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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



ished gaze of the outside world ; and, in the fifteen 

 years which have elapsed since the abolition of 

 slavery in America, more has been learned of Afri- 

 ca by the civilized world than was ever previous- 

 ly known. Explorers from all the leading nations 

 are entering the wonderful country from every 

 quarter. One of the sovereigns of Europe turns 

 aside from the cares of state, and from the great 

 questions now interesting Europe, to give his per- 

 sonal influence to stimulate the work of African 

 exploration and civilization. The Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society has shown its increased interest 

 and determination in the matter by instituting an 

 " African Exploration Fund," to be appropriated 

 " to the scientific examination of Africa " (espe- 

 cially the central part of the continent), "in a 

 systematic and organized manner." 1 A proposi- 

 tion has been laid before the American Congress, 

 for a preliminary survey of the countries east of 

 Liberia, with a view to the construction of a rail- 

 road from Monrovia to Central Africa. In Africa 

 itself, magnificence and beauty are being disclosed 

 where the most forbidding natural features were 

 expected. More than one dozen lakes have been 

 discovered in regions formerly supposed to con- 

 tain only "trackless deserts of shifting sand." 

 The continent has been crossed from east to west 

 by youthful and enthusiastic explorers. So that 

 the exiled African, returning to the land of his 

 ancestors, will not be journeying to a country 

 of which he has no knowledge. The general ig- 

 norance of this continent, which only a few years 

 ago prevailed, when it used to be said that " our 

 maps of the moon were more correct and com- 

 plete than those of interior Africa," can never 

 again exist. 



But, while every effort is made to explore and 

 describe the country, very little attempt is made 

 to study the man of Africa. It is very natural 

 that adventurous travelers should deem it the 

 most important part of their mission to describe 

 the country, to spend their time in telling of what 

 the outside world is consciously and confessedly 

 ignorant, and of which, therefore, there is the 

 greatest anxiety to gather information. The geo- 

 graphical problem presses for solution. As to 

 the man, there is not this anxiety. The outside 

 world thinks it knows the man of Africa. Has 

 not the negro been seen as a laborer in every 

 part of the world ? Has he not for centuries been 

 on the plantations in all the western hemisphere ? 

 Have not numerous travelers written about him, 

 and has he not been minutely described by scien- 



1 Circular issued by the Royal Geographical Socie- 

 ty, 1877. 



tific men from his skull to his heels ? But it Is 

 beginning to be apprehended now by the more 

 thoughtful that, after all, the man of Africa is 

 not understood. There is now more thinking, 

 writing, learning, and talking, about Africa than 

 ever before. Still the notions of Europeans are 

 extremely vague about the man. On two points 

 only they seem to be clear, viz., first, as to the 

 irrepressible or inextinguishable character of the 

 man — that he will not fade away or become ex- 

 tinct before Europeans, as the American and 

 Australian aborigines have done ; and, secondly, 

 that in any calculations looking to the material 

 improvement or aggrandizement of his native 

 home, he cannot be wisely ignored. Further than 

 this, all is dark to the European mind. Only the 

 negro will be able to explain the negro to the 

 rest of mankind. 



We have travelers in Africa belonging to all 

 the principal nations of the world, and all in a 

 greater or less degree indulge in strains of dis- 

 paragement of the man. And this not as a rule, 

 and not even generally, from a desire to be un- 

 fair, but partly from preconceived notions of the 

 negro, imbibed from reading or hearsay in the 

 course of their preparation for their journey; 

 partly from the influence of their atmospheric 

 surroundings in the field of their investigations ; 

 and partly, also, on the principle that it is easier 

 to pull down than to build up ; and there is a 

 sort of fame attached to the great destroyer. The 

 names of the builders of mighty pyramids may be 

 forgotten with the ages, while the name of the 

 destroyer of a magnificent temple has lingered in 

 the memory of generations. 



There is no possibility of entering Africa either 

 from the east or west without passing through a 

 belt of malarious country by which the strongest 

 constitutions are affected. A pernicious miasma 

 receives strangers at the threshold of the conti- 

 nent. Their whole nervous system becomes dis- 

 ordered — the action of the liver is deranged. 

 They become the prey of melancholy in its literal, • 

 etymological sense, and in this abnormal state of 

 mental impressibility they take the most gloomy 

 views of the people, and reproduce their own 

 preconceived or favorite types of the African. In 

 a letter to the New York Herald, Dr. Livingstone 

 says: 



" The irritability produced by disease made me 

 pig-headed. The same cause operates with modern 

 travelers, so that they are unable to say a civil 

 word about the natives. Savages seldom deceive 

 you if put upon their honor ; yet men turn up the 

 whites of their eyes, as if deception showed an 



