The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-07-14
African Exploration.

which we gather that DR.. LEM, a Ger
man traveller, reached Timbuctoo on the
18th of June last, via the Sahara Desert.
He was the fourth European who had &C.
complished the feat. and the first since
DR.. Barth, who visited the place twenty
six wears ago. DR.. LEM says that it lies
on the southernmost edge of the Sahara,
a short distance from the Niger, and
surrounded on all sides by plains of
white sand. Its circumference is over
Eve miles in extent. Although still the
most important city Of Central Africa,
and chief station for the caravans on the
road TO Northern Africa, it has lost much
of it's importance as the chief trading
market on the Niger; it is now but thin
" peopled, and one-half Of its houses lie
in ruins However, it still remains the
great emporium for the slave trade of
those regions, and its suburbs consist of
large quarters of huts inhabited by mi
gratory population, which there stores
its goods, comprising slaves, dates, gold
dust, ostrich feathers, rubber, etc. In
returning DR.. LEM followed the route to
the westward toward the Senegal river,
as his life was threatened should he re-
turn through the Sahara. He passed
through the country of the Massinas and
Bambarrass, by way of Sokola Siora and
the kingdom Of Segu, and succeeded in
reaching the Senegal November 2, at the
French post of Medin. Three weeks
later he arrived at ST. Louis. the capital
of the colony, Mt the mouth of the river,
and in December left by steamer with
his companions, whom he brought back
to their homes at Tangiers, his starting
point. He has recently returned to Ber-
lin, and at an extra meeting Of the Geo
graphical Society delivered a full de
scription of his important journey. A
conspicuous result of this expedition is
the fact that DR.. LEM has fully proved
the utter impossibility of the French
scheme for flooding the Sahara. He as.
certained that the enormous plains of that
part of the desert traversed by HIM are
much higher than the level of the sea,
and that the most depressed portions Of
Ell Juf, the body of the desert, as the
Arabs call it, still has an elevation Of
nearly 500 feet above the sea.
The same letter says of Stanley:
"Although very little information is
allowed to transpire respecting the
progress made by Stanley since his ar
rival on the Congo in September, 1879,
in his efforts to build road through the
wild coast range to take his boats by
land around the terrible series of sixty
two Livingstone falls, still few items of
news occasionally leak out from various
sources. The following contains all the
available information to date: In July,
last year, the Portuguese steamship An
drade, Capt. Limo, belonging to the re
Gently established company OF the
Paunza, steamed up the Congo as far as
Noki. two hours sail from Vivi, near the
foot of the first Yellala falls, where Stan
ley has established his first station and
headquarters, which is already becoming
quite an important little settlement.
This was the first time that Portu-
guese steamer had ventured so far up the
Congo. Capt. Limo had an interview
with Stanley, during which the latter re-
marked that the object of his expedition
was not commerce, but that he intended
to open up the path for future traders,
and that the end he had in view
in ordering goods he brought
from Europe and America was
only to prevent his being obliged to pay
exorbitant prices to the traders on the
Congo. Recent letters from the trading
post Mboma, on the river, state that the
progress of the expedition is exceedingly
slow on account OF the great natural OBJ
stacles. Besides his first station, at Vivi,
Stanley has now established another
post some twenty-five or thirty miles
higher up, and he has made narrow
road connecting the two stations, which
is practicable for the carts he has lately
received for transportation purposes.
This advanced outpost is situated at
Ndambi Mbongo. native village in lati-
tude 14O degrees east, about fifty miles
above Mboma and 115 from the mouth Of
tn Congo. At this rate OF progress it is
impossible to calculate how long Stanley
will be in executing the herculean task
he has undertaken. Besides the nat
ural difficulties, he has many other
obstacles to contend with. A letter from
Christofferson, q Danish sailor in his
employ, states that another Dane, Nor
gensen, has died of yellow fever, which
disease plays great havoc among the
members Of the expedition, four Of the
nine European members having already
succumbed to the climate. A number OF
the party wished to turn back, where
upon Stanley called them together and
said: mot one Of you shall / allow to
70 back before this expedition is over.
Nv motto is Forward! and even If a
thousand devils with revolvers and dag
gers opposed us, or illness, pestilence
81 ,,ssarv throatened rs with destruC-