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AFRICAN CAUTION.

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well supplied with men, arms, and ammunition. But such a man would have to be unhampered by orders from home, unless these were such as to leave a wide margin for the exercise of his discretion. It would be next to impossible for an entire stranger to the country to attempt to raise and discipline regiments among the savage tribes of Central Africa. The natives of Africa are thorough Conservatives, and must be firmly convinced of the good of any change before they can be persuaded to adopt it. They yield to power, but to nothing else; and it is the exhibition of power that enables the Arab to obtain such an ascendancy over them. Show them that one power is good and another bad, and they will desert the power which is seeking their extermination for that which is working for their good. Such men as Emin Pasha and Deane alone can do this. Such men will the poor uneducated natives follow and fight for. To their mind, might is right; and seeing the Arabs everywhere victorious, they, powerless to hold their own, yield doggedly to what they consider their inevitable fate, and are carried off into slavery. But should a white man come among them powerful enough to conquer their oppressors, what follows? Do not the Bakumu and Wenya still swear by the name of Deane, though he was at last driven out of the Falls? What has followed in the case of Emin Pasha? Has he not, through nobly sticking

to his post after the fall of Khartoum and the death of General Gordon, saved a province larger than Great Britain from the curse of slavery, and, by the help of his native allies, held at bay the Mahdist hordes who have laid waste the whole of Upper Egypt?

Had Deane, the only man who has ever struck a blow at the real root of the East Coast slavetrade-who, when all alone in the centre of Africa, more than five hundred miles from the nearest station, calmly stood up for the natives, and told their oppressors that he could not and would not give up the poor wretches who had sought his protection-who, knowing that his only European companion was too ill to remain with him, and that he must be left alone, coolly informed a great Arab chief that he was quite able to take care of his own head-who, when his request for ammunition was ignored, and the promised reinforcements not sent, bravely remained at his post, when he would have been perfectly justified in consulting his own safety (not having been supplied with the means of defence), by evacuating the Falls Station, and going down to Bangala,-had he been properly supported in the first instance, or even sent back— as I am told he asked to be-with a sufficient force to retake Stanley Falls, there is no doubt that the whole of the Wenya and Bakumu would have sided with him, and helped to drive back the

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.

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Arabs; and thriving villages would still stand on the banks of the Aruhwimi, where now is utter desolation.

The natives would fight in their own fashion, it is true, but discipline would only be a work of time, and they would soon come to learn of the man who could lead them to victory. The BaNgala pirates, who so fiercely assailed Stanley on his first descent of the Congo, are now being drilled as soldiers by the authorities at Boma; but it was a long time before they could be induced to enter the service of the State, and even now, a man, to manage them properly, must have lived a year or two in their country, and be one whom they know and can trust. If this has been done with the Ba-Ngala, why not with the Bakumu, who are a much finer, more industrious, and more intelligent race of men?

In the deep quiet of the glorious forest of Lukolela are three cairns of stone, one of which covers the remains of as brave a man as ever trod African soil. Unhonoured, almost forgotten, as Deane's name is in Europe, its memory is fresh and green among the warriors of the Wenya and Bakumu. To these poor superstitious natives he seemed to bear a charmed life, and to be capable of accomplishing almost anything. Their belief in him and his promises remained firm and unshaken, though for nearly two years they never saw a sign of him or

the help he had promised them; and when I was at Stanley Falls, they came to me in crowds to ask whether we had come to drive out the Arabs, and offer their help, inquiring if Deane was coming up-river at the head of a conquering army to reestablish them in the homes whence the Arabs had mercilessly driven them. How could I explain to these poor people why we were on friendly terms with the Arabs? The news of Deane's death was a great shock to me, but I found it easier afterwards to answer the questions of the Bakumu, by telling them that the Great Good Spirit had taken Deane away to fight in Mputu; and it was a great satisfaction to me to be able to keep up his reputation among his sable admirers by explaining that it was not an Arab who had killed him, but an elephant. "Ah!" replied the poor natives-" that tembo bad fetish!"

CHAPTER XIV.

CONCLUSION.

INDUCEMENTS TO SLAVE-RAIDS-EXTINCTION OF THE ELEPHANTIMPROVED TRANSPORT THE ONLY EFFECTUAL MEANS OF PUTTING AN END TO THE SLAVE-TRADE-IVORY BOUGHT BY THE SANFORD COMPANY AND THE CONGO STATE ON THE UPPER CONGO-BLACK AND WHITE TUSKS-DIFFERENT ROUTES TO THE INTERIOR-THE NILE BASIN - EAST COAST ROUTE THE TANA RIVER DIFFICULTIES OF THE CONGO ROUTE-RAILWAY PAST THE LIVINGSTONE CATARACTS-PROPOSED BULLOCK-ROAD-AFRICAN LAKES COMPANY -PORTUGUESE CLAIMS-SHALL LIVINGSTONE'S WORK BE IN VAIN?

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ONE of the greatest inducements for the slave-raids carried on by the Arabs in Central Africa is ivory, which, on account of its high value, is the only article which will at present pay for its transport from such an inaccessible region. It has been asserted that, when the poor elephant is exterminated, and not before, will slavery come to an end. It is my belief that facility of transport to the coast by means of railways and steamers will do more, by making slave-caravans unprofitable, to put down the curse of Africa, than the extinction

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