HENRY M. STANLEY 395 HENRY M. STANLEY* By Noah Brooks (born 1841-1904) T
- wo white men, one from
America and the other from England, met in the heart of Equatorial Africa, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, November 10, 1871. This was their first meeting. The Eng- , lishman had been lost to the outside world for more than two years, and the American had been looking for him since the early part of 1871. Final- ly, after many great difficulties and perils, the American found the lost explorer, surrounded by his black guards, friends, and companions. They had dimly heard of each other through the vague rumors of the natives for months past, and now meeting face to face, the American lift- ing his cap, said, " Dr. Living- stone, I presume." The Eng- lishman nodded an affirmative reply, and the other said, " I am Henry M. Stanley." . It was in this simple yet dramatic way that two of the most famous African travellers of modern times met in the heart of the Dark Continent. Quite as dramatic, perhaps, was the departure of Stanley in pursuit of Livingstone. Stan- ley was not widely known previous to his expedition to Africa in search of Liv- , ingstone. He had served as a war correspondent of one of the great New York newspapers for several years, and was known to his craft as a faithful, accurate, and courageous newspaper correspondent. He had dared many dangers, and had encountered and overcome obstacles that would have dismayed a less intrepid soul. In 1868 he served the New York Herald as correspondent during the war in Abyssinia which raged between the British and King Theodore. It was here he got his first taste of African adventure. It was not a long war. The British shut up King Theodore in the fortress of Magdala, where he perished miserably Copyright, 1894, by Selmar He
