First Woman to cross Africa.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2664, 20 November 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

First Woman to cross Africa.

.Miss Charlotte Mansfield, the. novelist, who lias achieved the distinctioni-of being the first white woman to travel through the continent. of Africa from the Cape to Cairo, arrived in London recently. Her journey occupied seven months, during which she travelled 16,728 miles. She had to traverse many hundreds of miles on foot or in a hammock slung on a pole carried by native bearers. Miss Mansfield, who was accompanied only by colored bearers, was treated with the greatest veneration by the natives. “They had pever seen a white woman before, and in-some of the villages even white men were unknown. The people all came out of the villages to meet me, and throwing their bows and arrows and spears on theground fell flat on their faces. Sometimes the reception was almost too effusive for four times in one day 'the hammock was dropped.through my bearers being beaten off by the natives, who wished to carry me through the village themselves. They had never seen, hair- of my color before, they said (Miss Mansfield’s hair is golden), and the women were deeply interested in my. boots.” ' In addition to tho shooting boots, which so'impressed the native women, Miss Mansfield wore knickerbockers, a short skirtj a Norfolk jacket, and a sun 'helmet, with a fur coat for the cold nights. Miss Mansfield is greatly impressed with Rhodesia. “I did riot find a single white man or woman there discontented,” she said. “Their only want was more white people.”