The Saint Paul globe., 1904-05-22
HENRY M. STANLEY'S CAREER
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Tanganyixa, where he had just arrived
from the southwest. Having furnished
Livingstone with fresh supplies and hav-
ing himself explored the northern portions
of the lake, he set out on his return in
March, 1872, reaching England in July,
where he was received with honor and
distinction. His work was justly regarded
as marking an epoch in the story Of Af-
rican exploration and heroic adventure.
The queen presented to him a gold snuff
box, set with diamonds, and the Royal
Geographical society gave him the Pa
irons gold medal.
The reputation he had made for him
self on his first expedition induced the
New York Herald and the London Daily
Telegraph to furnish the necessary fnan-
cial backing for second journey of ex-
ploration into the dark continent. In
the meantime tidings had been received
of the death of Livingstone in the mid
die of the African continent.
On his second voyage Stanley arrived
at Zanzibar in the fall of 1874, and thence
he started inland, looking for Lake
Victoria Nyanza, with a force Of 300
men. The journey overland was one of
great hardships and many contests with
the natives. He reached the lake on Feb.
q, 1875, having in the meantime lost
1914 men by death and desertion. With
a boat which he had brought with him
in pieces he made a voyage around the
lake, and found it to be a single large
lake, and not one Of a series of lagoons,
as was supposed by Burton and Living
stone.
He found it to contain 40 900 square
miles, and to be, therefore, the largest
body of fresh water on the globe. His
next move was westward toward Lake
Albert Edward Nyanza. The result of
this exploration was to prove that the
latter lake was not connected with Lake
Tanganyika. The hostility of the natives
forced Stanley to retire to Ujiji, and
at this point he determined to descend
the great river discovered by Living
stone and believed by him to be the Nile.
Staniey's investigation determined the
fact that the river was none other than
the Congo, the mouth of which was reach
ed by him Aug. II, 1877. From this long
period of exploration he returned to Eng
land in February, 1873.
His Story Doubted.
Stanley's own countrymen were for a
long time apparently indisposed to do
him justice. His first Central African
journey in search of Livingstone was so
unexpectedly successful that his story
seemed Incredible to many who were un-
acquainted with African exploration. To
every student of that fascinating subject
the evidences of the substantial truth of
StanleyS narrative were to be found in
every page of his book, but in one re-
spect its very truthfulness stimulated the
skeptfcism of those who fancied that a
young newspaper reporter would find it
easier to say that he had been to Lake
Tangany1ka than to go there. They point
ed out that Stanley had represented Liv-
lngstone as saying or writing things
which a grave Scotch missionary would
never have thought of, and they there
upon jumped to the conclusion that STAN
ley had never met the veteran explorer.
OF course, when Livingstone's last Jour
nails reached England the truth Of STAN
leys narrative was confirmed in every
particular.
In the second great journey Stanley
placed himself at the very head of African
explorers. He crossed the continent. of
Africa by descending the Congo, a task
which Livingstone had failed to accom-
plish, and which Cameron had decided to
be impracticable. This, of itself was the
grandest achievement of which the his
tory of African exploration has any rec
ord, but 1T was only part of what Stan
ley accomplished. He thoroughly sur
veyed the Victoria lake, and nearly com
pleted a like survey of Tanganyika. He
ascertained that the river Shirneoyu Is the
largest aff1uent of the Victoria lake, and
hence the true beginning of the Nile and
he established the fact that the Lualaba
and the Congo are one and the same. No
other African explorer had achieved so
much, and he left so little to be done