Evening star., 1900-12-19
\ RE MARkABLE TRIP
CAPTAIN GROGAN TALKS OF HIS
"TRAvERSE OF AFRICA"
New Race of People Discovered
Some of the Perfls Of the
Journey Told.

journey
What others during the nineteenth century
had attempted In vain young Englishman,
now at the Shoreham, accomplished sue
cessfully. and that was what explorers and
geographers call 1.-THE Traverse Of Africa"
the crossing Of the dark continent from
south to north, from the Cape to Cairo
The young Englishman who performed this
most notable feat is Capt. Ewart Scott Gro
gan. He Is in Washington on his way to
New Zealand. the home Of his wife's rela-
tives. A representative of The Star saw
him at the Shoreham this morning, and
found him pleasant young man Of boyish
face and athletic build. He said he had
been in Washington about week, although
he had been in the United States something
over five weeks
Unjust Criticism of England.
I'VE had not intended remaining here so
long he said, but my brother-in-law be-
came Ill, and an operation had to be per-
formed which delayed US. l have been
greatly pleased with all l have seen in
America, but not with all I have heard.
Much partiality is shown toward the Beers,
and find much prejudice against England.
Chamberlain is being roundiy criticised and
most unjustly So The English army is held
up to ridicule and its officers declared in
competent Our critics fail to realize that
the South African republic is as large as all
continental Europe They forget that the
burghers know every foot of this great
country, can follow every bride path with
their eyes shut, can make a dash against
the British troops and then disappear If
by magic. What would n army of 100000
men avail in Europe? 1t is almost the same
in South Africa. Yet England is winning,
and only one end to the conflict is possible.
The bnr2hPrS would give for
the fact that they are perfectly illiterate.
know nothing except what their leaders tell
them, and are encouraged by tales of great
Boer victories and frightened by stories of
what England will do to them when she
has them in her power
Although Captain Grogan was born as
late as 1874 and is therefore only twenty
SIX years old, having, in fact, celebra ted
his twenty-siXth anniversary since arriving
in Washington, he has travelled over al
most the entire world, has hunted elephants
lions. tigers and other big game in various
lands, look part in the second Matabele war
in 1885; made his celebrated TRAVERSE of
Africa" and has written large book, Civ
ing an account Of that remarkable journey.
After the Matabee war Captain Grogan
made the trip from Cape Town to Sails
bury, So when he started upon the big
journey in 1885, he thought it unnecessary
to repeat that part Of it. and consequently
made the start at Belra. This is a sea
port on the eastern coast of Africa, north
bury. Captain Grogan accompanied
on his trip by his friend, Mr.. Arthur Sharp.
A Fierce Race of Cnnnibnls.
Prom Beira to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika
almost directly west of Zanzibar. the trip
was what might be called easy sailing "
he said. I'VE followed Well-knoWn roads
through country more or less thoroughly
explored, and in Lake Tanganyika we had
the assistance of a steamer AT Ujijt we
engaged our porters, cooks, etc, about $50
altogether, and then started in to do some
real exploring and discovering, and We got
plenty of it before saw Cairo. We fol-
lowed the Rusisi valley to Lake kivu and
were the first Englshmen to behold that
body of water. The country in that region
is the hillieSt / ever came across. 1t was
up hill and down hill the whole time. The
inhabitants are called Runda. The aristo-
Gratis are called Watusi and do no work.
The plebeians are called Wahutu and have
to yield gracefully whenever the lordly Wa
tusi wish anything. The scenery is beau
tiful.
Passing on north of Lake Kivu. we
came across great volcanic region. It's
total extent must have been nearly 5000
square miles. There were two volcanoes
still active and they covered from forty to
fifty miles. The lava in this region had
destroyed everything in the way Of animal
or vegetable life. and was about 100 feet
IN depth. Being porous, no water would
remain on the surface, and hence nothing
could live there.
I'm the vicinity of this deadly district the
country was at that time overrun by
fierce tribe of cannibals. There We're about
5000 of them and they were known as
Balekas. They had practically extermi-
mated the original Inhabitants. They had
turned the country into one great cemetery
or charnal house. Human remains of all
kinds covered the ground and filled the
streams, These Balekas attacked our par
ty several times, but magazine rifle which
/ carried soon put them to flight.
New Race Discovered.
Leaving the land of the cannibals We
entered the Kako valley, and here we dis
covered a hitherto unknown race. beings
which impressed me being the lowest
vet in the rank of mankind. They were
tall with long arms and short legs and the
contour Of their heads was all that you
could ask of an ape. They We're timid,
stupid and bestial.
when we got we'll into the Congo Free
State we found most astonishing state Of
affairs. We found the elephants being wan
tonly slaughtered. the native men killed,
the young women sold into slavery and the
old women burned to death. The natives
were systematically robbed of everything.
The Belgian authorities have plenty of law
against all these things but they don't en-
force it. The agents are far away from all
supervision, and each one is a monarch in
his little district Belgium's. king is the
king of the Congo, but there is no other
connection between Congo and Belgium.
The great bulk of the kings revenues come
from Congo and enable him to build his
palaces and revel in luxury, but the blood
of thousands Of natives is upon his head.
1.-The eating of elephant flesh Is as COM
mon in Africa as is the eating of beef here.
have tried it myself, and 1t is not so bad
Really the elephants trunk Is very delicate
But most Of the natives prefer the ele-
phant raw, and l once a hundred or
more of them pounse upon a huge carcass.
Old men and young men, women of all
ages, children and babies, all stark naked,
fling themselves upon the body and fought
over 1t like dogs over a bone. They ate
until they could eat more and until
nothing remained of the elephant but its
gaunt bones"
When Captain Grogan arrived at Wade
lai, on the Bahr-elJebel, or upper Nile, he
met a British officer for the first time on
his trip. Wadelai is the place where Emin
Pasha maintained himself and administered
the equatorial province Of the former Egyp-
tian Soudan territories from the outbreak
of the Mahdist rebellion till his relief by
Stanley in 1889. Here Captain Grogan took
up the last stage Of his journey from
Wadelai to Khartoum.
Captain Grogan's journey had required a
little less than two years, and he had trav-
eled abOut e. 600 miles or distance oouoI