The Diary of A. J. Mounteney Jephson: Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, 1887-1889

Abstract

This is a first-hand account of the expedition led by H. M. Stanley in 1887a 89 to the relief of Emin Pasha, Governor of Equatoria. A. J. Mounteney Jephson, a typical late Victorian traveller, took part in Stanleya (TM)s last expedition in Africa. His recently-discovered diary describes the voyage out of the mouth of the Congo; the journey up the Congo and across the Ituri forests to Lake Albert; the meeting with Emin Pasha; the mutiny of Emina (TM)s troops and their imprisonment of Emin and Jephson; and the journey back to the East coast. Though it fell short of its political and commercial aims, the expedition was important geographically as it solved the last mystery of African topography - the position and nature of the sources of the Nile.