Stanley in Africa: The Wonderful Discoveries and Thrilling Adventures of the Great African Explorer, and Other Travelers, Pioneers and MissionariesBoyd, James P. (James Penny)
History
Stanley in Africa: The Wonderful Discoveries and Thrilling Adventures of the Great African Explorer, and Other Travelers, Pioneers and Missionaries
Boyd, James P. (James Penny)
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
One of the writers above mentioned goes on to discuss the question of
cannibalism whose existence on the Upper Congo, and in other parts
of Africa, has been asserted by correspondents. He says his own
description of these practices on the Aruwimi and the Congo are in no
way connected with the reports which are criticised in Mr. Stanley’s
letter from Msalala, on Lake Victoria, in August 1889. Mr. Ward in
none of his letters has ever mentioned or suggested that the Manyuemas
were cannibals, or in any way justified the extraordinary statement
of the Rev. William Brooke in the _Times_ to the effect that it was
common in the Manyuema camp to see “human hands and feet sticking out
of cooking-pots.” This is evidently a canard. Perhaps it would be well
for Mr. Brooke to give his authorities, since Mr. Stanley asks who they
are that have seen these extraordinary sights. The Manyuemas are a
fierce race; but, personally, Mr. Stanley has found them loyal and true
to his service, and they are not cannibals, so far as I can learn. The
instances of cannibalism mentioned in letters from the Aruwimi camp refer
to the natives of the district outside the camp, and against whom the
camp was fortified. But if Mr. Brooke has been misled, so also has Mr.
Stanley in regard to the report he seems to have found in his bundles
of newspaper cuttings to the effect that an execution of a woman was
delayed by Jameson or Barttelot in order that a photographer might make
ready his apparatus for taking a negative of the incident. This gruesome
anecdote does not belong to Africa at all; it comes from a different part
of the world altogether; was discussed in Parliament as an allegation
made against an English Consul; and turned out to be either untrue or a
gross exaggeration. When Mr. Stanley has learnt all that was said and
conjectured about his doings in the long intervals of the silence and
mystery that enshrouded him he will find less and less material for
serious criticism in the other packets of press extracts he may yet have
to unfold: but he need hardly be told that those who knew him and those
who have trusted him would not, whatever happened, be led into thinking
for a moment that he would break his promise or neglect his duty.
Stanley’s upward bound steamers now pass several devastated districts
which in 1877 were peopled by ferocious beings ready with their canoes
to sweep down upon his descending flotilla. At length the island tribe
of the Wenya is reached. These are expert fishermen, and had been left
unharmed by the Arabs,——and for policy sake too, since their acquaintance
with Stanley Falls had been turned to practical account. Their knowledge
of the intricate channels had enabled them to pilot the Arab canoes down
over the obstructions and return them in the same way, the owners making
the portage afoot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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