January i8, 1889.J 



SCIENCE. 



49 



the upper part of the Senegal River to the head waters of the Niger. 

 The EngUsh have organized a company to construct a road from 

 the Gold Coast to the mines in the interior. 



It will thus be seen that the railroad has already opened a way 

 into Africa that is sure to be carried on more extensively. 



Stanley Expedition. 



There are two methods of exploring Africa. One is where an 

 individual, like a Livingstone or a Schweinfurth, or Dr. Junker, de- 

 parts on his journey alone. He joins some tribe as far in the in- 

 terior, on the line of exploration, as possible ; lives with the tribe, 

 adopting its habits and manner of life, learning its language, mak- 

 ing whatever explorations he can ; and, when the region occupied 

 by such tribe has been fully explored, leaves it for the next farther 

 on. This plan requires time and never-failing patience ; but in 

 this way large portions of Africa have been explored. The other 

 way, adopted by Cameron, Stanley, Wissmann, and the Portuguese 

 explorers, has been to collect a party of natives, and at their head 

 march across the continent. 



"An immense outfit is required to penetrate this shopless land, 

 and the traveller can only make up his caravan from the bazaar at 

 Zanzibar. The ivory and slave traders have made caravanning a 

 profession, and every thing the explorer wants is to be found in 

 these bazaars, from a tin of sardines to a repeating-rifle. Here 

 these black villains the porters — the necessity and despair of 

 travellers, the scum of slave-gangs, and the fugitives from justice 

 from every tribe — congregate for hire. And if there is any thing 

 in which African travellers are for once agreed, it is, that for lazi- 

 ness, ugliness, stupidity, and wickedness, these men are not to be 

 matched on any continent in the world." Upon such men as these 

 Stanley was obliged to depend. 



Though travelling in this way is more rapid than the other, it is 

 very expensive, and has many difficulties not encountered by the 

 solitary traveller. The explorer always goes on foot, following as 

 far as possible the beaten paths. A late traveller says : " The 

 roads over which the land-trade of equatorial Africa now passes 

 from the coast to the interior are mere footpaths, never over a foot 

 in breadth, beaten as hard as adamant, and rutted beneath the 

 level of the forest-bed by centuries of native traffic. As a rule, 

 these foot-paths are marvellously direct. Like the roads of the old 

 Roman, they move straight on through every thing, — ridge and 

 mountain and valley, — never shying at obstacles, nor anywhere 

 turning aside to breathe. No country in the world is better sup- 

 plied with paths. Every village is connected with some other vil- 

 lage, every tribe with the next tribe, and it is possible for a travel- 

 ler to cross Africa without being once out of a beaten track." 



But if the tribes using these roads are destroyed, the roads are 

 discontinued, and soon become obstructed by the rapid growth of 

 the underbrush ; or, if the route lies through unknown regions out- 

 side the great caravan-tracks, the paths are very different from 

 those described by Mr. Drummond, for the way often lies through 

 swamps and morass, or thick woods, or over high mountain-passes, 

 or is lost in a wilderness of waters. 



The great difficulty in these expeditions is to obtain food. As 

 supplies cannot be carried, they must be procured from the natives. 

 Very few tribes can furnish food for a force of six hundred men 

 (the number with Stanley) ; and when they have the food, they de- 

 mand exorbitant prices. Often the natives not only refuse food to 

 the famished travellers, but oppose them with such arms as they 

 have ; and then it is necessary, in self-defence, to fire upon them. 



The greatest difficulty the explorer meets comes either directly or 

 indirectly from the opposition of the slave-trader. Formerly the 

 slave-trader was not found in equatorial Africa ; but, since the ex- 

 plorer has opened the way, the slave-trader has penetrated far into 

 the interior, and he is continually throwing obstacles in the way 

 of the entry of Europeans into Africa. When it was decided that 

 Stanley should relieve Emin Pacha, he was left to choose his route. 

 He met Schweinfurth, Junker, and other African travellers, in Cairo. 

 They advised him to go by his former route directly from Zanzibar to 

 the Victoria Nyanza. The dangers and difficulties of this route, and 

 the warlike character of the natives, he well knew. The route by 

 the Kongo to Wadelai had never been travelled, and he thought the 

 difficulties could not be greater than by the old route ; and, beside, 



he proceeded much farther into the interior by steamer on the Kongo^ 

 which left a much shorter distance through the wilderness than by 

 the Zanzibar route. On arriving at Zanzibar, he made an arrange- 

 ment with Tippo-Tip, the great Arab trader and slave-dealer, for a 

 large number of porters. They sailed from Zanzibar to the Kongo,, 

 where Stanley arrived in February, 1887. He then sailed up the 

 Kongo, and arrived in June at the junction of the Aruvimi with ~ le 

 Ivongo, a short distance below Stanley Falls. Stanley believed t lat 

 the Aruvimi and the Welle were the same stream, and thai by 

 following up this river he would be on the direct route to Wade- 

 lai. Subsequent investigations have shown that he was mistaken.. 

 About the ist of July he left the Kongo, expecting to reach Emin 

 Pacha in October, 1887. No definite information has been received 

 from him from that time to the present. He left Tippo-Tip in com- 

 mand at Stanley Falls, expecting that a relief expedition would fol- 

 low. There were great delays in organizing this expedition, from 

 the difficulty of obtaining men, and it was thought that Tippo-Tip 

 was unfaithful. The men were finally procured, and the expedition 

 left Aruvimi in June, 1888, under command of Major Barttelot. A 

 day or two after they started. Major Barttelot was murdered by 

 one of his private servants. The expedition returned to the Kongo, 

 and was re-organized under Lieut. Jamieson. He was taken ill,, 

 and died just as he was ready to start, and no one has been found 

 to take his place ; and that relief expedition was abandoned. Re- 

 ports say that Stanley found the route more difficult than he anti- 

 cipated ; heavy rainfalls, rivers, swamps, and marshes obstructed 

 the way ; that the season was sickly, and a large part of his follow- 

 ers died long before he could have reached Tanganyika. 



The reports of his capture, and of his safe return to the Aruvimi 

 River, are known to all. These may or may not be true. Although 

 we have not heard from Stanley for a year and a half, yet it by no^ 

 means follows that he is dead ; for Livingstone, Stanley, and other 

 explorers have been lost for a longer time, and have afterward 

 found their way back to the coast. No man has greater knowl- 

 edge of the country through which his route lay, or of the character 

 of the natives, or the best manner of dealing with them. Emin. 

 Pacha 'was encamped quietly for nearly two years at Wadelai; and 

 Stanley, in like manner, may have been compelled to remain at 

 some inland point and raise his own provisions. 



The Future of Africa. 



It is impossible to prophesy the future of any country, much less, 

 that of Africa, where the physical features have left so marked an. 

 impression upon its inhabitants, and where the animal life is so dif- 

 ferent from that of the other continents. It is rather by differenti- 

 ating Africa from other countries that we obtain any data from- 

 which to form an opinion of its future. 



Africa, as we have seen, is surrounded by a fringe of European 

 settlements. What effect will these settlements have upon Africa ?• 

 1st, Will the European population penetrate the interior, and col- 

 onize Africa? 2d, Will it subjugate or expel the Africans, or will 

 they fade away like the Indians of our country ? 3d, If coloniza- 

 tion by Europeans fail, will the African remain the sole inhabitant 

 of the country as barbarian or civilized ? 



Egypt is now controlled by the English, but its climate is too un- 

 healthy, and its surrounding too unfavorable, for Englishmen ; and 

 we may safely assume that their occupation will be temporary, or, 

 if permanent, not as colonists. They will remain, as in India, for- 

 eigners and rulers, until the subjugated people rise in their power 

 and expel them, and return to their old life. The English rule,, 

 though possibly beneficial to Egypt, is hated by the natives, who- 

 demand Egypt for the Egyptians. 



Leaving Egypt, we pass an uninhabitable coast, until we come to- 

 the French colonies of Algiers. It is nearly sixty years since the 

 French took possession of Algiers. There has been a large emigra- 

 tion from France ; but the climate, while excellent as a winter cli- 

 mate for invalids and others, is unfavorable for a permanent habi- 

 tation, especially for infants. The births in one year have never 

 equalled the deaths. When Algeria was first conquered by the 

 French, it was a wilderness, but is now a garden. The cultivatioa 

 of the grape has been most successful, and extensive iron-mines 

 have been opened. The French are gradually pushing their way 

 from Algiers across the desert to Timbuctu, and also from Sene- 



