You would be hard-pressed to name any explorer in history who endured such sustained misery and terror so deep in the wilderness. Perhaps the only expedition as grueling was the previous transcontinental journey by Stanley that established the sources of the Nile and the Congo rivers. Yet Stanley persevered through all the travails, year after year, expedition after expedition. His European companions marveled at his “strength of will.” Africans called him Bula Matari: Breaker of Rocks.
