Explorers and their Explorations. 57 
to talk of desertion. Then, said Stanley, I will take to 
the river 1 To-day I will launch my boats on that stream, 
and they shall not leave it until I finish my work/' Thus 
commenced four months of exploration by water — a time 
of unparalleled danger, risk, and daring. 
During those four months, Stanley and his men floated 
down fourteen hundred miles of splendid river-way, and 
passed the mouths of many large rivers which poured their 
tributary streams into the Congo. One of these rivers, the 
Ikelemba, is so magnificent a volume of water, that its 
stream does not mingle with that of the Congo for one 
hundred and thirty miles below the confluence. Hundreds 
of uninhabited well-wooded islands graced the river, and in 
these the explorer and his men were thankful to take refuge 
from the attacks of the savage cannibal natives who lived 
along its banks. These cannibals would pursue the little 
fleet, shouting " meat, meat " ; and so fierce and blood- 
thirsty were they, that thirty-two battles had to be fought 
with them during that part of the journey. Frequently, the 
boats would be surrounded by the canoes of the natives, so 
that they could not escape by means of speed. Their only 
resource then, was to moor the boats in the middle of the 
stream, raise a bulwark of shields, and await the attack, 
which always ended in the victory of the explorers, and the 
baffled rage of the enemy. Almost all the members of the 
Expedition were wounded, some had died of small-pox, 
others had been drowned, while yet others had been killed. 
The Arabs, who had engaged to accompany the Expedition 
down the stream, keeping them company along the river 
banks, through the terrible forest, fled, dismayed, and Stanley 
knew that he must fight his way to the bitter end, if he 
would save his life, or accomplish his object. At last, 
twenty-two canoes were taken as spoil from the natives, 
