Smyrna times., 1878-03-27
Stanley.
SOME STORIES OF HIS AFRICAN TRAVEL

The first question which it is natural to
ask Mr.. Stanley is how be managed his men
so well. The reply is prompt and to the
point. " | treat the African like a brother.
having first made him understand that /
am the elder brother. He is good fellow
enough, and | may tell you that like him
quite as well as DR.. Livingstone did. But
tie must be made to understand that he
Is to obey, and then does it cheerfully and
goodhumoTedly enough. Human nature
IS, after all, much the same everywhere.
ihe African has sympathies, his likes and
ms dIslIkes, and, above all. his vanities.
Just as white nen have. | will tell you
about one of my guards He was a fellow
OF terrible reputation, the dread of Zapzi.
oar, and bOasted that he had killed eight
men to his own score without counting
promiscuous brawls. No sooner was he in
my employ than he organized scheme of
plunder. was Immediately informed of
TINS by my detective force, and talked
seriously to him. | told him that | knew
his plan IN every detail: that my eve was
everywhere, and that was both able and
willing to punish him. Having frightened
hlm thoroughly, | thought would try the
eHect OF generous clemency. | told him
that Tor this once he should 90 unharmed.
but II ! head of him again he should be
severely punished. He was changed man,
at least for while. Apparently he had
gwen up his evil ways, and, as a matter of |
TACT, did give them up for at least year. |
At last habit proved too strong for him. !
and he transgressed again. This time | |
punished him, and severely, too"
what did you do to him p is the /
inquiry which ill-dsfined ideas of what
Dir. Stanley may intend by severe punish.
ment suggest.
81 made him." replies the traveller.
carry box weighing sixty pounds. the
burden OF an ordinary porter, for several
days. As he was a powerful fellow, this
weight did not crush him physically, but
mentally 1t reduced him to zero. No white
man could have felt his degradation more
keenly than my Zanzibar man. There was
ne all at once reduced to the level of a
common porter, bearer of burdens. He
VINO had been the terror of the country.
the idol and exemplar of every loafer: he
who had inspired the mind of the Seyvid {
himself with dsquietude, was no more
than the meanest Of creatures of burden.
shall never forget his crestfallen look as
he TOOK up the box and carried it, amid the
Jeers OF his fellows. No stricken deer in | [
the centre of civilization could have been {
made to feel his position more acutely than {
nay African guard. Every one in nv com. a
mand who had suffered at any time from '
the Insolence OF my troublesome guard,
paid him back, with interest, in the hour
OF his humiliation. This debt was not '
always paid IN words, but often in expires s
sive gestures, in looks and shrugs. and i
other pantomime. His life became tor. 7
ment, for the box worried him great deal v
more than the albatross did the Ancient
Mariner. He declared that, sleeping or b
waking, the hated box was always with Fl
him. After letting him do penance for o
several days | released him, and had no q
more trouble with him afterward. Nv men b
would do anything for me,-were always t.
ready to work and to fight" 8
This extreme devotion to the "white man Z
with the open hand" seems to be due TO n
several causes. Doubtless the ''open hand" Il
Itself had great share in producing it; z
but 1t seems clear enough that the success b
Of Mr.. Stanley in executing his plans, and is
the apparent certainty Of his being able to a
accomplish any task that he undertook, W
went for good deal in winning over the n
imaginative African. In the martial and 81
other expeditions Of native chiefs there is -
a carelessness Of method and instability of
purpose utterly opposed to the principles
OF Mr.. Stanley, who goes about his
work like a workman, and brings a con- p
science to it. Moreover, Mr.. Stanley, like al
any white man resolute enough to pene- "
trate into the interior of Africa, has with o.
nm the glamour of mystery. As men, a
black and white, measure the motives of q
others by their own, so is it Incompetent " "
siole to the African that men like Living y
stone and Stanley should undergo the .
dangers and hardships Of travel for the y
sake Of the bubble reputation or some ILL q
defined idea of doing good to Africa by ~
opening the country to Europeans. The
Z, african cannot comprehend the object of
'he explorer any more than the Turk can W
comprehend the existence Of the antiquary. X
10 the unlettered Asiatic the seeker for hi
Ine records of buried empires, the ex- hi
easator anxious to trace the limits Of the al
.empie OF some extinct god is a mere gold e,
gruooer,--a x, hunter for hidden treasure pi
ihe African has but scant ideas Of cities m
ana buried treasure, but he cannot con- OF
seive that costly and dangerous expeditions pc