Livingstone

1872 · 6048 — Boston: Hubbard Bros 1872. Publisher's Cloth Binding. Very Good. Intricately decorated cloth boards with gilt lettering. Binding firm with only minor scuffing to corners. Livingstone was one of the first Westerners to make a transcontinental journey across Africa Luanda on the Atlantic to Quelimane on the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Zambezi in 1854-1856. Despite repeated European attempts especially by the Portuguese central and southern Africa had not been crossed by Europeans at that latitude owing to their susceptibility to malaria dysentery and sleeping sickness which was prevalent in the interior and which also prevented use of draft animals oxen and horses as well as to the opposition of powerful chiefs and tribes such as the Lozi and the Lunda of Mwata Kazembe. In 1874 the New York Herald in partnership with Britain's Daily Telegraph financed Stanley on an expedition to the African continent. One of his missions was to solve a last great mystery of African exploration by tracing the course of the Congo River to the sea. The difficulty of this expedition is hard to overstate. Stanley used sectional boats to pass the great cataracts separating the Congo into distinct tracts. After 999 days on 9 August 1877 Stanley reached a Portuguese outpost at the mouth of the Congo River. Starting with 356 people only 114 had survived of whom Stanley was the only European.Included is a detailed account of the discoveries of both renown explorers. An exceptional book in very good condition. Hubbard Bros hardcover