The shadow is still broad and dense, well nigh covering the continent.
The heroic Stanley has found that shadow as dark as when he first
traveled beneath it. The malarial climate and the bitter hostility of
the natives are there yet. The accursed slave trade is as extensive as
ever, embittering the lives of its victims, instigating wars among the
tribes and obstructing agriculture, commerce and civilization. The
failures to suppress it are discouraging. Sir Samuel Baker's
well-equipped military force, Col. Gordon's intrepid courage, and Emin
Pacha's brave endurance have all succumbed before it. Its flow, pushed
back for a time, now returns with its old-time flood. Then, too, the
Mahdi uprising, seemingly suppressed, still lives and is likely to hold
the Soudan if not to harass Egypt. When Emin Pacha, under the protection
of the heroic Stanley, abandoned his little sovereignty, it was a
farewell, humanly speaking, to a speedy establishment of missions in
that territory.

But there is a bright lining around all this darkness. For one thing the
eyes of the civilized world are turned toward Africa with increasing
intensity. The rainbow fringe of missions around the coasts is still
sustained by the gifts and prayers of Christians, and by the blessing of
God. The multiplied efforts of the European States to colonize the dark
continent are facts full of encouragement. The motive may be selfish;
the method sometimes unwise and cruel, and the conflict of contending
interests may be hindrances, but the results will be good. All these
movements aim at commerce, and commerce can only flourish on the ruins
of the slave-trade, and among peaceful tribes with growing industries,
intelligence and civilization. The Congo Free State, with its railroad
in construction, its steamboats on the rivers and its civilized
settlements, is a bright omen of the future.