Return to the Plateau. 
237 
would cover new'ground. The Gaboon is by no 
means a bad point de depart , whence the resolute 
traveller, with perseverance (Anglice time), a know¬ 
ledge of the coast language, and good luck might 
penetrate into the heart (proper) of Africa, and 
abolish the white blot which still affronts us. His 
main difficulty would be the heavy outlay; “ im- 
pecuniosity ” to him would represent the scurvy 
and potted cat of the old Arctic voyager. But 
if he can afford to travel regardless of delays and 
expense, and to place depots of cloth, beads, and 
other “ country-money ” at every hundred miles, 
Mpongwe-land would be one of the gateways to the 
unknown regions of the Dark Continent. More¬ 
over, every year we hear some new account of 
travellers coming from the East. Unfortunately 
men with ,£5,000 to /20,000a year do not “plant 
the lance in ^ Africa,” the old heroic days of the 
Spanish and Portuguese exploring hidalgos have 
yet to dawn anew. We must now look forward 
to subsidies from economical governments, and 
whilst the Germans and Italians, especially the 
former, are so liberally supported and adequately 
rewarded, Englishmen, as in the case of the 
gallant Lieutenant Cameron, run the risk of being 
repudiated, left penniless in the depths of Negro- 
land. 
