The Portland daily press., 1885-08-03
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Congo. By Henry M. Stanley. (New
York: Harper & Brothers; Portland: Lor-
ing, Short & Harmony This is an elegant
octave in two volumes, containing total of
over one thousand pages, finely illustrated
and giving portraits of King Leopold of Bel
GUM, and of the author, with excellent maps,
a welcome addition to the admirable library
which the Harpers have published of African
Exploration. $40
Stanley is a bright, pleasant writer and has
decided views about everything Speaking
of sunshine he defines its different qualities:
"There is the hard, white, Naked undis-
guised sunshine of Northeastern America;
there is the warm, drowsy, hazy sunshine of
the English summer; there is the bright,
CHEEKY, purified sunshine of the Mediterra-
mean" The African sunshine, he thinks, is
repulsive, with its intense light and deep
shadows, but we are surprised that he does
not like ours, which many have compared to
that of the Mediterranean.
He takes up his narrative where he dropped
it in his Ozark Continent" and describes
the formation of the International Associa-
ton and the expedition up the Congo which
he conducted in 1879. He established sta
ton at the first cataract and built road by
which two little steamboats, were hauled
around the falls and launched into the river
above This work occupied a year as the
road was fifty-two miles in length, and a vast
amount of supplies had to be transported
with the steamers.
On the Sd of December, 1881 he was estab-
lished at Stanley Pool and the little steame I
above the falls, where she had 5000 miles of
unimproved navigation above her, and the
Congo was then open to trade.
This was not accomplished without some
difficult negotiations with the natives, but
Stanley seems to have managed them with
excellent judgment.
On the 10th of April, 1882. he started to ex-
plore the upper river, where he met with
such striking adventures on his famous trip
down in 1877.
Mr. Stanley is not an enthusiast in regard
to scenery, but after seeing most of the great
rivers of the world he pronounces the seen
cry on the Congo superior to any other.
In July, 1882, Stanley returned to Europe,
Frustrated by sickness, but in FIVE months
went back to his labors, and was dsmayed
to find everything neglected and in confu-
sion. He infused new energy into the work.
restored peace with the natives who had
quarreled with the whites and pushed on the
work of exploring the Upper Congo This
work he prosecuted with great success up to
the time of his departure in June, 1884, and
the free State of Congo may be considered as
well as launched, since treaties have been
10 oil +bo .ofs -
for many hundred miles up the river, giving
the International Company general sover-
eighty of the country in matters of inter-
course between tribes and their relations
with all corners.
Mr.. Stanley is satisfied from statistics kept
at the different stations that fatal fevers are
oftener due toll sudden cooling after over
heating than to exposure to miasma. He
found that Vivi, situated on high cliff, with
admirable drainage was quite sickly, while
some of the low-lying stations with black
fat loan and damp forests all about them
were perfect sanatoriums. He argued that
in Vivi the men got heated by climbing the
steep HILL and then suddenly cooled by the
refreshing breeze which blows up the river
as through funnel He thinks people may
live as healthy in Africa as elsewhere by
taking due precautions. They must avoid
stimulants, not work in the sun at midday,
must avoid draughtS when their clothes are
saturated with perspiration and they must
pay strict attention to diet He blames his
own thoughtlessness for the fevers which
have several times Frustrated him, but expe-
rence shows that it is very difficult for the
r1nct fbO1obffu1 ms IN hp a aarofI1l in
guarding against exposure. So we may as
sumo that the statement of Consul Tisdel
that the Lower Congo sis cursed with hot
and humid climate, and the air laden with
malaria, that none but acclimated persons
can endure" is correct so far as it may be
applied to the class of settlers who ordinari-
ly flock to a new country.
1t is evident that the Congo valley
is very rich in natural products and
the people are anxious to trade. In
time very profitable commerce may be de-
veloped there. The Congo and its tributa-
ries afford $1,000 or 10000 miles of water
navigation leading into the very centre of
tropical Africa, where an immense popula-
ton, estimated at over forty millions, exists.
Stanley proposes the building of two sec
lions of narr0w-gauge railway respectively
fifty-two and ninety-fye miles in length, con-
nected by steamboat navigation, and calcu-
lates that the freight earnings would be one
and half million of dollars yearly in addi-
ton to passengers He points out that Eu-
ropeanS found on the Mississippi at first only
furs and timber to trade for, while on the
Congo are inexhaustible stores of valuable
woods, gums, rubber, palm oil and nuts,
fbres for cordage, coffee, ivory, furs, hides
and copper, and there is an Industrious pop