FROM CAPE TO CAIRO.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7088, 2 May 1901, Page 2

FROM CAPE TO CAIRO.

'AN AFRICAN EXPLORER IN NEW ZEALAND. HIS TRAVELS liM TEE DARK CONTINENT.

Africa has always possessed a special attraction for explorers, and no part of the history of travel and adventure is so fuli of interest as that which deals with the explorations of those' who have . devoted their lives to the elucidation of the mysteries which for so mainy centuries have hung about the Dark Continent. Even now, at the beginning of the twentieth century, how little is knowc about it ! Livingstone, Stanley, Baker, and many others, have pierced it in one direction or another, and have rendered themselves famous by the discoveries they made, but the field is so vast that their discveries were but as a drop in the ocean, merely serving to prove the immensity of the task that still lies before us.

One of the most recent of African explorers is Mr E. S. Grogan, who came into prominence in late years hy his famous " Cape to Cairo " expedition. The .presence in Wellington recently of that gentleman was an opportunity not to be missed for a " Post " reporter to have a chat with him on the subject of his experiences. Mr, -Grogan willingly granted an interview, (and talked long and pleasantly on a subject which, although he to have done with African exploration for ever, still appeals to him with veiy great force. Mr Grogan, by the way," is married to a New Zealand lady, Miss Watt, of Napier, and expects to remain in the colony two or three months.

Young, tall, and of athletic build 1 , Mr Grpgah strikes one as being well fitted for the difficult work he took upon himself, while he bears, outwardly at any rate, no trace of the fever of which he appears to hays had a full share. He was, ' he tells us, always an enthusiastic follower of Cecil Rhodes, and his journey was undertaken with the object of seeing for himself whafc prospect there was of the success of that gentleman's ischeme of a Cape-to-Ca.jro railway. The journey was really accomplished in two parts. In the firsfc part he went as far. as the Zambesi, where he joined the Rhodesian Horse, amd served as a trooper in the .Matabele campaign. It was a rough time, and he remarks with fe?ling that the people penned up in Mafeking during the recent siege were, fed luxuriously in comparison with the troops engaged in the affair with Lobengula'g dusky warriors. Hs was in the field for seven or eight months, serving a Vough apprenticeship, and afterwards travelled down the Portuguese coast, an " evil, unhealthy district," . where he got a bad' attack of blackwater fever, from which two of his men died, while he himself had to go home: to recuperate.

But the longing for African travel was upon him, and after a trip to New Zealand he returned once more to the land .df^hlacks and fever, and picked up his old tracks pn the Zambesi. It is, he says,, quite easy to get as far as Lake Tanganyika— if you live, for "the "climate is very unhealthy — but after that the trouble begins. He started out with one hundred and .fifty "Then of whom he armed a ' dozen with -Snider x'ifles. Of course, he explains, you don't let them shoot, but they serve to make a. show and impress the chiefs you meet on tha journey. They think you ale a big nian if you have a dozen men armed with -rifles when 'you enter their kraal: Of that one hundred and fifty only four Nigassa men went all the way with him. The others deserted whenever an opportunity presented itself,- and had to be replaced en route. The whole art of 1 African travelling, Mr Grogan explains, is to keep your men with you until they can't go back. As soon as tll-ey leave their own tribe their heart fails them and they try to desert ; but once you get them into a hostile country they are in the same boat as yourself, arid the instinct of self-preser-vation tells them, that they are better off with ypu than alone. The dnfluencf ,. of a white man is, he remarks, extraordinary.--sTou are travelling j say, with one hundred and fifty men, in a hostile country, and you get along all right, but if the white man were to disappear for twenty-four hours the whole caravan would be mur-' dered.

The expedition was not unattended with danger, and when at the north of Lake Kiou he got into what he describes as "hot quarters." That lake, by the/ w»y, was discovered by Gotzen; a German explorer, about six years ago, and Mr Grogan was the first to accurately map it out. Above that lake is a big chain of volcanic mountains, still active, and to explore whidh he went with a flying column, leaving most Of his caravan behind. Huge lava streams were met with— it took about three days to cross them — and he emerged upon a plat«au, where he found, instead of the peaceable people he expected, that the country was being; rodded by a tribe of cannibals from the Congo, who, says Mr Grogan, "made a determined attempt to eat us," and' the flying column had a pretty bad time for abdut five days. The raiders had no guns, fortunately, but they attacked the column in force, and although beaten off, they made matters very unpleasant 'until the exploring party got out of their particular spnere of operation*. In that wonderful ~ oountry, Mr Grogan 'informed us, since Gdtzen wias there a huge volcano has been, formed about two years before Mr Grogam's visit, with a crater about ten miles 'across. An eruption had taken place— what a eight that must have beett! — filled! up the valley, smothered: the forests, and ; entirely changed the if ace of the povofry. He went all round the base' of thf volcano, but the scarcity of water male it impossible to reach: the top. To give some idea of what the eruption must have been like, Mr Grogaii mentioned 'tfipt the lava stream which he - crossed was 30 miles long by 40 miles wide. The volcan© is something like 200 miles north of Lake Tanganyika, and he adds that ,he mapped in 900 miles of that country, It is probable, he says, that this .big. chain of volcanic mountains is the origin of the recent seismic disturbances in Africa. Close by he discovered a huge thermal spring district, Avith enormous geysers, but the ground was too rotten to admit of it being explored. The natives would not go near dt. They said that the ground swallowed up those who ventured on it," and assured mm "that aione of those who haid ever tried to cross ib had again been' heard oi. Mr Grogan was ill at the time with fever, which appears to have marked him for its owm while he was in Africa, or he would have made an effort to explore that wonderland. Then he mapped "in liake Albeit Edward Nyanza, which he found to be about 200 square miles smaller than had been stipposed-r-* -result, he added) probably due to the ,: immense eruption of the adjacent Volcano. There is a rise going, on in the country all round there. Gdtzen vy&& on one volcano, which Mr Grogan naimed after him, and got to the top, ' and discovered signs of activity all along the ridge, but made mio mention of the huge volcano' mentioned above, which is of more recent occurrence. You can trace the effects of it as far as Beira. In fact, for a distance of 2500 miles the country has risen considerably during the last few years, and Mr Grogan attributes it to this new volcano.

The conversation then turned to the subject of cannibals, 'andi Mr Grogan gave a brief, but gruesome, account of what he found in a cannibal village, which he and his men had stormed during the five days that he was in ocmtajct with the raiders. He saw a ghastly sight, whidk- we can readily understand fromi his subsequent remark that the tribe had beeri "raiding for meat." The majority of the Congo tribes.

he goes on to say, are real cannibals, as distinct from " fetish " cannibals. Most, of the African tribes eat the hearts of their enemies from superstitious motives, but the real cannibals of the Congo regard human flesh as an article of diet-. The rest may be imagined.

Asked as to the general results of African exploration, Mr Grogan said we know as much about Africa now 'as we should know aboufc New Zealand if someone had merely ridden across at from coast to coast. We know the main water-ways, the lake systems, and part of the mountains, but of the greater portion we know no more than we do of the moon. We know nothing of many of the tribes, their origin and customs, and, probably never shall, because "the longer a man knows a nigger the less he knows about him." "the black man's methods . of thought are as distinct as possible from ours, and you can no more judge- of a nigger from what you know of a white man than you can judge of an elephant from what you know of a sheep. They require absolutely different measures, and the more you see of them the mere you realise what an appalling problem the black man is, and how difficult ifc is to lay down any rules for guidance.

; " I believe," said Mr Grogan, " there are two ways, of getting through Africa. One is to go With a large armed force, and blaze yonr way through the country. The other is io gel with no armed force, except sufficient to show you are a man of substance, and trust to your knowledge of the natives and "'bluff.' In fact, it is one gigantic game of "bluff' aili through. If, however, you follow the second 1 method, and succeed, you see ,the natives as they ore, whereas with, the armed force they keep out of the way, and you see nothing of them. By the method I pursued I came into close contact with all the natives on the route; They are fearfully treacherous and innately hostile and suspicious, but, at' the same time, my experience has borne out my idea of the "besit way to get through the country. 1 '

"I was told by the best German authorities," continued Mr Grogan, "that I could not possibly get through the country north of the Tanganyika without two hundred armed men and a Maxim gun. I could nofc afford such a force, and I could not have fed them if I had taken them. The country is i rightfully unhealthy. You go through some wonderful country, but, you pass through unhealthy parts to reach, vt.

"By fait the most difficult part of my trip was the journey on foot through the big Nile swamps. I could ; not get dow** by water, so had to tackle; the swamp, which had never been penetrated before, and probably never will be again, beoause now the waterway is open from Gondo-/' koro to Fashoda. The swamp, by the way, has a<o area of about ten thousand square miles. I was very fortunate, as the Nile was lower than it had been fj>r one hundred and fifty years, aiwj even then, diy after day, for hours at a time, I was m water' to my waist, and sometimes to my neck, so that a very f eW inches (more would have rendered ' the passage quite impossible. As. it' was, it' took me a month to get through. '

"In some of the bad lagoons my men could not manage to get along, and I fc&d to get some of the natives of tjie country to assist. I'hey are the Dinka tribe, enormous men, some of them 7ft 'high, with- tremendous' feet, well adapted -for getting through that swampy country. They were a strong contrast to the' pigmies, about 3ft lOin or 4ft high, whom I had seen *■ few months before.

The mosquitos; -says Mr Grogan,- defy description, andy according to Ihis account of them, they : must . be really a terrible infliction. i'inally, 4 the conversation turned on missionary work, which Mr Grogan thinks always begins at the wrong end, and exercises a^ pernicious influence. Even the West of the labourers in the mission field .fail to grasp the real state of affairs. The only thing to do with the niggers is to keep them on the same lines as those on which they have all- along been going. They have, through many centuries, evolved social condition's of thenown, and you oan no more make a nigger into a white man by calling him such than you can make a rhinoceros into ah elephan tby altering his name. You can make a nigger pretend he is » white man, -and that's all. "Thie only thing we can do is to give them the/ advantages of British occupation, enable them to settle their disputes heft a cpurt of law instead of by the means of the massacres which they usually indulge in, give them the benefits of security 'of their possessions- and" lives, let them see how the white man lives— that he is always striving atie- something —and in. the course, of a few centuries I have no doubt the" nigger will work himself 'up to a state in which lhe cm take on a high polish. Whether that polish wiH be the particular form which the pre-sent-day missionaries think desirable is another matter. I have met a great many niggers' 'in Africa who were as perfect gentlemen as any white men I ever met, and juat as admirable membeirs' of society in their own particular way. Why tay and change them* To me it is as ridicntous as to try to make an elephant out: of a ihinooeVos." ■ '