Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/53

 of progress. The outports on the coast are no longer crowded with captives, and, as in the New "World, the wars stirred up by the dealers in human flesh involve the ultimate ruin of their infamous traffic.

Henceforth supported by other produce than that of slaves, the commerce of Africa already finds the interior more accessible to its agents, and the continent thus becomes daily more closely connected with the rest of the world. Large numbers of explorers starting from various points round the coast are continually invading new or little-known regions, and amongst them are many bravo volunteers ever ready to sacrifice their lives in the sole interest of science and humanity. It is one of the glories of our age to have produced so many heroes, some who have achieved fame, others whose very names are already forgotten, but all alike devoting themselves merely to fill up the blank spaces on the map of the Dark Continent. A "necrological" Map of Africa has been prepared by M. Henri Duveyrier, showing the names of the chief European explorers who, between the years 1800 and 1874, have either been murdered by fanatical Mohammedans or fallen victims to the deadly climate and the hardships undergone in their efforts to advance geographical knowledge. Since then the list has been considerably augmented, and the names of Flatters and his associates—of Schuver, Sacconi, Keith Johnston and many others — have been enrolled amongst the martyrs of science.

In the history of African discovery, as in that of all other human conquests, progress has not always been continuous. Until recently the work of exploration has rather been curried" on interruptedly, and at times even discontinued for long intervals. Between the first voyage of circumnavigation, mentioned by Herodotus as having been accomplished under Pharaoh Necho, and that of "Vasco de Garaa, there was an interval of twenty-one centuries, during which numerous discoveries already made had been forgotten. The geographers of the fifteenth century were acquainted with the results of the older explorations only through Ptolemy's inaccurate statements, which were made still more confusing by the carelessness of copyists and the imagination of commentators. The coasts already known to the Phœnicians had to be rediscovered, for Hanno's voyage to the south of the Senegal River, accomplished nineteen hundred years before the Portuguese, had long ceased to be remembered. Even after Gama's "periplus," and the occupation of a large portion of the coast by the Portuguese, our knowledge of the regions already visited was more than once obscured, thanks mainly to the jealousy of rival nations anxious to keep for themselves the secret of their expeditions.

At present learned writers are patriotically engaged in vindicating for their respective countries the honour of having been the first to explore many since-forgotten regions. It seems certain that long before the Portuguese, Italian navigators had surveyed most of the north-west seaboard, and even the islands and archipelagoes lying off the coast. A sketch by the Venetian Marco Pizzigani,