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
“The next morning we lifted our weakened limbs for another march. And
such a march!--the path all thickly strewn with splinters of
suet-colored quartz, which increased the fatigue and pain. The old men
and the three mothers, with their young infants born at the cataracts of
Massassa and Zinga, and another near the market town of Manyanga, in the
month of June, suffered greatly. Then might be seen that affection for
one another which appealed to my sympathies, and endeared them to me
still more. Two of the younger men assisted each of the old, and the
husbands and fathers lifted their infants on their shoulders and
tenderly led their wives along.
“Up and down the desolate and sad land wound the poor, hungry caravan.
Bleached whiteness of ripest grass, grey rock-piles here and there,
looming up solemn and sad in their greyness, a thin grove of trees now
and then visible on the heights and in the hollows--such were the scenes
that with every uplift of a ridge or rising crest of a hill met our
hungry eyes. Eight miles our strength enabled us to make, and then we
camped in the middle of an uninhabited valley, where we were supplied
with water from the pools which we discovered in the course of a
dried-up stream.”
The experiences of the third day were but a repetition of the previous
one, and by the close of that day they had reached the settlement of
Nsanda. Here, through the aid of the chief, who furnished him with two
messengers to accompany Uledi and Kachéché to Embomma, as bearers,
Stanley wrote and sent a letter asking for immediate relief in the shape
of food. On the 5th the expedition resumed its march, and at 3 o’clock
P. M. covered a further distance of twelve miles, reaching the village
of Mbinda. On the 6th, they were aroused for a further effort and at 9
o’clock A. M. reached Banza Mbuko.
“Ah! in what part of all the Japhetic world would such a distressed and
woeful band as we were then have been regarded with such hard,
steel-cold eyes?” writes Stanley. “Yet not one word of reproach issued
from the starving people; they threw themselves upon the ground with an
indifference begotten of despair and misery. They did not fret nor
bewail aloud the tortures of famine, nor vent the anguish of their
pinched bowels in cries, but with stony resignation surrendered
themselves to rest under the scant shade of some dwarf acacia or sparse
bush. Now and then I caught the wail of an infant and the thin voice of
a starving mother, or the petulant remonstrance of an elder child; but
the adults remained still and apparently lifeless, each contracted
within the exclusiveness of individual suffering.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account