The morning call., 1894-02-04
AN AMERICAN IN AFRICA.

lne Work OF t0ring equatorial Africa
was sketched by Stanley; the mapping of
the country was left to others. One of
those who volunteered to undertake a
share of it was thsE American. William
Astor CbaDler, of the Astor family of New
YoIk; his position at the present time
gives rise to uneasness as a dispatch
from Zanzibar states that he has been de-
serted by his men,
The region which he proposed tn ex-
plore was the neighborhood of Mount
keDia, the sDOw-clad mountain which tow
ers $4,000 feet above the level of the sea.
about 100 miles south Of the equator and
two or three hundred miles east of Victo-
ria Lake. From Victoria Lake to the
Somali country all is virgin land. 1t is
known that 1t is deDsely peopled, that
camels and asses abound at the set
Elements and that the streams are
full OF hippOp0tami. But between the peo-
pie of this region and Europeans there has
never been any intercourse. Exploring
and surveying parties on the coast have
been repeled by violence. There are a
few caravan routes in the northeastern
portion over which Arab slave-traders
convey Gala girls 10 the market on the
Bab-el-Mandeb but the map recently
published in London to show the
paths freguented by the slave-dealers re-
veals no trace of them in the south. From
Cape Guardafui 10 Magadoxo on the coast
and along the line of The equator to the
lakes stretches a vast region four times al
large as England and Wales of which we
know absolutely nothing.
Mr.. Chanler proposed TO establish base
nf
kena. He started with 1o5 men IN Sep
TEN Der. 1892, by way of the Tana River.
which takes lis rise in the slope If Mount
kenia and emDties into the Indian Ocean
at FormOsa Bay. The next year he spent
in exploring the country adjacent to the
equator, within sight of Mount Kenia.
he found tribes which had never seen a
white man, other tribes which we're IRE
claimable savages, and could only be
approached rife in hand; others so low
IN The scale of civilization that they lived
on locusts and wild honey. On September
30, 1898. he wrote to the Lonuon Geoqrqphi-
cal journal that he was ten miles north
Of the equator, awaiting a reinforcement
of men with supplies from Zanzibar to
pursue his task. He still had at that time
his original force of 125 men. This is the
last direct news received from him; but
the dispatch above referred to states that
instead of being re-enforced. he has lost
by desertion the men be had
1t is hardly likely that the Europeans on
the coast will permit him to fail for want
of a suitable force, especially as he is
amply able to pay for them. The mouth
of the Tana and a strip of coast north
and south thereof Is in English hands:
further south, from Mombosa to Zsnzi-
bar, the Germans claim control. Either of
the two could raise considerable force of
fighting Africans if means were forth
coming TO support them. Thus il is not
likely. though it is possible, that we shall
presently hear of Chanler relief expe-
ditions.
The ultimate problem which Mr.. Chanler
and other explorers of eastern equatorial
Africa propose to solve is the past history
of the races which inhabit that region
There are passages in the history of
ancient Egypt and of Palestine which
have led to conjectures that in the dark
and distant prehistoric DAYS powerful
nations existed in what we call the Somali
country. How far Ethiopia extended
southwark we have no means of knowing
1t certainly mbraced Abvssinia. At Mas.
sOwah and Kassala the belief that the
Queen of Sheba was an Abyssinian prin-
cess is still unshaken. II she was. Abys-
sinia must have enjoyed in her time a
civilization higher than it presents TO-DAY.
All through the early history of Egypt
incidents reveal a constant pressure from
the southeast upon the valley CT the Nile.
implying the existence in the present
SOmali country of q civilization hostile to
that OF Egypt and Of aggressive military
tribes. 1t will be the business of MIR.
Chanler and of those who assist him In his
explorations to ascertain whether any
monuments of that civilization survive to
the present day.