“Mr. Stanley’s survey of this Mediterranean bears with very special interest on the future of Central Africa. The most effective entrances which the wedge of Civilization has ever made into the Dark Continent have been on its southern and southeastern coast. If the routes from Zanzibar and other points on the southeast coast to the lake region centering in Victoria Nyanza can be opened up, the wave of Progress and Illumination will enter the populous heart of Africa more rapidly by these short cuts traversing a comparatively healthy region than by the sickly, tortuous valley of the Congo.”
CHAPTER XXIX.
FROM THE ALBERT NYANZA TO THE INDIAN OCEAN.
Emin Pasha’s Indecision — Much Time Wasted — Stanley Grows Impatient — Jephson’s Report — Stanley Demands Positive Action, and Threatens to March Homeward on February 13th — Receives Emin’s Reply, Accepting the Escort, on the Day he had Proposed to Begin his Return March — Stanley Furnishes Carriers to Help him Up with his Luggage — Stanley Greatly Hindered by the Suspicions of the Natives — Convalescent from his Recent Severe Illness, Stanley leaves Kavalli with his United Expedition, for the Indian Ocean, April 12th — Letter of Lieutenant W. G. Stairs — Reaches Ursulala — Stanley’s Letter to Sir Francis de Winston — Expeditions Fitted Out and Forwarded to the Interior to Meet Stanley — Stanley reaches Msuwah November 29th — Meets the “Herald” Commissioner — Reaches Mbiki, December 1st — Kigiro, December 3d — Bagamoyo, December 4th — Grand Reception Accorded Stanley at Bagamoyo — Enter Zanzibar December 5th — Sad Accident Befalls Emin Pasha — Seriously, if not Fatally, Injured — The End of a Remarkable and Extraordinary Expedition — The Closing Words of Stanley’s Story.
In a previous chapter reference is made to the hesitancy shown by Emin Pasha, Casati, and followers, to accept the escort of Stanley out of the country, and the time that was wasted in considering the proper step to take. That our reader may more fully comprehend how the patience of Stanley was tried at this time, we will quote from his letter to Sir William McKinnon, under date of August, 1889. In referring to this matter, Stanley says:—
“If you will bear in mind that August 17, 1888, after a march of six hundred miles to hunt up the rear column, I met only a miserable remnant of it, wrecked by the irresolution of its officers, neglect of their promises, and indifference to their written orders, you will readily understand why after another march of seven hundred miles I was a little put out when I discovered that, instead of performing their promise of conducting the garrison of Fort Bodo to Nyanza, Mr. Jephson and Emin Pasha had allowed themselves to be made prisoners on or about the very day they were expected by the garrison of Fort Bodo to reach them. It could not be pleasant reading to find that, instead of being able to relieve Emin Pasha, I was more than likely, by the tenor of these letters, to lose one of my own officers to add to the number of Europeans in that unlucky Equatorial province. However, a personal interview with Jephson was necessary in the first place to understand fairly or fully the state of affairs. February 6, 1889, Jephson arrived in the afternoon at our camp at Kavalli on a plateau. I was startled to hear Mr. Jephson in plain, undoubting words say, ‘Sentiment is Pasha’s worst enemy. No one keeps Emin Pasha back but Emin Pasha himself.’ This is a summary of what Jephson had learned during the nine months from May 25, 1888, to February 6, 1889. I gathered sufficient from Jephson’s verbal report to conclude that during the nine months neither Pasha, Signor Casati, nor any man in the province had arrived nearer any other conclusion than that which was told us ten months before this:
“The Pasha—‘If my people go, I go. If they stay, I stay.’
“Signor Casati—‘If the Governor goes, I go. If the Governor stays, I stay.’
“The Faithful—‘If the Pasha goes, we go. If the Pasha stays, we stay.’
“However, a diversion in our favor was created by the Mahdist’s invasion, and the dreadful slaughter they made of all they met inspired us with a hope that we could get a definite answer at last, though Mr. Jephson could only reply: ‘I really cannot tell you what Pasha means to do. He says he wishes to go away, but will not make a move. No one will move. It is impossible to say what any man will do. Perhaps another advance by the Mahdists would send them all pell-mell towards Utoagin. They are irresolute, and require several weeks’ rest to consider again.’”