CHAPTER I

Summary

The continent of Africa, though probably the most ancient field of geographical enterprise, still is, and there is reason to believe that it will long continue to be, the least explored portion of our earth. Though once the nursery of science and literature, the emporium of commerce, and the seat of an empire which contended with Rome for the sovereignty of the world,—the cradle of the ancient church, and the asylum of the infant Saviour, yet Africa still presents a comparative blank on the map, as well as in the history of the world. Though, according to Herodotus, it was circumnavigated by the Phœnicians long before the Christian era, and its coast was the object of maritime discovery after the compass had inspired seamen with confidence to leave shores and landmarks, and stand forth on the boundless deep; yet to this day its interior regions continue a mystery to the white man, a land of darkness and of terror to the most fearless and enterprising traveller. Although in no country has there been such a sacrifice of men to the enterprise of discovery—of men the most intelligent and undaunted, of men impelled not by gross cupidity, but by refined philanthropy;—yet, notwithstanding such suffering and waste of human life, we are only acquainted with the fringes of that immense continent, and a few lineaments at no great distance from its shores.