VARIOUS EXPEDITIONS ON FOOT. 631 



me so vague and vast that it is impossible to state at this period what I shall 

 try to do next." 



Mr. Stanley has, no doubt, plunged, with his four hundred followers, 

 into that abyss of silence and peril which the African wilderness really is ; 

 he has already surmounted, we hope, those difficult first three weeks of 

 marching which he paints so graphically ; and we trust that, with forces 

 not greatly diminished, and resolution not lessened at all, he has entered 

 upon that vast blank space upon the map which lies between the Kilima 

 Mnjaro and the Victoria Nyanza. No one has yet visited this region, wherein 

 the dubious Lake Manyara is said to lie, and where the Masai, reputed fierce 

 and inhospitable, reside ; but Stanley has a strong and well-equipped band, 

 and knows how to push his way past difficulties. The original plan of the 

 journey has been so far modified by circumstances, that, instead, of attacking 

 the great African problem from the south and east Mr. Stanley approaches it 

 from the west and north. In doing this, he at once penetrates a country of 

 extreme interest to geographers, and can hardly fail, while making his way 

 towards the Victoria Nyanza, to light upon revelations of much moment. 

 Vrrived at the Victoria Lake, about which Colonel Long's recent visit has 

 still left an immense deal to be learned, he will, we trust, be able to complete 

 our knowledge of the discoveries of Speke and Grant ; and Avhile he contem- 

 plates far more than this large task, it is certainly enough for the present to 

 fill all who love adventure and exploration with excited anticipations. 



In addition to the expedition under Mr. Stanley, the Viceroy of Egypt, 

 having annexed the important kingdom of Darfur, has just commissioned two 

 parties under European command to proceed to Kobbo and El Obeid — trac- 

 ing the paths, clearing the wells, and pioneering generally towards the mouth 

 of the Sobat, and the country to the westward of the Albert Nyanza. This, 

 together with the work already done by Nachtigall and Schweinfurth, will 

 soon leave little that is unknown on the left banks of the "White Nile. Colonel 

 Gordon will, in all probablity, shortly be able to have his steamer afloat on 

 Baker's Lake, where the first voyages of that little craft will enable us to map 

 the shores of that great inland sea. To the southward upon Tanganyika, 

 Lieutenant Cameron is at work, whether the Lualaba leads him northwards 

 or westwards. Another expedition to Equatorial Africa, under the command 

 of Captain von Homeyer, has left Lisbon for the Loanda Coast ; while there 

 are also three Missionary enterprises on foot, and three parties of men will 

 shortly wend their way to Lake Nyassa, to the head waters of the Shire, 

 which communicate with the Zambesi, the great highway of that part of 

 Africa. 



From these various efforts it is all but certain that before the year 1875 

 closes, immense results will have been obtained for science and civilisation. 

 We may hope to know at last where Tanganyika drains, whither the Luapula 



