" 1M 7 ‘lb e i nmate £90111: mu n g — 3mmS eries I T A L I A N E X P LO R E R S I N A F R I CA S O F I A B O MP I A N I ) I ! WIT H MANY P O R T R A ITS T HE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY ’ 6 E R OW 6 . S H H 5 PATERNOST R , 5 ST PAUL C URC YARD AND 164 P x CCA D I LLY — 33 7 3 Ox fo t b HO A E H T P I N T E O T IJI B N I V E R IT Y R C A R , R R T U S F P R E A C E . T H E sub stan c e of these sketches appeared in the L e isure H o ur in the years 188 8 and 189 0 . At that time they were the first connected account of Italian Exploration in Africa which had appeared in this country . The suggestion was made in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society that they would serve a useful purpose if reprinted . With this object in view the author has carefully revised and in several cases considerably enlarged the original sketches . Resident in Rome , she has had special opportunities of access to the records of the Italian Geographical Society , and for con n sulti g other reliable sources of information . I t is hoped that the list of portraits , which is as complete as it could be made , will give additional value to the volume . E S C O N T N T . C HA P INTRODUCTIO N GIO V AN N I MIAN I CARLO PIAGGIA ROMOLO G Essr AN D LA K E AL B ERT DOCTOR PELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI ORAZIO A N TI N OR I AN D H IS CO MPANIO N S CECCHI AND CHIARI NI AMONG T H E E! UATORIAL LA K ES V DR . TRA ERSI RECENT ITALIAN EXPEDITIONS I N NORTH -EASTERN AFRICA MASSA A X . CARDINAL J W E I T Z EC K ER MI S XI . PASTOR G . P . AND ITALIAN SI ON A R Y ENTERPRISE COU NT PIETRO DI BRAZZA P E C I LE GIACOMO DI BRAZZA, ATTILIO , AN D PIETRO ANTONELLI GIUSEPPE H A I MA N N AND GIACOMO BO V E ’ LU I GI R OB ECC H I B R I CC II ETT I s JOURN EY ACROSS LI BYA A SA I’ ‘ I XVI . GAETANO C F L A N S L I S T O I LUST R T I O . — 0 0 GAETANO CASATI GIO V ANN I MIANI I N ARA B COSTUME CARLO PIAGGIA ROMOLO GESSI P ELLEGRINO MATTEUCCI ORAZIO A N T I N OR I ME N I LEK T H E ! U EEN OF SHOA ANTON IO CECCH I CHIARIN I GUSTAV US BIANCH I CAPTAI N GIULIETTI CARLO COCA ST ELLI DI MONTIGLIO COUNT SALI MB EN I MAJOR PIANO COUNT TANCREDI SA VOI R OUX CARDI NAL MA SSAJA WE I TZE K E . C R G P . COUNT PIETRO DI BRAZZA GIACOMO DI BRAZZA COUNT PI ETRO ANTONELLI LU IGI R OBECCH I BRICCHETTI ITALIAN EXPLOR ERS IN AFRICA. I C H A P T E R . INTRODUCTION . T HE history of Italian explorations in Africa d uring the past twenty years is an index of the vigorous life which animates the nation now united under a j ust and progressive government . I t w as not enough to blend in one the seven states into which i! b e ! pae re had been divided ; to wrest from the Pope his temporal power ; to restore the finances ; establish schools ; create an army, and teach a common language to the - dialect speaking inhabitants , from Venice to Sicily ; but I talians have tracked the waves of the Eastern and Western oceans , explo red the icy regions of the North , tried to solve the enigmas of the Antarctic Continent , and laid down their noble lives in the malarious forests and burning deserts of Africa . Exalted rivalry with England and America the models of young Italy— impelled them to undertake these explorations . They knew that Africa beguiled them to exile and death but the 1 I N 2 ITALIAN EXPLORERS AFRICA . yet undiscovered lakes , the frowning mountains , u the nknown rivers , attracted them and inspired them with ambition to plant the I talian banner and leave their own names inscribed on some part of the Dark Continent . After the great explorations of Livingstone, achti al Stanley, Cameron , and N g , a new phase of African exploration began ; and fresh impulse was given to it by the foundation of the International African Society by the King of Belgium , which proposed to explore Equatorial , Central , and Eastern Africa , Abyssinia, and the country of the Somali . This region between the White Nile and Cape N Guardafui , including the basin of the Blue ile , an d the peninsula of the Somali Shoa, which is a part of Abyssinia, has chiefly engaged the atten 1 tion of Italian explorers since 8 75 . A n tin o ri , Cecchi , Chiarini , Piaggia, Gessi , Matteucci , Bianchi , and Martini, not only aimed to found a station in the Shoa and open routes of commerce from there to the coast, but to penetrate south -west to the equatorial lakes over a region even yet unexplored . But this was not the only sphere of action for the Italian explorers . Long before the expedition sent out by the 18 Roman Geographical Society, in 75 , M iani had penetrated to the heart of Africa, and left his Mam u wearied frame to repose in b e tt . Romolo Gessi, later, as an officer of the Egyptian Army, under heroic Gordon , ascended the White Nile, and fought a knightly battle for the extinction of 1 INTRODUCTION . 3 slavery . Piaggia lived alone among the savages of N iam - N iam ; and Matteucci and Massari crossed the continent in a south - westerly direction from the Red Sea to the mouth of the Niger . Princes and peasants of Italy gave their sons to solve the m ighty secrets of a land SO near that it almost touches the southern coast of Sicily, and yet so utterly unknown ; white - bearded old men went out to end their days in the enchanting wildernesses ; some were enslaved , some were imprisoned and starved on the N ile by the long armed aquatic plants ; some bore the germs of fatal diseases to the borders of home , and died on r the ve y threshold of glory. V B GIO ANN I M IAN I I N ARA COSTUM E . C P T E R I I H A . GIOVANN I M IANI . B EFORE Speke discovered Lake Victoria , the source of the Nile, Giovanni Miani the Venetian had penetrated to within a few miles of it , and left - his name carved upon a giant tamarind tree . Under this tree he held counsel with the natives , r who , instead of telling him , as they afte wards told Speke and Baker, that the N ile , or Meri , issued ’ from a great lake a few days march beyond , gave him false information and diverted him from his purpose of pressing onward . Speke saw the name of Miani carved on the tamarind -tree in his celebrated journey from 1 GIOVANNI M IAN I . 5 Zanzibar to the central lakes , and from them to the Nile . The life of Miani was one of sadness and disappointment from the cradle to the grave . Born 18 10 - near Venice in , he was first a wood carver , then artist , then musician ; and when the events 18 8 of 4 drew him into the vortex of political life, he was exiled from I taly . This was the beginning trave ls of his in Africa , which continued without 18 intermission until his death in 72 . After many journeys in Lower Egypt, Miani , in 185 9 — while noble-hearted Livingstone was exploring in Southern Africa— undertook his first expedition up the N ile . But all of his companions died of fever at Khartoum , and he was obliged to C seek others in that ity , with whom he continued the journey to Gondokoro and some distance beyond . He encountered perils from the hostility of the s avages , from the malarious climate , from the rocks and terrible aquatic plants on the rivers , and was finally compelled to return because his escort refused to follow him . Mian i made a second and a third journey up the Nile to catch elephants , procuring money for future exped itions by the sale of the ivo ry . The last of t hese journeys , from Gondokoro to the country of G aluffi the , is one of the boldest explorations in wa the Nile region , as he was obliged to open the y for his people by force, through the lands of the f natives , and found the streams di ficult to cross on account of the rains . H e lived in a continual bath ; and fought a battle with a tribe of natives , I 6 ITALIAN EXPLORERS I N AFRICA . killing the king . The extreme point he reached !sixty miles from Lake Albert, a small lake connected with Victoria) is marked on many maps of the interior of Africa by the tamarind -tree upon which he carved his name . Undaunted by the - ill success of this expedition , M iani , on his return to Cairo , organised another, and left for the Upper Nile, but, from unknown causes , soon returned and went to Europe , where he was welcomed by several monarchs and decorated by Victor E manuel .