American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-01-01
Lieut.. Camer0n's Great Achievement
In Africa.

THE news of the arrival of Lieut..
Cameron at st. Paul de LOanda on the
10Th of November last is almost as sur.
prising as it is gratifying. He is believed
to have started from Lake Tanganyika on
his journey across the continent last Nav,
1t was then his purpose to follow the Luz
kuga-the presumed outlet of Tanganyika
to its junction with the Lualaba, and
then to descend the latter to its mouth.
The journey was one of unexampled
length in the annals of African travel, and
its dangers and difficulties were SO great
that none but the most sanguine enter
tanned any hope that it would be success
fully made. 1t was certain that the brave
and indOmitable Cameron would do all
that any man could do. but, when he dis
appeared into the unknown wilderness of
the heart Of Africa, the chances that he
would pever reach the Atlantic or return
theless, he has triumphed over every
obstacle, and has accomplished the long
est and most difficult journey that has
ever yet been made by any African ex-
plorer.
CamerOn's path across the continent
lay for the most part between the 9TH and
9Th degrees of south latitude. He is the
first man who has ever travelled from
ocean to ocean within SO short distance
to the equator. Livingstone's first great
journey extended from St. Paul de
Loanda, in latitude deg 4S min, to the
mouth of the Zambeze, in latitude IL deg.
90 min. 1t was certainly a magnificent
achievement, but it had been substantially
anticipated by the Portuguese. and has
since been surpassed by the journey
of Silva Porto. In 1SO6-'11 two negro
slaves, generally known as the two Pom
beiros, Travelled from st. Paul to the Port
uguesc outpOsts on the Zambeze; and in
1S53-'54 Silva Porto crossed from sea to
sea, pursuing route somewhat south OF
Livingstone's, between st. Paul and the
twenty third meridian, and a long distance
north of it, between the aforementioned
point and the Indian Ocean. But, both
in length and difficulty, Cameron's Jour-
ney dwarfs those of the Portuguese and
that of DIR. Livingstone. He traversed a
wilderness in which no trader or explorer
had ever set his foot. The Congo-for
that name must henceforth be applied to
the Lualaba presented obstacles to ex-
ploration which had defeated every effort
to ascend the river, from the expedition
of Turkey in 1916 to that sent out by the
Germans year ago. Cameron had to
force his way through tribes of savages
who had repeatedly shown during more
than half century their hostility to
Europeans. He had to pass rapids which
had baffied 1ukey and his successors, and
he had to encounter the deadly malaria of
the West Coast lowlands. His success is
little less than a miracle, and it gives to
him at once the first rank among African
explorers. By virtue of so splendid an
achievement, he outranks Livingstone,
Spoke and Baker, and he has not left
Stanley work enough to do to make him a
possible rival in the field of geographical
discovery
Cameron's explorations have now
demonstrated practically what the arm
chair geographers had demonstrated the
oretically, that the Lualaba is the Congo,
and not the Nile. He has rendered it un-
necessary for Stanley to ascertain whether
or not the Lualaba flows into the Albert
Lake. When he makes his report we
shall know whether Livingstone's hypo-
thetical Lake Kamolonda has any exist
ence save in the imagination of Living
stones native informants, and whether
the West Lualaba, which has no better
claim than Lake Kamolonda to place on
the map, is an actual or an imaginary
river. 1t is quite probable that Cameron
has passed through the country of the
dwarts, for Schweinfurth gives us reason
To suppose that the little folks are found
some distance south Of the equator. Doubt