Stanley was moved with compassion as he looked upon his naked followers. Their usual ebony colored skin had changed to an ashen gray and their bones protruded so that it was a wonder how such skeletons had strength enough to go any farther. And yet he had no mercy. He forced them to go on by harsh measures, lest the expedition should prove a failure. And besides, he who remained behind was inevitably a dead man. The soil was full of decaying vegetation, the atmosphere was hot and close and filled with exhalations from myriads of decaying insects, leaves, plants, twigs, and stalks. At every step the head or neck, arms or legs were held fast by tough vines, thorns of bushes, poisonous ivies or monstrous thistles, which tore them as they sought to extricate themselves. Countless kinds of insects increased their troubles, particularly the black ants, which dropped upon them from the trees as they were passing under them. Their sting is more painful than that of the wasp or the red ant. They traverse the roads in armies, and plants and trees swarm with them. When November came, the expedition had been reduced one half in number and only two hundred men emerged from the darkness of the woods into clear daylight. In Stanley’s account of this journey he only speaks of these small pests and is thankful that the larger animals of the African plains avoided the forests. But this is not always the case, for the wilderness abounds with elephants, buffaloes, panthers, leopards, jackals, antelopes, and gazelles. There are hippopotami and snakes in the rivers, innumerable birds in the trees, and the woods are full of monkeys of various kinds, and yet none of them came in sight of the expedition. The same was true of the natives. They often found clearings in which bananas and pisangs were planted and near by the forsaken cabins of the savages who fled from the approach of strangers. And yet it is not correct to say that there were no human beings in the forests. Behind every tree an enemy was lurking and their poisoned arrows often found victims. Stanley maintains that these savages of the forest are much more dangerous than the negroes of the open country. It is only remarkable that amidst the manifold dangers to which they were exposed, they escaped a conflict which might have been fatal to them. The terrors of the forest at last disappeared. On the thirtieth of November the expedition reached a broad, well-kept road which led to the summit of a sightly hill. Lights could be seen. The people crowded about the slope and their questioning glances seemed to say before they could express their gratitude in words: “Is it true? Are we not deceived? Is it possible that we are at the end of those forest horrors?” They at last were convinced and a few minutes later gazed with admiration and astonishment at the picture before them.