Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-09-28
THE DARK CONTINENT.
sTgnor Matteuccfss March Across
Afrfea-sOme Incidents OF she
JOurneV.

The London ST. James Gazette pub
fishes the subjoined letter, written by
the Bolognese explorer, Signor Matteuc-
CT, when in sight of the Canary Islands
after having traversed Africa from the
Red Sea to the Atlantic-and penned
only few days before his death:
when you receive this the telegraph
will have announced the result Of our
travels. Staring from the Red Sea. we
have traversed Dafur, Dan lamar. Wa
dai, the North of Baghirmi, Bornu,
Kano, Nupe, and, descending the Niger,
have arrived at the shores of the Allan
tic. The voyage was success, and the
programme, though it seemed difficult,
has been carried out. The Wadaj was
the Gordian knot of our enterprise; be-
fore us three Europeans had entered
the land; two were killed, and the third,
Nachtigall, succeeded in passing
through it disguised as Turkish
merchant. We entered it as Chris
tians and Italians, and the cold and
suspicious reception we received showed
what savage distrust the King and his
people felt towards whites and Christians.
The King @ whom we made rich pres
ents, responded generously. He gave
us presents for our King and Queen, and
to ourselves camels, horses and slaves
(who thus had the good fortune to see
the sun of liberty He sent messengers
to the King of Bornu to warn him of the
arrival in his capital of two Christians,
provided for our safety along the road,
and, in fact, we should have left Wadai
well contented had his orders been at
tended to. 1t took more than two
months to reach Bornu, and but for pro-
lection of the King of Wadaj our cara
van would never have arrived there,
owing to tribal wars along the road.
''Kano is the land of peace and order
everyone works for his living; you find
huts every hundred yards, and the cult
waited land testifies to an industrious
population. The capital, town of So
600 inhabitants, presents a lively sight,
especially on market days, when sellers
of all the products of Central Africa,
and buyers speaking unknown tongues,
come from great distances to the fair.
Kano is the country which has left the
best impression, and it seems to me to
have a great future For Europeans
access is difficult, because the road from
the north is barred by the Bedouin
Arabs; but once you reach the country,
no one asks whence you come, or where
you are going, or what you want,
or what religion you profess. Mus
sulman or no, you mix with the
crowd and study their dress, their bust
ness and their nature. No one pays any
attention, unless you are dressed as an
European, and then, either from curiosl-
ty or fanatlcism, you may not have such
a pleasant time. We dressed as Europe
ans up to Bornu; but one day, on going
out to see some lions and leopards, ac-
cOmpanied by servants of the King, we
were surrounded by thousands of people,
and, despite the exertions of our guard,
were followed to our lodgings by clam
orous crowd, very much to our annoy.
ance, and still more so to the market
people, who had their stalls upset and
their wares stolen in the confusion. At
ter that the King gave us native dresses,
and we were no more mOlested
From KanO we went to Nupe, the
last great kingdom, which reaches to
the Atlantic. On the road we passed
through mountain tribes who live, both
men and women, in absolute nudity.
Nupe is kingdom accustomed to trade
with English who come from the west
coast, and we were kindly, indeed ami
cably, received by the Sultan. One day
when we were with the King there were
brought in several prisoners, and among
them the son of the King with whom he
was at war. The Prince begged for life,
and covered his head with dust, but his
fate was sealed. We tried to intercede,
but got no chance; only the next
day we were more fortunate. Being
alone with the King at dinner, we talked
of the greatness of our own King
and country, and he asked us if we
could think of anything of his that it
would give him pleasure to have. We
answered at once that nothing would
give our King so much pleasure as to
know that for his sake the prisoners had
been released. The King thought for a
minute, and then said he would pardon
them, as he could understand that a
generous heart would be pleased at
saving life. From Nupe two roads lead
to the ocean, one by land. passing
through several small Kingdoms, and
the other by water, going down the
Niger The former it was useless to at
tempt, for war of determination was
being wsged between the Kings of
Illori and Ibbadan; so we chose the lat
ter route"