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Chapter I: Front Matter

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THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT.

H. M. STANLEY.

TAKEN BEFORE HIS DEPARTURE, 1874. TAKEN ON HIS EMERGING FROM
AFRICA, 1877.
]

THROUGH THE

DARK CONTINENT

OR

THE SOURCES OF THE NILE
AROUND THE GREAT LAKES OF EQUATORIAL AFRICA
AND DOWN THE LIVINGSTONE RIVER
TO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN

BY

HENRY M. STANLEY

AUTHOR OF “IN DARKEST AFRICA,” “HOW I FOUND LIVINGSTONE,”
“MY KALULU,” ETC.

MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS

WITH A NEW PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR, WRITTEN FOR THIS EDITION.

VOL. II.

LONDON: GEORGE NEWNES, LIMITED
SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND

1899

LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS.

———●———

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Ujiji, its scenery, residents, market, and vicinity—Arab 1
rivals—The circumnavigation of the Tanganika—Commander
Cameron and the outflowing Lukuga—The encroaching
waters—The legend of the Lake—Evening

CHAPTER II.

The _Lady Alice_ afloat again—Her mate and crew—Anxiety on 14
her behalf—-On hallowed ground—Unwelcome visitors: in the
haunts of the Ruga-Ruga—The aborigines’ last retreat—A
scene of blood—The robbers of the Lake, and their tutelary
spirits—A geological problem: were there once two
lakes?—Rising waters—The abode of the genii—A storm—Forest
fires—At the mouth of Cameron’s “outlet”—The Lukuga creek

CHAPTER III.

Back in camp—An epidemic of small-pox—Panic of 48
desertion—Kalulu’s disloyalty—Livingstone’s
lenience—Imaginary terrors—Hairdressing _ad
absurdum_—Ruanga’s opinion of white men—A village
sketch—The villagers of Uhombo—_In puris naturalibus_—A
touch of human nature—On Livingstone’s traces—What is
there in feathers?—The Manyema: their life and manners—Our
ass astonishes the natives—Bloodless wars—Nicknames—A
tribe with beards but no wives—The confluence of the Luama
and the Livingstone

CHAPTER IV.

At a swinging pace—Tippu-Tib, the Arab trader—News of 73
Cameron and his difficulties—The river that flows North
for ever—In Dwarf-land, fighting the dwarfs—Tippu Tib’s
conditions—Friends in council—Heads or tails—Kalulu’s
accident at Nyangwé—Its residents and market—A muster of
the Expedition

CHAPTER V.

Tippu-Tib’s henchmen—In the primeval forest, a wilderness of 98
trees—Primitive furniture—Our sufferings in the pagans’
forest—Tippu-Tib breaks down—A village blacksmith—Soko
skulls; the missing link—Professor Huxley’s opinion
thereof—THE LIVINGSTONE—A day dream—The road to the
ocean—Timid counsels—“The Wasambye!”—“Ooh-hu! ooh-
hu!”—Successful diplomacy

CHAPTER VI.

“Mama, the Wasambye!”—The fight in the Ruiki—The lost 122
found—Dangerous disobedience—In the nick of time—A savage
captive—Music hath charms—In the haunts of Nature—A town
of one street—Deserted villages—Organizing a hospital—An
island wasted by lightning—“The people of the filed
teeth”—Primitive salt-making—Hostages captured—At close
quarters—Raining arrows—“Bo-bo, bo-bo, bo-bo-o-o-oh!”—A
desperate affair and opportune reinforcements—Cutting the
canoes adrift—Tippu-Tib deserts me—My appeal to the “sea
children”—Christmas Day among the cannibals—“Victory or
death!”

CHAPTER VII.

Farewell to Tippu-Tib—Attacked from both banks—The fat 153
savage makes a bad shot at me—In the home of the
elephants—Insect life—In covert—The Lowwa river—A storm on
the river—New Year’s day—Bullets against
spears—“Sennenneh!”—Tempting the female mind—The reward of
a good deed—A river armada: crocodile boats—Betwixt
cataracts and cannibals

CHAPTER VIII.

Fighting betimes—Blazing a path—We take an island by storm—A 174
desperate dilemma—Road-making under fire—A miraculous
escape—A terrible march—Peace by stratagem—Below the Fifth
Cataract—Our cannibal captives—Fighting the Wana-
Rukura—The Wana-Rukura islanders—Approaching the Seventh
Cataract—A deserted island—The Seventh Cataract of the
Stanley Falls—The first of the Cataracts—Clear of the
Stanley Falls

CHAPTER IX.

Again in open water—Frank Pocock feels the position—The 200
Mburra or Yaryembi—A running fight—“Ya-Mariwa! Ya-
Mariwa!”—Our tactics of capture—Monster spears—Growing
weary of fighting for life—The power of laughter—Fish
creeks—A wasp swarm of canoes—Another invincible armada—A
village of ivory—Relics of cannibal feasts—The Wellé of
Schweinfurth—Hunted to despair—Their “meat” escapes the
cannibals—Wild nature—Among friendly natives—The Congo!

CHAPTER X.

High art in tattooing—Suspicious friendliness—Friends or 222
foes?—A treacherous attack—The fauna of the
Livingstone—Among the “Houyhynyms”—The “Yaha-ha-
has”—Frank’s courage and narrow escape—Our fight with the
Bangala—The mirage on the river—The great tributary of the
Livingstone—Among friends

CHAPTER XI.

Running the gauntlet—Kindly solitudes—Amina’s death—The 241
humanizing effects of trade apparent—“The most plausible
rogue of all Africa”—The king of Chumbiri; his
hospitality, wives, possessions, and cunning—Making up a
language—Pythons—The Ibari Nkutu or the Kwango—Treacherous
guides—The Stanley Pool—Chief Itsi of Ntamo—We have to
give up our big goat—River observations

CHAPTER XII.

The struggle with the river renewed—Passing the “Father”—In 260
the “Cauldron”—Poor Kalulu!—Soudi’s strange adventures—At
the “Whirlpool Narrows”—Lady Alice Rapids—Our escape from
death—“Isles of Eden”—Thieves amongst us—The Inkisi
Falls—The canoes dragged over the mountain—Trade along the
Livingstone—Ulcers and entozoa—An artful compound

CHAPTER XIII.

Glorious timber—Cutting canoes—Frank suffers from ulcers—The 283
episode of the fetished axe—Rain-gauge readings—The rise
of the river—“Goee-goees”—The _Lady Alice_ breached for
the first time—A painful discovery: Uledi’s theft—His
trial and release—The burning of Shakespeare—The bees of
Massassa—Local superstitions—Frank’s cheery character

CHAPTER XIV.

Leaving Mowa—The whirling pools of Mowa—The Jason swept over 305
the falls—The “Little Master” drowned—Too brave!—“Ah,
Uledi, had you but saved him!”—The sympathy of the savages

CHAPTER XV.

Mutiny in the camp—Again among the cataracts—Frank’s body 317
found—The fall of the Edwin Arnold river—Tired
out!—Wholesale desertion—More cataracts—“Good-bye, my
brother; nothing can save you!”—Rushing blindly on—Saved
again!—The _Jason_ found

CHAPTER XVI.

Final warnings against theft—Humiliating a 328
protectionist—Kindly tribes—Five of the Expedition
abandoned to slavery for theft—Safeni goes mad from
joy—Goaded to crime—Ali Kiboga’s adventures—The cataract
of Isangila—Only five marches from white faces!—Staunch to
the death—Rum—My appeal to Embomma—The forlorn hope—The
“powerful man” insults us—Struggling on—“We are saved,
thank God!”—“Enough now; fall to”—My letter of
thanks—Approaching civilization—Amongst whites; Boma—The
Atlantic Ocean

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