The New York herald., 1877-09-18
stanley's Expedition and Discoveries

years, eight months and twenty-one days.
Many expeditions have consumed far moro
time and many far less for Livingstone
passed in the country all the later years OF
his life-and many so-called explorers have
pranced in at one point and out at an
other, so as to have themselves brought to
! civilized lands the first record Of their dis
| appearance. Within certain limits the
| length of time consumed in an exploration
is not of material consequence. 1t may be
too short or too long; for the energetic and
skilful may resolve in few months the
| problems that Others would leave unresolved
after the labors of years There is no
measure of the Importance Of any given
series of explorations save achievement;
save the contributions of knowledge ac-
tually made through them to geography,
the number, accuracy and value of
the observations they contribute to clear
up geographical uncertainties Even this
standard may not measure exactly the i'm
portance of an expedition. for there are
doubts OF comparative consequence. But
judged by this standard the Importance OF
this expedition and the value of it's success
may fairly be weighed against any other
single expedition or any other series Of ex-
petitions that ever entered Africa. 1t
eclipses them all in the point that it con-
tributes more facts on more important
problems of African geography than were
ever before accumulated by any single ex-
plorer
From Bagamoyo, in November, 1874
Stanley marched rapidly toward Unyan-
yembe, and in the middle of December
passed his expedition over the Kingani
River in the boat Lady Alice, which was
carried with the expedition in sections. He
had pontoon bridge with him, but as the
boat supported burden of three tons he
found that the company could be put over
in it with as much rapidity as was neces-
sary. From the Kingani he pushed
on to the Victoria Niyanza, which he reached
at the end of February. He had then
made seven hundred and twenty miles in
one hundred and three days-an average of
seven miles day-which, considering the
obstacles encountered, the various other
difficulties and the burdens to be carried, is
an instance Of sustained rapidity of move
ment that tells an excellent story for the
discipline maintained and the general
effectiveness of the organization. On that
march he lost two Of his three white COM
panions-Edward Pocock and Frederick
Barker-and had severe battle
with the natives. He remained in the
country of the great Niyanzas upward
of a year, q period well employed in
the first thorough exploration ever
made there. and by which was cleared up
many doubtful points and made known
many entirely new features. By means of
the boat Lady Alice he was able to navigate
the Victoria Niyanza and to make the first
complete survey of its coasts. His chart of
that inland sea is the only one that has any
value, for he ascertained that the early, but
we're accurate, while the later ''knowl-
edge" acquired by Baker was merely
inaccurate speculation. He was the
first white man who ever visited the
extensive country between the two great
Niyanzas-and there he discovered a race Of
family In that period he also discovered
the great Shimeyu River--the real head
stream of the Nile; and discovered and
described the river which he has called the
Alexandra Nile. 1t may be safely said that
no explorer ever filled q years time with
more thoroughly useful, important and sat
isfactory work than was done in that twelve
months by Stanley.
In this period he had filled up every
hiatus in the history of the Nile. He had
so we'll cleared up every doubt in regard to
| the Niyanzas and made their relations so
| plain by his new discoveries that capable
geographers were satisfied that the Nile was
fully accounted for by Stanley's account of
the Niyanza basin. But there was still a
doubt in other minds. There was the theory
that the Lualaba was n Nile tributary-a
theory not to be disproved by any negative
observations made in the Nile basin; for the
fact that an explorer could not find the point
where q river entered that system would not
be accepted as an evidence that it did not
enter. There was but one way to resolve
this final doubt to which the authority OF
Livingstone had given great vitality, though
it no longer existed in the minds of scientific
geographers. This was to 60 to the Lualab,
and follow the course of that stream. With
that purpose Stanley left the lake region for
Ujiji, and thence went to Nyangwe in
August, 1876. From that period until
his appearance the west coast
just one year-he was struggling to wrest
this secret of nature from the most difficult
wilderness that mortal perhaps ever saw
embarrassed, delayed, deferred, but never
discouraged by the impenetrable jungle, the
turbulent river and the cannbal ferocity oi
the warlike savages that hold that country
In fighting his way down that river he evi.
IDENTIFY lost great many men, but there il
| -. ..ok M raoorJ how many He ofortac