MEMOIR OF STANLEY. 469 



mended him to the good offices of the Russian authorities. Mr. Morris says — 

 " He started on the desperate enterprise some time after, and my table thereby- 

 lost one of its most entertaining guests. When I say desperate enterprise, I 

 mean it — for Persia is to a European a practically unexplored country ; and 

 in consequence of its veak government, and the marauders with which it 

 abounds, a journey from Zanzibar to Unyanyembe would be a safe trip com- 

 pared to it. I received a letter from him, while on the way, narrating the 

 hospitable manner in which he had been received by the Russian authorities, 

 and the way in which he had astonished them by the performances of his Henry 

 rifle. (This rifle was a present from Mr. Morris.) The journey over the Cau- 

 casus and through Georgia was a sort of triumphal march, though he was looked 

 upon as a lost man by all who knew anything of the East. 



" The route he took was an entirely new one, as he went in a kind of zig- 

 zag way to Thibet, and he must have possessed a charmed life to have come 

 through so much peril in comparative safety. After this affair I returned home, 

 and I did not hear of Mr. Stanley again until I heard of him as the discoverer 

 of Livingstone. . . I should be astonished at no feat in the line of travel 

 that he might not accomplish. He is a clever traveller, and I used to say to 

 myself at my table in Constantinople, £ Here is a man who will yet achieve 

 greatness, and leave his mark behind him in the world.' He has all the quali- 

 ties which the great explorers possessed — Mungo Park, Humboldt, and Living- 

 stone himself — a hardy frame, unflinching courage, and inflexible perseverance. 

 If such a thing were possible, that I were forced to become a member of a 

 band to undertake some forlorn hope, some desperate enterprise — I know of 

 no one whom I would so readily select as the leader of such an undertaking as 

 Henry Stanley." 



As the Shah of Persia is an object of more interest to English readers now 

 than he was at the time Mr. Stanley wrote, we cannot refrain from quoting 

 Mr. Stanley's account of the first use the "King of Bangs" made of the Tele- 

 graph when Teheran was first connected with the principal places in his domi- 

 nions by wire. To understand it properly we may say that the khans or 

 governors of provinces in Persia pay the Shah for their positions, they screwing 

 out of the people as much more than they pay to the Shah as possible. Mr. 

 Stanley says : — 



" The Shah of Persia visited the Telegraph Office in person, and — cun- 

 ning fellow ! — after examining the mode of operating, professed to be delighted 

 with everything he saw. He regarded the apparatus of telegraphy intently, 

 and then begged Mr. Pruce to explain how he manipulated the little round 

 knob, which flashed the mysteries. Mr. Pruce did so very readily, and as he 

 speaks eloquently, no doubt the Shah was much enlightened, for during the 

 exposition the Shah laughed heartily, and delivered many a fervid ' Masha- 

 allah I ' Then the Shah wanted to telegraph ; he tried a long time, but as the 



