ABSTRACT
On 14 August 1879, some two years after his descent of the Congo, Stanley arrived back at the mouth of the river. Stanley was determined to build a durable road, along which there would be quick and easy communication between the estuary and the head of navigation on the river, and this meant that his progress was slow, even if it was sure. Stanley found that he had to handle all the organisation and management himself, and even supervise personally the construction of the road. Even before this first stretch of road had been completed, an event occurred which, although Stanley did not realise it at the time, might well have signalled the frustration of the whole enterprise. In fact de Brazza was much more adept at getting along with Africans than was Stanley. De Brazza, meanwhile, retraced his earlier route up the Ogooue and descended the Alima, arriving at Stanley Pool in the course of August 1880.
