STANLEY AND HIS EXPEDITION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8240, 13 August 1888, Page 2

STANLEY AND HIS EXPEDITION.

There are vpry n»ly rumours about H. M. Stanley. Bays the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. It is. ten months since he h<n been heard from. It is known that difficulties upon whioh ho did not count have arisen ; but for a long time we all believed in his luck, and in his diplomatio skill to get through every obstacle. To-da}', however, it is certain that the European authorities who hare helped the expedition with money are very anxious, that Major Bartellot does not disgnise his fears that some , untoward delay stands in tbe way of tho advance; and coupled with nil this oome disquieting rumours through Zanzibar. What we have to go upon, however, that is really reliable, are letters from young Ward. Mr Wartt has come down from Stanley Pool for supplies; he is on Birtel lot's staff, and iia trusted officer of Stanley. Ward was at Borna early in Mny, and went back into the interior on the 15th of that month. What despatches he brought is not known, but his chief object was supplies ; he is reported to hive said to an agent of Reuter that Major Bartellot was deeply concerned about Stanley ; whatevet he may have said to Reutet I know not ; tut I have before me a letter doted May 5. ia whioh he says Stanley had only 300 miles to go, and had, nevertheless, not beea heard of for nine months, and this justified tbe fear that something serious bad happened to him — it might be that he wat lost. Ward's own party hai suffered greatly from want o£ food; they had nothing but rice for several months, and had lost 60 men through nothing more or lees than starvation. In another letter he says th«y have had an awfully rongh and perilous time, and this boing all trae in a part of the country they knew and wers fairly well acquainted with, it is easy to conceive that Stanley, in utterly unknown regions, may have oome to griaf. Ward writes of his ohief in terms of great admiration and confidence, bat with decided misgivings. Quite a number of articles have from time to time been contributed to tbe Illustrated London Newt founded upon Ward's letters from the expedition, and illustrated by drawings by Watd. None of these, however^ controvert an agreement whioh binds Ward to publish no vital or voluminous details of the expedition until a certain dete has elapsed. The real historian will, of course, bo Stanley, if he comes through it aliv«, as everyone hopes and praj she will. Ward ib the son of Edwin Ward, a well-known naturalist who used to do important servioes for the British Museum, and who is now settled in California. Young Ward is the youth who met Frank Hatton, tbe Borneo explorer on the Segama River during Button's latest and most unfortunate trip. In the po6thumous work entitled. " North Borneo, there is a picture of thu parting between these two young fellows. Hatton was going to find gold on the Begama, and gold has since been fotnd on the very spot where he lost his life ; ia memory of whioh the adjacent hill kal been named Mount Uatton.