STANLEY A T BRITISH A SSOCIA TION. 473 



have become acquainted with his enthusiasm, his iron constitution, his sturdy 

 frame, his courage and endurance. 



" I have been made aware, through a newspaper published in London, 

 called the Standard, that there are hopes that some confusion will be cleared 

 up when the British Association meets, and Mr. Stanley's story is subject to 

 the sifting snd cross-examination of the experts in African discovery. What 

 confusion people may have fallen into through some story I have told I cannot 

 at present imagine, but probably after the reading of this paper, the ' experts' 

 will rise and cross-question. If it lies in my power to explain away this ' con- 

 fusion ? ' I shall be most happy to do so. 



"There are also some such questions as the following propounded: — 

 Why did not Dr. Livingstone return with Mr. Stanley ? Why was the great 

 traveller so uncommunicative to all but the New York Herald ? Why did not 

 the relief expedition go on and relieve him ? What has Dr. Kirk been doing 

 all the time at Zanzibar ? Here are four questions which admit of easy 

 solution. To the first I would answer, because he did not want to come with 

 Mr. Stanley ; and may I ask, was Mr. Stanley Dr. Livingstone's keeper, that 

 as soon as he found him he should box him with the superscription, ' This side 

 up, with care ? ' To the second I would answer that Dr. Livingstone was not 

 aware that there was another correspondent present at the interview when he 

 imparted his information to the correspondent of the New York Herald. To 

 the third question, I would answer that Livingstone was already relieved, and 

 needed no stores. To the fourth question I would reply that Dr. Kirk's rela- 

 tives in England may probably know what he has been doing better than I do. 

 Also, in answer to that article in the Standard, and to some articles in other 

 newspapers, I must confess that I cannot see wherein those letters of Dr. 

 Livingstone to Mr. James Bermet are disturbing, grotesque, or unexpected, 

 unless the editors believed that Dr Livingstone was dead, and that his ghost 

 now haunts them and disturbs their dreams. We are also told that ' Dr. 

 Livingstone's reports are strangely incoherent ;' that Sir Henry Rawlinson's 

 letter is ' most discouraging; ' that the only theory to be gleaned from Dr. 

 Livingstone's letter is simply impossible ; that the Standard, echoing the opi- 

 nion of geographers, is more in the ' dark than ever ?' Here is a field for 

 explanation, had one only time or space in such a paper as this to explain. 

 Let us hope that geographers who are in the dark will come forward to demand 

 to be admitted into the light. 



" But leaving these tremendous questions to a subsequent moment, let us 

 now turn our attention to that large body of water called the Tanganyika. 

 England is the first and foremost country in African discoveries. Her sons 

 are known to have plunged through jungles ; travelled over plains, mountains, 

 and valleys ; to have marched through the most awful wildernesses, to resolve 

 the many problems which have arisen from time to time concerning Central 



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