TO FIND STANLEY. The Mission of Thomas Stevens.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 344, 20 February 1889, Page 3

TO FIND STANLEY. The Mission of Thomas Stevens.

A special correspondent of the ' World ' is on his way to Africa to search for Stanley and Emm Pasha. The correspondent is Thomas Stevens, who made a circuit of the world, so far as roads existed, on a bicycle The ' World's } idea in sending' him out i noc based upon any demand for sensational ism. There is magnificent work to be done in the dark continent, even should the fate of the two famous explorers be cleared up' before Stevens arrives ab Zanzibar. To a great extent the coi'respondent will be left to decide upon his own plans on reaching the ground, though he will always keep in -mind the fact thabjthe greatest interest in all' parts of the civilised world will be' in Stanley and Emm, that his duty will j be to reach them in casdthey are yet alive, to find their records if they have perished, or to follow them if they are held prisoners in the hands of the Mahdi. Special arrangements have been perfected by the ' World ' at Zanzibar and Lower Congo to have forwarded at the earliest possible moment any information about Stanley that could be obtained, regardless of expense. All that legitimate newspaper enterprise could do or devise the * World ' had already done, and yet it i was far from being satisfied, for the results were meagre. In the early part of December it decided to despatch a * World' expedition to the interior of Africa to penetrate the secret of Stanley's long silence to relieve the public of the anxious suspense under which it had for eighteen months laboured by bringing out reliable information concerning the fate,, if destroyed, and the present condition and movements, if alive, of the Stanley expedition for the relief of Emm. Stevens has already left New York tor Zanzibar. He will decide on information gained there as fco his future movements, whether he shall proceed bo the interior in search of Stanley and Emm, or whether he shall devote himself, if they have been found, to independent travel for the purpose of describing the native tribes of Central Africa, conflicts of the Germans on the east coast, or' the horrors of the African slave trade. The latter subject alone will prove of unique interest. If he goes in search of Stanley he may pass through Wasa Land, a very ticklish territory. He will have thirty donkeys carrying loads of beadE, cloth and wire, besides cloth, wire and beads to buy food with from day to day. Stevens will have 'with him an abundance of suitable presents ( for .friendly chiefs of TeiW,' Kikumbaliu, Kavirondo and other points along the route, as well as tribute for freebooting'El'Moran.'a unmarried warriors of Maaai Land, should

the expedition com© in can tact with them* It is hoped, however, to avoid the ferocious Masai altogether. Once safely through the country of tho Masai, the expedition may reasonably expect to reach the northern shore of the Victoria Nyanza without much trouble. Atthfs point Stevens will be within 3oo miles of Wadelai. Once at Wadelai, ho will discover whether Stanley and Emm had joined forces, and if so, what condition they were in and all about them. Having collected all the reliable information possible, Stevens .will hasten back to Zanzibar and cable his budget of news to the ' World.' If, on the contrary, he learns that) the Stanley expedition had been destroyed, that Emm Pasha is a prisoner in the hands of the Mahdists, he will stay in Uganda, and with or without the assistance of the King, make every effort to recover and bring out the records and valuables of the Stanley expedition. Should Stevens reach Emm Bey while Stanley is yet in Ghazel, there will be a chance for him to extend his journey and lend assistance to the Anglo-American explorer, to visit the country of the Nai Niami, or tailed men, with whom Dr. Schweinfurth first made us familiar, and with whom Dr. Junky spent some years, for the still more remarkable race of Akka dwarfs, who live botween Lado and Dufile on the Upper Nile, who dwell in caves and are scarcely forty inches high.