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
“Unyamwezi is a romantic name. It is ‘Land of the Moon’ rendered into
English--as romantic and sweet in Kinyamwezi as any that Stamboul or
Ispahan can boast is to a Turk or a Persian. The attraction, however, to
a European lies only in the name. There is nothing of the mystic,
nothing of the poetical, nothing of the romantic, in the country of
Unyamwezi. If I look abroad over the country I see the most inane and
the most prosaic country one could ever imagine. It is the most unlikely
country to a European for settlement; it is so repulsive owing to the
notoriety it has gained for its fevers. A white missionary would shrink
back with horror at the thought of settling in it. An agriculturist
might be tempted, but then there are so many better countries where he
could do so much better he would be a madman if he ignored those to
settle in this. To know the general outline and physical features of
Unyamwezi you must take a look around from one of the noble coigns of
vantage offered by any of those hills of syenite, in the debatable
ground of Mgunda Makali, in Uyanzi. From the summit of one of those
natural fortresses, if you look west, you will see Unyamwezi recede into
the far, blue, mysterious distance in a succession of blue waves of
noble forest, rising and subsiding like the blue waters of an ocean.
Such a view of Unyamwezi is inspiring; and, were it possible for you to
wing yourself westward on to another vantage coign, again and again the
land undulates after the same fashion, and still afar off is the same
azure, mystic horizon. As you approach Unyanyembe the scene is slightly
changed. Hills of syenite are seen dotting the vast prospect, like
islands in a sea, presenting in their external appearance, to an
imaginative eye, rude imitations of castellated fortresses and embattled
towers. A nearer view of these hills discloses the denuded rock,
disintegrated masses standing on end, boulder resting upon boulder, or
an immense towering rock, tinted with the sombre color age paints in
these lands. Around these rocky hills stretch the cultivated fields of
the Wanyamwezi--fields of tall maize, of holcus sorghum, of millet, of
vetches, &c.--among which you may discern the patches devoted to the
cultivation of sweet potatoes and manioc, and pasture lands where browse
the hump-shouldered cattle of Africa, flocks of goats and sheep. This is
the scene which attracts the eye, and is accepted as promising relief
after the wearisome marching through the thorny jungle plains of Ugogo,
the primeval forests of Uyanzi, the dim plains of Tura and Rubuga, and
when we have emerged from the twilight shades of Kigwa. No caravan or
expedition views it unwelcomed by song and tumultuous chorus, for rest
is at hand. It is only after a long halt that one begins to weary of
Unyanyembe, the principal district of Unyamwezi. It is only when one has
been stricken down almost to the grave by the fatal chilly winds which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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