Page:The story of geographical discovery.djvu/171

 Rh at least a reaction against the abolition of slavery by Egypt, and the interest of the next few years will consist in the last stand of the slave merchant in the Soudan, in Darfur, and in Wadai, east of Lake Chad, where the only powerful independent Mohammedan Sultanate still exists. England is closely pressing upon the revolted provinces, along the upper course of the Nile; while France is attempting, by expeditions from the French Congo and through Abyssinia, to take possession of the Upper Nile before England conquers it. The race for the Upper Nile is at present one of the sources of danger of European war.

While exploration and conquest have either gone hand in hand, or succeeded one another very closely, there has been a third motive that has often led to interesting discoveries, to be followed by annexation. The mighty hunters of Africa have often brought back, not alone ivory and skins, but also interesting information of the interior. The gorgeous narratives of Gordon Cumming in the "fifties" were one of the causes which led to an interest in African exploration. Many a lad has had his imagination fired and his career determined by the exploits of Gordon Cumming, which are now, however, almost forgotten. Mr, F. C. Selous has in our time surpassed even Gordon Cumming's exploits, and has besides done excellent work as guide for the successive expeditions into South Africa.

Thus, practically within our own time, the interior of Africa, where once geographers, as the poet Butler puts it, "placed elephants instead of towns," has become known, in its main outlines, by successive series pf intrepid explorers, who