THE STANLEY EXPEDITION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 8248, 15 August 1887, Page 6

THE STANLEY EXPEDITION .

The Times of J une 17 publishes a letter from Mr H. M. Stanley, written on April 26, at Stanley Pool, on the Congo river, in which he describes the difficulties he had met with up to that time, owing to the scarcity of food and want of means of transport. The letter is as follows: “ Camp near Leopoldville, “ Stanley Pool, April 26,

“My dear Mackinnon, —1 arrived at this place on April 21, after 28 days' march from the Lower Congo. The rainy season and the flooded rivers have impeded us greatly. The latter have been deep and impetuous, detaining us two days at each unfordable stream, and causing great anxiety. The country suffers from great scarcity of food, and I have had to feed this large caravan with rice brought from the coast. Considering all these unfortunate circumstances, we have no great reason to complain. At Stanley Pool they say we have arrived wonderfully quick. Had the season been more propitious, they would have had still further cause for saying so. “ But, bad as is the condition of the faminestricken country below, in the neighbourhood of Stanley Pool it is worse. I have been here five days, and the people with me have only managed to secure a few bananas, just sufficient to feed 200 men one day, and I have 750 souls with me. It is a period of great anxiety with us, and -whether we shall be able to tide it over without breach of order I know not. The Zanzibaris are very loyal, very obedient; the officers, who are all English gentlemen, are super-excellent. With such good qualities, the expedition may be expected to do all that is required by human nature. My duty, however, is not to put too severe a strain on such admirable qualities, and relieve these people as soon as possible from the temptation to be otherwise than they ought to be. “ The State, the English missions and traders, are in the same difficulties of provisioning their dependants as we are. You /.tyn imagine how great the stress is here when the State, after sending foraging parties round about the district, can only secure food enough for a third of its force. The other two-chirds live on hippopotamus meat, which their hunters provide. We have also sent out our hunters. We have had one hippopotamus within five days for 750 soulsi There are four parties of

hunters searching Stanley Pool to-day for hippo meat. The missions have but few men with them, so it is not such an extreme case with them. But, strange to say, not one mission station can supply its own people. They have not planted a single banana plant since I was here three years ago. I should say they were in a worse state than when I left. They live on what is provided for them in Europe and America, and ‘ Let bo everything, struggle no longer, 1 seems to me to be their motto. It is not the fault of the soil nor the climate. The soil is rich, and is adapted for the cultivation of bananas, and maize, and dhourra, and rice.

"In 1881 I relieved two missionaries named Clarke and Lancely. They had suffered a misfortune; a fire had consumed all their effects. They sent me an appeal for provisions. I provided them with a fair allowance from our own stores. They belonged to the Livingstone Inland Mission. "In 1883 a missionary named Sims applied for a site at Stanley Pool to establish a mission of the Livingstone Inland Mission. His colleagues had vainly striven without aid from me to obtain permission from the natives. I gave an order to the chief of Leopoldville to locate Dr Sims on a site in the neighbourhood of the station, so that, times being unsettled then, the mission could be under our immediate protection. In 1884 I extended the grounds of this mission, and also gave it a site for a branch mission at the Equator, subject, of course, to confirmation at Brussels.

"By a curious event—on arriving at Stanley Pool this time—l found myself in a position of abject suppliant for favour. Trig Majesty the Sovereign of this Congo State had invited mo to take the Congo river route to relieve Emin Pasha at Wadelai. Provided the steamers and boats were at Stanley Pool in time, without doubt this route was by far the cheapest and best, even though food was not over abundant. I therefore accepted the invitation and came here. But I had. not anticipated this distressful scarcity of food, nor the absence of steamers and boats. "To every one at Stanley Pool it was clear that a disaster would be the consequence of this irruption of a large caravan upon a scene so unpromising as this foodless district. The only remedy for it was immediate departure up river. Long before arrival I had sent letters of appeal to the English Baptist Mission, owners of the steamer Peace, and to the Livingstone Inland Mission, which is now American, and owners of the steamer Henry Reed, for aid to transport the expedition to Bolobo immediately upon arrival at Stanley Pool. Reports confirmatory of the state of famine in that district were daily reaching me, and immediate departure was our only means of saving life and preventing a gross scandal.

"A few days later I received a letter from a Mr Billington, in charge of the Henry Reed, saying he could not lend the steamer for such purpose, as he wanted to go down river, i.e,, overland to the Lower Congo— * for some purpose, and next month the Livingstone Inland Mission expected some missionaries, and in the interval the steamer Henry Reed was to be drawn up on the slip and repainted. 1 “You will observe, as I did, that there was no question of urgency; the steamer was to lie idle on the slip for repainting while Mr Billington should go down river to be comfortably married to some lady whose photograph he had seen, for this was ‘ the purpose 1 that was taking him from the Fool.

" Meantime the starving people would be tempted to force from every native or white the food which they could not obtain by purchase; and no one knows to what extent disorder would spread. If I did my duty I should have had to repress it sternly. Still, whether my people or the natives would suffer most, it is clear that the condition of things would be deplorable. " Prom the English Baptist Mission I received a letter from its chief stating that unless orders to the contrary would arrive from Home that he would lend me the steamer and be happy to help me. “ Arriving at the Pool, and seeing more fully the extent of. the district suffering from scarcity of food, I sent Major Barttelot and Mr Mounteney Jephson to represent more fully our desperate position to the Livingstone Inland Mission. They saw Messrs Billington and Sims. They tell me they urged the missionaries by all the means within their power for over an hour to reconsider their refusal, and to assist us. They were said to have declined. Mr Billington argued that he had consulted the Bible, and found therein a command not to assist us; besides, he must get down river to 'meet his wife that was to be.’ Dr Sims echoed this as resolutely. “I consulted the Governor of Stanley Pool district, Mons. Liebriechts, and represented to him that a great scandal was inevitable unless means were devised to extricate us from the difficulty. I told him I could not be a disinterested witness to the sufferings which starvation would bring with it; that therefore a formal requisition should be made by him on the missions for the use of theii steamers for a short term of, say, 40 days; that the Henry Reed was evidently, according to Mr Billington's letter, to lie idle for a period of over two months; that this period could be utilised by us in saving hundreds of lives; that their objections were frivolous, and those of Dr Sims were the result of a refusal by me to employ him on this expedition, while Mr Billington was only hungering after the pleasures of marriage with a person whom he never saw. M. Liebriechts admitted that the position was desperate and extreme; that the State was also in a painful uncertainty as to whether provisions could be procured for its people each day. “ The next morning Major Barttelot and Mr Mounteney Jepbson were sent over again to the Livingstone Inland Mission to try a third appeal with Mr Billington, who only replied that he had 'prayerfully wrested even unto the third watch' against the necessity there was of refusing the Henry Reed. He was confirmed in his opinion that he was 'acting wisely and well.' Meantime it was reported to me that Mr Billington had furtively abstracted the waives and pistons of the engines, for the purpose of hiding them. I, therefore, hesitated no longer, but sent a guard of Soudanese down to the steamer and another guard with Major Barttelot to demand the immediate surrender of,'the steamer and her belongings. Major Barttelot kept his guard without the domain of the mission, and walked in alone with the letter.

“ The Commissaire of the State, seeing matters becoming critical, ordered a guard to relieve the Soudanese at the steamer, and went in person to the missionaries to insist that the steamer should be surrendered to the State.

“Our guard was withdrawn upon an assurance being given that no article should be withdrawn or hidden.

“ For two days the matter continued in the hands of M. Liebriechts, who at last signed a chatter in due form by which the mission permits Ihe hire of the steamer Henry Eeed to us for the sum of JBIOO sterling per month, which is at the rate of 30 per cent per annum of her estimated value.

“But what ungrateful people some of these missionaries are! Faith they may have in superabundance —in hope they no doubt live cheerfully; but of charity I do not find the slightest trace. However, our matter is ended, and our anxiety has somewhat abated.

"The Stanley, steamer, left here yesterday for Mswata with the first detachment of 153, and will return the day after tomorrow, We have now remaining for departure next Friday, or Saturday at furthest, the following transport vessels: —Stanley, 160 men, 400 loads, 6 donkeys; Hull of Florida, 160 men, 100 loads, 0 donkeys; Peace, 50 men, 100 loads; Ist barge, 35 men; 2nd barge, 50 men; Henry Reed, 50 men, 100 loads; 3rd barge, 50 men; 4th barge, 35 men—total, 590 men, 700 loads, 12 donkeys. There will he then none remaining at Stanley Pool. We shall push on as fast as the steamers can tow the barges, which will he probably the rate the slow paddle boat En Avant ascended in 1883. Near Stanley Falls or at the rapids of the Biyorre river I will form an entrenched camp, and must use every precaution to make this camp safe. During the ascent of the Congo, I

shall have leisure to study this question. Having formed a safe camp, I shall push on lightly equipped, and make forced marches through the unknown territory. " Until we have reached the site of our camp on the Upper Congo and the Stanley descends to bring up the detachment which will be left at Bolobo, under Major Barttelot, you cannot receive any further direct news from us.—Yours very sincerely, "Henry M. Stanley.”