Livingstone's Africa: Perilous Adventures and Extensive Discoveries in the Interior of Africa by David Livingstone; Illustrator-Engravings - 1872

Hubbard Brothers, 1872. Hardcover. Very Good. Philadelphia and Boston, Hubbard Bros. Small 8vo. Hardcover. Intricately decorated cloth boards with gilt lettering. Tight binding and solid boards. Minimal shelf wear. Slight scuffing around edges. Number inscribed on end paper. Otherwise, clean, unmarked pages. Slight tanning.<br><br>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.<br><br>Included is a detailed account of the discoveries of both renown explorers. An exceptional book in very good condition.