flag of England, the other that of America; and their luggage being on
board, and having bidden farewell to Arabs and natives, together they
commenced their voyage on the lake, steering for the south. At the same
time the main body of their men, under Asmani and Bombay, commenced
their journey, which was to be performed on foot, along the shores of
the lake. It had been arranged that the canoes should meet them at the
mouth of every river, to transport them across from bank to bank. Their
intention was to land at Cape Tongwe, when they would be opposite the
village of Itaga, whence, by traversing the uninhabited districts to the
east, they would avoid the exactions of the roguish Wavinza and the
plundering Wahha, and then strike the road by which Stanley had come.
This plan was completely carried out. Stanley had procured a strong
donkey at Ujiji, that the doctor might perform the journey on its back.
Pouring rain, however, came down during the whole journey, and it was to
their intense satisfaction that at length the two friends walked into
Stanley's old quarters, who said: "Doctor, we are at home."
Here they were again busily employed in examining stores, and the doctor
in writing despatches and letters to his friends.
Mirambo still held out, and probably the Arabs would not conquer him for
many months to come.
Here the doctor resolved to remain, while Stanley went down to the coast
to enlist men and collect such further stores as were required, and to
send them back. On their arrival, Livingstone purposed returning with
them to Ujiji, and from thence crossing over into Manyema, to make
further researches in that province and Ruo; among other things, to
examine the underground habitations which he had heard of on a previous
journey.
On the 14th of March, Stanley and Livingstone breakfasted together, and
then the order was given to raise the flag and march. Livingstone
accompanied him some way, but they had to part at last.
The return journey was not performed without many adventures and a
considerable amount of suffering by the enterprising traveller.
Passing the stronghold of Kisalungo, a large portion had disappeared.
The river had swept away the entire front wall and about fifty houses,
several villages having suffered disastrously, while at least a hundred
people had perished. The whole valley, once a paradise in appearance,
had been converted into a howling waste.
Further on, a still more terrible destruction of human life and property
had occurred. It was reported that a hundred villages had been swept
away by a volume of water which had rushed over the banks of the
Ungerengeri.
Passing a dense jungle, and wading for several miles through a swamp, on
the 6th of May the caravan was again _en route_, at a pace its leader
had never seen equalled. At sunset the town of Bagomoyo was entered.
His first greeting was with Lieutenant Henn, who had come out as second
in command of the proposed Livingstone search and relief expedition. He
next met Mr Oswald Livingstone, the doctor's second son. The two
proposed shortly starting on their journey, having come over with no
less than a hundred and ninety loads of stores, which they would have
had no small difficulty in conveying. Two other members of the
expedition, Lieutenant Dawson, RN, and the Reverend C New, had resigned,
for reasons which Mr Stanley fully explains. He himself was not over
well pleased with some of the remarks made in the papers about himself,
some having regarded his expedition into Africa as a myth.
"Alas!" he observes, justly, "it has been a terrible, earnest fact with
me: nothing but haul, conscientious work, privations, sickness, and
almost death."
However, welcomed cordially by numerous friends at Zanzibar, which he
reached the following day, he soon recovered his spirits, and, having
disbanded his own expedition, he set to work to arrange the one he had
promised to form for the assistance of Dr Livingstone, Mr Henn having
in the mean time resigned, and Mr Oswald Livingstone being compelled
from ill health to abandon the attempt to join his father.
Fifty guns, with ammunition, stores, and cloth, were furnished by Mr
Oswald Livingstone out of the English expedition. Fifty-seven men,
including twenty of those who had followed Stanley, were also engaged,
the services of Johari, chief dragoman to the American consulate, being
also obtained to conduct them across the inundated plains of the
Kinganni.
Stanley did not perform his duty by halves. Having engaged a dhow, he
saw them all on board, and again urged them to follow the "great
master," as they called Livingstone, wherever he might lead them, and to
obey him in all things.
"We will! we will!" they cried out.
He then shook hands with them, and, ordering them to take up their
loads, marched them down to the beach, seeing them on board, and watched
the dhow as she sped westward on her way to Bagomoyo.
Those who had accompanied him had been handsomely rewarded, and he
states to their credit, though Bombay and many others had at first
annoyed him greatly, that from Ujiji to the coast, they had all behaved
admirably.
After being detained at the Seychelles for a month, Mr Stanley reached
Marseilles, _via_ Aden, when Mr Bennett, in order to fulfil Mr
Stanley's promise that he would post Dr Livingstone's letters to his
family and friends in England twenty-four hours after he had seen his
public ones published in the London journals, telegraphed two of them by
cable, at an expense of nearly two thousand pounds--"one of the most
generous acts," as he observes, "that could be conceived, after all he
had done in originating and sustaining the enterprise."
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
CONCLUSION.
TRAVELS OF BURTON--DU CHAILLU--BAINES--ANDERSSON--GALTON--EXPEDITIONS UP
THE NIGER--DR. BAIKIE'S VOYAGE IN THE "PLEIAD"--JOURNEYS OF
MISSIONARIES, SPORTSMEN, AND OTHERS--CONCLUDING REMARKS.
We must now bid farewell to that land of savagism, so large a portion of
which we have seen opened out to the view of the civilised world by the
gallant and enterprising men whose footsteps we have traced. We would
gladly have accompanied many others who have contributed their _quota_
to our knowledge of the continent. Among the first stands Burton, who
ranks as a great traveller in all parts of the world, and who, besides
his trip on Lake Tanganyika, has visited Dahomy, the Cameroon Mountains,
Abeokuta, and many other places.
We regret to have to omit the travels and wonderful adventures of Du
Chaillu through the gorilla country and other portions of tropical
Africa.
Interesting journeys have been made by the enterprising travellers,
Andersson, the artist Baines, and Mr Galton, who, starting from
Walvisch Bay on the West Coast to the north of Cape Colony, visited the
Damaras, the Namaquas, the Bechuanas, and other tribes to the west of
Lake Ngami.
Several expeditions also have been made to explore the Niger, and open
up commerce with the teeming population on its banks. One of the first,
sent out a few years after the return of the Landers, proved most
disastrous, the greater number of officers and men having perished from
fever.
Another, however, which was organised in 1854 by the Government, was far
more successful. A small steamer, the "Pleiad," was fitted out with a
black crew and a few white officers, and in consequence of the death of
Mr Beecroft, who had been appointed to lead the expedition, it was
placed under the command of Dr Baikie, R.N. He proceeded up the
Quorra, the proper name of the Niger, and entering the mouth of the
Binue, known as the Tsadda, discovered by Dr Barth, steamed up that
magnificent stream till the falling waters compelled him to return.
Numerous other expeditions have been made on the West Coast by
missionaries, for the purpose of extending the blessings of the Gospel.
Still more numerous have been the journeys, with the same object in
view, made from the southern part of Africa.
In this direction also no small number of sportsmen, with Gordon dimming
at their head, have penetrated far into the interior, many of them
having given accounts of their exploits to the world.
The travels of Mansfield Parkyns, and his description of life in
Abyssinia, as well as Plowden's, Stern's, and many others, are of the
deepest interest.
We would gladly also have given an account of the travels of the
enterprising ivory-trader, Mr Petherick, who has visited many of the
districts we have gone over, as well as those on both sides of the Nile.
They have all added to our knowledge of Africa; yet a considerable
amount of the interior remains unexplored.
Livingstone, undoubtedly, will have solved the problem of the sources of
the Nile; but the source of the Congo is still to be discovered, unless
the expedition which started from the West Coast to the relief of
Livingstone has ere this settled the question: while Sir Samuel Baker,
when once he gets his steamers launched on the waters of the Albert
Nyanza, is not likely to stop till he has made further discoveries to
the west and south of his vast lake.
If he is correct in his belief that the Albert Nyanza and Tanganyika are
portions of one vast lake, or united by a broad channel, a direct
highway by water exists, nine hundred miles in length, through the
interior of the continent, which cannot fail greatly to assist in the
civilisation of the teeming population in its neighbourhood. We,
however, must await the return of Sir Samuel Baker and Dr Livingstone,
to be enlightened on this and many other deeply interesting points.
We shall rest satisfied if the work we have now brought to a conclusion
excites the interest of our readers in the numberless black races spread
over the continent, and induces them to exert all the influence they may
possess in forwarding measures for suppressing the nefarious slave trade
throughout the length and breadth of the land, and in aiding those who
go forth to carry the blessings of the Gospel to its long benighted
people.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Great African Travellers, by W.H.G. Kingston