The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-01-06
ACROSS A CONTINENT.
The Longest and Hardest March Ever
Made by AN African Explorer-Lient.
Cameron's Adventures.

/
The news of the arrival of Lieut..
Cameron at st. Paul de Loanda on the
18th 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
May. 1t was then his purpose to fol
low the Lukuga-the presumed outlet
of Tankanyika-to its junction with the
Lualaba, and hen to descend the latter
to its mouth. The journey was one of
unexampled length in the annals of
African travel, and its dangers and diff
culties were so great that none but the
most sanguine. entertained any hope
that it would be successfully made. 1t
was certain that the brave and indomit-
able Cameron would do all that any
man could do, but when he disappeared
into the unknown wilderness of the heart
of Africa the chances that be would
either reach the Atlantic on return TO
/ Ujiji were extremely Slight. Neverthe-
less, he has triumphed over every obsta-
Gle, and has accomplished the longest
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 fifth
and eighth degrees of south latitude
He is the first man who has ever travel
ed from ocean to ocean within so short
distance of the equator. Livingstone's
first great journey extended from st.
Paul de Loando, in latitude 8 deg. 4S
min., to the mouth of the Zambeze, in
! latitude II deg. 81 min. 1t was certain
! ly a magnificent achievement, but it had
been substantially anticipated by the
Portuguese, and has since been surpass-
ed by the journey of Silva Porto. In
| lSO6-1l two negro slaves, generally
known as the two Pombeiros, Travelled
from St. Paul to the Portuguese out
posts on the Zambeze; and in 1854
| Silva Parto crossed from sea to sea, pur-
suing route somewhat south of Living
stones between ST. Paul and the TWEEN
ty-third meridian, and long distance
north of it, between the laSt-men-
toned point and the Indian Ocean.
But both in length and difficulty,
Cameron's journey dwarfs those of the
Portuguese and that of DR.. Livingstone
He trayersed a wilderness in which no
trader or explorer had ever set his foot
| The COngO-for that name must hence
forth be applied to the Lualaba-pre-
sented obstacles to exploration which
had defeated every effort to ascend the
river, from the expedition of Tukey in
1916 to that sent out by the Germans a
| year ago. Cameron had to force his
! 1f
repeatedly shown during more than
half century their hostility 10 Europe
ans. He had to pass rapids which had
baffled Tukey and his successors, and
he had to encounter the deadly malaria
of the West Coast lowlandS. His sue
cess 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, Speke and Baker, and he
has not left Stanley work enough to do
to make him possible rival in the field
of geographical discovery.
Cameron's explorations have now
demonstrated practically what the arm
chair geographers had demonstrated
theoretically, that the Lualaba is the
Congo, and not the Nile. He has rem
dered it unnecessary for Stanley to as
certain whether or not the Lualaba
flows into the Albert Lake. When he
makes his report we shall know wheth-
er Livingstone's hypothetical Lake Ka-
molonda has any existence save in the
imagination of Livingstone'S native in
formants, and whether the West Luala-
ba, which has no better claim than
Lake kamOlunda 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
! dwarfs, for Schweinfurth gives reason
TO suppose that the little folks are found
some distance south of the equator
Doubtless he has met with other and
equally strange races of men. The
stories of tribes of African dwarfS and
of saYageS with tails have been scOffed
at by anthropologists ever since people
became sufficiently civilized to decline to
believe any thing contrary to their per-
sOnal experience. But we now know
that the story of the dwarf nation was
true, and it is not absolutely impossible
that Cameron may have found that the
story of the people with tails has some
foundation in fact.
The field of African exploration
which, twenty-five years ago, was so
vast and so alluring, is now reduced to
narrow limits. There are. but two
problems left for solution. We have as
yet to know whether Tanganyika con-
meets with the Albert Lake, and to dis
cover the mouth of Schweinfurth's s
Welle. The unexplained fullnesS of
water in Lake Albert, and the steady set
/ of the current nOrthward in Tanganyika
are two facts which it is exceedingly
difficult to explain, except on the suppO-
sitiOn that the latter lake discharges
into the former. That part of the
waters of Tanganyika flow through the
Lukuga, not the Lualaba, does not rem
der it absolutely certain that the lake
has mouths and its principal outlet at
| the north. Cameron found the current
in the Lukuga so slight as to be hardly
| perceptible, and it may be that Tan
ganyika only finds an outlet in that di-
rection at high water-iust as Lake
ltaska, the real outlet of which is the
Mississippi, flows over into the Red
River of the North during the spring
freShets. This question has probably,
before this time, been finally set at rest
by Stanley, and, in case the latter hears
of the success of Cameron before he un-
dertakes-as was his original purpose
to descend the Lualaba, it is more than
probable that he will turn his attention
to the Welle and finish the final task of
African exploration by descending that
mysterious river to its mouth. If he
does so, we venture to predict that the
Welle will prove to be not the Shary, as
Schweinfurth imagines, but the Ogowai,
and it is earnestly to be hoped that
Stanley's efforts will be turned in that
direction in time to save him from the
now useless risk of following the path
that Cameron has explored.
Owing to various circumstances, Cam
eron undertook his journey down the
Lualaba without the support either of
the English Government or of the Royal
Geographical Society. When he reaches
home, there is no doubt that this ap-
parent but unintentional neglect of the
gallant explorer will be more than atom
1