The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-11-08
Stanley's Great Exploration.

of the most important which Africa has
held in her grim keeping, has been tri-
umphantly solved. There were good
grounds Tor the belief that Mr.. Stan
ley, with the advantage of his years of
experience as an explorer, his vigorous
and thoroughly acclimated frame, his
combined courage and quickness of de-
ciSon in situations of peril, and his ex-
ceptionally complete equipment for the
undertaking, would succeed in reaching
the western coast sonaeohere: but that he
should have been allowed by fate to follow
the Lualaba of Livingstone until it be-
came the Congo, and to locate its entire
course from the Msnyuema country to
the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the most
signal successes in the annals of geo.
graphical discovery.
Stanley's last letters to the Herald be-
fore setting out on this wonderful jour
ney, were written from Ujiji, on Lake
Tanganyika, in August, 1876, and did
., not reach their destination until the 18th
of last March. He announced his speedy
departure for Nyangwe, on the Lualaba,
the point beyond which both Livingstone
and Cameron found it impossible to pro-
coed. The difficulties encountered by the
latter in his endeavors to reach the river
from points further west gave us, in adj
vance,a clear conception of the hazardous
task which awaited Stanley. When these
last messages arrived, six months of his
unknown journey had already elapsed,
and six more have passed before the news
of his safe arrival at Emboma, on the
Lower Congo, comes to relieve the gen
eral anxiety in regard to his fate, before
it has taken the form of a painful sus-
pense. Reaching Emboma on the Sth of
August, his travels from Lake Tanganyika
to the mouth of the Congo, must have Oc
cupied about eleven months, nine of
which were spent in traversing territory
utterly unknown.
The first report, which the Herald has
just received, gives general and some
what vague geogra phical outline of the
route. Stanley started from Nyangwe, the
initial point of exploration, on the 18th of
last November. Instead of embarking
on the Lualaba, he appears to have
pressed forward along the right bank of
the river, carrying his supplies and the
sections of his boat on the shoulders of
men. His progress was greatly impeded
by great tracts of dense forest, and the
attdChs vi lHc SaNdSc udtlNC lIlOSS, Will
whom he found it impossible to establish
any friendly intercourse. He then crossed
the river, and continued his march along
the left bank and encountered the same
obstacles. Finally the porters from Ny
angwe, lao in number, became so intimi-
dated by the dangers which beset the
party, that they deserted in body. The
march, in fact, was necessarily made in
military order, with skirmishers in adj
vance, and rear guard. Many men
were struck down by the arrows of the
natives, shot at them out of the ambush
of the forests. The desertion of the por-
tiers was followed by combined attempt
to exterminate the rest of the party, and
Stanley was finally compelled to betake
himself to the river.
The brief sketch of the voyage will ex-
cite general impotence for fuller de-
tails. The great stream flowed north
ward to the Equator, where its course
was interrupted by succession of catar-
acts. Stanley, who found that in spite of
the hostility of the tribes on both shores
he was better able to protect his men in
their canoes than in the forests, was
obliged to cut a track thirteen miles in
length, in order to transport his boat and
canoes below the falls. Then, after Pc
riod of very necessary rest, the voyage
was resumed. On reaching the parallel
Of 2 degrees north latitude, the course of
the river turned westward, and then
southwestward, in a great curve. 1t was
from two to ten miles in breadth, and
filled with islands, between which the
little f1otilla pushed forward with less
danger from the attacks of the savages.
All efforts to communicate with the lat
ter failed the supplies came to an end,
and the party was threatened with starv-
alton. Finally, when three entire days
had been passed without food, Stanley
halted at a village on the left bank, where
by providential chance the people were
friendly, and had some intercourse with
the sea-coast. They called the river
"Ikuta va Congo" From that point,
the name of Lualaba was replaced by
"Kwango," or you're" (Zsire0.
Rested and amply supplied, the sxpe-
dition set forth again. But its dangers
were not yet over; in three days Stanley
entered the dominions of q powerful
tribe, the men of which were armed with
muskets. They put off in fifty-four
large canoes to attack the nineteen canoes