Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark ContinentFeather, A. G., Col.
History
Stanley's Story; Or, Through the Wilds of Africa: A Thrilling Narrative of His Remarkable Adventures, Terrible Experiences, Wonderful Discoveries and Amazing Achievements in the Dark Continent
Feather, A. G., Col.
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Livingstone, David, 1813-1873; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
“With the sad prospect of starvation impending over us we were at
various expedients to sustain life until the food purveyors should
return. Early on the morning of the 10th I travelled far and searched
every likely place for game; but though tracks were numerous, we failed
to sight a single head. The Wangwana also roamed about the forest--for
the Uveriveri ridge was covered with fine myombo trees--in search of
edible roots and berries, and examined various trees to discover whether
they afforded anything that could allay the grievous and bitter pangs of
hunger. Some found a putrid elephant, on which they gorged themselves,
and were punished with nausea and sickness. Others found a lion’s den,
with two lion’s whelps, which they brought to me. Meanwhile, Frank and I
examined the medical stores, and found to our great joy we had
sufficient oatmeal to give every soul two cupfuls of thin gruel. A
‘Torquay dress trunk’ of sheet-iron was at once emptied of its contents
and filled with twenty-five gallons of water, into which were put ten
pounds of oatmeal and four one-pound tins of ‘revalenta arabica.’ How the
people, middle-aged and young gathered round that trunk, and heaped fuel
underneath that it might boil the quicker! How eagerly they watched it
lest some calamity should happen, and clamored, when it was ready, for
their share. And how inexpressibly satisfied they seemed as they tried
to make the most of what they received, and with what fervor they
thanked ‘God’ for his mercies!”
On the 12th of January, Stanley reached Suna, where he halted four days.
Owing to the deplorable condition of his people, but through the evident
restlessness of the Warimi tribe at their presence, the insufficient
quantity of food that could be purchased, and the growing importunings
of the Wangwana to be led away from such a churlish and suspicious
people, Stanley was sorely perplexed. He had now over thirty men on the
sick list, and among them Edward Pocock, one of the young Englishmen,
and who subsequently died. Owing to the sickness of temper from which
the Warimi suffered, it became imperative that he should keep moving, if
only two or three miles a day. Accordingly, on the 17th of January, he
moved from his camp, the sick being carried in hammocks. Hundreds of the
natives, fully armed, kept up with the caravan, on either side of its
path.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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