Constantinople in person, who was so well impressed with him that he made extra exertions to facilitate his progress to the mysterious home of the Grand Llama. I had some time previous to this had a Henry rifle sent me from a friend in New York, as a specimen of American art, and this I presented to Stanley, with my best wishes for the success of his undertaking. He started on the desperate enterprise some time after, and my table thereby lost one of its most entertaining guests. When I say desperate enterprise I mean it, for Persia is to a European a practically unexplored country; and in consequence of its weak government and the marauders with which it abounds, a journey to Zanzibar or Unyanyembe would be a safe trip compared to it. How Mr. Stanley accomplished the task he undertook the columns of the ‘Herald’ will tell. I received a letter from him, while on the way, narrating the hospitable manner in which he had been entertained by the Russian authorities, and the way in which he had astonished them by the performances of his Henry rifle. His journey through the Caucasus and Georgia was a sort of triumphal march, though he was looked upon as a lost man by all who knew anything of the East. The route he took was an entirely new one, as he went in a kind of zigzag way to Thibet, and he must have a charmed life to have come through so much peril in complete safety.” [Illustration: EQUIPPED FOR WAR.] A considerable portion of the year 1868 was spent by Mr. Stanley in Abyssinia, where he accompanied the British expedition against King Theodore. He went with the English army as far as Magadla, and upon several occasions was enabled to transmit accounts of the expedition, embracing most important news, to the “Herald” in advance of intelligence sent to the British government. The people of America were thus supplied with intelligence of this singular British foray in northeastern Africa in advance of the people of England. These remarkable successes in Abyssinia were highly appreciated by the “Herald,” and considerably enhanced the correspondent’s abilities and services in the special line he was working upon. And it was no doubt the signal ability thus displayed which led the younger Bennett to choose this man for his purpose when he had decided to send an expedition after Livingstone. The account of the interview and the incidents leading to it between James Gordon Bennett, Jr., and Mr. Stanley are exceedingly interesting, as given in the words of Mr. Stanley himself. He was at the time in Madrid, Spain, October 16th, 1869. At 10 o’clock A. M. he was handed a telegram, which read: “Come to Paris on important business,” and bore the signature of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., then the young manager of the “Herald.”