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After reading such a description do you wonder that the ancients left the land to the south severely alone? We to-day can give a very simple explanation for the above fiery exhibition. These ancient mariners had evidently visited that part of Africa at the time of the bush fires and were consequently appalled.

In the year 1486 a Portuguese navigator, called Diaz, sighted the Cape of Good Hope; and a fellow countryman, Vasco da Gama, a few years later, discovered Natal and the Cape route to India. But of inland exploration there was little or none till men like James Bruce and Mungo Park made their famous journeys in the interior, the one on the Blue Nile, and the other on the Niger. Then bit by bit our knowledge of the interior of Africa was added to by such brave men of whom Dr Livingstone is the most famous.

If you ever get the opportunity of looking at an old map of Africa you will find that most of the interior is blank. But now the map of Africa is filled with names and features that are known to us through exploration. Mighty rivers and great lakes have been discovered, and mountains of which the ancients only dreamed are familiar to us. All honour to the brave men who have laid us so heavily under their debt, and to no one more than to David Livingstone, whose noble example was as an inspiration, and who as missionary and explorer laid down his life for the Dark Continent.