YJBRARy OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ^UFORtfltw. £f- . /. A' /-/c < -/ the Arabs to our right and left and in front, the na- tives forming a dark perspective beyond. Then be- gan conversation; I forget what about; possibly about the road I took from Unyanyembe, but I am not sure. I know the Doctor was talking, and I was answering mechanically. I was conning the indomit- able, energetic, patient and persevering traveller, at whose side I now sat in Central Africa. Every hair of his head and beard, every line and wrinkle of his face, the wan face, the fatigued form, were all impart- ing the intelligence to me which so many men so much desired. It was deeply interesting intelligence and unvarnished truths these mute but certain wit- nesses gave. They told me of the real nature of the work in which he was engaged. Then his lips began to give me the details — lips that cannot lie. I could not repeat what he said. He had so much to say that he began at the end, seemingly oblivious of the fact that nearly six years had to be accounted for. But the story came out bit by bit, unreservedly — as unreservedly as if he was conversing with Sir R. Murchison, his true friend and best on earth. The man's heart was gushing out, not in hurried sentences, in rapid utterances, in quick relation — but in still and 258 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. deep words. A happier companion, a truer friend than the traveller, I could not wish for. He was al- ways polite — with a politeness of the genuine kind — and this politeness never forsook him for an instant, even in the midst of the most rugged scenes and greatest difficulties. Upon my first introduction to him Livingstone was to me like a huge tome, with a most unpretending binding. Within, the book might contain much valuable lore and wisdom, but its ex- terior gave no promise of what was within. Thus outside Livingstone gave no token — except of being rudely dealt with by the wilderness — of what element of power or talent lay within. He is a man of un- pretending appearance enough, has quiet, composed features, from which the freshness of youth has quite departed, but which retains the mobility of prime age just enough to show that there yet lives much endurance and vigor within his frame. The eyes, which are hazel, are remarkably bright, not dimmed in the least, though the whiskers and mustache are very gray. The hair, originally brown, is streaked here and there with gray over the temples, otherwise it might belong to a man of thirty. The teeth above show indications of being worn out. The hard fare of Londa and Manyema have made havoc in their ranks. His form is stoutish, a little over the ordin- ary in height, with slightly bowed shoulders. When walking he has the heavy step of an overworked and fatigued man. On his head he wears the naval cap, with a round vizor, with which he has been identified throughout Africa. His dress shows that at times he has had to resort to the needle to repair and replace EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 259 what travel has worn. Such is Livingstone exter- nally. " Of the inner man much more may be said than of the outer. As he reveals himself, bit by bit, to the stranger, a great many favorable points present them- selves, any of which taken singly might well dispose you toward him. I had brought him a packet of let- ters, and though I urged him again and again to de- fer conversation with me until he had read the news from home and children, he said he would defer reading until night ; for the time he would enjoy be- ing astonished by the European and any general world news I could communicate. He had acquired the art of being patient long ago, he said, and he had waited so long for letters that he could well afford to wait a few hours more. So we sat and talked on that humble veranda of one of the poorest houses in Ujiji. Talked quite oblivious of the large concourse of Arabs, Wanguana, and Wajiji, who had crowded around to see the new comer. " The hours of that afternoon passed most pleas- antly — few afternoons of my life more so. It seemed to me as if I had met an old, old friend. There was a friendly or good-natured abandon about Livingstone which was not lost on me. As host, welcoming one who spoke his language, he did his duties with a spirit and style I have never seen elsewhere. He had not much to offer, to be sure, but what he had was mine and his. The wan features which I had thought shocked me at first meeting, the heavy step which told of age and hard travel, the gray beard and stooping shoulders belied the man. Underneath 260 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. that aged and well spent exterior lay an endless fund of high spirits, which now and then broke out in peals of hearty laughter — the rugged frame enclosed a very young and exuberant soul. The meal — I am not sure but what we ate three meals that afternoon — was seasoned with innumerable jokes and pleasant anecdotes, interesting hunting stories, of which his friends Webb, Oswell, Vardon, and Cumming (Gor- don Cumming) were always the chief actors. ' You have brought me new life/ he said several times, so that I was not sure but that there was some little hysteria in this joviality and abundant animal spirits, but as I found it continued during several weeks I am now disposed to think it natural. "Another thing which specially attracted my atten- tion was his wonderfully retentive memory. When we remember the thirty years and more he has spent in Africa, deprived of books, we may well think it an uncommon memory that can recite whole poems of Burns, Byron, Tennyson, and Longfellow. Even the poets Whittier and Lowell were far better known to him than me. He knew an endless number of facts and names of persons connected with America much better than I, though it was my peculiar province as a journalist to have known them. "Dr. Livingstone is a truly pious man — a man deeply imbued with real religious instincts. The study of the man would not be complete if we did not take the religious side of his character into con- sideration. His religion, any more than his business, is not of the theoretical kind — simply contenting it- self with avowing its peculiar creed and ignoring all EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 26 1 other religions as wrong or weak. It is of the true, practical kind, never losing a chance to manifest itself in a quiet, practical way — never demonstrative or loud. It is always at work, if not in deed, by shining example. It is not aggressive, which sometimes is troublesome and often impertinent. In him religion exibits its loveliest features. It governs his conduct towards his servants, towards the natives and towards the bigoted Mussulmans — all who come in contact with him. Without religion Livingstone, with his ardent temperament, his enthusiastic nature, his high spirit and courage, might have been an uncompanion- able man and a hard master. Religion has tamed all these characteristics ; nay, if he was ever possessed of them, they have been thoroughly eradicated. Whatever was crude or wilful religion has refined, and made him, to speak the earnest, sober truth, the most agreeable of companions and indulgent of mas- ters. Every Sunday morning he gathers his little flock around him and has prayers read, in the tone recommended by Archbishop Whately — viz, natural, unaffected, and sincere. Following them he delivers a short address in the Kisawahiti language about what he has been reading from the Bible to them, which is listened to with great attention. " When I first met the Doctor I asked him if he did not feel a desire to visit his country and take a little rest. He had then been absent about six years, and the answer he gave me freely shows what kind of man he is. Said he : — " 4 1 would like very much to go home and see my children once again, but I cannot bring my heart to 262 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. abandon the task I have undertaken when it is so nearly completed. It only requires six or seven months more to trace the true source that I have dis- covered with Petherick's branch of the White Nile, or with the Albert Nyanza of Sir Samuel Baker. Why should I go before my task is ended, to have to come back again to do what I can very well do now ?' 'And why/ I asked, ' did you come so far back without fin- ishing the short task which you say you have yet to do ?' ' Simply because I was forced ; my men would not budge a step forward. They mutinied and formed a secret resolution that if I still insisted on going on to raise a disturbance in the country, and after they had effected it to abandon me, in which case I should be killed. It was dangerous to go any farther. I had explored six hundred miles of the watershed, had traced all the principal streams which discharged their waters into the central line of drainage, and when a.bout starting to explore the last one hundred miles the hearts of my people failed, and they set about frustrating me in every possible way. Now, having returned seven hundred miles to get a new supply of stores and another escort, I find myself des- titute of even the means to live but for a few weeks, and sick in mind and body.' "Again, about a week after I had arrived in Ujiji, I asked Livingstone if he had examined the northern head of the Tanganyika. He answered immediately he had not, and then asked if people expected he had. " ' I did try before setting out for Manyema,' he said, 4 to engage canoes and proceed northward, but I soon saw that the people were all confederating to fleece EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 26 me as they- had Burton, and had I gone under such circumstances I should not have been able to proceed to Manyema to explore the central line of drainage, and of course the most important line — far more im- portant than the line of the Tanganyika ; for what- ever connection there may be between the Tangan- yika and the Albert the true sources of the Nile are those emptying into the central line of drainage. In my own mind I have not the least doubt that the Ru- sizi River flows from this lake into the Albert. For three months steadily I observed a current setting northward. I verified it by means of water plants. When Speke gives the altitude of the Tanganyika at only 1,880 feet above the sea I imagine he must have fallen into the error by frequently writing the Anno Domini, and thus made a slip of the pen; for the al- titude is over two thousand eight hundred feet by boiling point, though I make it a little over three thousand feet by barometers. Thus you see that there are no very great natural difficulties on the score of altitude, and nothing to prevent the reason- able supposition that there may be a water connec- tion by means of the Rusizi or some other river be- tween the two lakes. Besides, the Arabs here are di- vided in their statements. Some swear that the river goes out of the Tanganyika, others that it flows into the Tanganyika.' " Dr. Livingstone left the island of Zanzibar in March, 1866. On the 7th of the following month he departed from Mikindini Bay for the interior, with an expedition consisting of twelve Sepoys from Bom- bay, nine men from Johanna, of the Comoro Isles 264 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. seven liberated slaves and two Zambesi men (taking them as an experiment), six camels, three buffaloes, two mules and three donkeys. He thus had thirty men, twelve of whon* — viz., the Sepoys — were to act as guards for the expedition. They were mostly armed with the Enfield rifles presented to the Doc- tor by the Bombay government. The baggage of the expedition consisted of ten bales of cloth and two bags of beads, which were to serve as currency by which they would be enabled to purchase the nec- essaries of life in the countries the Doctor intended to visit. Besides the cumbrous moneys they carried several boxes of instruments, such as chronometers, air thermometers, sextant and artificial horizon, box- es containing clothes, medicines, and personal neces- saries. " The expedition travelled up the left bank of the Rovuma River, a route as full of difficulties as any that could be chosen. For miles Livingstone and his party had to cut their way with their axes through the dense and most impenetrable jungles which lined the river's banks. The road was a mere foot- path, leading in the almost erratic fashion, in and through the dense vegetation, seeking the easiest outlet from it without any regard to the course it ran. The pagazis were able to proceed easily enough but the camels on account of their enormous height, could not advance a step without the axes of the party first clearing the way. These tools of for- esters were almost always required, but the advance of the expedition was often retarded by the unwil- lingness of the Sepoys and Johanna men to work. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 265 Soon after the departure of the expedition from the coast the murmurings and complaints of these men began, and upon every occasion and at every oppor- tunity they evinced a decided hostility to an advance. "The Doctor and his little party arrived on the 1 8th day of July, 1866, at a village belonging to a chief of the Mahiyaw, situated eight days' march south of the Rovuma and overlooking the watershed of the Lake Nyassa. The territory lying between the Ro- vuma river and this Mahiyaw chieftain was an unin- habited wilderness, during the transit of which Liv- ingstone and the expedition suffered considerably from hunger and desertion of men. " Early in August, 1866, the Doctor came to Mponda's country, a chief who dwelt near the Lake Nyassa. On the road thither two of the liberated slaves deserted him. Here, also, Wakotani (not Wikotani) a protege of the Doctor, insisted upon his discharge, alleging as an excuse, which the Doctor subsequently found to be untrue, that he had found his brother." Hence the explorer proceeded to the heel of Lake Nyassa where there is a village of a Babisa chief. The chief was ill, and Doctor Livingstone remained there for some time to give him medical aid. It was here that he was deserted by his Johanna men, the chief of whom, Ali Moosa (or Musa), pretended to give credence to a mournful story of plunder per- petrated upon a certain half-caste Arab who had been along the western shore of the lake. Though the explorer gave no faith to the Arab story, he deter- mined not to go among the Ma-zitu, reported so 266 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. hostile, and proceeded in a southwestern course for a considerable distance. The correspondent's letter goes on to say : " As soon as he turned his face westward Musa and the Johanna men ran away in a body. The Doctor says, in commenting upon Musa's conduct, that he felt strongly tempted to shoot Musa and an- other ringleader, but was nevertheless glad that he did not soil his hands with their vile blood. A day or two afterwards another of his men — Simon Price by name — came to the Doctor with the same tale about the Ma-Zitu, but, compelled by the scant num- ber of his people to repress all such tendencies to desertion and faint-heartedness, the Doctor ' shut him up' at once and forbade him to utter the name of the Ma-Zitu any more. Had the natives not assisted him he must have despaired of ever being able to penetrate the wild and unexplored interior which he was now about to tread. " ' Fortunately,' as the Doctor says with unction t 1 1 was in a country now, after leaving the shores of the Nyassa, where the feet of the slave trader had not trodden. It was a new and virgin land, and of course, as I have always found it in such cases, the natives were really good and hospitable, and for very small portions of cloth my baggage was conveyed from village to village by them.' In many other ways the traveller in his extremity was kindly treated by the undefiled and unspoiled natives. On leaving this hospitable region in the early part of December, 1866, the Doctor entered a country where the Mazitu had excercised their customary spoliating propensities OSTHICH. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 269 The land was swept clean of all provisions and cattle, and the people had emigrated to other coun- tries beyond the bounds of these ferocious plunder- ers. Again the expedition was besieged by famine, and was reduced to great extremity. To satisfy the pinching hunger it suffered it had recourse to the wild fruits which some parts of the country furnished. At intervals the condition of the hard-pressed band was made worse by the heartless desertion of some of its members, who more than once departed with the Doctor's personal kit — changes of clothes and linen, etc. With more or lesss misfortunes con- stantly dogging his footsteps, he traversed in safety the countries of the Babisa, Bobemba, Barungu, Ba- ulungu, and Londa. " In the country of Londa lives the famous Ca- zembe — made known to Europeans first by Dr. La- cerda, the Portuguese traveller. Cazembe is a most intelligent prince ; is a tall, stalwart man, who wears a peculiar kind of dress, made of crimson print, in the form of a prodigious kilt. The mode of arrang- ing it is most ludicrous. All the folds of this enor- mous kilt are massed in front, which causes him to look as if the peculiarities of the human body were reversed in his case. The abdominal parts are thus covered with a balloon-like expansion of cloth, while the lumbar region, which is by us jealously clothed, with him is only half draped by a narrow curtain which by no means suffices to obscure its naturally fine proportions. In this state dress King Cazembe received Dr. Livingstone, surrounded by his chiefs and body guards. A chief, who had been deputed 16 27O EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. by the King arid elders to find out all about the white man, then stood up before the assembly, and in a loud voice gave the result of the inquiry he had in- stituted. He had heard the white man had come to look for waters, for rivers and seas. Though he did not understand what the white man could want with such things, he had no doubt that the object was good. Then Cazembe asked what the Doctor pro- posed doing and where he thought of going. The Doctor replied that he had thought of going south, as he had heard of lakes and rivers being in that di- rection. Cazembe asked : ' What can you want to go there for ? The water is close here. There is plenty of large water in this neighborhood/ Before break- ing up the assembly Cazembe gave orders to let the white man go where he would through his country undisturbed and unmolested. He was the first Englishman he had seen, he said, and he liked him. " Shortly after his introduction to the King the Queen entered the large house surrounded by a body guard of Amazons armed with spears. She was a fine, tall, handsome young woman, and evidently thought she was about to make a great impression upon the rustic white man, for she had clothed her- self after a most royal fashion, and was armed with a ponderous spear. But her appearance, so different from what the Doctor had imagined, caused him to laugh, which entirely spoiled the effect intended, for the laugh of the Doctor was so contagious that she herself was the first who imitated, and the Amazons, courtier-like, followed suit. Much disconcerted by this, the Queen ran back, followed by her obedient EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 271 damsels — a retreat most undignified and unqueenlike compared to her majestic advent into the Doctor's presence. " Soon after his arrival in the country of Londa, or Lunda, and before he had entered the district of Cazembe, he had crossed a river called the Cham- bezi, which was quite an important stream. The similarity of the name with that large and noble river south, which will be forever connected with his name, misled Livingstone at that time, and he ac- cordingly did not pay it the attention it deserved, believing that the Chambezi was but the head-waters of the Zambezi, and consequently had no bearing or connection with the sources of the river of Egypt, of which he was in search. His fault was in relying too implicitly upon the correctness of Portuguese infor- mation. This error cost him many months of tedi- ous labor and travel. But these travels and tedious labors of his in Londa and the adjacent countries have established beyond doubt first, that the Cham- bezi is a totally distinct river from the Zambezi of the Portuguese, and secondly, that the Chambezi, starting from about latitude eleven degrees south, is none other than the most southerly feeder of the great Nile, thus giving this famous river a length of over two thousand six hundred miles of direct lati- tude, making it second to the Mississippi, the longest river in the world. The real and true name of the Zambezi is Dombazi. When Lacuda and his Portu- guese successors came to Cazembe, crossed the Chambezi and heard its name, they very naturally set it down as 'our own Zambezi/ and without 272 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. further inquiry sketched it as running in that direc- tion. u During his researches in that region, so pregnant in discoveries, Livingstone came to a lake lying northeast of Cazembe, which the natives called Liemba, from the country of that name, which bordered it on the east and south. In tracing the lake north he found it to be none other than the Tanganyika, or the southeastern extremity of it, which looks on the Doctor's map very much like an outline of Italy. The latitude of the southern end of this great body of water is about nine degrees south, which gives it thus a length, from north to south, of 360 geographical miles. " From the southern extremity of the Tanganyika he crossed Marungu and came in sight of Lake Moero. Tracing this lake, which is about sixty miles in length, to its southern head, he found a river called the Luapula entering it from that direction: Following the Luapula south he found it issue from the large lake of" Bangweolo, which is as large in superficial area as the Tanganyika. In exploring for the waters which emptied into the lake he found by far the most important of these feeders was the Chambezi. So that he had thus traced the Cham- bezi from its source to Lake Bangweolo, and issue from its northern head under the name of Luapula, and found it enter Lake Moero. Again he returned to Cazembe, well satisfied that the river running north through three degrees of latitude could not be the river running south under the name of the Zam- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 2 J $ bezi, though Ahere might be a remarkable resemblance in their names. " At Cazembe he found an old white-bearded half- caste named Mohammed ben Salih, who was kept as a kind of prisoner at large by the King because of certain suspicious circumstance attending his advent and stay in his country. Through Livingstone's in- fluence Mohammed ben Salih obtained his release. On the road to Ujiji he had bitter cause to regret having exerted himself in the half-castes behalf. He turned out to be a most ungrateful wretch, who poisoned the minds of the Doctor's few followers and ingratiated himself in their favor by selling the favors of his concubines to them, thus reducing them to a kind of bondage under him. From the day he had the vile old man in his company manifold and bitter misfortunes followed the Doctor up to his ar- rival in Ujiji, in March, 1869. " From the date of his arrival until the end of June (1869) he remained in Ujiji, whence he dated those letters which, though the outside world still doubted his being alive, satisfied the minds of the Royal Geographical people and his intimate friends that he was alive, and Musa's tale an ingenious but false fabrication of a cowardly deserter. It was dur- ing this time that the thought occurred to him of sailing around the Lake Tanganyika, but the Arabs and natives were so bent upon fleecing him that, had he undertaken it the remainder of his goods would not have enabled him to explore the central line of drainage, the initial point of which he found far south of Cazembe, in about latitude 11 degrees, in 2 74 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. the river Chambezi. In the days when tjred Captain Burton was resting in Ujiji, after his march from the coast near Zanzibar, the land to which Livingstone, on his departure from Ujiji, bent his steps, was un- known to the Arabs save by vague report. Messrs. Burton and Speke never heard of it, it seems. Speke, who was the geographer of Burton's expe- dition, heard of a place called Uruwa, which he placed on his map according to the general direction indicated by the Arabs ; but the most enterprising of the Arabs, in their search after ivory, only touched the frontiers of Rua, as the natives and Livingstone call it ; for Rua is an immense country, with a length of six degrees of latitude and as yet an undefined breadth from east to west. "At the end of June, 1869, Livingstone took dhow at Ujiji and crossed over to Uguhha, on the western shore, for his last and greatest series of explorations, the result of which was the discovery of a series of lakes of great magnitude connected together by a large river called by different names as it left one lake to flow to another. From the port of Uguhha he set off in company with a body of traders, in an almost direct westerly course, through the lake coun- try of Uguhha. Fifteen days march brought them to Bambarre, the first important ivory depot in Man- yema, or, as the natives pronounce it, Manuyema. For nearly six months he was detained at Bambarre from ulcers in the feet, with copious discharges of bloody ichor oozing from the sores as soon as he set his feet on the ground. • When well, he set off in a northerly direction, and, after several days, came to EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 275 a broad, lacustrine river, called the Lualaba, flowing northward and westward, and, in some places south- ward, in a most confusing way. The river was from one to three miles broad. By exceeding pertinacity he contrived to follow its erratic course until he saw the Lualaba enter the narrow but lengthy lake of Kamolondo, in about latitude 6 deg. 30 min. south. Retracing it south he came to the point where he had seen the Luapula enter Lake Moero. " One feels quite enthusiastic when listening to Livingstone's description of the beauties of Moero scenery. Pent in on all sides by high mountains clothed to their tips with the richest vegetation of the tropics, Moero discharges its superfluous waters through a deep rent in the bosom of the mountains. The impetuous and grand river roars through the chasm with the thunder of a cataract ; but soon after leaving its confined and deep bed it expands into the calm and broad Lualaba — expanding over miles of ground, making great bends west and southwest, then, curving northward, enters Kamolondo. By the na- tives it is called the Lualaba, but the Doctor, in order to distinguish it from the other rivers of the same name, has given it the name of Webb's River, after Mr. Webb, the wealthy proprietor of Newstead Ab- bey, whom the Doctor distinguishes as one of his oldest and most consistent friends. Away to the southwest from Kamolondo is another large lake, which discharges its waters by the important river Locki, or Lomami, into the great Lualaba. To this lake, known as Chebungo by the natives, Dr. Living- stone has given the name of Lincoln, to be hereafter 276 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. distinguished on maps and in books as Lake Lincoln, in memory of Abraham Lincoln, our murdered Pres- ident. This was done from the vivid impression pro- duced on his mind by hearing a portion of his inau- guration speech read from an English pulpit, which related to the causes that induced him to issue his emancipation proclamation. To the memory of the man whose labors in behalf of the negro race deserved the commendation of all good men Livingstone has contributed a monument more durable than brass or stone. " Entering Webb's River from the south-southwest, a little north of Kamolondo, is a large river called the Lufira, but the streams that discharge themselves from the watershed into the Lualaba are so numer- ous that the Doctors map would not contain them, so he has left all out except the most important. Continuing his way north, tracing the Luabala through its manifold and crooked curves as far as latitude four decrees south, he came to another large lake called the Unknown Lake; but here you may come to a dead halt, and read it thus :— * * * * * * Here was the furthermost point. From here he was com- pelled to return on the weary road to Ujiji, a distance of 600 miles. "In this brief sketch of Doctor Livingstone's won- derful travels it is to be hoped that the most super- ficial reader, as well as the student of geography, comprehends this grand system of lakes connected together by Webb's river. To assist him, let him procure a map of Africa, embracing the latest discov- eries. Two degrees south of the Tanganyika, and EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 277 two degrees west let him draw the outlines of a lake, its greatest length from east to west, and let him call it Bangweolo. One degree or thereabout to the northwest let him sketch the outlines of another but smaller lake and call it Moero ; a degree again north of Moero another lake of similar size, and call it Kamolondo, and still a degree north of Kamolondo another lake, large and as yet undefined limits, which, in the absence of any specific term, we will call the Nameless Lake. Then let him connect these several lakes by a river called after different names. Thus, the main feeder of Bangweolo, the Chambezi ; the river which issues out of Bangweolo and runs into Moero, the Luapula; the river connecting Moero with Kamolondo, Webb's river ; that which runs from Kamolondo into the Nameless Lake northward, the Lualaba; and let him write in bold letters over the rivers Chambezi, Luapula, Webbs River and the Lualaba the ■ Nile,' for these are all one and the same river. Again, west of Moero Lake, about one degree or thereabouts, another large lake may be placed on his map, with a river running diagonally across to meet the Lualaba north of Lake Kamolondo. This new lake is Lake Lincoln, and the river is the Lo- mami River, the confluence of which with the Lua- laba is between Kamolondo and the Nameless Lake. Taken altogether, the reader may be said to have a very fair idea of what Dr. Livingstone has been do- ing these long years, and what additions he has made to the study of African geography. That this river, distinguished under several titles, flowing from one lake into another in a northerly direction, with all 278 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. its great crooked bends and sinuosities, is the Nile, the true Nile, the Doctor has not the least doubt. For a long time he did doubt, because of its deep bends and curves — west, and southwest even — but having traced it from its headwaters, the Chambezi, through seven degrees of latitude — that is, from lat- itude eleven degrees south to a little north of lati- tude four degrees south — he has been compelled to come to the conclusion that it can be no other river than the Nile. He had thought it was the Congo, but he has discovered the sources of the Congo to be the Kasai and the Quango, two rivers which rise on the western side of the Nile watershed in about the latitude of Bangweolo; and he was told of another river called the Lubilash, which rose from the north and ran west. But the Lualaba the Doctor thinks cannot be the Congo, from its great size and body and from its steady and continual flow northward through a broad and extensive valley, bounded by enormous mountains, westerly and easterly. The altitude of the most northerly point to which the Doctor traced the wonderful river was a little over two thousand feet, so that though Baker makes out his lake to be two thousand seven hundred feet above the sea, yet the Bahr Ghazal, through which Pether- ick's branch of the White Nile issues into the Nile, is only a little over two thousand feet, in which case there is a possibility that the Lualaba may be none other than Petherick's branch. It is well known that trading stations for ivory have been established for about five hundred miles up Petherick's branch. We must remember this fact when told that Gondokoro, EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 279 in latitude four degrees north, is two thousand feet above the sea, and latitude four degrees south, where the Doctor was halted, is only a little over two thou- sand feet above the sea. That two rivers, said to be two thousand feet above the sea, separated from each other by eight degrees of latitude, are the same stream may, among some men, be regarded as a startling statement. But we must restrain mere ex- pressions of surprise and take into consideration that this mighty and broad Lualaba is a lacustrine river — broader than the Mississipi — and think of our own rivers, which, though shallow, are exceedingly broad. We must wait also until the altitude of the two riv- ers — the Lualaba, where the Doctor halted, and the southern point on the Bahr Ghazal, where Pether- ick has been — are known with perfect accuracy. " Webb's River, or the Lualaba, from Bangweolo is a lacustrine river, expanding from one to three miles in breadth. At intervals it forms extensive lakes, then contracting into a broad river it again forms a a lake, and so on to latitude four degrees north, and beyond this point the Doctor heard of a large lake again north. Now, for the sake of argument, suppose we give this nameless lake a length of four degrees latitude, as it may be the one discovered by Piaggia, the Italian traveller, from which Petherick's branch of the White Nile issues out through reeds, marshes, and the Bahr Ghazal into the White Nile south of Gondokoro. By this method we can suppose the rivers one — for the lakes extending over so many de- grees of latitude would obviate the necessity of ex- plaining the differences of latitude that must natu- 2 8o EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. rally exist between the points of a river eight deg*wo* of latitude apart. Also, that Livingstone's instru- ments for observation and taking altitude may have been in error, and this is very likely to have been the case, subjected as they have been to rough handling during nearly six years of travel. " Despite the apparent difficulty about the altitude, there is another strong reason for believing Webb's River, or the Lualaba, to be the Nile. The water- shed of this river, 600 miles of which Livingstone has travelled, is drained by a valley which lies north and south between the eastern and western ranges of the watershed. This valley or line of drainage, while it does not receive the Kasai and the Quango, receives rivers flowing from a great distance west — for in- stance, the important tributaries Lufira and Lomami, and large rivers from the east, such as the Lindi and Luamo ; and while the most intelligent Portuguese travellers and traders state that the Kasai, the Quan- go and Lubilash are the head waters of the Congo river, no one as yet has started the supposition that the grand river flowing north and known to the na- tives as the Lualaba, was the Congo. If this river is not the Nile where, then, are the head waters of the Nile? The small river running out of the Vic- toria Nyanza and the river flowing out of the little Lake Albert have not sufficient water to form the great river of Egypt. As you glide down the Nile and note the Asna, the Geraffe, the Sobat, the Blue Nile and Atbara,and follow the river down to Egypt, it cannot fail to impress you that it requires many more streams, or one large river, larger than all yet EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 28 J discovered, to influence its inundations and replace the waste of its flow through a thousand miles of des- ert. Perhaps a more critical survey of the Bahr Ghazal would prove that the Nile is influenced by the waters that pour through ' the small piece of wa- ter resembling a duck pond buried in a sea of rushes/ as Speke describes the Bahr Ghazal. Livinstone's discovery answers the question and satisfies the in- telligent hundreds, who, though Bruce and Speke and Baker, each in his turn had declared he had found the Nile, the only and true Nile sources, yet doubted and hesitated to accept the enthusiastic assertions as a final solution of the Nile problem. Even yet, ac- cording to Livingstone the Nile sources have not been found ; though he has traced the Lualaba through seven degrees of latitude flowing north, and though neither he nor I have a particle of doubt of its being the Nile, not yet can the Nile question be said to be ended for three reasons — First — He has heard of the existence of four foun- tains, two of which give birth to a river flowing north — Webb's River, or the Lualaba ; two to a river flowing south, which is the Zambezi. He has heard of these fountains repeatedly from the natives. Several times he has been within one hundred and two hundred miles from them, but something always interposed to prevent him going to see them. Ac- cording to those who have seen them, they rise on eitheir side of a mound or hill which contains no stones. Some have even called it an ant hill. One of these fountains is said to be so large that a man standing on one side cannot be seen from the other. 282 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. These fountains must be discovered, and their posi- tion taken. The Doctor does not suppose them to lie south of the feeders of Lake Bangweolo. "Second — Webb's River must be traced to its con- nection with some portion of the old Nile. " Third — The connection between the Tanganyika and the Albert Nyanza must be ascertained. " When these three things have been accomplished, then, and not till then, can the mystery of the Nile be explained. The two countries through which this marvellous lacustrine river — the Lualaba — flows, with its manifold lakes and broad expanses of water, are Rua — the Uruwa of Speke — and Manyema. For the first time Europe is made aware that between the Tanganyika and the known sources of the Congo there exist teeming millions of the negro race who never saw or heard of the white peoples who make such noisy and busy stir outside of Africa. Upon the minds of those who had the good fortune to see the first specimen of these remarkable white races Livingstone seems to have made a favorable impres- sion, though, through misunderstanding his object and coupling him with the Arabs who make horrible work there, his life has been sought after more than once. "These two extensive countries, Rua and Man- yema, are populated by true heathens — governed not as the sovereignties of Karagwah,Wumdi,and Uganda by despotic kings, but each village by its own sultan or lord. Thirty miles outside of their own immedi- ate settlements the most intelligent of those small chiefs seem to know nothing. Thirty miles from the EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 283 Lualaba there were but few people who had ever heard of the great river. Such ignorance among the natives of their own countries, of course, increased the labors of Livingstone. Compared with these all tribes and nations in Africa with whom Livingstone came in contact may be deemed civilized. Yet in the arts of home manufacture these wild people of Manyema are far superior to any he had seen. When other tribes and nations contented themselves with hides and skins of animals thrown negligently over their shoulders the people of Manyema manufac- tured a cloth from fine grass which may favorably compare with the finest grass cloth of India. They also know the art of dyeing in various colors — black, yellow, and purple. The Wanguana or freed men of Zanzibar, struck with the beauty of this fine grass frabric, eagerly exchange their cotton cloths for fine grass cloth, and on almost every black man returned from Manyema I have seen this native cloth converted into elegantly made damirs (Arabic) — short jackets. " These countries are also very rich in ivory. The fever for going to Manyema to exchange their tawdry beads for the precious tusks of Manyema is of the same kind as that which impelled men to the gulches and placers of California, Colorado, Mon- tana, and Idaho ; after nuggets to Australia, and diamonds to Cape Colony. Manyema is at present the El Dorado of the Arabs and the Wamrima tribes. It is only about four years since the first Arab re- turned from Manyema with such wealth of ivory and reports about the fabulous quantities found there 284 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. that ever since the old beaten tracks of Karagwah, Uganda, Ufipa, and Marungu have been compara- tively deserted. The people of Manyema, ignorant of the value of the precious article, reared their huts upon ivory stanchions. Ivory pillars and doors were common sights in Manyema, and hearing of these one can no longer wonder at the ivory palace of Solo- mon. For generations they had used ivory tusks as doorposts and eave stanchions, until they had be- come perfectly rotten and worthless. But the advent of the Arabs soon taught them the value of the article. It has now risen considerably in price, though yet fabulously cheap. At Zanzibar the value of ivory per frarsilah of thirty-five pounds weight is from fifty dollars to sixty dollars, according to its quality In Unyanyembe it is about one dollar and ten cents per pound ; but in Manyema it may be purchased for from half a cent to one and a quarter cent's worth of copper per pound of ivory. "The Arabs, however, have the knack of spoiling markets by their rapacity and wanton cruelty. With muskets a small party of Arabs are invincible against such people as those of Manyema, who until lately never heard the sound of a gun. The report of a musket inspires mortal terror in them, and it is almost impossible to induce them to face the muzzle of a gun. They believe that the Arabs have stolen the lightning, and that against such people the bow and arrow can have but little effect. They are by no means devoid of courage, and they have often declared that were it not for the guns not one Arab would leave the country alive, which tends to prove EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 287 that they would willingly engage in fight with the stran- gers, who have made themselves so detestable, were it not that the startling explosion of gunpowder in- spires them with such terror. "Into whichever country the Arabs enter they contrive to render their name and race abominated. But the mainspring of it all is not the Arab's nature, color, or name, but simply the slave trade. So long as the slave trade is permitted to be kept up at Zan- zibar so long will these otherwise enterprising peo- ple, the Arabs, kindle against them throughout Africa the hatred of the natives. The accounts which the Doctor brings from that new region are most de- plorable. He was an unwilling spectator of a horri- ble deed — a massacre committed on the inhabitants of a populous district — who had assembled in the market place, on the banks of the Lualaba, as they had been accustomed to for ages. It seems the Wa- Manyema are very fond of marketing, believing it to be the summum bonum of human enjoyment. They find unceasing pleasure in chaffering with might and main for the least mite of their currency — the last bead — and when they gain the point to which their peculiar talents are devoted they feel intensely hap- py. The women are excessively fond of their mar- keting, and as they are very beautiful, the market place must possess considerable attractions for the male sex. It was on such a day, with just such a scene, that Tagomoyo, a half-caste Arab, with his armed slave escort, commenced an indiscriminate massacre by firing volley after volley into the dense mass of human beings. It is supposed that there 17 288 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. were about two thousand present, and at the first sound of the firing these poor people all made a rush for their canoes. In the fearful hurry to avoid being shot the canoes were paddled away by the first for- tunate few who got possession of them. Those that were not so fortunate sprang into the deep waters of the Lualaba, and, though many of them became an easy prey to the voracious crocodiles that swarmed to the scene, the majority received their deaths from the bullets of the merciless Tagomoyo and his villainous band. The Doctor believes, as do the Arabs themselves, that about four hundred people, mostly women and children, lost their lives, while many more were made slaves. This scene is only one of many such which he has unwillingly witnessed, and he is utterly unable to describe the loathing he feels for the inhuman perpetrators. "Slaves from Manyema command a higher price than those of any other country, because of their fine forms and general docility. The women, the Doctor says repeatedly, are remarkably pretty creatures, and have nothing except their hair in common with the negroes of the West Coast. They are of very light color, have fine noses, well-cut and not over full lips, and a prognathous jaw is uncommon. These women are eagerly sought after for wives by the half-castes of the East Coast, and even the pure Amani Arabs do not disdain connection with them. To the north of Manyema Livingstone came to a light-corn plex- ioned race of the color of Portuguese, or our own Louisiana quadroons, who are very fine people, and singularly remarkable for commercial ' cuteness* and EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 289 sagacity. The women are expert divers for oysters, which are found in great abundance in the Lualaba. " Rua, at a place called Katanga, is rich in copper. The copper mines of this place have been worked for ages. In the bed of a stream gold has been found washed down in pencil-shaped lumps or particles as large as split peas. Two Arabs have gone thither to prospect for this metal, but as they are ignorant of the art of gulch mining it is scarcely possible that they will succeed. " From these highly important and interesting dis- coveries Dr. Livingstone was turned back when almost on the threshold of success by the positive refusal of his men to accompany him further. They were afraid to go unless accompanied by a large force of men, and as these were not procurable in Manyema the Doctor reluctantly turned his face toward Ujiji. " It was a long and weary road back. The journey had now no interest for him. He had travelled it be- fore when going westward, full of high hopes and as- pirations, impatient to reach the goal which promised him rest from his labors; now returning unsuccessful, baffled and thwarted when almost in sight of the end, and having to travel the same road back on foot, with disappointed expectations and defeated hopes preying on his mind, no wonder that the brave old spirit al- most succumbed and the strong constitution almost wrecked. He arrived at Ujiji October 26, almost at death s door. On the way he had been trying to cheer himself up, since he had found it impossible to contend against the obstinacy of his men, with ' it 29O EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. won't take long, five or six months more; it mat- ters not, since it can't be helped. I have got my goods in Ujiji and can hire other people and make a new start.' These are the words and hopes with which he tried to delude himself into the idea that all would be right yet ; but imagine, if you can, the shock he must have suffered when he found that the man to whom was entrusted his goods for safe keeping had sold every bale for ivory. " The evening of the day Livingstone had returned to Ujiji, Susi and Chuma, two of his most faithful men, were seen crying bitterly. The Doctor asked them what ailed them, and was then informed for the first time of the evil tidings that awaited him. Said they : — 'All our things are sold, sir. Shereef has sold everything for ivory.' Later in the evening Shereef came to see him and shamelessly offered his hand, with a salutatory ' Yambo.' Livingstone refused his hand, saying he could not shake hands with a thief. As an excuse Shereef said he had divined on the Ko- ran and that had told him the Hakim (Arabic for Doctor) was dead. Livingstone was now destitute. He had just enough to keep him and his men alive for about a month, after which he would be forced to beg from the Arabs. He had arrived in Ujiji Octo- ber 26. The Herald Expedition arrived November 10, from the coast — only sixteen days difference. Had I not been delayed at Unyanyembe by the war with Mirambo I should have gone on to Manyema, and very likely have been traveling by one road, while he would have been coming by another to Ujiji. Had I gone on two years ago, when I first received the in- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 2QI structions, I should have lost him without doubt. But I am detained by a series of circumstances, which chafed and fretted me considerably at that time, only to permit him to reach Ujiji sixteen days before I appeared. It was as if we were marching to meet together at an appointed rendezvous — the one from the west, the other from the east. " The Doctor had heard of a white man being at Unyanyembe, who was said to have boats with him, and he had thought he was another traveller sent by the French government to replace Lieutenant Le Sainte, who died from a fever a few miles above Gon- dokoro. I had not written to him because I believed him to be dead, and of course my sudden entrance into Ujiji was as great a surprise to him as it was to the Arabs. But the sight of the American flag, which he saw waving in the van of the expedition, indicated that one was coming who could speak his own language, and you know already how the leader was received." CHAPTER XIV. LIVINGSTONE AND STANLEY IN AFRICA. [continued.] An Exploration of Tanganyika Lake — Result — Christmas at Ujiji — Livingstone Proceeds with Stanley to Unyanyembe — Account of the Journey — Alleged Neglect of Livingstone by the British Consulate at Zanzibar — Departure of the Explorer for the Interior, and of Mr. Stanley for Europe. It had been supposed by Dr. Livingstone that the waters of Tanganyika Lake had outlet northward, and that they were, therefore, a part of the neces- sarily vast sources of the great river of the continent whose annual inundations are among the most wonderful illustrations in nature of the more than majestic power of Almighty God. His many dis- coveries of great lakes and rivers far to the westward of Tanganyika, their evident connection in a system, similar to that of the great lakes of North America at last forming the St. Lawrence river, flowing north- ward; the natural necessity there is for immense sources of supply to the Nile — these and other con- siderations left the explorer to imagine that Tan- ganyika formed a part of the same system with that lake which he named after an illustrious President of the United States. The commander of the " Her- ald" expedition, therefore, with a fine appreciation of the situation, offered his escort to Dr. Livingstone, with a proposal to accompany him to the head of the 292 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 293 lake. The offer was accepted, and the explorer, as Mr. Stanley says, " like a hero, lost no time in starting." The account of this journey, or voyage, rather, for the party travelled by boat, is given in a dispatch dated December 23, 1871, at Ujiji. It is as follows: *■ On the 20th of November Dr. Livingstone and your correspondent, with twenty picked men of the Herald Expedition Corps, started. Despite the as- sertion of Arabs that the Warundi were danger- ous and would not let us pass, we hugged their coast closely, and when fatigued boldly encamped in their country. Once only were we obliged to fly — and this was at dead of night — from a large party which we knew to be surrounding us on the land side. We got to the boat safely, and we might have punished them severely had the Doctor been so disposed. Once also we were stoned, but we paid no heed to them and kept on our way along their coast until we arrived at Mokamba's, one of the chiefs of Usige. Mokamba was at war with a neighboring chief, who lived on the left bank of the Rusizi. That did not deter us, and we crossed the head of the Tanganyika to Mugihewah, governed by Ruhinga, brother of Mokamba. " Mugihewah is a tract of country on the right bank of the Rusizi, extending to the lake. With Mokamba and Ruhinga we became most intimate • they proved to be sociable, good-natured chiefs, and gave most valuable information concerning the countries lying to the north of Usige ; and if the ; r information is correct, Sir Samuel Baker will be 294 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. obliged to curtail the ambitious dimensions of his lake by one degree, if not more. A Mgwana, living at Mokamba's, on the eastern shore of the lake, had informed us that the River Rusizi certainly flowed out of the lake, and after joining the Kitangule emptied into the Lake Nyanza (Victoria). " When we entered Ruhinga's territory of Mugihe- wah, we found ourselves about 300 yards from the river about which a great deal has been said and written. At Unyanyembe I was told that the Rusizi was an affluent. At Ujiji all Arabs but one united in saying the same thing, and within ten miles of the Rusizi a freedman of Zanzibar swore it was an affluent. " On the morning of the eleventh day of our de- parture from Ujiji, we were rowed towards the river. We came to a long, narrow bay, fringed on all sides with tall, dense reeds and swarming with crocodiles, and soon came to the mouth of the Rusizi. As soon as we had entered the river all doubt vanished before the strong, turbid flood against which we had to con-r tend in the ascent. After about ten minutes we en- tered what seemed a lagoon, but which was the result of a late inundation. About an hour higher up the river began to be confined to its proper banks, and is about thirty yards broad, but very shallow. " Two days higher up, Ruhinga told us, the Rusizi was joined by the Loanda, coming from the north- west. There could be no mistake then. Dr. Living- stone and myself had ascended it, had felt the force of the strong inflowing current — the Rusizi was an influent, as much so as the Malagarazi, the Linche, EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 295 and Rugufu, but with its banks full it can only be considered as ranking third among the rivers flowing into the Tanganyika. Though rapid it is extremely shallow ; it has three mouths, up which an ordinary ship's boat loaded might in vain attempt to ascend. Burton and Speke, though they ascended to within six hours' journey by canoe from the Rusizi, were compelled to turn back by the cowardice of the boat- men. Had they ascended to Meuta's capital, they could easily have seen the head of the lake. Usige is but a district of Wumdi, governed by several small chiefs, who owe obedience to Mwezi, the great King of Wumdi. " We spent nine days at the head of the Tangan- yika exploring the islands and many bays that indent its shores. "In returning to Ujiji we coasted along the west side of the Tanganyika, as far as the country of the Wasansi, whom we had to leave on no amicable terms, owing to their hostility to Arabs, and arrived at Ujiji on the 18th of December, having been absent twenty-eight days. " Though the Rusizi River can no longer be a sub- ject of curiosity to geographers — and we are certain that there is no connection between the Tanganyika and Baker's Lake, or the Albert N'yanza — it is not yet certain that there is no connection between the Tanganyika and the Nile River. The western coast has not all been explored ; and there is reason to suppose that a river runs out of the Tanganyika through the deep caverns of Kabogo Mountain, far under ground and out on the western side of Kabo- 296 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. go into the Lualaba, or the Nile. Livingstone has seen the river about forty miles or so west of Ka- boo-o (about forty yards broad at that place), but he does not know that it runs out of the mountain. " This is one of the many things which he has yet to examine." It thus appearing that the Rusizi is an affluent, not an effluent, of Tanganyika Lake, the expedition failed to sustain the explorer's hypothesis, but added a useful item of geographical knowledge to the then existing stock. Nor does it follow that because the Rusizi flows into the Tanganyika, there is no river flowing out of it into that system of lakes which had before been discovered by the explorer, and of which the Chambesi — almost a system of rivers itself — is the largest affluent yet discovered. Should Dr. Living- stone's hypothesis of an effluent from the west shore of Tanganyika Lake not be sustained, and its waters found to procure outlet by Lake Nyassa and the Zambesi, his future discoveries will in all probability show a similar formation of the continent in east cen- tral Africa to that which he discovered to be the fact when he explored Lake Dilolo in the land of the Balonda. The explorers remained in Ujiji until after "merry Christmas," both engaged much of the time in writ- ing accounts of their explorations, which have ap- peared or will yet appear in this volume. Meanwhile, they had determined to make a journey together to Unyanyembe. This journey is described in tele- graphic brevity : EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 297 Kwihara, Unyanyembe, February 21, 1872. After spending Christmas at Ujiji Dr. Livingstone, escorted by the New York Herald Expedition, composed of forty Wanguana soldiers, well armed, left for Unyanyembe on the 26th of December, 1871. In order to arrive safely, untroubled by wars and avaricious tribes, we sketched out a road to Unyanyembe, thus : — Seven days by water south to Urimba. Ten days across the uninhabited forests of Kawendi Twenty days through Unkonongo, direct east. Twelve days north through Unkonongo Thence five days into Unyanyembe, where we arrived without adventure of any kind, except killing zebras, buffaloes, and giraffes, after fifty-four days' travel. The expedition suffered considerably from famine, and your correspondent from fever, but these are incidental to the march in this country. The Doctor tramped it on foot like a man of iron. On arrival at Unyan- yembe I found that the Englishman Shaw whom I had turned back as useless, had about a month after his return succumbed to the climate of the interior and had died, as well as two Wanguana of the expedition who had been left behind sick. Thus during less than twelve months William Lawrence Farquhar, of Leith, Scotland, and John William Shaw, of London, England, the two white men I had engaged to assist me, had died • also eight baggage carriers and eight soldiers of the expedition had died. I was bold enough to advise the Doctor to permit the expedition to escort him to Unyanyembe, through the country it was made acquainted with while go- ing to Ujiji, for the reason that were he to sit down at Ujiji until Mirambo was disposed of he might remain a year there, a prey to high expectations, ending always in bitter disappointment. I told him, as the Arabs of Unyanyembe were not equal to the task of conquering Mirambo, that it were better he should ac- company the Herald expedition to Unyanyembe, and there take possession of the last lot of goods brought to him by a caravan which left the seacoast simul- taneously with our expedition. The Doctor consented, and thus it was that he came so far back as Unyan- yembe. The " Herald" correspondent complains with much earnestness that Dr. Livingstone has been neglected by the British consulate at Zanzibar. Handsomely admitting the liberality of the British people and government, he has hearty denunciations for those in authority at Zanzibar. The contrast of their insuf- ficiency with the enterprise of the " Herald" expe- dition is remarkable. Mr. Stanley says: "Within 298 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. the time that the British Consul's men took to con- vey Livingstones goods and letters a distance of only 525 miles, the Herald Expedition was formed, and marched 2,059 English statute miles, and before the fourteenth month of its departure from the seacoast the Herald Expedition will have arrived at the sea- coast, be paid off and disbanded. In the matter of supplies, then, being sent to Livingstone semi-an- nually or annually there is no truth whatever. The cause is extreme apathy at Zanzibar and the reckless character of the men sent. Where English gentle- men are so liberal and money so plentiful it should be otherwise." Upon this very delicate subject the " Herald" itsell editorially remarks: " On the question of Livingstone's having received the supplies sent him by his friends in England these letters will throw a startling light. The carelessness, theft, and general mismanagement which overtook the stores forwarded by the British Consulate at Zanzibar, usually wasted and frittered these almost entirely away before they had time to reach him. This cannot be better stated than in the Herald com- mander's words: 'Your correspondent begs to inform his friends that the Herald Expedition found him turned back from his explorations when on the eve of being terminated thoroughly by the very men sent to him by the British Consulate ; that the Expedition found him sitting down at Ujiji utterly destitute, robbed by the very men sent by the British Consul- ate at Zanzibar with his caravan : that the Herald EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 299 Expedition escorted him to Unyanyembe only in time to save his last stock of goods, for they were rapidly being made away with by the very men en- trusted by the British Consulate with the last lot of goods ; that it was only by an accident that your cor- respondent saw a packet of letters addressed to Liv- ingstone, and so, forcibly, took one of Livingstone's men to carry the letters to his employer/" The commander of the Search Expedition supplied Dr. Livingstone with such supplies as he could com- mand, in which were several bales of mixed cloths, about one thousand pounds of assorted beads — all this is African money — a large quantity of brass wire, a portable boat, revolvers, carbines, and ammu- nition. And thus Mr. Stanley was ready to depart for the sea coast. Bidding the great explorer farewell, he left Kwihara on March 14, 1872, bending his course toward Zanzibar by the usual caravan track. At Zanzibar he forwarded " men and means" to the ex- plorer of whom he had learned to think so highly, by the aid of which he has doubtless been able to make his departure from Unyanyembe with confident an- ticipations of success. And so, we may be sure, the iron man is wending his way on foot through the wilds of Africa, inflexibly determined upon a com- plete solution of the great geographical problem of the times. Meanwhile, the chief of the successful search expe- dition discharged his men at Zanzibar, and by Horn- bay, thence to Aden in southwestern Arabia, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal, found his rapid way to the 300 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. abodes of those races of civilized men who had been astonished and gratified by the summary of the re- markable success of his enterprise which had pre- ceded him. CHAPTER XV. DR. LIVINGSTONE STILL IN AFRICA. The Great Explorer Still in Search of the Sources of the Nile— His Letters to the English Government on His Explorations — Correspondence with Ix>rd Stanley, Lord Clarendon, Earl Granville, Dr. Kirk, and James Gordon Ben- nett, Jr. — His Own Descriptions of Central Africa and the Supposed Sources of the Nile— The Country and People— A Nation of Cannibals— Beautiful Women — Gorillas — The Explorer's Plans for the Future. When Mr. Stanley bade good-bye to Dr. Living- stone in Unyanyembe, the explorer entrusted to the care of the corrrespondent despatches to the govern- ment, his journal, addressed to his daughter, and copies of letters of which former messengers had been robbed. The letters, old and new, to the representa- tive of the British government at Zanzibar, Dr. Kirk, and to different members of the British cabinet, were allowed to be published. They give a full account of Dr. Livingstone's explorations among the supposed true sources of the Nile, and abundantly establish the complete success of the " Herald" search expedition. The letters to the British authorities thus sent to the press, August i, '1872, through the courtesy of Earl Granville, were: 1. A letter from Dr. Livingstone to Lord Stanley, under date of November 15, 1870; 2. Two letters of November 1, 1 871, to Lord Clarendon ; 3. A letter of November 14, 1871, to Earl Granville; 4. Letter of October 30, 1871, to Dr. Kirk, British Consul at Zanzibar; 5. Letter of December 18, 1871 301 302 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. to Earl Granville; 6. Letter of February 20, 1872, to Earl Granville. The first of these despatches to his government is from " Bambarre, Manyema country, say about one hundred and fifty miles west of Ujiji, Nov. 15, 1870," addressed to Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. In this dispatch, much is contained which Dr. Livingstone orally related to Mr. Stanley, of the " Herald," and which has already appeared in this work. The country of the Manyema, reputed cannibals, is described generally thus: "The country is extremely beautiful, but difficult to travel over. The mountains of light gray granite stand like islands in new red sandstone, and moun- tain and valley are all clad in a mantle of different shades of green. The vegetation is indescribably rank. Through the grass — if grass it can be called, which is over half an inch in diameter in the stalk and from ten to twelve feet high — nothing but ele- phants can walk. The leaves of this megatherium grass are armed with minute spikes, which v as we worm our way along elephant walks, rub disagreeably on the side of the face where the gun is held, and the hand is made sore by fending it off the other side for hours. The rains were fairly set in by November ; and in the mornings, or after a shower, these leaves were loaded with a moisture which wet us to the bone. The valleys are deeply undulating, and in each innu- merable dells have to be crossed. There may be only a thread of water at the bottom, but the mud, mire or (scottice) 'glaur' is grevious; thirty or forty yards of the path on each side of the stream are EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 305 worked by the feet of passengers into an adhesive compound. By placing a foot on each side of the narrow way one may waddle a little distance along, but the rank crop of grasses, gingers, and bushes can- not spare the few inches of soil required for the side of the foot, and down he comes into the slough. The path often runs along the bed of the rivulet for sixty or more yards, as if he who first cut it out went that distance seeking for a part of the forest less dense for his axe. In other cases the muale palm, from which here, as in Madagascar, grass cloth is woven and called by the same name, ' lamba,' has taken pos- session of the valley. The leaf stalks, as thick as a strong man's arm, fall off and block up all passage save by a path made and mixed up by the feet of elephants and buffaloes ; the slough therein is groan- compelling and deep. " Some of the numerous rivers which in this region flow into Lualaba are covered with living vegetable bridges — a species of dark glossy-leaved grass, with its roots and leaves, felts itself into a mat that covers the whole stream. When stepped upon it yields twelve or fifteen inches, and that amount of water rises upon the leg. At every step the foot has to be raised high enough to place it on the unbent mass in front. This high stepping fatigues like walking on deep snow. Here and there holes appear which we could not sound with a stick six feet long; they gave the impression that anywhere one might plump through and finish the chapter. Where the water is shallow the lotus, or sacred lily, sends its roots to the bottom and spreads its broad leaves over the float- 18 306 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. ing bridge so as to make believe that the mat is its own, but the grass referred to is the real felting and supporting agent, for it often performs duty as bridge where no lilies grow. The bridge is called by Man- yema ' kintefwetefwe,' as if he who first coined it was gasping for breath after plunging over a mile of it. " Between each district of Manyema large belts of the primeval forest still stand. Into these the sun, though vertical, cannot penetrate, except by sending c(own at midday thin pencils of rays into the gloom. The rain water stands for months in stagnant pools made by the feet of elephants ; and the dead leaves decay on the damp soil, and make the water of the numerous rivulets of the color of strong tea. The climbing plants, from the size of whipcord to that of a man-of-war's hawser, are so numerous the ancient path is the only passage. When one of the giant trees falls across the road it forms a wall breast high to be climbed over, and the mass of tangled ropes brought down makes cutting a path round it a work of time which travellers never undertake." At this time, Dr. Livingstone was not persuaded that the Manyema were men-eaters. Toward the conclusion of his letter to Lord Stanley, he thus de- cribes them : " I lived in what may be called the Tipperary of Manyema, and they are certainly a bloody people among themselves. But they are very far from be- ing in appearance like the ugly negroes on the West Coast. Finely formed heads are common, and generally men and women are vastly superior to the slaves of Zanzibar and elsewhere. We must go EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 307 deeper than phrenology to account for their low moral tone. If they are cannibals they are not os- tentatiously so. The neighboring tribes all assert that they are men-eaters, and they themselves laughingly admit the charge. But they like to im- pose on the credulous, and they showed the skull of a recent victim to horrify one of my people. I found it to be the skull of a gorilla, or soko — the first I knew of its existence here — and this they do eat. If I had believed a tenth of what I heard from trad- ers, I might never have entered the country. Their people told tales with shocking circumstantiality, as if of eye witnesses, that could not be committed to paper, or even spoken about beneath the breath. Indeed, one wishes them to vanish from memory. I have not yet been able to make up my mind whether the Manyema are cannibals or not. I have offered goods of sufficient value to tempt any of them to call me to see a cannibal feast in the dark forests where these orgies are said to be held, but hitherto in vain. All the real evidence yet obtained would elicit from a Scotch jury the verdict only of 'not proven/" The second despatch, a year later, is devoted to the expression of thanks to Lord Clarendon, on account of the expedition of search under Mr. Young, of which an account has already been given, to an ex- planation of Ali Moosa's story of the explorer's death, and an earnest request that the money ex- pended on him and his fellow-imposters might be re- gained. The third document of the series, being also a let- 308 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. ter to Lord Clarendon, presents an account of Dr» Livingstone's explorations and views on the water- shed of the Nile more in extenso than anywhere else given. It is certainly one of the most interesting and valuable contributions to modern science. The readers of this volume cannot but feel that a large share of this interesting document may appropriately be quoted here. " I have ascertained that the watershed of the Nile is a broad upland between ten degrees and twelve de- grees south latitude, and from 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the level of the sea: Mountains stand on it at various points, which, though not apparently very high, are between 6,000 and 7,000 feet of actual alti- tude. The watershed is over 700 miles in length, from west to east. The springs that rise on it are almost innumerable — that is, it would take a large part of a man's life to count them. A bird's-eye view of some parts of the watershed would resemble the frost vegetation on window panes. They all begin in an ooze at the head of a slightly depressed valley. A few hundred yards down the quantity of water from oozing earthen sponge forms a brisk perennial burn or brook a few feet broad, and deep enough to re- quire a bridge. These are the ultimate or primary sources of the great rivers that flow to the north in the great Nile valley. The primaries unite and form streams in general larger than the Isis at Oxford or Avon at Hamilton, and may be called secondary sources. They never dry, but unite again into four large lines of drainage, the head waters or mains of the river of Egypt. These four are each called by EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 3O9 the natives Lualaba, which, if not too pedantic, may be spoken of as lacustrine rivers, extant specimens of those which, in pre-historic times, abounded in Af- rica, and which in the south are still called by Bechu- anas ' Melapo,' in the north, by Arabs, * Wadys ;' both words meaning the same thing — river bed in which no water ever now flows. Two of the four great riv- ers mentioned fall into the central Lualaba, or Webb's Lake River, and then we have but two main lines of drainage as depicted nearly by Ptolemy. " In passing over sixty miles of latitude I waded thirty-two primary sources from calf to waist deep, and requiring from twenty minutes to an hour and a quarter to cross stream and sponge. This would give about one source to every two miles. A Sua- faeli friend in passing along part of the Lake Bang- weolo during six days counted twenty-two from thigh to waist deep, This lake is on the watershed, for the village at which I observed on its northwest shore was a few seconds into eleven degrees south. I tried to cross it in order to measure the breadth accu- rately. The first stage to an inhabted island was about twenty-four miles. From the highest point here the tops of the trees, evidently lifted by the mirage, could be seen on the second stage and the third stage ; the mainland was said to be as far as this beyond it. But my canoe men had stolen the canoe and got a hint that the real owners were in pursuit, and got into a flurry to return home. " The length of this lake is, at a very moderate es- timate, 150 miles. It gives forth a. large body of wa- ter in the Luapula ; yet lakes are in no sense sources, 3IC EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. for no large river begins in a lake ; but this and otn- ers serve an important purpose in the phenomena of the Nile. It is one large lake, and, unlike the Okara, which, according to Suaheli, who travelled long in our company, is three or four lakes run into one huge Victoria Nianza, gives out a large river which, on de- parting out of Moero, is still larger. These men had spent many years east of Okara, and could scarcely be mistaken in saying that of the three or four lakes there only one (the Okara) gives off its waters to the north. The ' White Nile' of Speke, less by a full half than the Shire out of Nyassa (for it is only eighty or niety yards broad), can scarcely be named in compar- ison with the central or Webb's Lualaba, of from two thousand to six thousand yards, in relation to the phenomena of the Nile. The structure and economy of the watershed answer very much the same end as the great lacustrine rivers, but I cannot at present copy a lost despatch which explained that. The mountains on the watershed are probably what Ptolemy, for reasons now unknown, called the Moun- tains of the Moon. From their bases I found that the springs of the Nile do unquestionably arise. This is just what Ptolemy put down, and is true ge- ography. We must accept the fountains, and nobody but Philistines will reject the mountains, though we cannot conjecture the reason for the name. " Before leaving the subject of the watershed, I may add that I know about six hundred miles of it, but am not yet satisfied, for unfortunately the seventh hundred is the most interesting of the whole. I have a very strong impression that in the last hundred EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 311 miles the tountains of the Nile, mentioned to Hero- dotus by the Secretary of Minerva in the city of Sais do arise, not like all the rest, from oozing earthen sponges, but from an earthen mound, and half the water flows northward to Egypt, the other half south to Inner Ethiopia. These fountains, at no great dis- tance off, become large rivers, though at the mound they are not more than ten miles apart. That is, one fountain rising on the northeast of the mound be- comes Bartle Frere's Lualaba, and it flows into one of the lakes proper, Kamolondo, of the central line of drainage ; Webb's Lualaba, the second fountain rising on the Northwest, becomes (Sir Paraffin) Young's Lualaba, which passing through Lake Lincoln and becoming Loeki or Lomame, and joining the central line too, goes north to Egypt. The third fountain on the southwest, Palmerston's, becomes the Liambia or Upper Zambesi ; while the fourth, Oswell's fountain, becomes the Kafue and falls into Zambesi in Inner Ethiopia. " More time has been spent in the exploration than I ever anticipated. Many a weary foot I trod ere I got a clear idea of the drainage of the great Nile valley. The most intelligent natives and traders thought that all the rivers of the upper part of that valley flowed into Tanganyika. But the barometers told me that to do so the water must flow up hill. The great rivers and the great lakes all make their waters converge into the deep trough of the valley, which is a full inch of the barometer lower than the Upper Tanganyika. " Let me explain, but in no boastful style, the mis- 3i2 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. takes of others who have bravely striven to solve the ancient problem, and it will be seen that I have cogent reasons for following the painful, plodding in- vestigation to its conclusion. Poor Speke's mis- take was a foregone conclusion. When he discov- ered the Victoria Nyansa he at once jumped to the conclusion that therein lay the sources of the river of Egypt, ■ 20,000 square miles of water/ confused by sheer immensity. Ptolemy's small lake, ' Coloc/ is a more correct representation of the actual size of that one of three or four lakes which alone sends its outflow to the north. Its name is Okara. Lake Kavirondo is three days distant from it, but con- nected by a narrow arm. Lake Naibash, or Neibash, is four days from Kavirondo. Baringo is ten days distant, and discharges by a river, the Nagardabash, to the northeast. " These three or four lakes, which have been de- scribed by several intelligent Suaheli, who have lived for many years on their shores, were run into one huge Victoria Nyanza. But no sooner did Speke and Grant turn their faces to this lake, to prove that it contained the Nile fountains, than they turned their backs to the springs of the river of Egypt, which are between four hundred and five hundred miles south of the most southerly portion of the Vic- toria Lake. Every step of their heroic and really splendid achievement of following the river down took them further and further from the sources they sought. But for the devotion to the foregone con- clusion the sight of the little 'White Nile/ as un- able to account for the great river, they must have EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 315 turned off to the west down into the deep trough of the great valley, and there found lacustrine rivers amply sufficient to account for the Nile and all its phenomena. " But all that can in modern times and in common modesty be fairly claimed is the rediscovery of what had sunk into oblivion, like the circumnavigation of Africa by the Phoenician admirals of one of the Pharaohs about B. C. 600. He was not believed because he reported that in passing round Libya he had the sun on his right hand. This, to us who have gone round the Cape from east to west, stamps his tale as genuine. The predecessors of Ptolemy probably gained their information from men who visited this very region, for in the second century of our era he gave in substance what we now find to be genuine geography. " The geographical results of four arduous trips in different directions in the Manyema country are briefly as follows : — The great river, Webb's Lualaba, in the center of the Nile valley, makes a great bend to the west, soon after leaving Lake Moero, of at least one hundred and eighty miles; then, turning to the north for some distance, it makes another large sweep west of about one hundred and twenty miles, in the course of which about thirty miles of southing are made ; it then draws round to northeast, receives the Lomani, or Loeki, a large river which flows through Lake Lincoln. After the union a large lake is formed, with many inhabited islands in it ; but this has still to be explored. It is the fourth large lake in the central line of drainage, and cannot be Lake 314 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. Albert; for, assuming Speke's longitude of Ujiji to be pretty correct, and my reckoning not enormously wrong, the great central lacustrine river is about five degrees west of Upper and Lower Tanganyika. " Beyond the fourth lake the water passes, it is said, into large reedy lakes, and is in all probability Peth- erick's branch — the main stream of the Nile — in dis- tinction from the smaller eastern arm which Speke, Grant, and Baker took to be the river of Egypt. In my attempts to penetrate further and further I had but little hope of ultimate success, for the great amount of westing led to a continued effort to sus- pend the judgment, lest, after all, I might be exploring the Congo instead of the Nile, and it was only after the two great western drains fell into the central main, and left but the two great lacustrine rivers of Ptolemy, that I felt pretty sure of being on the right track. " The great bends west probably form one side of the great rivers above that geographical loop, the other side being Upper Tanganyika and the Lake River Albert. A waterfall is reported to exist be- tween Tanganyika and Albert Nyanza, but I could not go to it ; nor have I seen the connecting link be- tween the two — the upper side of the loop — though I believe it exists. " The Manyema are certainly cannibals, but it was long ere I could get evidence more positive than would have led a Scotch jury to give a verdict of not proven.' They eat only enemies killed in war; they seem as if instigated by revenge in their man- eating orgies, and on these occasions they do not like EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 3 X 5 a stranger to see them. I offered a large reward in vain to any one who would call me to witness a can- ibal feast. Some intelligent men have told me that the meat is not nice and made them dream of the dead. The women never partake, and I am glad of it, for many of them far down Lualaba are very pretty ; they bathe three or four times a day and are expert divers for oysters. u Markets are held at stated times and the women attend them in large numbers, dressed in their best. They are light colored, have straight noses, finely formed heads, small hands and feet and perfect forms; they are keen traders, and look on the market as a great institution; to haggle and joke and laugh and cheat seem the enjoyments of life. The population, especially west of the river, is prodigiously large. " Near Lomani the Bakuss or Bakoons cultivate coffee, and drink it highly scented with vanilla. Food of all kinds is extremely abundant and cheap. The men smelt iron from the black oxide ore, and are very good smiths ; they also smelt copper from the ore and make large ornaments very cheaply. They are generally fine, tall, strapping fellows, far superior to the Zanzibar slaves, and nothing of the West Coast negro, from whom our ideas of Africans are chiefly derived, appears among them ; no prognathous jaws, barndoor mouth, nor lark heels are seen. Their de- fects arise from absolute ignorance of all the world. " There is not a single great chief in all Manyema. No matter what name the different divisions of peo- ple bear — Manyema, Balegga, Babire, Bazire, Bokoos — there is no political cohesion ; not one king or 31 6 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA J kingdom. Each head man is independent of every other. The people are industrious, and most of them cultivate the soil largely. We found them every where very honest. When detained at Bambarre we had to send our goats and fowls to the Manyema villages to prevent them being all stolen by the Zan- zibar slaves. " Manyema land is the only country in Central Africa I have seen where cotton is not cultivated, spun, and woven. The clothing is that known in Madagascar as ' lambas' or grass cloth, made from the leaves of the ' Muale' palm." This despatch, it will be observed, is about a year later than the one to Lord Stanley, in which the statement occurs that the fact as to whether the Man- yema were man-eaters was "not proven," though the explorer observed that they ate the gorilla, of which beast Dr. Livingstone evidently has a rather favora- ble opinion, as respects his disposition, and as surely holds his gross stupidity as clearly demonstrated. In the development of instinct, there appear to be sev- eral animals in Africa approaching nearer the capa- city of reflection than the gorilla. The next despatch is to Earl Granville, and is dated at Ujiji, November, 1871. It is almost wholly official, and relates in a clear and most forcible man- ner, the insurmountable difficulties by reason of which he had been forced to cease explorations at a time when a little longer work would most probably have been crowned with complete success. It is in this despatch that Dr. Livingstone relates the particulars of the horrid massacre at Nyanme, the fearful out- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 317 lines of which have appeared in Mr. Stanley's letter, already quoted. On his return to Ujiji, Dr. Living- stone narrowly escaped death three times in a single day from the savages, who would not be persuaded that he did not belong to " the traders" guilty of the massacre. The despatch to Dr. Kirk, Consul at Zanzibar, is of interest, as showing how the explorer had been an- noyed, pained, and his plans frustrated by the ineffi- ciency of those charged with sending him supplies from Zanzibar. In view of the dispute that has arisen upon this subject among certain representatives of public opinion in the United States and England, it may be well to show whether Dr. Livingstone himself thought he had been well or ill treated. In a post- script to this communicaiton, he says, with evident re- luctance and evident feeling : " P. S. — November 16, 1871. — I regret the neces- sity of bringing the foregoing very unpleasant sub- ject before you, but I have just received letters and information which make the matter doubly serious. Mr. Churchill informed me by a letter of September 19, 1870, that Her Majesty's government had most kindly sent ^1,000 for supplies, to be forwarded to me. Some difficulties had occurred to prevent ^"500 worth from starting, but in the beginning of Novem- ber all were removed. But it appears that you had recourse to slaves again, and one of these slaves in- forms me that goods and slaves all remained at Bagamoio four months, or till near the end of Feb- uary, 1871. No one looked near them during that time, but a rumor reached them that the Consul was - T g EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. coming, and off they started, two days before your arrival, not on their business, but on some private trip of your own. These slaves came to Unyan- yembe in May last, and there they lay till war broke out and gave them, in July, a good excuse to lie there still. " A whole year has thus been spent in feasting slaves on ^"500 sent by government to me. Like the man who was tempted to despair when he broke the photograph of his wife, I feel inclined to relinquish hope of ever getting help from Zanzibar to finish the little work I have still to do. I wanted men, not slaves, and free men are abundant at Zanzi- bar; but if the matter is committed to Ludha in- stead of an energetic Arab, with some little superin- tendence by your dragoman or others, I may wait twenty years and your slaves feast and fail. D. L. " I will just add that the second batch of slaves had, like the first, two freemen as the leaders, and one died of smallpox. The freemen in the first party ■of slaves were Shereef and Awathe. I enclose also a shameless overcharge in Ludha's bill, $364 06^.— D. L. This should appear to be a complete justification of Mr. Stanley's energetic animadversions upon the general maladministration of affairs at Zanzibar by the British Consulate there so far as they were re- lated to Dr. Livingstone. It should be a source of honest congratulation to every American that a citizen of the United States, representing one of the most widely circulated public journals of the nation. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 3I9 energetically sent forward " men, not slaves," and fur- nished supplies by means of which, it may reason- ably be expected, the explorer may proceed with his great work and accomplish the object so dear to his admirable ambition. Dr. Livingstone's next dispatch is to Earl Granville, from Ujiji, December 18, 1871. It is almost wholly of an official nature, containing his theory, already herein set forth, of the watershed of the Nile, but con- tains a paragraph relating the arrival of the " Herald" expedition, which is well worthy of quotation : "A vague rumor reached Ujiji in the beginning of last month that an Englishman had come to Unyan- yembe with boats, horses, men, and goods in abund- ance. It was in vain to conjecture who this could be ; and my eager inquiries were met by answers so contradictory that I began to doubt if any stranger had come at all. But one day, I cannot say which, for I was three weeks too fast in my reckoning, my man Susi came dashing up in great excitement, and gasped out, 'An Englishman coming ; see him P and off he ran to meet him. The American flag at the head of the caravan told me the nationality of the stranger. It was Henry M. Stanley, the travelling correspondent of the New York ■ Herald,' sent by the son of the editor, James Gordon Bennett, Jr., at an expense of ,£5,000, to obtain correct information about me if living, and if dead to bring home my bones. The kindness was extreme, and made my whole frame thrill with excitement and gratitude. I had been left nearly destitute by the moral idiot Shereef selling off my goods for slaves and ivory for 320 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. himself. My condition was sufficiently forlorn, for I had but a few articles of barter left of what I had taken the precaution to leave here, in case of extreme need. The strange news Mr. Stanley had to tell to one for years out of communication with the world was quite reviving. Appetite returned, and in a week I began to feel strong. Having men and goods, and information that search for an outlet of the Tan- ganyika was desired by Sir Roderick Murchison, we went for a month's cruise down its northern end. This was a pleasure trip compared to the weary tramping of all the rest of my work ; but an outflow we did not find." The opening paragraph of the dispatch from which this is taken is so finely characteristic, that it should not be omitted. Dr. Livingstone began his letter to Lord Clarendon's successor in this beautifully cour- teous manner: "My Lord — The despatch of Lord Clarendon, dated 31st May, 1870, came to this place on the 13th ult., and its very kindly tone and sympathy afforded me a world of encouragement. Your lordship will excuse me in saying that with my gratitude there mingled sincere sorrow that the personal friend who signed it was no more." The last of these despatches of the explorer was the longest, and, perhaps, the most worthy of his fame. Addressed to Earl Granville, it was a clear, full statement of the prevalence of the African slave trade and a terrible denunciaton of it, together with a proposition 'J which," he says, " I have very much at heart — the possibility of encouraging the native MAP OF THE WATERSHED OF AFRICA. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 323 Christians of English settlements on the west coast of Africa, to remove, by voluntary emigration, to a healthy spot on this side the continent." There are in Zanzibar a considerable number of British subjects from India, called Banians. They are, like all Brit- ish subjects, prohibited from engaging in the slave trade, but shrewdly managing to throw the responsi- bility upon the Arabs, they are in fact responsible for the slave trade of Zanzibar and all the horrible " slaving" of East Africa. " The Manyema cannibals," says Dr. Livingstone, in this dispatch to Earl Gran- ville, " among whom I spent nearly two years, are innocents compared with our protected Banian fel- low-subjects. By their Arab agents they compass the destruction of more human lives in one year than the Manyema do for their fleshpots in ten." " Slaves are not bought," he says in another place, " in the countries to which the Banian agents proceed. In- deed it is a mistake to call the system of Ujiji 'slave trade' at all; the captives are not traded for, but murdered for, and the gangs which are dragged coast- wise are usually not slaves, but captive free people." To eradicate this fearful wrong, the practical remedy proposed by the explorer in his letter to Earl Gran- ville is encouragement by the British government to the voluntary emigration of native Christians from the English settlements of the West Coast to the East Coast. In reply to the argument of the un- healthfulness of this portion of Africa he says that the fevers are bad enough indeed, but that very much more of the disease prevailing is due to intemperance and gross licentiousness than fever. The whole dis- 19 324 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. patch is a demonstration of Dr. Livingstone's earnest piety, humanity, and practical sagacity. If there are some passages in it which show that his Highland blood is up, they may be attributed to a fiery hatred of injustice. These quotations from Dr. Livingstone's letters of this important period of his life will be appropriately concluded with his letter of thanks to the editor of the "Herald": " Ujiji, on Tanganyika, ) "East Africa, November, 1871. j "James Gordon Bennett, Esq., Jr.: — " My Dear Sir — It is in general somewhat difficult to write to one we have never seen — it feels so much like addressing an abstract idea — but the presence of your representative, Mr. H. M. Stanley, in this distant region takes away the strangeness I should otherwise have felt, and in writing to thank you for the extreme kindness that prompted you to send him, I feel quite at home. " If I explain the forlorn condition in which he found me you will easily perceive that I have good reason to use very strong expressions of gratitude. I came to Ujiji off a tramp of between four hundred and five hundred miles, beneath a blazing vertical sun, having been baffled, worried, defeated and forced to return, when almost in sight of the end of the geo- graphical part of my mission, by a number of half- caste Moslem slaves sent to me from Zanzibar, in- stead of men. The sore heart made still sorer by the woful sights I had seen of man's inhumanity to man reached and told zn the bodily frame and depressed EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 325 it beyond measure. I thought that I was dying on my feet. It is not too much to say that almost every step of the weary sultry way was in pain, and I reach- ed Ujiji a mere ' ruckle' of bones. "There I found that some five hundred pounds sterling worth of goods which I had ordered from Zanzibar had unaccountably been entrusted to a drunken half-caste Moslem tailor, who, after squander- ing them for sixteen months on the way to Ujiji, fin- ished up by selling off all that remained for slaves and ivory for himself. He had "divined" on the Ko- ran and found that I was dead. He had also written to the Governor of Unyanyembe that he had sent slaves after me to Manyema, who returned and re- ported my decease, and begged permission to sell off the few goods that his drunken appetite had spared. He, however, knew perfectly well, from men who had seen me, that I was alive, and waiting for the goods and men ; but as for morality, he is evidently an idiot, and there being no law here except that of the dag- ger or musket, I had to sit down in great weakness, destitute of everything save a few barter cloths and beads, which I had taken the precaution to leave here in case of extreme need. The near prospect of beg- gary among Ujijians made me miserable. I could not despair, because I laughed so much at a friend who, on reaching the mouth of the Zambezi, said that he was tempted to despair on breaking the photo- graph of his wife. We could have no success after that. Afterward the idea of despair had to me such a strong smack of the ludicrous that it was out of the question. 326 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. " Well, when I had got to about the lowest verge, vague rumors of an English visitor reached me. I thought of myself as the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho; but neither priest, Levite, nor Samaritan could possibly pass my way. Yet the good Samaritan was close at hand, and one of my people rushed up at the top of his speed, and, in great excitement, gasped out, 'An Englishman com- ing! I see him!' and off he darted to meet him. An American flag, the first ever seen in these parts, at the head of a caravan, told me the nationality of the stranger. I am as cold and non-demonstrative as we islanders are usually reputed to be ; but your kind- ness made my frame thrill. It was, indeed, over- whelming, and I said in my soul, ' Let the richest blessings descend from the Highest on you and yours ! ' The news Mr. Stanley had to tell was thrilling. The mighty political changes on the Continent; the success of the Atlantic cables; the election of Gen- eral Grant, and many other topics rivited my atten- tion for days together, and had an immediate and beneficial effect on my health. I had been without news from home for years save what I could glean from a few Saturday Reviews and Punch of 1868. The appetite revived, and in a week I began to feel strong again. " Mr. Stanley brought a most kind and encourag- ing despatch from Lord Clarendon, whose loss I sin- cerely deplore, the first I have received from the Foreign Office since 1866, and information that the British government had kindly sent a thousand EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 327 pounds sterling to my aid. Up to his arrival I was not aware of any pecuniary aid. I came unsalaried, but this want is now happily repaired, and I am anxious that you and all my friends should know that, though uncheered by letter, I have stuck to the task which my friend Sir Roderick Murchison set me with 'John Bullish' tenacity, believing that all would come right at last " The watershed of South Central Africa is over seven hundred miles in length. The fountains thereon are almost innumerable — that is, it would take a man's lifetime to count them. From the watershed they converge into four large rivers, and these again into two mighty streams in the great Nile valley, which begins in ten degrees to twelve degrees south latitude. It was long ere light dawned on the ancient problem and gave me a clear idea of the drainage. I had to feel my way, and every step of the way, and was, generally, groping in the dark, for who cared where the waters ran ? We drank our fill and let the rest run by. " The Portuguese who visited Cazemba asked for slaves and ivory, and heard of nothing else. I asked about the waters, questioned and cross-questioned, until I was almost afraid of being set down as afflict- ed with hydrocephalus. "My last work, in which I have been greatly hindered from want of suitable attendants, was following the central line of drainage down through the country of the cannibals, called Manyuema, or, shortly, Manyema. This line of drainage has four large lakes in it. The fourth I was near when obliged $b turn. It is from * 328 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. one to three miles broad, and never can be reached at any point or at any time of the year. Two west- ern drains, the Lupira, or Bartle Frere's River, flow into it at Lake Kamolondo. Then the great River Lomaine flows through Lake Lincoln into it, too, and seems to form the western arm of the Nile, on which Petherick traded. " Now, I knew about six hundred miles of the watershed, and unfortunately the seventh hundred is the most interesting of the whole ; for in it, if I am not mistaken, four fountains arise from an earthen mound, and the last of the four becomes, at no great distance off, a large river. Two of these run north to Egypt, Lupira and Louraine, and two run south into inner Ethiopia, as the Liambai, or upper Zam- bezi, and the Kafneare, but these are but the sources of the Nile mentioned by the Secretary of Minerva, in the city of Sais to Herodotus. I have heard of them so often, and at great distances off, that I can- not doubt their existence, and in spite of the sore longing for home that seizes me every time I think of my family I wish to finish up by their rediscovery. " Five hundred pounds sterling worth of goods have again unaccountably been entrusted to slaves, and have been over a year on the way, instead of four months. I must go where they lie at your ex- pense, ere I can put the natural completion to my work. "And if my disclosures regarding the terrible Ujijian slavery should lead to the suppression of the east coast slave trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far than the discovery of all the Nile sources EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 329 together. Now that you have done with domestic slavery forever, lend us your powerful aid toward this great object. This fine country is blighted, as with a curse from above, in order that the slavery privileges of the petty Sultan of Zanzibar may not be infringed, and the rights of the Crown of Portugal, which are mythical, should be kept in abeyance till some future time when Africa will become another India to Por- tuguese slave traders. " I conclude by again thanking you most cordially or your great generosity, and am, " Gratefully yours, " David Livingstone." Dr Livingstone's plan of exploration for the future will lead him far southward of Ujiji. He will march southwestward from Unyanyembe and passing south of Tanganyika Lake traverse the country of Cazem- be, and by a general circular course again reach the supposed sources of the Nile, and finish the work which was before so bravely begun and prosecuted, and so unfortunately brought to imperfect termina- tion by reason of the neglect or incapacity of the representatives of the British government at Zan- zibar. CHAPTER XVI. INTELLIGENCE OF THE SUCCESS OF THE HERALD ENTER- PRISE. Mr. Stanley's Despacthes to the " Herald" — They Create a Profound Sensation — The Question of the Authenticity of His Reports — Conclusive Proof Thereof — Testimony of the English Press, John Livingstone, Earl Granville, and the Queen of England Herself. Mr. Stanley's despatches to the " Herald ," as we have already seen, were sent through the London bureau of that office. The noted telegram, printed on the morning of July 2, 1872, — of which a copy has been printed on preceding pages — created a profound sensation. Followed by other cable telegrams giving reports of the newspaper reporter's journey towards Europe and his reception at Paris and elsewhere, the intelligence was received with almost as much avidity as the news which came from day to day of the late Franco-German war, or that of the attempted revolu- tion in Paris. But to some, the reports of Mr. Stanley's great suc- cess were incredible. There were those who did not believe he had seen Livingstone, and who did believe that his story of the meeting — with, of course, all the correspondence from Zanzibar, Unyanyembe, Ujiji, and elsewhere — was but an adroitly-devised romance, after the fashion of that of Ali Moosa, to cover up inglorious failure. It is needless now to fully state 330 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 33 1 the arguments upon which this incredulity was based. Perhaps newspaper jealousy had something to do with it. Certainly it was a matter of deep chagrin to many Englishmen that the British government, upon whose soil the sun never sets, should have been totally eclipsed by the enterprise of private citizens of a rival nationality. Then there were certain little errors — chiefly misprints and the excusable mistakes of tele- graphing long despatches great distances — which were claimed by the doubting as showing that the so- called great Special Search Expedition of the " Her- ald" was but a magnificent hoax, after all. Moreover, the universal interest manifested in the subject, gave a splendid opportunity to adventurers, both male and female, to ventilate themselves and become public characters. Hence, those who had known Mr. Stan- ley as a native of Wales, and not of Missouri, or of this, that, or the other country ; who knew that he had not been a correspondent as had been generally stated ; and, in fine, who knew that many assertions in regard to him were untrue — these adventurers be- came even more numerous than the celebrated cow of the crumpled horn which originated the terrible conflagration of Chicago, and then, with miraculous self-multiplication, surpassed in number the cattle of a thousand hills, and, mournfully ruminating over her sad mishap in kicking over the kerosene lamp, became the observed of all observers in all Christian lands, and at the same instant of astronomical and clock time. It were needless to disguise the fact, however, that the statements of those incredulous of the Search 332 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. Expedition's wonderful success, being for some time constantly iterated and reiterated through the press, had considerable effect upon the public mind, and ac- tually left it for a period in a state of painful uncer- tainty in regard to the fate of the great explorer, the truth in regard to whom was earnestly desired by all intelligent persons throughout Christendom. Hap- pily, the authenticity of Mr. Stanley's reports, and with it the recent safety of Dr. Livingstone have been placed beyond reasonable doubt by a mass of testi- mony against which no one can dispute who will not dispute against the sun. Much of that testimony has already appeared in this volume, different portions in their appropriate places. These are : i. The statement of the Hon. E. Joy Morris, Ex- Minister of the United States at Constantinople. He abundantly establishes the character of Mr. Stan- ley as that of a most energetic, fearless, and honest man. The first two qualities greatly enabled him to achieve success in the search expedition ; the last is a sure guaranty that, had he not won success, he would not have claimed it. Mr. Morris's statement is also of value because utterly disproving and for- ever putting to rest a certain tissue of misrepresen- tations in regard to Mr. Stanley's history in Asia Minor. 2. The letters of Dr. Livingstone to Earl Granville, which were published by authority of the British gov- ernment. In these letters, the African explorer not only gratefully alludes to Mr. Stanley but expressly says his despatches are entrusted to his care, because EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 333 of the great traveller's belief in Mr. Stanley's enter- prise and capacity to accomplish whatever he might undertake. In one of these despatches, Dr. Living- stone also states that he had given to the custody of Mr. Stanley his journal of explorations, sealed, to be de- livered to his daughter, when the commander of the Search Expedition of the " Herald" should arrive in England. 3. Upon Mr. Stanley's arrival in England, this jour- nal was promptly forwarded to Miss Livingstone. Her acknowledgment was published in many English and American journals. It was as follows : Kelly Wemyss Bay, by Greenock, ) August 6, 1872. \ Dear Sir — I write to say that I received last Saturday my father's letters and the diary which were entrusted to you by him. I wish also to express to you my heartfelt gratitude for going in search of my father and aiding him so nobly and bringing the long-looked-for letters safely. Believe me yours truly, AGNES LIVINGSTONE. Henry M. Stanley, Esq. 4. Dr. Livingstone's letter of thanks to James Gor- don Bennett, Esq., Jr., the handwriting of which was published, in fac simile, in the " Herald," and fully substantiated by Mr. John Livingstone, of Canada, brother of the explorer, and more familiar with him and his handwriting than any man living. 5. The letter of John Livingstone to Mr. Blake, American Consul at Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada, which was accompanied by a letter from Dr. Living- stone, proving handwriting, and forwarded to the " Herald" through the Department of State at Washington. This letter follows : LlSTOWELL, August 24, 1872. F. N. Blake, Esq., United States Consul, Hamilton, Ontario: Dear Sir — Would you kindly oblige me by conveying in your official ca- 334 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. pacity to Mr. Bennett, proprietor of the New York 'Herald,' and also to Mr. Stanley, the leader of the " Herald Livingstone Search Expedition," my warmest congratulations on the succeseful issue of that expedition. Having noticed a number of articles in the public press reflecting doubts on the veracity of Mr. Stanley and the ' Herald,' I am glad to be able to say that I place the most implicit confidence in the statements of Mr. Stanley and the 4 Herald. I can also assure you that Dr. Livingstone holds the American government and people in the highest estimation, principally on account of the late abolition of slavery in the United States, and I trust that his persistent efforts to check the nefarious traffic in slaves in Africa will be crowned with success. I am, yours respectfully, JOHN LIVINGSTONE. 6. The Royal Geographical Society of London, fully persuaded of the authenticity of Mr. Stanley's reports, tendered him a formal reception at Brighton. The meeting occurred and caused a great deal of comment. 7. The Sovereign of England has herself on more than one occasion tendered special honors to Mr. Stanley on account of his success in finding Dr. Liv- ingstone. Evidence like this is not to be shaken by the as- severations of penny-a-liners. It must be regarded by the candid as absolutely conclusive. Such, it is believed, would be the result, had Mr. Stanley been a British subject instead of an American citizen. As the fact is, the case for the " Herald" Expedition is almost immeasurably stronger. It was a matter of profound chagrin to most of the English people that an American enterprise should be successful in the search for one of the most illustrious of Englishmen, whilst English expeditions should have failed. Under such circumstances, Mr. Stanley's proofs had to be absolutely unassailable and his credentials unanswer- ably satisfactory, or they would not have been re- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 335 ceived at all. Both majesty and ministry would have given the commander of the American enterprise the coldest possible shoulder. Instead, they crowned him with laurels. The only conclusion with reasonable minds must be that the " Herald" expedition was a splendid success, and further doubt of it can only be a stupid and cruel skepticism * * It is not believed that anything further is needed to convince the public ot what most of the intelligent public is already convinced ; but it may be well to place on record the statements of a number of prominent journals of the world, and reference to the action of certain learned societies. On July 4th, 1872, the Lodon "Morning Post" said: " Far surpassing everything of local import in interest just now is the inform- ation afforded by the New York 'Herald' to the London press of the discovery of Dr. Livingstone. Far surpassing everything which has been hitherto achieved by journalistic enterprise is the discovery of the great African explorer — concern- ing whose fate the peoples of every civilized State in the world have been anx- ious for many years — by the special correspondent of a daily newspaper commis- sioned to find him. We are accustomed to laugh on this side of the Atlantic at the rage which prevails for a knowledge of what are classed as ' big things' among our American kinsmen ; but it is not only with a feeling of satisfaction, but also of kindred pride, that we express our admiration of this wonderful undertaking, which was conceived and has been carried to such a successful issue by the pro- prietor of our New York contemporary." The London " Telegraph" of the same date says : / " Yesterday we, in company with the whole people of Britain, listened to the narration of the outlines of a tale describing the accomplishment of a work as daring in its execution as that of Vasco de Gama, as solitary in its accompani- ment as that of Robinson Crusoe, and quite as romantic in its progress as that of Marco Polo. The mind delights to realize, even in imagination, the moment when the gallant anil indefatigable Stanley won his way in front of his little band of followers — making up in noise what it lacked in numbers — to the outskirts of Ujiji, and we must, all of us, envy the republic of the United States the fact that the American flag was carried proudly at the head of his force in happy agree- ment, and that under the banner of the Stars and Stripes he afforded succor to the lonely Briton." And thus the London " Daily News:" "The extraordinary narrative which has just been communicated to the world by the New York ' Herald' supplies one of the most exciting stories which civilization has had since the revelation of the startling truths of Bruce. Mr. Stanley gives to his collation a somewhat picturesque coloring, but the grand 336 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. fact remains that he found Livingstone notwithstanding, and not, as Sir Henry Rawlinson conjectured lately, that Livingstone found Stanley. It is not easy to imagine an enterprise more full of toil and peril than this strange journey of the lonely American, attended, to be sure, by a small but reluctant escort, in the hitherto trackless wilds of Africa and among people of native tribes of unknown names. It is wholly impossible not to admire the daring and perseverance which the American discovery has crowned with triumph." Said the Edinburgh (Scotland) " Oourant:" "It is long since the columns of a newspaper have contained so vividly ro- mantic and so startlingly wonderful a story as that which has just been told to us of the fortunes that befell Mr. Stanley in his quest after Livingstone, and of the most strange circumstances under which the object of that quest was fulfilled The whole narrative reads, indeed, more like a forgotten episode from the trav- els of some Marco Polo or Vasco de Gama than, as it is. a truthful and unvar- nished extract from the severe chronicle of nineteenth century fact." This brief extract from the London "Globe" of July 9: "The final discovery of Dr. Livingstone would seem to have been a bitter disappointment to a large class of his fellow countrymen. The doubt and mys- tery which hung around his fate promised to produce a perennial stream of quasi-scientific gossip, and to yield an endless crop of letters to the ' Times.' As it is, those ' interested* in the matter are reduced to patching the rags of the worn out controversy." The London "Times" of July 15th contained a long letter from Mr. Charles Beke in which he fully answers a number of criticisms upon the Livingstone- Stanley despatches, the said criticisms having originated in British chagrin, not altogether inexcusable, at the fine success of the American enterprise. That great journal of July 27th editorially says: " To the enterprise of an American newspaper we are indebted for trustworthy information that Dr. Livingstone still lives and prosecutes his unexampled re- searches." The London "Advertiser" of the date last mentioned also published a long leading article upon the subject, beginning : " In another column we publish the first letter from Dr. Livingstone which has been received in England. By the energy of the proprietor of the New York ' Herald' the great English traveller has been found and succored at a mo- ment when he seemed to be upon his * last legs.' In his own words, when Stanley arrived at Ujiji 'he thought he was dying upon his feet.' " The London " Standard" of July 26th remarked with emphasis : " All doubts concerning the bona fides of Mr. Stanley's narratives of his ad- ventures in Africa will now be laid at rest by the arrival of Dr. Livingstone's letters. We shall, apparently, have to wait a little for the publication of the geographical despatches, as the report of an intended meeting of the Geogra- phical Society on Monday for the purpose of hearing them read is unfounded. But it is satisfactory to feel that even the very faint suspicions cast on the au- thenticity of Mr. Stanley's story are dissipated, and that we may absolutely rely EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 337 upon the information which that gallant and triumphant traveller has brought home." The Manchester (England) " Guardian" of July 2qth, in an elaborate article in criticism of the English authorities because they had not organized a success- ful expedition, and had given the great explorer just cause for complaint, says the subject is one " which can be matter of no agreeable examination for any Englishman." And it concludes : " Our magnificently equipped expedition did simply nothing ; and it was re- served for Mr. Stanley, after his return to the coast, to organize a caravan with stores for Dr. Livingstone. * Before we left Zanzibar,' says Mr. New, ' a cara- van numbering fifty-seven men was packed, signed, sealed, addressed, and des- patched, like so many packets of useful commodities, to the service and succor of Dr. Livingstone.' What says England to all this ?" The Leeds (England) " Mercury" of the date last mentioned remarks : "The success of Mr. Stanley in his search for Dr. Livingstone is one of the most brilliant chapters in the history of newspaper enteq^rise. The expedition was an unprecedented one, and when it was first reported in this country there were few who did not laugh at it as a Yankee notion, conceived and started for the glorification of the New York ' Herald' and to gratify ihe vanity of Mr. James Gordon Bennett. The result has shown not only how little there was to laugh at, but how much there was to admire in such a project." The journals of continental Europe were not less emphatic in awarding un- mixed praise to the successful expedition of the American journal, and Geo- graphical Societies, from Italy to Russia, awarded gold medals to Mr. Stanley in recognition of his services in behalf of geographical knowledge. By this array of irresistible testimony — and even more will be forthcoming in natural order in the account of Mr. Stanley's reception in Europe — the most of American journals acknowledged the success of the expedition, and awarded unstinted praise to the " Herald." To clinch the conclusive testimony already adduced, however, and leave no possible room for doubt, it may be well to bring forth witnesses of the highest station, not even excepting the Queen of England herself. Earl Granville, upon the receipt of Dr. Livingstone's despatches, forwarded from Paris by Mr. Stanley, directed an official acknowledgement, which was as follows . '• Foreign Office, August 1, 1872. ' Sir — I am directed by Earl Granville to acknowledge the receipt of a pack- Age containing letters and despatches from Dr. Livingstone, which you were good enough to deliver to Her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris for transmission to this department, and I am to convey to you His Lordship's thanks for taking charge of these interesting documents. " I am, your most obedient, humble servant, "ENFIELD. " Henry M. Stanley, Esq." 338 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. And on the next day Earl Granville himself wrote the following letter : "August 2, 1872. Sir — I was not aware until you mentioned it that there was any doubt as to the authenticity of Dr. Livingstone's despatches, which you delivered to Lord Lyons on the 31st of July ; but, in consequence of what you have said, I have inquired into the matter, and I find that Mr. Hammmond, the Under Secretary of the Foieign Office, and Mr. Wyld, the head of the Consular and Slave Trade Department, have not the slightest doubt as to the genuineness of the papers which have been received from Lord Lyons, and which are being printed. " I cannot omit this opportunity of expressing to you my admiration of the qualities which have enabled you to achieve the object of your mission, and to attain a result which has been hailed with so much enthusiasm both in the United States and in this country. •* I am, sir, your obedient, "GRANVILLE. " Henry M. Stanley, Esq." As if all this were not enough we have the testimony of the Queen's speech, delivered for Queen Victoria by commission, on the occasion of the prorogation of Parliament, on Saturday, August 10, 1872. The Queen said: " My govern- ment has taken steps intended to prepare the way for dealing more effectually with the slave trade on the East Coast of Africa." The London " Times" of the following Monday, in commenting on this portion of Her Majesty's speech, said: " This paragraph is the most significant part of the throne speech, and we suppose it is not an error to connect the announcement which has just been made by Her Majesty with the recent discovery of Dr. Livingstone and the de- spatches to the Foreign Office brought by Mr. Stanley, of the New York 'Her- ald,' from the great traveller." It would be impossible, it is believed, to more completely demonstrate the hearty acknowledgement of the British government of the success of the Ameri- can enterprise ; an acknowledgment which no earthly power but that of un- answerable truth could have compelled that government to make. GIRAFFES TAKING EXERCISE. CHAPTER XVII. MR. STANLEY'S RECEPTION IN EUROPE. Mr. Stanley is Everywhere Received with Marked Attention — Reception at Paris — In London — The Brighton Banquet — Honors from the Queen of Eng- land. It is now time again to take up the further adven- tures of Mr. Stanley, and follow him upon his long journey back to the abode of civilization. From Zanzibar he sailed across the Indian Ocean to Bom- bay, whence he transmitted despatches announcing the success which had crowned his long labors and journeyings. It was this intelligence, transmitted so fully through the London office of the New York " Herald," which so gratifyingly startled the world about the time of the anniversary of American inde- pendence in 1872. From Bombay, Mr. Stanley pro- ceeded to Europe by way of the Suez canal, reaching Aden, southwestern Arabia, July 1 1 ; Port Said, the head of the Suez canal on the 18th; and arrived at Marseilles in France on the 24th. Here he was re- ceived with kindest welcome, and to some extent be- sieged by gentlemen of his own profession, who trans- mitted to their journals accounts of his doings. At Paris a few days afterwards he was received with ex- hilerating hospitality by the American residents of the city, and was greatly lionized generally. Break- fasting with Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, American Minister, he there met among other distinguished ao 341 342 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. guests, General William T. Sherman, the command- ing officer of the army of the United States, about completing a tour of Europe and the Levant. The General occupied much of the time in examining Mr. Stanley's maps, and discharging some of his fund of caustic humour on the prevalence of the East African slave trade. On July 30th, Minister Washburne and many other Americans in Paris extended a formal in- vitation to Mr. Stanley to meet them at a banquet where they might in a body testify their " high appre- ciation of the indomitable courage, energy, and per- severence which crowned with such brilliant success your efforts to find Dr. Livingstone, as well as to ex- press their sense of the enterprise and liberality of the New York ' Herald' in sending you forth on such an extraordinary mission." Mr. Stanley's reply to this cordial invitation was so modest, so happily expressed, that it is worthy of a place here : Hotel du Helder, Paris, July 30, 1872. Gentlemen — I have received your letter of this date, asking rae to accept the compliment of a dinner from my compatriots and friends now resident in Paris, to be given in acknowledgment of the " enterprise and liberality of the New York Herald" in sending out an expedition in search of Dr. Livingstone, as well as of the extraordinary good fortune and perfect success which, under Providence, attended the footsteps of the expedition I had the honor to com- mand. Gentlemen, believe me, I am deeply conscious of the great honor you would do me, and through me not only to the journal I have the pleasure of serving, but to the patient, resolute, brave and Christian gentleman whom I left in Central Africa. I therefore gladly accept your invitation, and shall be pleased to meet you July 31 at any house or place that may be deemed most convenient. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient and humble servant, HENRY M. STANLEY. To His Excellency E. B. Washburne, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, and many others. The meeting was one of great enjoyment. The EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 343 American Minister, after a happy speech, richly flavored with American allusions, proposed the guest of the evening — " Henry M. Stanley, the discoverer of the discoverer : we honor him for his courage, energy, and fidelity. We rejoice in the triumphant success of his mission, which has gained him im- perishable renown and conferred additional credit on the American name." To this the traveller respond- ed felicitously, and was specially eloquent when speaking of the great explorer of Africa. A number of distinguished gentlemen — artists, journalists, pub- lic men — addressed the meeting. The assemblage adjourned at a late hour, Mr. Stanley strongly im- pressed with the difference between a Parisian ban- quet and an African supper of manioc and hippopot- amus. Other like honors flew upon him, thick and fast. From scientific and literary bodies and from distinguished persons he received invitations to ac- cept which would have occupied him a year. These things do not go to the author of a hoax, however magnificent. The traveller-correspondent could not long remain at the fashionable metropolis, and at once departed for England. His reception in England was most cordial on the part of most intelligent persons, but there was a feeling of national chagrin, if one may so speak, on account of the discovery of Dr. Livingstone having been brought about through American enter- prise, which vented itself in no little carping criticism and the discharge of British atrabilariousness. Hence at once originated that skepticism in regard to the discovery of the great explorer which continued to 344 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. becloud some minds and journals for a number of weeks. But the publication of Dr. Livingstone's sev- eral official despatches — already largely quoted from in this work — and the prompt production of other evidence, heretofore mentioned, brought the English people quite generally to an acknowledgment of the truth. At the annual meeting of the British Associ- ation for the Advancement of Science, which convened at Brighton, August 14th, W. B. Carpenter, LL.D., in the chair, Mr. Stanley's successful mission was hand- somely mentioned. He was twice compelled to rise, in acknowledgment of calls and cheers. Ex-Em- peror Napoleon III. of France, was present and joined in the applause. Here at another meeting, Mr. Stan- ley read a paper on Tanganyika Lake, which was greatly praised. About this time there are meetings of many scientific associations at Brighton, to all of which Mr. Stanley was invited. On the occasion of what has been called " the Brighton Banquet," it being a dinner given to the British Association by the Brigh- ton and Sussex Medical Society, Mr. Stanley ap- peared late in the evening, and, being soon called out, responded to some remarks of a previous speaker in such way as to create some feeling. Good nature at'last prevailed, and harmony was restored among the English savants. But his honors in England did not stop below the recognition of his fine success by royalty itself. Early in September he was invited to an interview with Queen Victoria, and afterwards dined with her and the members of the royal family present at Bal- moral. Upon this occasion the Queen is reported to EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 345 have expressed to him in the most warm and friendly terms her congratulations on the successful result of the American enterprise in furnishing intelligence of the English traveller in Africa, his condition of health, his discoveries, and his hopes for the future previous to his return to Great Britain. Mr. Stanley could hardly be left in a happier situ- ation than partaking of a right royal dinner with Her Majesty of England. CHAPTER XVIII. THE SLAVE TRADE OF EAST AFRICA. Dr. Livingstone's Letter upon the Subject to Mr. Bennett — Compares the Slave Trade with Piracy on the High Seas — Natives of Interior Africa Average Specimens of Humanity — Slave Trade Cruelties — Deaths from Broken Hearts — The Need of Christian Civilization — British Culpability. While waiting for supplies in Unyanyembe, Dr. Livingstone wrote a second letter to Mr. James Gor- don Bennett, which was principally devoted to the slave trade of East Africa, to greatly aid in the abo- lition of which would be more gratifying to the ex- plorer's ambition than to discover all the sources of the Nile. This might well be supposed from what has already been quoted from Dr. Livingstone's de- spatches to his government; but inasmuch as he here directly appeals to the American people, this volume would be incomplete without the remarkable and most thrillingly interesting statements of the letter in ques- stion. They were sent by cable telegram from Lon- don and appeared in the " Herald" newspaper of July 27, 1872 : " At present let me give a glimpse of the slave trade, to which the search and discovery of most of the Nile fountains have brought me face to face. The whole traffic, whether by land or ocean, is a gross outrage on the common law of mankind. It is car- ried on from age to age, and, in addition to the evils it inflicts, presents almost insurmountable obstacles 346 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 347 to intercourse between different portions of the human family. This open sore in the world is partly owing to human cupidity, partly to the ignorance of the more civilized of mankind of the blight which lights chiefly on more degraded piracy on the high seas, (sic.) It was once as common as slave trading is now, but as it became thoroughly known the whole civilized world rose against it. "In now trying to make Eastern African slave trade better known to Americans, I indulge the hope I am aiding on, though in a small degree, the good time coming yet when slavery as well as piracy will be chased from the world. Many have but a faint idea of the evils that trading in slaves inflicts on the victims and authors of its atrocities. Most people imagine that negroes, after being brutalized by a long course of servitude, with but few of the ameliorating influences that elevate the more favored races, are fair average specimens of the African man. Our ideas are derived from slaves of the west coast, who have for ages been subject to domestic bondage and all the depressing agencies of a most unhealthy cli- mate. These have told most injuriously on their physical frames, while fraud and the rum trade have ruined their moral natures so as not to discriminate the difference of the monstrous injustice. " The main body of the population is living free in the interior, under their own chiefs and laws, culti- vating their own farms, catching fish in their own rivers, or fighting bravely with the grand old deni- zens of the forest, which, in more recent continents, can only be reached in rocky strata or under peren- 348 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. nial ice. Winwood Reade hit the truth when he said the ancient Egyptian, with his large, round, black eyes, full, luscious lips, and somewhat depressed nose, is far nearer the typical negro than the west coast African, who has been debased by the unhealthy land he lives in. The slaves generally, and especially those on the west coast, at Zanzibar and elsewhere, are extremely ugly. I have no prejudice against their color ; indeed, any one who lives long among them forgets they are black and feels they are just fellow- men ; but the low, retreating forehead, prognathous jaws, lark-heels and other physical peculiarities com- mon among slaves and West African negroes, always awaken some feelings of aversion akin to those with which we view specimens of the Bill Sykes and 4 Bruiser' class in England. I would not utter a syl- lable calculated to press down either class more deeply in the mire in which it is already sunk, but 1 wish to point out that these are not typical Africans any more than typical Englishmen, and that the na- tives on nearly all the high lands of the interior Continent are, as a rule, fair average specimens of humanity. " I happened to be present when all the head men of the great Chief Msama — who lives west of the south end of Tanganyika — had come together to make peace with certain Arabs who had burned their chief town, and I am certain one could not see more finely formed, intellectual heads in any assembly in London or Paris, and the faces and forms correspond- ed finely with the well-shaped heads. Msama himself had been a sort of Napoleon for fighting and con- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 349 quering- in his younger days. He was exactly like the Ancient Assyrians sculptured on the Nineveh marbles, as Nimrod and others, and he showed him- self to be one of ourselves by habitually indulging in copious potations of beer, called pombe, and had be- come what Nathaniel Hawthorne called ' bulbous be- low the ribs/ I do not know where the phrase 1 bloated aristocracy' arose. It must be American, for I have had glimpses of a good many English noble- men, and Msama was the only specimen of a ' bloated aristocrat' on whom I ever set eyes. " Many of the women are very pretty, and, like all ladies, would have been much prettier if they had only let themselves alone. Fortunately the dears could not change charming black eyes, beautiful fore- heads, nicely rounded limbs, well shaped forms and small hands and feet, but must adorn themselves, and this they do by filing splendid teeth to points like cats' teeth. It was distressing, for it made their smile like that of crocodile ornaments, scarce. They are not black, but of light, warm brown color, and so very sisterish, if I may use the word, it feels an injury done one's self to see a bit of grass stuck through the cart- ilage of the nose so as to bulge out the alee nasi, or wine of the nose of the anatomists. " Cazembe's Queen, Moaria Nyombe by name, would be esteemed a real beauty either in London, Paris, or New York, and yet she had a small hole through the cartilage, near the tip of her fine, slightly aquiline nose. But she had only filed one side of two of the front of her superb snow-white teeth, and then, what a laugh she had ! Let those who wish to 350 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. know go see her. She was carried to her farm in a pony phaeton, which is a sort of throne, fastened on two very long poles and carried by twelve stalwart citizens. If they take the Punch motto of Cazembe — ' Niggers don't require to be shot here' — as their own, they may show themselves to be men ; but whether they do or not Cazembe will show himself a man of sterling good sense. " Now, these people, so like ourselves externally, have brave, genuine human souls. Rua, large sec- tions of country northwest of Cazembe, but still in same inland region, is peopled with men very like those of Wsama and Cazembe. An Arab, Syed Ben Habib, was sent to trade in Rua two years ago, and, as Arabs usually do where natives have no guns, Syed Ben Habib's elder brother carried matters with a high hand. The Rua men observed the elder brother slept in a white tent, and, pitching spears into it by night, Jailed him. As Moslems never forgive blood, the younger brother forthwith ' ran a muck' on all in- discriminately in a large district. " Let it not be supposed any of these people are, like American Indians, insatiable, blood-thirsty sav- ages, who will not be reclaimed or entertain terms of lasting friendship with fair-dealing strangers. Had the actual murderers been demanded, and a little time granted, I feel morally certain, from many other in- stances among tribes who, like the Ba Rua, have not been spoiled by Arab traders, they would all have been given up. "The chiefs of the country would, first of all, have specified the crime of which the elder brother was EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 35 1 guilty, and who had been led to avenge it. It is very likely they would have stipulated no other should be punished but the actual perpetrator, the domestic slave acting under his orders being considered free of blame. " I know nothing that distinguishes the uncon- taminated African from other degraded peoples more than their entire reasonableness and good sense. It is different after they have had wives, children, and relatives kidnapped, but that is more than human nature, civilized or savage, can bear. In the chase in question indiscriminate slaughter, capture, and plunder took place. A very large number of very fine young men were captured and secured in chains and wooden yokes. " I came near the party of Syed Ben Habib, close to a point where a huge rent in the Mountain of Rua allows the escape of the great river Lualaba out of Lake Moora, and here I had for the first time an op- portunity of observing the difference between slaves and freemen made captive. When fairly across the Lualaba, Syed Ben Habib thought his captives safe, and got rid of the trouble of attending to and watch- ing the chained gangs by taking off both chains and yokes. All declared joy and a perfect willingness to follow Syed to the end of the world or elsewhere, but next morning twenty-two made clear of two moun- tains. " Many more, seeing the broad Lualaba roll be- tween them and the homes of their infancy, lost all heart, and in three days eight of them died. They had x>^ complaint but pain in the heart, and they 352 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. pointed out its seat correctly, though many believe the heart situated underneath the top of the sternum, or breast bone. This to me was the most startling death I ever saw. They evidently die of broken- heartedness, and the Arabs wondered, seeing they had plenty to eat. " I saw others perish, particularly a very fine boy ten or twelve years of age. When asked where he felt ill, he put his hand correctly and exactly over the heart. He was kindly carried, and, as he breathed out his soul, was laid gently on the side of the path The captors are not unusually cruel. They were cal- lous. Slaving hardened their hearts. " When Syed, an old friend of mine, crossed Lual- aba, he heard I was in the village, where a company of slave traders were furiously assaulted for three days by justly incensed Bobemba. I would not fight nor allow my people to fire if I saw them, because Bobemba had been especially kind to me. Syed sent a party of his own people to invite me to leave the village and come to him. He showed himself the opposite of hard-hearted ; but slavery hardens within, petrifies the feelings, is bad for the victims and ill for the victimizers. Once, it is said, a party of twelve, who had been slaves in their own country — Cunda or Conda, of which Cazemba is chief or general — were loaded with large, heavy yokes, which were forked trees, about three inches in diameter and seven or eight feet long, the neck inserted in the fork and an iron bar driven across one end of the fork to the other and riveted to the other end, tied at night to the tree or ceiling of the hut, and the neck being fi; m EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 353 in the fork and the slave held off from unloosing it, was excessively troublesome to the wearer, and, when marching, two yokes were tied together by tree ends and loads put on the slaves' heads beside. "A woman, having an additional yoke and load, and a child on her back, said to me on passing, ' They are killing me. If they would take off the yoke I could manage the load and child ; but I shall die with three loads.' The one who spoke this did die ; poor little girl ! Her child perished of starvation. " I interceded some, but when unyoked off they bounded into the long grass, and I was greatly blamed for not caring in presence of the owners of the property. "After the day's march under a broiling, vertical sun, with yokes and heavy loads, the strongest were exhausted. The party of twelve, above mentioned, were sitting down singing and laughing. ' Hallo/ said I, 'these fellows take to it kindly. This must be the class for whom philosophers say slavery is the natural state ;' and I went and asked the cause of their mirth. " I had asked aid of their owner as to the meaning of the word ' Rukha,' which usually means fly or leap. They were using it to express the idea of haunting, as a ghost, inflicting disease or death, and the song was: 'Yes, we going away to Manga, abroad, or white man's land, with yoke on our necks; but we shall have no yokes in death, and shall return and haunt and kill you,' Chorus then struck in, which was the name of the man who had sold each of them, and then fol- lowed the general laugh, in which at first I saw no 3 54 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. bitterness. Tarembee, an old man, at least one hun- dred and four years, being one of the sellers, in ac- cordance with African belief, they had no doubt of being soon able, by ghost power, to kill even him. "The refrain was as if: — 'Oh! oh! oh! bird of freedom, you sold me.' ' Oh ! oh ! oh ! I shall haunt you ! Oh ! oh ! oh !' Laughter told not of mirth, but of tears, such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. He that is higher than the highest re- gardeth." " If I am permitted," says Dr. Livingstone in con- cluding the subject of the slave trade, " in any way to promote its suppression, I shall not grudge the toil and time I have spent. It would be better to lessen this great human woe than to discover the sources of the Nile." The moral degradation of these people is only to be reached and cured, in the deliberate judgment of the explorer-missionary, through the means of Chris- tian civilization. " The religion of Christ," he says with emphasis, " is unquestionably the best for man. I refer to it not as the Protestant, the Catholic, the Greek, or any other, but to the comprehensive faith which has spread more widely over the world than most people imagine, and whose votaries, of what- ever name, are better than any outside the pale." The great end of placing the numerous tribes of East and Central Africa under the pure and elevat- ing morality of the Christian religion cannot be suc- cessful until the suppression of the inhuman slave trade, which has ite headquarters at Zanzibar, shall have been accomplished. It would be unjust to for- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 355 get that Great Britain has done much, very much, for the suppression of this terrible traffic in other portions of the globe. It would be unjust to charge the government of Great Britain with intentional criminality in this case. But it stands proved, by the failure of English expeditions to find Dr. Living- stone, and by his own positive, earnest testimony, now that an American expedition has succeeded in discovering him, that it is the subjects of the British monarchy who are responsible for the existence of the slave trade of Zanzibar and all the nameless hor- rors of the interior resulting therefrom. The moral culpability, by reason of neglect — not to put the case too strongly — of the British government is therefore made manifest ; and of this great national turpitude that government must stand convicted before the bar of Christendom. CHAPTER XIX. THE ANIMAL KINGDOM OF AFRICA, Some Account of the Beasts, Birds, Reptiles, and Insects of Africa — Living- stone's Opinion of the Lion — Elephants, Hippopotami, Rhinoceroses, etc. — Wild Animals Subject to Disease — Remarkable Hunting Explorations — Cumming Slays more than One Hundred Elephants — Du Chaillu and the Gorilla — Thrilling Incidents — Vast Plains Covered with Game — Forests Filled with Birds — Immense Serpents — The Python of South Africa — Ants and other Insects. No portion of the globe is so productive of wild animals as Africa. There animal life is more exten- sive, if we may so say, and more varied than any- where else. The domestic animals of that continent are not to such extent different from those of other parts of the world as to merit special mention, with the exception of the camel, without whose aid a large portion of the country would be not only uninhabit- able but untraversable. The invaluable services which this patient but obstinate beast of burden ren- ders to the inhabitants of Northern Africa are known to all men. In northern Africa and in the central portions, horses are numerous and many of them of excellent breeds. Here and in many parts of South Africa, there are many cattle, used as beasts of bur- den and for beef. Some of them are noted for the prodigious size of their horns. Sheep abound in some portions of the continent, but in South Africa the flocks are composed almost entirely of goats, which 356 NATIVE KILLING A PYTHON. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 359 subsist better on the dry herbs of the dessert, yield more milk, and are considered more palatable food. But in respect to wild beasts — all kinds of "game" as the sportsman would say — Africa, as has been said by Mr. John Bonner, " may be called the region of animal life, since there are more than twice the num- ber of species in it than in the other quarters of the globe." Here are found, in immense numbers, all those kinds of animals which fill the strong cages of the menageries of Europe and America, of parks, and zoological gardens, and many more besides. Here are the most abject and degraded specimens of man- kind and the most sagacious and lordly wild animals. Here are the most beautiful and gentle of birds and the most venomous and terrible serpents and reptiles. Here are small insects whose attacks are fatal to many useful animals, and others — the devouring locusts — which in a single day devastate vast sections of country. The lion, so long regarded as the king of beasts, is found in most parts of interior Africa. We have already seen that Dr. Livingstone's opinion of this beast is not very exalted. It is certainly inferior to the African leopard both in beauty and courage. In strength and prowess this latter animal is not in- ferior to the Asiatic tiger. The hippopotamus, sup- posed to be the Behemoth of Job, is found in nearly all the rivers of Central and South Africa and the Nile. His body is often as large as that of a full- grown elephant. A noted African hunter killed one with a single ball, which was six feet broad across the belly. The skin of an adult hippopotamus, accord- 21 360 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. ing to Du Chaillu, who shot several and stuffed one, is from one and a-half to two inches thick, and ex- tremely solid and tough — quite bullet-proof, in fact, except in a few thinner spots, as behind the ear and near the eyes. It is devoid of hair with the excep- tion of a few short bristly hairs in the tail, and a few scattered tufts near the muzzle. The color of the skin is a clayey yellow, assuming a roseate hue under the belly. After death, the animal becomes a dull brownish color. It is successfully hunted by the na- tives of east equatorial Africa, who approach within a few feet of it, fire their " slugs" at his eye and then run for dear life ; for if the animal be not killed the hunter surely will be. Cumming, the most success- ful of African Nimrods, once slew some ten hippopot- ami in the course of a couple of days, and secured the carcasses of most of them, dragging them with oxen to which were attached strong cables fastened to the beasts. The bagging of several tons of edible game — the meat of the beast is described by some as like beef, by others as like pork — in a day or two could not be accomplished elsewhere than in Africa. Most of the perennial rivers and even small streams of a few feet depth abound in crocodiles. Those of South Africa, whose nature and habits are described by Dr. Livingstone and Cumming, are a different species from the crocodile of the Nile, one of the sa- cred animals of the Egyptians. They are as great in size, however, and, perhaps, greater in voracity. Their great numbers, particularly in the waters of equatorial Africa, are astonishing. The natives hunt them, going in canoes and using a sort of harpoon, EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 36 1 with which the stout armour, elsewhere impenetrable, of the animal is pierced behind the legs. The na- tives are fond of the flesh. Though a full grown crocodile will weigh as much as an ox, there is not much flesh that is edible. Cumming shot one more than twenty feet in length in a stream not more than twelve feet wide. " On our return to Damagondai's town," says Du Chaillu, " as we were paddling along, I perceived in the distance ahead a beautiful deer, looking meditatively into the waters of the lagoon, of which from time to time it took a drink. I stood up to get a shot, and we approached with the utmost silence. But just as I raised my gun to fire, a croco- dile leaped out of the water, and, like a flash, dove back again with the struggling animal in his powerful jaws. So quickly did the beast take his prey that though I fired at him I was too late. I would not have believed that this huge and unwieldy animal could move with such velocity; but the natives told me that the deer often falls prey to the crocodile. Sometimes he even catches the leopard, but then there is a harder battle than the poor little deer could make." The rhinoceros, formerly found on the slopes of Table Mountain, has now been driven far into the interior of South Africa, but here these huge ani- mals, second only to the elephant and hippopotamus in bulk, are found along all the streams and in the neighborhood of fountains and pools of water. Dr. A. Smith in his "Zoology of South Africa" makes three species of rhinoceros. The great hunter, Cum- ming, describes what he considers as four different 362 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. kinds. * Dr. Livingstone, however, asserts that there are but two species — the white and the black — insist- ing that all the species made by naturalists beyond * He says : Of the rhinoceros there are four varieties in South Africa distin- guished by the Bechuanas by the names of the borele, or black rhinoceros, the keitloa, or two-horned black rhinoceros, the muchocho, or common white rhi- noceros, and the kobaoba, or long-horned white rhinoceros. Both varieties or the black rhinoceros are extremely fierce and dangerous, and rush headlong and unprovoked at any object which attracts their attention. They never attain much fat, and their flesh is tough, and not much esteemed by the Bechuanas. Their food consists almost entirely of the thorny branches of the wait-a-bit thorns. Their horns are much shorter than those of the other varieties, seldom exceeding eighteen inches in length. They are finely polished with constant rubbing against the trees. The skull is remarkably formed, its most striking feature being the tremendous thick ossification in which it ends above the nos- trils. It is on this mass that the horn is supported. The horns are not con nected with the skull, being attached merely by the skin, and they may thus be separated from the head by means of a sharp knife. They are hard and per fectly %olid throughout, and are a fine material for various articles, such as drink- ing cups, mallets for rifles, handles for turner's tools, etc., etc. The horn is capable of a very high polish. The eyes of the rhinoceros are small and spark- ling, and do not readily observe the hunter, provided he keeps to leeward of them. The skin is extremely thick, and only to be penetrated by bullets hard- ened with solder. During the day the rhinoceros will be found lying asleep or standing indolently in some retired part of the forest, or under the base of the mountains, sheltered from the power of the sun by some friendly grove of um- brella-topped mimosas. In the evening they commence their nightly ramble, and wander over a great extent of country. They usually visit the fountain? between the hours of nine and twelve o'clock at night, and it is on these occa- sions that they may be most successfully hunted, and with the least danger. The black rhinoceros is subject to paroxysms of unprovoked fury, often plowing up the ground for several yards with its horns, and assaulting large bushes in the most violent manner. On these bushes they work for hours with their horns, at the same time snorting and blowing loudly, nor do they leave them in general until they have broken them into pieces. The rhinoceros is supposed by many, and by myself among the rest, to be the animal alluded to by Job, chap, xxxix., verses 10 and 11, where it is written, "Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow ? or will he harrow the valleys after thee ? Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great ? or wilt thou leave thy labor to him ?" evi- dently alluding to an animal possessed of great strength and of untamable dis- position, for both of which the rhinoceros is remarkable. All the four varieties delight to roll and wallow in mud, with which their rugged hides are gene* erally incrusted. — Adventures in South Africa, 1. pp. 215-16. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 363 these two are based on mere differences in size, age, and direction of horns, all which vary much in each variety. The rhinoceros has a "guardian spirit" in the rhinoceros-bird, his constant companion and de- voted friend. * Those of the black species are very wary, fierce, and difficult to take. Their flesh is tough also, whilst that of the white rhinoceros is fat, tender, and, to the South African tribes, delicious. He is of a comparatively gentle spirit also, and more easily found and dispatched. But the most interesting of the wild animals of Africa is the elephant, which, as is well known, is in several respects different from the elephant of Asia. His ears are larger, and the formation of his tough, * These singular birds are thus described by Cumming : — These rhinoceros- birds are constant attendants upon the hippopotamus and the four varieties of rhinoceros, their object being to feed upon the ticks and other parasitic insects that swarm upon these animals. They are of a grayish color and are nearly as large as a common thrush ; their voice is very similar to that of the mistletoe thrush. Many a time have these ever-watchful birds disappointed me in my stalk, and tempted me to invoke an anathema upon their devoted heads. They are the best friends the rhinoceros has, and rarely fail to awaken him even in his soundest nap. " Chukuroo" perfectly understands their warning, and, spring- ing to his feet, he generally first looks about him in every direction, after which tie invariably makes off. I have often hunted a rhinoceros on horseback, which led me a chase of many miles, and required a number of shots before he fell, during which chase several of these birds remained by the rhinoceros to the last. They reminded me of mariners on the deck of some bark sailing on the ocean, for they perched along his back and sides ; and as each of my bullets told on the shoulder of the rhinoceros, they ascended about six feet into the air utter- ing their harsh cry of alarm, and then resumed their position. It sometimes happened that the lower branches of trees, under which the rhinoceros passed, swept them from their living deck, but they always recovered their former sta- tion ; they also adhere to the rhinoceros during the night. I have often shot these animals at midnight when drinking at the fountains, and the birds, imag- ining they were asleep, remained with them till morning, and on my approaching, before taking flight, they exerted themselves to their utmost to awaken Chukuroo from his deep sleep. — Ibid., 292-3. 364 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. elastic feet is very different. His tusks also are larger and he reaches a greater size than the Asiatic elephant. He has been found in nearly all parts of interior Africa which have been explored, and to this day may be seen from vessels sailing along the West Coast near the equator, as he comes down to the sea to bathe his ponderous body. These animals are found in troops, varying in number from a few ta several hundred. At times different troops have been seen together, whose heavy tread, in escaping, would make the earth tremble. They are exceedingly deli- cate as to their food, of which, however, they require immense quantities. Docile by nature, they are wonderfully fearful of man, whom, with a favorable wind, they can scent at a great distance ; but in de- fence of their young or when attacked they fight with the greatest courage and effect. The elephant is unquestionably recognized by all animals of the forest as their undoubted master. They often retain; life long after being mortally wounded, and when about to die, the agony of the dissolution of such an immense physical system forces tears from their eyes,, but they expire without convulsions and in heroic silence. It might almost appear that their predomi- nating feeling is that of sorrow that the vast forests through which they have roamed for years — perhaps a century — shall know them no more. It is difficult to believe one can kill these sublime animals, for gain alone, unless he be, at bottom, a genuine scoun- drel. It is doubtless different, however, when the grati- fication of the sporting propensity is the impelling EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 365 motive. It was this which carried the Scottish hun- ter, Roualeyn Gordon Cumming, into the interior of South Africa, only about two years after the arrival there of Dr. Livingstone, and where he remained, hunting elephants, lions, rhinoceroses, hippopotami camelopards, and other great game, for the period of nearly five years. Mr. Cumming's "Adventures in South Africa" were published, if my memory does not err, in the year 1850. They were speedily re- published in America, and were at first received with no little incredulity, as, by the way, most accounts of adventures in Africa, from Mungo Park to Stanley, have been. Adventures there appear to be naturally incredible to the rest of the world. It is as it is with respect to the rebuilding of Chicago ; no one believes it all until he sees it all, and after that he can believe that almost anything is within the power of man's spirit of enterprise once fully aroused* The ♦We cannot all go to Africa, but the testimony of Dr. Livingstone, who re- ceived visits from this hunter every year during the five years of his warfare with wild animals, will be regarded as conclusive upon the general truthfulness of Mr. Cumming's reports. Dr. Livingstone says : As the guides of Mr. Cumming were furnished through my influence, and usually got some strict charges as to their behavior before parting, looking upon me in the light of a father, they always came to give me an account of their ser- vice, and told most of those hunting-adventures which have since been given to the world, before we had the pleasure of hearing our friend relate them him- self by our own fireside. I had thus a tolerably good opportunity of testing their accuracy, and I have no hesitation in saying that, for those who love that sort of thing, Mr. Cumming's book conveys a truthful idea of South African hunting. Some things in it require explanation, but the numbers of animals said to have been met with and killed are by no means improbable, considering the amount of large game then in the country. Two other gentlemen hunting in the same region destroyed in one season no fewer than seventy-eight rhi- noceroses alone. Sportsmen, however, would not now find an equal number ; for, as guns are introduced among the tribes, all these fine animals melt away 366 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. incredulity in regard to Mr. Cummings wonderful success in securing great game in Africa has long since passed away, and his narrative is now regarded as altogether trustworthy. He remained in Africa, hunting, the greater part of five years. During this time he slew more than one hundred elephants, be- sides those, mortally wounded, which escaped. He was equally successful with the camelopard, rhi- noceros, hippopotamus, lion, buffalo, eland, and the great variety of antelope which live in South Africa in countless numbers. One of his first adventures with large animals was with a troop of camelopards. It is thus graphically described: "We halted beside a glorious fountain, the name of which was Massouey, but I at once christened it 'the Elephant's own Fountain.' This was a very remark- able spot on the southern border of endless elephant forests, at which I had at length arrived. The foun- tain was deep and strong, situated in a hollow at the eastern extremity of an extensive vley, and its mar- gin was surrounded by a level stratum of solid old red sandstone. Here and there lay a thick layer of soil upon the rock, and this was packed flat with the fresh spoor of elephants. Around the water's edge the very rock was worn down by the gigantic feet which for ages had trodden there. We drew up the wagons on a hillock on the eastern side of the water. I had just cooked my breakfast, and commenced to like snow in spring. In the more remote districts, where fire-arms have not yet been introduced, with the single exception of the rhinoceros the game is to be found in numbers much greater than Mr. Cumming ever saw.— Researches in South Africa, 169-70. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 367 feed, when I heard my men exclaim, ' Almagtig keek de ghroote clomp cameel f and raising my eyes from my sassayby stew, I beheld a truly beautiful and very unusual scene. From the margin of the fountain there extended an open level vley, without a tree or bush, that stretched away about a mile to the north- ward, where it was bounded by extensive groves of wide-spreading mimosas. Up the middle of this vley stalked a troop of ten colossal giraffes, flanked by two large herds of blue wildebeests and zebras, with an advanced guard of pallahs. They were all coming to the fountain to drink, and would be within rifle-shot of the wagons before I could finish my breakfast. I, however, continued to swallow my food with the ut- most expedition, having directed my men to catch and saddle - Colesberg.' In a few minutes the giraffes were slowly advancing within two hundred yards, stretching their graceful necks, and gazing in wonder at the unwonted wagons. Grasping my rifle, I now mounted ' Colesberg,' and rode slowly toward them. They continued gazing at the wagons until I was within one hundred yards of them, when, whisking their long tails over their rumps, they made off at an easy canter. As I pressed upon them they increased their pace ; but ' Colesberg' had much the speed ot them, and before we had proceeded half a mile I was riding by the shoulder of a dark-chestnut old bull, whose head towered high above the rest. Letting fly at the gallop, I wounded him behind the shoulder; soon after which I broke him from the herd, and presently going ahead of him, he came to a stand. I then gave him a second bullet, somewhere near the 368 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. first. These two shots had taken effect, and he was now in my power, but I would not lay him low so far from camp; so, having waited until he had regained his breath, I drove him half way back toward the wagons. Here he became obstreperous ; so loading one barrel, and pointing my rifle toward the clouds, I shot him in the throat, when, rearing high, he fell backward and expired. This was a magnificent spec- imen of the giraffe, measuring upward of eighteen feet in height. I stood for nearly half an hour en- grossed in the contemplation of his extreme beauty and gigantic proportions ; and, if there had been no elephants, I could have exclaimed, like Duke Alex- ander of Gordon when he killed the famous old stag with seventeen tine, ' Now I can die happy.' But I longed for an encounter with the noble elephants, and I thought little more of the giraffe than if I had killed a gemsbok or an eland." And in another place he describes his second suc- cess with the camelopard : " We now bent our steps homeward. We had not ridden many miles when we observed a herd of fif- teen camelopards browsing quietly in an open glade of the forest. After a very severe chase, in the course of which they stretched out into a magnificent widely extended front, keeping their line with a regularity worthy of a troop of dragoons, I succeeded in sepa- rating a fine bull, upward of eighteen feet in height, from the rest of the herd, and brought him to the ground within a short distance of the camp. The Bechuanas expressed themselves delighted at my suc- cess. They kindled a fire and slept beside the car- EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 369 cass, which, they very soon reduced to bil-tongue and marrow-bones." Mr. Cumming's first successful encounter with ele- phants was one of the most exciting of all. It is thus related : " Having followed the spoor for a short distance, old Mutchuisho became extremely excited, and told me that we were close to the elephants. Two or three men quickly ascended the tallest trees that stood near us, but they could not see the elephants. Mutchuisho then extended men to the right and left, while we continued on the spoor. " In a few minutes one of those who had gone off to our left came running breathless to say that he had seen the mighty game. I halted for a minute, and instructed Issac, who carried the big Dutch rifle, to act independently of me, while Kleinboy was to assist me in the chase. I bared my arms to the shoul- der, and, having imbibed a draught of aqua pura from the calabash of one of the spoorers, I grasped my trusty two-grooved rifle, and told my guide to go ahead. We proceeded silently as might be for a few hundred yards, following the guide, when he suddenly pointed, exclaiming, ' Klow !' and before us stood a herd of mighty bull elephants, packed together be- neath a shady grove about a hundred and fifty yards in advance. I rode slowly toward them, and, as soon as they observed me, they made a loud rumbling noise, and, tossing their trunks, wheeled right about and made off in one direction, crashing through the forest and leaving a cloud of dust behind them. I 3 70 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. was accompanied by a detachment of my dogs, who assisted me in the pursuit. " The distance I had come, and the difficulties I had undergone to behold these elephants, rose fresh before me. I determined that on this occasion at least I would do my duty, and, dashing my spurs into • Sunday's ' ribs, I was very soon much too close in their rear for safety. The elephants now made an inclination to my left, whereby I obtained a good view of the ivory. The herd consisted of six bulls ; four of them were full-grown, first-rate elephants ; the other two were fine fellows, but had not yet arrived at perfect stature. Of the four old fellows, two had much finer tusks than the rest, and for a few seconds I was undecided which of these two I would follow ; when, suddenly, the one which I fancied had the stoutest tusks broke from his comrades, and I at once felt convinced that he was the patriarch of the herd, and followed him accordingly. Cantering alongside, I was about to fire, when he instantly turned, and, uttering a trumpet so strong and shrill that the earth seemed to vibrate beneath my feet, he charged furi- ously after me for several hundred yards in a direct line, not altering his course in the slightest degree for the trees of the forest, which he snapped and over- threw like reeds in his headlong career. " When he pulled up in his charge, I likewise halted ; and as he slowly turned to retreat, I let fly at his shoulder, ' Sunday* capering and prancing, and giving me much trouble. On receiving the ball the elephant shrugged his shoulder, and made off at a free majes- tic walk. This shot brought several of the dogs to EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 371 my assistance which had been following the other ele- phants, and on their coming up and barking another headlong charge was the result, accompanied by the never-failing trumpet as before. In his charge he passed close to me, when I saluted him with a second bullet in the shoulder, of which he did not take the slightest notice. I now determined not to fire again until I could make a steady shot ; but, although the elephant turned repeatedly, ■ Sunday' invariably dis- appointed me, capering so that it was impossible to fire. At length, exasperated, I became reckless of the danger, and, springing from the saddle, ap- proached the elephant under cover of a tree, and gave him a bullet in the side of the head, when, trumpeting so shrilly that the forest trembled, he charged among the dogs, from whom he seemed to fancy that the blow had come ; after which he took up a position in a grove of thorns, with his head toward me. I walked up very near, and, as he was in the act of charging (being in those days under wrong impressions as to the impracticability of bringing down an elephant with a shot in the forehead), stood coolly in his path until he was within fifteen paces of me, and let drive at the hollow of his forehead, in the vain expectation that by so doing I should end his career. The shot only served to increase his fury — an effect which, I had remarked, shots in the head invariably produced ; and, continuing his charge with incredible quickness and impetuosity, he all but terminated my elephant- hunting forever. A large party of the Bechuanas who had come up yelled out simultaneously, imagin- ing I was killed, for the elephant was at one moment 372 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. almost on the top of me ; I, however, escaped by my activity, and by dodging round the bushy trees. "The elephant held on through the forest at a sweeping pace ; but he was hardly out of sight when I was loaded and in the saddle, and soon once more alongside. He kept crashing along at a steady pace, with blood streaming from his wounds. It was long before I again fired, for I was afraid to dismount, and 4 Sunday' was extremely troublesome. At length I fired sharp right and left from the saddle : he got both balls behind the shoulder, and made a long charge after me, rumbling and trumpeting as before. The whole body of the Bamangwato men had now come up, and were following a short distance behind me. Among these was Mollyeon, who volunteered to help ; and being a very swift and active fellow, he rendered me important service by holding my fidgety horse's head while I fired and loaded. I then fired six broadsides from the saddle, the elephant charging almost every time, and pursuing us back to the main body in our rear, who fled in all directions as he ap- proached. " The sun had now sunk behind the tops of the trees ; it would very soon be dark, and the elephant did not seem much distressed, notwithstanding all he had received. I recollected that my time was short, and therefore at once resolved to fire no more from the saddle, but to go close up to him and fire on foot. Riding up to him, I dismounted and, approaching very near, I gave it him right and left in the side of the head, upon which he made a long and determined charge after me ; but I was now very reckless of his EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 373 charges, for I saw that he could not overtake me, and in a twinkling I was loaded, and, again approaching, fired sharp right and left behind his shoulder. Again he charged with a terrific trumpet, which sent ' Sun- day' flying through the forest. This was his last charge. The wounds which he had received began to tell on his constitution, and he now stood at bay beside a thorny tree, with the dogs barking around him. These, refreshed by the evening breeze, and perceiving that it was nearly over with the elephant, had once more come to my assistance. Having loaded, I drew near and fired right and left at his forehead. On receiving these shots, instead of charging, he tossed his trunk up and down, and by various sounds and motions, most gratifying to the hungry natives, evinced that his demise was near Again I loaded and fired my last shot behind his shoulder : on receiving it, he turned round the bushy tree beside which he stood, and I ran round to give the other barrel, but the mighty old monarch of the forest needed no more ; before I could clear the bushy tree he fell heavily on his side, and his spirit had fled." Such is a specimen of the " sport" which the wilds of Africa offer to the ambitious hunter. That it is in some respects rather serious sport may be imag- ined from the description as well as from Mr. Cum- ming's statement of his losses during his four expedi- tions into the interior. These were forty-five horses and seventy head of cattle, the value being at least $3,000. u I also," he says, " lost about seventy of my dogs," which would convey the idea of a considera- 374 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. ble kennel, the dogs all told. But he usually had only about thirty at a time. Many were killed by lions, while elephants made way with a still larger number. The expeditions of Mr. Du Chaillu, an American naturalist, in Equatorial Africa, were more valuable to the cause of science than those of Mr. Cumming in South Africa, and scarcely less interesting as the explorations of a hunter. Like Cumming, he was a highly successful hunter, and he was also much more — a student of natural history imbued with a love of science and having a genius for it. As Mr. Cum- ming's starting point was the extreme of South Africa, under English domination, Mr. Du Chaillu had his headquarters beneath the equator on the east coast, and under the immediate eyesight, so to speak, of the American Presbyterian Mission for the Gaboon country. Mr. Du Chaillu afterwards estab- lished his home in the Camma country, and building himself a little village of huts near the junction of the N'poulounay and Fernand Vas rivers, and not far from the coast, named it " Washington." From the Gaboon and then from this African " city of Wash- ington," this celebrated traveller made several ex- plorations of the interior, much of the time among idolatrous and cannibal tribes. Enduring many hardships, overcoming many almost insurmountable difficulties, he not only gave to the world an ex- tremely interesting account of hunting expeditions, but a description of the singular people and wonder- ful country he was the first white man to visit which EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 375 forms a valued acquisition to the stock of geograph- ical and scientific knowledge * Whilst he was very successful in procuring speci- mens of most of the animals and birds in equatorial Africa to a distance of several hundred miles from the coast, he devoted special attention to hunting the ape, and was more successful in killing the spe- cies commonly known as the gorrilla than any one else of Christendom has ever been. The greater difficulty of hunting the animal considered, he was as successful with the gorrilla as Mr. Cumming had been with the elephant. The troglodytes gorilla, or great chimpanzee of the equatorial region of East Africa has long been the most dreaded, perhaps, of all the wild beasts of that continent. And it is probably true that in unmixed ferocity when assailed he does not have his equal. The nature of this fierce animal — much like man in some particulars of physical formation, totally dis- similar in all other respects — may be learned from an instance or two of Mr. Du Chaillu's hunting him. The account of his killing his " first gorilla" is as fol- lows : " We started early and pushed for the most dense and impenetrable part of the forest (this was in the country of the Fan negroes, cannibals, a little more than one degree north of the equator and something less than two hundred miles east of the mouth of the Gaboon river), in hopes to find the very home of the * It need not be stated to students of matters pertaining to Africa, that this gentleman's " Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa" (published by the Harpers in 1868) is one of our most interesting books of travel. 22 376 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. beast I so much wished to shoot. Hour after hour we travelled, and yet no signs of gorilla. Only the everlasting little chattering monkeys — and not many of these — and occasional birds. In fact, the forests of this part of Africa are not so full of life as in some other parts to the south. "Suddenly Miengai uttered a little cluck with his tongue, which is the native's way of showing that something is stirring, and that a sharp look-out is nec- essary. And presently I noticed, ahead of us seem- ingly, a noise as of some one breaking down branches or twigs of trees. This was the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager and satisfied looks of the men. They looked once more carefully at their guns, to see if by any chance the powder had fallen out of the pans ; I also examined mine, to make sure that all were right ; and then we marched on cautiously. The singular noise of the breaking of tree-branches continued. We walked with the greatest care, mak- ing no noise at all. The countenances of the men showed that they thought themselves engaged in a very serious undertaking; but we pushed on, until finally we thought we saw through the thick woods the moving of the branches and small trees which the great beast was tearing down, probably to get from them the berries and fruits he lives on. " Suddenly, as we were yet creeping along, in a si- lence which made a heavy breath seem loud and dis- tinct, the woods were at once filled with the tremen- dous barking roar of the gorilla. Then the under- brush swayed rapidly just ahead, and presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. He had gone EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 377 through the jungle on his all-fours ; but when he saw our party he erected himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think never to forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved two inches shorter), with immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely-glaring large deep gray eyes, and a hellish ex- pression of face, which seemed to me like some night- mare vision : thus stood before us this king of the African forests. " He was not afraid of us. He stood there, and beat his breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense bass-drum, which is their mode of offering defiance ; meantime giving vent to roar after roar. " The roar of the gorilla is the most singular and awful noise heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp bark, like an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll, which literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the sky, for which I have sometimes been tempted to take it where I did not see the animal. So deep is it that it seems to proceed less from the mouth and throat than from the deep chest and vast paunch. " His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which stands on his forehead be^an to twitch rapidly up and down, while his powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunderous roar. And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hell- ish dream creature — a being of that hideous order, half man half beast, which we find pictured by old 37$ EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. artists in some representations of the infernal re- gions. He advanced a few steps — then stopped to utter that hideous roar again — advanced again, and finally stopped when at a distance of about six yards from us. And here, as he began another of his roars and beating his breast in rage, we fired, and killed him. " With a groan which had something terribly human in it, and yet was full of brutishness, it fell forward on its face. The body shook convulsively for a few minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way, and then all was quiet — death had done its work, and I had leisure to examine the huge body. It proved to be five feet eight inches high, and the muscular development of the arms and breast showed what immense strength it had possessed. " My men, though rejoicing at our luck, immediately began to quarrel about the apportionment of the meat — for they really eat this creature. I saw that we should come to blows presently if I did not inter- fere, and therefore said I should give each man his share, which satisfied all. As we were too tired to return to our camp of last night, we determined to camp here on the spot, and accordingly soon had some shelters erected and dinner going on. Luckily, one of the fellows shot a deer just as we began to camp, and on its meat I feasted while my men ate gorilla." Another hunt resulted fatally to one of the natives. It is thus related : " The next day we went on a gorilla-hunt. All the olako was busy on the evening of my arrival with EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 379 preparations ; and as meat was scarce, everybody had joyful anticipations of hunger satisfied and plenty in the camp. Little did we guess what frightful death was to befall one of our number before the next sunset. " I gave powder to the whole party. Six were to go off in one direction for bush-deer, and whatever luck might send them, and six others, of whom I was one, were to hunt for gorilla. We set off toward a dark valley, where Gambo, Igoumba's son, said we should find our prey. The gorilla chooses the dark- est, gloomiest forests for its home, and is found on the edges of the clearings only when in search of plantains, or sugar-cane, or pine-apple. Often they choose for their peculiar haunt a piece of wood so dark that even at midday one can scarce see ten yards. This makes it the more necessary to wait till the monstrous beast approaches near before shooting, in order that the first shot may be fatal. It does not often let the hunter reload. " Our little party separated, as is the custom, to stalk the wood in various directions. Gambo and I kept together. One brave fellow went off alone in a direction where he thought he could find a gorilla. The other three took another course. We had been about an hour separated when Gambo and I heard a gun fired but little way from us, and presently another. We were already on our way to the spot where we hoped to see a gorilla slain, when the forest began to resound with the most terrific roars. Gambo seized my arms in great agitation, and we hurried on, both filled with a dreadful and sickening fear. We had 380 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. not gone far when our worst fears were realized. The poor brave fellow who had gone off alone was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, and I thought at first quite dead. His bowels were pro- truding through the lacerated abdomen. Beside him lay his gun. The stock was broken, and the barrel was bent and flattened. It bore plainly the marks of the gorilla's teeth. " We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds as well as I could with rags torn from my clothes. When I had given him a little brandy to drink he came to himself, and was able, but with great diffi- culty, to speak. He said that he had met the gor- illa suddenly and face to face, and that it had not at- tempted to escape. It was, he said, a huge male, and seemed very savage. It was in a very gloomy part of the wood, and the darkness, I suppose, made him miss. He said he took good aim, and fired when the beast was only about eight yards off. The ball merely wounded it in the side. It at once began beating its breasts, and with the greatest rage ad- vanced upon him. " To run away was impossible. He would have been caught in the jungle before he had gone a dozen steps. He stood his ground, and as quickly as he could reloaded his gun. Just as he raised it to fire the gorilla dashed it out of his hands, the gun going off in the fall, and then in an instant, and with a terri- ble roar, the animal gave him a tremendous blow with its immense paw, frightfully lacerating the abdomen, and with this single blow laying bare part of the in- testines. As he sank, bleeding, to the ground, the EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 38 1 monster seized the gun, and the poor hunter thought he would have his brains dashed out with it. But the gorilla seemed to have looked upon this also as an enemy, and in his rage flattened the barrel be- tween his strong jaws. " When we came upon the ground the gorilla was gone. This is their mode when attacked — to strike one or two blows, and then leave the victims of their rage on the ground and go off into the woods." During his explorations in equatorial Africa, Du Chaillu discovered two new species of ape — Troglod- ytes calvus and T. Koola-Kamba — and also a number of other mamalians, birds, serpents, and reptiles, be- fore unknown to naturalists. Contrary to a somewhat prevalent belief, many dis- eases prevail among wild animals. " The free life of nature" is subject to woes, and needs the physician's aid, after all. " I have seen," says Dr. Livingstone, " the gnu, kama or hartebeest, the tressebe, kukama, and the giraffe, so mangy as to be uneatable even by the natives. Great numbers also of zebras are found dead with masses of foam at the nostrils, exactly as occurs in the common ' horse-sickness.' I once found a buffalo blind from ophthalmia standing by the foun- tain Otse. The rhinoceros has often worms on the conjunction of his eyes. All the wild animals are subject to intestinal worms besides. The zebra, gi- raffe, eland, and kukuma have been seen mere skele- tons from decay of their teeth as well as from disease. The carnivera, too, become diseased and mangy ; lions become lean and perish miserably by reason of the decay of the teeth." Cumming also speaks of 382 Explorations in Africa. seeing extensive plains thickly covered with the bones of wild animals which had died of disease. As a rule, however, the animals are healthy. Their variety and vast numbers are beyond calculation. In a single day, Cumming saw the fresh spoor of about twenty varieties of " large game" and most of the an- imals themselves. These included elephant, black and white rhinoceros, hippopotamus, camelopard, buffalo, blue wildebeest, zebra, water-buck, sassayby, koodoo, pallah, springbok, serolomootlooque, wild boar, dui- ker, steinbok, lion, leopard. This is the habitat also of keilton, eland, oryx, roan antelope, sable antelope, hartebeest, klipspringer, grys stein buck, and reitbuck. A little farther on he thus speaks of the game he saw while taking breakfast : "We resumed our march at daybreak on the 28th, and held on through boundless open plains. As we advanced, game became more and more abundant. In about two hours we reached a fine fountain, be- side which was a small cover of trees and bushes, which afforded an abundant supply of fire-wood. Here we outspanned for breakfast : it was a fine cool morning, with a pleasant breeze. The country was thickly covered with immense herds of game, consist- ing of zebra, wildebeest, blesbok, and springbok. There could not have been less than (ive or six thou- sand head of game in sight of me as I sat at break- fast. Presently the whole of this game began to take alarm. Herd joined herd, and took away up the wind ; and in a few minutes other vast herds came pouring on. up the wind, covering the whole breadth of the plain with a living mass of noble game." EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 383 And again : " When the sun rose next morning I took coffee, and then rode west with two after-riders, in the hope of getting some blesbok shooting. I found the boundless undulating plains thickly covered with game, thousands upon thousands checkering the landscape far as the eye could strain in every direc- tion. The blesboks, which I was most desirous to obtain, were extremely wary, and kept pouring on, on up the wind in long continued streams of thou- sands, so swift and shy that it was impossible to get within six hundred yards of them, or even by any stratagem to waylay them, so boundless was the ground, and so cunningly did they avoid crossing our track." It might thus appear that if there is a sportsman's paradise anywhere it is Africa. Perhaps it would not be too much to say that about all the birds known to ornithology, and many yet unknown in the books upon that science are to be found in Africa. The ostrich, the largest of birds, is found only in Africa. It sometimes attains the height of eight feet. It is swift of foot, its cry is much like the roar of the lion, and its appearance at a distance is very stately ; but it is extremely stupid. Its feathers have long been highly valued in com- merce. Another most remarkable bird, peculiar to Africa, is the secretary. This is a bird of prey, feed- ing solely on serpents, which it pursues on foot and destroys in great numbers. It has been described as " an eagle, mounted on the long, naked legs of a crane." Waterfowl of all kinds abound, and there 384 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. are wild geese which have brilliant and variegated plumage. The most of the forests of South Africa are alive with countless numbers of an almost end- less variety of birds, but in the equatorial regions they are much less numerous, though there are many of those varieties which are characterized by bright, gorgeous plumage. " Snake stories" are proverbially tinged with the colors of the imagination ; but the serpents and rep- tiles of Africa are no jesting topic to the inhabitants. Many of the serpents are particularly venomous. Dr. Livingstone states that the picakholu is so copi- ously supplied with poison, that "when a number of dogs attack it, the first bitten dies almost instantane- ously, the second in about five minutes, the third in an hour or so, while the fourth may live several hours." The puff adder and several vipers are very dangerous. There is one which " utters a cry by night exactly like the bleating of a kid. It is supposed by the natives to lure travellers to itself by this bleating." Several varieties, when alarmed, emit a peculiar odor, by which their presence is made known. The deadly cobra exists in several colors or varieties. There are various species of tree-climbing serpents, which ap- pear to have the power of fascination. This belief of Dr. Livingstone in the fascinating power of some ser- pents is also entertained by Mr. Du Chaillu, and avowed as correct by the eminent naturalist, Dr. Andrew Smith in his " Reptilia." The eminent hunter of the gorilla says the presence of serpents in Africa is a "great blessing to the country. They destroy great numbers of rats and mice, and other of the EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 385 smaller quadrupeds which injure the native provi- sions ; and it is but just to say they are peacefully in- clined, and never attack man unless trodden on. They are glad enough to get out of the way ; and the most feared snake I saw in Africa (the Echidna nasi- cornis) was one which is very slow in its movements, from which cause it happens that it oftener bites peo- ple than others, being unable to get out of the way quickly. Though serpents abound in all parts of the country, I have travelled a month at a time without seeing one." The natives, though bare legged, are rarely bitten. There are several species of boa, which attain great size and weight. The variety known as the natal rock python, which is often seen in interior south Africa, though entirely without venom, like other boas, is very destructive of birds and animals. " They are perfectly harmless," says Dr. Livingstone, " and live on small animals, chiefly the rodentia ; oc- casionally the steinbuck and pallah fall victims, and are sucked into its comparatively small mouth in boa- constrictor fashion. The flesh is much relished by Bakalahari and Bushmen. They carry away each his portion, like logs of wood, over their shoulders." Cumming killed one of these boas measuring four- teen feet in length. They have been known to meas- ure nearly thirty feet in length, and to capture and swallow half-grown cattle. The Caffre of South Af- rica is very skilful in slaying the python with his spear. He is thus often pinned to the earth by a single throw and dispatched at leisure; then cut up into snake-logs and carried off for food. Among the innumerable insects of Africa — the fa- 386 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. tal tsetse fly and the devastating locust have already been mentioned — the most interesting, perhaps, is the ant. It exists in great variety and prodigious num- bers. There are countless ant-hills in different parts of Africa, which are larger than a majority of the in- dividual homes of the natives of the southern and central portions of the continent. Human works, to be of the same relative size as these homes of insects would tower five or six times above the pyramids of Egypt, and would require a base correspondingly large. Among themselves in Africa some of the spe- cies are warriors and cannibals ; they fight their ene- mies and eat the vanquished. Other species are ex- ceedingly destructive of the timbers of houses, eating out the insides and leaving useless shells. Others consume vast quantities of decaying animal matter, and still others the decaying vegetation, including great trees, of the tropics. Many are exceedingly fierce in nature. Among these is the bashikouay ant of equatorial Africa. It is, perhaps, relatively the most voracious of all living things, and the most de- structive. Unlike other large-sized ants it does not build houses, but excavates holes in the earth for place of retreat during storms. Its nature and babits are fully described by Du Chaillu : " This ant is very abundant in the whole region I have travelled over in Africa. It is the dread of all living animals from the leopard to the smallest in- sect. It is their habit to march through the forests in a long regular line — a line about two inches broad and often several miles in length. All along this line are larger ants, who act as officers, stand outside the EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 387 ranks, and keep this singular army in order. If they come to a place where there are no trees to shelter them from the sun, whose heat they can not bear, they immediately build underground tunnels, through which the whole army passes in columns to the for- est beyond. These tunnels are four or five feet un- derground, and are used only in the heat of the day or during a storm. " When they get hungry the long file spreads itself through the forest in a front line, and attacks and devours all it comes to with a fury which is quite irresistible. The elephant and gorilla fly before this attack. The black men run for their lives. Every animal that lives in their line of mareh is chased. They seem to understand and act upon the tactics of Napoleon, and concentrate, with great speed, their heaviest forces upon the point of attack. In an in- credibly short space of time the mouse, or dog, or leopard, or deer is overwhelmed, killed, eaten, and the bare skeleton only remains. " They seem to travel night and day. Many a time have I been awakened out of a sleep, and obliged to rush from the hut and into the water to save my life, and after all suffered intolerable agony from the bites of the advance-guard, who had got into my clothes. When they enter a house they clear it of all living things. Roaches are devoured in an instant. Rats and mice spring round the room in vain. An over- whelming force of ants kills a strong rat in less than a minute, in spite of the most frantic struggles, and in less than another minute its bones are stripped. Every living thing in the house is devoured. They 388 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. will not touch vegetable matter. Thus they are in reality very useful (as well as dangerous) to the ne- groes, who have their huts cleaned of all the abound- ing vermin, such as immense roaches and centipedes at least several times a year. " When on their march the insect world flies before them, and I have often had the approach of a bashi- kouay army heralded to me by this means. Wher- ever they go they make a clean sweep, even ascending to the tops of the highest trees in pursuit of their prey. Their manner of attack is an impetuous leap. Instantly the strong pincers are fastened, and they only let go when the piece gives away. At such times this little animal seems animated by a kind of fury which causes it to disregard entirely its own safety, and to seek only the conquest of its prey. The bite is very painful. " The negroes relate that criminals were in for- mer times exposed in the path of the bashikouay ants, as the most cruel manner of putting to death. " Two very remarkable practices of theirs remain to be related. When, on their line of march, they must cross a stream, they throw themselves across and form a tunnel — a living tunnel — connecting two trees or high bushes on opposite sides of the little stream. This is done with great speed, and is effected by a great number of ants, each of which clings with its fore claws to its next neighbors body or hind claws. Thus they form a high, safe tubular bridge, through which the whole vast regiment marches in regular order. If disturbed, or if the arch is broken by the violence EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 389 of some animal, they instantly attack the offender with the greatest animosity. M The bashikouay have the sense of smell finely de- veloped, as indeed have all the ants I know of, and they are guided very much by it. They are larger than any ant we have in America, being at least half an inch long, and are armed with very powerful fore legs and sharp jaws, with which they bite. They are red or dark-brown in color. Their numbers are so great that one does not like to enter into calcula- tions; but I have seen one continual line passing at good speed a particular place for twelve hours. The reader may imagine for himself how many millions on millions there may have been contained here." And yet the ants of Africa are the chief agents employed in forming a fertile soil. " But for their labors," remarks Dr. Livingstone, " the tropical for- ests, bad as they now are with fallen trees, would be a thousand times worse. They would be impassible on account of the heaps of dead vegetation lying on the surface, and emitting worse effluvia than the com- paratively small unburied collections do now. When one looks at the wonderful adaptations throughout creation, and the varied operations carried on with such wisdom and skill, the idea of second causes looks clumsy. We are viewing the direct handiwork of Him who is the one and only Power in the universe; wonderful in counsel ; in whom we all live, and move and have our being." There are vast numbers of annoying insects in all portions of the continent, which in this respect, per- haps, is neither better nor worse than other parts of 39° EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. the world, where little annoyances make up the great sum of human misery. It is only one of many proofs that Africa is the region of contrasts, that the great- est animals flee from a little insect, the life of scores of whom might be stamped out by a single footstep, yet the aggregate labors of which preserve the conti- nent from desolation and decay. CHAPTER XX. AFRICAN TREES AND VEGETATION. Brief Notice of the Vegetable Kingdom of Africa — Immense Deserts and Pro- digious, Tower-like Trees — Grasses Higher than a Man on Horseback — The Cotton Plant — General Remarks. There are so many anomalies in this continent of contrasts that it seems quite of course to observe that nowhere else can be found such vast extent of sandy, barren wastes, and such immense expanse of forest whose trees, and vines, and jungle fairly shut out the rays of the sun, and leave the earth in eternal shade and gloom. Much the larger share of North Africa is embraced within the limits of the great Desert of Sahara, which, though in some respects not correctly represented to the reading public, not only covers a vast expanse on this continent, but extends its bleak and dreary nature far eastward of Africa, not ending until after it has passed through Arabia, Persia, cen- tral Asia, and penetrated the confines of the Chinese Empire. So in South Africa we have the Kalahari Desert, often mentioned in this work, which, though singularly covered with herbage and abounding in wild beasts, is much of the time almost entirely un- traversable by man on account of the want of water. It is coursed by the beds of many rivers which, ages ago, were doubtless perennial streams of flowing 23 39 1 392 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. water, now as dry and uninviting as the sands of Sahara. There are also extensive treeless plains — in Amer- ica called prairies — whose soil is rich, supporting great quantities of luxuriant grasses and an infinite variety of shrubs and flowers. Over these, as we have seen, roam countless numbers of wild animals. Over a large portion of the watershed of South Africa, are immense " flats," covered with water dur- ing the long season of rains, but in the dry season presenting to the eyes a boundless expanse of infinite- ly variegated flowers. Bounding these deserts, treeless plains, and flats, are forests of almost inconceivable extent, covered with thick jungle and the greatest variety of trees. The magnificent trees which Dr. Livingstone found along the banks of the Zouga river, have already been spoken of.* The baobab is equal in size to the fa- mous great trees of California, the immense hollow trunk of one of which has been exhibited as a curios- ity in most portions of the United States. In some parts of the Bechuana country the remains of ancient forests of wild olives and of the camel-thorn are still to be met with. "It is probable," says Dr. Living- stone, " that this (the camel-thorn — Acacia giraffe) is the tree of which the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle were constructed, as it is reported to be found where the Israelites were at the time these were made. It is an imperishable wood, while that usually pointed out as the 'shittim' soon decays, and . * See page 67, ante. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 393 wants beauty." The baobab, already mentioned, has a vitality almost imperishable. " No external injury," says Livingstone, " not even a fire, can destroy this tree from without ; nor can any injury be done from within, as it is quite common to find it hollow ; and I have seen one in which twenty or thirty men could lie down and sleep as in a hut. Nor does cutting down exterminate it, for I saw instances in Angola in which it continued to grow in length after it was lying on the ground." In fact the baobab, or mowana as it is often called, has the qualities of both exogenous and endogenous trees, and is rather a gigantic bulb than either. It is often seen with its branches ex- tending down to the ground and taking root, after the manner of the banyan. The wood of this giant of the forest is so spongy and soft that an axe can be struck in so far with a good blow that there is great difficulty in pulling it out again. The mopane tree {bauhinia) is remarkable for the little shade it affords, and its astonishing capacity for being struck by lightning. The natives say " light- ning hates it." The wood is hard, of a light red color, and called iron-wood by the Portuguese. On the other hand, there is a fine tree, called the morala, which has n ever been known to be struck by lightning. Branches of it may be seen on the huts of the natives and the houses of the Portuguese of East Africa, as a protec- tion against lightning* A tree which the natives * Cumming thus describes the baobab, or mowana, under the name of nwana: It is about this latitude that the traveller will first meet with the gigantic and castle-like nwana, which is decidedly the most striking and wonderful tree among the thousands which adorn the South African forests. It is chiefly re- 394 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. call the indoonoo exists in some portions of equato- rial Africa, which is taller and more graceful than the markable on account of its extraordinary size, actually resembling a castle or tower more than a forest tree. Throughout the country of Bamangwato the average circumference of these trees is from thirty to forty feet ; but on subse- quently extending my researches in a northeasterly direction, throughout the more fertile forests which clothe the boundless tracts through which the fair Limpopo winds, I daily met with specimens of this extraordinary tree averag- ing from sixty to a hundred feet in circumference, and maintaining this thick ness to a height from twenty to thirty feet, when they diverge into numerous goodly branches, whose general character is abrupt and horizontal, and which seem to terminate with a peculiar suddenness. The wood of this tree is soft and utterly unserviceable ; the shape of the leaf is similar to that of the sycamore tree, but its texture partakes more of the fig leaf ; its fruit is a nut, which in size and shape resembles the egg of the swan. A remarkable fact, in connection with these trees, is the manner in which they are disposed throughout the forest. They are found standing singly, or in rows, invariably at considerable distances from one another, as if planted by the hand of man ; and from their wondrous size and unusual height (for they always tower high above their surrounding compeers), they convey the idea of being strangers or interlopers on the ground they occupy. And toward the close of his work he says : The shoulders and upper ridges of the mountains throughout all that country are profusely adorned with the graceful sandal-wood tree, famed on account of the delicious perfume of its timber. The leaf of this tree emits at every season of the year a powerful and fragrant perfume, which is increased by bruising the leaves in the hand. Its leaf is small, of a light silvery-gray color, which is strongly contrasted by the dark and dense ever-green foliage of the moopooroo tree, which also adorns the upper ridges of the mountain ranges. This beautiful tree is interesting, as pro- ducing the most delicious and serviceable fruit that I have met with throughout those distant parts, the poorer natives subsisting upon it for several months, during which it continues in season. The moopooroo is of the size and shape of a very large olive. It is at first green, but, gradually ripening, like the In- dian mango, it becomes beautifully striped with yellow, and when perfectly lipc its color is the deepest orange. The fruit is sweet and mealy, similar to the date, and contains a small brown seed. It covers the branches, and when ripe the golden fruit beautifully contrasts with the dark green leaves of the tree which bears it. Besides the moopooroo, a great variety of fruits are met with throughout these mountains and forests, all of which are known to, and gath- ered by, the natives. I must, however, forego a description of them, as it would swell these pages to undue bounds. Throughout the densely- wooded dells and hollows of the mountains the rosewood tree occurs, of considerable size and in great abundance. EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 3Q5 baobab, but not of such immense trunk. It is from eight to twelve feet in diameter near the base. The ebony-tree is found on high lands. It is met with all along the ridges and hills of equatorial Africa. It is described as one of the finest and most graceful trees of the African forest. Its leaves are long, sharp- pointed, dark green, and hang in clusters, producing a grateful shade. Its bark is smooth and of a dark green color. The trunk rises straight and often to the height of sixty feet without a branch ; then large heavy branches are sent out. Some of these valua- ble trees have a diameter of five feet at the base. They are all hollow, when mature, even the branches. Next the bark is a white sap-wood which is not val- uable. This in an average tree is three or four inches thick, and next to this lies the ebony of commerce. The ebony-tree is found intermixed with others in the forest, but generally in groups of three or four together, and none others within a little distance. In the same regions of equatorial Africa grows the liamba plant, whose leaves are used for smoking by the natives, very much as the tobacco leaf is used in some countries. Under its influence, the natives frequently become permanently insane. Here also the India- rubber vine grows in great luxuriance. Immense quantities of land round about Lake Anengue espe- cially, are literally covered with this valuable vine. The cotton-plant is indigenous in most portions of central and south Africa, but the natives have as yet paid little attention to its cultivation. The cannibal tribes of central Africa make mats and many of their garments of a "grass-cloth," which has been described 396 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. by Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Stanley in letters here- tofore quoted. The thread used in this material is obtained from a species of palm, a great number of the many different varieties of which abound in Africa. As for grasses, the great explorer of whom this vol- ume principally treats often speaks of riding through immense extents of it, taller than a man on horse- back. The vast quantities of grass and the great number of palms in Africa suggest the belief that the manufacture of "grass-paper" may some day become an important element in African commerce. The date-tree and many other fruit-bearers are plentiful. If Christian civilization held her benign sway over all portions of Africa, much of the great forest area would be cultivated, and the fertile prairies would yield many of the fruits and grains by which the world is supplied with food. The natural agricul- tural advantages of the continent are undoubtedly very great. It is well known that the valley of the Nile was for ages the granary of the world. Much of it is no less fertile now than when its products fed mankind. The whole of central Africa, from the con- fines of the Desert of Sahara to beyond the sources of the Nile, the Zambesi, and the Congo, is mostly suitable to agriculture. A vast region of this coun- try, south of the great desert, and nearly across the continent, was formerly the abode of large numbers of people, the remains of whose cities and towns at- test their civilization and successful agriculture. Here was the battle-ground in Africa between Mo- hammedanism and paganism ; and it is not improb- able that the hosts of the Prophet were stayed in their EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 397 victorious career and driven back upon regions pre- viously overrun by the fierce cannibal tribes of equa- torial Africa, who, from the time of Herodotus, have afforded some of the best specimens of physical man. Still farther south, natural agricultural advantages are notably good, except in the Desert of Kalahari — redeemable by means of Artesian wells — and the cli- mate is extremely salubrious and healthy. CHAPTER XXI. THE DESERT OF SAHARA. General Description of the Great Desert of North Africa — Its Different Divi- sions, Inhabitants, and Productions — Cities Buried Under the Sands — The Storms of Wind — Influence of the Desert upon the Climate and Civilization of Europe. An opinion quite extensively prevails that the Des- ert of Sahara is a vast treeless plain ; a level expanse of hot and dreary sand, with nothing to disturb the awful monotony but an occasional caravan winding its weary way through the pathless waste, or the dread- ful simoon driving ,the sands from their accustomed place and hurling them wildly whithersoever it will. Such, indeed, would be no very inaccurate descrip- tion of many portions, some of them considerable in extent, of this immense waste, but if such were taken as a picture of the whole it would convey a false im- pression. Perhaps the first idea which occupies one's mind in thinking of Sahara is in regard to its prodigious ex- tent. Its western boundary is the Atlantic ocean, whose waves wash these arid sands from Cape Nuun, at the southern extremity of Morocco, to the mouth of the river Senegal, a distance of more than a thou- sand miles. Thence it extends eastward about three thousand miles to the valley of the Nile. It is esti- mated that within the limits thus generally described there is an area of nearly 2,000,000 square miles, be- *o8 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 399 ing about ten times as great as the area of France, and more than twenty times greater than that of Eng- land, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland combined. It is to be furthermore considered that Sahara, vast as it is, embraces less than half of the desert system, if we may so speak, of which it forms the western portion, for, as is elsewhere remarked, it pushes itself, after interruption by the Nile, the rocky regions of Nubia and Abyssinia, and the Red sea, through Ara- bia, and thousands of miles eastward to far within the boundaries of the Celestial empire. The area of the whole is prohably about 7,000,000 square miles or something more than that of Europe and the United States. But Sahara itself in North Africa has three times the extent of the Mediterranean sea. So vast an expanse, with so much of it uninhabitable and un- productive, traversable only by those " ships of the desert," the patient camels, must impress the mind with gloomy reflections, to be replaced by brighter ones only upon considering further that in the won- derful workings of Nature hence have been borne and are constantly being borne upon the wings of the viewless winds the greatest blessings to the best por- tions of mankind. The western portion of Sahara, which is called Sahel, is far more desolate than the eastern portion. In the latter part there are many oases, which are in- habitable and productive. Thus we have not far from the valley of the Nile, the oases of Darfoor, El Wah, Great Oasis, Takel, and some others, of which the first named is the greatest and the farthest south. Northward is the oasis of Siwah, or Jupiter Am- 400 EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. mon, Aujilah, farther west, and the great oasis of Fez- zan, with the important city of Murzuk. The oasis of A-ir or Asben, is in the south-central part of the desert. Between this and the Atlantic ocean on the west and Morocco and Algeria on the north, the ex- panse is as desolate a region, perhaps, as there is any where on the globe. For a considerable distance from the ocean, the scene is a bleak plain of sand, except in the portion near Senegambia, where many acacias are found — the trees which furnish the gum-arabic of commerce. This coast region has a considerable ele- vation, however, and the shore consists of sandstone, generally about one hundred feet high. Whilst there are many low plains covered with drifting sands, their desolation only increased in places by wide-spread coatings of salt and vast fields of naked rock upon which one might journey for days together without seeing a grain of sand or a sign of vegetation or an- imal life, yet may Sahara be generally described as a region of elevated plateaus which frequently rise into mountains of 3,000 to 5,000 feet elevation, separated from each other by valleys and immense tracts of sand. Traversing the Desert from Tripoli one reaches the summit of the Gharian plateau at an elevation of 2,000 feet whence it gradually slopes away to 500 feet and in some places even below the level of the sea. Farther on is a long range of table land called the Hamadah, stretching east and west with an elevation of almost fifteen hundred feet. Toward the west Hamadah becomes mountainous and toward the east it breaks into a vast scene of huge cliffs called El-Harouj. Toward the Mediterranean EXPLORATIONS IN AFRICA. 40I on the whole plateau of Hamadah and that of Mur- zuk, are dry channels, called wadys, and small deserts. The route then ascends several hundred feet and passing over a sandy region, with some expanses of bare granite, with an elevation above the sea of from 1,000 to 2,200 feet, continues to the mountainous re- gion between Ghat and Asben, where there is a wady at an elevation of 2,956 feet amid mountain peaks not less than 4,000 feet high. Still further south the average elevation is believed by Barth to be about 1,900 feet. Vogel discovered similar features in the eastern portions of the Desert, and concluded that Sahara is a vast plateau formation of the general height of from 1,200 to 1,500 feet. Natives reported to him that there were high mountains in the south- ern part of the Desert, and two ranges, the Borghoo and the Madschunga, were specially spoken of as so elevated that the inhabitants dress in furs. Further west, the explorer Barth found the Tuariks clad in woollens and some in furs. The greatest expanse of sand and salt is between Asben and Timbuctoo and thence on west to the ocean. Hence caravans from Morocco to Timbuctoo have met with more difficul- ties and endured more sufferings than those which traverse the Desert from Tripoli, Barca, of Cairo. In many portions of this western waste of Sahara have been found marine shells of recent species,, showing that at no very remote geological period these now arid plains formed the bed of the ocean Not only so, but most astonishing changes have here occurred within what is commonly called the historic period. Careful investigations have discovered that 4'11 i Due e^gfr- m sub'ieci TC— iMEGrtkiA m (| <<: *8AM43 LD 21-100m-2,'55 (B139s22)476 General Library University of California Berkeley Hi HHH w\iv^«\XV I BUI ism