Introduction xxv 



expedition had to overcome. The tribes of the 

 Manyema are cannibals. They are constantly at 

 war with one another ; and, though they were not 

 hostile to the travellers, a sharp look-out had to 

 be kept, lest there should be treachery. In fact, 

 during part of the journey the expedition had 

 to be protected by a convoy of troops placed at its 

 disposal by Baron Dhanis of the Congo Free State. 

 The country through which it passed had rebelled 

 against the Belgian Government, and many were 

 the hair-breadth escapes which it had, one night in 

 particular, when it passed within alarming proximity 

 to the rebel camp, fortunately without being seen. 

 The crossing of the equatorial forest, of which Sir 

 H. M. Stanley has given such a vivid account, took 

 up twenty of the forty-one days which were occupied 

 in travelling from Tanganyika to the Congo. Like 

 Stanley and others, M. Foa met with the pygmies. 

 He took measurements of many of them, studied 

 their industries and customs, and will probably throw 

 very interesting light on these people when he 

 publishes the detailed account of his journey. 



The rest of the crossing of Central Africa was a 

 question of time only. The explorer and his men 

 descended the Congo in a pirogue to New Antwerp, 

 and took the steamer to Stanley Pool. At first 

 M. Foa thought of reaching the coast by way of the 

 French Congo, via Franceville and the Ogowe river ; 

 but, the rainy season setting in, he returned to the 



