Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/166

 Stanley Pool; and by one or the other of these routes the interior of Africa will be opened.

South of the Kongo, the Portuguese are constructing a railroad from Benguela into the interior. In Cape Colony railroads connect the greater part of the British possessions with the Cape of Good Hope. A railroad is also being constructed from Delagoa Bay to the mines in Transvaal.

Sudan and the upper waters of the Nile can only be opened to a large commerce by a railroad from Suakin to Berber, about 280 miles. Surveys were made for this road, and some work was done upon it, just before Gen. Gordon's death. The navigation of the Nile above Berber is uninterrupted for many hundred miles. Below Berber the falls interrupt the navigation. The route from Gondokoro down the Nile is by boat to Berber, camel to Assuan, boat to Siut, and railroad to Cairo and Alexandria, making a route so circuitous that it prevents the opening of the Sudan to any extensive commerce.

In Algiers there are 1,200 miles of railroad, and more are being constructed. The French are constructing a railroad from the upper part of the Senegal River to the head waters of the Niger. The English have organized a company to construct a road from the Gold Coast to the mines in the interior.

It will thus be seen that the railroad has already opened a way into Africa that is sure to be carried on more extensively.

There are two methods of exploring Africa. One is where an individual, like a Livingstone, or a Schweinfurth, or a Dr. Junker, departs on his journey alone. He joins some tribe as far in the interior, on the line of exploration, as possible; lives with the tribe, adopting its habits and manner of life, learning its language, making whatever explorations he can; and, when the region occupied by such tribe has been fully explored, leaves it for the next farther on. This plan requires time and never-failing patience; but in this way large portions of Africa have been explored. The other way, adopted by Cameron, Stanley, Wissmann, and the Portuguese explorers, has been to collect a party of natives, and at their head march across the continent.

"An immense outfit is required to penetrate this shopless land, and the traveler can only make up his caravan from the bazaar