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
On the 13th of December, Stanley sailed from Zanzibar for Aden, on board
the British India Steam Navigation Company’s steamer _Pachumba_. His
late followers had all left their homes early in the morning that they
might be certain to arrive in time to witness his departure. Mr. Stanley
says of them: “When I was about to step into the boat, the brave,
faithful fellows rushed before me and shot the boat into the sea, and
then lifted me up on their heads and carried me through the surf into
the boat. We shook hands twenty times twenty I think, and then at last
the boat started. I saw them consult together, and presently saw them
rush down the beach and seize a great twenty-ton lighter, which they
soon manned and rowed after me. They followed me thus to the steamer,
and a deputation of them came on board, headed by the famous Uledi, the
coxswain; Kachéché, the chief detective; Robert, my indispensable
factotum; Zaidi, the chief, and Wadi Rehani, the storekeeper, to inform
me that they still considered me as their master, and that they would
not leave Zanzibar until they received a letter from me announcing my
safe arrival in my own country. I had, they said, taken them round all
Africa to bring them back to their homes, and they must know that I had
reached my own land before they would go to seek new adventures on the
Continent, and--simple, generous souls!--that if I wanted their help to
reach my country they would help me!
“They were sweet and sad moments, those of parting. What a long, long
and true friendship was here sundered! Through what strange vicissitudes
of life had they not followed me! What wild and varied scenes had we not
seen together. What a noble fidelity these untutored souls had
exhibited! The chiefs were those who had followed me to Ujiji in 1871;
they had been witnesses of the joy of Livingstone at the sight of me;
they were the men to whom I trusted the safeguard of Livingstone on his
last and fatal journey, who had mourned by his corpse at Mullala, and
borne the illustrious dead to the Indian Ocean.
[Illustration: THE FACE OF A WANGWANA.]
“And in a flood of sudden recollection, all the stormy period here ended
rushed in upon my mind--the whole panorama of danger and tempest through
which these gallant fellows had so staunchly stood by me--these gallant
fellows now parting from me. Rapidly, as in some apocalyptic vision,
every scene of strife with Man and Nature through which these poor men
and women had borne me company, and solaced me by the simple sympathy of
common suffering, came hurrying across my memory: for each face before
me was associated with some adventure or some peril, reminded me of some
triumph or of some loss. What a wild, weird retrospect it was, that
mind’s flash over the troubled past! So like a troublous dream!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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 — John Shaqi
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