THE King of the Belgians resolved to send a relief
expedition to
Emin Pasha. This was in December, 1886. Only a few days
previous to this Mr. Stanley had arrived in New York
after
an absence of thirteen years. When the new expedition
was
resolved upon, Mr. Stanley was immediately summoned by
the King of
the Belgians to take command. His stay in the United
States was cut
short, and he girded himself again for another journey
in the wilds of
Africa. That he was moved by humane impulses ; that he
was interested
in tropical exploration ; that he felt it his duty to
render aid to one who
was in a critical situation is evident from the facts
in the case. At once
there was a great deal of discussion concerning the route
to be taken in
order to reach Emin Pasha. There were those who thought
that the
expedition should travel inland from Zanzibar, but Mr.
Stanley resolved
to proceed by way of the Congo. He describes the expedition
as
follows :
The expedition is non-military that is to say, its purpose
is not to
fight, destroy, or waste ; its purpose is to save, to
relieve distress, to carry
comfort. Emin Pasha may be a good man, a brave officer,
a gallant fel-
low deserving of a strong effort of relief, but I decline
to believe, and I
have not been able to gather from any one in England,
an impression that
his life, or the lives of the few hundreds under him,
would overbalance
the lives of thousands of natives, and the devastation
of immense tracts
of country which an expedition strictly military would
naturally cause.
The expedition is a mere powerful caravan, armed with
rifles for the pur-
pose of insuring the safe conduct of the ammunition to
Emin Pasha, and
for the more certain protection of this people during
the retreat home.
But it also has means of purchasing the friendship of
tribes and chiefs,
of buying food and paying its way liberally.
A Country that Doesn't Pay.
Proceeding from England to Cairo, Mr. Stanley made all
needed
arrangements with the Egyptian government for his journey.
It was
reported that he intended to seize Emin's province, and
make it an Eng-
lish possession, but he said :
The province is not worth taking, at least in the present
state of affairs.
The difficulty of transport from either coast is too
great, and the expense,
also, to give a return for money. As long as the Nile
is closed the Cen-
tral provinces will never pay, and it will be years before
it is open again.
Yes, the Central African provinces would be valuable
enough were river
communication free. On the east side there is no sufficiently
navigable
river, the presence of the tsetse fly prevents the employment
of bullocks
and horses, the ground is unsuited for camels, and the
African elephant
has never been tamed, so the only means of transport
is by the Wapa-
gari, or native porters, and a precious slow and expensive
means it is,
too; for any large trade purposes it would be utterly
inadequate; besides,
the only present trade is in ivory and ebony you know
what I mean by
that, I suppose and ivory is getting scarcer. Of course,
if the Nile
were open there might be a splendid and most remunerative
trade in
gum, hides, bees- wax, india-rubber; anything, too, I
believe, could be
cultivated to perfection in these provinces, and probably
the natives would
soon learn, when once they got to appreciate the benefit
of trading, to
grow cotton, tea, perhaps coffee, rice, and the cinchona
plant. Some
parts are suited well for one kind of plant, other parts
for another. Thus,
cotton would grow nearer the coasts, whereas tea and
coffee and the cin-
chona plant could be cultivated on the slopes. But, as
I said before, the
true transit for trade is by the Nile.
In the course of further conversation he said : Do you
know that the
Nile itself could be turned off with comparative ease
? The Victoria Nyanza
is on a plateau like an inverted basin. It could be made
to trickle over
at any point. The present King of Uganda is fond of his
liquor; waking
up any morning after drinking too much " mwengi " (plantain
wine) over
night he might have what is called " a head on him "
and feel in a very
bad temper.
He might then take it into his head to turn off the Nile
; he might do
this by ordering a thousand or so natives to turn out
and continue to
drop stones across the Ripon Falls at the top till they
were blocked. To
do this would be quite possible. I calculate this could
be done by the
number of men I mention in nine months, for the falls
are very narrow.
True, the effect of this could be counteracted in a year
or so by reservoirs
and dykes ; but, meanwhile, the population of Egypt would
be starved.
His father. King Mtesa, once actually contemplated doing
this, not with
a view of creating mischief, but because he wanted to
water some partic-
ular tract of land, and for this purpose to make the
lake dribble over it.
Concerning his expedition, Mr. Stanley talked at some
length. Tell
them at home, he said, that my mission is purely pacific.
Does anyone
think I am going to wade through blood to get at Emin?
If I suc-
ceeded, what would be the consequence? News would be
brought to
the King, " Stanley is coming with an army of thirty
thousand men "
you know how figures increase when estimated by savages
and what
would be the consequence? " Ho ! is he indeed ?" the
King would say;
"I'll teach him to bring an army into my country. Chop
off the heads
of the missionaries." And what, I should like to know,
is the value of
Emin's life in comparison with that of the lives of such
noble men as
Mackay, Litchfield, Pere Loudel, and Frere Delmonce ?
Does anyone
think I would sacrifice them for the sake of Emin ?
Stanley Again in Africa.
The foregoing is Mr. Stanley's estimate of the work he
had undertaken.
He immediately started for Africa and arrived at Zanzibar,
where he
found Tipo-tipo, whom he had employed in 1877, when,
he made his
celebrated journey from sea to sea. Six hundred men were
already en-
listed for the expedition. Emin was reported to have
a large quantity
of ivory in his possession, and it was thought that this
would go far
toward defraying the expenses of the expedition ; the
amount to be
derived from the ivory would be realized when the party,
on their return,
reached Zanzibar.
Stanley considered it important to enlist the services
of Tipo-tipo, and
offered to give him the position of governor at Stanley
Falls, and to pay
him a fair salary. , Tipo was pleased with this offer
and consented to
accompany the party. In the latter part of Februaiy a
steamer left Zan-
zibar for the mouth of the Congo; on board were seven
hundred men
who were to accompany Stanley. The voyage required about
four
weeks, and that too with a steamer, giving us an idea
of the immense
distances in the Dark Continent. Of course the steamer
sailed around
the Cape of Good Hope, but when Stanley arrived on the
western coa^t'
at the mouth of the Congo he was still twelve hundred
and sixty-six
miles from Aruwimi, from which point he would be four
hundred miles
from Emin's capital in the Equatorial Province ; thus
making a journey
of nearly seventeen hundred miles from the coast.
Appalling Difficulties.
Pushing on with all possible speed, he was at Aruwimi
about the
middle of June, having suffered some delay from insufficient
transporta-
tion, a thing by no means unusual in African exploration.
Wishing to
rebuild the storehouses at Stanley Falls, he left men
for that purpose,
and very soon began the overland march. He ascended the
River
Aruwimi as far as it was navigable, and when he began
his land march,
th^ baggage of the party, consisting of munitions and
provisions, had to
be transported on men's backs. A large quantity of rice
was taken, as
this is a wholesome and harmless food. Mr. Stanley's
steel whale-
boat, which he had brought with him, was found to be
of very great
service. Only a sparse population was found in the country
through
which they passed. Early in August it was reported that
Stanley was
advancing without the ammunition and supplies intended
for Emin.
It seems that provisions were very scarce and a large
number accom-
panying the expedition were suffering from hunger. Disease
had also
.broken out, and the fate of the expedition seemed doubtful.
The truth was that Tipo-tipo had not kept his contract,
and the five
hundred carriers who were to convey the stores had not
put in an
appearance. This, however, was not due to any treachery
on the part of
Tipo. For a time Mr. Stanley disappeared, and very soon
perplexing
rumors came from Africa, one of which was that he had
reached Emin
and brought him relief; another, that he and his party
had been mas-
sacred ; another, that he had placed himself at the head
of Emin's army
and was advancing on Khartoum, determined to avenge the
death of
" Chinese " Gordon, and overthrow the Mahdi ; and still
another that he
and Emin had been made prisoners by the Mahdist forces.
Mystery of the White Pasha.
There were reports, too, concerning a mysterious " White
Pasha " in
one part of the country, and there were those who firmly
believed that
the mysterious White Pasha was none other than Henry
M. Stanley, and
that he had reached Emin's capital, namely, Wadelai,
and was now
ireturning to the coast. On the 15th of December, however,
came unex-
pected news from the Red Sea Coast of Egypt that Emin's
territory had
teen captured by Arabs and that Emin himself and Stanley
had been
made prisoners. In proof of this, the following letter,
which purported'
to have been received from a Mahdist officer in the Soudan,
was for-
warded. The letter was as follows :
" In the name of the Great God, etc. This is from the
least among
God's servants to his Master and Chief Khalifa, etc.,
We proceeded
with the steamers and army. Reached the town Lado, where
Emin,
Mudir of Equator, is staying. We reached this place 5th
Safar, 1306.
We must thank officers and men who made this conquest
easy to us
before our arrival. They caught Emin and a traveller
staying with him,
aud put both in chains. The officers and men refused
to go to Egypt;
with the Turks. Tewfik sent Emin one of the travellers,
whose name is
Mr. Stanley. This Mr. Stanley brought with him a letter
from Tewfik to
Emin, dated 8th Jemal Aowal, 1304, No. 81, telling Emin
to come with
Mr. Stanley, and gave the rest of the force the option
to go to Cairo or
remain. The force refused the Turkish orders, and gladly
received us.
I found a great deal of feathers and ivory. I am sending
with this, on
board the ' Bordain,' the officers and chief clerk. I
am also sending the
letter which came to Emin from Tewfik, with the banners
we took from
the Turks. I heard that there is another traveller who
came to Emin^
but I heard that he returned. I am looking out for him.
If he comes
back again, I am sure to catch him. All the chiefs of
the province with
the inhabitants were delighted to redeive us. I have
taken all the arms
and ammunition. Please return the officers and chief
clerk when you
have seen them and given the necessary instructions,
because they will,
be of great use to me."
Gloomy Predictions.
It turned out afterwards that this letter was only a transparent
lie, the
object of which was to alarm the British forces and induce
them to
abandon the country. Reliable news came from the Stanley
expedition
of sufferings and disasters, and multitudes of people
were very much
concerned for Mr. Stanley's safety. The following opinion
was expressed
by Mr. Joseph Thompson, the well-known African traveller
:
" Stanley," he said, " has met his terrible fate in some
such way as
this : He started from the Aruwimi,and almost immediately
plunged into
dense forests, to be made worse by swamps further east.
Through such
a country his caravan would have to travel in single
file, with probably
no more than twenty men in sight at one time. Under such
conditions
it would be impossible for the Europeans to keep in touch
with their
men, and thus scattered, thus without officers in a sense,
they would fight
at a terrible disadvantage. And fight they would have
to for daily food
if nothing else, and consequently with each succeeding
week less able
to continue the struggle. In this way they plunged deeper
and deeper
into the recesses of the unknown forest and swamp and
deeper and
deeper, no doubt, into the heart. of a powerful tribe
of natives. And
then the end came. Probably in that last struggle for
life not a soul
escaped.
" If you ask me why no news, no rumor of that catastrophe
leaked
out, I answer because there was no trade, not even a
slave route, through
that region. There was no native or Arab merchant to
carry the news
from tribe to tribe ; and as each tribe has little but
fighting relations with
the neighboring ones, the tidings would not get through
by their means.
And, after all, what would the massacre of a passing
caravan be to those
savages ? Only a common incident not worth speaking about
beside the
continual tribal wars they are accustomed to. The one
thing they would
find to remark would be the wonderful character of the
plunder. Some
day, no doubt, the news will leak out, but it may be
months before any-
thing reaches us. It is not much use crying over spilt
milk, but one
cannot help lamenting over this probable new disaster.
It is all so much.
on a par with our terrible blunderings in the Soudan
and East Africa..
Only another remarkable man killed, and the magnificent
life's work of
another ruined. But for the selection of the Congo route
Stanley n^ight
have been alive, Emin succored, and not improbably the
Mahdi's host
defeated."
The foregoing opinion, expressed by a man of experience,
who might
be supposed to know what he was talking about, was very
generally
approved by those who had but a limited and superficial
knowledge of
the dangers which Stanley must have encountered. There
was a
readiness to believe that the worst had befallen him.
It did not seem
possible for one to plunge into the heart of Africa,
cut off all communi-
cation, be gone for a long period of time without having
been heard
from, and yet be in the land of the living. Except for
the fact that
Stanley had done this very thing on other occasions,
the belief that he
had perished would have been much more general.
It was well known that he was fully equipped for his expedition.
All
that the most modern inventions and appliances could
furnish had been
supplied for the journey. He had provisions, medicines,
clothing,
trinkets for the natives, munitions of war, and the latest
inventions in
arms. Among other things, he was supplied with an automatic
machine
gun, the advantage of which was that it would load rapidly,
fire ac-
curately, and carry to a great distance. This would be
especially useful
in bringing down heavy game at long range, and also in
conflict with
the natives if they should be so daring and so unwise
as to force hos-
tilities.
The interest in this last great expedition of Mr. Stanley
has been
almost of a personal character. Multitudes of people
who never have
seen the man, never have heard his voice and only know
him by repu-
tation, have yet felt toward him almost as if he were
an intimate friend ;
they have shared his hardships and trials ; they have
wished him
success at every step ; they have waited eagerly for
news from the Dark
Continent ; they have rejoiced in his triumphs and have
been pained at
the news of his sufferings. So the, great explorer, whose
fame fills the
world, is not only admired for his heroic achievements,
but loved for
his character and his beneficent mission.
Continued Next Week
Chapter 34
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