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CAMERON, VERNEY LOVETT (1844–1894)

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 109 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMERON, See also:VERNEY LOVETT (1844–1894) , See also:English traveller in Central See also:Africa, was See also:born at Radipole, near See also:Weymouth, See also:Dorset-See also:shire, on the 1st of See also:July 1844. He entered the See also:navy in 1857, served in the Abyssinian See also:campaign of 1868, and was employed for a considerable See also:time in the suppression of the See also:East See also:African slave See also:trade. The experience thus obtained led to his being selected to command an expedition sent by the Royal See also:Geographical Society in 1873, to succour Dr. See also:Livingstone. He was also instructed to make See also:independent explorations, guided by Living-See also:stone's See also:advice. Soon after the departure of the expedition from See also:Zanzibar, Livingstone's servants were met bearing the dead See also:body of their See also:master. Cameron's two See also:European companions turned back, but he continued his See also:march and reached, See also:Ujiji, on See also:Lake See also:Tanganyika, in See also:February 1874, where he found and sent to See also:England Livingstone's papers. Cameron spent some time determining the true See also:form of the See also:south See also:part of the lake, and solved the question of its outlet by the See also:discovery of the Lukuga See also:river. From Tanganyika he struck westward to Nyangwe, the Arab See also:town on the Lualaba previously visited by Livingstone. This river Cameron rightly believed to be the See also:main stream of the See also:Congo, and he endeavoured to procure canoes to follow it down. In this he was unsuccessful, owing to his refusal to countenance See also:slavery, and he therefore turned south-See also:west. After tracing the Congo-See also:Zambezi See also:watershed for hundreds of See also:miles he reached Bihe and finally arrived at the See also:coast op the 28th of See also:November 1875, being the first European to cn ss See also:Equatorial Africa from See also:sea to sea.

His travels, which were published in 1877 under the See also:

title Across Africa, contain valuable suggestions for the opening up of the See also:continent, including the utilization of the See also:great lakes as a " Cape to See also:Cairo " connexion. In recognition of his See also:work he was promoted to the See also:rank of See also:commander, made a See also:Companion of the See also:Bath and given the See also:gold See also:medal of the Geographical Society. The See also:remainder of Cameron's See also:life was chiefly devoted to projects for the commercial develop-ment of Africa, and to See also:writing tales for the See also:young. He visited the See also:Euphrates valley in 1878–1879 in connexion with a proposed railway to the See also:Persian Gulf, and accompanied See also:Sir See also:Richard See also:Burton in his West African See also:journey of 1882. At the Gold Coast Cameron surveyed the Tarkwa region, and he was See also:joint author with Burton of To the Gold Coast for Gold (1883). He was killed, near See also:Leighton See also:Buzzard, by a fall from horseback when returning from See also:hunting, on the 24th of March 1894. A second edition of Across Africa, with new See also:matter and corrected maps, appeared in 1885. A See also:summary of Cameron's great journey, from his own See also:pen, appears in Dr See also:Robert See also:Brown's The See also:Story of Africa, vol. ii. pp. 266-279 (See also:London, 1893).

End of Article: CAMERON, VERNEY LOVETT (1844–1894)

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