The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-04-25
JOURNEY OF
EWART GROGAN
A. D. 1898

From the Right Honorable Cecil
Rhodes to Ewart s. Grogan in the year
1900:
Il must say envy you, for you have
the ambition Of every explorer, namely.
to walk through Africa from south to
north. The amusement of the whole
thing is that a youth from Cambridge
during his vacation should have sue
ceeded in doing that which the ponder
Gus explorers of the world have failed
to accomplish. There is distinct hui
NOR in the whole thing. II makes me
the more certain that we shall COM
plete the telegraph and railway, for
surely l am not going to be beaten by
the legs of Cambridge undergradu-
ate"
1t took death himself to beat Rhodes.
Two years after that letter was writ
ten news went out through the army in
South Africa that he was dead. We
were stunned; we felt too sick TO fight.
For moment the guns were hushed,
and silence fell on the yeldt after years
Of war. That silence was the herald
of lasting peace for British Africa,
united by stronger bonds than rail or
telegraph.
Grogan was an undergraduate not
only of Cambridge, but also of the
bigger schools called War and Adven-
ture, for he had travelled in the South
Seas, climbed In the Alps and fought
In the Matabele campaigns, before he
made his holiday walking tour from
tie Cape to Cairo. He was not the
oned by frontier standards, a man of
means, with good manners that ease
the way for any traveller. From the
Cape to the Zambesi he had no need to
tread old trails again, and far into the
heart of Africa there were already col
Onies with steamers to speed the jour-
ney up to Lake Tanganyika, where his
troubles really began. Through two
thirds of the journey Grogan had a
partner, Mr.. A. II. Sharp, but they
were seldom in company, for one would
explore ahead while the other handled
their caravan of one hundred and fifty
negro carriers, or one or both went
hunting, or lay ar the verge of death
with dose of fever.
Their route lay along the floor of
cash in the continent, a deep abyss
called the Great Rift, in which lies
chain of lakes: Nyassa, Tanganyika,
Kew, Albert Edward, and Albert,
whence the Nile flows down into dis
tant Egypt. This rift is walled and
sometimes blocked by live volcanoes,
fouled with swamps, gigantic forests
and new lava floods, reeking with fe-
yer, and at the time of the journey was
beset by tribes of hostile cannibals.
This pleasant path led TO Khartoum,
held in those days by the Khalifa with
his dervish army. The odds were
about thousand to one that these
two British Adventures were march
ing straight to death or slavery. Their
attempt was madness-that divine
madness that inspires all pioneers.
Now for glimpse into this great adj
venture:
II had shot zebra j.. /. and turn
Ing out at five-thirty a. m. crept up
within sixty yards. / saw in the
middle circle OF some two hundred vul-
lures grand old lion, leisurely gnaw-
ing the ribs, and behind, four little
jackals sitting in a row. Behind
stretched the limitless plain, streaked
with mists shimmering in the grow
ing light of the rising sun, clumps of
graceful palms fenced in sandy
arena where the zebra had fallen and
round his attenuated remains, and just
out of reach of the swish of the mon
arch's tail, the solid circle of waiting
vultures, craning their bald necks,
chattering and hustling one another,
and the more daring quartette within
the magic circle like four little images
Of patience, while the lion in all his
might and matchless grandeur of
| form, leisurely chewed and scrunched
the titbits, magnificently regardless of
the watchful eyes of the encircling
canaille. watched the scene
for fully ten minutes, then as he
showed signs of moving l took the
chance afforded OF a broadside shot
and bowled him over with the 500
magnum. In inserting another cart
ridge the gun jammed, and he rose,
but after looking round for the cause
of the interruption, without success,
started off at a gallop. With desper-
ate effort l closed the gun and Knocked
him over again. He was fine black
named lion and as he lay in straight
line from tip to top was ten feet four
inches, very unusual length"
Among the volcanoes near Lake
Kivo, Grogan discovered big one
that had been thrown up within the
last two years, and there were vast
new foods of lava, hard to cross. One
day, while searching out a route for
the expedition. he had just camped
at height Of nine thousand feet in
/ the forest when he found the fresh
tracks of bull elephant, and the
spoor was much larger than he had
ever seen. When he overlook this
giant the jungle was so dense that
I only the ridge Of his back was visible.
and for some time he watched the
animal picking the leaves OF tree.
I When fodder ran short he tore down