Stanley's March to the Albert Nyanza.

Evening Star, Issue 8118, 18 January 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

Stanley's March to the Albert Nyanza.

(Continued.) THE DIFFICULTIES WITH EMIN.

A second letter from Mr Stanley, describing the difficulties he experienced before being finally able to set out with Emin on his way home, dated from the camp at Kinzinga, Uzinja, the 17th of August, 1589, has been published. Uzinja is a district to the south-west of the Victoria Nyanza. He begins by telling of the arrival of Emin and some sixty followers, including Selim Bey, at his camp at Kavallis, which was situated on a high plateau overlooking the southeastern end of the Albert Nyanza. On the 18th of February this year he was joined by Lieutenant Stairs and his party. At a divan held that day between Stanley, Emin, and his party, it was agreed to allow Emin's Egyptian people a reasonable time in whicb to come down to Stanley's camp—that is, such portion of them as desired to return to Egypt. On this understanding the Egyptian officers returned to Wadelai, where meantime another change of Government had taken place.

AN ULTIMATUM TO THE EGYPTIANS. After an interval of thirty days news came from Selim Bey that he was collecting refugees, and also that the rebel officers at Wadelai were ready to join Stanley and return to Egypt, At that rate it was calculated it would take fully three months to bring the people to Kavallis. Emin asked Stanley what he proposed to do under the circumstances. Stanley arranged a council with his officers—namely, Lieutenant Stairs, Captain R. H. Nelson, Surgeon Parke, Mr Mounteney Jephson, and Mr William Bonny. To this council Mr Stanley explained his views at length. He ended by asking whether they would be right to wait for refugees beyond the date already fixed—namely, the 10th of April. All the officers replied in the negative—it would not do to wait beyond the given time. Stanley then informed Emin that they would march on that day. "THE STRANOE SOUDAN FEVER." The Pasha (continues Mr Stanley) then asked if we could "in our consciences acquit him of having abandoned his people," supposing they had not arrived by the 10th of April. We replied: "Most certainly." Three or four days after this I was informed by the Pasha—who pays greit deference to Captain Casati's views—that Captain Casati was by no means certain that he was doing quite right in abandoning his people. According to the Pasha's desire, I went over to see Captain Casati, followed soon after by Emin Pasha. Questions of law, honor, duty were brought forward by Casati, who expressed himself clearly that, moral-vwile, Emin Pasha was bound to stay by his people. I quote these matters simply to show to you that our principal difficulties lay not only with the Soudanese and Egyptians; we had some with the Europeans also, who, for some reason or another, seemed in nowise inclined to quit Africa, even when it was quite clear that the Pasha of the province had few loyal men to rely on ; that the outlook before them was imminent danger and death, and that on our retirement there was no other prospect than the grave. I had to refute these morbid ideas with the ABC of common sense. . . I donot think Casati was convinced, nor do I think the Pasha was convinced. But it is strange what strong hold this part of Africa has upon the affections of European officers, Egytian officers, and Soudanese soldiers. TREACHERY IN THE CAMP. On the 6th of April Stanley was informed that there had been an alarm in the camp the night before; the Zanzibari quarters had been entered by the Pasha's people, and an attempt made to abstract the rifles. Most of the Egyptians were mustered and placed in tbe square, which was surrounded by rifles. The of the Pasha's people, having paid no attention to the summons, were secured.in their' huts and brought to the carrip square, where'some were flogged and others ironed and put under guard. "Now Pasha," J said, " will you be good enough to tell these Arabs that these rebellious tricks of Wadelai and Dulije must cease here, for at the first move made by them I shall be obliged to, exterminate them utterly?" On the Pasha translating the Arabs bowed, and vowed that they would obey their father religiously. At the muster this ourious result was returned :—There were with us 13-1 men, eighty-four married women, 187 female domestics, seventy-four children (above two yeais), thirty-five infants in arms ; total, 514, I have reason to believe that the number was nearer GOO as many were not reported, from a fear', probably, that some would be taken prisoners. THE MARCH TO THE COAST.

As he had determined Stanley broke up his camp at Kavallis on the 10th of April, the whole caravan, including 350 Native carriers, numbering 1,500. Two days afterwards, however, he was prostrated by an illness " which well.nigh proved mortal," and which kept the expedition waiting twenty-eight days'. During this period only two additional the Equatorial Province joined the camp. "During my illness another conspiracy, or rather several, were afloat, but one only was attempted to be realised, and the ringleader—a slave of AwashEffendi's, whom I had made free at Kavallis—was arrested, and, after courtmartial, which found him guilty, was immediately executed." The rest of Mr Stanley's letter is devoted to a description of the route he took to reach the Church Missionary Society's station at the southern end of Lake Victoria. Travelling in a southeasterly direction, the caravan entered the territory of the King of Unyoro, who unsuccehsfully disputed their passage. As they advanced southward a great snow-capped refuge of mountains, extending a long distance in • a south-westerly direction, arrested their attention. After nineteen days' march they approached the lake discovered by Mr Stanley himself in 1877 and marked on the maps Muta Nz'ge, and which he proposes to call the Albert Edward Nyanza. Out of it flowed the Semliki towards the Albert Nyanza. Proceeding in an easterly direction, the expedition passed on no longer molested by the Natives. However, fever greatly troubled them. As many as 150 cases occurred in one day. In the month"of July 141 Egyptians fell out of the line, hid among the long grass, were lost to sight, and thus left to the tender mercies of the Natives. THE SOURCES OF THE NILE. Mr Stanley concludes his letter by stating

that the importance of the Albert Edward Nyan3a,, which is a comparatively small lake, " lies in the fact that it is the receiver of all the streams at the extremity of the south-western, or left, Nile basins, and discharges those waters by one river—the Semhki—into the Albert Nyanza, in like manner as Lake Victoria receives all streams from the extremity of the south-eastern, or right Nile basin, and pours those waters by the Victoria Nile into the Albert Nyanza. ihese two Niles, amalgamating in Lake Albert, leave this under the well-known name of White Nile." LETTER TO THE ROYAL GEOGRAriUCAL SOCIETY. At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society the president (Sir M. E. Granti>uff) said the members of. the society would be glad to hear that a letter of very great interest had been received from Mr Stanley dated the l?th of August. Mr Stanley began by confirming the reports of classical geographers, who, he said, were not romancers, but founded their stories on fact. Enclosed was a letter from Lieutenant Stairs, who in June last spent twe days in an attempt to reach the summit of the snowy Kuwenzori, a name which, Mr Stanley assures us, is identical with the " Mountains Of the Moon " of the ancients. Lieutenant Stairs only suoceeded in reaching a height of 10,600 ft, further progress being stopped by three deep ravineß, covered with dense vegetation, that lay between them and the nearest snowy peak, which rose to a further

hjL eig e h , fc Z f rP ,oooft - The mountain sides up to B,oooft are inhabited by a people who have apparently taken refuge there from the raiders in the plains below.' Bamboo forests clothe the lower mountain sides, above which was a dense growth of true heaths rising to a height of 20ft. The top of the peak is crowned with an irregular mass of jagged and precipitous rock, and has a distance crater-like form. Lieutenant Stairs has come to the conclusion that the Ruwenzori range, or rather boss, is really an extinct volcano. The debris of the volcanoes brought down by the Semliki River, Mr Stanley points out in his letter, is enormous and is rapidly filling up the south end of the Albert Nyanza. It is clear that Mr Stanley came first of all down upon the north-west shore_ of Lake Albert Edward, where lies the district of Usongora. The great tongues of swamp between this and the mountain show how far the lake must at one time have spread. But the plain is a desert, though at one time there are evidences that it must have been thickly populated. The raids of the Waganda and Warasura have depopulated the land of the Wasongora and left only a miserable remnant. The inhabitants of Usongora Mr Stanley describes as a fine race, but in no way differing from the finer types of men seen in Karagwe and Aukon, and the Wahuma shepherds of Uganda. The Natives of Toro are a mixture of the highest class of negroes, somewhat like the Natives of Uganda. Mr Stanley maintains that the Ethiopic (Abyssinian) type is thickly spread through these Central African uplands. In Aukori the Wahuma race is more numerous than elsewhere. Many of them have features as regular, fair, and delicate as Europeans. emin's account of his troubles. Emin Pasha has addressed to Professor Schweinfurth a letter, which was read at a meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society on Saturday evening. The following is a translation :

English Mis&ion Station, Ussambiro, on the Victoria Nyanza, «, 0 . , . L , ~ 28th August, 1880. Mr Stanley, with his men and the handful that have come with me, have just arrived here, and I hasten to send you, who have always shown me so much kindness and interest, thesa tew lines, in the first place as a simple sign that lam alive. If, as I hope, we should stay heie for a few days, I shall probably be able tj write you in greater detail, though I am half blind. A military revolution in my own province, Mr Jephson s and my confinement in Duffle, the a. rival of the Mahdists at Lado, and the capture and destruction of Regaf, the massacre of tne officers and soldiers sent against them, our de?u nc re u f ] °- r x Wad tl ai and Tunguru, the attack of the Mahdnts on Duffle and their signal defeat, our final junction with Mr Stanley, and the march f.om tbe Albert Nyanza hither, gcograp,, I S? l . ly A nd otherwi se so highly interestingall this I hope to tell you fully in some leisurely evening hours. I have also some interesting plants for you May I you to give my kindest regard? to Messrs Junker, Ratz°l Supan, and Hassenstein,? I shall try to write -but my eyes ! Accept my be»t regards, and believe me to bo your sincerely devoted,

Emin*. ANOTHER LETTER FROM EMIN PASHA Emin Pasha, on the 23rd of August," addressed the following letter, dated from Msalala, the Church Missionary Society's station at the southern end of the Victoria Nyanza, to the chairman of the Emin Pasha Relief Committee :

"Having cached, under the escort of Mr Stanley s expedition, to-day this place, I cannot but hasten to write just two words to tell you how deeply we all appreciate the generous help you have sent us. When, in the stress of adversity, I first ventured to make an appeal to the world, asking assistance for my people, I was well aware of such an appeal not passing unheard; but I never once fancied the possibility of such kindness as you and tho subscribers of the Keiief Fund have shown us. It would be impossible to tell you what has happened here after Mr Stanley's first Btart. His graphic pen will tell you everything much better than I could. I hope also-the Egyptian Government permitting it-romo future day to be allowed to present myself before you and to express toyou then the feelings of gratitude my pen would be short in expressing; in a personal interview. Until such liappy moments come, I beg to ask you to transmit to all Subscribers of the fund the Bihcerest thanks of a handful of forlorn people, who, through your instrumentality have been saved from destruction, and now hope to embrace their relatives. To speak here of Mr Stanley's and his officers' merit's would be inadequate. If I live to return I shall make my acknowledgments.

THE MOST RECENT LETTER. The «New York Herald' publishes the following letter from Mr Stanley, dated ,cfon lan 3^ Um > M P wa P w a, November 11, lb&), and addressed to Mr Smith, acting British Consul at Zanzibar :

nt?vH rS '!"-W e amved hereye S terday,thefifty. 6f th day from the Victoi ia Jjyana, and the lSSttf day from the Albert Nyanzj. We number altogether about ,o0 souls. At the last muster three days ag. Pmm Pasha's people numbered 294 of whom fifty-nine are cb Wren, mes ly the orphans of Egyptian officers'. ' The wnites present with meaie Lieutenant Stairs. Captain t^ \*? n > Monnteney Jephscn,' Surgeon Parke William Bonny, Mr Hoffm.n, Emin Pasha and his daughter, Captain Casati, Signor Marco, and a lunieian, Vitu Hassan, an apothecary. We have alao Mcbh* Peres, Girau't, and Scbinze, of the Alge.ian Mission. Among the princpal officers of the Pasla are the Vakeera oTthe Equatorial Province, and Major Awash Eftendi of the 2nd Battalion. Since leaving the Victoria INyanza we have lost eighteen of the Pasha s people and one Native of Zanzibar, who was kilUd while we were parleying with a hostile people.

Every other expedition I have led has seen a lightening of our labors as we drew near the sea; but I cannot say the same of this one. Our long string of hammock bearciM tells a a different tale, and until we place these poor things on shipboard there will be no rest for üb. The wortt of it is, we have not tho privil. ge of showing you at Zanzibar the full extent of our labor-'. A fter carrying er me of th*m I.COO mileß fighting to the r'gl.t and Mtof the B ick. driving the Warasura from their prey, over rauge after range of mountains, with eveiy energy on tho full strain, they slip through our hands and die in the hammocks. One lady, seventy-five years old, the mother of the Vakiel, died in this manner in North t;sukuma. South of the Victoria Nyanza we had as stirring a time for four days as we had anywhere. For those four days we h»d continuous fighting during the greater part of the daylight hours. The foolish Natives took an unaccountable prejudice to the Pa ha's people. They 'muted that they were cannibals, and had come to their country for no good. Talking to them was of no use. Any attempt at disproof drove them into a white-hot rage, and in their mad fl nging of themselves on us they suffered. .i o- , am ,, adv l s ed that tho route to the sea via himba Mwene is the best for the ono thin.'- thai specially-appears desirablcto me-an abundance of food. I propose to'adopt that line. As regards the danger of an attack, one road seemß to me to be as had as another. In the hope that we shall meet before long, I beg to remain your obedient servant, e . , . Henry M. f tanley. otariley is not expected at Bagamoyo until the sth of December.

Mr Stanley's march to the coast. Mr Stanley was reported on Sunday to be at Kitala, a place only eight days' march distant fjorh Bagamoyo. A small party has left thatr town carrying provisions and comforts for Mr Stanley and hiß companions, and also a packet of letters and a parcel of clothes for Captain Casati, forwarded by the Italian Consul at Zanzibar. This party forms part of a larga caravan marching into the interior under - the escort 'of* Baron voa Gravenreuth, who carries supplies to Emlh Pasha. A Zanzibar correspondent writes : "I have heard from "Stanley bv the Arabs who have met him. They say his hair is quite white ; that he has clothes, and carries boxes with him, but that he has no ivory." IS MR STANLEY TO BE GOVERNOR OF EAST AFRICA ? 'The Times' says:—"Mr Stanley, we are assured by a high authority, is not likely to be home much before the end of January. He will probably stay for some time at Mombassa, and give the benefit of his experience there to Mr George Mackenzie in organising the Government of British East Africa. It is, hoped that Mr Stanley himself after a rest might be induced to undertake the administration of this important region ; and if it were necessary, we hav« reaion to believe, he might be quite willing to become a British subject. It would evidently be of the highest importanceto British interests in thiß region that a man who has done such magnificent work in Africa, and shown himself so supremely capable under the most trying conditions, should be retained to look after them."