35 « 
STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 
the heart of Africa. At Stanley Falls, at the head of this navigable 
stretch, broken water begins again and continues for nearly four hun¬ 
dred miles. But navigation is not confined to the Congo, but extends 
over many of its great affluents. The Kwa—into which flows the 
noble Kasai—the Ruki, and the Lulongo, on the south, and the 
Mobangi, the Itimbiri, and the Aruwimi, on the north—these streams 
furnish a vast stretch of navigable waters, which have since been 
utilized. 
After a visit to Europe, Stanley returned with fourteen European 
officers and some six hundred tons of material, reaching Leopoldville 
on March 21, 1883, with these abundant supplies. On May 9th he 
set out for a vovage of exploration on the Upper Congo, with two 
steamers and a launch, having a whale boat and a canoe in tow. The 
force amounted in all to eighty men, the cargo to six tons. To quote 
Stanley himself:— 
“We have axes to hew the forests, hammers to break the rock, 
spades to turn up the sod and to drain the marsh, or shovels to raise 
the rampart; scythes to mow the grass, hatchets to penetrate the 
jungle, and seeds of all kinds for sowing. Saws to rip planking, and 
hammers, nails, and cabinet-makers’ tools to make furniture; needles 
and threads for sewing all the cloth in these bales, twine to string 
their beads, and besides these useful articles in the cases, there are 
also countless 'notions’ and fancy knick-knacks to appease the cupidity 
of the most powerful chief, or excite the desire for adornment in the 
breast of woman.” 
The power by which the steamers were driven provided an inex¬ 
haustible source of speculation for the natives. The less philosophical 
supposed that a number of men were concealed in the hold, but the 
more astute rightly put it down to the “big pot,” as they called the 
boiler. But even these could not conjecture the thing that the engineer 
was always “cooking!” “Whatever it is,” said they, “it takes a long 
time to cook. That engineer has been cooking all day, and it is not 
finished yet.” Finally they fell back upon that invariable dernier res- 
sort of the African—“It is the white man’s medicine!” 
The furious opposition which he had met in his former descent 
of the river was now gone, and Stanley filled the role of a peace-maker 
