Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark ContinentHeadley, Joel Tyler
History
Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent
Headley, Joel Tyler
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
He would not have been the man he is, not to have been overcome at this
parting; alas, to be, as it proved, a final parting, so far as concerns
meeting again in this life. But this was not all--the doctor's faithful
servants would not be forgotten, and rushing forward, they seized
Stanley's hands and kissed them for their good master's sake. The stern
and almost tyrannical man, that neither danger nor suffering could
move, completely broke down under this last demonstration and could
recover himself only by giving the sharp order, MARCH! and he almost
drove his men before him, and soon a turn in the path shut out
Livingstone's form forever. Yes, forever, so far as the living, speaking
man is concerned, but shut out _never_ from Stanley's life. That one man
fixed his destiny for this world, and who knows but for the eternal
ages? No wonder that he said, long after, "My eyes grow dim at the
remembrance of that parting. For four months and four days I lived with
him in the same house, or in the same boat, or in the same tent, and I
never found a fault in him. I am a man of a quick temper, and often
without sufficient cause, I dare say, have broken ties of friendship;
but with Livingstone I never had cause of resentment, but each day's
life with him added to my admiration of him."
The caravan marched wearily back, meeting with nothing eventful till it
entered the Ugogo territory, where, owing to a misunderstanding on the
part of the natives, who got it into their heads that Stanley meant to
pass them without paying the accustomed tribute, a fight seemed
inevitable. Had it occurred, it is doubtful whether he or Livingstone's
papers would ever have been heard of again. But Stanley had seemed from
his infancy a child of destiny, and escaped here, as everywhere, by the
skin of his teeth. It was a constant succession of toilsome, painful
marches, even when the natives were friendly, while there was often a
scarcity of provisions. To secure these he, at last, when on the borders
of the wilderness of Marenga Mkali, dispatched three men to Zanzibar,
with a request to the consul there to send them back with provisions.
These messengers were told not to halt for anything--rain, rivers or
inundations--but push right on. "Then," says Stanley, "with a loud,
vigorous hurrah, we plunged into the depths of the wilderness which,
with its eternal silence and solitude, was far preferable to the
jarring, inharmonious discord of the villages of the Wagogo. For nine
hours we held on our way, starting with noisy shouts the fierce
rhinoceros, the timid quagga and the herds of antelopes, which crowd the
jungles of this broad Salina. On the 7th, amid a pelting rain, we
entered Mpwapwa, where my Scotch assistant, Farquhar, had died."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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