Henry Morton Stanley's first trans-Africa expedition
[2][3] Stanley's journey had four principal aims,[4] to: There was controversy among earlier explorers as to whether these lakes and rivers were connected to each other and the Nile.
Being sponsored by the New York Herald—at the instigation of editor James Gordon Bennett Jr.[5]—and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, Stanley he was expected to write dispatches for them.
He also took 60 pounds of cloth, copper wire and beads (Sami Sami) for trading, a barometer, watches and chronometers, sextant, compasses, photographic equipment, Snider rifles and elephant gun(s), and the parts of a 40-foot (12 m) boat with single sail built by James Messenger.
[6]: 3–4, 22, 51, 65 On March 8[7] Stanley, with ten sailors and a steersman, left his camp site near Kageghi in Lady Alice.
[6]: 123, 126, 141–142 On April 4 he landed on the northern bank near the Ripon Falls, the only outlet of the lake, which had been identified as the source of the Nile by Speke.
The local inhabitants alternated peace talks with thefts and threats, and stole their canoe paddles.
[6]: 233, 238, 346, 349, On May 27, 1876, the party arrived in Ujiji on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, the village where Stanley had famously met Livingstone a few years before.
On August 25, 1876, Stanley left Ujiji with an expedition of 132, crossing the lake westward to Manyema,[6]: Vol.
However Stanley reached a contract with Tippu Tip, in which they agreed to accompany each other for "sixty marches-each march of four hours' duration."
On November 19 they reached the Lualaba again where Stanley proceeded downstream with Lady Alice, and Tippu Tip kept pace on the eastern shore.
It took them until January 28 to reach the end of the falls, sometimes passing overland and having to defend themselves from attacks by the cannibal natives.
Here Stanley learned that the river was called Ikuta ya Kongo,[12] proving to him that he had reached the Congo, and that the Lualaba did not feed the Nile.
[6]: 259–261 On March 16 they started the descent of the falls, which cost numerous lives, including those of Frank Pocock and Kalulu, his England-educated servant.
[6]: 261, 265, 315 On 30 July, Stanley stated, "We drew our boat and canoes into a sandy-edged basin in the low rocky terrace, and proceeded to view the cataract of Isangila."
Only five days' journey from Boma, Stanley stated, "I saw no reason to follow it farther, or to expend the little remaining vitality we possessed in toiling through the last four cataracts.
From there Stanley sent forward four trusted men to Boma with letters in English, French and Spanish, asking them to send food for his starving people.
[6]: 345–359 Most probably (Stanley's own publications give inconsistent figures), he lost 132 people through disease, hunger, drowning, killing and desertion.
[13] In Boma he mailed his editor Bennett in New York to send money for his party and arrange homeward travel.
On December 13, Stanley left Zanzibar on SS Pachumba for home, being carried on his men's shoulders to the longboat ferrying him to the ship.
