Chapter I: Front Matter

_Photo aquatinte Boussod Valadon & C^o._ ]

THE
KILIMA-NJARO EXPEDITION.
_A RECORD OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION IN EASTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA._
AND A
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY, LANGUAGES, AND COMMERCE OF
THE KILIMA-NJARO DISTRICT.

BY
H. H. JOHNSTON, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S.
MEMB. ANTHROP. INSTITUTE, ETC.; LEADER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF
“THE RIVER CONGO FROM ITS MOUTH TO BÓLÓBÓ.”

WITH SIX MAPS AND OVER EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, AND CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE.
1886.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

[_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved._]

TO

SIR JOHN KIRK, K.C.M.G., M.D., ETC.,

TRAVELLER, BOTANIST, DIPLOMATIST, AND GUARDIAN OF BRITISH INTERESTS AT
ZANZIBAR,

THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY THE AUTHOR.

Hail to thee, monarch of African mountains!
Remote, inaccessible, silent, and lone—
Who from the heart of the tropical fervours
Liftest to heaven thine alien snows.
· · · · ·

I see thee supreme in the midst of thy co-mates.
Standing alone, ’twixt the earth and the heavens,
Heir of the Sunset and Herald of Morn,
Zone above zone, to thy snow-crested summits
The climates of Earth are displayed, as an index,
Giving the scope of the Book of Creation.
There, in the gorges that widen, descending
From cloud and from cold into summer eternal,
Gather the threads of the ice-gendered fountains—
Gather to riotous torrents of crystal,
And, giving each shelvy recess where they dally,
The blooms of the North and its evergreen turfage,
Leap to the land of the lion and lotus!
· · · · ·

Sovereign mountain, thy brothers give welcome:
Mont Blanc, in the roar of his mad avalanches,
Hails thy accession; superb Orizaba,
Belted with beech and ensandalled with palm;
Chimborazo, the lord of the regions of noonday;—
Mingle their sounds in magnificent chorus.
They, the baptized and the crownèd of ages,
Watch-towers of continents, altars of Earth,
Welcome thee now to their mighty assembly.
· · · · ·

None has a claim to the honours of story,
Or the superior splendours of song,
Greater than thou, in thy mystery mantled—
Thou the sole monarch of African mountains.
Take, then, a name, and be filled with existence,
Yea, be exultant in sovereign glory,
While from the hand of the wandering poet
Drops the first garland of song at thy feet.
· · · · ·

“KILIMA-NJARO,” a poem by BAYARD TAYLOR, _circa_ 1855.