Smyrna times., 1884-04-16
Johnston, the Young Explorer
A pm PICTURE OF THE YOUNGEST OF
AFRICAN TRAVELLERS.

a T. AsAN L ~ I'M VI I'M 1OONOEOl Of
AFRICAN TRAVELLERS.
A little slip of a boy, apparently Is
years of age, with a pleasant smile and
intelligent blue eyes, standing a little
more than five feet in height, and with
a chin tapering off to II point and con-
trasting strongly with the broad jaw
behind-that is Mr.. Johnston, the chief
authority on the Congo, and the latest
of African travellers. In reality, he is
%, but he talks as if he were 52. When
he started the other day Ell route for
Zanzibar and the Kilimanjaro Noun
tain one of the most remarkable young
men of our time betOok himself to the
Dark Continent. Since Gordon left
England we have met few more iuter-
esting individualities than DIR. John
ston, but no contrast could possibly be
more marked than that which is pre-
sented by these two men-the governor
general of the Soudan and the author
of "The River Congo" The one is to
the other what Cromwell is to Darwin.
In their own way they represent the
two great forces of religion and science.
Gordon full of an intense and enthusi-
astic belief in the unseen, constantly
regarding himself and all his fellow
men but as passive instruments in the
hands of an Almighty power, yet ever
glowing with a fervid philanthropy !;
Johnston, cool, calm, full of intelligence,
and though not without some of the
enthusiasm inseparable from youth,
yet looking out upon the world and all
fhlnHg I fhnRnIFN nu IN hOY. t.Nr.xy in,
which nature ruthlessiy pursues those
murderOus experiments which result
in the survival of the fittest, " Mercy
for the weak" he will say, looking
mildly out of his blue eyes, mature
has none; the weak must perish. The
progress of the race demands the elimi-
nation of the weak. The future be-
longs to the strong" The principal he
carries out logically to its extreme con-
sequences. In all his conversation and
his observations about the politics and
the society of the regions in which he
has travelled so much, you feel that he
is, in the true sense of the word, agnos-
| tic, not merely in relation to the world
in meditating on which Gordon spends
his life, but also to all conventional
morality. He is n man emancipated
! in the Nihilist sense of the word, sans
cuIotte, and yet so mild or placid or
amiable that it only is with an effort
you can realize the full significance of
some of his remarks. A fine aborigi-
nal Pagan, whose ideal of life and con-
duct is as catholic as that of nature,
that is the man whose book OH the
Congo is running through its second
edition, and who has now gone to climb
the highest mountain peak in the whole
of the African continent. 1.-THE race
of the FUTURE" said he, Twill be some
what of an olive tint, with more of Af-
rican blood in its veins than at present,
but it will have a white brain. The
old continents are overcrOwded Africa
will yet be peopled with the swarming
surplus of Europe and Asia. The plia-
BILE organisms which can adapt them
selves to an altered environment will
survive; those that cannot will perish
We may not want the Congo, nor the
fertile valleys of Central Africa, but it
will be needed for our children or our
children's children, who will require
the outlet, which we should take care
is not barred against them"