The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1877-12-28

Henry NJ. Stanley, the African ex-
plorer. is giving thrilling accounts Of
bis ten months Of lighting. marching
and sailing. in which. after thirsy-two
battles, he crossed equatorial Africa
He had, at FIRST IN Arab escort of 2, 900
men. but they returned. and with but
800 men he pushed on to the Atlantic
coast. holding desperate encounters
with swsrms Of csnnIbsls, who fought
him with poisoned arrows. The fol-
lowing is his account Of the great river
combat with fifty.four native canoes: :.
I'VE had reached the great basin ly-
ing between the maritime and lake re-
gion at the mouth Of the Aruwimi.
The first day we entered this region we
were attacked three times by three sep
arate tribes; the second day we main
tanned running fight almost the entire
day, which culmi0ated in the grand ma
val fight st the confluence Of the Aru-
wimi-the Welle with the Lualsbs. A.
We crossed over from the current of the
Lnalaba to that Of the Aruwimi, and
had taken . glance at the breadth of
the magnificent sffluent, We were quite
taken back st the great preparations
for our reception. Fif:y-four canoes
came rushing down on US with such
fury that l saw l must act at once
If l would save the expedition. Four
of our canoes IN . desperate fright, bs-
came panic stricken and began to pull
fast down stream. but they were soon
brought back.
We dropped our stone anchors, form.
ed close line and calmly awaited
events. Down the natives came, fast.
furious. but in magnificent style. Ev.
erything about them was superb. The
canoes were enormous things, one s-s
pecially, . monster; eighty paddlers.
forty ON one side with paddles eight
fset long. spear pointed. and really
pointed With iron blades for close quar-
tsrs. presume. The top of each shaft
was adorned with ivory balls. The
chiefs prsnced up and down a plsnking
that ran from stem to stern. On
platform near the bow stood ten choice
young fellows. swsying their long
spears ready. At the stern of the great
war canos stood eight steersmen. guild
ing her toward us. There we're about
twenty three foarths of her sixe-slso
fine looking, but none made such an
imposing show. At rough guess.
there must have been fifteen hundred
or two thoussnd savages within these
ilty-four canoes.
II cannot think that those belonged
to one power. imagine that it was q
preconccrte.i arrangement with neigh
boring tribes. got up expressly for our
entertainment. We had no time even
to breathe a short prayer, or to think of
indulging in . sentimental farewell to
the lnurderous cannibalistic world in
which we found ourselves. The enemy.
In full confidence Of victory. was on US.
and the big monster. as it shot past Us,
launched . spear-ths first. We wait
ed no longer; they came to fight. The
cruel faces. the loudly triumphant
drums. the dssfsning horns. the launch
cd spears. the swaying bodies. ell proved
il, and every gun in our little fleet an
grily gave response TO our foes. We
were in . second almost surrounded,
aud clouds of spears were hurled fer
short time-say ten minutes. They then
gave way, and we lifted anchors and
charged them. following them with
fatal result. We followed them to the
shore. chased them on land into their
villages, ten or twelve Of them, and
after securing some Of the abundance of
food we found there, l sounded the re-
call.
TO the victors belong the spoil--st
least 50 thought my people-and the
amount Of ivory they discovered lying
about sstonished me. There was an
ivory temple a structure OF solid tusks
surrounding an idol. ivory logs, which,
by the marks OF hatchcts visible OH
them. they must have used to chop
wood upon; ivory war horns, some Of
them three feet long: ivory mallets;
ivory wedges, to split wood; ivory pes
ties. to grind their cassava; aud around
the chiefs house Was veranda. or
burzah, the posts Of which were long
tusks Of ivory. There were 1873 pieces
ofiyory, which, according to rough cal.
culation. would realize. or ought to re
alize, about $4,000. These, l told the
men, they must consider as their prize
money"