The first station to be founded was Vivi, and six months were spent in fortifying it. Then came the construction of a road from Vivi to Isanghila—fifty miles higher up the river—required for the conveyance of the steamers in section, stores, merchandise, etc. This proved a formidable task and took a whole year to accomplish. But Stanley and his men proved equal to it, and another station was founded at Isanghila. At that station, fortunately, the Congo was again found to be navigable, and Stanley pushed on to Manyanga by boat, where he founded a third station. It was while at Manyanga that Stanley first learned of M. de Brazza’s having set up the French flag on the northern shore of Stanley Pool, and calling it Brazzaville, a fact previously referred to. Stanley countered this act by founding, on the plain of Kintamo, near the lake, a station out of which has grown the modern Leopoldville, named in honour of the King of the Belgians, and now recognised as the capital of Central Africa. The spread of French influence so far as Brazzaville was significant and ominous. Clearly the nations of Europe were waking up to the importance and value of Central Africa. Leaving the expedition in charge of Captain Hanssens, Stanley hurriedly returned to Brussels to report the circumstance in person. That was in April, 1882; and by February, 1883, he was back again with the expedition in Africa, recharged, as it were, with energy, and busied himself in establishing numerous stations. [Illustration: Native Employees of the State Waiting for Rations at Boma.] In all, Stanley served five years with this expedition, which, notwithstanding his nationality, must in all fairness be accounted a Belgian expedition. Such, then, were the early expeditions in Central Africa undertaken by Leopold, King of the Belgians. There were other contemporaneous expeditions in the same region undertaken by France, Germany, and Russia, or rather by natives of those countries presumably working in the interest of their respective nations, but their results will not stand comparison with those achieved by Belgians. At one time it was the intention of King Leopold to appoint General Gordon to the chief command on the Congo, and that extraordinary man had agreed to accept his Majesty’s offer; but the British Government had a prior claim on Gordon’s services, who went to Khartoum and lost his life there in tragic circumstances so well known that they need not be recounted here. CHAPTER V THE WATERWAYS OF THE CONGO [Sidenote: Discovery of the Congo.]