STANLEY'S HEROISM. 749 



his discovery of Dr. Livingstone did not a little to spur him on in his new- 

 born purpose to become himself a great African explorer. Be this as it may, 

 he -would appear to be in the fair way, should his life be spared, of doing 

 much good work, and of rising to a position of siich real eminence as few of 

 his former detractors are ever likely to attain. When he set out on his pre- 

 sent Expedition, Mr. Stanley had for his earliest object the exploration of 

 the Victoria Nyanza, which still remains but very partially known. "We now 

 learn that he has reached that great reservoir of the Nile, and the account of 

 his remarkable journey thither, across the uplands of Central Africa, has an 

 interest not only for the general public, but also for geographers and other 

 students of science. From Mpapwa, on the Unyanyembe road to Kagehyi, 

 the village in Northern Usukuma where he encamped beside the Great Lake, 

 the route chosen by him, lying far eastward of the path pursued by Speke, 

 was until to-day a blank upon our maps. He has the merit of bringing into 

 the light a great tract of country previously unknown to science ; and this 

 feat he has not achieved without forcing his way through fearful obstacles. 

 We knew from the first that he must be a brave and enterprising man, not 

 easily daunted by difficulty ; but we now learn that he is the possessor of 

 still higher qualities, uniting an organising and ruling faculty of a high order 

 with rare magnanimity. Through deadly jungles, and still deadlier tribes of 

 jealous and covetous natives, he had to storm his way, every mile almost 

 costing a life. Dysentery, famine, fevers, and fighting, laid low one hun- 

 dred and fifty-four men out of a force of about three hundred ; and we regret 

 to learn that among those who succumbed was the young Kentish sailor, 

 Edward Pocock, one of two brothers who went with Mr. Stanley, and whoso 

 uncle perished with Sir John Franklin in the Arctic regions, being at the 

 time the great explorer's coxswain. 



" If the Expedition had not been led with remarkable dexterity, it seems 

 probable that not one of the three hundred would ever have reached the Vic- 

 torian Sea; and when we read of all the dangers that beset them on the way, 

 we marvel to learn that the stores and equipments were still ample, and that 

 they had carried the little steamship, the 'Lady Alice,' in safety, through the 

 seven hundred and twenty miles of African wilderness. That swift and 

 adventurous march across the Forest Plateau, is one of the heroic deeds that 

 will live in history. It was achieved, including all haltings and fightings, in 

 one hundred and three days, being, for one thing, the swiftest bit of work of 

 the kind that was ever done. Leaving his camp at Kagehyi, under Francis 

 Pocock, Mr. Stanley explored all the eastern and northern coasts of the great 

 lake around to Mtesa's city, at the mouth of the Victoria Nile. Returning by 

 the west shore, he found that another of his white companions, Frederick 

 Barker, had died. His observations, taken with great care, showed that the 

 Victoria Nyanza lies at an altitude even exceeding that estimated by Speke-— 



