PREFACE. 
Se 
I BELIEVE a negro potentate once observed, with regard . 
to the encroachments of the Anglo-Saxon race, that first 
came the missionary, then the merchant, and finally the 
British soldier. An almost analogous case to political 
conquest is the occupation by science of new fields of 
research. The pioneer is a man of the Livingstone or 
Stanley type, who rapidly traverses an unknown region, 
braves its dangers and endures its privations, and points 
out to his successors where his discoveries may be best 
taken up and worked out in detail. I trust, therefore, 
that as Mr. Stanley may claim to have been the great 
_ missionary of knowledge on the Congo, so I, in following 
humbly in his steps, may rank as the merchant who has 
brought back for the world’s inspection some samples from 
the unworked mines of information, whose presence the 
great explorer could discover, but whose wealth he had 
perforce to leave behind him on his rapid march. I have 
~ not ventured to make this work a record of novel explora- 
tion, for I visited few places that were not already 
explored ; nor of scientific research, for I lack the necessary 
ability. I have merely tried to produce with pen and 
& brush an ordinary guide-book to the Congo, which may 
_ convey to intending travellers or stay-at-home folks a 
_ fairly just impression of the main features of the great 
