Emin Pasha Relief Expedition - Up The Congo

Up The Congo

The expedition left Zanzibar on 25 February and arrived at Banana at the mouth of the Congo on 18 March, somewhat unexpectedly because a telegraph cable had broken, and local officials had received no instructions. Chartered steamers brought the expedition to Matadi, where the carriers took over, bringing some 800 loads of stores and ammunition to Leopoldville on the Stanley Pool. Progress was slow, since the rainy season was at its height, and food was short - a problem that was to be persistent throughout the expedition (as a subsistence economy, the area along the route rarely had spare food for 1,000 hardworking men).

On 21 April the expedition arrived at Leopoldville. Although King Leopold had promised a flotilla of river steamers, only one (the Stanley) worked; Stanley requisitioned two (Peace and Henry Reed) from missionaries of the Baptist Mission and the Livingstone Inland Mission, whose protests were overridden, and the Florida, which was still under construction and so used as a barge. Even these were insufficient, so many of the stores were left at Leopoldville and more at Bolobo. At this point Stanley also announced the division of the expedition into a "Rear Column" and an "Advance Column", the former to encamp at Yambuya on the Aruwimi, while the Advance Column pressed on to Equatoria.

The voyage up the Congo started 1 May and was generally uneventful. At Bangala Station, Barttelot and Tippu Tib continued up to Stanley Falls in the Henry Reed, while Stanley took the Aruwimi to Yambuya. The inhabitants of Yambuya refused permission to reside in their village, so Stanley attacked and drove the villagers away, turning the deserted village into a fortified camp. Meanwhile, at Stanley Falls, Tippu Tib attempted to acquire carriers, but he believed that Stanley had broken his part of their agreement by leaving ammunition behind, and Barttelot came to Yambuya with only an indefinite promise that carriers would arrive in several weeks.