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The Kilima-Njaro expedition

Front matter

Reading edition

Transcriber’s Note:

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

H. H. Johnston.
H. H. Johnston.

Photo aquatinte Boussod Valadon & Co.

THE KILIMA-NJARO EXPEDITION. A RECORD OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION IN EASTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA. AND A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY, LANGUAGES, AND COMMERCE OF THE KILIMA-NJARO DISTRICT.

BY

H. H. JOHNSTON, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S.

MEMB. ANTHROP. INSTITUTE, ETC.; LEADER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF “THE RIVER CONGO FROM ITS MOUTH TO BÓLÓBÓ.”

WITH SIX MAPS AND OVER EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR.

An illustration of three condors in flight against a plain, light-colored background. The birds are rendered in a detailed, vintage pen-and-ink sketching style with heavy cross-hatching. They are positioned at different angles: one at the top left soaring downward, one in the middle glidng toward the viewer, and one at the bottom banked to the side, showing the distinctive white patches on their wings and necks.
An illustration of three condors in flight against a plain, light-colored background. The birds are rendered in a detailed, vintage pen-and-ink sketching style with heavy cross-hatching. They are positioned at different angles: one at the top left soaring downward, one in the middle glidng toward the viewer, and one at the bottom banked to the side, showing the distinctive white patches on their wings and necks.

LONDON

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, AND CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

1886.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED

ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

[The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.]

iiiTO

SIR JOHN KIRK, K.C.M.G., M.D., ETC.,

TRAVELLER, BOTANIST, DIPLOMATIST, AND GUARDIAN OF BRITISH INTERESTS AT ZANZIBAR,

THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY THE AUTHOR.

v

Black-and-white line illustration of Mount Kilimanjaro, showing a snow-capped peak rising above rolling, textured hills with fine cross-hatched shading.
Black-and-white line illustration of Mount Kilimanjaro, showing a snow-capped peak rising above rolling, textured hills with fine cross-hatched shading.

Hail to thee, monarch of African mountains!

Remote, inaccessible, silent, and lone—

Who from the heart of the tropical fervours

Liftest to heaven thine alien snows.

· · · · ·

I see thee supreme in the midst of thy co-mates.

Standing alone, ’twixt the earth and the heavens,

Heir of the Sunset and Herald of Morn,

Zone above zone, to thy snow-crested summits

The climates of Earth are displayed, as an index,

Giving the scope of the Book of Creation.

There, in the gorges that widen, descending

From cloud and from cold into summer eternal,

Gather the threads of the ice-gendered fountains—

Gather to riotous torrents of crystal,

And, giving each shelvy recess where they dally,

The blooms of the North and its evergreen turfage,

Leap to the land of the lion and lotus!

· · · · ·

Sovereign mountain, thy brothers give welcome:

Mont Blanc, in the roar of his mad avalanches,

Hails thy accession; superb Orizaba,

Belted with beech and ensandalled with palm;

Chimborazo, the lord of the regions of noonday;—

Mingle their sounds in magnificent chorus.

They, the baptized and the crownèd of ages,

Watch-towers of continents, altars of Earth,

Welcome thee now to their mighty assembly.

· · · · ·

None has a claim to the honours of story,

Or the superior splendours of song,

Greater than thou, in thy mystery mantled—

Thou the sole monarch of African mountains.

Take, then, a name, and be filled with existence,

Yea, be exultant in sovereign glory,

While from the hand of the wandering poet

Drops the first garland of song at thy feet.

· · · · ·

“Kilima-njaro,” a poem by Bayard Taylor, circa 1855.

vii

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