DOWN THE CONGO TO THE ATLANTIC. 43.'! 
“ Believe ? Yes, I do believe that we shall all emerge 
into light again some time. It is true that our prospects 
are as dark as this night. Even the Mississippi pre- 
sented no such obstacles to De Soto as this river will 
necessarily present to us. Possibly its islands and its 
forests possessed much of the same aspect ; but here we 
are at an altitude of 1650 feet above the sea. What 
conclusions can we arrive at ? Either that this river 
penetrates a great distance north of the Equator, and, 
taking a mighty sweep round, descends into the Congo 
-this, by the way, would lessen the chances of there 
being many cataracts in the river ; — or that we shall 
shortly see it in the neighbourhood of the Equator take 
a direct cut towards the Congo, and precipitate itself, like 
our Colorado river, through a deep canon, or down great 
cataracts ; or that it is either the Niger or the Nile, I 
believe it will prove to be the Congo ; if the Congo then, 
there must be many cataracts. Let us only hope that 
the cataracts are all in a lump, close together. 
“ Any way, whether the Congo, the Niger, or the 
Nile, I am prepared, otherwise I should not be so confi- 
dent. Though I love life as much as you do, or any 
other man does, yet on the success of this effort I am 
about to stake my life, my all. To prevent its sacrifice 
foolishly, I have devised numerous expedients with which 
to defy wild men, wild nature, and •unknown terrors. 
There is an enormous risk, but you know the adage, 
‘ Nothing risked, nothing won/ 
-x- -x m -x -x * 
“ Now look at this, the latest chart which Europeans 
VOL. II. 2 F 
