This is the greatest and most important of Stanley’s explorations. His pluck and self-confidence are nothing short of miraculous. I am inclined to believe that Stanley has proven what modern geographers have conjectured concerning the soil and physical features of the region he has explored. One of the most striking portions of his letter is his description of a temperate region under the “burning Equator.” Just what the extent of this tract is, and exactly what he means, will be anxiously waited for by the scientific world. There is every reason to believe that Stanley has opened the gates of Africa for the progress of civilization.
His firm belief in religious guidance has been one of the greatest elements of his success, without which even Stanley’s determination and genius would have quailed before such gigantic difficulties.
Professor A. M. Wheeler says:
Every civilized man owes a debt of gratitude to Stanley. To my mind the exploration is without parallel in the history of discoveries. He is the Columbus of the nineteenth century. No geographer had dared to conjecture what Stanley has now made a reality. His unswerving fidelity to one purpose, amid the greatest dangers that have ever befallen man, is wonderful. The discovery of the connection of Albert Edward Nyanza and Albert Nyanza is but one of his triumphs over what was beyond the reach of all other African explorers. Stanley’s work seems like that of an inspired man.
Ex-Judge Charles P. Daly, President of the Geographical Society of New York City, says:
His geographical insight is wonderful. When going north on the Congo and passing the Equator, he felt that he would come out on the east coast of Africa, and he has done so. That, I think, is quite remarkable. Stanley is one of the most remarkable explorers of the age.
George C. Hurlbert, Esq., also of the Geographical Society of New York City, and who has followed the exploration in Africa closely, says:
Everything was against Stanley in his task, but he showed himself to be a born ruler—a leader of men. He overcame dangers with a persistency, energy and pluck that commanded all praise. It was the quality of the man that always conquered and came to the front, and Stanley’s quality has brought him through all difficulties. He had the courage and the enterprise and the will to achieve great things. He had the gifts of a great explorer.
Professor Libbey, of Princeton College, says:
With regard to the geographical results it would be hard to tell their magnitude at present, but we cannot doubt but that they will be of great importance, judging from the information contained in the letters which have reached us from time to time, the discoveries, already hinted at, showing that the White Nile rises in Lake Muta Nzige, giving us a better knowledge of the shape of this lake; the discovery of the River Semlike and Mount Ruevenzori, which rivals in height the giant of the eastern coast, Kilimanjaro, and his further discoveries in the course of the outlines of Victoria Nyanza.