C H A P T E R X X V .
THE PROBLEM OF AFRICA
TH E PO L IT IC A L SITUATION
I WILL now try to recapitulate the general impression
I gathered from my three years’ journey. On the
whole I was much astonished to find the Dark Continent
so different from what I had conceived after reading the
accounts of Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Speke, and many
others. What struck me most was the actual state of
development of this vast continent, absolutely unknown
fifty years ago, and still in its savage state ten years
before I visited it.
The modern history of Africa can be divided into
three great periods. First the Livingstone-Stanley Era,
from 1850 to 1875. This period was one of discovery.
Till then, the interior of Africa was considered as
a desert extending from the Pyramids to the Orartge
River. Livingstone was the first to prove the fallacy of
this theory. His remarkable journey from the Cape to
the Portuguese settlements of the West Coast, and thence
along the Zambezi from its sources to its mouth, began
to enlighten the world with regard to the nature of the
interior of Africa. His further wanderings resulted in the
discovery of Lake Nyasa and Lake Bangweolo, and in the
better knowledge of Lake Tanganika, first discovered
by Burton and Speke. It is probable that if Livingstone
had worked upon a more systematic plan he might have
added much to his discoveries. The rumour of his loss
was not, however, without good results, for it brought in
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T H E P RO B L EM OF A F R I C A
the field the greatest of explorers, Mr. Stanley. I certainly
place him far above Livingstone; but while recognizing
the greatness of Livingstone’s work — for it must be
acknowledged that with the means at his command he
-achieved remarkable results—one cannot help regretting
that he should have declined the help offered to him,
and that he should have persisted in roaming about the
country wasting-much valuable time in going in search of
what he imagined to be the Nile, a mere supposition based
on no actual proofs.
We find him spending months and months at Nyangwe,
persuaded that the Luapula was the Upper Nile. He was
then unable to follow the river down its course, but when
he returned to Ujiji and was met there by Mr. Stanley,
bringing him supplies of all sorts, it is hard to understand
why he did not return to Nyangwe in order to follow the
river he had discovered there until he had determined
its connection with the Nile. Instead of that he started
for the south in the hope of discovering the sources of the
river that he considered to be the Nile, and died near Lake
Bangweolo.
Mr. Stanley’s method was a very different one. He
knew no more of the interior of Africa than Livingstone
did, but he was determined to avail himself of that knowledge
to work by the method of elimination. Speke and
Grant had proved that the Nile flows out of Lake Victoria
Nyanza. In order to determine if the Luapula, discovered
by Livingstone, was «the real source of the Nile, it was
necessary to ascertain if a large river flowed into Lake
Victoria Nyanza. Mr. Stanley, therefore, proceeded to this
lake, determined, if he found a large river flowing into it,
to follow it up until he had reached. Nyangwe. In that case
the Luapula would evidently be the upper waters of the
Nile, and there would only remain to follow the river from
Nyangwe to its sources. In this way the problem that
puzzled Livingstone for so many years would be solved.
Mr. Stanley, therefore, circumnavigated Lake Victoria
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