His main difficulty would be
the heavy outlay; "impecuniosity" to him would represent the
scurvy and potted cat of the old Arctic voyager. But if he can
afford to travel regardless of delays and expense, and to place
depots of cloth, beads, and other "country-money" at every
hundred miles, Mpongwe-land would be one of the gateways to the
unknown regions of the Dark Continent. Moreover, every year we
hear some new account of travellers coming from the East.
Unfortunately men with L5,000 to L20,000 a year do not "plant the
lance in Africa," the old heroic days of the Spanish and
Portuguese exploring hidalgos have yet to dawn anew. We must now
look forward to subsidies from economical governments, and whilst
the Germans and Italians, especially the former, are so liberally
supported and adequately rewarded, Englishmen, as in the case of
the gallant Lieutenant Cameron, run the risk of being repudiated,
left penniless in the depths of Negro-land.
Chapter XI.
Mr., Mrs., and Master Gorilla.
The reader will kindly bear in mind, when perusing my notes upon
the gorilla, that, as in the the case of the Fan cannibalism
described by the young French traveller, my knowledge of the
anthropoid is confined to the maritime region; moreover, that it
is hearsay, fate having prevented my nearer acquaintance with the
"ape of contention.
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