Stanley Comes to the Relief of Emin
The scanty news from the heart of Africa relating to this heroic man,
forsaken by all the world, doing his duty and remaining at his post
undisturbed by any thought of danger or death, and deserted by the
government he represented, aroused interest and increasing sympathy in
Europe. In England especially it was regarded as a duty to help Emin,
thereby making some reparation for the dilatory policy which had
sacrificed Gordon, and with him the whole Soudan. Emin's letter to Dr.
Felkir was published in the London _Times_, in the autumn of 1886, and
led to the organization of an Emin Pasha Relief Committee, under the
presidency of Sir William MacKinnon. This committee quickly raised a
large sum for the fitting out of a great expedition under command of
Henry Morton Stanley, the founder of the Congo Free State and African
expert.
Stanley came at once from America and secured all the necessary
supplies, weapons, and articles for barter in such quantities that Emin
could hardly have long contained himself had he possessed them. Nine
Europeans, at the cost of much self-sacrifice, accompanied the
expedition as officers. Among them was Dr. Parke, a noble friend of
humanity, who had acquired great fame by alleviating the fearful
sufferings of travellers and saving many lives. The next step was the
selection of a route and Stanley chose one along the Congo and across
the equator, a hitherto untraversed region. He had a special reason for
selecting this route. He was anxious to complete his earlier discoveries
and the possibility of going across Africa with such a large and finely
equipped expedition might not occur again, for he had over six hundred
carriers besides soldiers with him and he feared that these people might
desert him and go back to the east coast if he went by way of Zanzibar.
As they were situated, they had to follow him if they wished to get home
again, for flight would only take them to unknown regions where death
certainly awaited them.
Losing very little time, Stanley went to Egypt and secured from the
Khedive an official letter to Emin and then went on to Zanzibar to get
the necessary people. He was especially fortunate in securing Tippoo
Tib, a leading trader and investor in Central Africa, and a near
neighbor of the Congo Free State. Stanley feared if he did not attach
this man to his service, who had almost princely power, the Arabs in the
interior might play havoc with his expedition. His preparations gave him
more trouble than he had expected. When he reached the mouth of the
Congo and found the vessels which the King of Belgium had placed at his
disposal, they were all unfit for use. It was only with the greatest
exertions that three of them were put in tolerable condition. They had
hardly gone a mile when the screw of the steamer _Peace_ gave out. Then
the steamer _Stanley_ got out of order and there was no end to his
troubles and disappointments. The situation, however, was not very
serious so long as they were sailing up the river and ever and again
passing stations belonging to the Congo Free State. At last, however,
they must leave the river and travel on foot through an unknown
wilderness.
Owing to the unfitness of the steamers, the larger part of the baggage
had been left behind and was to be brought through the forests by Tippoo
Tib's carriers. Stanley was eager to advance, for the last he heard from
Emin was the words, "If Stanley does not come soon, we shall be lost."
He therefore decided to go ahead with the best of his men, leaving a
rearguard at Jambuja under Major Bartelot. The major was assigned the
unenviable duty of awaiting the arrival of the baggage and carriers with
two hundred sick and crippled men on his hands, and then follow Stanley
by routes which would be marked out for him. Greatly to his consolation,
Lieutenant Jameson was left with him. Jephson and Dr. Parke were with
the advance. Many hands were busied with preparations for departure and
then the horn gave the signal for advance. Stanley took the lead, with
Lieutenant Nelson in the rear, to prevent straggling.
"Which way is it, guide?" asked Stanley of a tall naked man with a
magnificent helmet, such as the Greeks used to wear.
"This way, which leads to the sunset," he replied.
"How many miles is it to the next village?"
"God only knows," was the answer.
"Is there no village or country in any direction?"
"Not one that I know of."
This was all known by the most knowing one in the expedition.
"Now then, forward in God's name. May God be with us! Keep to the course
along the river until we find a road."
"Bismillah!" shouted the carriers. The trumpets of the Nubians blew the
signal "forward," and shortly after this the head of the column
disappeared in the dense thickets on the outer limits of the forests of
Jambuja.
This was on the twenty-eighth of June, 1887, and until the fifth of
December, one hundred and sixty days, the expedition traversed woods and
thickets without seeing a bit of grassland. For miles nothing could be
seen but forests of trees of various ages and heights, with more or less
thick underbrush. For the first time a hitherto unknown region was
exposed to the gaze of civilized man.
The march was entirely conjectural, as it led through a hitherto
untrodden and pathless wilderness and in some places it dragged along
like a funeral procession. Its difficulties were increased by frequent
rainstorms, which in that region are like a deluge. They are also
accompanied by violent winds, which shake the countless branches so that
they drench man and beast with an additional downpour and rage as if
they would tear the trees up by the roots. Their fear was still further
increased by terrible peals of thunder reverberating through the forest
and the lightning flashes hurtling through the air and sometimes taking
the form of exploding bolts.
It was a great relief when the sick and injured were at last delivered
from this elemental strife which Stanley said was more dreadful than a
European battle. His men seemed to be almost paralyzed by fear,
suffering, sickness, loss of friends, hunger, rain, thunder, and general
wretchedness. They sought shelter under banana trees, shields of the
natives, woollen covers, straw mats, earthen and copper pots, saddles,
tent covers, each one enveloped in a blue mist and completely overcome
by speechless terror. The poor donkeys, with ears thrown back, closed
eyes, and drooping heads, and the caged fowl, with their bedraggled
feathers, added to the general wretchedness of appearance. Hunger,
sickness, and wounds from the thorns in the woods disabled many. They
were also exposed to the poisoned arrows of lurking savages. One or
another of the carriers would disappear, taking his valuable pack with
him. Each day some were prostrated by exhaustion, never to rise again.
It was almost unendurable misery, and yet the cry was "forward,
forward."
During the days that were free from rain, an unnatural darkness
prevailed in the forest. The travellers now encountered slippery tree
trunks, bridging over dangerous abysses, which threatened to pierce them
with the sharp points of their projecting dead branches as they rushed
down hillsides upon them. Upon one of these they had to cross a rushing
stream, balancing themselves upon its slippery surface. Anon they
plunged into a thicket, where they were nearly suffocated by the myriads
of tangled vines and bushes that coiled about them. Soon they came to a
morass whose dangerous depths were concealed by floating plants and
scum. At every step their difficulties so increased that Stanley at last
declared they had done enough for the day and would pitch camp.
Stanley was moved with compassion as he looked upon his naked followers.
Their usual ebony colored skin had changed to an ashen gray and their
bones protruded so that it was a wonder how such skeletons had strength
enough to go any farther. And yet he had no mercy. He forced them to go
on by harsh measures, lest the expedition should prove a failure. And
besides, he who remained behind was inevitably a dead man. The soil was
full of decaying vegetation, the atmosphere was hot and close and filled
with exhalations from myriads of decaying insects, leaves, plants,
twigs, and stalks. At every step the head or neck, arms or legs were
held fast by tough vines, thorns of bushes, poisonous ivies or monstrous
thistles, which tore them as they sought to extricate themselves.
Countless kinds of insects increased their troubles, particularly the
black ants, which dropped upon them from the trees as they were passing
under them. Their sting is more painful than that of the wasp or the red
ant. They traverse the roads in armies, and plants and trees swarm with
them. When November came, the expedition had been reduced one half in
number and only two hundred men emerged from the darkness of the woods
into clear daylight.
In Stanley's account of this journey he only speaks of these small pests
and is thankful that the larger animals of the African plains avoided
the forests. But this is not always the case, for the wilderness abounds
with elephants, buffaloes, panthers, leopards, jackals, antelopes, and
gazelles. There are hippopotami and snakes in the rivers, innumerable
birds in the trees, and the woods are full of monkeys of various kinds,
and yet none of them came in sight of the expedition. The same was true
of the natives. They often found clearings in which bananas and pisangs
were planted and near by the forsaken cabins of the savages who fled
from the approach of strangers. And yet it is not correct to say that
there were no human beings in the forests. Behind every tree an enemy
was lurking and their poisoned arrows often found victims. Stanley
maintains that these savages of the forest are much more dangerous than
the negroes of the open country. It is only remarkable that amidst the
manifold dangers to which they were exposed, they escaped a conflict
which might have been fatal to them.
The terrors of the forest at last disappeared. On the thirtieth of
November the expedition reached a broad, well-kept road which led to the
summit of a sightly hill. Lights could be seen. The people crowded about
the slope and their questioning glances seemed to say before they could
express their gratitude in words: "Is it true? Are we not deceived? Is
it possible that we are at the end of those forest horrors?" They at
last were convinced and a few minutes later gazed with admiration and
astonishment at the picture before them.
Longingly they stretched out their arms to the beautiful country. All
looked up with grateful hearts to the clear, blue sky and watched the
setting of the sun as if enchanted. Then they turned and gazed at the
dark forest they had just left, stretching away limitlessly to the west,
and shook their fists at it. They were overcome by their sudden joy.
They denounced it for its cruelty to them and their friends and compared
it to hell. They mourned the death of hundreds of their companions and
cursed it for its cruelty. But the great forest, stretching out like a
continent, lying silently like some great animal, veiled in a blue mist,
made no reply, but remained in its everlasting solitude, as unmerciful
and cruel as ever.