AFTER Mr. Stanley sent us the account of the
first part of his
journey contained in the preceding chapters, he was again
lost
to the world. There was silence for many months ; and
there
was also anxious speculation concerning his fate, and
many fears
that he and all others in his brave band had perished
in the murky wilds
of the Congo. The long and painful suspense was finally
broken.
On October 24th, 1889, a cable dispatch was received from
Captain
Wissmann, Imperial Commissioner of Germany to East Africa,
stating
that reliable news had been received concerning Emin
Pasha and Henry
M. Stanley, Signor Casati and six Englishmen. They were
all expected
to afrive at Mpwapwa at the latter part of November.
This dispatch was supplemented soon after by the following
:
London, Nov. 4. Mr. Mackinnon, the head of the Emin
Relief. Com-
mittee, has received a dispatch from Henry M. Stanley.
The explorer says : " I reached the Albert Nyanza from
Banalaya, for
the third time, in 140 days, and found that Emin and
Jephson had both
been prisoners since the 18th of August, 1888, being
the day after I made
the discovery that Barttelot's caravan had been wrecked.
" The troops in the Equatorial Province had revolted and
shaken off
all allegiance. Shortly after the Mahdists invaded the
province in full
force.
" After the first battle in May the stations yielded and
a panic struck
the natives, who joined the invaders and assisted in
the work of destruc-
tion.
" The invaders subsequently suffered reverses, and dispatched
a steamer
to Khartoum for reinforcements.
" I found a letter waiting for me near the Albert Nyanza
exposing the
dangerous position of the survivors and urging the immediate
necessity
of my arrival before the end of December, otherwise it
would be too
late.
" I arrived there on the l8th of January for the third
time. From the
14th of February to the 8th of May I waited for the fugitives,
and then
left the Albert Nyanza homeward bound."
This piece of news, assuring the world of Stanley's safety,
was wel-
comed with acclamations, and further intelligence from
the heroic
explorer was eagerly awaited. It soon came, and before
we present to
the reader the graphic letters from Stanley and Emin,
giving a full
account of the expedition, we give an outline of the
wonderful march.
This march was beset by all manner of dangers, and only
the most
daring bravery and perseverance a bravery that did
not count life dear
could ever have brought the gallant band of travelers
to the light of
civilization.
The Tlnilling Story.
Mr. Stanley and his companions have now, to use his own
words,
"reached the outskirts of blessed civilization," and
tne complete narrative
of the marvellous journey shows that in perils overcome,
in labors and
privations endured, in adventures with savage foes, and
in brilliant discov-
eries, this journey stands unparalleled and alone. Mr.
Stanley writes to
his friend, Mr. Marston, and to the Emin Pasha Relief
Committee; Emin
writes to his old friend Dr. Schweinfurth. Mr. Stanley's
letters are of the
greatest interest. Emin Pasha's eyesight will not allow
him to write
much, and there is a pathetic allusion to it in the exclamation
in which
he abruptly concludes. Mr. Stanley writes with his accustomed
vivacity
and in his accustomed good spirits.
Stanley's letters and Emin's take up the story of the
march and rescue
from the point at which it was left in the letters published
earlier in 1889,
and contained in the foregoing chapters. Stanley marched
from Yam-
buya on the Aruwimi to his first meeting with Emin at
the Albert Nyanza.
After a fortnight's rest, he returned from the Albert
Nyanza to his start-
ing-point, to collect his rear-guard and stores, only
to find that Major
Barttelot had been murdered in his absence, and that
the station was
little better than a ruin. His letters published in April,
1889, were
written under the influence of this sore discouragement,
and when he
was setting forward again to effect his junction with
Emin for the last
lime. During his absence, disaster had overtaken Emin,
as it previously
overtook Major Barttelot, and Stanley arrived at the
very moment to
save the German explorer from utter ruin. His arrival
on this occasion
at the Albert Nyanza marks, as he reminds us, his third
journey across a
terrible region^a region of well-nigh impenetrable forest,
peopled with
the dwarfs and cannibals previously described. He made
one journey to
the Albert to discover Emin ; a second journey back to
Yambuya ; a
third, and last one, forward to the Albert once more,
to save Emin's life.
His present letters, after recapitulating some of the
particulars
of the earlier ones, take up the story of the march,
from the
period of the second junction with Emin. One is writen
from the Vic-
toria Nyanza on the 3d September, 1889. The travellers
were then well
-advanced on their journey towards the East Coast. They
had travelled
many hundreds of miles to the southern shore of the larger
lake, and they
Tiad at length seen a mission church, surmounted by a
cross, which
showed them that they had " reached the outskirts of
blessed civiliza-
tion."
Stanley's Vivid "Word-painting.
Mr. Stanley is delightfully himself in the letter to Mr.
Marston.
He writes of the ages that have gone by since they met,
and of
the " daily thickening barrier of silence " that has
crept between
them in the meanwhile. A man who is writing from the
heart
of Africa is, in a sense, as one who is writing from
the dead. It must
seem to him as though he had passed the portals, and
had joined those
literary characters who spend their time in inditing
"letters from the
other world." How hard to think of the ordered bustle
of city life as
common to the same sphere with " vicious, man-eating
savages, and
crafty undersized men " of the forest glades. Civilization
seen from
that standpoint must seem always unreal, and sometimes
positively gro-
tesque.
The writer settles down to his narrative, and soon we
hear of his
second meeting with Emin, and of his terrible illness,
which combined
with the delays in collecting Emin's scattered force
to retard their setting
forth. For twenty-eight days Stanley lay helpless, and
at one tirpe he
lay at the point of death. Then, little by little, he
gathered strength,
-and ordered the march for home. There are touches in
this letter which,
even if the handwriting were another's, would be conclusive
to Stanley's
authorship. The sterner man of his strange complex personality
is to
be traced in the quiet saying, " There is a virtue, you
know, in striving-
unyieldingly." And it is enough to make us doubt whether
all the
honor thrust upon him will efface memories of horrors
by which he is
alternatly " hardened " and " unmanned."
Eniiu's Strange Indecision.
The letter to the ICmin Pasha Relief Committee is nearly
a month
earlier in date than the letter to Mr. Marston. It abounds,
however, in
the most precious details of the meeting with Emin. Like
everything
that Mr. Stanley writes, it is rich in the picturesque.
It paints a man as
well as a situation. It shows us how Eniin's irresolution,
his difficulty in
making up his mind to a yea or a nay on the question
of quitting his
post already remarked by Mr. Stanley after their first
meeting had at
length been conquered by circumstances. When Mr. Stanley
after
incrcdible hardships again neared the Albert, it was
only to learn, from
secret letters of Mr. Jephson himself under surveillance
of the irruption
of the Mahdists, the treachery of Emin's troops, and
the captivity of
their leader. Stanley's men had passed through frightful
perils on the way
hostile dwarfs, small-pox, starvation, over-feeding,
and death only for
their leader to receive this cold comfort at last. "
I trust you will arrive
before the Mahdists are reinforced, or our case will
be desperate," wrote
Mr. Jephson in conclusion. All Stanley, or at any rate
all the heroic
Stanley of the African wilds, comes out in the answer.
He tells Jephson
to obey him, and to let his orders be to him " as a frontlet
between the
eyes," and all will yet end well.
Finally, when Stanley has made all the depositions which
this new and
terrible conjuncture seems to demand, a letter reaches
his camp to
announce that Emin, with two steameis full of fugitives,
is at anchor just
below. It might be a letter of surrender from a certain
sadness in its
tone. So indeed it is, and we honor the writer all the
more for it. Emin
has surrendered all the bright hopes which have buoyed
him up through
all his years of toil, hardship, and danger, and he has
given the Soudan
back to barbarism. If he had been less than sad on such
an occasion,
he would have been less than the man he is. When Mr.
Stanley reviews
all the circumstances, he will surely see that Emin's
irresolution was
but a foim of his genius for self-sacrifice and his devotion
to a great
object. It will be to Emin's eternal honor that he did
not leave the
Soudan till he was driven out of it, and that he clung
to his charge till
all his strength was gone. It is difficult to know which
to admire the
more, the rescued or the rescuer. Two such spirits, when
they are
seen together in one enterprise, stimulate our pride
in the entire race.
We trust the foregoing comments will lend an added interest
to the
following graphic narrative from Mr. Stanley's own pen.
It is addressed
to W. Mackinnon, Esq., of London.
Kafurro, Arab Settlement,
Karagwe, August 5th, 1889.
To the Chair) nan of the Eniin Pasha Relief Fund.
Sir: My last report to you was sent off by Salim bin
Mohammed in
the early part of September, 1888. Over a yearful of
stirring events for
this part of the world have taken place since then, and
I will endeavor in
this and other following letters to inform you of what
has occurred.
Having gathered such as were left of the rear column,
and such Man-
yemas as were willing of their own accord to accompany
me, and entirely-
reorganized the expedition, we set off on our return
to the Nyanza,
You will doubtless remember that Mr. Mounteney Jephson
had been left
with Emin Pasha to convey my message to the Egyptian
troops, and
that on or about the 26th of July both Emin Pasha and
Mr. Jephson
were to start from the Nyanza, with a sufficient escort
and a number of
porters to conduct the officers and garrison of Fort
Bodo to a new sta-
tion that was to be erected near Kavallis, on the south-west
side of Lake
Albert, by which I should be relieved of the necessity
ot making a fourth
trip to Fort Bodo. Promise for promise had been made,
for on my part
I had solemnly promised that I should hurry towards Yambuya
and
hunt up the missing rear column, and be back again on
Lake Albert
some time about Christmas.
I have already told you that the rear column was in a
deplorable state,.'
that out of the 102 members remaining I doubted whether
fifty would
live to reach the lake, but having collected a large
number of canoes, the
goods and sick men were transported in these vessels
in such a smooth,
expeditious manner that there were remarkably few casualties
in the
remnant of the rear column. But the wild natives having
repeatedly
defeated Ugarrowwa's raiders, by this discovered the
extent of their own
strength, gave us considerable trouble, and inflicted
considerable loss
among our best men, who had always of course to bear
the brunt of
fighting and the fatigue of paddling.
However, we had no reason to be dissatisfied with the
line we had
made, when progress by river became too tedious and difficult,
and the
order to cast off the canoes was given. This was four
days' journey
above Ugarrowwa's station, or about 300 miles above Banalya.
We decided that as the south bank of the Ituri liver was
pretty well
known to us, with all its intolerable scarcity and terrors,
it would be best
to try the north bank, though we should have to traverse
for some days
the despoiled lands which had been a common centre for
Ugarrowwa's
and Kilonga-Longa's band of raiders. We were about i6o
miles from
the grassland, which opened a prospect of future feasts
of beef, veal, and
mutton, with pleasing variety of vegetables, as well
as oil and butter for
cooking. Bright gossip on such subjects by those who
had seen the
Nyanza stimulated the dejected survivors of the rear
column.
Dreadful Mortality from Small-pox.
On the 30th of October, having cast off the canoes, the
land march
began in earnest, and two days later we discovered a
large plantain plan-
tation in charge of the Dwarfs. The people flung themselves
on the
plantains to make as large a provision as possible for
the dreaded wilder-
ness ahead of us. The most enterprising always secured
a fair share,
and twelve hours later would be furnished with a week's
provision of
plantain flour; the feeble and indolent revelled for
the time being on
abundance of roasted fruit but always neglected providing
for the future,
and thus became victims of famine.
After moving from this place ten days passed before we
reached
another plantation, during which time we lost more men
than we had
lost between Banalya and Ugarrowwa's. The small-pox broke
out
among the Manyema and their followers, and the mortality
was terrible.
Our Zanzibaris escaped this pest, however, owing to the
vaccination they
iiad undergone on board the Madura.
We were now about four days' march above the confluence
of the
Ihuru and Ituri rivers, and within about a mile
from the Ishuru. As
there was no possibility of crossing this violent and
large tributary of the
Ituri or Aruwimi we had to follow its right bank until
a crossing could be discovered.
Four days later we stumbled across the principal village
of a district
called Andikumu, surrounded by the finest plantation
of bananas and
plantains we had yet seen, which all the Manyema's habit
of spoliation
and destruction had been unable to destroy. Then our
people, after
severe starvation during fourteen days, gorged themselves
to such
excess that it contributed greatly to lessen our numbers.
Every twen-
tieth individual suffered some complaint which entirely
incapacitated him
from duty. The Ihuru river was about four miles south-south-east
from
this place, flowing from east-north-east, and about sixty
yards broad, and
deep owing to the heavy rains.
From Andikumu, a six days' march northerly brought us
to another
flourishing settlement called Indeman, situated about
four hours' march
from the river we supposed to be the Ihuru. Here I was
considerably-
nonplussed by the grievous discrepancy between native
accounts and
my own observations. The natives called it the Ihuru
river, and my-
instruments and chronometer made it very evident that
it could not be
the Ihuru we knew. Finally, after capturing some dwarfs,
we discovered
that it was the right branch of the Ihuru river, called
the Dui river, this
agreeing with my own views. We searched and found a place
where we
could build a bridge across. Mr. Bonny and our Zanzibar
chief threw
themselves into the work, and in a few hours the Dui
river was safely
bridged, and we passed into a district entirely unvisited
by the Manyema.
Crafty Dwarfs.
In this new land between right and left members of the
Ihuru the
dwarfs called Wambutti were very numerous, and conflicts
between our
rear-guard and these crafty little people occurred daily,
not without harm
to both parties. Such as we contrived to capture we compelled
to-
show the path, but invariably for some reason they clung
to east and
east-north-east paths, whereas my route required a south-east
direction,,
because of the northing we had made in seeking to cross
the Dui river.
Finally we followed elephant and game tracks on a south-east
course,
but on December 9th we were compelled to hunt for forage
in the middle
of a vast forest, at a spot indicated by my chart to
be not more than two
or three miles from the Ituri river, which many of our
people had seen
while we resided at Fort Bodo.
I sent 150 rifles back to a settlement that was fifteen
miles back on the
route we had come, while many Manyema followers also
undertook to
follow them.
I quote from my journal part of what I wrote on December
14, the
sixth day of the absence of the foragers : " Six days
have transpired
since our foragers left us. For the first four days time
passed rapidly
I might say almost pleasantly being occupied in recalculating
all my
observations from Ugarrowwa to Lake Albert and down to
date, owing
to a few discrepancies here and there which my second
and third visit
and duplicate and triplicate observations enabled me
to correct. My
occupation then ended, I was left to wonder why the large
band of fora-
gers did not return. The fifth day, having distributed
all the stock of
flour in camp and killed the only goat we possessed,
I was compelled to
open the officers' provision boxes and take a pound pot
of butter, with
two cupfuls of my flour, to make an imitation gruel,
there being nothing
else save tea, coffee, sugar, and a pot of sago in the
boxes. In the
afternoon a boy died, and the condition of a majority
of the rest was most
disheartening ; some could not stand, but fell down in
the effort. These
constant sights acted on my nerves until I began to feel
not only m'oral
but physical sympathy as well, as though weakness was
contagious.
Before night a Madi carrier died, the last of our Somalis
gave signs of
collapse, the few Soudanese with us were scarcely able
to move.
Fighting Starvation.
" The morning of the sixth day dawned ; we made the broth
as usual
a pot of butter, abundance of water, a pot of condensed
milk, a cupful
of flour for 130 people. The chiefs and Mr. Bonny were
called to
council. At my proposing a reverse to the foragers of
such a nature as
to exclude our men from returning with news of such a
disaster, they
were altogether unable to comprehend such a possibility
they believed
it possible that these 150 men were searching for food,
without which
they would not return. They were then asked to consider
the supposi-
tion that they were five days searching for food, they
had lost the road
perhaps, or, having no white leader, they had scattered
to loot goats, and
had entirely forgotten their starving friends arid brothers
in camp ; what
Avould be the state of the 130 people five days hence?
Mr. Bonny offered
to stay with ten men in camp if I provided ten days'
food for each per-
son while I would set out to search for the missing men.
Food to make
a light cupful of gruel for ten men for ten days was
not difficult to pro-
cure, but the sick and feeble remaining must starve unless
I met with
good fortune, and accordingly a store of butter-milk,
flour, and biscuits
was prepared and handed over to the charge of Mr. Bonny."
The afternoon of the seventh day mustered everybody, besides
the
garrison of the camp ten men. Sadi, the Manyema chief,
surrendered
fourteen of his men to doom ; Kibbo-bora, another chief,
abandoned his
brother ; Fundi, another Manyema chief, left one of his
wives, and a little
boy. We left twenty-six feeble, sick wretches already
past all hope,
xinless food could be brought to them within twenty-four
hours.
In a cheery tone, though my heart was never heavier, I
told the forty-
three hunger-bitten people that I was going back to hunt
up the missing
men ; probably I should meet them on the road, but if
I did that they
would be driven on the run with food to them. We travelled
nine miles
that afternoon, having passed several dead people on
the road, and early
on the eighth day of their absence from camp met them
marching in an
easy fashion, but when we were met the pace was altered
to a quick step,
so that in twenty-six hours from leaving Stawahin camp
we were back
with a cheery abundance around, gruel and porridge boiling,
bananas
boiling, plantains roasting, and some meat simmering
in pots for soup.
This has been the nearest approach to absoiute star\ation
in all my
African experience. Twenty-one persons altogether succuinbed
in this
dreadful camp.
On the 17th of December the Ihuru river was reached in
three hours,
and, having a presentiment that the garrison of Fort
Bodo were still
where I had left them, the Ihuru was crossed the next
day ; and two
days following, steering through the forest regardless
of paths, we had
the good fortune to strike the western angle of the Fort
Bodo plantations
on the 20th.
My presentiment was true. Lieutenant Stairs and his garrison
were
still in Fort Bodo, fifty-one souls out of fifty- nine,
and never a word had
been heard of Emin Pasha or of Mr. Mounteney Jephson
during the
seven months of my absence. Knowing the latter to be
an energetic
man, we were left to conjecture what had detained Mr.
Jephson, even if.
the affairs of his province had detained the Pasha.
Making Friends With the Natives.
On the 23d of December the united expedition continued
its march
eastward, and as we had now to work by relays owing to
the fifty extra
loads that we had stored at the fort, we did not reach
the Ituri Ferry,
which was our last camp in the forest region before emerging
on the
grass land, until January 9.
My anxiety about Mr. Jephson and the Pasha would not permit
me to
dawdle on the road making double trips in this manner,
so. selecting a
rich plantation and a good camping site to the east of
the Ituri river, I
left Lieutenant Stairs in command, with 124 people, including
Dr. Parke
and Captain Nelson, in charge of all extra loads and
camp, and on the
nth of January continued my march eastward.
The people of the plains, fearing a repetition of the
fighting of Decem-
ber, 1887, flocked to camp as we advanced and formally
tendered their
submission, agreeing to contributions and supplies. Blood
brotherhood
was made, exchange of gifts made, and firm friendship
was established.
The huts of our camp were constructed by the natives,
food, fuel, and
water were brought to the expedition as soon as the halting
place was
decided upon.
We heard no news of the white men on Lake Albert from
the plain
people, by which my wonder and anxiety were increased,
until the i6th,
at a place called Gaviras, messengers from Kavalli came
with a packet of
letters, with one letter written on three several dates,
with several days
interval between, from Mr. Jephson, and two notes from
Emin Pasha
confirming the news in Mr. Jephson's letter.
You can but imagine the intense surprise I felt while
reading these
letters by giving you extracts from them in Mr. Jephson's
own words :
DUFFILE, Nov. 7, 1888.
''Dear Sir : I am writing to tell you of the position
of affairs in this
country, and I trust this letter will be delivered to
you at Kavalli in time
to warn you to be careful.
" On August 18 a rebellion broke out here and the Pasha
and I were
made prisoners. The Pasha is a complete prisoner, but
I am allowed to
go about the station, but my movements are watched. The
rebellion
has been gotten up by some half-dozen Egyptians officers
and clerks
and gradually others have joined, some through inclination,
but most
through fear ; the soldiers, with the exception of those
at Lahore, have
never taken part in it, but have quietly given in to
their officers.
"When the Pasha and I were on our way to Rejaf,two men,
one an
officer Abdul Vaal Effendi and then a clerk went
about and told the
people that they had seen you, and that you were only
an adventurer
and had not come from Egypt, that the letters you had
brought from the
Khedive and Nubar Pasha were forgeries, that it was untrue
Khartoum
had fallen, and that the Pasha and you had made a plot
to take them,
their wives, and children, out of the country and hand
them over as
slaves to the English. Such words in an ignorant and
fanatical country
like this acted like fire amongst the people, and the
result was a general
rebellion, and we were made prisoners.
Emin Paslia a Prisoner.
" The rebels then collected officers from the different
stations and held
a large meeting here to determine what measures they
should take, and
all those who did not join in the movement were so insulted
and abused
that they were obliged for their own safety to acquiesce
in what was
done. The Pasha was deposed, and those officers who were
suspected
of being .friendly to him were removed from their posts,
and those
friendly to the rebels were put in their places. It was
decided to take
the Pasha as a prisoner to Rejaf, and some of the worst
rebels were even
for putting him in irons, but the officers were afraid
to put their plans
into execution, as the soldiers said they would never
permit any one to
lay a hand on him. Plans were also made to entrap you
when you
returned, and strip you of all you had.
" Things were in this condition when we were startled
by the news
that the Mahdi's people had arrived at Lado with three
steamers and
nine sandals and nuggurs, and had established themselves
on the site of
the old station. Omar Sali, their general, sent up three
Peacock Der-
vishes with a letter to the Pasha (a copy of this will
follow as it contains
.some interesting news) demanding the instant surrender
of the country.
The rebel officers seized them and put them in prison,
and decided on
war. After a few days the Mahdists attacked and captured
Rejaf, killing
^ive officers and numbers of soldiers, and taking many
women and chil-
dren prisoners, and all the stores and ammunition in
the station were lost.
The result of this was a general stampede of people from
the stations of
Bidden, Kirri, and Muggi, wdio fled, with their women
and children, to
Lahore, abandoning almost everything ; at Kirri the ammunition
was
abandoned, and was at once seized by the natives. The
Pasha reckons
that the Mahdists number about 1,500.
" The officers and a large number of soldiers have returned
to Muggi,
;and intend to make a stand against the Mahdists. Our
position here is
extremely unpleasant, for since the rebellion all is
chaos and confusion ;
there is no head, and half a dozen conflicting orders
are given every day
and no one obeys ; the rebel officers are wholly unable
to control the
soldiers.
" The Baris have joined the Mahdists ; if they come down
here with a
rush, nothing can save us.
" The officers are all very much frightened at what has
taken place,
.and are now anxiously awaiting your arrival, and desire
to leave the
country wath you, for they are now really persuaded that
Khartoum has
rfallen, and that you have come from the Khedive.
"Like Rats in a Trap."
" We are like rats in a trap ; they will neither let us
act nor retire ; and
I fear, unless you come very soon, you will be too late,
and our fate will
be like that of the rest of the garrisons of the Soudan.
Had this rebel-
lion not happened the Pasha could have kept the Mahdists
in check for
some time, but as it is he is powerless to act.
" I would suggest on your arrival at Kavallis that you
write a letter
in Arabic to Shukri Aga, chief of Mswa station, telling
him of your
.arrival, and telling him you wish to see the Pasha and
myself; and
write also to the Pasha or myself, tilling us what number
of men you
have with you. It would perhaps be better to write to
me, as a letter to
him might be confiscated.
" Neither the Pasha nor myself think there is the slightest
danger now
of any attempt to capture you being made, for the people
are now fully
persuaded you come from Egypt, and they look to you to
get them out
of their difficulties ; still it would be well for you
to make your camp
strong.
" If Ave are not able to get out of the country, please
remember me to
my friends, etc. Yours faithfully,
"A. J. MOUNTENEY JePHSON.
"To H. M. Stanley, Esq., Commander of the Relief Expedition.
"Wadelai, Nov. 24, 1888.
" My messenger having not yet left Wadelai, I add this
postscript, as
the Pasha w^ishes me to send my former letter to you-
in its entirety.
" Shortly after I had written to you, the soldiers were
led by their
officers to attempt to retake Rejaf, but the Mahdists
defended it, and
killed six officers and a large number of soldiers ;
among the officers
killed were some of the Pasha's worst enemies. The soldiers
in all the
stations were so panic-striken and angry at what had
happened that they
declared they would not attempt to fight unless the Pasha
was set at
liberty ; so the rebel officers were obliged to free
him, and sent us to
Wadelai, where he is free to do as he pleases ; but at
present he has not
resumed his authority in the country he is, I believe,
by no means
anxious to do so. We hope in a few days to be at Tunguru
a station,
on the lake, two days by steamer from N'sabe, and I trust
when we hear
of your arrival that the Pasha himself Avill be able
to come down with-
me to see you.
Stanley's Arrival Anxiously Awaited,
" Our danger, as far as the Mahdists are concerned, is
of course,,
increased by this last defeat; but our position is in
one way better now,
for we are further removed from them, and we have now
the option of
retiring if we please, which we had not before while
we were prisoners.
We hear that the Mahdists have sent steamers down to
Khartoum for
reinforcements ; if so, they cannot be up here for another
six weeks. If
they come up here with reinforcements, it will be all
up with us, for the
soldiers will never stand against them, and it will be
a mere walk-over,
" Every one is anxiously looking for your arrival, for
the coming of
the Mahdists has completely cowed them.
" We may just manage to get out if you do not come later
than the-
end of December but it is entirely impossible to foresee
what will happen^
"A. J. M.J."
"Tunguru, December 18, 1888.
" Dear Sir : Mogo (the messenger) not having yet started,
I send a-
second postscript. We are now at Tunguru, On November
25th the
Mahdists surrounded Dufile Station and besieged it for
four days; the
soldiers, of whom there were about 500, managed to repulse
them, and
Ihey retired to Rejaf, their headquarters. They have
sent down to
Khartoum for reinforcements, and doubtless will attack
again when
strerigthened. In our flight from Wadelai, the officers
requested me to
destroy our boat (the Advance). I, therefore, broke it
up.
" Dufile is being renovated as far as possible. The Pasha
is unable to
move hand or foot, as there is still a very strong party
against him, and
the officers are no longer in immediate fear of the Mahdists.
" Do not on any account come down to Usate (my former
camp on
the lake, near Kavallis Island), but make your camp at
Kavallis (on the
plateau above). Send a letter directly you arrive there,
and as soon as
we hear of your arrival I will come to you. I will not
disguise the fact
from you that you will have a difficult and dangerous
work before you
in dealing with the Pasha's people. I trust you will
arrive before the
Mahdists are reinforced, or our case will be desperate.
" I am, yours faithfully,
" A. J. MOUNTENEY JePHSON."
You will doubtless remember that I stated to you in one
of my latest
letters last year, 1888, that I know no more of the ultimate
intentions of
Emin Pasha than you at home know. He was at one time
expressing
himself as anxious to leave, at another time shaking
his head and dolor-
ously exclaiming, " I can't leave my people." Finally,
I departed from
him in May, 1888, with something like a definite promise
" If my
people leave, I leave. If my people stay, I stay."
Emin Clings to His Province.
Here, then, on January 16, 1888, I receive this batch
of letters and two
notes from the Pasha himself confirming the above, but
not a word from
either Mr. Jephson or the Pasha, indicative of the Pasha's
purpose.
Did he still waver, or was he at last resolved? With
any other man
than the Pasha, or Gordon, one would imagine that, being
a prisoner
and a fierce enemy hourly expected to give the coup mortal
he would
gladly embrace the first chance to escape from a country
given up by his
government. But there was no hint in these letters what
course the
Pasha would follow. These few hints of mine, however,
will throw light
on my postscript which here follows and on my state of
mind after read-
ing these letters.
I wrote a formal letter, which might be read by any person,
the Pasha,
Mr. Jephson, or any of the rebels, and addressed it to
Mr. Jephson as
requested, but on a separate sheet of paper I wrote a
private postscript
for Mr. Jephson's perusal.
" Kavallis, Jan. 18, 1889, 3. p. m.
" My Dear Jephson : I now send thirty rifles and three
of Kavallis's
men down to the lake with my letters, with urgent instructions'
that a
canoe should set off and the bearer be rewarded.
" I may be able to stay longer than six days here, perhaps
for ten days.
I will do my best to prolong my stay until you arrive
without rupturing
the place. Our people have a good store of beads, cowries,
and cloth,
and I notice that the natives trade very readily, which
will assist Kaval-
lis's resources should he get uneasy under our prolonged
visit.
" Be wise, be quick, and waste no hour of time, and bring
Buiza and
your own Soudanese with you. I have read your letters
half a dozen
times over, but I fail to grasp the situation thoroughly,
because in sorne
important details one letter seems to contradict the
other. In one you
say the Pasha is a close prisoner, while you are allowed
a certain amount
of liberty ; in the other you say that you will come
to me as soon as you
hear of our arrival here, and ' I trust,' you say, '
the Pasha will be able to
accompany me.' Being prisoners, I fail to see how you
could leave
Tunguru at all. All this is not very clear to us, who
are fresh from the
bush.
" If the Pasha can come, send a courier on your arrival
at our old
camp, on the lake below here to announce the fact, and
I will send a
strong detachment to escort him up to the plateau, even
to carry him if
he needs it. I feel too exhausted, after my 1,300 miles
of travel since I
parted from you last May, to go down to the lake again.
The Pasha
must have some pity for me.
" Don't be alarmed or, uneasy on our account ; nothing
hostile can
approach us within twelve miles without my knowing it.
I am in the
thickest of a friendly population, and if I sound the
war note, within
four hours I can have two thousand warriors to assist
to repel any force
disposed to violence. And if it is to be a war of wits,
why then I am
ready for the cunningest Arab alive.
Plain Talk.
" I wrote above that I read your letters half a dozen
times, and my
opinion of you varies with each reading. Sometimes I
fancy you are
half Mahdist, or Arabist, and then Eminist. I shall be
wiser when I see
you.
" Now don't you be perverse, but obey, and let my order
to you be as
a frontlet between the eyes, and all, with God's gracious
help, will end
well.
" I want to help the Pasha somehow, but he must also help
me, and
credit me. If he wishes to get out of this trouble I
am his most devoted
servant and friend, but if he hesitates again I shall
be plunged in wonder
and perplexity. I could save a dozen Pashas if they were
willing to be
saved. I would go on my knees to implore the Pasha to
be sensible in
his own case. He is wise enough in all things else, even
his own
interest. Be kind and good to him for many virtues, but
do not you be
drawn into the fatal fascination Soudan territory seems
to have for all
Europeans of late years. As soon as they touch its ground
they seem
to be drawn into a whirlpool which sucks them in and
covers them with
its waves. The only way to avoid it is to obey blindly,
devotedly, and
unquestioning all orders from the outside.
"The committee said, 'Relieve Emin Pasha with this ammunition.
If he wishes to come out, the ammunition will enable
him to do so; if
he elects to stay, it will be of service to him.' The
Khedive said the
same thing, and added, ' But if the Pasha and his officers
wish to stay
they do so on their own responsibility.' Sir Evelyn Baring
said the
same thing in clear and decided words, and here I am,
after 4,100 miles
of travel, with the last instalment of relief. Let him
who is authorized
to take it, take it. Come, I am ready to lend him all
my strength and
wit to assist him. But this time there must be no hesitation,
but positive
yea or nay, and home we go.
" Yours very sincerely,
" Henry M. Stanley.
"A. J. Mounteney Jephson, Esq."
If you will bear in mind that on August 17, 1888, after
a march of
600 miles to hunt up the rear column, I met only a miserable
remnant of
it, wrecked by the irresolution of its officers, neglect
of their promises,
and indifference to their written orders, you will readily
understand why,
after another march of 700 miles, I was a little put
out when I dis-
covered that, instead of performing their promise of
conducting the gar-
rison of Fort Bodo to the Nyanza, Mr. Jephson and Emin
Pasha had
allowed themselves to be made prisoners on about the
very day they
were expected by the garrison of Fort Bodo to reach them.
It could
not be pleasant reading to find that, instead of being
able to relieve Emin
Pasha, I was more than likely, by the tenor of these
letters, to lose one
of my own officers, and to add to the number of the Europeans
in that
unlucky Equatorial Province. However, a personal interview
with Mr.
Jephson was necessary, in the first place, to understand
fairly or fully the
state of affairs.
Meeting Jeplison.
On February 6, 1889, Mr. Jephson arrived in the afternoon
at our
camp at Kavallis on the plateau.
I was startled to hear Mr. Jephson in plain, undoubting
words, say.
"Sentiment is the Pasha's worst enemy; no one keeps Emin
Pasha back
but Emin Pasha himself." This is a summary of what Mr.
Jephson had
learned during nine months from May 25, i<S88, to
February 6, 1889.
I gathered sufficiently from Mr. Jephson's verbal report
to conclude
that during nine months neither the Pasha, Signor Casati,
nor any man
in the province had arrived nearer any other conclusion
than that which
was told us ten months before, thus :
The Pasha If my people go, I go. If they stay, I stay.
Signor Casati If the Governor goes, I go. If the Governor
stays, I stay.
The Faithful If the Pasha goes, we go. " If the Pasha
stays, we stay.
However, the diversion in our favor created by the Mahdists'
invasion,
and the dreadful slaughter they made of all they met,
inspired us with
a hope that we could get a definite answer at last, though
Mr. Jephson
could only reply, " I really cannot tell you what the
Pasha means to do.
He says he wishes to go away, but will not make a move
no one will
move. It is impossible to say what any man will do. Perhaps
another
advance by the Mahdists would send them all pell-mell
towards you, to
be again irresolute, and requiring several weeks' rest
to consider again."
Stanley's Demand.
On February ist I despatched a company to the steam ferry
with
orders to Mr. Stairs to hasten with his column to Kavallis,
with a view
to concentrate the expedition ready for any contingency.
Couriers were
also despatched to the Pasha telling him of our movements
and inten-
tions, and asking him to point out how we could best
aid him whether
it Avould be best for us to remain at Kavallis, or whether
we should ad-
vance into the province and assist him at Mswa or Tunguru
Island, where
Mr. Jephson had left him. I suggested the simplest plan
for him would
be to seize a steamer and employ her in the transport
of the refugees,
who I heard were collected in numbers at Tunguru, to
my old camp
on the Nyanza ; or that, failing a steamer, he should
march overland
from Tunguru to Mswa, and send a canoe to inform me he
had done so,
and a few days after I could be at Mswa with 250 rifles
to escort them to
Kavallis. But the demand was for something positive,
otherwise it
would be my duty to destroy the ammunition and march
homeward.
On the 13th of February a native courier appeared in camp
with a
letter from Emin Pasha, with news which electrified us.
He was actually
at anchor just below our plateau camp. But here is the
formal letter :
"Camp, February 13, 1889
" Henry M. Stanley, Esq., commanding the Relief Expedition.
" Sir : In answer to your letter of the 7th inst., for
which I beg to
tender my best thanks, I have the honor to inform you
that yesterday at
3 P. M. I have arrived here with my two steamers, carrying
a first lot of
people desirous to leave this country under your escort.
As soon as I
have arranged for cover of my people, the steamships
have to start for
Mswa station to bring on another lot of people awaiting
transport.
" With me there are some twelve officers anxious to see
you, and
only forty soldiers. They have come under my orders to
request you
to give them some time to bring their brothers, at least
to do my best
to assist them. Things having to some extent now changed,
you will
be able to make them undergo whatever conditions you
see fit to
impose upon them. To arrange those I shall start from
here with
the officers for your camp, after having provided for
the camp, and
if you send carriers I could avail me of some of them.
" I hope sincerely that the great difficulties you have
had to un-
dergo and the great sacrifices made by your expedition
in its way to
assist us may be rewarded by a full success in bringing
out my people.
The wave of insanity which overran the country has subsided,
and of
such people as are now coming with me we may be sure.
" Signor Casati requests me to give his best thanks for
your kind re-
membrance of him.
" Permit me to express to you once more my cordial thanks
for what-
ever you have done for us until now.
" Believe me to be yours very faithfully,
" Dr. Emin."
During the interval between Mr. Jephson's arrival and
the receipt of
this letter Mr. Jephson had written a pretty full report
of all that he had
heard from the Pasha, Signor Casati, and Egyptian soldiers
of all the
principal events that had transpired within the last
few years in the Equa-
torial Province.
Desperate Situation.
In Mr. Jephson's report I come across such sentences as
the following
conclusions. I give them for your consideration :
" And this leads me now to say a few words concerning
the position of
afiairs in this country when I entered it on April 21,
i888. The ist Bat-
talion about 700 rifles had long been in rebellion
against the Pasha's
-authority, and had twice attempted to make him prisoner.
The 2d Bat-
talion-r-about 650 rifles though professedly loyal,
was insubordinate and
almost unmanageable. The Pasha possessed only a semblance
a mere
rag of authority, and if he required anything of importance
to be done,he
could no longer order he was obliged to beg his officers
to do it.
" Now when we were at Nsebe in May, 1888, though the Pasha
hinted
that things were a httle difficult in his country, he
never revealed to us-
the true state of things, which was actually desperate,
and we had not.
the slightest idea that any mutiny or discontent was
likely to arise-
amongst his people. We thought, as most people in Europe
and Egypt
had been taught to believe by the Pasha's own letters
and Dr. Junker's
later, representations, that all his difficulties arose
from events outside his
country, whereas, in point of fact, his real danger arose
from internal dis-
sensions. Thus we were led to place our trust in people
who were utterly
unworthy of our confidence or help, and who, instead
of being grateful',
to us for wishing to help them, have from the very first
conspired how to;
plunder the expedition and turn us adrift, and had the
mutineers in their
highly excited state been able to prove one single case
of injustice or
cruelty or neglect of his people against the Pasha he
would most assuredly
have lost his life in this rebellion."
Emin's Noble Traits.
I shall only worry you just now with one more quotation
from Mr..
Jephson's final report and summary :
" As to the Pasha's wish to leave the country, I can say
decidedly he-
is most anxious to go out with us, but under what conditions
he wilL
consent to come out I can hardly understand. I do not
think he quite
knows himself. His ideas seem to me to vary so much on
the subject.
To-day he is ready to start up and go, to-morrow some
new idea holds
him back. I have had many conversations with him about
it, but have
never been able to get his unchanging opinion on the
subject. After
this rebellion, I remarked to him, ' I presume, now that
your people have
deposed you and put you aside, you do not consider that
you have any^
longer any responsibility or obligations concerning them
; ' and he.
answered, ' Had they not deposed me, I should have felt
bound to stand
by them and help them in any way I could, but now I consider
I am.
absolutely free to think only of my own personal safety
and welfare, and
if I get the chance I shall go out regardless of everything.'
And yet
only a few days before I left him he said to me, ' I
know I am not in any-
way responsible for these people, but I cannot bear to
go out myself
first and leave any one here behind me who is desirous
of quitting the
country. It is mere sentiment, I know, and perhaps a
sentiment you
will sympathize with, but my enemies at Wadelai would
point at me and
say to the people, " You see he has deserted you ! '
"
"These are merely two examples of what passed between
us on the
subject of his going out with us, but I could quote numbers
of things he
has said equally contradictory. Again, too, being somewhat
impatient,,
after one of these unsatisfactory conversations, I said,
If ever the expe-
dition does reach any place near you, I shall advise
Mr. Stanley to arrest
you and carry you off, whether you will or no;' to which
he replied,.
' Well, I shall do nothing to prevent you doing that.'
It seems to me
that if we are to save him we must save him from himself
" Before closing my report I must bear witness to the
fact that in my
frequent conversations with all sorts and conditions
of the Pasha's peo-
ple I heard with hardly any exceptions only praise of
his justice and gen-
erosity to his people, but I have heard it suggested
that he did not hold.
his people with a sufficiently firm hand.
" I now am bound, by the length of this letter, necessities
of travel, and
so forth, to halt. Our stay at Kufurro is ended, and
we must march
to-morrow. A new page of this interesting period in our
expedition
' will be found in my next letter. Meantime you have
the satisfaction tO'
know that Emin Pasha, after all, is close to our camp
at the Lake shore ;
that carriers have been sent to him to bring up his luggage,
and assist
his people. Yours faithfully,
"Henry M. Stanley.
" William Mackinnon, Esq.,
Chairman of Emin Pasha Relief Committe."
The following letter from Mr. Stanley to a personal friend
gives further
details of his great expedition :
C.M.S. Station, S. End Victoria Nyanza, Sept. 3, 1889.
My Dear Marsion : It just now appears such an age to
me since I
left England. Ages have gone by since I saw you, surely.
Do you
know why? Because a daily thickening barrier of silence
has crept
between that time and this : silence so dense that in
vain we yearn to
pierce it. On my side I may ask, " What have you been
doing?" On
yours, you may ask, " And what have you been doing ?
" I can assure you
now that I know you live, that one day has followed another
in striving
strifefully against all manner of obstacles, natural
and otherwise, from the
day I left Yambuyo to August 28, 1889, the day I arrived
here.
Many Adventures.
The bare catalogue of incidents would fill several quires
of foolscap,.
the catalogue of skirmishes would be of respectable length,
the ca'talogue
of adventures, accidents, mortalities, sufferings from
fever, morbid mus-
ings over mischances, that meet us daily, would make
a formidable list.
You know that all the stretch of country between Yambuya
to this place
was an absolutely new country except what may be measured
by five
ordinary marches. First, there is that dead white of
the map now
changed to a dead black. I mean that darkest region of
the earth con-
fined between E. long. 25 deg. and E. long. 29.45 deg.,
one great, com-
pact, remorselessly sullen forest the growth of an
untold number of
ages, swarming at stated intervals withimmensenumbersof
vicious, man-
eating savages and crafty under-sized men, who were unceasing
in their
annoyance; then there is that belt of grassland lying
between it and the
Albert Nyanza, whose people contested every mile of advance
with
spirit, and made us think that they were guardians of
some priceless
treasure hidden on the Nyanza shores, or at war with
Emin Pasha and
his thousands. A Sir Percival in search of the Holy Grail
could not
have met with hotter opposition.
Three separate times necessity compelled us to traverse
this unholy
region with varying fortunes. Incidents then crowded
fast. Emin Pasha
was a prisoner, an officer of ours was his forced companion,
and it really
appeared as though we were to be added to the list ;
but there is a virtue,
you know, even in striving unyieldingly, in hardening
the nerves, and
facing these ever-clinging mischances without paying
too much heed to
the reputed danger. One is assisted much by knowing that
there is no
other course, and the danger somehow nine times out of
ten diminishes.
The rebels of Emin Pasha's Government relied on their
craft and the
wiles of the "heathen Chinee "; and it is rather amusing
now to look
back and note how punishment has fallen on them.
Was it Providence or luck ? Let those who love to analyze
such mat-
ters reflect on it. Traitors without the camp and traitors
within were
watched, and the most active conspirator was discovered,
tried and hung.
The traitors without fell foul of one another, and ruined
themselves. If
not luck, then it is surely Providence, in answer to
good men's prayers
far away.
Men Devouring Men.
Our own people, tempted by extreme wretchedness and misery,
sold
our rifles and ammunition to our natural enemies, the
Manyema slave-
traders, true fiends without the least grace in either
their bodies or souls.
What happy influence was it that restrained me from destroying
all those
concerned in it ? Each time I read the story of Captain
Nelson's and Sur-
geon Parke's sufferings, I feel vexed at my forbearance,
and yet again I
feel thankful, for a Higher Power than man's severely
afflicted the cold-
blooded murderers by causing them to feed upon one another,
a few
weeks after the rescue and relief of Nelson and Parke.
The memory of
?those days alternately hardens and unmans me.
With the rescue of Pasha, poor old Casati, and those who
preferred
Egypt's fleshpots to the coarse plenty of the province
near the Nyanza,
we returned, and while we were patiently waiting the
doom of the rebels
was consummated.
Since that time of anxiety and unhappy outlook I have
been at the
point of death from a dreadful illness; the strain had
been too much, and
for twenty-eight days I lay helpless, tended by the kindly
and skillful
hand of Surgeon Parke.
Then, little by little, I gathered strength aud ordered
the march for
home. Discovery after discovery in the wonderful region
was made. The
snowy range of Ruevenzoni, the " Cloud King " or " Rain
Creator," the
Semliki River, the Albert Edward Nyanza, the new peoples,
dwellers of the
rich forest region, the Wanyora bandits, and then the
Lake Albert Edward
tribes, and the shepherd race of the Eastern Uplands
until at last we
came to a church, whose cross dominated a Christian settlement,
and
we knew that we had reached the outskirts of blessed
civilization.
Tedious Delay.
We have every reason to be grateful, and may that feeling
be ever kept
within me. Our promises as volunteers have been performed
as well as
though we had been specially commissioned by a Government.
We have
been all volunteers, each devoting his several gifts,
abilities and energies
to win a successful issue for the enterprise. If there
has been anything
that clouded sometimes our thoughts, it has been that
we were compelled
by the state of Emin Pasha and his own people to cause
anxieties to our
friends by tedious delay. At every opportunity I have
endeavored to
lessen these by despatching full accounts of our progrees
to the Com-
mittee, that through them all interested might be acquainted
with what
we had been doing. Some of my officers also have been
troubled in
thought that their government might not overlook their
having over-
stayed their leave, but the truth is, the wealth of the
British Treasuiy
?could, not have hastened our march, without making ourselves
liable to
impeachment for breach of faith, and the officers were
as much involved
as myself in doing the thing honorably and well.
I hear there is great trouble, war, etc., between the
Germans and Arabs
of Zanzibar. What influence this may have on our future
I do not know,
but we trust nothing to interrupt the march to the sea
which will be
begun in a few days.
Meantime, with such wishes as the best and most inseparable
friends
ever one another, I pray you to believe me always yours
sincerely,
(Signed) . Henry M. Stanley.
To Edwd. Marston, Esq.
Professor Schweinfurth, of Berlin, received the following
letter from
Emin Pasha :
English Mission Station, Ussambiro,
Victoria Nyanza, 26th August.
Mr. Stanley with his people, as well as the few who came
with me,,
have just arrived here. I hasten to send you, who have
always shown
me so much kindness and taken such interest in me, these
few lines as a
sign of life. If we stay here, as I hope, for a few days
I shall be able to
write you more fully, although I am half blind. I hope
tj be able to-
tell you, some leisure evening, all about the military
revolution in my
own province ; about Mr. Jephson and myself being detained
prisoners-
in Dufile; the arrival of the Mahdi's followers in Lado
and the capture
and destruction of Rejaf ; the massacre of the soldiers
and officers sent
against them ; our departure to Wadelai and Tunguru ;
the Mahdist
attack on Dufile and their complete defeat; our final
union with Mr
Stanley and the march here from the Albert Nyanza, which
has proved
geographically and otherwise so highly interesting. I
have also some
good specimens of plants for you. May I ask you to greet
Messrs.
Junker, Ratzel, Leipan, Haffenstein, and Perthes from
me ? I will try-
to write but my eyes ! Accept my best greetings,
and believe me your
sincere and devoted
Emin.
NEXT:
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
STANLEY'S TRIUMPH
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