The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1899-07-19
srANLEY's NEW ANECDOTES
The Noted Explorer illustrates the
IEnOrnnce About AfrIen Twenty
Wears Ago.

IT is 81 years since Henry NJ. SANKEY'S
celebrated book, Through the Dark
Continent" was printed. II told the
thrilling story of his journey through
Africa, in which he made his beat sur
vey of Victoria Nyanza and followed ele
Congo from its upper waters TO the sea.
A new edition of the book is about to
appear and Stanley has written long
preface for il. i'm which he tells of the
remarkable changes that have taken
place in the regions described in the
book. He has sent the preface to the
geOgraphcr, Wauters. of brussels. and
the first installment of it has appeared
in lie Movement Geographique in adj
vance of the appearance of the book. A
few extracts from this part of the pre-
face are reproduced here. Obviously,
Mr.. Stanley's exact language cannot be
given. as the extracts are translated
from the French:
''As a striking instance of the general
indifference in Great Britain to all L
had written about Africa in the year 1878
(when his book appeared) remember
an interview between two members of
the council of the Royal Geographical
society and myself. The gentlemen
were calling on me, and one of them, OBJ
serving my manuscript map of the
Congo hanging on the wall and the an
notation | had made along the rivers
course, turned to me with the remark:
How long do you think it will be
before white man sees Stanley falls
again?'
Perhaps two or three years. re-
piled.
1.-Two or three years!' he exclaimed.
Why, l expected to hear you say so
years at least
Fifty years. said I. 4 am ready to
wager that within 60 years there will
be no part of the continent hundred
miles square that will not have been eX-
plored'
~ accept the wager and will make
the sum $50. il agreeable to you,' said
my caller.
The bet was made, the 20 years have
at last expired, and though do not pre-
tend to say that | have won the bet,
do assert that my prediction has been
completely confirmed by the facts.
THE same year Sir Rutherford Al
cock, president of the Royal Geographic
cal society. remarked in his annual adj
dress that | had expressed the opinion
to him that if sufficient money were ex-
pended Africa would not only be ex-
plored, but also pacified and civilized.
| did not think there was anything sur
prising the statement, but Sir Ruther-
ford must have thought il worthy of
reproduction or he would not have men
toned it. / speak of the matter only to
show the prevailing ignorance in all
circles at that time of matters relating
to Africa.
Seven years later I was introduced
by canon of Westminster to we'll
known bishop. and as I was talking to
him about the Congo he smilingly re-
marked:
This is all very interesting, but, to
tell the truth, do not know that /
should be able to find the Congo on the
map
you may imagine my surprise. All
the newspapers of the country had been
printing every day for year news of
one sort or another about the Berlin
conference and it's results. and | GER
tainly supposed that a prince of the
church would know something about it.
But his Indifference to the large events
that were passing in Africa was so great
that he did not even know the name of
the Congo!"-N. Y. Sun.