Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-14
ROMANCE OF AN EXPLORER.
RsmsrI'abIs Information That George
erenfen Brought 20 Liaht.


Remarkable information That George
crenfeli Brought 70 Light.
George Grenfell, the African explorer
and missionary, who died the other
day. had lived nearly a third Of CEN
tury on the Congo. In all that time
he had visited his home In England
only twice. While white men were
dropping all around him he seemed to
Esar a charmed life. but he died at
last of disease that carried of many
OF his colaborers.
This. little man, modest and slow Of
speech. was leader among Congo ex-
plorers. No other man ever brought to
light so many Of the rivers, so many
of the tribes, so much of the country as
Grenfell did.
Alexander Delcommune surpassed
him for while In the extent Of his dis
coveries; but in the long run the laur-
els were with Grenfell. staniey's great
name overshadowed them both. and
his discoveries extended from Victoria
Nyanza to the Atlantic.
DStanley's greatest geographical dis
tinctions in the Congo basin were his
revelation of the Congo for 1900 miles
OF its course, his exploration Of the
Aruwimi and his dramatic journey
through the vast northeastern forest
But in working out the details Of this
second greatest photographic system
in the world both Grenfell and Del
commune far surpassed him.
Delcommune's work was chiefly the
exploration OF the upper part of the
southeastern Congo system. which
Stanley never saw. Grenfelps field was
the north and south tributaries of the
middle Congo in the 900 miles between
Stanley Pool and Stanley Falls.
1t was here that ne completely reyo-
iutionized our ideas Of Congo hydrog-
raphy. In his little missionary
steamer Peace he pushed up one Of
these great tributaries after another;
exploring them as far as he could force
his vessel
None OF the thousands Of natives he
met had ever seen white man before
and the most remarkable things about
him, they thought, were his white skin
and his gold bowed spectacles, which
seemed to them a fetch charm Of re-
power.
The first words that Grenfell wished
to learned In any language or dialect
were those meaning friends" and
peace" He was man Of peace and
never harmed q native in his life.
Scores Of times his puHing little
steamer was attacked by showers OF
poisoned arrows and all the time Gren-
fell would stand behind the wire net
work that protected the roof and deck
of his vessel holding aloft strings Of
beads and lengths Of brass wire and
calling out friends" and peace to the
infuriated natives on the banks.
He never ran away from them. He
would wait till they were convinced
that he meant them no harm. Then
he would parley with them. learn all he
could about their life and habits. give
them presents and, on his departure.
he was usually invited TO come again
soon. 4. 49,; -. y, !, 49, y.
1t was Grenfeil who brought TO light
the dwarf tribes OF the middle Congo.
Years before Schwelnfurth had found
a pygmy group hundreds Of miles to
the northeast but Grenfell was the
first to see the much larger groups Of
dwarfs on the southern tributaries Of
the Congo, and as he steamed up the
rivers many Of the nimble little fell
lows would Chamber out on the branch
es of trees overhanging the water to
fire their arrows at him.
He discovered that our ideas OF the
great southern tributaries were wrong,
for Stanley's differences, had led Us to
suppose that they came from the far
southern and flowed almost due north.
while Grenfell discovered that the
Chuapa, Lulongo and other great
to the west before joining the Congo.
1t was his maps of their courses that
rectifed the delineation Of the south
ern affiuents on our atlas sheets.
One day Grenfell was ascending the
Congo when he got among group of
islands that concealed the mouth Of
the largest Congo tributary. 1t came
from the north, Is called the Ubangt
and 1t is 1,500 miles long and larger
than any European river excepting the
volga and the Danube.
Grenfell ascended 1t 400 miles, where
he was stopped by the Zombo Falls.
1t was found later that the Ubangi is
the lower part of the Welle, discover
ed seventeen years earlier by Schwein-
furth and supposed to flow northwest
to Lake Chad, on the edge OF the Sa-
hara Desert.
GrenfelPs greatest scientific work
was his mapping Of the Congo for 800
miles between Stanley Pool and Stan
ley Falls. It was the result of years
of surveying along the shores Of the
river and Of the islands that OFTEN d.
vide 1t into many channels.
He took infinite pains to assure ac-
curacy, and It will probably be many
years before his map Of this long
stretch of the river is supplanted In
our aliases. The map was published
In six large sheets by the Royal Geo
graphical society.
Grenfell never wrote book. but
his reports Of his many discoveries
were published at length in the geo.
graphical periodicals. Years ago he
married a bright young negro woman
who had been well educated at the
mission school at Accra, on the Allan
tic coast far north Of the Congo.
She accompanied him on many OF
his geographical expeditions and has
been referred to by those who know
her as a competent and faithful help
meet When Stanley was last in this
country he told Of "GrenfelPs two
beautiful children"
In his long African career Grenfell
did much good to the Congo peoples,
and he will always be remembered as