The New York herald., 1875-09-27
The Exploration OF AfrIca-Success OF
the stanley Expedition.

the stanley Expedition.
After long silence Stanley the gallant
African explorer, is heard from again. The
facts given in our special cable dispatches
indicate the complete success of his expedi-
ton thus far, and promise the thorough solu-
ton of the great problem which bafaed the
energies of Livingstone, Burton, Spoke and
Sir Samuel Baker.
To the appreciation of what Mr. Stanley
has already achieved brief retrospect of
his work is necessary. He left Zanzibar on
the 10th of November, 1874 for Bagamoyo,
small town on the eastern coast of Africa
whence the caravan departed on its journey
into the interior. On the 18th of November
Stanley wrote to the HERALD a letter giving
full information of the organization and
the intentions of the expedition. He had
provided pontoon called the Livingstone
to enable him to transport his baggage over
lakes and streams, with a cedar boat, the
Lady Alice, intended for the more rapid
exploration of rivers and large bodies of
water, and with all needful scientific appli-
ances. Sending this message to the civilized
world, Stanley and his little band disap-
peared in the African wilds and were not
again heard from until December 13, 1874,
when he wrote from the district of Mpwa-
pwa, in the country of Usugara. In this he
informed us that he had left Bagamoyo No
vember II and arrived at Mpwapwa on De-
cember II. The journey thus far had
been accomplished without much diff
/
been the intoxication of some of
his men at Bagamoyo-not great trouble
however, as the Africans seem to be like
Sailors who consider good spree an indis-
pensable preface to long voyage. "All
right, my sable gentlemen" said Stanley;
''to-day is your day; tomorrow the reign of
order and discipline begins. From the date
of that letter, December 49, until the news
we print to-day the expedition remained
utterly invisible to the eager eyes of the
world.
Stanley now reappears on the shores of the
Lake Victoria N'yanza, one of the principal
objective points of his expedition. He
reached Kagehyi, town in the district of
Uchambi, country of the Usukuma, at the
beginning of March, 1875, and his first letter
is dated March 1. He had thus made the
wonderful march of seven hundred and
twenty miles in one hundred and three
days, through an entirely new country,
much of which was forest jungle, in
which the travellers suffered from hun
ger They were also attacked by fierce,
treacherous tribe called the Naturas
and in the battle with these savages Stanley
lost twenty of his men. With this dimin-
ished force he pushed on to the borders of
the Victoria N'yanza, where the first part of
his great plan of exploration seems to have
begun. His latest letter is dated May Is
and all the time from March till then was
evidently devoted to the survey of the lake.
The exploration of Africa upon the scheme
proposed by the HERALD and London Iele-
graph expedition is not unlike the voyage
Columbus made over the great Atlantic
Ocean, which washed unknown regions to
the westward. Just as the voyage of Colum-
bus was controlled by events unforeseen
when he sailed from Palos, SO Stan
leys movements will be governed by un-
known circumstances. But there are
two objects we'll defined in his
plans The first of these is ''to
reach the Victoria N'yanza and ascertain
whether Spekes or Livingstone's hypothesis
is the correct one, whether the Victoria Ny
ANA consists of one lake or five lakes"
Stanley intended to fix all the important To-
calities by astronomical observations, and to
settle the disputed question of the number
of lakes by complete circumnavigation.
To this duty he addressed himself at once
on reaching the lake last March, and it is
probably by this time completed. His second
objective point was the Lake Albert N'yanza,
to which he intended to cross over, and, in his
own words ''to endeavor to discover how far
Baker is correct in his bold hypothesis con-
cerning its length and breadth" This
question was also to be decided
by circumnavigation, and the intrepid
explorer will take nothing for granted.
whether Gordon circumnavigates the
Albert or not" he says, 81 shall most
certainly do so if 1 reach it, and discover
every detail about it to the best of my
ability" Here the definite plans of travel
are ended, but it is not proposed that the
expedition shall stop with these discoveries
Beyond this point" Stanley says, 'the
whole appears to me so vague and vast that
it is impossible to state at this period what L
shall try to do next"
We are justified by these facts in announc-
ing that the African exploration expedition,
organized by the HERALD and Telegraph, has
thus far succeeded to the fullest extent of
our expectations. In little more than three
months it penetrated the wilderness over
seven hundred miles and reached the un-
known region of its operations. For two
months following it had been engaged in the
survey of the great lake. The next news from
Stanley, we may hope, will solve the first