MR. STANLEY ON THE CONGO.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1242, 9 January 1883, Page 2

MR. STANLEY ON THE CONGO.

A correspondent who has had an interview' with Mr 11. M. Stanley sends to the “ Times” some notes as to the work which has been accomplished on the Congo during the last three years, j He says : —“ The Congo form a spleni did channel of communication [with | the interior] ; only, unfortunately, its I lower course for many miles is obi structed by impassable cataracts. To ' surmount this obstruction has been i the object of Mr Stanley's work. He | states that already he has carried a j well-made road, 15 feet wide on an i average, from below the cataracts, j 230 miles along the north bank of the j river, far beyond Stanley Pool, and : therefore well into the navigable upper L waters. At intervals along the road | stations have been planted, and already there is a regular service of couriers between these stations, and by them a growing traffic is being established. As to what are the possibilities of commerce along this route, he states that during the progress of his work a million yards of Manchester goods have been distributed through the country in payment for labor and other services performed by the natives. One of the articles of transport along the new road was a fine steam launch, with which Mr Stanley has done some good exploring work some 400 miles above Stanley Pool, quite 700 miles above the tuoul’h of the river. . . The greatest difficulty to the utilisation of the river throughout its navigable length is the almost untameable cannibal tribes who

ihb&bit the Uppef reaches between Stanley's furthest point and the neighborhood of Nyauginfl;. Still, Mr Stanley thinks that by cautious gentle and rational treatment, even these will be at length subdued to the influences of civilisation. So far, there can be no doubt, one of the. greatest engineering feats on record has been accomplished.”