no doubt the signal ability thus displayed which led the younger Bennett to choose this man for his purpose when he had decided to send an expedition after Livingstone.

The account of the interview and the incidents leading to it between James Gordon Bennett, Jr., and Mr. Stanley are exceedingly interesting, as given in the words of Mr. Stanley himself. He was at the time in Madrid, Spain, October 16th, 1869. At 10 o’clock A. M. he was handed a telegram, which read: “Come to Paris on important business,” and bore the signature of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., then the young manager of the “Herald.”

“Down come my pictures from the walls of my apartments on the second floor; into my trunks go my books and souvenirs; my clothes are hastily collected, some half-washed, some from the clothes-line half-dry, and after a couple of hours of hasty hard work my portmanteaus are strapped up and labelled for Paris.

“The express train leaves Madrid for Hendaye at 3 P. M. I have yet time to say farewell to my friends. I have one at No. 6 Calle Goya, fourth floor, who happens to be a contributor to several London dailies. He has several children in whom I have taken a warm interest. Little Charlie and Willie are fast friends of mine; they love to hear of my adventures, and it has been a pleasure to me to talk to them. But now I must say farewell.

“Then I have friends at the American Legation whose conversation I admire. There has come a sudden ending of it all. ‘I hope you will write to us. We shall always be glad to hear of your welfare.’ How often have I not during my feverish life as a flying journalist heard the very same words, and how often have I not suffered the same pang at parting from friends just as warm as these.

“But a journalist in my position must needs suffer. Like a gladiator in the arena, he must be prepared for the combat. Any flinching, any cowardice, and he is lost. The gladiator meets the sword that is sharpened for his bosom—the flying journalist or roving correspondent meets the command that may send him to his doom. To the battle or the banquet it is ever the same—‘Get ready and go.’

“At 3 P. M. I was on my way, and being obliged to stop at Bayonne a few hours, did not arrive at Paris until the following night. I went straight to the Grand Hotel, and knocked at the door of Mr. Bennett’s room.

“‘Come in,’ I heard a voice say.

“Entering, I found Mr. Bennett in bed.

“‘Who are you?’ he asked.

“‘My name is Stanley,’ I answered.

“‘Ah, yes; sit down. I have important business on hand for you.’”

After throwing over his shoulders his robe-de-chambre, Mr. Bennett proceeded to ask Stanley, “Where do you think Livingstone is?”

“I really do not know, sir,” answered Stanley.

“Do you think he is alive?” continued Bennett.

“He may be, and he may not be,” replied Stanley.

“Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found, and I am going to send you to find him,” was Bennett’s rejoinder.

“What!” said Stanley. “Do you really think I can find Dr. Livingstone? Do you mean me to go to Central Africa?”

“Yes; I mean that you shall go and find him, wherever you may hear that he is, and to get what news you can of him, and perhaps”—delivering himself thoughtfully and deliberately—“the old man may be in want. Take enough with you to help him, should he require it. Of course you will act according to your own plans, and do what you think best—but find Livingstone!”

“Have you considered seriously the great expense you are likely to incur on account of this little journey?” suggested Stanley, wondering at the cool order of sending one to Central Africa to search for a man whom he, in common with almost all other men, believed to be dead.

RECEPTION OF THE OFFICERS OF THE EXPEDITION AT THE SULTAN’S PALACE, ZANZIBAR.

“What will it cost?” asked Mr. Bennett.

“Burton and Speke’s journey to Central Africa cost between £3,000 and £5,000, and I fear it cannot be done under £2,500,” replied Mr. Stanley.

“Well, I will tell you what you will do. Draw a thousand pounds now, and when you have gone through that, draw another thousand; and when that is spent, draw another thousand; and when you have finished that, draw another thousand, and so on; but find Livingstone!”

Stanley, though somewhat surprised, yet not confused at the order—for he knew that Mr. Bennett, when once he had made up his mind, was not easily drawn aside from his purpose—thought, seeing it was such a gigantic undertaking, that he had not quite fully considered in his own mind the pros and cons of the case, and said, “I have heard that should your father die you would sell the ‘Herald’ and retire from business.”

“Whoever told you that is wrong, for there is not money enough in New York city to buy the ‘Herald.’ My father has made it a great paper; but I mean to make it greater. I mean that it shall be a newspaper in the true sense of the word. I mean that it shall publish whatever news will be interesting to the world, at no matter what cost.”

“After that,” says Stanley, “I have nothing more to say. Do you mean me to go straight on to Africa to search for Dr. Livingstone?”

Mr. Bennett thereupon outlined a course of instructions as to what he would have Stanley do in the matter, closing with these words:

“Bagdad will be close on your way to India. Suppose you go there and write up something about the Euphrates Valley Railroad. Then, when you have come to India, you can go after Livingstone. Probably you will hear by that time that Livingstone is on his way to Zanzibar; but if not, go into the interior and find him, if alive. Get what news of his discoveries you can; and, if you find he is dead, bring all possible proof of his being dead. That is all. Good night, and God be with you.”

Thus it was that Stanley received his carte blanche, and as promptly set out upon his mission. He was then about twenty-nine years of age, a thick-set, powerful man, though short of stature, being only about five feet seven inches in height. He is a sure shot, an expert swimmer, a fine horseman, a trained athlete. But few men living have had more experience in “roughing it.” A better selection for the command of its singular undertaking could not possibly have been made by the “Herald,” and this the result, so astonishing to the world, has practically demonstrated.

All civilized nations had shared the anxiety to know whether Livingstone was living or dead. If living, where; if dead, where he died, and how. It was surmised that he had with him the records of a number of years, covering many of the most important discoveries ever made in Africa, containing many things of infinite consequence in connection with the great work of African evangelization, and of immense importance in the interests of science. There were reasons, therefore, why he should not die in the forests of Manyuema.

Mr. Stanley was a “flying correspondent,” but God saw in him the elements of a hero demanded by so great an occasion. We do not believe that he does himself justice in insinuating that he went to Africa only as he would have gone anywhere else under orders from his employer. Such a spirit of obedience and faithfulness under an engagement is commendable; but we prefer to recognize in Mr. Stanley a spirit which lifts him above the common level of ordinary business honesty. He manifested an enthusiasm in this undertaking which betrayed a greatness of soul which he has preferred to conceal, that his employer might have the more honor. He might not have essayed this expedition at the suggestions of his own benevolence—he probably could not have done so; but when he found that he might do it, his heart bounded to the work. We believe he went forth from Paris under a higher commission than that of Mr. Bennett. There was needed money, and there was needed a man. God knew where to find both, and He did find them just when He saw that one of His noblest servants was approaching an extremity.

From Mr. Stanley’s Zanzibar letter of February 9th, 1869, we quote his conclusion:

“Now the readers of this letter know really as much of the whereabouts of Dr. Livingstone as I do; but probably from conversations heard from different persons I have greater reasons for judging of the case, and I believe it will be a very long time yet before Dr. Livingstone arrives, and that his return will be by the river Nile.”

With this opinion, but with a good stock of supplies for Livingstone’s journey down the Nile, should he be found proceeding in that way, and with the best escort attainable, Stanley, in charge of the unique newspaper expedition, after long delay, on account of wars, plunged into the wilderness, to be heard from no more until after many long months of suspense and conjecture.

CHAPTER VII.
MR. STANLEY IN AFRICA.

The Search for Dr. Livingstone Energetically Begun — Progress Delayed by Wars — The Successful Journey from Unyanyembe to Ujiji in 1871 — The “Herald” Cable Telegram Announcing the Safety of Livingstone — The Battles and Incidents of this Newspaper Campaign — Receipt of the Great News — The Honor Bestowed on American Journalism.

Mr. Stanley found it much more difficult to get into Africa than to that singular land. It was understood, according to the best intelligence to be had that Dr. Livingstone would probably be found, if found at all, not far from Ujiji. From Bagamoyo, on the mainland of Africa, opposite the island of Zanzibar, there is a caravan route to Unyanyembe. The journey generally takes some four months. At the time Mr. Stanley undertook to proceed inland, he found the country disturbed by wars, and though starting now and again, he was delayed many weary months on this account. “Forward and back” was the necessary call of the situation. At length the country became so far quiet between Bagamoyo and Unyanyembe that the expedition, which terminated in success, set forth very early in April, 1871, and, after an unusually rapid journey, the caravan reached Unyanyembe on the 23d of June. Hence letters were dispatched home, but from this time for more than a year, the world remained in ignorance of the fate of the expedition.

Upon the morning of the 2d of July, 1872, however, in the midst of the great Peace Jubilee at the city of Boston, appeared a cable telegram from London to the New York “Herald,” announcing the discovery of Livingstone and the consequent complete success of the great American journal’s enterprise. This telegram is worthy of preservation, though superseded by the fuller information in Mr. Stanley’s letters, as an illustration of newspaper enterprise:

London, July 1, 1872.

THE GLORIOUS NEWS.

It is with the deepest emotions of pride and pleasure that I announce the arrival this day of letters from Mr. Stanley, Chief of the Herald Exploring Expedition to Central Africa. I have forwarded the letters by mail. Knowing, however, the importance of the subject and the impatience with which

RELIABLE NEWS

is awaited, I hasten to telegraph a summary of the Herald explorer’s letters, which are full of the most romantic interest, while affirming, emphatically,

THE SAFETY OF DR. LIVINGSTONE,

and confirming the meagre reports already sent on here by telegraph from Bombay and duly forwarded to the Herald. To bring up the thread of

THE THRILLING NARRATIVE

where the last communication from him ended he proceeds with his account of the journey. It will be recalled that when last heard from he had arrived in the country of Unyanyembe, after a perilous march of eighty-two days from Bagamoyo, on the coast opposite the island of Zanzibar. The road up to this point had been in

THE REGULAR CARAVAN TRACK,