EXPLOEATION. 27 



of progress. The outports on the coast are no longer crowded with captives, and, 

 as in the New World, the wars stirred up by the dealers in human flesh involve the 

 ultimate ruin of their infamous traffic. 



Exploration. 



Henceforth supported by other produce than that of slaves, the commerce of 

 Africa already finds the interior more accessible to its agents, and the continent 

 thus becomes daily more closely connected with the rest of the world. Large 

 numbers of explorers starting from various points round the coast are continually 

 invading new or little - known regions, and amongst them are many brave 

 volunteers ever ready to sacrifice their lives in the sole interest of science and 

 humanity. It is one of the glories of our age to have produced so many heroes, 

 some who have achieved fame, others whose very names are already forgotten, but 

 all alike devoting themselves merely to fill up the blank spaces on the map of the 

 Dark Continent. A " necrological " Map of Africa has been prepared by M. Henri 

 Duveyrier, showing the names of the chief European explorers who, between the 

 years 1800 and 1874, have either been murdered by fanatical Mohammedans or 

 fallen victims to the deadly climate and the hardships undergone in their efforts 

 to advance geographical knowledge. Since then the list has been considerably 

 augmented, and the names of Flatters and his associates — of Schuver, Sacconi, 

 Keith Johnston and many others — have been enrolled amongst the martyrs of 

 science. 



In the history of African discovery, as in that of all other human conquests, 

 progress has not always been continuous. Until recently the work of exploration 

 has rather been carried on interruptedly, and at times even discontinued for long 

 intervals. Between the first voyage of circumnavigation, mentioned by Herodotus 

 as having been accomplished under Pharaoh Necho, and that of Vasco de Gama, 

 there was an interval of twenty-one centuries, during which numerous discoveries 

 already made had been forgotten. The geographers of the fifteenth century were 

 acquainted with the results of the older explorations only through Ptolemy's 

 inaccurate statements, which were made still more confusing by the carelessness of 

 copyists and the imagination of commentators. The coasts already known to the 

 Phœnicians had to be rediscovered, for Hanno's voyage to the south of the Senegal 

 River, accomplished nineteen hundred years before the Portuguese, had long ceased 

 to be remembered. Even after Gama's " periplus," and the occupation of a large 

 portion of the coast by the Portuguese, our knowledge of the regions already 

 visited was more than once obscured, thanks mainly to the jealousy of rival nations 

 anxious to keep for themselves the secret of their expeditions. 



At present learned writers are patriotically engaged in vindicating for their 

 respective countries the honour of having been the first to explore many since- 

 forgotten regions. It seems certain that long before the Portuguese, Italian 

 navigators had surveyed most of the north-west seaboard, and even the islands and 

 archipelagoes lying off the coast. A sketch by the Venetian Marco Pizzigani, 



