332 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



their catnp every night, as the savages of the 

 falls islands and the Mwana Ntaba cannibals 

 hovered constantly about them, launching their 

 poisoned shafts incessantly. They passed 6 

 falls in this way, dragging their boats over 13 

 miles of tracks which they hewed for them 

 with prodigious labor. From the beginning to 

 the last of these falls the distance is 42 geo- 

 graphical miles. The last one is in latitude O 8 

 14' 52" N. Above, the breadth of the river was 

 1,500 to 2,000 yards ; below, large feeders 

 began to pour into it, and islands covered its 

 face, so that it soon had a breadth of 2 to 3 

 miles, and widened farther on to from 4 to 

 10 miles. They had reached the " great basin 

 lying between the maritime and lake regions." 

 In this part of the voyage they ran the gant- 

 let through incessant attacking bands of canni- 

 bals. North of the equator they came to the 

 second largest of the Congo's affluents, a mag- 

 nificent river, 2,000 yards broad at the mouth, 

 called the Aruwimi, which, Stanley conjec- 

 tures, may be the "Welle of Schweinfurth. At 

 the confluence, in mid-stream, they withstood 

 a most formidable attack, made by about 2,000 

 savages in 54 huge canoes. One of the canoes, 

 driven by over 80 paddles and steered by 8 

 10-feet paddles, had through its centre a plat- 

 form, upon which the chiefs executed a war- 

 dance, and another platform at the bow for 10 

 of the best warriors. In half an hour this 

 fierce assault was successfully repulsed. They 

 passed down the river for five days without mo- 

 lestation, being hidden from the sight of the 

 savages by the islands which studded the 

 bosom of the river. Hunger then drove them 

 to land at a village, latitude 1 40' N., longi- 

 tude 23 E., whose inhabitants were well- 

 disposed ; here they first heard the river called 

 Congo. On February 14th, they were attacked 

 by the fierce Mangalas, who were armed with 

 muskets ; they fought from noon till sundown. 

 They then regained the current between the 

 islands, which they had lost, and floated down 

 four more days unobserved, the river being five 

 to ten miles broad ; they then encountered a 

 friendly people, at a place called Ikengo, near 

 where a great river, called Sankura, enters the 

 Congo ; this is doubtless identical with the lake 

 noticed, under a similar name, by Cameron and 

 Livingstone. Below, the Kassai empties into 

 the Congo. This stream at its mouth seems 

 nearly as great as the main river. Their waters 

 do not mingle for 130 miles, below which the 

 clear water of the Congo is turned light-brown 

 by the muddy flood of its affluent. The next 

 feeder is the Kwango, a deep stream, 500 yards 

 wide, which enters through a ridge of hills. 

 Six miles below here they were attacked for 

 the last time. Below this point commenced the 

 lower series of falls and rapids, extending 180 

 miles, and embracing 62 cataracts, with a total 

 fall which Stanley estimates^tTStSi feet. 



In the passage of these cataracts, owing to 

 the inaccuracies of the chart with which he 

 was provided, the party passed through a series 



of mishaps, in which 16 lives were lost, in- 

 cluding that of the gallant English companion 

 of Stanley, Francis Pocock, who was drowned 

 in one of the 30 cataracts and rapids which 

 were marked as a single one in the map. They 

 were five months in working their way through 

 this region for a distance of 180 miles ; and at 

 last, hearing that there were still five more falls 

 below, they drew up the boats above Isangila 

 cataract. Their trade-goods and ivory were 

 expended, and they were living on short ra- 

 tions; but two merchants of Bomba, or Em- 

 boma, as it is also called, responded to Stanley's 

 request sent by messengers, with full supplies 

 of food. The 8th of August they marched into 

 Bomba, and on the 13th they arrived at Ka- 

 binda, at the mouth of the Congo. It was 34 

 months since Stanley had left Bagamoyo with 

 300 Zanzibar negroes. Of these, 186, and his 

 single European attendant, had died or been 

 killed. At Kabinda he fell in with the Portu- 

 guese exploring expedition, Major Serpa Pinto 

 and Captain Brito Capello. Stanley's voyage 

 on the Congo, which occupied nine months, was 

 the most difficult enterprise accomplished by 

 him, and can be compared with any recent ex- 

 ploration in the difficulties overcome, and the 

 dangers passed, and in the importance of the 

 results as well. The whole length of the river, 

 from the point where it issues out of Lake 

 Bangweolo as the Luapala, is about 2,400 miles. 

 The length before unexplored, from Nyangwe, 

 the last point reached by Livingstone and 

 Cameron, to Yellala falls, 100 miles from the 

 mouth, the easternmost point attained by Cap- 

 tain Tuckey, in 1816, is 1,700 miles. This 1 

 journey first settles the identity of the Lualaba 

 with the Zaire or Congo. Its course is nearly 

 northward as far as the equator, and then 

 northwest until it mounts to latitude 145' N., 

 a parallel which strikes near the centre 

 of Lake Albert ; the second half of its course 

 is in the main southwestward down to the 

 sea. The highest rise of the river was from 

 20 to 50 feet in the narrows, and 12 feet in 

 the broad parts; it took place from the 8th 

 to the 22d of May. Ivory was found in great 

 abundance, and oil-palms were seen in ex- 

 tensive groves. Copper and gold fields were 

 heard of. The tribes through whose country 

 he passed were for the most part cannibals, 

 and wily and skillful warriors. The travelers 

 were attacked with spears, assegays, poisoned 

 arrows, muskets ; at one time their foes sur- 

 rounded the camp with hidden nets, at others 

 they drove pointed sticks, dipped in poison, 

 into the ground, that the defenders of the 

 camp might wound themselves while repelling 

 attacks. In some cases, however, he succeeded 

 in establishing friendly relations with the na- 

 tives, and found them intelligent, trustful, kind- 

 hearted, and eager for trade. Stanley believes 

 that the trader can do more to civilize the 

 negroes of Western Africa, who are divided up 

 into little tribes and clans; while the mission- 

 ary's field is in the large despotic kingdoms on 



