The New York herald., 1877-09-17
stanlsy's Arrival at the Mouth OF
the Congo-Anothcr Great Problem

with the glory of his greatest success and
with the well earned fame of the most tire
less and resolute explorer that ever trod
those regions of almost insuperable diff
Guilty. Three years ago he went from Zanzi-
bar, on the east coast of Africa, with definite
schemes of exploration as the purpose Of his
expedition, and in all those weary months
of hardship, peril and heroic adventure;
in the face of every danger that can
menace humanity against the poisoned
weapons of the barbarous and savage foe;
against the deadly breath of pestilential dis
tricts against famine and the revolt and
abandonment of his men, he kept steadily
on, never swerving from the objects with
which he set out never persuading himself
that he had done enough and that he might
safely and even brilliantly return with the
certainty that the story Of his perils would
satisfy the world with what he had already
achieved. Scorning every issue from his
expedition but the issue that required him
to go through it he persevered, and now
comes out, not merely at the west coast,
not merely with the empty exploit OF having
crossed Africa ut point where the passage
was easy and uninstructive, but he comes
out at the mouth of the Congo River, having
followed that enormous stream from its
sources in the country to the west of Lake
Tanganyika, and he comes with an accumu-
lated store of observations aud facts greater
than any one man has ever hitherto gath
cred on two Of the deepest puzzles Of
nh ha nf ba Gnnu
and the Nile. In this one fruitful expedi-
ton he has discovered and opened that
Nile mystery which Speke and Grant and
Baker vainly sought to penetrate and the
story of the wanderings of the Lualaba,
which the grand old Livingstone perished
in the effort to complete, is to be told by
the man who rescued him at Ujiji. All this
is glory enough for one man, glory enough
for the newspaper press, and not discredit-
able as our national contribution to African
exploration.
Last year and the year before, it will be
remembered, we published the letters de-
scriptive of the explorations in the coun-
try of the great Niyanzas, by which
it was shown for the first time that the
great rivers which fed these lakes were
the real sources and headwaters of
the Nile. It is true the accuracy of
the inferences founded on Stanleys
observations in that district has been
doubted; but the statement we give above
as to the importance of the discoveries made
there rests on the authority Of the most CO.
pable geographer in Europe. Geography is
o science that every one fancies he under
stands when he sees the map, but the truth
is that the value or importance of any given
observation in this science are points not to
be determined by popular judgment or by
the opinions of smatterers They are to be
weighed and judged by competent persons
and to stand on their authority, and the
declaration Of DR.. Petermann, OF aotha
rs to the Importance of Stanley's
Nile discoveries, is to be taken against
the sneers of an army of those small-minded
persons whose only impulse is to decry and
belittle the labors of others. In his latest
contribution to the knowledge of African
geography, Stanley reports the results of
the other great attempt of his expedition
beyond the Nile inquiries. He takes up the
story of "the mighty Lualaba" where Liv-
ingstone left it. 1t should be recalled that
that sturdy old hero of exploration dis
covered in his wanderings in Cazembe's
country, far to the south of the Equator,
great stream flowing north from the water
shed of the Zambesi. He followed it for many
months with great difficulty, and laid down
the positions Of several Of the extensive
lacustrine expansions of it's waters, such as
Lakes Bangweolo, Lincoln and Kamolondo.
He believed that this river was the Nile, and
50 wrote in letter from Ujiji to the pro-
prietor of the HERALD. He never changed
that opinion, we believe; but he had no
sooner announced his discovery of that
great river than capable scientific geog-
raphers declared that the great streams
thus found by Livingstone were probably
the hitherto unknown headwaters OF the
Congo. Where the Congo had its rise was
already o problem only second in impor-
tanco to the Nile problem, and the Lualnba
became bone Of contention between the
theorists who claimed it as the Nile and
those who claimed it rs the Congo With
tne Mic proplem settleu ING oetermlnatlOn
of the true relation of this river to the
Congo was the only great point that re-
mained in that phase of African geog-
raphy.
Stanley has now thoroughly and indis-
putably determined this point by the simple
process of following the course of tho river
step by step to point ut which it is recog-
nized as the Congo, and thence to its dis
charge into the Atlantic. He thus finds
that the Congo-bearing different name in
the country OF every tribe through which it
runs-rises ten degrees south of the Equa-
tor and runs to two degrees north, and
drains the whole enormous basin that
reaches from twenty-six degrees east longi-
tuda to the mountains that skirt tho