STANLEY'S GREAT FOREST MARCH. 173 



Any estimate as to the probable extent of this great 

 Central African forest, discovered by Mr. Stanley, must 

 of course at present be merely conjecture; but from 

 the information he could gather, he is disposed to think 

 that the immense area of upwards of 350,000 square 

 miles is covered by one practically unbroken forest in 

 this region. * 



Mr. Stanley, as his steamers ascended the Congo 

 and the Aruwhimi to a point where it was evident 

 that further progress would have to be by land, had 

 already passed through immense tracts of forest, which 

 formed one almost unbroken frontage along the river 

 bank. He briefly describes the country traversed dur- 

 ing his now celebrated march, as follows : 



" I had been very curious about the limits of this forest 

 that lay dark and dismal before us, on all sides. I had 

 asked every native about this forest, but they had never 

 heard of any limits to it. We marched onwards without a 

 single day's rest, for one month, daily hewing our way through 

 the dense undergrowth. So dense is the forest that you 

 seldom see the sunlight; a mere shaft of light, or a glint 

 of sunshine, is all we ever saw of the broad daylight and 

 the bright blue sky without. After 160 days, we emerged 

 out of the forest and came into the sunshine, and literally 

 raced through the grassland, like wanton children, so rejoiced 

 were we at beholding the blue sky, at feeling the pure breeze,, 

 and seeing the tender grass before us." f 



And again in his official report he tells us 



" The journey we were about to undertake was through 

 one continuous unbroken forest. Though daily expecting to 



* See report of Mr. Stanley's speech at a meeting of the R.G.S.,. 

 reported in the Times of May 6, 1890. 



j- Extract report of speech by Mr. Stanley, at a banquet offered him 

 by the Egyptian Government at Cairo, Jan. 20, 1890, in Times, Feb.. 

 14, 1890. 



