The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1878-04-02
STANLEY.
sOuE STORIES OF HIS AFRICAN
TRAVEL.

Ahc Louuon
The first question which IL is natural
10 ask Mr.. Stanley is how he managed
his men so well. The reply is prompt
and to the point. 81 treat the African
like brother, having first made him
understand that L am the elder brother.
He is n good fellow enough, and ] may
tell you that like him quite as well as
DIR. Livingstone did. But he must be
made TO understand that is TO obey,
and then does il cheerfully aud good
humoredly enough. Human nature is,
after all, much the same everywhere.
The African has sympathies, his likes
and dislikes, and. above all. his vani-
ties, just as white men have. will
tell you about one of my guards. He
was fellow OF terrible reputation, the
dread Zanzibar, and boasted that he
had killed eight men 10 his own score
without counting promiscuous brawls.
No sooner was he in my employ than
he organized scheme of plunder. l
was Immediately informed of this by
nv detective force and talked serious-
ly To him. told him that knew his
plan in every detail; that my eye was
everywhere, and | was able aud willing
10 punish HIM. Having frightened
him thoroughly, thought would try
the effect OF generous clemeDcy, l told
him that for this once he should go un-
harmed, but IL heard Of him again he
should be severely punished. He was
n changed man, at least for "A while.
Apparently he had given up his evil
way, and, as a matter OF fact, did give
them up for at least a year. At last
habit proved too strong for him, aud
he transgressed again. This time l
punished him, and severely. too.
"What did you do 10 him?" is the
inquiry which ill-defined ideas OF what
Mr.. Stanley may intend by severe pun
ishment, suggest.
II made him." replies the traveller,
"carry a box weighing sixty pounds,
the burden OF an ordinary porter, for
several days. As he was powerful
fellow, this weight did not crash him
physically, but mentally IL reduced
him TO zero. No white man could have
felt his degradation more keenly than
my Zanzibar man. There was he all at
once reduced 10 the level OF n common
porter, bearer of burdens. He who
had been the terror OF the country, the
idol aud exemplar Of every loafer, he
who had inspired tho mind Of the Sey-
vid himself with disquietude, was no
more than the meanest Of creatures OF
burden. i shall never forget his crest
fallen look as he took up the box and
carried il. amid the shouts and ieers OF
his fellows. No stricken deer in the
centre of civilization could have been
made TO feel his position moro Gcutely
than my African guard. Every one in
my command who had suffered ut any
time from the insolence OF my trouble
some guard, paid him back. with inter
est, in the hour Of his humiliation.
This debt was not always paid IN words
but often in expressive gestures, ia
looks and shrugs and other pantomine.
His life became torment, for the box
worried him a great deal more than the
albatross did the Ancient Mariner. He
declared that, sleeping or walking, the
hated box was always with him. After
letting him do penance for sevral days
| released him, and had no more trou-
BILE with him afterward. Ny men
would do anything for me--wero always
ready to work and to fight.
This extreme devotion TO the white
man with the open hand" seems to be
due to several causes. Doubtless the
"open hand" itself had great share in
producing il; but il seems clear enough
that tho success Of Mr.. Stanley in exc
cutiug his plans, and the apparent GER
tainty Of his being able TO accomplish
any task that he undertook, went FOR a
deal in winning over the imaginative
African. In the martsa and other OK
peditious OF native chiefs there is n
carelessuess of method and instability
OF purpose utterly opposed to the prin-
ciples OF Mr.. Stanley. who goes abont
his work like a workman, aud brings a
conscience 10 it. Moreover. Mr.. Stan
ley, like any white man resolute enough
TO penetrate into the interior Of Africa,
has with him the glamour OF mystery.
As men, black and white, measure the
motives OF others by their own, SO is it
incomprehensible 10 the African that
men like Livingstone and Stanley
should undergo the dangers and hard
ships Of travel for the sake OF the bub-
bic reputation or some ill-defned idea
OF doing good to Africa by opening the
country to Europeans. Tho African
cannot comprehend the objec, OF the
explorer any more than the Turk can
comprehend the existence OF the anti
quarry. To the unlettered Asiatac the
seeker for the records OF buried en-.
pires, the excavator anxious TO trace
the limits OF the temple of some extinct
god, is n mere gold grubbler,-a hunt
or for hidden treasure. The African
has but scant ideas Of cities and buried
treasure, but he cannot conceive that
costly and dangerous expeditions arc
undertaken without the idea OF con-
quest. To him the explorer is pion-
eer. the spy OF an invading army. Why
else should the white mau come? He
does not seek fcr trade except n pnr-
chaser of food; &c is not slave-trader.
What, then, can he be but the advance
guard Of an invader?
Mr.. Stanley had no little trouble in
persuading his particular friend Mtesa
that he wanted nothing in the way of
territory, 81 told him." observed Mr..
Stanley, as he ficks the ashes off his
cigar with a finger adorned with the
diamond ring apparently inseperable
from the Americans; 81 told him, in .
kind OF set speech such as we make to
the red man, what nonsense il was for
him TO think / wanted his country.
What was there in il to tempt me7 Did
/ want guns? had enough myself
and some left 10 give him. Did | want
wives? There were thousands Of
beautiful women-white women-in my
own country; why, then, should I envy
him his dusky brides? Did L want
housesp We had houses at home
which reached from earth 10 sky. from
tho water TO the stars. and what should
do with grass-ouilt huts? Did want
land? My country was greater far
than any space that Mtesa could think
Of; the sun rose on big water, com.
pared with which the African lakes
were puddles, and sank on another big
water in which Africa itself could
swim about. L don't think that in the
beginning Of our friendship Mtesa be-
lieved a word said. He considered,
like a born diplomatist, that all this
rhetoric was merely employed 20 blind
him 10 my real obiect-that my aim