, and northward, inside the big island of Madagascar, that the
Portuguese had some settlements for slaving purposes; that further north
again was Zanzibar, and that the mainland was without a town or spot
where civilised man was to be found, till the Strait of Bab el Mandeb,
at the mouth of the Red Sea, was reached. That there, towards the
interior, was the wonderful country of Abyssinia, in which the Queen of
Sheba once ruled, and Nubia, the birthplace from time immemorial of
black slaves, and that, flowing northward, the mysterious Nile made its
way down numerous cataracts, fertilising the land of Egypt on its annual
overflows, till, passing the great city of Cairo, it entered the
Mediterranean by its numberless mouths.

About Egypt, to be sure, more was known than of all the rest of the
continent together--that there were pyramids and ruined cities, colossal
statues, temples and tombs, crocodiles and hippopotami in the waters of
the sacred river, and Christian Copts and dark-skinned Mahommedans
dwelling on its banks. But few had explored the mighty remains of its
past glory, or made their way either to the summits or into the
interiors of its mountain-like edifices.

Those who had read Herodotus believed in a good many wonders which that
not incredulous historian narrates. The late discoveries of
Livingstone, however, prove that Herodotus had obtained a more correct
account of the sources of the Nile than has hitherto been supposed.
Indeed, free range was allowed to the wildest imagination, and the most
extravagant stories found ready believers, there being no one with
authority to contradict them.

When, however, Bruce and other travellers made their way further than
any civilised man had before penetrated into the interior of the
continent, their accounts were discredited, and people were disappointed
when they were told that many of their cherished notions had no
foundation in truth; in fact, up to the commencement of the present
century the greater part of Africa was a _terra incognita_, and only by
slow and painful degrees, and during a comparatively late period, has a
knowledge of some of its more important geographical features been
obtained.

We will now set forth and accompany in succession the most noted of the
various travellers who, pushing their way into that long unknown
interior, bravely encountering its savage and treacherous tribes, its
fever-giving climate, famine, hardships, dangers and diff