One day, while on a visit to the office of the “Daily Telegraph,” the subject of Livingstone and his unfinished work was broached, and after a brief talk on the subject between himself and the editor, Mr. Stanley was asked:—
“Could you, and would you, complete the work? And what is there to do?”
Mr. Stanley replied: “The outlet of Lake Tanganyika is undiscovered. We know nothing scarcely—except what Speke has sketched out—of Lake Victoria; we do not even know whether it consists of one or many lakes, and therefore the sources of the Nile are still unknown. Moreover, the western half of the African continent is still a white blank.”
“Do you think you can settle all this, if we commission you?” asked the editor of the “Telegraph.”
“While I live, there will be something done. If I survive the time required to perform all the work, all shall be done.”
The matter was for the moment suspended, however, because Mr. Bennett, of the New York “Herald,” had prior claims on Mr. Stanley’s services.
A telegram was despatched to Mr. Bennett: “Would he join the ‘Daily Telegraph’ in sending Stanley out to Africa, to complete the discoveries of Speke, Burton, and Livingstone?” To which Mr. Bennett replied within twenty-four hours by the laconic answer: “Yes. Bennett.”
The new mission of Mr. Stanley was defined by the “Telegraph” through its columns “to be the completion of the work left unfinished by the lamented death of Dr. Livingstone; to solve, if possible, the remaining problems of the geography of Central Africa; and to investigate and report upon the haunts of the slave-trader.”... “He will represent the two nations whose common interest in the regeneration of Africa was so well illustrated when the lost English explorer was re-discovered by the energetic American correspondent. In that memorable journey Mr. Stanley displayed the best qualities of an African traveller; and with no inconsiderable resources at his disposal to reinforce his own complete acquaintance with the conditions of African travel, it may be hoped that very important results will accrue from this undertaking to the advantage of science, humanity, and civilization.”
On August 15, 1874, Mr. Stanley sailed from England for Zanzibar, where he arrived on the 21st day of September—just twenty-eight months after he had left there on his return from the search of Livingstone.
For many days after his arrival he was busily engaged in selecting the members of his new expedition and those who were to act as carriers and soldiers. Among those selected, he gave preference to such as had been with him on the Search Expedition, and had been despatched to the assistance of Livingstone in 1872. Out of these the chiefs were selected. And to these the customary presents had to be distributed. Ulimengo, or the “World,” the incorrigible joker and hunter in chief of the Search and Livingstone’s expeditions, was given a gold ring to encircle one of his thick black fingers, and a silver chain to suspend round his neck, which caused his mouth to expand gratefully. Rojab, who was soon reminded of the unlucky accident with Livingstone’s Journal in the muddy waters of the Mukondokwa, was endowed with a munificent gift which won him over to Mr. Stanley’s service beyond fear of bribery. Manwa Sera, the redoubtable ambassador of Speke and Grant to Manwa Sera—the royal fugitive distressed by the hot pursuit of the Arabs—the leader of his second caravan in 1871, the chief of the party sent to Unyanyembe to the assistance of Livingstone in 1872, and now appointed Chief Captain of the Anglo-American Expedition, was rendered temporarily speechless with gratitude because a splendid necklace had been suspended from his neck and a heavy seal ring placed upon one of his fingers. And thus Mr. Stanley proceeded to endow each one of his old followers with some suitable gift of such a character as would both please them and strengthen their attachment towards himself.