THE EXPLORATION OF AFRICA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4939, 20 January 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE EXPLORATION OF AFRICA

Mem 1, reached Him Tkv-’U Geogripbie.il F„,.U.v thus LieiHeniufc .Siiv.>rj|‘i m d.i Hrazz i, „■• 11 .* Navv. is snem-sif'dl v aseeudi 'A t’i( iiiMWit riv-ji- O'uxS. tlio ! "vc i 1 p :iL»no <>t v\ liU:li is k'Hiwii, it* liiiMm •ouri’t'!iii C-utnvl Africa. After receiving a kinibv welcome fioin tlie Oan-ba-s lie reached tile liidurto ter,-a lucoynda tenanted by the .A (I.mm is, ami up to die ‘2lst of July lie o< tm.le ivnrtiuf to coo-out iVe his exploring party in ili.it district. Pint but part only, of the ( round has I.Eor - be n gone over by the Marquis lie Oinpiegnu a-ul M. Marche. If tile lieutenant finally Mu-coeda lie will hate manned out a now blank section of the African Continent. King Leopold IP's lomuwhat ambitious scheme, which lias also reference to Conti- 1 Africa, seems to have now been be ter organised, by being made less pretentions than before. The be.ginn is not by nature a colonising animri. His neighbor the Hollander, who is also his kinsman in blond, is a born navigator and settler, but the Belgian, or, to use a less new-fangled term, the Fleming, is not. It has even been sarcastically hinted by one of our London contemporaries that he still regards a journey to Paris or Nice as a erions undertaking. But, bo this as it may, the Belgian project about civilising the centre of Africa is so enthusiastic that all that it has needed is toning down. And toned down it has been. The idea is to explore the belt of country which lies south of the recently conquered territories of the Khedive and of the Soudan, and north of what may be called Cameron's boundary, the Zambesi and the Congo. Settlements are to be founded —or, at least, stations —for the comfort of isolated explorers, and for purposes of scientific intercommunication. Thus it is hoped that method and organisation will be introclncedinto thegrand work of Central African exploration. It is meant to be international, and under the control, not merely of committees from different countries, but also of the presidents of the Geographical Societies of Europe. King Leopold, an energetic and enlightened constitutional monarch, though he cannot help being overshadowed by the noble memory of his father, takes a lively interest in the whole enterprise. There has been some bickering between the Belgian Catholics ju'd the Liberals, so-called, of the same State. -I he clergy thought the plan too secular, while the Liberals were horrified at the very vision of the possible triumphs of monks and nuns among the decidedly non-Catholic denizens of the land of Ham. But the King has been wise and conciliatory. The proselytising element is to be kept‘in the background, while Catholics all over the- world can meet on such common grounds as the opening up of roads and highways, the advance of physical science, and the suppression of the slave trade. It is also noteworthy that on Tuesday last news was received from Brussels officially or semiofficially denying that the Belgian Government have any covert or ulterior intention of establishing a' penal colony in Africa. —English paper.