But before intelligence of the Livingstone Search Expedition at Zanzibar awaiting favorable weather, had arrived, the world was startled by the news that a private expedition, provided solely by the New York “Herald” newspaper, and in charge of Mr. Henry M. Stanley, had succeeded, after surmounting incredible difficulties, in reaching Ujiji, where a meeting of the most remarkable nature took place between the great explorer and the representative of the enterprising journal of New York. Unique in its origin, most remarkable in the accomplishment of its beneficent purpose, the Herald-Livingstone expedition had received the considerate approval of mankind, and Mr. Stanley had come to be regarded, and with justice, as a practical hero of a valuable kind. His accounts of his travels, his despatches to the “Herald” from time to time, the more formal narratives furnished by him, composed a story of the deepest interest and, when properly considered, of the greatest value. This interest has also been deepened and greatly strengthened by the later labors of Stanley in the great field made memorable by Livingstone; and in the results of later explorations we have it fairly demonstrated that the life-work of the elder explorer did not end with his death, but has fallen upon the shoulders of one in every respect qualified to carry on the good work.
To fully appreciate the work done and to thoroughly comprehend its bearing upon Christian civilization, the reader will find in these pages a brief resume of the most important incidents in the life history of Livingstone, with accounts of his several explorations into the African continent. Hence, these, in connection with those of Stanley respecting his later researches, will serve to make a volume of extremely interesting reading upon a subject of universal interest to all Christian people.
CHAPTER II.
GEOLOGY OF AFRICA—ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
The General Geological Formation of the Continent — The Want of Comprehensive Investigation — Singular Facts as to the Desert of Sahara — The Question of the Antiquity of Man — Is Africa the Birth-place of the Human Race? Opinions of Scientists Tending to Answer in the Affirmative — Darwinism.
It is to be greatly regretted that no comprehensive geological surveys of Africa have ever been made; because there are certain questions, eventually to be settled by geology, whose determination, it appears to be agreed, will be finally resolved by investigations in this continent. In a volume of this nature, designed for the general reader, those facts and reasonings only need be referred to which may be supposed to have the most interest. Reference has already been made to Sir Roderick Murchison’s exposition of the trough-shaped form of South Africa in his discourse before the Royal Geographical Society in 1852—an exposition which was so remarkably substantiated by Dr. Livingstone in his journey across the continent from Loanda to Kilimane. Though in its geographical configuration Africa is not greatly unlike South America, in its geological structure it much more resembles the northern continent of the western hemisphere. The Appalachian range of mountains extending through nearly the whole of the eastern portion of North America, parallel with the coast, and the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas in the west, bear a notable resemblance to those ranges of mountains in Africa, which, rising first in the northern portions of Senegambia, pursue a south-easterly, then a southerly course to near the southern limit of the continent, when they sharply bend toward the northeast, and with many lofty peaks, some of which reach the region of eternal snow, pass through Mozambique, Zanguebar, and end not until after they have passed through Abyssinia and Nubia, and penetrated the limits of Egypt. In Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco, is the Atlas range, between which and the beginning of the other the distance is hardly so great as that between the southern limits of the Appalachian range and the mountains of Mexico. The course of each of the great rivers of these continents is also across the degrees of latitude instead of generally parallel with the equator, as is the case with the great river of South America. There is a similarity also between North America and Africa in an extensive system of inland lakes of fresh water and vast extent.
ARAB CHIEF OF CENTRAL AFRICA.
The geological structure of the mountains of Africa, especially of South Africa, appears to be quite uniform. They have a nucleus of granite which often appears at the surface and forms the predominating rock, but in the greater proportion of the mountains, perhaps, the granite is overlain by vast masses of sandstone, easily distinguished by the numerous pebbles of quartz which are embedded in it. The summit, when composed of granite, is usually round and smooth, but when composed of the quartzose sandstone is often perfectly flat. Of this Table Mount, in South Africa, is a notable illustration. The thickness of this stratum of sandstone is sometimes not less than 2,000 feet. Such is the case in the Karoo mountains of Cape Colony. When thus appearing, it may be seen forming steep, mural faces, resembling masonry, or exhibiting a series of salient angles and indentations as sharp, regular, and well-defined as if they had been chiselled. With the granite are often associated primitive schists, the decomposition of which seems to have furnished the chief ingredients of the thin, barren clay which forms the characteristic covering of so much of the South African mountains. In some places, more recent formations appear, and limestone is seen piercing the surface. The geological constitution of the Atlas Mountains, in northwestern Africa, presents old limestone alternating with a schist, often passing to a well-characterized micaceous schist, or gneiss, the stratification of which is exceedingly irregular. Volcanic rocks have here been found in small quantities. There are veins of copper, iron, and lead.