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 SIX YEARS'..,;';.:.:,,..;:;: 
 
 OF 
 
 ADVENTURE IN CONGO-LAND, 
 
 BY 
 
 E. J. GLAVE. 
 
 1-' 
 
 ONE OF STANLEY'S PIONEER OFFICERS, 
 
 With an Introduction by H. M, Stanley. 
 
 Illustrated by 
 
 The Author, Bacher, Bridgman, Gribayedoff, 
 Kemble, and Taber. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 R. H. RUSSELL & SON. 
 
!^ 
 
 ^J 
 
 Copyright 1892, 
 By R. H. Russell & Son. 
 
A' 
 
 TO MY MOTHER. 
 
 
Thanks are due to Messrs. Harper & Bros, and The 
 Century Company for the privilege of reprinting 
 portions of this book which have appeared from 
 time to time in The Century Magazine, Harper's 
 Young People and St. Nicholas. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 -y/.- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Longing for fokkign tuavkl-African Exploration-Rkceive orders to join- 
 Stanley— Good bve TO OLD ENGLAND— The Kkoo-boys-The African coast- 
 Arrival AT THK Congo River- The overland march— All stricic down in 
 
 yiiVER-DEATH OF A COMPANION-TlIE SNUFF TAKING BA-KONGO-M EETING WITH 
 
 Stanley on the upper Congo. pagi-.s 1-5-36 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 With Stanley on the "En Avant"— Steaming up River— Stories around the Camp 
 FIRE— The FIGHT AT Bolobo-Declaration ok peace— Akrival at Lukolela— 
 Curious superstitions— Blooi> buothekiiood— Alone at Lukolela— ]-eap.ning 
 the native tongue-Ghastly signs at Mbunga-Hippopotamus hunt. pages 37-57 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Daiiy Life in the African Village-Strange observances-! am advised to ex- 
 THACT MY evelashes-Bongo Nsanda-Biiffalo iiunting-The Congo Fowl- 
 MY Black hunter in peril-Stanley's Return from the Falls-Mpukk desires 
 
 ... „ PAGES 68-76 
 
 MY SKULL— W AR. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 superstitious beliefs-The '-Nganga's POWER-THE <.ui.ek of KKIMHA-THE CONDUCr 
 of the Medicine Man-Cukious devotions-Ciiarms-Tuiai. hv ,.,,is..n-M^^ti. 
 animals-Transmigration of spirits-Mpuke's friend, the hippo-Barimu. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 AFRICAN JUNGLES-TRAPS AND TRAPPERS-BONGO NSANDA-CONGO *;f •'•^';. "^"^^^;";:;'-'^';;: 
 BACCO-RETUKN OF THE WAR CANOES-BURIAL CEREMONY-NATH E ««^"^"«* 
 ARRIVAL OF KEYS-BUFFALO HUNTING— A SAD DISASTER. ^*''f-° "'-'" 
 
CONTENTS. 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Buffalo hunting— Cacsht in a storm— a spirit in a rifle barrkl— The medicine 
 MAN'S UKTREAT— Extraction of bullets— Friendly chat with thF. natives— 
 A HUMAN sacrifice— The Executioner— Horrors of slavery— The young chief 
 Ndobo— His despotism and fate. pages 115-133 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Short hand speech— "Nyo"— Congo orators— Legal Discussions -A duel— The sleep- 
 ing sickness— Gorillas— Natural punishments— Fights amongst animals— A 
 guinea fowl story— An ii.l-tempered hippo— The Congo Free State— Lukolela 
 
 abandoned. pages 134-151 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A trip down stream— Robbed by a hippo— Liebrechts at Bolobo Station— " Iba- 
 KA"— Charm worship— "The Red Opera Hat"— Charged by a buffalo— The 
 HABY's bath— Taken by a crocodile— Abandon Bolobo— Visit to Bangala— 
 Native Carriers— A trip to England. pages 152-169 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NEW Expedition— Back to the Congo— Renewal of old acquaintances— Ele- 
 phants' moonlight stroll— Established at Bukute— African yoi;ngsters- 
 Bieselo— Elephant hunting— Euelu of Monzole- The Signal Drum— The 
 Baumbe— Bukunu the young Nganga— Ivory trading— Bienelo's enemy- In 
 Command of the "Florida." pages 170-187 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Luldngu Pirates— a Row with the Natives— Slave Markets— The Lufembe Raid- 
 ers— Thk Balolo— Elephants at night— A rude awakening— Malinga village— 
 My brother Isekeaka— Natives ask for help— Ivory trading— Slavery in the 
 
 IKELEMBA. pages 188-206 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Return to K ins assa— Hunting in Stanley Pool— The "New York"— Stanley- The 
 Emin Bev Relief Expedition-Tippu Tib— My cook "Mochindu"— The Fierce 
 Bai.ui— Bienelo's fight— I^agging an elephant— Cannibal warriors— War— Bar- 
 barous customs— Pishing— Killed by an elephant. pages 207-227 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Arab Slavery— Tippu Tib— Persecuted natives— Ivory— Thompson's hunt at night— 
 A TRIP UP THE RuKi— Attacked by cannibals— Diving for a wounded croco- 
 dile—Athletic meeting— "Nep"— Progress on the Congo— Suppression of 
 Slavery— Overland to the coast— Congo Railway— Home Again. pages 228-247 
 
» - 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION BY MR. H. M. STANLEY. 
 
 Mr. E. J. Glave, the author of this book, is one of those young 
 Englishmen who, in 1883, were sent to me for service on the Congo, 
 by the Chief of the Bureau of the International Association of 
 Brussels, I soon recognized in Mr. Glave those qualities for which 
 I was eagerly searching in the applicants for service, and which 
 were absolutely necessary in a pioneer. He was tall, strong, and 
 of vigorous constitution, with a face marked by earnestness and 
 resolve, and when I began questioning him I was agreeably sur- 
 prised to find his sentiments equal to his appearance. His period 
 of probation at Stanley Pool w^as therefore short. I was in need 
 of a chi3f for a new station that was to be built at Lukolela — a 
 place about three hundred miles above the Pool, and I selected 
 him. 
 
 On reaching the locality I pointed out to Mr. Glave the site of 
 the future station, and certainly nothing could be more unpromis- 
 ing and more calculated to damp mere effervescent ardor than 
 the compact area of black forest— raising its tall head two hun- 
 dred feet above the bank— and shadowing so darkly the river's 
 margin— but Mr, Glave regarded it with interest, and a smile of 
 content, and accepted the responsibilities then and there intrusted 
 to him with a pleasure not to be suppressed. We landed and made 
 fast under the broad leafy shadows, turned to and commenced to 
 chop the forest giants down, in order that a little sunshine might 
 be let down upon the site. When this was done, we prepared to 
 advance up the river, leaving the debris of the forest littering the 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ground, and with the stern patriarchs seemingly challenging the 
 slight, pale-faced young man and his little following to attack 
 them. 
 
 I was absent for a few months up river, and as I descended my 
 mind often reverted to young Glave left in the woods of Lukolela. 
 For in those early days of Congo pioneers it was rare to meet a 
 man who could tackle work for the mere pleasure in work. Most 
 men found that work was a bore, and took the earliest opportunity' 
 to sail home again after their too brief visit, and I more than half 
 suspected that possibly the young Englishman had by this discov- 
 ered that the climate did not agree with him, or that pioneering 
 had lost its charms. But when I came opposite Lukolela Woods 
 I curiously examined the extent of tree-clad bank, and long before 
 we came to the landing-place we found that the clearing had been 
 vastly increased, and a large sunny area was revealed, and a 
 commodious house flanked by rows of neat huts was approaching 
 completion. It was not, however, until we stood in the middle of 
 the clearing, and roughly computed the huge stumps of trees and 
 looked narrowly into the details, that we could quite realize what 
 energy and good will had been devoted to effect the change. From 
 the view I then obtained, I always regarded Mr. Glave as one who 
 in the future would probably surpass his opportunities. He also 
 showed me note-books which revealed an artist, as well as a future 
 literary aspirant. But I regret for his sake that the opportunities 
 which specially suit him are riot so frequent as his merits deserve. 
 His conscientiousness, his inflexible determination to do the most 
 that can be done in a given period, the love with which he sets 
 about it, and the absorbing interest it has for him, make me who 
 know his worth, feel sorry that he cannot find the peculiar hard 
 task for which he is so fitted, and wherein he could be so happy. 
 
 Many people have called me hard, but they are always those 
 whose presence a field of work could best dispense with, and 
 whose nobility is too nice to be stained with toil. Glave is not one 
 of these, but a man who relishes a task for its bigness, and takes 
 to it with a fierce joy. In the meantime, however, let him indulge 
 his literary aspirations, and for relief handle his pen and pencil in 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 delineating some of his early experiences in African pioneering. 
 I think he can do it well, to the pleasure of many stay-at-home 
 readers in parlor and school, on the farm and at the counter, for 
 as every one cannot go to Africa, why may not Africa be brought 
 to them as is here done by my friend, Mr. E. J. Glave. 
 
 Hknry M. Stanley. 
 
1 >_ > » 1 
 
 » > 1 » > > 
 
 "BUNDUKI SULTANI YA BARA BARA." 
 (THE GUN IS THE SULTAN OF AFRICA.) 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A BC'VS AMBITION. 
 Longing for foukign tuavkl— African Exploration— Reckivk orukrs to join Stani-i;y— 
 
 (iOUDBVK TO OLD ENGLAND— THE KROO- BOYS— THE AFRICAN COAST— ARRIVAL AT THE 
 
 Congo Rivkr-The overland march— All struck down nv fever— Death of a 
 
 COMPANION— The snuff taking Ba-KONGO — JI EKTING with SIANLEV on the VIPER 
 
 Congo. 
 
 Very early in life I made up my mind that I would some day see 
 for myself the wonderful countries that I read of in books of travel 
 and adventure that formed the whole of my schoolboy library. I 
 lived in imagination in strange countries and among wild tribes — 
 my heroes were all pioneers, trappers, and hunters of big game ; 
 and after I had eagerly turned over the pages of Stanley's search 
 for Livingstone, and followed with breathless attention the narra- 
 tive of his thrilling journey, "Through the Dark Continent," I 
 would close the book and wonder whether it would ever be my 
 good fortune to cross the seas or live under the tropical sun, I de- 
 
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 16 liV^ ,SAFAG^ AFRICA. 
 
 cided within myself that I would make my own way in the world, 
 away from the beaten tracks of civilization. 
 
 I was quite prepared to go anywhere, and, if there had been any 
 demand for my services, would have volunteered with equal alac- 
 rity to join expeditions to the North Pole or the South Seas. 
 
 But I remember that, even at school, Africa had a peculiar fas- 
 cination for me. A great map of the " Dark Continent" hung on 
 the walls of my class-room; the tentative way in which the 
 geographers of that day had marked down localities in almost 
 unknown equatorial regions seemed to me delightful and mys- 
 terious. 
 
 There were rivers with great estuaries, which were traced on 
 the chart for a few miles into the interior and then dribbled away 
 in lines of hesitating dots ; lakes with one border firmly inked in 
 and the other left in vaguest outline ; mountain ranges to whose 
 very name was appended a doubtful query ; and territories of 
 whose extent and characteristics, ignorance was openly confessed 
 by vast unnamed blank spaces. 
 
 This idea of travel was always present to me, but very soon 
 after I left school and had to suffer the, to me, distasteful experi- 
 ence of office-work, the realization of it seemed to grow more and 
 m.ore improbable. Many dreary months passed on. I hated the 
 foggy London streets and the ways of city life and longed only 
 for the time of my deliverance, without knowing who could help 
 
 me. 
 
 I had no friends in any way connected with exploring expedi- 
 tions in any part of the globe. Still, here was I in this great city 
 of London, whence expeditions were constantly dispatched to the 
 remotest parts of the earth ; and I reasoned that members must 
 frequently be wanted, and sometimes at a moment's notice, to join 
 some perilous enterprise. If I could only get my name noted by 
 the proper authorities, I might by chance be sent in an emergency. 
 
 At that time several influential and philanthropic gentlemen, 
 earnestly interested in Stanley's wonderful explorations in Central 
 Africa, and recognizing the mutual benefit that would accrue from 
 the opening up, by civilization, of the heart of Africa, had formed 
 
COLONEL STRAUCH. 17 
 
 themselves, under the royal patronage of King Leopold II. of Bel- 
 gium, into a society entitled " L' Association Internationale Af ri- 
 caine." 
 
 Stanley, having taken a few months' rest to recuperate his 
 health, enfeebled by illness and hardships during his great jour- 
 ney through Africa, was now again on the Congo River, in com- 
 mand of a large expedition under the auspices of this new society, 
 and was engaged in founding along the course of the river, a line 
 of garrison stations which should form the nucleus of a govern- 
 ment destined, ultimately, to rule these vast territories so aptly 
 described as the "Dark Continent." 
 
 I found out that this association had its offices in Brussels, and 
 so I sat doWn and patiently laid siege to these gentlemen — I bom- 
 barded them with letters and applications ; for a long time there 
 was no result, but one day, to my intense delight, I received a 
 communication from the long-suffering secretary. It was very 
 brief — a bare acknowledgment of the receipt of my applications, 
 with the intimation that there were "No vacancies," and that at 
 any rate they needed only experienced men — as I was only nine- 
 teen years of age at that time I certainly did not fill this require- 
 ment. This might have disheartened some, but it had the con- 
 trary effect on me. The mere fact of the secretary taking any 
 notice of my letters was enough. A small ray of hope had fallen 
 on my path, and the future appeared less dark after the receipt of 
 this letter which seemed ominous of success some day. A breach 
 had been made in the dead walls of indifference that barred the 
 way to the realization of my ambition, and I applied myself again 
 with renewed vigor to my task of letter-writing. 
 
 At last, one memorable day, I received another letter, this time 
 to the effect that the vice president of the society, Colonel Strauch, 
 wTuld be at the Burlington Hotel, Cork street. London, at nine 
 o'clock the following morning and requested me to meet him 
 there. 
 
 I had finally gained my point. How well I remember pacing 
 up and down Cork street for hours before the time appointed for 
 the momentous interview. The hour arrived. I was at once shown 
 
18 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 into the rooms occupied by the colonel, who received me in the 
 kindest manner. 
 
 He conversed with me for some time upon the nature of this 
 African enterprise, and described, with the utmost candor, all the 
 worst features of a pioneer's life in such a country — the hundred 
 ills to be contended with, the fevers and other sicknesses to be 
 guarded against, the incessant watchfulness the white officer has 
 to exercise when surrounded by savage and superstitious natives, 
 and lastly the small reward to be gained after years of hard work 
 and anxiety. But if the colonel had painted the prospect in even 
 darker colors, he would have been unable to dissuade me from fol- 
 lowing out my plan. I told him that I was determined to go, and 
 was prepared for anything. When I left him, however, my 
 chances did not seem to have advanced much, as the colonel could 
 not definitely promise me an appointment, and would commit him- 
 self only to a pledge that he would bear me in mind if any oppor- 
 tunity offered, 
 
 A few days after this interview, I again commenced writing let- 
 ters, so that my name might not be forgotten. I received, one 
 Saturday morning, a letter bearing the Brussels postmark. It was 
 from Colonel Strauch, asking me if I was prepared to enter the 
 service of the African International Association and to start from 
 Liverpool on the following Tuesday morning. "Yes," I answered, 
 by cable, without hesitation. Of course I could. I really believe 
 that rather than submit to the incessant worry of receiving and 
 answering my pestering communications he had gaven me the ap- 
 pointment. 
 
 It was awkward, certainlj", that the intervening day being Sun- 
 day, little time was left for saying good-by to my friends, or get- 
 ting together any sort of a well-selected outfit. 
 
 On the other hand, my friends were always prepared to hear of 
 my departure, my determination to travel through foreign lands 
 was well known to them, and they would be satisfied with the 
 briefest adieus. Monday was indeed a busy day, I was con- 
 vinced, from what I had read, that the elaborate kits furnished by 
 enterprising outfitters in London were of little service in the trop- 
 
THE AFRICAN COAST. 19 
 
 ics, and that an accumulation of unnecessary baggage was the 
 thing to be avoided. So I confined myself to the purchase of a 
 very moderate kit ; but, being compelled to rush from one store to 
 another to get the different articles— here to purchase gun and 
 rifle and cartridges and pistol belt; at another place, boots and 
 leggings, and then to some outfitter's for my stock of clothing 
 ^suitable for the tropics ; what with this and the numerous friends 
 to whom I was compelled to bid good-by, I found my time fully 
 occupied until I left by the midnight train for Liverpool. 
 
 On Tuesday morning I was steaming down the Mersey on board 
 the good ship " Volta," bound for the port of Banana at the mouth 
 of the Congo. The letter in my pocket from the African Interna- 
 tional Association instructing me to proceed to Central Africa and 
 place myself under the orders of Stanley was a keen satisfaction 
 to my boyish but ambitious spirit. 
 
 I found among my fellow-passengers others whose destination 
 was the same as mine; there were some Swedish and Belgian 
 officers engaged by the association, and also three Englishmen. 
 Milne, Edwards, and Connelly, seafaring men who had traveled 
 all over the world. We four fellow-countrymen naturally became 
 very intimate on the voyage, and hoped that our fortunes would 
 not be separate when we reached our destination. 
 
 Seven days' steaming brought us to the picturesque island of 
 Madeira, where we anchored only a few hours, and then made for 
 the African shores ; and in another six days we drew in toward 
 the low-lying coast, whose tall palm trees we had plainly seen for 
 some time on the horizon, and cast anchor opposite the town of 
 Sierra Leone. Finding that there was nothing to detain him at 
 this port, after a few hours the captain weighed anchor, and we 
 dropped down along the shore until we reached moorings abreast 
 of one of the villages of the Kroo-men. Here the ship's cannon 
 was fired to announce to the natives our arrival — and the report, 
 as it boomed over the placid sea, was the signal for great activity 
 on shore. Hundreds of black figures rushed to the water's edge, 
 launched their dug-out canoes, and. in a few minutes after our 
 signal had been fired, were speeding over the surf toward us, fill- 
 
20 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 ing the air with their excited jargon and laughter. As soon as a 
 rope ladder could be thrown over the ship's side they scrambled 
 on board. Never were human beings more fantastically attired. 
 Fashion here seems to insist on variety, and no, two men wore- 
 clothes of the same cut or color. Among the crowd I noticed a 
 few whose elegant taste was evidently much admired by their fel- 
 lows. One, whose sole garment was a pair of brightly striped 
 bathing-drawers, had covered his woolly skull with the brass hel- 
 met of an English Life-Guardsman ; while another dusky Hercules 
 had squeezed his massive frame into a drummer-boy's coat, the tails 
 
 A VISIT FROM THE "KROO-BOYS. 
 
 of which dangled just below his shoulder-blades, the grotesque- 
 ness of the costume being heightened by his wearing a red plusk 
 "Tarn o'Shanter" bonnet. A third, who strutted our decks with, 
 conscious pride, was wearing a lady's black Cashmere dolman and 
 a tall silk hat. It seemed to me at first that these extraordinary 
 people must have just returned from looting some gigantic second- 
 hand clothes store. I learned afterward that cast-off garments of 
 all kinds have a ready market among these people ; whole cargoes 
 of assorted costumes are shipped to this coast and exchanged hy 
 the white traders for African produce. 
 
 These "Kroo-boys," as our strangely attired visitors are called 
 on the west coast of Africa, are the laborers always employed by 
 the trading houses on the coast and by the steamers. 
 
THE KROO-BOYS. 
 
 21 
 
 Captains of ships are commissioned by the traders down south 
 to engage men for them, on the outward-bound voyage. Some- 
 times a boat will ship as many as four hundred Kroo-men des- 
 tined for the traders down the coast in need of labor; and the 
 African coasters which leave Liverpool short of hands, make up 
 their full crews by the addition of Kroo-boys to each department. 
 
 The men hired by the traders are shipped in gangs of twenty or 
 thirty, each gang being in 
 charge of a head man who 
 brings them back at the 
 expiration of their time of 
 service, which is usually 
 one year. They have a 
 curious fashion of select- 
 ing for themselves Euro- 
 pean names, and in order 
 to prevent any mistake 
 arising from the inability 
 of most Europeans to tell, 
 off-hand, one negro from 
 another, they wear these 
 names cut into metal 
 badges slung round their 
 necks like large baggage 
 checks. 
 
 This excellent plan en- 
 abled me to discover that for the honor of this visit we were 
 indebted to such distinguished names as "Pea-soup," "Bottle- 
 of-Beer," "Lee Scupper," "Poor-Man-have-no-Friend," and 
 several other aristocratic cognomens bestowed on them by 
 mariners who visit these shores. Another of their peculi- 
 arities interested me greatly. The ordinary passenger starts with 
 well-filled trunks, whose contents have a tendency to waste 
 away, the longer the voyage lasts, but I noticed that our new 
 acquaintances each brought with them an empty box, which, 
 when carried down the gangway -plank on the head of Mr. Bottle- 
 
 'KROO-BOY6" IN PULL DRES8. 
 
22 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 of -Beer or Lee Scupper, bulged open with a hundred unconsidered 
 trifles, gleaned by industrious fingers from decks and cabins. 
 
 A few days after we had shipped our new hands, we were lying^ 
 in the mouth of the Niger. The " Volta" was to remain at Bonny 
 three days, to discharge and take in cargo, and here our small band 
 of embryo explorers first placed foot on the shores of the great 
 continent which was to be the scene of our future experiences. 
 We wandered about the small settlement of European traders and 
 then passed on to the natives' quarters on the outskirts. What- 
 a miserable first glimpse we had of Africa and the Africans. 
 
 These wretched, filthy huts, rudely thatched with grass and 
 bamboo, with their still more wretched inhabitants, the half- 
 intoxicated groups of listless natives, who watched our progress 
 through the village, with bleared and swimming eyes, told with 
 painful eloquence the demoralizing effect on the savage of some 
 of the products of our civilization. A goodly part of every cargo 
 shipped to the coast is composed of cases of a fiery spirit which is 
 freely given to the natives in exchange for their palm oil, palm 
 nuts, ivory or beeswax. As the white men's settlement itself is 
 bright and prosperous, with its solid white houses, the contrast 
 with the degradation and squalor of the natives is rendered all the 
 more saddening. We saw the same scenes all along the coast, as 
 we went in and out of a number of small ports whose names were^ 
 once famous or infamous in connection with the slave-trade. 
 
 We now were making our way south, hugging the shore and 
 anchoring only when trade offered. The long voyage was in this 
 way relieved from monotony, and every day's incidents formed a 
 fresh budget of news to be discussed in the cabin at nightfall. 
 What stories were told! What extraordinary adventures the 
 most of us met with in our brief trips ashore. 
 
 We had two enthusiastic hunters in our party who were excep- 
 tionally well posted in all matters pertaining to sport, especially 
 the slaying of big game. But heretofore their lives had been 
 where such knowledge availeth nothing. 
 
 No one knew so well as they the habits of the wildest beasts; 
 how, if opportunity offered, to track them to their secret lairs;. 
 
'• D UKE HENSHA W. " 
 
 23 
 
 when and where to catch them ; and, when caught, how to cook 
 them, They had with them shot of all sizes and guns by the best 
 makers, with all the most recent impro\ ements. 
 
 As yet they had not fired a shot, but if a chance occurred we 
 should see I Parbleu I It was at Bonny that a fitting opportunity 
 presented itself. Rumors reached us as we lay in the stream, that 
 there was excellent shooting in the surrounding country. Away 
 started our friends, early one morning, fully equipped, everything 
 new — guns, game-bags and costumes, pistols and knives. All 
 day long we missed them from the ship and it was only late in 
 the afternoon that we saw them putting off from the shore. Ex- 
 pectation ran high on board. Every one speculated on the result 
 of the day's sport, and when they marched up the gangway, 
 broiled red as lobsters by the tropical sun, and holding up in tri- 
 umph the body of a small kingfisher, we felt that intelligence and 
 skill could do no more. For myself, I was most interested in 
 studying the curiously diverse types of natives met Avith in the 
 different ports we touched at. At old Calabar, a visit to one of 
 the chiefs in that district made a great impression on me by its 
 fantastic quaintness. This old fellow was living in a fine, large, 
 plank house which had been originally made for him in Europe 
 and sent out in sections to be put together on his ground. I found 
 him seated in a large room profusely decorated with cheap mir- 
 rors, china ornaments, and large, gaudy oleographs. Numerous 
 clocks chimed and struck the hours from each of the four walls. 
 "Duke Henshaw" (the name by which the chief was known), in- 
 different to all this grandeur, was seated on the floor smoking a 
 long clay pipe, and at the time of my visit was attired in a bath- 
 towel. While I was gazing about me, hardly able to realize the 
 full absurdity of the picture, I heard myself addressed in the 
 choicest phrases by the old Duke, and, in tones which would not 
 have sounded amiss from a Piccadilly "dude," he urged me to 
 accept his hospitality. 
 
 He then told me, when he noticed my surprise, that he had 
 received the advantages of a European education— and that 
 although he once wore broadcloth and stiff collars, he now pre- 
 
24 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 ferred hiis costume light and airy and with no starch in it. Our 
 stays at most of the trading-stations were so brief that I rarely 
 attempted to go ashore, but, while we took m cargo, would lean 
 lazily over the bulwarks and watch the swarm of dug-out canoes 
 which crowded around the vessel, laden witii monkeys and par- 
 rots, cocoanuts, pineapples, bananas, and a hundred varieties of 
 vegetables whose names were then unknown to me. 
 
 We had been forty-five days on board when the captain drew 
 our attention to the color of the water through whicli the vessel 
 was moving. "That is the water of the Congo," said he, and far 
 out into the blue Atlantic we could see the turbid, muddy stream 
 thrusting its way and refusing to mingle with the waters of the 
 ocean. And soon the Volta was plowing her way through a 
 mass of tropical vegetation littered over the surface of the sea in 
 every direction, the waters growing tawnier and darker as we 
 steamed slowly in toward shore; at last when within a few miles 
 of land we were able to perceive our destination at the mouth of 
 the Congo. For there in the distance glistened the low--lying, 
 white-roofed little settlement of Banana Point, which was at this 
 time the general depot of all supplies for the interior. The large 
 steamers, loaded with merchandise from Europe, discharged their 
 cargoes at this port to be transshipped to smaller vessels and con- 
 veyed up the Congo. Here we disembarked Avith all our belong- 
 ings, and were hospitably entertained at the French trading- 
 house, where we had to wait for the small steamer which was to 
 take us up the river. A very uninteresting place. Banana— a 
 narrow tongue of sand stretching into the sea and a few plank- 
 built houses and stores of the European traders, and rows of huts 
 occupied by the black employees ; with utter absence of vegetation, 
 the glare of the sand and whitened houses, dazzles and hurts 
 the eyes, and were it not for a constant sea breeze, the stifling 
 heat would be unbearable. It was a pleasant relief the next 
 morning to find ourselves steaming up the dark Congo River 
 toward Boma. 
 
 At Boma we found a busy settlement of traders, over whose 
 stores floated the flags of England, France, Holland, and Portu- 
 
WORD FROM STANLEY. 25 
 
 gal. Gangs of negroes were discharging the cargoes of the small 
 river-steamers which lay along the wharves. 
 
 Here I experienced the unpleasant introduction to that univer- 
 sal pest— the mosquito. Sleep was utterly impossible. As Boma 
 was not equal to the sudden demand made on its hospitality, our 
 party had to lie on the floor, each rolled in a blanket. We 
 hardly recognized each other the next morning, so swollen and 
 altered were our features. 
 
 Word reached us at Boma that Stanley was anxiously waiting 
 for new men, up river, so we embarked and continued our journey 
 at daybreak next morning. The growth on the banks of the river, 
 between the mouth of the Congo and Boma, is generally low-lying 
 mangrove swamp or sere grass, the land gradually trending away 
 in the distance in ranges of green hills. From Boma to Vivi these 
 hills approach nearer and nearer the river,- until finally they pen 
 the waters in a gorge varying from one-half to one and a half 
 miles in breadth. The current becoming swifter and stronger, our 
 little steamer had to battle her way through stretches of wild and 
 broken water. As toward evening we steamed around a point 
 within view of the station, the busy little white-roofed settlement 
 on the crown of Vivi Hill contrasted pleasantly with the grim and 
 w^eather-beaten appearance of the surrounding uplands. 
 
 This station had been Stanley's base of operations during the 
 passage of his expedition through the lower reaches of the river, 
 and was now the down-country depot. The strongly built maga- 
 zines, well stocked with all kinds of stores, provisions, merchan- 
 dise for barter, boat-gear, arms, and ammunition, bore evidence 
 of how thorough had been the foresight of Stanley in equipping 
 his expedition. Above this point a succession of rapids, whirl- 
 pools, and perilous channels, render the stream unnavigable, and 
 an overland march of two hundred and fifty miles is necessary 
 before navigable waters are again reached at Stanley Pool. There 
 are sections of this part of the river, however, upon which boats 
 can be used for a few miles. 
 
 At Vivi our stay was short; after one day's delay we received 
 our stores for the march overland to Isanghela. they consisted 
 
26 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 of a few tins of preserved meats, a spoon and a knife for each 
 man, some medicines, a little cloth to buy fresh provisions from 
 the natives on the road, and of course arms and amnmnition. 
 Thus equipped, we were to set out for Isangliela, and go thence to 
 Stanley Pool. Before daybreak, on the day of our departure, we 
 were up and impatient for the start. For the first time I donned 
 the traditional dress of the explorer, and felt proud indeed of the 
 helmet, leggings and revolver belt. All our belongings had to be 
 carried by native porters, and it was a tedious business getting 
 the negroes into marching order ; hours were wasted in their ab- 
 surd disputes before we could get fairly away from the station. 
 Each carrier had some complaint to make about the load 
 which was given to him. It was either "too big," or "too 
 heavy," or else was awkwardly shaped. However, they managed 
 finally to settle it among themselves, and after much gesticu- 
 lating and grumbling, differences were adjusted. But I was 
 grieved to see when our caravan at last moved off, that the smal- 
 lest and weakest looking men invariably carried the heaviest loads. 
 
 At times our path would lead along a curve of the river-bank 
 and give us glimpses of wild and magnificent scenery. Now, a 
 dense forest grew with tropical luxuriance to the very hill-tops, 
 and tumbled in folds of gorgeous shrubbery to the water's edare ; 
 a few miles beyond bare perpendicular cliffs rose abruptly on both 
 shores and walled in the raging waters of the Congo. Jagged 
 rocks of fantastic shapes and giant size, standing out boldly in 
 general disorder, bade defiance to the eddying current which 
 hurled itself against them and then swept along with a hissing 
 sound as if angered at their stern resistance. 
 
 The order of the day during the march was as follows: at 
 the first streaks of dawn, after a light breakfast of a cup of tea, 
 unfiavored by milk or sugar, and a ship's biscuit— during which 
 our caravan of porters made their loads ready— we would move 
 off, and be well on the road by half -past -six, and continue march- 
 ing until noon, when we would rest for the day. 
 
 At night we would sleep sometimes on the floor of some 
 native hut; or, if crossing an open plain, would lie down just 
 
UP-STREAM IN A WHALE-BOAT. 27 
 
 as contentedly with no covering but a blanket and the starlit 
 sky. 
 
 During the inarch I was anxiously watching for wild game, al- 
 ways carrying my old Snider ready loaded in case a buffalo should 
 happen to cross my path. It was fortunate that no wild animal 
 offered itself to be fired at; for, at that time, had I pitched my 
 skill against the instinct of the buffalo, the result, I am afraid 
 would have been unfortunate for me. At Isanghela our party 
 was divided — half of the men being told off for service on the 
 lower river, while we four Englishmen and one Swedish officer 
 were to make our way up river, to join Stanley. Our division 
 started early on the morning after our arrival in a whale-boat 
 manned by Zanzibaris, for Manyanga, eighty -eight miles distant; 
 
 this stretch of water is navigable only with the greatest care 
 
 buffeted by sunken bowlder and rocky bluff the torrent pluno-es 
 with disordered surface towards the sea; only by continuously 
 hugging the shore and hauling with ropes can a boat ascend the 
 stream ; the most powerful steamer afloat could make no head- 
 way in mid-stream against the current in some sections of the 
 channel. 
 
 The surrounding scenery is as wild as the water it incloses, and 
 changes with everv turn of the river; at times the shores are 
 richly clothed in brilliant foliage, then rounding another bend tall 
 barren cliffs stand sentinel on either side, their heights worn by 
 time into jagged pinnacles, their bases torn and shattered by the 
 fierce flood perpetuallly assailing them. 
 
 We saw but little life during the long nine days we struggled 
 up-stream. 
 
 Sometimes at early morn an antelope, startled from its morning 
 drink by the plash of oars or the songs of our rowers, would spring 
 gracefully into cover; or yve would disturb a troop of monkeys 
 playing at the water's edge, who scrambled away in frantic haste 
 to hide themselves in the tree-tops, screaming and chattering at 
 us as we passed. 
 
 The feathered tribe seemed very poorly represented ; we saw 
 only a few tish-eagles, perched on overhanging branches in medita- 
 
28 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 tive attitudes, heads on one side, watching and waiting, prepared 
 to dart on their prey at the first scaly glimpse of the leaping fish. 
 Once or twice we heard the snorts of hippopotami around our boat 
 when we moored for the night. As we slept, each wrapped 
 in his blanket, lying ath wart-ship on bales and boxes, it was not 
 pleasant to be waked near midnight by these unaccustomed 
 sounds, and to hear the wash of the water along the gunwale as 
 these huge monsters plunged about within a few yards of us. 
 
 We were not a little thankful that they confined themselves to 
 grunts of defiance and forbore any actual attack, for by this time 
 we were all suffering fom African fever, and a good night's sleep 
 was very precious to us. Our boat was small and overcrowded, 
 and we were all good-sized fellows on board ; so when the fever 
 was on us. it required considerable ingenuity and much crossing 
 and recrossing of legs before spaces could be found in which to- 
 lie down at all, in the stern sheets of our little craft. 
 
 Poor Milne, a strong, stout-built man, who had served twenty- 
 one years in the British Navy, suffered more than any of us ; and 
 by the time we reached Manyanga the fever had taken so strong a 
 hold of him that his case became hopeless. We did all we could 
 for him, but our small knowledge was of little avail. We hoped 
 that he would rally when we got ashore again, but five days after 
 we landed he succumbed after a few hours of delirium. This was 
 indeed a great blow to me, for although there was a great differ- 
 ence in our ages, Milne and I had been fast friends on the voyage 
 out. He had been very good to me in many ways, instead of 
 ridiculing my inexperience, and on several occasions had helped 
 me out of difficulties into which I had been led through ignorance. 
 He never lost an opportunity of giving me such information as he 
 thought would be of use to me when I should be away in the in- 
 terior and alone. It was Milne who first showed me how to handle 
 a rifle, how to use a sail needle, and even more important, how to 
 cook the few dishes that have for years figured with such monoton- 
 ous repetition in my simple bills of fare in Africa. 
 
 In return, I would amuse him and the others on the way, by 
 drawing rough portraits which they sent home to their friends; 
 
THE STRUGGLE WITH THE FEVER. 
 
 2» 
 
 or at night, I would sing a few comic songs to the accompaniment 
 of my banjo. And here, at the commencement of our new career 
 the man who to all appearance was the strongest of our party was 
 snatched away by death, while I, a not particularly robust lad 
 was left to wonder who would be the next victim of the dreadful 
 fever that was burning in every vein and racking every bone. 
 I felt then that it was necessary for me to "brace up," keep a 
 stiff upper lip, and fight every advance of the enemy. To my sur- 
 prise I found myself day by day growing stronger, while my com- 
 panions weakened and failed ; at last, one day I was able to an- 
 nounce myself as prepared to continue the march. The Swedish 
 officer was to accompany me to Stanley Pool. The day that we 
 left Manyanga, Edwards and Connelly staggered out of their hut- 
 to bid me Godspeed on my journe3\ Poor fellows I — they both 
 were in bad condition, wasted and hollow-eyed, without sufficient 
 strength to throw off the fever. I never saw these, my early com- 
 panions, again. One of them, Edwards, lies buried near Man- 
 yanga. only a few miles separating the little wooden crosses 
 which mark the last resting-places of poor Milne and Edwards, 
 while Connelly returned home, broken in health, before the com- 
 pletion of his term of service. 
 
 We now were obliged to cross the river, as our road to Stanley 
 Pool lay along the south bank. 
 
 All the boxes containing our provisions and outfits were placed 
 in the native dug-out canoes which were to carry them across the 
 stream. When all was ready, my companions and I embarked, 
 and the canoes pushed off from the shore. It was the first time 
 either my friend or I had traveled in this fashion, and our first ex- 
 perience of the dug-out canoe was a very uncomfortable one; our 
 paddlers and passengers had to crouch down as low as possible to 
 steady the crank craft, and maintain this cramped position dur- 
 ing the hour occupied in fighting a passage across the river. 
 Every now and then an eddy would catch our dug-out, and swing 
 it round three or four times before the powerful strokes of the 
 paddlers could break away from the treacherous whirl which, for 
 the time, threatened to ingulf us. 
 
so /AT SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Right glad were we to leap ashore and stretch our limbs when 
 the canoes grated on the beach, and with light hearts we com- 
 menced our march of a hundred miles. Everything was fresh and 
 delightful to me. Each mile that separated me from the fever- 
 stricken camp we had just escaped brought renewed health and 
 strength with it, and in spite of the sad thoughts which traveled 
 back to those left behind, the future, with all its new experiences, 
 presented itself to me in the brightest colors. I suppose I must 
 have boasted to my companion of my recently acquired culi- 
 nary knowledge, for it was decided that I should act as camp 
 €Ook during the march. We procured eggs and fowls, in ex- 
 change for our beads and cloth, from the natives whose villages we 
 passed through, and I had to make the most of such materials as 
 we could obtain. I soon found that my knowledge was entirely 
 theoretical, and my companion must have regretted his easy cred- 
 ulity when compelled to partake each evening of my strange dishes, 
 which were simply uncanny mixtures of flesh, fish, and roots, re- 
 sultin.g from a series of experiments. Fruit we had in plenty. The 
 pine-apples were particularly good, and if, as is currently believed 
 through Africa, the eating of this fruit is a certain cause of fever, 
 my life must have been preserved by a miracle, for I ate them 
 with undiminished appetite at all times of the day. 
 
 The natives along our line of route were invariably friendly 
 and willing to supply us with necessities in exchange for our 
 cloth and beads. The female part of the community, especially, 
 hailed our arrival among them with unbounded delight, for 
 occasions which enabled them to barter their sweet potatoes and 
 bananas for bright-colored cotton stuff and metal trinkets were 
 exceedingly rare. 
 
 The Ba-Congo girls are not exactly handsome from our point of 
 view, although they studiously adhere to the demands of their own 
 formalities of society life, which, however, do not appeal very ear- 
 nestly to our idea of beauty. The thick wooden skewers, about 
 twelve inches long, piercing nose and ears, and the mass of caked 
 black clay and oil so liberally plastered all over the head are adorn- 
 ments which, to a white man's mind, do not produce loveliness. 
 
THE BA-CONGO. 
 
 31 
 
 The one feature common to the people we met on tlie march 
 was their snuffy condition. They were all inveterate snuff-takers ; 
 they bake the tobacco leaf perfectly dry and mix about an equal 
 quantity of wood ashes with it; having ground this to a fine 
 powder, they carry it in cloth pouches, and when a pinch is re- 
 quired, a thimbleful or so is emptied in the palm of their left hand 
 and stirred with the blade of a long knife to insure its being of 
 the requisite fineness. The needful amount is then conveyed on 
 the blade of the knife to 
 the nose, but so clumsily 
 that mouth, chin, cheek, 
 and nose are all smeared 
 with the brown powder, 
 which they do not attempt 
 to brush away ; in fact it 
 seems "good form'' in that 
 land to possess such facial 
 adornments. 
 
 This snuff must be rather 
 powerful, judging from 
 the prodigious sneezes it 
 causes, and the watery, 
 blood-shot eyes of those 
 addicted to its use. 
 
 At one village they both- 
 ered me a great deal for 
 
 snuff, and would not be persuaded that I had none concealed in 
 my trunk; one native was so persistent in his demands that I ven- 
 tured to substitute a liberal ])inch of white pepper, which he ac- 
 cepted, and the virtues of which lie straightway retired to test ; the 
 next morning, as our caravan filed out of the village, he who had 
 tested my "mixture," watched our departure with blood-shot eyes ; 
 and his general ai)pcarance of bewildered exhaustion showed 
 plainer than words could tell how deeply he must have regretted 
 his persistency. 
 
 Savage peculiarities, both unique and barbarous, were con- 
 
 BA-CONGO GIRL. 
 
32 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 stantly confronting us as we continued the march to the interior. 
 To men newly arrived from civilization, the village hurial-place 
 presented a curious aspect, for the final resting-pace of a lower 
 Congo chieftain is marked by a grotesque display ; all the crockery 
 which the deceased had collected during bis life is strewn in an 
 oblong pattern on the grave, and walled in by a suggestive little 
 margin of empty gin bottles ; each article is broken in some way 
 so that there is no inducement for any one to despoil the sacred 
 memorial. 
 
 In this land tribal law condemns a thief to death, and during 
 our march inland we saw several whitening skeletons of culprits 
 who had been killed, and their bodies lashed to the tops of tall 
 poles, erected in conspicuous places along the trail as a warning 
 to others. These people are also very strict with regard to the 
 conduct to be pursued in a public market-place. Any one wound- 
 ing his fellow with knife or gun is killed and buried on the spot^ 
 and into the mound raised over his grave an old musket is driven 
 with only the stock showing above the surface, as a sign to all 
 men of the deceased's offense. 
 
 Our journey led through long stretches of stifling valleys, 
 plunged us into the heart of the tropical jungle and spongy 
 quagmire, and took us over deep, swift streams, which had to be 
 crossed in rickety canoes. 
 
 We were never long without sight of human dwellings; and 
 would every few miles discover a small village nestling in its 
 plantations of banana and palm trees. 
 
 When after eight days' traveling, I arrived at Leopoldville, and 
 reported myself to my commander, Stanley, whom I found stroll- 
 ing up and down under the grass thatched veranda of his clay 
 house, I felt that I had now fairly launched on what I hoped might 
 prove a successful career on the dark waters of the Congo and its 
 tributaries, and amid the strange scenes of Central African life. 
 
 Stanley shook hands cordially with me, and during the few 
 minutes I was in his presence I was impressed with his earnest 
 manner and with the power which every word he said seemed to 
 carry with it. 1 felt, from t!ie lirst moment I saw him, such confi- 
 
LEOPOLDVILLE. 
 
 33 
 
 dence in his judgment that I never should have criticised 
 anything he did. I experienced then an emotion which subse- 
 quent acquanitance has only intensified, which would lead me 
 now, as then, to follow wherever he led. Even in so short an 
 interview I recognized his masterly character. He told me to 
 appear next morning at parade, and receive my instructions. 
 
 During my stay here I was sometimes employed writing or 
 drawing for Stanley ; at other times I would have charge of a 
 gang of blacks employed 
 in some station work. 
 Leopoldville, just below 
 Stanley Pool on the 
 Upper Congo, was the 
 principal depot of the 
 "African International 
 Association;" for here 
 Stanley had made his 
 headquarters, and was 
 living in a one-story 
 grass-roofed clay house, 
 built on a terrace cut 
 and leveled in the hill- 
 side. In a line with his 
 own house were the 
 large, rough, but strong 
 clay-walled magazines for stores; and on another small 
 terrace, a little higher up the hill, were the white officers' quar- 
 ters. 
 
 At the foot of the hill, to the right, were rows of grass huts 
 forming the encampment of the black employees ; and on the left 
 were the station gardens and plantations, wdiile running from the 
 terrace to the water's edge, a well-kept grove of broad-leafed 
 banana trees afforded in the heat of the day a cool and friendly 
 shelter from the withering rays of the tropical sun. 
 
 Down by the water's edge were workshops, in which the ring- 
 ing of the blacksmith's anvil and blowing of the wheezv bellows 
 
 A NATIVE HOUSE. 
 
34 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 mingled with the mournful but melodious singing of the gangs of 
 Zanzibaris. 
 
 The little fleet of boats at that time consisted of the " En Avant," 
 "Koyal," and "A. I. A.," the first a small paddle-steamer, the 
 two latter propeller boats all light draught and under forty feet 
 long. One of these was hauled high and dry on the beach, and a 
 busy crowd surrounded it engaged in painting and repairing the 
 hull, while the others, moored alongside of two small steel lighters, 
 lazily rocked on the river. 
 
 A walk over the rocks just below the station amply repaid the 
 rough traveling and afforded a fine view of the rapids, as the Con- 
 go, here again hemmed in by a narrow gorge between mountain- 
 ous banks, races along with a terrific current, flinging itself madly 
 against the huge bowlders which rise abruptly in its path and 
 throwing great clouds of spray a hundred feet into the air. The 
 rocky bed of this part of the river splits up this swift torrent into 
 a wild confusion of waters, whose incessant roar can be heard for 
 miles. From the brow of the hill upon which Leopoldville Station 
 is built, a bird's-eye view of Stanley Pool offered a picture in ut- 
 ter contrast to the one just described ; we saw laid out before us a 
 vast lake-like expanse of water dotted with numerous wooded is- 
 lands and grass-covered sand-banks, the whole, walled in and en- 
 circled by hills, resembling the crater of a huge volcano. 
 
 When I had been here about a month, Stanley sent word 
 
 for me to call at his house. He then told me that within a few 
 
 days he intended starting on a few months' trip on the upper river, 
 
 and was contemplating the construction of a few new stations, 
 
 conveying at the same time the joyful news that he intended to 
 
 appoint me to the command of one of them. " I will give you the 
 
 choice of two stations," said he. "One has been occupied by a 
 
 European officer. There are comfortable houses already built, 
 
 there is a fine flock of goats, plenty of fowls, well-stocked gardens, 
 
 and the natives of the surrounding villlages are good-natured and 
 
 peaceful. Now the other situation is entirely different. No white 
 
 man has ever lived there before ; in fact the place I wish to occupy 
 
 is a dense forest as yet untouched by human hand; it is about 
 
MY APPOINTMENT. 35 
 
 three hundred miles from Stanley Pool in the district of Lukolela. 
 It will require a lot of hard work to make a settlement there, as 
 Aou will have to commence right at the beginning. Now, Glave," 
 said Stanley, "make your choice." 
 
 I had no intention of accepting the comfort resulting from 
 another's toil. I had spirit enough to wish to raise my own goats 
 and fowls, to build my own house. So I answered without hesita- 
 tion. "I prefer the latter, sir." "All right, you are appointed chief 
 of Lukolela," answered Stanley. I felt proud of being se- 
 lected as one of his pioneer officers, and was perfectly satisfied 
 with the progress I had made during my short term in Africa. 
 Unfortunately I was continually suffering from slight attacks of 
 African fever. I was, indeed, "becoming cadaverous," as Mr. 
 Stanley remarked in "The Congo and the Founding of its Free 
 State," but I was simply running the gauntlet through the climatic 
 influences as all new-comers to tropical and malarial countries 
 must expect to do, feeling all the time that my enfeebled and 
 debilitated condition was only a temporary one, which in a 
 few months I should overcome, and step out of the ranks of 
 the inexperienced and be classed amongst the able and acclima- 
 tized. 
 
 The 22d of August, '83 was marked by a morning of great ex- 
 <!itement. Stanley was leaving that day for a long and perilous 
 voyage on the upper waters of the Congo. He had not visited the 
 upper reaches of the Congo since '77, when the cannibal tribes of 
 the Aruimi and Bangala put off their monster war canoes and an- 
 swered his words of peace by flights of poisoned arrows and jeer- 
 ing speeches. " Niama I Niama !" (Meat I Meat !), was the hideously 
 significant cry which the man-eating savages yelled to one 
 another when they saw the little flotilla of men who had marched 
 from Zanzibar on the Indian Ocean, circumnavigated the great 
 central lakes Tanganika and Nyanza, and were now only too anx- 
 ious to be allowed to continue their passage in peace to the Atlan- 
 tic Ocean. Many a hungry day and many a stubborn fight had 
 thinned the rolls of Stanley's expedition; all were gaunt and 
 feeble, but with absolute faith in their leader they remained un- 
 
36 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 conquered, and the cannibal hordes quailed and fled before the 
 plucky little band whose deeds of devotion and pluck are immor- 
 talized by Stanley's graphic pen in " Through the Dark Continent,'* 
 Stanley was about to revisit those very same savages who had in 
 '77 so persistently attacked him. He was going to risk his life 
 again in the attempt to make friends with them. 
 
 The little steamers, the "A. I. A." and "Royal," had started a day 
 or two before, I was to travel in the " En Avant, " As we steamed 
 away from the picturesque bay, Stanley in his tiny boat was 
 cheered by the whole garrison, both white and black, who turned 
 out and lined the beach to bid us good-by. 
 
 A CHIEF'S GEAVE. 
 
:VORY WAR HORN AND OTHlCll MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE COMMAND OF LUKOLELA. 
 
 With Stanley o:i the "En Avant"— Steaaiing ur Riter— Stories around the Camp fire— 
 The fight at Bolobo— Declaration ok peace— Arrival at Lukolela— Curious 
 superstitions— Blood bkotiiekhood— .Vt.oNi: at Lukolela— Learning the native 
 tongue— Ghastly signs at Mbunga— IIippopota.mus hunt. 
 
 Even in my wildest dreams — and at times they were wild, in- 
 deed—I had never imagined that I should make a voyage un- 
 der such favorable auspices. I fully realized and appreciated the 
 honor of making a journey on the waters of the mighty Congo 
 in the little "En Avant" with the greatest explorer of the age, 
 whose determined pluck and indomitable resolution enabled him 
 to give to the world a map of Central Africa, with the course of 
 one of the three largest rivers of the world marked from source to 
 mouth — a map on which the shores of the great lakes, Tanganyika 
 and iSTyanza, were clearly defined, a map where personal knowl- 
 edge and experience took the place of hypothesis and mere con- 
 jecture. 
 
 Four days' steaming brought us to Kwamonth, at which place 
 the officer in charge of the station had but recently met a sad end. 
 He, together with a French priest and several blacks, was drowned, 
 their canoes being overturned and swamped, whilst in midstream, 
 
38 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. ' 
 
 by a raging tornado; unfortunately the white men did not 
 heed the kindly warnings of the natives, who begged them not to 
 launch their craft, as the signs in the heavens foretold, to their ex- 
 perienced eyes, that a fierce storm was nigh. This officer had evi- 
 dently been greatly beloved by the villagers, as they evinced 
 most earnest sympathy at the untimely death of " Nsusu Mpenibe" 
 (White Chicken) the nickname they had given him. 
 
 After leaving Kwamonth the Congo broadens out to a width of 
 several miles, and its course becomes more and more broken up 
 by forest-clad islands and sand-banks. 
 
 In these far away lands there is no coal, the steamers all burn 
 wood, and in the evening when we put in shore for the night to 
 cut and split up fuel for the next day's steaming, Stanley would 
 often narrate some of the stirring events which occurred during 
 his memorable expedition to relieve Dr. Livingstone, or his still 
 more thrilling voyage through the Dark Continent. I had read 
 his books in old England, and his vivid narratives had carried me 
 into the midst of savage African life ; but now how much more was 
 I affected as I listened to the graphic words of the author, and heard 
 of the marvelous adventures from his own lips, in the land where 
 the brave deeds were done. The hum of the myriads of insects, 
 the growl of the distant thunder, the blows of the Zanzibari wood 
 cutters, and the doleful Ki-Swahili chants of the crew, combined 
 to form a fitting accompaniment, and the blaze of the burning 
 logs penciled out in golden outline the nearer foliage against the 
 darkened gloom of the tropical jungle. I remember one particular 
 occasion, when the rising moon threw long, silver ripples across 
 the purple waters of the Congo, and the soft evening airs fanned 
 into flame the smoldering patches of grass on the surrounding 
 hills, and cast in fantastic relief the weird shapes of the rocky up- 
 lands and the wondrous variety of the tropical vegetation, Stan- 
 ley, dressed in his campaigning costume of brown jacket and 
 knickerbockers, with his broad-crowned peak cap pushed off his 
 forehead, seated on a log, smoking his brier pipe by the camp-fire, 
 whose ruddy glow fell on his sunburnt features and lighted up the 
 characteristic lines of that manly face, his eyes fired with the 
 
STANLEY'S CAMP-FIRE STORIES. 39 
 
 remiiiisceuces of the glorious past, held me spell-bound as I 
 listened to his thrilling narrative of the attack in '77 on his 
 enfeebled but ever ready little band, by those barbarous cannibals, 
 the Bangala. How this veritable armada of war-canoes bore 
 down upon his small fleet; how he ran the gauntlet of these 
 intrepid warriors, thinning their ranks with a deadly hail from his 
 rifles as he passed to the safe regions beyond through an atmos- 
 phere darkened by the flight of arrows and gleaming spears 
 hurled by the man-eating hordes, whose significant war-cry of 
 "Niama! Niamal" (Meat! Meat I) warned their enemies of the 
 fate in store for prisoners. 
 
 Stanley was always busy v/hether ashore or afloat. The top of 
 his little cabin in the after-part of the "En Avant" formed his 
 table, and a great deal of the interesting material which he embod- 
 ied in his book, "The Congo and the Founding of its Free State," 
 was penned there. His truthful pictures of African scenes so 
 graphically depicted in his writings have been drawn direct 
 from nature, and often under severe trials, either surrounded 
 by jabbering natives or attacked by the fierce savages of the far 
 interior, or pestered by insects and mosquitoes or still worse 
 than all, laid low by deadly fever. Stanley had very tiny quar- 
 ters on the boat, and his cabin was so full, with bales of cloth, 
 scientific instruments, paper, arms, ammunition and the hundred 
 and one things necessary for African exploration, that there was 
 only just room to admit of his crawling into his bunk amidst 
 this assorted cargo. 
 
 Occasionally as we steamed along up stream he would leave off 
 writing, put down his pencil, and take a careful survey of the sur- 
 roundings ; sometimes an old crocodile disturbed by the paddle- 
 wheels from his slumbers on a sand-bank, would close his bony 
 jaws with a harsh snap, and clumsily but rai)idly wriggle down 
 to the water's edge, and often would swim toward us so as to get 
 a closer view of the strange intruders, and if he presented an in- 
 viting shot Stanley always took advantage with the invariable 
 result that there was one crocodile less in the dark waters of the 
 Congo. 
 
40 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Occasionally an old hippopotamus threatening us with 
 his glistening tusks would receive deadly reprimand 
 from the barrel of a rifle. 
 
 We steamed slowly up stream, landing here and 
 there to cut dry w^ood for fuel, or obtain pro- 
 visions from the native villages which we 
 sighted on the river-banks. Our reception 
 by the natives was generally friendly; 
 but the large, thickly populated vil- 
 lages of Bolobo evinced a keen desire 
 for war, and demonstrated their 
 aggressiveness by firing their 
 old flint-lock guns at our little 
 fleet as it passed; as we 
 were steering close in 
 shore to avoid the rapid 
 current of mid 
 stream, the dusky 
 warriors, safely 
 hidden in the 
 forests 1 i n 
 i n g the 
 river- 
 
 m 
 
 SPEARS, 
 
 SHIEI.n, 
 
 AND ARROWS. 
 
 TIPPER CONGO. 
 
 banks, 
 peppered 
 us at most 
 unpleasantly 
 close quarters 
 with a shower o f 
 stone and metal bul- 
 lets with which they 
 charged their guns, and 
 our safetv and comfort 
 were seriously jeopardized 
 by a flight of spears. Stanley 
 had previously made a station 
 here, and a white oflicer was at 
 present in charge of it. The history 
 p of this post had been an unhappy one. 
 Only recently all the station-houses had 
 *«s been burned to the ground, and a great quan- 
 
A HIPPOPOTAMUS ATTACKS THE "A. /. A.' 41 
 
 tity of stores and other valuable property destroyed. The relations 
 between the villages and station became very much strained, and 
 it was only after two weeks that Stanley's characteristic tact 
 triumphed over the suspicions of these natives, and convinced 
 them of our friendly intentions, and also succeeded in making 
 them pay an indemnity for their unprovoked attack. During 
 our stay at this place both our expedition and the dusky war- 
 riors of the surrounding settlements were fully armed and on 
 guard, but no serious battle took place; occasionally the op- 
 posing outposts would exchange a few shots but the number of 
 casualties was not serious. When peace was at last declared 
 Stanley invited Ibaka and the other influential chiefs of Bolobo 
 to a meeting, and the natives promised in future to maintain peace 
 with the white men ; presents were exchanged — we received goats, 
 hairless sheep, fowls, bananas, and pineapples, and old Ibaka, 
 Lengenge, and Ngoi carried back to their wives and daughters 
 brightly colored cotton stuff, beads, mirrors, and brass ornaments, 
 which would make these dusky dames and maidens the envy of 
 the land. 
 
 This palaver having been settled, our flotilla again started up 
 stream. We were, however, delayed a little on the way, in order 
 that our engineer might repair the damage done to the " A. I. A. " by 
 an old hippopotamus, who evidently looked upon the little steamer 
 as some new kind of enemy, and resented its presence in his 
 watery domain by fiercely attacking it ; his pugnacity and anger 
 were not appeased till his monster tusks had ripped four large 
 holes in the iron plate of the boat's hull; fortunately the boat was 
 traveling close in shore at the time, so that they were able to reach 
 the banks in safety, though she was rapidly filling with water, and 
 in a few more minutes, had she been in deep water, would have 
 sunk. 
 
 When journeying up stream we were always under way 1)y five 
 in the morning. As soon as steam was up Stanley would ring his 
 signal bell, and his voice w^ould be heard calling in tones not to be 
 disregarded, "Haya wangwana ingieni Mashuanil" (All aboard 
 Zanzibaris!), and but a few seconds would elapse before every 
 
42 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 member of the darky crew, who had been sleeping snugly curled 
 ap m their mats by the camp-fire but just before, would be wide 
 awake, and after a moment's bustle, stowed away in place aboard 
 with all their belongings, sleeping mats, blankets, cooking tins, 
 and provisions, the anchor would be weighed, and once more the 
 little "En Avant," which has played such a big part in Central 
 African explorations would be churning up the brown waters of 
 the Congo. 
 
 Stanley stood aft and directed the steering ; we were generally 
 under steam about nine hours a day, as we could not carry wood 
 for much more than that time. 
 
 We white men all lived alike, baked manioc root and a cup of 
 tea, without sugar or milk, for breakfast, stewed goat or fowl and 
 rice for lunch and dinner. The cooking was done over ashes on a 
 slab of tin by the furnace, the cramped kitchen arrangements de- 
 nied an elaborate menu even if we had the wherewith to provide 
 it ; to conduct even the culinary operations to produce our plain 
 fare was a feat of endurance, as the " Mpichi '' (cook) was subject to 
 as much heat as his dish. 
 
 Stanley was in his A^ounger days a keen sportsman, and is still 
 a splendid shot, though now the chase has but little fascination 
 for him. I was speaking to him one day about hunting, and he 
 remarked that when he was younger he delighted in tackling the 
 rhinoceros, buffalo, and rogue elephant, "but now," he said, "I 
 should suggest that somebody else tried his hand ; now supposing 
 there was at the present time an elephant near by, I should remain 
 here in comfort and safety, and should say, 'Glave, there is an 
 elephant; Avhy don't you take your rifle and go and shoot him?'" 
 
 Early in September, '83, the blue smoke curling up over the tall 
 tree-tops announced to us that we were approaching a native set- 
 tlement ; and on drawing near, we could every now and then catch 
 glimpses of little native huts nestling in the verge of a dense 
 forest ; dug-outs were hastily launched and darted backward and 
 forward as the excited occupants viewed our unusual approach, 
 and carried to their friends on land exaggerated reports of the 
 "buatu meyar " (fire canoe), making toward the village. The loud 
 
ARRIVAL AT LUKOLELA. 43 
 
 boom of alarm drums sounded everywhere throughout the district 
 warning the whole nation of some important happening. 
 
 We w-ere nearing Lukolela, and in this neighborhood the new 
 station was to be built. When we steamed slowly to the landing- 
 place a great crowd of good-humored savages swarmed down to 
 the beach to greet us ; the older and more conservative, however 
 did not seem to share in the pleasure of seeing strangers ; the shrill 
 whistle, the hissing of the safety-valve, and sputter of the paddle- 
 wheel formed a combination too uncanny for them to place much 
 trust in without a little investigation. They preferred to have a- 
 preliminary view of the strange arrivals at a safe distance, so that 
 in case of any serious developments they could more speedily re- 
 treat. However, these simple-minded folks are easily convinced 
 —their opinions, fears, likes, and dislikes have but shallow forma- 
 tion, and the gift of a penny tin fork or a handful of beads will 
 remove any or all of their false impressions. As soon as Stanley 
 landed a slave was sent through the village to beat the old cliief's 
 iron gong, and summon all the head men to a palaver. These 
 people were to a certain extent prepared for our coming. News 
 had been brought by a native trading canoe from down stream 
 that Stanley was coming in his "buatu meyar" and that he 
 intended leaving a white officer in their country to build a house 
 and live with them, but the medicine man of this village had 
 warned the people of Lukolela that the being whom Stanley was 
 bringing Avas a hideous form of life, that he was half a lion and 
 half a buffalo, and moreover was possessed of the blood-thirsty 
 habit of slaughtering and devouring human beings, 
 
 A council of the head men of the settlement approached Stanley, 
 and very seriously inquired if it was true that he had such a 
 creature on board. I, to whom all these grim impressions referred, 
 had not left the boat, as I was suffering from an acute fever — I 
 was feeble, hollow-eyed, and gaunt, AVhen I showed myself the 
 whole crowd broke out into roars of good-humored laughter, as 
 they realized that their imaginary picture of the giant monster, 
 armed with sharpened claws and lion's mane, bore no striking re- 
 semblance to me, the emaciated and cadaverous original. 
 
44 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 They were soon convinced that I was an ordinary, harmless 
 human being, and after a long discussion, the bargain was con- 
 cluded for the land upon which our garrison was to be built. 
 
 The people of Lukolela had not forgotten the white man who 
 floated past their village in '77 with several large canoes, and a 
 strange craft in which the crew used long paddles and sat facing 
 the steersman. (Stanley's row-boat, the "Lady Alice," which 
 
 played such a part in 
 '• Through ihe Dark 
 Continent.") 
 
 These natives, having 
 no written language, 
 have retained in their 
 memories the most im- 
 portant events wdiich 
 have occurred ; these 
 being constantly men- 
 tioned become epochs of 
 tribal history, and are 
 handed down from gen- 
 eration to generation. 
 
 "Arlekaki Ten dele 
 mboka bisu kala kala," 
 which means, " When 
 Stanley passed our vil- 
 lage a long time ago," is 
 one of their principal marks of time, and is constantly mentioned. 
 These Central Africans are great talkers, and in all their speeches 
 they commence by referring to incidents which happened as 
 far back as they can remember, and they tell of all they know, 
 no matter whether it refers to the subject or not. For instance, 
 a native accused by another of having stolen a fowl, will begin 
 "Arlekaki Tendele mboka bisu kala kala." ("When Stanley 
 passed our village a long time ago"), and then he will recount 
 the chief incidents of his life from that time onward, and will 
 provide a most picturesque recital of his own good deeds in 
 
 A LUKOLKLA GIRL. 
 
ESTABLISHING THE STATION. 45 
 
 peace and war. How he had fought in the van of every tribal 
 battle and returned from the fray victorious; how when the 
 river was overflowing and fish were difficult to catch, the whole 
 settlement would have starved had it not been for his cunningly 
 handled nets; how he remained sober when the remainder of 
 the village were regaling on malafu (palm wine), and after giv- 
 ing a most glowing account of all his admirable characteristics he 
 will demand in injured tones, "Am I the man to steal a fowl?" 
 
 After a night's rest we set out again to take formal possession 
 of the ground. The site fixed on was a mile or so from the village 
 at which we first touched. Everything was now settled in an or- 
 derly fashion, the lay of the land ascertained, and the boundaries 
 of my territories delined by their proximity to certain small brooks 
 which were well-known local landmarks. 
 
 Stanley then roughly drafted a treaty between the chiefs of 
 Lukolela and himself, which stated that, in consideration of cloth, 
 brass wire, beads, and metal ornaments received, the assembled 
 chiefs gave us full rights to a territory, the boundaries of which 
 had been definitely fixed. The contents of this paper were clearly 
 interpreted and agreed ui:)on. 
 
 When all had been satisfactorily arranged, luka and Mungaba, 
 the principal chiefs of the district, and the other head men, re- 
 ceived in payment for the land, brass wire, Manchester cloth, 
 beads, anklets, knives, forks, spoons, mirrors, bells, and other 
 trinkets ; and while the natives returned to their village to excite 
 the envy of the less fortunate with their newly acquired wealth, 
 and to show to their friends the brilliant cloths and bright metal- 
 work of Tendele (their pronunciation of Stanley), I set seriously 
 to work to make a clearing for the site of the new station — Stan- 
 ley placing at my disj^osal to assist me the crews of the three 
 steamers. There was much rough undergrowtli to be cleared 
 away, and a few giant trees to be felled before a place could be 
 made on which to erect the three native huts we had purchased 
 and brought along with us from old luka's settlement near by. In- 
 deed, when the morning arrived on which the boats were to pro- 
 ceed on their journey and leave me to enjoy in solitude all the 
 
46 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 pleasures of my new estate, little more had been efiEected than the 
 erection of the huts and the clearing of a small path leading down 
 to the river. Human voices seemed out of place in this dense 
 jungle ; the trumpeting of elephants and the yawn of the wily 
 leopard were far more familiar sounds. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th of September, Stanley with his three 
 boats moved slowly up stream, and I was left as chief of Lukolela 
 with fifteen black soldiers but no other white man. I followed 
 their course with straining eyes, and did not leave the beach until 
 a turn in the river hid the flotilla from my sight. For the first 
 time a feeling of momentary sadness and depression came over me 
 as, returning to my hut, I realized my complete isolation. Where 
 now was the little band of comrades who only a few weeks ago 
 had joined their fortunes with mine? One by one my companions 
 had dropped away from me, and in place of their familiar faces I 
 saw only the wild countenances of strange people who spoke a 
 tongue the simplest words of which Avere unintelligible to me. 
 
 With every mile I had penetrated into tiie interior I had left be- 
 hind something that bound me to home, and now the last glimpse 
 I caught of the departing boats meant that I was separated from 
 all that could remind me of home and friends for many months to 
 come. Central Africa is an out-of-the-way place indeed; wars 
 may be waged in America, Europe, and Asia, cities may be burnt 
 to the ground, famine and pestilence sw^eep from one end of the 
 earth to the other, but months and months must elapse before the 
 white man on the Upper Congo receives any news. There is no 
 cable to flash a message to those wild regions, and the postal ser- 
 vice is erratic and slow. 
 
 Stanley, with his never-failing foresight, had anticipated most of 
 the difficulties I should have to contend with in forming my settle- 
 ment, and had done everything in his power to make my path as 
 smooth as possible, leaving me full instructions as to the conduct 
 of the work. He had also endeavored to establish me in the good- 
 will of the natives, by arranging that Mungaba, one of the most 
 powerful chiefs in the district, should become my blood-brother. 
 This custom of blood-brotherhood prevails throughout Central 
 
CEREMONY OF BLOOD-EROTHERHOOD. 47 
 
 Africa, and its observance is the surest way of gaining the con- 
 fidence of the native chiefs. It has with them a religious signifi- 
 cance. Those natives who have entered into relations prescribed 
 by this rite invariably respect them, and both Livingstone and 
 Stanley have often owed their safety to the sacredness of the 
 pledges given by chiefs whose favor and protection they gained in 
 this manner. The ceremony took place in Stanley's presence. 
 Mungaba and I took our places side by side. Our left arms being 
 bared, a small incision was made with a native razor in Mungaba's 
 arm, just below the elbow by one of my men . Then one of the 
 natives performed a similar operation on me, and held my arm, so 
 that the blood which flowed from the wound might mingle with 
 that of Mungaba's. While they rubbed our punctured arms to- 
 gether they declared that Mungaba and myself were noAv of one 
 blood, and enumerated the different duties which the one owed 
 to the other. If one was sick, the other had to attend to him : if 
 the one was at war, his blood-brother must help him ; if one liad 
 cloth and trinkets, the other, if in want, was entitled to share ; and 
 Mungaba's relations were now declared to be my relations. 
 
 The circle of natives who attended the ceremony repeated in a 
 chanting chorus the words used by the wielders of the razor, and 
 declared themselves, as witnesses of tiie solemn compact, bound to 
 respect the wishes of their chief that I and my retainers should be 
 forever unmolested by them, and that there should be unbroken 
 peace between the settlement and their villages. The majority of 
 these people had never seen a white man, and I became an object 
 of attraction to crowds of astonished natives. They came from 
 miles in the interior to see the white novelty on view. The old 
 women seemed to be more affected than any by their first look at 
 the new-comer. What they had expected to see I cannot say; 
 but they would approach stealthily and peeping into the hut, would 
 announce their first shock at seeing me by hysterical screams 
 which I heard die away in the distance, as they bolted off to nar- 
 rate to their friends their opinion of the "mandele" (white man). 
 Every action of mine was strange to them and afforded them a 
 great deal of amusement. 
 
48 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 My chief effort now was to get well and strong, for I was really 
 in a bad state, the fever being suceeded by a severe attack of 
 dysentery. My own men, I knew, among themselves doubted 
 whether I would recover, for they perceived that the departure of 
 the boats had thrown me into a relapse, that the excitement of the 
 last few days, acting as a stimulant, was all that kept me on my 
 feet. I afterward learned that Stanley himself feared that my 
 constitution might prove too weak to stand the successive atttacks 
 of weakening sickness, and had left instructions with my head 
 man how to act in event of my death. 
 
 For fully a month I w^as unable to do more than superintend 
 the work of my Zanzibaris from the couch on which I lay in the 
 shelter of my hut ; but there was much to entertain me, while lying 
 sick, in the conduct of my neighbors. I never shared in the anx- 
 iety I saw depicted on the faces of my followers. Entirely oc- 
 cupied with thoughts of my new enterprise and plans for future 
 work, I had little time to dwell on my present condition, and I 
 determined within myself that Providence aiding me, the flag 
 should not soon float at half-mast over the new station of Lukolela. 
 
 With returning health my spirits revived. I was anxious to 
 leave my hut, and to acquaint myself with my novel surroundings. 
 
 Although I had not yet been able to visit any of the villages in 
 the district, I had become quite familiar with the names of most 
 of my neighbors. The stream of inquiring visitors never ceased, 
 and my Zanzibar! boy — the most attentive of servants — had much 
 trouble in preventing them from disturbing the few snatches of 
 sleep I obtained in intervals of fever. At first I was unable to 
 distinguish one black visitor from another ; their features seemed 
 cast in the same mold, and there was no external aid to identifica- 
 tion. 
 
 Each face was disfigured by the same scars cut deep in the flesh 
 over the temples, and carried in three lines back to the ears ; this 
 is the tribal mark of the Ba-Bangi, who inhabit the country in 
 which I was then living. 
 
 The idea occurred to me of utilizing my new friends by obtain- 
 ing from them, word by word, their peculiar dialect to enrich my 
 
LEARNING THE LANGUAGE. 49 
 
 vocabulary. "When the natives saw that I was anxious to learn 
 their language, they evidently turned over in their minds the fact 
 that I was from a new country, and would have some strange 
 tales to tell when I was able to make myself understood. They, 
 therefore, took the greatest interest in teaching me the words they 
 thought would be the most useful to me. 
 
 One man, for instance, would enter the hut, raise his finger up 
 to his eye, and inquire by signs whether I knew the native name 
 for that organ. If I shook my head to signify ignorance, he 
 would pronounce the name very distinctly, and I had to repeat it 
 over and over again until my pronunciation satisfied him. He 
 would then point in succession to his nose, ear, mouth, etc., and 
 endeavor by constant repetitions to impress their names on my 
 memory. When the lesson was concluded, he would gravely say, 
 "Nake mboka," which is synonymous with our "Good-by for the 
 present," and depart with the air of one who had acquitted him- 
 self of a duty he owed to society, only to reappear on the following 
 day with a fresh string of names for me to commit to memory. 
 After a while, my friends discovering that when I heard a new 
 word I immediately made a note of it, the more intelligent among 
 them would come into my room when they had any information 
 to give, pick up my note-book, and handing me my pencil, insist 
 on my writing down in their presence all they told me. If sus- 
 picion was aroused that I was trying to shirk my duty in this mat- 
 ter, they would request me to read aloud the different words with 
 which they had furnished me. Some of these visits were made 
 at most unseasonable hours — I was often unceremoniously and ab- 
 ruptly shaken out of a sound sleep long before daybreak, and upon 
 gathering my senses and opening my eyes, I would find a big, 
 black woolly head bending over me which commenced at once to 
 impress upon my bewildered mind the fact that "ngoonge" meant 
 mosquito in their language. 
 
 My health being thoroughly restored, I did not confine myself 
 to station work, but frequently made excursions into the neigh- 
 boring districts, learning all I could of the tribes inhabiting 
 them. 
 
50 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Hearing that there were several large villages on the opposite 
 shore, a- little lower down-river, I decided to visit and make friends 
 with the people. Mbunga was the most important place, so I de- 
 cided to visit it. I equipped my large canoe with twenty-five 
 paddlers, the crew being composed partly of my own men and 
 some of the Lukolela natives, and started off early one morning 
 to seek out Ndombe, the chief of Mbunga. Our course lay through 
 numerous small channels between thickly wooded forest islancis. 
 and at times over extensive shoals, where we saw several herds 
 of hippopotami huddled together in the shallow water. They re- 
 mained motionless, like smooth black rocks. There was not a sign 
 of life in the herd as we approached until we had paddled within 
 fifty yards of them, then all was tumult and confusion. Suddenly 
 startled from their morning sleep, with loud snortings they plunged 
 deep into the river, disappearing entirely from sight, and leaving 
 only a stretch of troubled water in the place where they had 
 herded. Sometimes we would see a number of these unwieldy 
 monsters swimming in midstream, their bodies submerged, and 
 only their great heads showing above the surface. We would then 
 leave the river in their possession and skirt along the banks so as to 
 avoid a collision — in which the canoe would have fared badl}". As I 
 was anxious to reach Mbunga, I could not spare time for shooting 
 on the journey, so I resolved to save all my cartridges for the hip- 
 po's I might meet on the return journey to Lukolela. 
 
 Making all haste, I managed to reach Mbunga before nightfall. 
 I found the people there very wild, some portions of them even 
 hostile, and I only succeeded in establishing friendly relations by 
 going through the ceremony of blood-brotherhood with the most 
 important chief of the place, Ndombe. He was dressed in a loin 
 clotli woven from the fibers of the pine-apple leaves, and wore a 
 plaited hat of the same material, from under which two thick 
 braids of hair stuck out, and curled down each cheek ; his Avar 
 charms of two little antelope horns, were suspended around his 
 neck by a cord ; he had ruled the land for many years with cruel 
 sway, condemning to death all who opposed him ; his body and 
 face bore ugly scars, recording many a savage fight with man and 
 
VILLAGE DECORATIOXS. 
 
 51 
 
 beast, and though a thorough savage, Ndombe was undoubtedly a 
 "vvarrior. 
 
 My first view of tliis village impressed me with a sense of the 
 characteristic barbarism with which native rumor credited these 
 people, for nearly every hut was decorated with the whitening 
 skull of some slave or victim, while suspended from the branch 
 of a large tree iu the 
 center of the village 
 was a roughly made 
 basket containing the 
 same ghastly tro- 
 phies. 
 
 The natives them- 
 selves were lazy and 
 filthy in their habits; 
 plantations were few ; 
 and although exten- 
 sive fishing-grounds 
 were situated close to 
 their villages, but lit- 
 tle effort was made to 
 reap any benefit from 
 them. The natives 
 had a besotted look, 
 and during my few 
 days' stay in these 
 villages I noticed that, though little food was eaten, an enormous 
 quantity of fermented sugar-cane juice was consumed, and toward 
 the evening of each day the villages were crowded with noisy and 
 intoxicated savages, who when they are under such an influence be- 
 come at once insulting and pugnacious, and had it not been for 
 Ndombe's powerful control, there would have been serious blood- 
 shed, for without the slightest provocation the maddened creatures 
 drew their big keen blades and prepared to attack my party ; our 
 loaded rifles were already raised to the shoulder in earnest, when 
 the old chief rushed in. and threatened his people with instant death 
 
 NDOMHK, CHIKF OF MliUNGA. 
 
52 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 if they attempted to molest us. I was glad of his timely arrival, 
 for my chances would have been slight indeed with my small band 
 against the two thousand savages inhabiting the settlement 
 of Mbunga. During the remainder of my stay here all my men 
 kept armed in readiness, and half of them were on guard night 
 and day. 
 
 Having accomplished my mission of meeting Ndombe, and be- 
 coming blood-brother with him, also of learning the character and 
 power of his tribe, and the nature of the land they inhabited, I de- 
 cided to return to Lukolela. I left early one morning, and about 
 a mile and a half from the village I came upon a herd of hip- 
 popotami. One of them offering a favorable shot, I fired, but only 
 succeeded in wounding the animal. I had with me at that time a 
 Snider rifle, which is not a very serviceable weapon in the hunt- 
 ing-field, its powers of penetration being insufliicient for big game. 
 The sting of the bullet tended only to infuriate the animal ; he 
 threw himself wildly out of the water, and plunged about in all 
 directions. A few of my paddlers kept cool, but most of them, 
 not accustomed to this kind of thing, dropped their paddles and 
 clung wildly to the gunwale of the canoe; some were screaming, 
 while those who retained their paddles endeavored to force the 
 canoe in the direction opposite from my intended destination. All 
 this commotion rendered it very difficult for me to take a shot 
 with any certainty of aim, so that, although I kept on hitting the 
 brute, I could not succeed in reaching a vital part, and each suc- 
 cessive bullet that struck only rendered the monster more furious. 
 At last he caught sight of us, and seemed all at once to realize that 
 we were his enemies. He came on, plowing his way through the 
 water, and struck the canoe a blow which, nearly capsizing it, 
 threw several of my men into the water. Fortunately he did not 
 follow them up, but passing under the canoe, kept plunging 
 madly on for a short distance. In the mean time I had managed 
 to pick up the men from the water, only just in time, however, for 
 he returned and made another charge. 
 
 As he passed a second time under the canoe, my hunter. Bongo 
 Nsanda, dexterously plunged a spear into him, which striking in 
 
ADVENTURE WITH A HIPrOPOTAMUS. 
 
 53 
 
 the side seemed to cripple him greatly. He was now becoming 
 exhausted, and his movements became slower and slower. Each 
 time he rose to the surface he presented a pitiable sight with the 
 blood streaming all over his great head from his many wounds. I 
 was now able by a well-directed shot behind the ear, to end the 
 poor brute's sufferings, and after a few spasmodic struggles he 
 
 HE 8TRDCK THE CANOE A liLOW WHICH NEAKLY CAFSIZED IT, 
 
 sank from sight, leaving the water all around us discolored with 
 his blood. A hippopotamus when killed in deep water invariably 
 sinks; the body does not rise for several hours, the duration of 
 submersion depending on the temperature of the water. Know- 
 ing this, I waited patiently on the bank of the river, and after 
 three hours saw my game rise to the surface. 
 
 By this time the inhabitants of the villages we had just left, at- 
 tracted by the firing of my rifle, had manned their large war- 
 canoes. There must have been at least fiftv of them, each canoe 
 
54 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 filled with armed warriors. I had only just managed to get my 
 hippopotamus in shallow water v/hen these people surrounded me. 
 I noticed that they had come prepared for a quarrel, each being 
 armed with spear and knife. They thought to intimidate me by 
 their formidable strength. Some of the bolder even jumped out 
 of their canoes, danced wildly around the hippopotamus, brandish- 
 ing their knives, and invited the others to come on and cut up the 
 meat, saying: "The white man has no right to this meat. Hip- 
 popotami belong to us. He killed it in our district. His men can 
 have a small share, but he cannot expect to come and shoot our 
 game and take all away with him." Now if they had simply 
 asked me for a portion of the meat, I would willingly have ac- 
 ceded to their request, as it was my intention to give them some ; 
 but in attempting to frighten me by a display of force, they were 
 pursuing an entirely wrong course. I immediately called off my 
 men, ten of whom had rifles, and could be thoroughly trusted, 
 and gave them orders to load. 
 
 Fortunately, on the sand-bank where I had beached my canoe 
 were several little clumps of grass, and an old tree or two that had 
 been washed ashore. Taking advantage of this cover, 1 placed 
 my men in safety. I then walked forward, and explained to the 
 excited natives of Mbunga that I had come there as a friend. I 
 did not wish any trouble, but that the hippopotamus belonged to 
 nobody until he was dead ; now as I had shot him, I considered 
 him mine. Moreover, I was going to do what I liked with him. I 
 would keep him all if I chose, or I would sink him to the bottom 
 of the river. I should be guided in the matter by my own will 
 only, and if they thought they were strong enough to take him, 
 I invited them to make the trial. Said I, "These men of mine are 
 armed with the same weapon with which I killed that animal. 
 You have not such thick hides as he has, so I advise you to 
 quickly retreat." At first my speech only incensed them, for some 
 headstrong, fiery young men immediately proposed to take the 
 meat from me by force. One even went so far as to jump out of 
 the canoe and make for the hippopotamus ; but I covered him so 
 promptly with my rifle that he saw I meant what I said. Slacken- 
 
DIVIDING THE MEAT. 55 
 
 ing his pace, his countenance, which at first denoted only savage 
 arrogance, now assumed a look of intense fear, and dropping his 
 knife down by his side, he skulked back to his canoe. 
 
 Tne chief, Ndombe, who had been made my blood-brother, hap- 
 pened to be in one of the canoes, so I called him by name, and 
 said I was surprised at the treatment 1 was receiving at the hands 
 of his followers. Also 1 advised him to speak with the people and 
 to explain to them the folly of any hostile demonstrations. All the 
 canoes were then brought together, and the Mbunga natives ap- 
 peared to have decided among themselves, that a white man's 
 powder and shot might lend convincing force to his arguments, 
 for they hastened to tell me that I was in the right. I then in- 
 formed them that I had no intention of taking all the meat with 
 me. I was not greedy ; I wanted some of the meat for my men, 
 but I myself should decide how much. 
 
 Now," said I, "Ndombe, you are my blood-brother. I shall give 
 3-0U one leg for yourself and village. The remainder of the half 
 I shall distribute among these people, but not one man is to cut up 
 a piece of the meat. My own men shall do that. My gun is 
 loaded, and wliat I say I mean. I shall sit here, and if one of your 
 men attempts to cut the meat without my permission, I shall con- 
 sider it the commencement of hostilities, and shall shoot him 
 down." This bit of bravado on my part had the desired elfect. 
 They kept at a respectful distance until I had cut up as much of 
 the animal as I wanted. I did not take even half: but left them 
 the greater part. When I called them and handed them their 
 share, they were delighted. IMy speech and show of fearlessness 
 had a very good effect. We parted the best of friends, and I left 
 this savage crowd to fight among themselves for the remainder of 
 the meat. For a long time after leaving this scene, as we paddled 
 homeward through the quiet waters, amidst a labyrinth of tiny 
 islands, we could hear their wild and excited talk as they squab- 
 bled over the plunder. The sight of blood always betrays the 
 savage. It is to him what the red flag is to a bull. 
 
 It was dark before I again reached Lukolela. From a great 
 distance I could see the lights of many torches sprinkled about 
 
56 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the shore. As I approached, a hum of voices was borne toward 
 me on the still night air. All the villagers were gathered on the 
 strand, anxious to hear what fortunes had befallen us on our 
 journey. When the prow of my canoe drove sharply on the 
 beach, and the hustling crowd discovered our freight of hippo 
 meat, great was their joy. All were eager to bear a hand in un- 
 loading the canoe, and a great torch-lit crowd of yelling negroes 
 escorted us on to the station. Most of the meat was distributed 
 in the village, and was roasted over large fires. Far into the 
 night I could hear the sounds of revelry which succeeded the great 
 banquet, and standing on my beach I watched the bonfires flaring- 
 down in the village, while lithe black figures crossed and re-crossed 
 in the fitful light, mingling in wild and joyous dances. The 
 shadows of great forest trees hung over them, and all around was 
 intense darkness. Songs and laughter came echoing through the 
 woods until the embers had turned to ashes, and the morning 
 light was glimmering in the horizon. 
 
 T was much pleased that my first hunting expedition had ended 
 so successfully. The Ba-Bangi are born hunters, and the surest 
 way in which a stranger can gain their esteem is to exhibit skill 
 and prowess in the field. Besides, I am afraid that in my talks 
 with my neigrhbors I had been guilty of exaggerations that led 
 to expectations of great things from me, which I more than 
 doubted my own ability to fulfill. I felt that, in this first hunt, I 
 stood on trial before the whole tribe, and was secretly pleased to 
 be able to establish a secure reputation as a hunter by a feast of 
 hippo-meat. After this whenever I could snatch an opportunity, 
 I would scour the country round in search of big game. My vil- 
 lagers were equally eager for the chase, and were anxious to bring 
 me the first news of a wandering herd of buffaloes or of ele- 
 phants. The natives of this part of Africa invariably bestow a 
 nickname on the white men who visit their villages, and in the, 
 selection of the cognomen they are generally guided by som.e 
 peculiarity of character or personal appearance. One of our offi- 
 cers on the Lower River who wore around his hat a scarf of 
 light gauze, became known as " Kipepeyo " (butterfly) owing to the 
 
MY NATIVE NAME. 
 
 57 
 
 resemblance of his headgear to this insect. Another man received 
 the title of "Amuskini" (beggar), the blacks averred that his con- 
 stant wearing of one pair of pants was proof that he had no 
 others. Until now I had been known among the natives as 
 " Mwana Tendele," or son of Stanley. But after my success in the 
 hunting field, I became known throughout the district as " Ma- 
 kula" (literally, Arrows), a name bestowed by the natives only 
 upon distinguished hunters, my good fortune in supplying the vil- 
 lage with feasts of hippopotamus and buffalo meat having earned 
 me this proud title, which I held during my six years' residence 
 in Central Africa. 
 
 ■ir'F'^ 
 
 AN ANGKY Illl'ro. 
 
WXR DRUM, IVORY HORN AMJ IKON GONG. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MY DUSKY NEIGHBORS. 
 
 Daily Life in thk African Village— Strange observances-! am advised to extract 
 MY eyelashes— Bongo Nsanda— BtLFFAi.o HUNTiN(i— Tiik Congo Fowl— My jslaok 
 HCNTER in peril— Stanley's Return from the Falls— Mpuke desires my sklll— \\ ar. 
 
 My knowledge of the native language assisted me to obtain an 
 insight into the native character, and to understand to some ex- 
 tent their peculiarities of manner and custom. 
 
 Natives who have associated much with white men become reti- 
 cent; they comprehend the great difference separating their 
 modes of life and thought from ours, and they will endeavor to 
 conceal, as much as possible, feelings and prejudices ihey know 
 will be misunderstood. But my Lukolela neighbors had seen but 
 few white men— in fact, the majority of them had never seen one 
 —and certainly none had met a "mundele" (white man), who could 
 speak their language; so they chattered away with the frank 
 unreserve of children, revealing in their conversation very many 
 good qualities mingled with much that was savage and super- 
 stitious. 
 
 In order to place before the reader a picture of savage life un- 
 touched by civilization, I could hardly do better than lightly 
 
SCENE OF VILLAGE LIFE. 59 
 
 sketch a typical village at Lukolela as I have intimately known 
 it. 
 
 The whole district contains about three thousand people, known 
 as the * Ba-Bangi, the land occupied by them extending along the 
 south bank of the Congo for two miles, the villages being dotted 
 through this distance in clusters of fifty or sixty houses, which 
 are built on each side of one long street or in open squares. They, 
 are roofed with either palm leaves or grass, the walls being com- 
 posed of split bamboo. Some of these dwellings contain two or 
 three compartments, with only one entrance ; while others are 
 long structures, divided up into ten or twelve rooms, each with 
 its own entrance from the outside. At the back of these dwellings 
 are large plantations of banana trees; while above them tower the 
 stately palm trees, covering street and huts with their friendly 
 shade. 
 
 In this equatorial land, the length of the day varies but little 
 during the whole year ; it is light from six in the morning till six 
 in the evening and night succeeds day with but very slight inter- 
 mission of twilight. 
 
 It is in the cool of the early morning that the greater part of the 
 business of the village is transacted. Most of the women repair 
 soon after six to their plantations, where they work until noon, a 
 few of them remaining in the village to attend to culinary and 
 other domestic matters. Large earthen pots, containing fish, 
 banana, or manioc, are boiling over wood fires, around which 
 cluster the young boys and girls and the fev,^ old men and women, 
 enjoying the heat until the warm rays of the morning sun appear. 
 Meanwhile the fishermen gather up their traps, arm themseivcn, 
 and paddle off to their fishing-grounds; the hunters take their 
 spears or bows and arrows and start off to pick up tracks of their 
 game; the village blacksmith starts his fire ; the ad^e of the car- 
 penter is heard busily at work ; fishing and game nets are un- 
 rolled and damages examined ; and the medicine man is busy 
 gesticulating with his charms. As the sun rises the scene becomes 
 more and more animated ; the warmth of the fire is discarded, and 
 
 *Ba slcnlflps pnoplp. In tlic nntlro Inncnafrp. 
 
60 
 
 IN SA VAGE AFRICA. 
 
 every department of industry becomes full of life — the whole scene 
 rendered cheerful by the happy faces and merry laughter of the lit- 
 tle ones as they scamper here and there engaged in their games. 
 
 At noon the overpowering heat of the tropical sun compels a ces- 
 sation of work, the whole settlement assumes an air of calmness, 
 
 and a lazy quietude prevails 
 everywhere. After the mid- 
 day meal has been disposed 
 of, groups of men, women, 
 and children seek out the 
 shady nooks of the village, 
 and either sleep, engage in 
 conversation, or pass their 
 time in hair-dressing or in 
 attending to some other 
 matter of the toilet which 
 native fashion demands, 
 such as shaving off eye- 
 brows — an operation which 
 is also extended to all hairs 
 on the face except those on 
 the chin, which are plaited 
 in the form of a rat's tail. 
 The closer the finger nails 
 are cut, the more fashiona- 
 ble it is thought. At the 
 finger ends the nails are cut 
 down to the quick, and any 
 one posing as either beau or 
 belle always has some of the finger and toe-nails pared entirely 
 off, till the quick is exposed. 
 
 There is another item of fashion to be most religiously observed, 
 which is the extraction of eyelashes. They form an impromptu 
 pair of pincers with the end of the thumb and a knife-blade, then 
 deliberately pull out all their eyelashes, and when the eye is so 
 aggravated by the treatment that it fills with water, and big tears 
 
 '~-^.V 
 
 GOING TO WORK IN HER I'LANTATION. 
 
A CHIEF'S IDEA OF BEAUTY 
 
 61 
 
 roll down the cheeks, they commence on the other one till the 
 first is recovered sufficiently to allo%v of the completion of the 
 operation. Often while I have been speaking to a native he has 
 drawn his big blade from the scabbard and plucked out the short 
 stubby eyelashes, which had sprouted since the last extraction 
 and at the same time he has carried on intelligent conversation 
 as though the operation were not at all a painful one. A native 
 who appears in the midst of a gathering of others without having 
 duly regarded this tribal custom is considered very low down in 
 the scale of society, and he receives from his fellows contemptuous 
 sneers, and the ignominious title of "Misu nkongea" (hairy feyes). 
 
 As I was constantly trying to impress upon my Lukolela neigh- 
 bors the fact that I wished to live always on good terms with 
 them, and was willing to do all in my power to please them, they 
 suggested that I should become a devotee to some of their strange 
 observances ; they w-ere anxious that I should have my face decor- 
 ated with their tribal tattoo mark, which is a series of gashes cut 
 with an iron razor across the forehead and temples. 
 
 They tried to persuade me to allow my hair to grow long and 
 have it plaited like their own into long pigtail designs sprouting 
 out from different parts of the head ; my dusky friends also de- 
 sired that I should place myself in the hands of the dentist, who 
 was the village blacksmith ; this worthy craftsman would bestow 
 on me additional ornamentation by chipping all my front teeth to 
 sharp points with an old chisel made from a flattened nail. As I 
 lived in hopes of returning to civilization in a few years, I decided 
 to dispense with these tribal disfigurements, althougli it was highly 
 satisfactory and flattering to be told by my blood-brother, Munga- 
 ba, that if my skin were a few shades darker, and I would adliere 
 to these national observances, I would be a good-looking fellow. 
 
 ]My station was separated from the nearest of these clusters of 
 huts by a thickly w^ooded forest, through which I cleared a path ; 
 and, dividing my settlement at its extreme limit from tlie village, 
 was a stream about seventy yards wide. By driving piles at short 
 distances across this, I was able to build a good strong bridge, 
 which together with iny forest path, made communicatiou with 
 
63 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 my dusky neighbors a very easy matter. It was my custom each 
 morning to saunter down to the villages, and pass from group 
 to group exchanging salutations with the natives, and learning 
 the news of the day. 
 
 In course of time I came to know every man, woman, and child 
 in the district. 
 
 There was always something new to interest me — the traders 
 loading up their canoes in preparation for a visit to some of the 
 neighboring villages in quest of ivory or red-wood; the different 
 artificers busily employed at their separate trades, working copper 
 and brass into heavy bangles with which to encircle their wives' 
 necks and ankles, to satisfy the feminine craving for finery, or 
 beating iron into keen and sharp pointed spear-heads or queerly- 
 shaped knife-blades — or, with nothing but an odd looking little 
 adze, fashioning from a rough log of wood an artistically carved 
 chair or slender lancewood paddle ; the potter, equally ingenious 
 and artistic in his way, transforming with his cunning hand a 
 mass of black clay into vessels almost as graceful in design as 
 those of the ancient Greeks. 
 
 Pleasant sounds of busy life were heard from every dwelling, 
 and the little hamlets snugly embowered in the luxuriant foliage 
 seemed pervaded with an air of peace and content. 
 
 I became particularly attached to my young hunter, "Bongo 
 Nsanda," whose name if translated would be "Long Stick" — he 
 was six feet three inches in height, slim, but powerful, and 
 active as a monkey; with bow or spear his aim was unerring, 
 and if challenged to a fight with knives, he would draw his blade 
 against the best man in the settlement. The villagers had dubbed 
 him " Monjanga" (brave man), for his fearlessness in the battle and 
 in the chase. 
 
 He was an expert backwoodsman, knew every trail that ran 
 through the land, and never lost bis way even if penetrating the 
 darkened forests hitherto untrod by man. During my long resi- 
 dence in Central Africa, Bongo Nsanda and myself had many a 
 serious conflict with savage men and fierce animals. 
 
 Lukolela abounded in game; flocks of ducks could be found 
 
A BUFFALO HUXT. 63 
 
 within a few miles of my station, and the native women were con- 
 stantly begging me to shoot the mischievous Guinea fowl which 
 wrought such havoc in their plantations of sweet potatoes and 
 ground nuts. I had also my choice of hunting hippopotami, ele- 
 phants, or buffaloes; but for an exciting day's sport I preferred 
 taking my gun in search of the last named animals. There were 
 any number of them in the district, but they did not band together 
 in such extensive herds as used to roam over the prairies of the 
 United States, though I once saw as many as three hundred 
 within a few hours' walk from my post. They v/ere gathered on a 
 bare patch, of about three hundred yards in diameter, nearly 
 round, in the middle of a large grass plain. In it were a few pools 
 of water, and in the center of this patch was a tongue of grass. I 
 took advantage of this cover, and was able to approach within 
 twenty-five yards of them. The buffaloes were then upon three 
 sides of me. Some of them were lying down, basking in the sun, 
 others wallowing in the muddy pools ; a few old stagers seemed to 
 be on the lookout, as they would browse a little and then raise 
 their heads and look in all directions to make sure that no enemy 
 was near. The little ones were frolicking about, playing like 
 young lambs. For some time I watched the scene in silence from 
 my cover, almost loth to disturb the picturesque groups by the 
 crack of my rifle ; but the sporting instinct was too strong for me ; 
 besides the garrison bill of fare needed savorj- embellishment, so 
 I easily persuaded myself that the loss of one of that herd would 
 make little difference. I picked out a big dark colored bull that 
 was offering a fair shot, and fired. I knew that I had crippled 
 him, but was surprised to see that my wounded buffalo was sur- 
 rounded by several others, who immediately grouped themselves 
 about him, and helped him along in their midst. I followed the 
 track, and was rewarded, after going a few hundred yards, to find 
 my game quite dead. The others must have actually carried him 
 along until life was extinct and they had to drop him. This 
 strange fact has often been noticed by hunters. Elei>hants will 
 do the same thing, often helping to raise a wounded comrade from 
 the ground where he has fallen. 
 
64 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 The principal domestic meat supply to be had on the Congo is 
 fowl. This biped is to be seen dawdling: around every village, 
 plumage all awry, and presenting a picture of a dissipated, long- 
 legged, skinny, half-feathered, prematurely old bird. Occasion- 
 ally he will attempt to crow ; putting his feet wide apart to get 
 a good purchase for the painful effort, he commences a hideous 
 screeching noise, but he seldom gets more than half way through 
 a recognized crow when he ends off with an indistinct internal 
 wheeze, after which he totters away, thoroughly exhausted with 
 his exertions. 
 
 For table use he is not a success ; no amount of fine cooking will 
 change his tasteless nature ; when you curry him you taste only 
 the curry powder and condiments; as a roast the butter is the 
 conspicuous part of the dish ; and in a soup you have only the 
 taste of the water. A prolonged diet upon this insipid food be- 
 comes exceedingly monotonous; so I always availed myself of op- 
 portunities to furnish my cook the wherewith to prepare a more 
 appetizing table. 
 
 I remember upon one occasion the uninviting appearance of the 
 feathered occupants of my poultry-yard suggested to me that a 
 little game would be a welcome relief from the monotonous menu 
 which confronted me at every meal. I told my dusky friend 
 Bongo Nsanda that the consumption of my usual dinner of domes- 
 tic produce was a disheartening operation, and I was determined 
 to have a buffalo steak. I could see at once by his manner that 
 he relished the prospect of a change in the bill of fare. His long 
 tongue almost touched the tip of his nose as he licked his lips in 
 anticipation. " Niama ngombo malarmu" (buffalo meat is good), 
 said he. 
 
 So it was decided that we should leave early next morning on a 
 buffalo hunt, and at the earliest streaks of dawn my canoe was 
 manned by Bongo Nsanda and six other blacks, and we crossed 
 to the other side of the river, where there was a large plain in 
 which I was generally successful in finding game. Arrived there, 
 we struck off into the grass, and after walking a few miles 
 the fresh trail of a buffalo warned us to be on the alert. Care- 
 
A WOUNDED BULL. 
 
 05 
 
 fully following the tracks, we presently saw, about twenty yards 
 ahead of us, the black head and shoulders of a large bull just 
 peeping out above the tall grass, listening attentively as if in- 
 stinctively warned of the approach of an enemy. I took a quick 
 aim and hit him in the shoulder, when he charged right down 
 on us. Finding that the long grass hid us from view, he tore 
 about wildly searching for us, snorting Avith pain and breathing 
 heavily as he became w^eakened from loss of blood. I was only 
 once able to get a snap shot at him as he passed through a 
 little patch of short grass, but this time 
 I did not drop him. My second bullet 
 only increased his rage, and he sprang 
 off wildly into a neighboring swamp, 
 crashing down the bushes in his mad 
 rush. 
 
 I followed him, sending my native hun- 
 ter round one way while I took the other. 
 I had gone but a few yards into the 
 swamp, when my attention was diverted 
 by a cry for help from Bongo Xsanda, 
 my hunter. I knew by the tone of his 
 voice that he was really in danger, so I 
 crept hastily along in the direction from 
 which the cry had come. As I drew near I found that Bongo 
 Nsanda was indeed in need of help. He was hanging by the top- 
 most branch of a young sapling, which was bending lower and 
 lower with his weight, and was now almost within the buffalo's 
 reach. I was only just in time, for the impetus with which the 
 maddened brute was making his second charge would have rooted 
 up the tree and flung my hunter to the ground, and he would have 
 been gored into a mangled mass. But I was fortunately able to 
 avoid this tragic ending by putting a bullet behind the shoulder 
 into the heart, which sent the beast headlong to the earth writhing 
 in his death struggles. So instead of having to celebrate my 
 hunter's funeral rites, as at one time seemed more than probable, 
 I had the more savory experience of eating buffalo steak. 
 
 HEAD OF AFRICAN BUFFA'.O. 
 
66 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 This little incident was afterward embodied in one of the native 
 songs, and Bongo Nsanda became as stanch a friend to me as man 
 ever had. 
 
 He was with me at one time on a visit with a few of my Zanzi- 
 bari soldiers to an inland village, the natives of which had par- 
 taken too freely of the fermented juice of the palm tree, with the 
 
 "UROF THAT KNIFk! 
 
 result that several of them were intoxicated, and savages in that 
 condition become at once brutal and arrogant. Our arrival in the 
 village was the signal for great uproar ; their disordered minds 
 imagined we had come to fight ; they grasped their knives, spears, 
 and shields, and prepared to attack. I hastened to explain to the 
 chief, Molumbu, that I came as a friend, but as I approached him 
 he drew his big knife, raised it threateningly over his head, and 
 rushed at me. He did not realize his danger at first, though I 
 pointed my loaded rifle at his breast and warned him to drop 
 his knife or I Avould shoot; but Bongo Nsanda sprang at him 
 
THE CHIEFTAIN COWED. 67 
 
 with his keen blade, ready to cut him down if he did not surren- 
 der, and quick as a flasli the old chief saw his peril and as he 
 ^azed down my rifle barrel, and saw my resolute supporter, his 
 courage failed, and he tremblingly begged for mercy. Bongo 
 Nsanda then indignantly condemned these people for their un- 
 provoked hostility. He told them, "If the white man had not 
 been a friend, your chief would now be lying dead ; your knives 
 and spears are no match for the rifle he carries — one ball from 
 that weapon kills the monster hippopotamus and elephant, and 
 the buffalo dies as he charges. If you make war with Makula 
 (my native name), there will be fresh graves around this village, 
 and his friends, the warriors of the Lukolela chiefs Mungaba 
 and luka, will utterly destroy you all." 
 
 At Bongo Nsanda's speech every ready poised spear was 
 lowered, the menacing blades were quickly sheathed, and the 
 natives of Mpama presented me with more bananas, pine-apples, 
 fowls, and goats than I could possibly carry away, in atonement 
 for their hasty conduct. 
 
 Though I was constantly making excursions to the native set- 
 tlements in my district, the building of my station was not 
 neglected, and the hard toil of many weeks was beginning to tell 
 in its improved appearance. 
 
 The site was thoroughly cleared of tree roots and weeds. My 
 men were working well, and I myself had not been idle, for I had 
 to educate my Zanzibaris in handicrafts of which I knew little, 
 and to transform my men into carpenters, sawyers, plasterers, 
 etc., as the occasion required. I had now well under way a large 
 house destined to supersede the little hut in which I had been liv- 
 ing since Stanley left, and I was very anxious to leave my grass 
 thatched domicile, as I found at different times that my humble 
 abode was shared by very unpleasant companions. Sometimes 
 in the evening I would pick out a few tunes on my banjo, which 
 had now been reduced to three strings. One night I was thus en- 
 gaged when by the faint glimmer of my home-made palm oil 
 lamp I saw a snake wriggle out from my bed and twine itself 
 around the post over which my mosquito net was thrown : though 
 
68 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 a snake which can be charmed by a three-stringed banjo must 
 have an amiable disposition, still he might be possessed of traits 
 of character hardly desirable in a room-mate, so I cut the reptile's 
 head off with my hunting knife, looked in every nook and corner 
 to see if there were any more of the familv, and ceased from that 
 time onward to utilize my musical ability for the purpose of con- 
 juring up snakes. 
 
 On another occasion a "muntula," a small species of leopard, 
 tore a hole in the side of my hut one night, and carried away an 
 old hen which had nested in my rooin and hatched out a brood of 
 little chickens. The presence of frogs, lizards, and an occasional 
 centipede, combined to prompt me to seek more comfortable 
 quarters, and be rid of my uninvited guests. 
 
 It was not an ambitious structure, which I was building, but it 
 was lofty and airy, with walls composed of white clay laid upon 
 a frame-work of timber, and was roofed with grass. While this 
 work was in progress, I had educated two of my men to use the 
 long pit-saw, a saw with a handle at each end, used by two men ; 
 one of whom stands upon the surface of the ground and the other 
 in a deep pit below the timber which is being cut, and soon had a 
 fine stock of planks made from the trees which I felled in the 
 neighboring forest; and with the assistance of a young West 
 Coast African, who had a natural bent for carpentering, I soon 
 had doors, windows, shutters, and all the necessary wood-work, 
 ready for my new house. Up to this time I had been compelled to 
 make shift with my trunks and boxes for chairs and tables, but 
 now I was able to enjoy the comfort of a table and chair of my 
 own manufacture, and for the first time I appreciated the posses- 
 sion of those useful articles of furniture. 
 
 Four months of pioneer work, diversified by trips into the in- 
 terior and hunting excursions, had passed rapidly away, when one 
 January afternoon, a fisherman brought news to the station that, 
 while spreading his nets in a reach of the river just above Luko- 
 lela, he had sighted a flotilla composed of three steamers floating 
 down stream. It was Stanley and his followers returning from 
 Stanley Falls. All was now excitement. My men were as eager 
 
STANLEY'S RETURN. 69 
 
 as I was to give the great explorer a hearty welcome on his return. 
 "We all hastened down to the beach, and with cries of "Sail hoi" 
 "Masua!" (boats), "Bwana kubua anarude!" (The big master is 
 returning), hailed the first glimpse w^e caught of the little fleet as 
 it rounded a distant point. My Zanzibaris donned their brightest 
 cloth in honor of the occasion, and presented a really fine appear- 
 ance as they lined the beach to await the arrival of the boats. A 
 strongly flowing current and rough weather had told on the little 
 fleet, and the new paint that looked so bright and gay only five 
 months before at Leopoldville had faded and blistered under the 
 scorching sun. When Stanley landed, I noticed that he, too, 
 showed signs of hard work and exposure, but bronzed and 
 weather-beaten, he seemed a picture of rugged health. While I 
 was saluting my chief, I noticed that he was regarding me with a 
 curiously quizzical look in his eyes. At last he inquired in an anx- 
 ious tone of voice, and with kindly satire, for the poor young Eng- 
 lishman he had left at Lukolela on his voyage up-river last fall. 
 He added that he feared the very worst had befallen * him, for 
 when he last saw him he was in a very bad way, emaciated and 
 cadaverous. He feigned great surprise when I hastened to assure 
 him that I was the sickly youth for whom he expressed so much 
 concern, and that I never felt better in my life. Stanley compli- 
 mented my improved appearance, and bestow-ed much kindly 
 praise on the progress of the work at my station. There was not 
 a great deal in the way of improvement that I could show him, as 
 he inspected my little patch of territory ; but there had been many 
 difficulties to be overcome owing to the nature of the land and its 
 wild surroundings. He was also much pleased with the friendly 
 relations that existed between the natives and our settlement. To 
 know that Stanley was satisfied with the way I liad executed 
 my duties was to me the greatest satisfaction I had ever ex- 
 jx'rienced in my life. 
 
 That evening he narrated the history of his expedition on its 
 journey to Stanley Falls, half-way across the African continent. 
 He told how he found those regions in the hands of the Arabs, 
 ^\'ho hnd marie it their headquarters for raiding excursions into 
 
70 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the surrounding country in search of ivory and slaves, and how 
 he had founded a station at that distant point, fifteen hundred 
 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and placed a young Scotch en- 
 gineer, named Beiinie, in charge. He dwelt upon the contrast 
 between his cordial reception by the various tribes scattered along 
 his route, on his last voyage, and the hostilities he encountered on 
 all sides in his great journey in '77. 
 
 The patience, diplomacy, and justice he had then exercised ena- 
 bled him now to pass through the savage, cannibal tribes of the 
 upper Congo without firing a shot — tribes who in '77 attacked him 
 at every turn, answering his offers of friendship by flights of 
 barbed and poisoned arrows ; and where once compelled, by sheer 
 hunger, for days to fight for food, the natives now welcomed him 
 with exclamations of joy, and placed at his disposal the best their 
 villages contained. 
 
 Stanley's journeys are all the more remarkable when we con- 
 sider the nature of his following. Many jail-birds from, the Zanzi- 
 bari prisons have been enrolled in his service, and educated under 
 his leadership until they developed into brave devoted followers ; 
 his blacks always have a wonderful confidence in his judgment. 
 When I was with him there were Zanzibaris in the expedition 
 who had accompanied him in his search for Livingstone and 
 "Through the Dark Continent," and were now enlisted for a new 
 term of duty. The varied experiences they undergo during a 
 great journey through Africa make Stanley's servants desirable 
 followers, who are capable of turning their hand to anything. 
 
 There was an evidence of this illustrated by an incident which 
 occurred on the coast of Africa: A large ship was wrecked, and 
 the crew and passengers were stranded on shore in a ])itiful con- 
 dition ; when found they were suffering abject misery, only one 
 little spark of comfort could be found amidst this wretched com- 
 munity — one man was sleeping soundly in the folds of a thick 
 blanket. He was a Zanzibari, and had learned to make the best 
 of things when accompanying Stanley "Tnrough the Dark Con- 
 tinent." 
 
 The following day, after Stanley had given presents of cloth 
 
MPUKE'S THREATS. 71 
 
 and trinkets to the Lukolela chiefs in exchange for goats and 
 fowls they brought him, I witnessed the departure of the flotilla, 
 and then returned to my work, cheered by many kind wishes and 
 expressions of approval from my chief. 
 
 Stanley, on bidding me good-by, had promised me that assist- 
 ance should be sent from Leopoldville, as the work was heavy for 
 one man. This was good news to me, as the presence of another 
 white man at the station would relieve the feeling of isolation 
 which sometimes crept over me Avhen I looked on the black faces 
 crowding round me, and I remembered the many leagues that 
 separated me from the nearest Europeans. I have mentioned the 
 friendliness toward me of the tribes bordering on the station, but 
 there was trouble in store from another quarter, and this, too, 
 made me wish for some one with whom I could take counsel when 
 unexpected difficulties presented themselves. 
 
 Just below the villages of Lukolela there was another native 
 settlement called Makunja, over which presided Mpuke. This 
 old chief had, since our first landing, assumed a hostile and un- 
 friendly attitude ; he was continually catching and sometimes kill- 
 ing the friendly natives of Lukolela, assigning as a reason for this 
 aggression the fact that they were friendly with me. I warned 
 old Mpuke that if he continued this policy I should be compelled 
 to punish him. In answer to my remonstrance he sent word to 
 me that he was "Mokunje Monene" (the big chief) of this part of 
 the country ; moreover, there was no room for another, and that 
 he intended to fight, and to burn to the ground all the Lukolela 
 villages ; that I was an intruder, and before many days were past 
 he would burn and destroy my station and the huts of all who 
 wished me well. He also added that his vengeance would not be 
 complete until my head decorated tlie roof of his house. Mpuke 
 was evidently in earnest, for early in the morning after I had re- 
 ceived his ultimatum, I was startled from slee]) by a crowd of 
 natives running into the station with the intelligence that the vil- 
 lages were being attacked. I could hear, whik> they spoke, the 
 loud reports of old flint-locks in the distance, and abreast of tlio 
 villages I could see the Makunja war-canoes witli armed war- 
 
72 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 riors who were challenging the Lukolela villages to fight. The 
 Lukolela men implored my aid in repelling this attack. As I was 
 the principal object of Mpuke's wrath, I determined to assist them 
 to punish the old tyrant, whose threat anent my skull had put me 
 on my mettle. I took ten of my men, well armed with rifles, and 
 
 UPPKR CONGO VVKAPONS. 
 
 went into the villages. Here everything was in a state of con- 
 fusion. Spears and knives were being sharpened, flint-lock 
 muskets charged. The warriors were rushing here and there, 
 donning their charms and rubbing charcoal on their faces, to ren- 
 der themselves as formidable-looking as possible. The women 
 were all making for my station, loaded up with babies, and 
 baskets containing their goods and chattels. The Lukolela vil- 
 lages and those of Makunja were separated by a mile of swampy 
 forest, through which ran a narrow zig-zag foot-path. As the 
 
A SKIBMISH. 73 
 
 only way to effectively punish old ]\Ipiike was to attack him on 
 his own soil, I led my men in this direction. When we were about 
 half way several volleys were fired at us by the natives lying in 
 ambush, one charge just grazing my head; and from the thick 
 cover, spears w^ere hurled, which stuck quivering in the beaten 
 ground. The sharp crack of our Snider rifles, however, soon scat- 
 tered these skirmishers, who made off in the direction of their vil- 
 lage, where all the stragglers, gathering together, made a last 
 stand, and greeted our approach with a random fire of slugs and 
 spears. This was soon silenced by a volley from my men, and 
 we entered the enemy's village. All the inhabitants had fied at 
 our approach ; there was not a soul to be seen, but from the skirt- 
 ing woods rose little puffs of smoke, followed by loud, re-echoing 
 reports from overcharged muskets, enabling us to guess the where- 
 abouts of the enemy. When I had time to look about me, I found 
 that I had four men seriously wounded. Mpuke's threat of skull 
 decoration had evidently been used often by him, and judging by 
 the roof -tree of his house, profusely decorated with these gliastly 
 ornaments, it had often been fulfilled. I burned the houses to the 
 ground, and throwing out my men on either side of the path, leav- 
 ing sentinels on the limits of Lukolela, we returned to the station 
 unmolested. At night an incessant drumming was kept up b}' 
 the two villages. The mournful wail of the Makunja iiecple, 
 wafted over the river, told that our rifles had done their work. 
 Every now and then the drumming and singing would cease, and 
 threatening speeches would be exchanged as to the fight 
 to-morrow. The next morning I again proceeded to the villages, 
 and ordered one of the Lukolela chiefs to inform Mpuke that I 
 trusted that the punishment of yesterday would be sufficient warn- 
 ing to him, for I did noc wish to continue the fight. Curses heaped 
 upon my head were the only answer the furious old chief returned 
 to my peaceful overtures, curses invoking horrible calamities both 
 to myself and my unoffending relations, and involving my 
 cousins, uncles, and aunts in a common and bloody destruction 
 with intricate details. 
 As I listened to this answer, "Itumbal Itumba!" (war. war!) 
 
74 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 was echoed and re-echoed by a savage mob of Makunja warriors, 
 and to the left a crowd of the enemy in the plantations were mim- 
 icking with excited contortions of limb the dissection Avhich they 
 intended practicing on us later on in the day. I found, however, 
 that their courage was only skin-deep. "With a few of my Zanzi- 
 baris, and some of the natives of Lukolela, who were emboldened 
 by the success of the day before, we soon quieted their fire and 
 cleared them out of their position, following them up all the morn- 
 ing until the old chief Mpuke announced that he had had enough 
 of fighting, and proclaimed his willingness for peace. 
 
 Reluctantly I had been compelled to shoot a few of the enemy ; 
 but old Mpuke never forgot the lesson, and became most friendly 
 toward me, and even condescended to include me in the family 
 circle, always referring to me as "Mwana ISTgai" (my son), a con- 
 descension on his part Avhich I was hardly able to appreciate, as it 
 devolved on me a filial duty of periodically supplying presents of 
 cloth to my would-be dusky parent. 
 
 Although I was at Lukolela nearly two years after this, old 
 Mpuke's thrashing had damped all warlike ambition on the part 
 of the natives, and these were the only shots I had to fire in de- 
 fense of my position while at Lukolela. 
 
 My dusky neighbors credited me Avith possessing supernatural 
 power; a belief which I did not correct. It assumed at times rather 
 a ludicrous aspect. My reading a book puzzled them greatly; 
 they thought it an instrument of magic with which I could see far 
 into the future, and even asked me to look into my "Talla Talla" 
 (mirror), and inform them whether a sick child would recover; or 
 would inquire concerning the success of some friend who was en- 
 gaged on a trading expedition far away. 
 
 On a few occasions I was able to turn to my advantage the fact 
 that they thought me a wizard. 
 
 For instance, one day, soon after my arrival at Lukolela, ten 
 large canoes, each containing twenty or tweaty-five men, put in to 
 my beach, to visit the white-skinned stranger, and the men, land- 
 ing, crowded up to see me. At that time I had learned a few 
 words of the native language, so the strangeness of my tongue 
 
WHITE MAN'S MAGIC. 75 
 
 lent interest to the interview and caused considerable amusement 
 to the natives. They were evidently well satisfied with the time 
 they had spent with me. They had been deeply awed and much 
 amused, and to commemorate the interview, they thought they 
 could not do better than to take away with them something to 
 remind them of the occasion ; but unfortunately they selected as 
 mementos my only knife and fork. I knew that if I attempted to 
 get these things back by force, there would be a general stampede, 
 shots exchanged and blood shed, and that I might lose some of mv 
 men, perhaps, without regaining possession of my property. Still, 
 the knife and fork were invaluable to me, and I was not inclined 
 to see them leave the station without making one effort toward 
 their recovery, so I set my wits to work and the result was a happy 
 idea. In my medicine-chest there was a bottle of citrate of mag- 
 nesia ; taking a quantity of this harmless-looking drug with me, 
 I walked slowly down to the assembled natives, accompanied by 
 two or three of my men, and assuming a grave demeanor in- 
 formed them that my knife and fork had been stolen— by whom I 
 did not know just then, but I was determined to find out. I then 
 went nearer to the beach, and inviting the principal chiefs of the 
 party to come and witness my power, I threw a little magnesia 
 into a pool of still water which effervesced and bubbled up in an 
 alarming manner. "Now," I said, "your canoes are filled with 
 people and merchandise ; all your wealth is in these canoes, and 
 they cannot live in rough water. They will be swamped, will 
 sink, and you will lose all. You see what I have done in this small 
 body of water. I am going to extend this commotion over all tlie 
 river from here to your village. I will make the water so rough 
 that it will swamp any craft that ventures on it, and I am going 
 to keep the water in that condition until 1 get back my knife and 
 fork! Now, I will leave you; talk it over among yourselves. Put 
 off from shore if you care to risk it. I do not wish to take your 
 lives, but still I must have my knife and fork." 
 
 They talked the matter over, and I was pleased to find my ruse 
 successful. It was unnecessary to carry out my awful threat, for 
 before nightfall my knife and fork were restored. 
 
^6 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Every traveler to regions peopled by wild superstitious beings 
 has been able to impose on their credulity in this way. 
 
 HIPPOPOTAMUS TEETH AND WILD-CAT SKIN. 
 
FETISH-MAX'S CHARMS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CHARM DOCTOR. 
 
 Superstitious beliefs— The "Nganga's power— Thi: order of Nkimba— The roNDUtT of 
 THE Medicine Man— Curious devotions— Charms— Trial by poison— Mystic animals— 
 
 TRANS.MIGRATION OF SPIRITS— MPUKE'S FRIEND, THE HIPPO— BARIMU. 
 
 The native of Central Africa has an inborn dread of evil spirits ; 
 he believes that a power unseen by mortal eyes is always present, 
 seeking opportunities to injure mankind ; his superstitious mind 
 attributes to this mysterious and malignant influence all reverses 
 and disasters which he may suffer through life. When the land 
 is parched by drought, and the gardens bear no fruit or grain, a 
 Moloki, or evil spirit, is blamed for the misfortune, and a battle 
 lost or an unsuccessful chase is credited to the same phantom 
 maliciousness. The Moloki's choice of hiding-places is extremely 
 variable. This spiritual malevolence lies concealed in trees and 
 rocks, and seeks victims on the dark waters of the Congo, and is 
 also supposed to usurp the bodies of men, beasts, birds, and rep- 
 tiles, always adopting the guise in which the intended attack can 
 be most conveniently made, and the injury and annoyance most 
 easily inflicted. The old elephant who visits the plantations at 
 
78 IN SAVAGE AFEICA. 
 
 night, and, out of pure mischief, tramples down the manioc fields, 
 and twists off the succulent banana trunks, is believed by the 
 savages to be no ordinary animal, but one possessed of an evil 
 spirit, which has incited such bad behavior; the loathsome croco- 
 dile would be harmless were it not prompted by the Moloki to kill 
 and eat people. 
 
 The African of the interior can find no note of sympathy in the 
 world immediately surrounding him. Life is to him no free gift, 
 but rather something to be dextrously snatched from the hand of 
 adverse circumstances. Everything in earth or sky seems to 
 threaten his existence. The hut of the inland village stands on 
 the confines of an impenetrable forest, the haunt of savasfe beast 
 and venomous reptile. The dweller on the river-bank pursues his 
 vocation in constant danger. Let him escape unscathed all the 
 dangers incidental to his search for mere subsistence, let him lay 
 up what is to him wealth, still he can never enjoy either good for- 
 tune or health in security, for one is at the mercy of his fellow- 
 man — the midnight slave raids of neighboring tribes — and the 
 other is imperiled by fevers, agues, and strange diseases which his 
 skill is unable to cure or avert. The imagination of the savage 
 surrounds life with an atmosphere of awe and mystery. He 
 walks continually in fear. Evil in countless undefined shapes is 
 lurking everywhere. Influences obnoxious to him lie concealed in 
 every object. Trees, stones, herbs, all contain imprisoned spirits 
 which if released by any heedless action on his part, may rend 
 and destroy him. He must be ever watchful to propitiate or con- 
 trol the malevolent powers that menace him at every turn. Dl 
 luck may be transmitted to him through objects animate or in- 
 animate when he is least aware. A native will never point at 
 another with his finger, as the belief exists that an evil influence 
 can be by this means conveyed to another. It behooves him to 
 be very careful. He fears when health and fortune are favorable 
 that some chance action of his may deprive him of both. 
 
 At night, just before going to bed, the chief will trace a slender 
 line of ashes round his hut and firmly believe that he has placed 
 a barrier which will protect him and his, while they sleep, against 
 
NATIVE SUPERSTITIONS. 79 
 
 attacks of the evil spirit. Upou stepping over this in the niurninti: 
 he takes the precaution to trace on the ground a small ring round 
 him ; in this he stands, and uttering a devotional prayer, asks that 
 the Moloki, or evil spirit, may not torment him during the day. 
 When he is least conscious, he may be offending some spirit with 
 power to work him ill. He must therefore be supplied with charms 
 for every season and occasion ; sleeping, eating, and drinking he 
 must be protected from hostile influences by ceremonies and ob- 
 servances. The necessity for these safeguards has given rise to 
 an elaborate system and has created a sacerdotal class called by 
 the different Congo tribes "Monganga,"' or "Xganga Nkisi," (the 
 Doctor of Charms). 
 
 The fetish-man under any name is the authority on all matters 
 connected with the relations of man to the unseen. He is the exer- 
 ciser of spirits, the maker of charms, and the prescriber and regu- 
 lator of all ceremonial rites. He can discover who "ate the heart" 
 of the chief who died but yesterday, who it was that caused the 
 canoe to upset and give three lives to the crocodile and the dark 
 waters of the Congo, or even who blighted the palm trees of a vil- 
 lage and dried up their sap, causing the supply of malafu, or palm 
 wine, to cease, or drove away the rain from a district and 
 withered its fields of " nguba" (ground nuts). All this is within the 
 ken of the Nganga Nkisi, charm doctor, and he is appealed to on 
 all these occasions to discover the culprit, by his insight into 
 the spirit world, and hand him or lier over to the just chastisement 
 of an outraged community. This is the only substitute for 
 religion that the African savage possesses; its tenets are vague 
 and unformulated, for with every tribe and every district belief 
 varies and rites and ceremonies are as diverse as the fancies of the 
 fetish-men who prescribe them. 
 
 The traveler finds that superstitious customs wliich possess 
 great force on the lower river gradually lose power over the 
 natives as he penetrates farther and farther into the interior. 
 
 Among the Ba-kongo people of the Lower Congo country, whose 
 headquarters is at San Salvador, where resides their king, known 
 as the "Ntotela" (Emperor), or to Europeans as Dom Pedro V.. a 
 
80 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 title bestowed upon him by the Portuguese, we find many curious 
 examples of the fetish system. Prominent among these is the cere- 
 mony of the "Nkimba," or initiation of the boys and young men 
 of the village into the mysteries and rites of their religion. 
 
 Each village in this region possesses its Nkimba inclosure, 
 generally a stockaded tract of perhaps half an acre in extent, 
 buried in a thick grove of trees in the vicinity of the village. In- 
 side the inclosure are the huts of the Nganga, the fetish-man, who 
 presides over its ceremonies, and his assistants, as well as of the 
 boys undergoing the course of instruction. What this instruction 
 is it is hard to say, for none save the initiated are permitted to 
 penetrate the precincts of the Nkimba inclosure, but it includes 
 the learning of a new language, so those having passed through 
 the Nkimba may be able to converse on matters relating to their 
 religious calling, in words not understood by the people. 
 
 When a boy arrives at the age of twelve or fourteen years he is 
 generally induced to join the Nkimba. This is effected in the fol- 
 lowing curious manner: On some market-day or public assem- 
 blage he falls down simulating sickness or a stupor, and is im- 
 mediately surrounded by the Nganga and his assistants, who carry 
 him off to the inclosure. It is given out that Luemba or Nsaki, or 
 whatever the boy's name may be, is dead ; that he has gone to the 
 spirit world, whence by and by the Nganga will recall him to bring 
 him up with the other lads in the sacred inclosure before restoring 
 him to his friends under a new name. No woman is allowed to look 
 on the face of one of the Nkimba, who daily parade through the 
 woods or through the surrounding country singing a strange, 
 weird song to warn the uninitiated of their approach. The women 
 fly from the sound, deserting their work in the manioc fields, and 
 sometimes a man, a stranger in the district, on being encountered 
 in one of these walks abroad will be severely beaten for his 
 temerity in standing to watch the Nkimba go by. 
 
 The bodies of the lads are chalked entirely white, and a wide 
 skirt of palm fronds or straight dry grass suspended from a cir- 
 cular strip of bamboo, standing out from the body above the hips, 
 hangs down to below the knees, much resembling a short crino- 
 
THE NKIMBA. 
 
 81 
 
 lino. Food is brought daily by tlie mothers or relatives of the 
 pupils and laid outside the inclosure, whence it is conveyed inside 
 by one of the Nganga or the older lads. For although the women 
 and the credulous outsiders really believe in the death and resi- 
 dence among the spirits of their male relatives who have " died in 
 the bush" (/. e., entered the Xkimba inclosure), they are 
 religiously instructed by the Ngan- 
 gas to attend to all the bodily wants 
 of the supposed inhabitants of the 
 spirit world. 
 
 When a youth has successfully 
 mastered the new language, and has 
 acquitted himself satisfactorily^ in 
 the eyes of the Xganga, expressing 
 implicit belief in all the strange doc- 
 trines of fetishism it is thought 
 necessary to impart to him, it is 
 given out by the medicine-man that 
 Luemba or Nsaki is now fit to return 
 to the world and to his sorrowing 
 relatives. Accordingly on a certain 
 day he is conducted back to his 
 village with much ceremony, re- 
 introduced to his parents as no 
 longer Luemba, but as "Kinkila 
 Luemba" or "Xehama Xsaki," the 
 
 new names being distinctly Xkimba names adopted during the 
 period of his residence in the inclosure, and he affects to treat 
 everything with surprise as one come to a new life from another 
 world; to recognize no one, not even his father or mother, 
 while his relatives receive him as raised from the dead; and 
 for several days the new-comer is permitted to take anything 
 he fancies in the village, and is treated with every kindness 
 until it is supposed that he has become accustomed to his 
 surroundings, when he will be allowed to shake down into 
 his place in life, and unless he determines to pursue the calling of 
 
 A UUY OF THE NKI.MIiA. 
 
83 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 a fetish-man will again become an ordinary member of society. 
 The duration of the period of initiation varies from two years in 
 some cases, and even longer, to only a few months, according, I 
 suppose, as the pupil shows an aptitude for his studies or not. 
 Any refractory youngster, or one who cannot bring himself to be- 
 lieve all the Ngangas declare to be true, is beaten until he recog- 
 nizes the error of his ways, and accepts as strictly true every story 
 and miracle the medicine-man may relate. Sometimes a sturdy, 
 unbelieving boy who cannot see that black is white, or vice versa, 
 liowever much the Nganga may assert it, and his older and wiser 
 comrades share in the assertion, is beaten black and blue before 
 he becomes convinced of the fact that his eyes have deceived him. 
 The origin of this strange African order of freemasonry is quite 
 unknown among the Ba-kongo. No white man has yet been able 
 to penetrate the mysteries of the language or of the rites and 
 ceremonies connected with it, but from the following facts I 
 feel inclined to believe it simply a perpetuation in the native 
 mind, darkened by savagery and superstition, of the early 
 Catholic teaching of the Portuguese fathers who followed 
 Diego Cam's discovery of the Congo, and established themselves 
 at San Salvador and in the surrounding country on the S. W. Afri- 
 can coast. 
 
 The Nkimba is unknown beyond Manyanga and Lukunga, two 
 hundred miles from the coast, which were probably the farthest 
 limits reached in those early days by the priests in their mission- 
 ary journeys; between these district and San Salvador it in- 
 creases in public estimation until when the true Congo country is 
 reached — that within the scope of Dom Pedro's influence — we find 
 the Nkimba inclosures at almost every village. The chalking of 
 the body white and the wearing of a coarse dress of brown grass, 
 in imitation of the white-robed priests and the rude vestments of 
 the monks ; the penalty inflicted on women who venture to ap- 
 proach or gaze upon the Nkimba (white priests never married, 
 and no woman could enter a monastery) ; the chanting of strange 
 songs in a new tongue and the learning of a new language, even 
 as the rites of the Catholic Church are performed in a strange 
 
THE FETISH-MAN. 83 
 
 tongue (Latin) and a novice entering a monastery would have to 
 learn that language ; the giving of new names as a monk often 
 adopts a new cognomen and ceases to be Mr. So-and-so, but be- 
 comes Brother Ignatius or Father Hyacinthe; and finally the 
 strange deception practised in pretending that the newly received 
 boy has died and must be raised again from the dead and given 
 back to life — all seem to point to one of the fundamental doctrines 
 of the Christian Church which asserts that no man can be saved 
 unless he be born again. 
 
 It is only on the Lower Congo, where the Nkimba is found that 
 any training in his profession is undergone by the fetish-man ; in 
 all other parts of the Congo region the office devolves upon its 
 holder in quite an accidental manner ; the distinction is thrust 
 upon some native whose fortune has in some way distinguished 
 him from his fellows. Every unusual action, every display of 
 skill or superiority is attributed to the intervention of some super- 
 natural power, and thus the future wielder of charms or utterer 
 of predictions usually begins his priestly career as a worker of 
 wonders by some lucky adventure. 
 
 A young man by showing progress in the hunting-field, by be- 
 ing successful on the fishing-grounds or brave in war, at once be- 
 comes the object of a certain admiration in his village. His 
 superiority commands respect ; his steady aim, his lucky hauls of 
 fish, and his boldness in the fight are credited to the agency of 
 some supernatural spirit or to some charm of which he may be 
 Dossessed. Such a belief on the part of the villagers is never dis- 
 credited by the fortunate object of it; on the other hand, he takes 
 advantage of this credulity of his ignorant compatriots, and in con- 
 sideration of payment received will pretend to impart his power 
 to others. This is almost invariably the way in which the fetish- 
 man receives his calling to the office, and having once secured the 
 estimation of his neighbors, he will start a lucrative business for 
 the supply of charms, consisting of difTorent herbs, stones, pieces 
 of wood, antelope horns, skins and feathers, tied in artistic little 
 bundles, the possession of which is supposed to yield to the pur- 
 chaser the same power over spirits as the vender himself enjoys. 
 
84 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Having once become known as the purveyor of charms, he will 
 continually add to the attractiveness of the stock in trade of his 
 calling by the aid of a fertile imagination. Besides charms of his 
 own manufacture he will obtain others from well-known fetish- 
 men in distant villages, and thus after a time he acquires a large 
 store of charms for all phases of life. 
 
 Africans who under my tuition became skilful rifle shots, could 
 dispose of empty cartridges at a good price to their weak-minded 
 fellow-men, who wore the little brass shells around their necks as 
 charms, and firmly believed that such a possession empowered 
 them to shoot with unerring aim. 
 
 Established in reputation, the efforts of the fetish-man are next 
 directed toward the acquirement of a demeanor calculated to im- 
 press his clients with a sense of awe; he aims at assuming an ap- 
 pearance at once grave and mysterious ; he seldom speaks unless 
 professionally, and then always in a gruff, husky tone. He cul- 
 tivates a meditative look, and seems as if he were the victim of 
 great mental anxiety. At home he keeps himself very select, and 
 occupies his time principally among his charms. There is gener- 
 ally some sign of his calling just outside his hut, taking the form, 
 as a rule, of an earthen vessel, out of the neck of which sprout 
 long feathers — the pot being colored with red, white, and yellow 
 chalks, and the orange-like tint derived from chewed betel-nut, 
 the epectoration of which substance is supposed to have a very 
 pacifying influence upon the spiritual evil-doer. 
 
 An old medicine man of Lukolela, whom I discovered deliber- 
 ately spitting chewed betel-nut on the door of my house, displayed 
 indignant surprise when I assured him in the most forcible lan- 
 guage at my command that I myself could take all the necessary 
 precautions against any attacks from evil spirits. 
 
 Sometimes the fetish-man's gesticulations will be directed to a 
 carved image or some exaggerated form of charm, but they do not 
 as a rule display much respect for their idols, for if good fortune 
 does not attend their use, they are destroyed. Suspended from 
 the rafters in the interior of his hut are little parcels of mystic 
 character, smoked grimy by the constant fires these people main- 
 
FETISH-MAN'S CHARMS. 
 
 85 
 
 tain in their dwellings. And outside, over the door, the same mys- 
 terious character of ornamentation proclaims to all, the occupant's 
 pretensions to sorcery. 
 
 When abroad the fetish-man is always a conspicuous figure in 
 a village. He wears a tall hat of animal skin; around his neck 
 hang suspended by strings a few small specimens of his wares, 
 and slung around his shoulders are little parcels of charms, into 
 which are stuck birds' feathers. Metal rings, to which mysterious 
 little packages are attached, clash and clang as he walks, serving. 
 
 CONGO IlJOLS. 
 
 together with a liberal supply of iron bells fastened lo his person, 
 to announce the Nganga's presence; and, as if his body did not 
 offer a sufficient surface to display all his magical outfit, he car- 
 ries, slung over his left shoulder in a woven pocket, a load of 
 wonder-working material. A peep into a fetish-man's sack dis- 
 closes a curious assortment of preventives — eagles' claws and 
 feathers, fishbones, antelope horns, leopard teeth, tails and heads 
 of snakes, flint-stones, hairs of the elephant's tail, perforated 
 stones, different colored chalks, eccentric sliajied roots, various 
 herbs, etc. There are sufficient reasons for his carrying these 
 with him — if he left them in his village some one might steal them, 
 and thus deprive him of his cherished power, and again, jirovided 
 
86 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 as he is, he can administer at a moment's notice to sufferings 
 humanity some devil-proof mixture. 
 
 The flight of the poisonous arrow, the rush of the maddened 
 buffalo, or the venomous bite of the adder can be averted by the 
 purchase of these charms, and the troubled waters of the Congo 
 can be crossed in safety by the fisherman's frail craft. The 
 Moloki, or evil spirit, ever ready to pounce upon humanity, is 
 checked by the power of the Nganga, and halts at his whistle 
 through an antelope's horn, or the waving of a bunch of feathers. 
 
 The fetish-man finds his best customers among those whom 
 wealth and success have rendered objects for the envy and spite 
 of their covetous neighbors. A chief whose fortunate trading ven- 
 tures have enabled him to accumulate wealth of slaves and ivory 
 becomes a devotee to charm usage ; the fetish-man is continually 
 by his side, and new charms are in contant requisition to ward off 
 real and imaginary dangers which the uneasy possessor believes 
 threaten his person and property. 
 
 I was much struck with the elaborate and grotesque rites 
 prescribed by the Nganga to some of the leading men of the 
 district as a necessary preliminary to eating and drinking. I find 
 the following notes in a rough diary I kept at that time. 
 
 June, 1884. — Old luka, chief of Irebu, put into my beach to-day, 
 on his way down river on a trading expedition. I gave him some 
 malafu (palm wine), the drinking of which necessitated the most 
 extensive precautionary preparations that I have as yet noticed. 
 The old chief placed a small leaf between his lips, then fastened 
 others rather longer under his shoulder-blades and on his chest, 
 keeping them in place by means of a string tied tightly around 
 the body ; a slave guarding the pot containing the beverage also 
 had a leaf in his mouth, as did another who held the cup from 
 which the chief was to drink ; two more slaves provided a musical 
 accompaniment to the ceremony by clanking small bars of iron : 
 one of the wives of the chief clasped him round the chest from be- 
 hind, while four slaves knelt down in front of him and beat their 
 closed fists on their knees. When everything was ready, all shut 
 their eyes, except the men in charge of the pot and cup, who 
 
OLD lUKA'S DRINKING CEREMONIES. 
 
 87 
 
 required the use of these organs so as not to spill the precious 
 liquor. The charm doctor, who had advised these observances 
 as a safeguard against assault from evil influences, had also en- 
 joined luka from taking the cup from his lips until he had drained 
 the last drop. My guest was a spare-built little man, but the pro- 
 digious quantity of malafu which he imbibed on this occasion 
 astonished me, and I concluded that he dispensed with the trouble 
 of too frequently conducting the elaborate details of this cere- 
 
 FETISU BEVOTIONS BEFUUE UUINKINO. 
 
 niony by drinking enough at one sitting to last him several days. 
 It is noticable that rites of the kind prescribed by the fetish-men 
 to luka are only used preparatory to a draught of palm or other 
 concocted beverages, and are omitted when drinking water at a 
 stream or spring. The reason is that i)oison plays a prominent 
 part in the drama of savage life. Often chieftains with whom I 
 was not well acquainted upon giving me palm wim^ have tliem- 
 selves first drunk some of the beverage, as a j)roof that it con- 
 tained no deadlv herbs. These observances imposed bv the 
 wielder of charms are most earnestlv adhered to. A native, al- 
 though he has a great weakness for palm wine «>r other strong 
 drink, will deny himself the indulgence if he is not prepared to 
 
88 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 carry out the ceremony ordered by the Nganga. As the fatal 
 draughts are always prepared by the Nganga, and as he is also the 
 only person able to furnish antidotes to his own poisons, he reaps 
 much benefit from this branch of the business. It enables him to 
 command a ready sale for any charms he may wish to force on the 
 market, and is an excellent means of collecting back payments 
 and securing further custom. Any trader who succeeds in mass- 
 ing together his little pile of cloth, beads, trinkets, etc., thereby 
 excites the jealousy of his fellow-men, and if his fees are not liberal 
 he may one day find himself suddenly bound hand and foot in the 
 merciless clutches of the fetish-man, who will trump up some 
 charge against him of having exercised an evil influence, or of 
 causing the death of some villager who has lately died. 
 
 It is also b}^ means of poisons that the Nganga pretends to dis- 
 cern the innocent from the guilty when natives accused of crimes 
 are brought before him for sentence. A villager charged with 
 any breach against tribal laws has often to prove his innocence 
 by undergoing the poison test. " Mbundu," or " Nkasa," is an herbal 
 poison composed of the bark of a tree mixed with water. The 
 effect of imbibing this concoction depends upon the strength of 
 the preparation ; with l)ut little water it is deadly, but it may be 
 diluted until its effect is almost harmless. The accused is com- 
 pelled to sit down, and then the Nganga administers the prepara- 
 tion to the accused, who, should he be able to vomit the nauseous 
 mixture, proves his innocence of any crime of which he is ac- 
 cused. But too often the poison has an awful effect. The victim 
 falls down, foaming at the mouth, the limbs become rigid, the eyes 
 protrude, and if death ensues, the guilt of the poor unfortunate is 
 held as clearly proved, and the distorted body of the victim is 
 pierced through and through with the spears of his accusers. The 
 fetish-man, whose duty it is to prepare the test, regulates the 
 strength of the poison according to the wish of the majority. It 
 may be that the accused is popular in his village ; in that case the 
 Nganga will take care that the mbundu is not too strong. The 
 natives themselves jilace great faith in this mode of trial. The 
 majority of them firmly believe that their charm doctor's super- 
 
THE RAIX MAKERS. 89 
 
 natural power enables him to read tlie conscience of others, and 
 culprits will often give themselves up when he makes preparation 
 to discover the offenders as a declaration of guilt on the part of 
 the accusetl, renders the poison test unnecessary. 
 
 Men of influence, when required to prove their innocence by the 
 poison test, do not, as a rule, risk their own lives; they detail a 
 slave to drink the mbundu for them and their innocence or guilt 
 is decided by the effect of the poison on their representative. 
 
 Besides the power that he exercises over the life and death of 
 his followers, the Nganga is also credited with a controllin<j in- 
 fluence over the elements. Winds and waters obey only the wav- 
 ing of his charm or the whistle through his magic antelope horn. 
 Tropical storms give notice of their beginning and cessation, so 
 that the fetish-man is easily able to time his predictions of change 
 without much fear of startling contradictions. If rain is desired 
 by the villagers for their crops he sets to work with his charms 
 preparing for the object in view, but he will not be quite ready 
 until a distant roll of thunder gives him notice that a storm is 
 nigh ; then, assuming all the gravity which he can muster, sur- 
 rounded by his charms, he boldly commands the rain to fall, and 
 when the storm, seen in the distance, breaks, it is regarded as a 
 triumphant indication of his supernatural authority. 
 
 The credulous villagers are awed into profound respect and .sub- 
 mission as they see their parched soil moistened by rain, which 
 falls to the bidding of old Ncossi, their medicine man, who stands 
 with upraised arms in the village square and shouts to the 
 heavens, "Tu-ku-linga mvula" ("we want rain"), and very soon 
 a storm arrives in response to his invocation. 
 
 When I was at Lukolela the river during one wet season re- 
 mained in a swollen condition far beyond its usual duration. 
 Upon my asking the natives the cause, they accounted for it by 
 telling me that an up-river charm doctor, who liad lieen in the 
 habit of controlling the rise and full of all the Congo, liad 
 recently died, and at ])resent there \\as no one sufficiently skilled 
 to take his place, and regulate the seasonable rise and fall of tlie 
 river. 
 
i»() 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Superstitions of all kinds are so rife among these people that 
 the Nganga has a fruitful field to AVork in. He has merely to 
 direct current beliefs in the strange and wonderful so that they 
 may in some way tend to increase his influence over the credu- 
 
 "TU-KU-LINGA MVULA" ("WE WANT KAIN"). 
 
 lous. Every unaccountable effect is attributed to some super- 
 stitious cause, the workings of which are known only to him. 
 Every familiar object of their daily life is touched with some 
 curious fancy, and every trivial action is regulated by a reference 
 to unseen spirits who are unceasingly watching an opportunity 
 to hurt or annoy mankind. 
 
THE DEATH CALL. 91 
 
 As all natives are either hunters or fishermen, ci number of 
 quaint beliefs have naturally attached themselves to birds, beasts, 
 and fishes. Some birds are of ill, others of good, omen. Some 
 beasts are friendly to man. and others seek only to do him harm. 
 
 The mournful hooting of the owl, heard at midnight by the vil- 
 lager, is a message that death is stealing silently througli the huts 
 "waiting to select a victim, and all who hear the call will hasten to 
 the neighboring wood and drive the messenger of ill tidings away 
 with sticks and stones. 
 
 There is a belief, common to all natives of the Upper Congo 
 regions, which ascribes to certain possessors of evil spirits ability 
 to assume at will the guise of an animal, reassuming the human 
 form whenever they wish to do so. The incident that follows will 
 serve as an illustration of the strength of this conviction. 
 
 As I had lost several goats from the frequent nocturnal raids 
 made on the station by a leopard, I determined to try to rid the 
 district of this wily robber. For several nights I watched, tying 
 upas a bait a young goat which announced the presence of its own 
 savory body by ill-advised bleatings from sunset to dawn. But 
 the leopard did not return to reward my vigilance. It happened, 
 however, that as soon as I omitced my watch the tracks around 
 the station showed that the beast had renewed his visits. The 
 natives then explained to me that this was no ordinary leopard, 
 but was an evil spirit which had assumed the shape of that animal, 
 Ngoi Moloki ("evil-spirited leopard"), and that it was useless to 
 watch for him, as the evil si)irit which possessed the beast at 
 night was perhaps visiting my station in human form each day, 
 learning my intentions, and timing his raids accordingly. They 
 said, "When you next intend waiting up for the leopard be care- 
 ful to keep the matter a secret ; tell no one, and then perhaps, be- 
 ing unwarned, the animal may venture out." 
 
 There are on some reaches of the river fetish crocodiles which 
 are credited with the power to change their scales to the black 
 skin and curly wool of the African. It is firmly held by the vil- 
 lagers that many members of the community who have disap- 
 peared suddenly from their homes and families ha"^'e been lured 
 
93 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 to the river by a stranger, who beguiled them with fair promises 
 of beads and cloth, and who, when the water's edge was gained, 
 changed instantly to a crocodile and disappeared in the oozy 
 mud, dragging his deluded victim with him. Crocodiles are also, 
 for what reason I know not, considered quite generous and social in 
 their natures. Natives have frequently assured me that when a 
 crocodile is fortunate enough to secure a human being, it will in- 
 vite all the crocodiles along the banks to share in the meal, and 
 my men have pointed out places where such banquets have been 
 held. 
 
 I was assured that the possessor of an evil spirit could assume 
 at will any outward appearance which he chose, and could rapidly 
 change his guise in order to escape detection or further his aims. 
 I was speaking to my black hunting friend, Bongo Nsanda, one 
 day upon this subject. The African illustrated the versatility 
 of the malevolent influence by remarking, "Perhaps when the 
 sun is overhead to-day you may be drinking palm wine with 
 a man, unconscious that he is possessed of an evil spirit, in 
 the evening you hear the cry of ISkole! Nkole! (crocodile! croco- 
 dile!), and you know that one of those monsters, lurking in the 
 muddy waters near the river bank, has grabbed a poor victim who 
 had come to fill a water jar. At night you are wakened from 
 your sleep by the alarmed cackling in your hen-house, and you will 
 find that your stock of poultry has been sadly decreased by a visit 
 from a muntula (bush cat). Now, Makula, the man with whom 
 you drank palm wine, the crocodile who snatched an unwary vil- 
 lager from the river bank, and the stealthy little robber of your 
 hens are one and the same individual, possessed of an evil spirit." 
 
 This transmigration of . spirits is supposed to be not altogether 
 without its advantages to some of the powerful head men, who 
 are believed to have in their service crocodiles, hippopotami, and 
 other dangerous animals that once were men, and to whom death 
 has brought strange changes. 
 
 Here at Lukolela, my station was built within a few hundred 
 yards of the banks of the Congo, and I had ever before me an ex- 
 tensive view of the river. 
 
MPUKE'S HIPPOPOTAMUS. i>3 
 
 Out in midstream, about a thouoaud yards from my house, was 
 a small island covered with thick tropical vegetation. At the up- 
 per end of this an old hippopotamus had taken up his quarters, 
 and at midday would lie basking in the sun in the shallow waters 
 round it. 
 
 My little bhxck servant, Mabruki, who was a most enthusiastic 
 sportsman, was delighted when he could bring me the welcome 
 news that he had seen some animal or bird that I might shoot, 
 and he would disturb me at most untimely hours with such in- 
 formation. Sometimes, when I had been hunting all the morning, 
 I would lie down in the heat of the day for a couple of hours, and 
 often was rudely awakened by this youngster tugging away at 
 me and startling me out of my sleep in a most unceremonious 
 manner. He would tell me that there was an old monkey in 
 some of the neighboring trees, or that he could hear the call of a 
 guinea fowl; this information delivered, he would hurry off to 
 prepare gun and ammunition. The sharp ej'es of tliis boy first 
 saw the hippopotamus, and he imparted tlie news to me while 
 waking me out of my sleep. It is not usual in hunting even big 
 game to fire at such a distance as a thousand yards, but I fired 
 just a few shots to startle the unwieldy brute with the splash of 
 the bullets falling close by him. 
 
 In the evening of the same day, old Mpuke paid me a visit, and 
 in a very grave and ceremonious little speech informed me that 
 that particular hippopotamus was a friend of his. He said : " That 
 hippopotamus was originally a man, who died and assumed the 
 shape of this animal. It is useless for you to try to shoot him, be- 
 cause he has supernatural power and is bullet-proof. That hippo- 
 potamus accompanies me on all my trading expeditions, and is 
 generally of very great use to me. When I go away in my canoes 
 the animal follows me, swimming behind at a short distance pro- 
 tecting me against all enemies, whether they are men or other 
 hippopotami, and he will upset the canoes of nativt>s wlio are un- 
 friendly to me." 
 
 It will be remembered that .soon after my arrival at Lukolela, 
 old :Mpuke, chief of :\Iakunja, had expressed a great desire to 
 
94 IN' SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 decorate his hut with my skull, although in attempting to 
 materialize this inclination he and his had experienced the deadly 
 effect of the white man's rifles. But since that unfortunate affair 
 we had been good friends, and were in the ha^it of exchanging 
 presents. 
 
 I was unwilling to offend the old fellow unnecessarily, but he 
 seemed quite confident of the invulnerability of his pet hippo, so 
 I decided to test my long Martini rifle against the animal's 
 charmed body. 
 
 "Do you really think that I am unable to kill the beast, Mpuke?" 
 I asked. 
 
 The old chief replied with the emphasis of solemn conviction, 
 «Ido." 
 
 "Well," said I, "have you any objection to my trying?" 
 
 "No, he had no objection," he answered, intones which sug- 
 gested regret that good powder and shot should be wasted in try- 
 ing to prove that which every man, woman, and child in the dis- 
 trict knew to be a fact. 
 
 I decided to try the experiment. I sent around into the neigh- 
 boring villages that evening and informed them of the conversa- 
 tion I had had with Mpuke concerning his strange friend, and an- 
 nounced my intention of proceeding the next morning to put the 
 matter to the test. 
 
 The natives were naturally very curious as to what would be 
 the result, and at the very earliest streaks of dawn large canoes 
 full of people made their appearance on my beach. About eight 
 o'clock in the morning I manned my canoe and paddled across to 
 the island, followed at a respectful distance by the canoes of the 
 neighborhood, propelled with muffled oars, all the crews main- 
 taining perfect silence. 
 
 Upon arriving at the island I ran my canoe ashore just below 
 the shallows, and crept noiselessly through the forest until I ar- 
 rived at the edge. I selected a position whence I had a good view 
 of old Mpuke's devil-possessed friend, the hippopotamus. In shoot- 
 ing this game it is necessary to be a good shot, because although this 
 huge animal is easy to hit, unless you strike fair on some vulner- 
 
AN ATHLETIC GHOST. l>r. 
 
 able spot, you are simply cruelly and uimecessarily woundiug it. 
 The proper place to aim at is in the forehead, three inches above 
 a line drawn between the two eyes; or in the ear, in the eye, or 
 between these two organs. I had crept so carefully to my posi- 
 tion that the hippopotamus was unconscious of my presence. 1 
 realized tliat my reputation was most seriously at stake, and 1 
 wailed patiently until the animal presented a good mark. Then 
 I raised my Martini rifle and fired, hitting him squarely in tlie 
 forehead. After three or four spasmodic kicks in the air he sank 
 to the bottom, and the waters became still. That evening the 
 waters around the sand bank were undisturbed, and the smell of 
 boiling and roasting hippopotamus meat pervaded the whole dis- 
 trict of Lukolela. The enemies of Mpuke were now able to launch 
 their canoes and cross the river in safety. I increased my reputa- 
 tion as a successful hunter of big game, and was generally ac- 
 knowledged as a very useful member of society, who was able by 
 the single crack of a rifle to silence the angry plunging of a fierce 
 animal, and transform the dangerous monster into juicy steaks. 
 
 Moreover, I scored a telling point against the superstitious doc- 
 trines of the charm doctor. 
 
 During the earlier part of my residence at Lukolela, I hail 
 heard the word " Barimu" mentioned several times in connection 
 with myself. I afterward discovered that it meant a ghost; it 
 was suggested that I was originally an African, and had died and 
 returned to earth with a white skin. 
 
 Having learned the meaning of the word, I was not much 
 pleased that such an impression should be held concerning me. I 
 could at least prove that I was a ghostly being of unusual sub- 
 stance, so one day when the medicine man, Muntula, hinted, in 
 my hearing, that I was a "barimu," I resented the expression by 
 favoring the old gentleman with a little of the athletic ability 
 which I had acquired at foot-ball, and I am sure after this little 
 incident my shoes would have been eagerly ))urchased at a good 
 price, and used as powerful charms. 
 
 Some time after this occurrence, old Muntuhi was called upon 
 bv the family of a young hunter, who had been killed by an ele- 
 
96 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 phant, to determine whether the beast had been bewitched by 
 some enemy, or if his death was in accordance with the will of 
 Njakumba (The Great Spirit.) In the former case Muntula would 
 have selected some victim and subjected him to the poison test, 
 but, knowing that I would promptly interfere with any such pro- 
 ceeding, the old fellow, after going through a long ceremony con- 
 sisting of a wierd midnight dance about the village fire accom- 
 panied by monotonous chanting and incantations, proclaimed to 
 the surviving relatives that Luenga's death had been ordained 
 by Njakumba and was not due to any malicious influence. 
 
 SPKAKS AND Pl.AIlED KaTTAN SHIELD 
 
CONGO PIPES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMONGST THE BIG GAME. 
 African jungles— Traps axd trappkrs— Bongo Nsanda— Congo "Bill of Fare "—Tobacco— 
 
 RKTUKN of the AVAR CANOES— BtrKIAL CeKEMON Y— NATIVE ORCHESTRA— ARRIVAL OF 
 
 Keys— Buffalo hunting — A sad kisaster. 
 
 ^ly presence and the work I was doing attracted dusky visitors 
 from villages for miles around Lnkolela. The station was crowded 
 all day with strangers who came to investigate everything, ask 
 innumerable questions, and impede the work in progress by ex- 
 amining tools and workmanshij) until their curiosity regarding 
 them was satisfied. To avoid the wearying task of inces.santly 
 answering the simple yet puzzling questions of child-like ignor- 
 ance, and to escape from all the noise and tumult of strange voices 
 round my house, I would often stroll away into the forest, which 
 covered all the country to the south of my station, ^fy servant, 
 ]\[abruki, a bright little fellow about ten years old. was my oidy 
 companion on these occasions; he would follow close at my heels, 
 carrying my cartridge-belt slung across his shoulder. 
 
98 IN SAVAGE AFRICA, 
 
 I always took a gun with me on these excursions, as birds 
 and small game were very plentiful, and a brace or two of 
 pigeons or guinea fowl would often repay my forest tramp. 
 
 But the great forest itself, with its undisturbed solitudes and its 
 dim green recesses, always brought such relief and quiet restful- 
 ness to me, when wearied and fagged in mind and body, that I 
 needed no other excuse for my aimless wanderings. All sounds of 
 voices or work died away, and we left all traces of human life on 
 the verge of the woods. We had to make our way as best we 
 could, pushing aside or cutting away the tangled mass of brush- 
 wood undergrowth that spread thickly round the roots of the lofty 
 trees of teak and mahogany; and overhead luxuriant creepers 
 trailed from branch to branch, or hung in great bunches from the 
 topmost boughs, almost shutting out the light of day and the blue 
 noonday sky, and monster orchids, strangely shaped, and varied 
 in their coloring, clung in brilliant clusters to the branches over- 
 head. 
 
 As we forced our way still deeper into the heart of the forest, 
 the gloom and stillness increased, and we crossed many a hidden 
 glade known only to the hunter, where the death-like silence was 
 unbroken save for the cry of savage beast or call of passing bird. 
 
 These woods abounded in all kinds of game. Here the elephant 
 had made a path for himself, uprooting and flinging to the ground 
 the trees that barred his way, plowing through matted under- 
 growth, snapping vine and twig, and crushing down the slender 
 spear-grass beneath his ponderous foot, leaving behind him a 
 broad trail of wrecked tree and shrub. Numberless herds of buf- 
 falo, filing down to the river for their morning drink, had w'orn 
 deeply furrowed tracks in the loamy soil ; and the broken ground 
 beneath the spreading wild-plum tree told of the frequent visits 
 of the bush-pig in search of fallen fruits. Here and there were 
 seen faint imprints of the stealthy leopard, and the delicate im- 
 pression of the antelope's hoof. 
 
 Troops of monkeys of all sizes set the tree-tops swinging as they 
 scrambled from bough to bough searching through the wood for 
 the acid "litobe" (fruit of the India-rubber vine). 
 
ELEPHANT TRAPS. 99 
 
 Birds of gaudy plumage flew across our path, and curiously 
 painted butterflies floated languidly in the air. 
 
 The natives of Central Africa are all keen hunters, they do not 
 track the savage beasts for sport, but in search of food, and studi- 
 ous observation has taught them many ingenious devices in traps 
 and snares. 
 
 To the African palate roast monkey is a great delicacy, but this 
 animal is gifted -with a degree of intelligence which the word in- 
 stinct hardly expresses. The trap into which he is enticed must 
 be very artfully constructed, and the bait of the most inviting 
 kind, before he is successfully deceived. 
 
 The following method is successfully employed. A hole in a tree 
 near some spot frequented by these animals is found and a noose 
 is cunningly concealed with small branches so as to encircle the 
 mouth of the cavity; a cord attached to this noose leads down to 
 the place that the hunter has selected as a hiding-place; some 
 palm-nuts or other fruits are then placed in the hole; and when 
 the monkey, in order to obtain them, thrusts in an arm, the cord 
 is pulled, and the animal is held firmly by the noose until dis- 
 patched by spear or arrow. 
 
 Another favorite mode of hunting monkeys is by a crowd of 
 natives surrounding a troop of these animals on three sides, and 
 then, with sticks and stones, driving them until they arrive at the 
 edge of the forest, when the poor, frightened creatures, in en- 
 deavoring to escape from their pursuers, jump to the ground, 
 where they are stabbed or netted before they can get away. 
 
 The African has a great respect for the monkey's cunning, and 
 will chalk his face to resemble the coloring of that animal "s. and 
 believes by so doing he becomes possessed of some of the monkey's 
 artfulness. 
 
 The buffalo, hippopotamus, and elephant are not safe from the 
 snare of the African hunter. Pitfalls are dug, twenty feet deep, 
 and covered bo cunningly with small sticks and leaves that the 
 rogue-elephant, or wandering l)uffalo, roaming tlirough the forest, 
 breaks through the fragile covering, and falls headlong upon the 
 sharpened stakes studding the bottom of the pit : or. when tlie 
 
100 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 trap is without the cruel addition of spikes, he is speared to death 
 by the hunters, who must, if such spikes are not used, continually 
 visit their pitfalls; for, if not killed soon after being entrapped, 
 the captured animals will tear down the sides of the pit, and fill 
 up the hole sufficiently to allow them to escape. 
 
 These pitfalls are so skillfully concealed that the hunter has to 
 be continually on his guard, as unless their whereabouts is well 
 known to him, he may possibly fall a victim to the trap set for the 
 game he is stalking. 
 
 I myself, when alone, have more than once stumbled into these 
 holes ; but in the vicinity of a settlement spikes are seldom used, 
 and when venturing far afield, I was always accompanied by a 
 local hunter whose knowledge enabled us to steer clear of this 
 danger. 
 
 My sporting friend. Bongo Nsanda, was an expert hunter and 
 trapper. He had caught a great many hippopotami in his pitfall- 
 traps, and many a "tusker" and buffalo had become victims to his 
 weighted spear, cunningly suspended from the branches of the 
 towering forest trees. Passing through a wood one day, follow- 
 ing up the new track of a buffalo. Bongo Nsanda called my atten- 
 tion to an old and unused pitfall which he had made, a few yards 
 from the river-bank, in the trail of a hippopotamus. He told me 
 that having left it un watched for several days while he was on a 
 trading trip, one morning, upon revisiting it he was much aston- 
 ished to see that it was full. During his absence a hippo had 
 fallen in and died, and a crocodile, attracted by the odor had 
 climbed up the bank and got into the pit, where he gorged himself 
 upon the hippo, and was unable to get out again, but was still 
 alive. As a large trading-canoe was passing at the time. Bongo 
 Nsanda thought it best to sell the contents of his trap as it stood, 
 thereby saving himself the bother of killing the reptile. So he 
 hailed the canoe, and having made a satisfactory bargain, the 
 purchasers proceeded to kill the crocodile by spearing it. One 
 man, however, losing his footing fell in, and was caught by the 
 crocodile. Fortunately he was rescued alive, though severely 
 wounded. 
 
THE A FRICA N BILL OF FA RE. h'\ 
 
 Bongo Nsanda, like all natives, -was very superstitious, antl 
 thought this trap, which had been the cause of bo much hlood- 
 shed, had better be left alone. He had a foreboding that he him- 
 self might in some way bo the next victim if he used it again. Be- 
 sides which he feared the village medicine man, who would attri- 
 bute such mishaps to Bongo Nsanda being the possessor of an evil 
 
 spirit. 
 
 Big game are in even greater danger from the deadly "likongo" 
 or spear-trap, then from any other means adopted by the natives 
 for their destruction. A massive barbed spear-head is let into a 
 heavy beam of wood, and this weapon is suspended thirty or forty 
 feet from the grovmd over some well-worn animal trail. Tied be- 
 tween two trees, its deadly blade pointing directly to the trail, it 
 is kept in position by a cord which is carried to the base of the 
 tree, and then, concealed among branches of trees, is drawn across 
 the path. The unwary elephant, buffalo, or hippopotamus, upon 
 touching it with his foot as he walks, severs the frail string, and 
 the pondrous weapon, now released, falls crashing into the poor 
 brute's back. As a rule an animal wounded in this way is unable 
 to move far, as the distance through which the heavily weighted 
 spear falls, drives the barb deep into the body with fatal effect. 
 
 When an animal is Icilled, the meat, to be stored for future use 
 is cut up, placed over fires, and smoked until it is dry. in which 
 condition it will keep for several months, so long as it is not al- 
 lowed to become damp. 
 
 The natives' ordinary list of food is very limited, the stai>le diet be- 
 ing boiled manioc root and fish. Manioc is a vegetable^ resembling 
 the potato in substance, but coarse and stringy. The African 
 prepares it by soaking it in water for five days, during which it 
 ferments, becoming soft and inili)y; the fibn)ns threads are then 
 extracted, and it is kneaded into a d(Uigh-like paste, which is 
 boiled before use. In the Congo household, this is .nll.'d 
 "binguele." or "chiquanga". and is a very nutritious ftiod. 
 
 Some dishes, though a])preciated by the native, are obtained 
 with so much difficulty that they must be considered as luxuries. 
 It is not every day that even the greatest chi'f< '"i" r.nrtnke of 
 
102 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 CLAY WATER BOTTLE. 
 
 boiled hippopotamus-leg, roast elephant-trunk, or grilled buffalo- 
 steak, nor does the much esteemed crocodile stew often grace the 
 menu. 
 
 Frizzled caterpillars, paste of smashed ants, toasted crickets, 
 and eggs which are decidedly out of date, are national relishes, 
 and are always acceptable items at the African banquet. 
 
 The dishes I have named will not, per- 
 haps, seem very palatable, but as white 
 men consider frogs, snails, turtles, and 
 oysters as luxuries, I hardly think we can 
 justly criticise the means employed by 
 the Central Africans to satisfy their gas- 
 tronomic cravings. 
 
 The African eats three times a day — at 
 nine o'clock, lightly, and at noon and six 
 in the evening as largely as the state of his larder will permit. 
 Vegetables are invariably boiled, but meat is roasted on spits, 
 over a wood fire, and is always thoroughly cooked before being 
 eaten. 
 
 Knives, forks, spoons, napkins, and plates are not necessaries at 
 a "Congo dinner." In fact, any native who 
 has been fortunate enough to obtain such 
 luxuries as a fork and spoon, punches a hole 
 in the handle of each, and hangs them by a 
 string from the roof-tree of his house, as 
 proofs of his importance, and' of the advance 
 of civilization. Manioc, fish, and meat, when 
 cooked, are cut up and placed in large earthen jars by the women, 
 who cook and prepare all food. Then groups of ten and twelve 
 squat down round a jar, and eat with their fingers from the com- 
 mon dish, sopping up the peppered palm-oil gravy with their 
 chiquanga or manioc bread. 
 
 The civilized wielder of ^a fork and spoon would be sadly handi- 
 capped at a Central African banquet. 
 
 The Congo man does not always limit himself to three meals a 
 day; he is a glutton by nature. When he has a quantity of meat 
 
 ffiwaO— , 
 
 EARTHEN JAR. 
 
NATIVE SMOKERS. 
 
 103 
 
 he gorges while the savory morsels last, arguing that he may die 
 before to-morrow, and be the loser of a great deal of pleasure. 
 Even if the meat is tainted and the odor of it is so strong as almost 
 to overpower the passer-by, it is not rejected on that account ; and 
 any disgust I ever expressed on seeing the natives eat hippopota- 
 mus meat, the odor of which would have been intolerable to a 
 
 V^^ 
 
 "^^^^ -^^\J^^ 
 
 SMOKING THE LONG PIPE. 
 
 civilized man, was met by the retort: "Bisu ku-ola niama, tu- 
 kuola ncholu te !" (We eat the meat, but we don't eat the smell 1) 
 — a subtle distinction. 
 
 After a meal pipes are produced, for these people, old and young 
 alike, of both sexes, are inveterate smokers. The men use a pipe 
 with a stem eight or nine feet long, the big metal or wooden bowl 
 of which is stuffed full of tobacco and covered with a live cinder. 
 The old chief will close his lips tightly on the mouth-piece, and 
 commence to draw most furiously till he has created a big flood of 
 smoke, which he inhales till he exhausts his bodily capacity, and 
 then passes the pipe along to those gathered around him, each 
 
104 AV SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 of whom enjoys the narcotic influence in the same way. I have 
 often seen them, when thus engaged, fall helpless to the ground, 
 thoroughly overcome by the powerful fumes. 
 
 The women are more moderate, though they consume more 
 tobacco. They enjoy the weed in the same manner as a white 
 man, and use neatly made bowls of metal or clay, with short 
 wooden stems. 
 
 During my travels in Central Africa, I found tobacco growing 
 in every settlement, thougli in some places the soil was more 
 suited for its cultivation than in others. 
 
 My rather monotonous routine of life was repeatedly relieved 
 by some unusual activity in the. villages. 
 
 One day, amid the heavy booming of drums and the hubbub of 
 a hundred excited voices all talking at one time, and each trying 
 to make itself heard above the general tumult, a large fleet of war- 
 canoes started away, manned by natives of Lukolela and the dis- 
 rict. They were about to punish the common enemy, a tribe on 
 the other side of the river, for some cause real or imaginary. As 
 the flotilla passed my station beach, they struck up their boastful 
 war-songs, rattled their drums, beat their iron gongs, blew loud 
 harsh blasts on their ivory trumpets, and exhibited for my edifica- 
 tion, all the warlike accomplishments which they intended to 
 bring to bear on the enemy. 
 
 Their faces smeared with charcoal gave them a truly formidable 
 appearance, as they flourished their bright-blacied knives and 
 keen, glistening spears, in fierce anticipation of the planned at- 
 tack. 
 
 An approaching war between two villages is the signal for great 
 activity among the medicine men. They must find out by their 
 insight into the future how the coming fight will terminate. 
 Charms to protect the warriors against gunshot, spear, and arrow 
 must be prepared. These consist of small packages the size of a 
 tennis-ball which contain stones, beads, pieces of iron, fish-hooks, 
 and shells, and are worn round the necks or shoulders of the war- 
 riors. Besides the actual charm, devotional duties are imposed 
 upon the wearer by the Nganga. A warrior supplied with a talis- 
 
FETISH-MAN ' S CO UNSEL. 
 
 105 
 
 by the Xganga is not vigorously followed in 
 
 the war by the warriors, as their actions 
 
 must necessarily depend much on the 
 
 reception they meet with when face to 
 
 face with the enemy. Then, if defeat 
 
 is the result, the fetish-man Avill say : 
 
 " Aha I if you had done exactly as 
 
 I told you, all would have ended 
 
 differently. You Avould not 
 
 have lost a man ; you Avould 
 
 have captured many slaves, 
 
 and returned loaded with 
 
 ivory and cloth. But, 
 
 of course, if you do 
 
 not attend to what 
 
 man 
 to pro- 
 tect him 
 in time of 
 war against 
 the enemy's 
 weapons has, 
 in order to ren- 
 der the charm ef- 
 fectual, to observe 
 carefully certain in- 
 junctions dictated by 
 the fetish-man to be car 
 ried out before eating or 
 drinking. Sometimes it is 
 necessary to smear the face 
 and body with various colored 
 chalks, but the extent of such 
 ceremonies increases with the im- 
 portance of the client. Old Mun- 
 tula, the Lukolela charm doctor, had 
 been busily engaged for a month or so 
 finding out the best course to pursue in 
 the coming struggle, the warriors the 
 while being engaged in renovating their 
 weapons, and in dancing and drinking. It 
 is needless to say that the plan mapped out 
 
 I say, you cannot 
 expect to suc- 
 ceed." And the 
 contrite w a r - 
 riors Avill an- 
 swer : "It 
 is quite 
 true, 
 
 SPEABS AVn 
 DEVIL DODGER. 
 
106 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 that is what we ought to have done; why did we not do it?" 
 Then all hotly discuss who should bear the blame for disobey- 
 ing instructions, finally coming to the conclusion that the next 
 time they go to war they will follow the guidance of the fetish- 
 man. But they never do so. It is easy to understand that 
 they cannot. If they find their enemies too strong, and they 
 
 itHmt iiirinw 
 
 DEPARTURE OF WAR CANOES. 
 
 KM 
 
 are likely to get the worst of it, they beat a hasty retreat. If 
 on the other hand they themselves are in overwhelming force, 
 a precipitate rush is made to the enemy's stronghold, as every man 
 is anxious to steal as much as he can. 
 
 Three days after the imposing departure of the Lukolela war- 
 riors, the flotilla returned. As they paddled slowly past my 
 station, their dejected and crest-fallen demeanor plainly showed 
 that their common enemy still remained unpunished. The 
 blackened faces and glistening weapons had failed to frighten the 
 
BURIAL OF A CHIEF. 107 
 
 I 
 
 foes, whom they found quite prepared, and they were received by 
 showers of spears and arrows, hurled by resolute men from behind 
 well-constructed stockades. The arrival of the canoes at the village 
 landing was the signal for a general wailing, as one of the young 
 Lukolela chiefs had been killed in the fight from which they had 
 just ignominiously fled. The next day I witnessed the burial. 
 
 The body, round which lengths of cloth vv^ere wrapped, resembled 
 a colossal chrysalis. Since the return of the canoes, flint-lock 
 muskets had been repeatedly discharged to announce the death ; 
 but at the moment when, the body of the young chief was lowered 
 into the grave dug for its reception in the chief's own house, the 
 reports of the over-charged guns culminated in a veritable salvo 
 of musketry. 
 
 The usual accompaniment to such ceremonies, in the Lukolela 
 district, is a strange mixture of mirth and sorrow, for little clus- 
 ters of merry dancers mingle with the groups of mourners whose 
 energetic lamentation is shown by streaming eyes and the tear- 
 stained cheeks. But little real grief is felt, however; the tear is a 
 tribute demanded by native custom, which sorrow unaided can 
 seldom produce. A woman Mall suddenly cease her weeping, 
 throwing aside all signs of woe, to enjoy a pipe or perhaps to sell 
 a bunch of bananas or a fowl ; but upon the completion of the 
 bargain she will again step back into the circle of mourners and 
 abruptly resume her moans and tears, and with complete com- 
 mand of the emotions, will weep or laugh at will. Sometimes, at 
 the death of an important chief, all the women will be engaged 
 for days in shedding tears over the departed. During the time of 
 mourning, native custom denies them the privilege of washing, 
 and the continual streams from their eyes wear deep ruts on their 
 begrimed faces and bodies. When the body has been placed in 
 the grave, the friends of the dead chief dry their tears and resume 
 their ordinary habits of dress and demeanor; but the slaves and 
 relatives of the dead man must for three months after the inter- 
 ment still maintain an appearance of great dejection, and refrain 
 from smearing the body with the customary red powder, or even 
 from removing the objectionable eyelashes or trimming the nails. 
 
108 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 They must also wear very old cloth, and leave their woolly heads 
 unplaited and uncared for. At the expiration of the three months, 
 the " ngula" (red-wood powder) again colors their bodies, new cos- 
 tumes are produced, and the unkempt wool is neatly plaited in 
 wisps and tails. Too often the cessation of mourning is signalized 
 by the execution of a slave. In this instance the brother of the 
 young chief had bought a slave for that purpose. But I forbade 
 the ceremony, and in order to protect the poor, unfortunate fellow 
 from all harm, I redeemed him by paying to the captor the price 
 of his purchase. The poor emaciated creature, whose name was 
 Mpasa, had for six days been bound hand and foot by cords, with 
 barely enough food to allow him to exist. It was a great disap- 
 pointment to the expectant villagers that I would not allow the 
 sacrifice to be carried out, as they had invited a troupe of Ekuala 
 musicians, an inland tribe on the opposite bank of the river, to 
 take part in their festivities. Having heard a great deal about 
 the ability of the dusky orchestra, I invited them to visit my 
 station, and I was greatly struck with the harmony of sound pro- 
 duced from unpromising material. Some of the troupe rattled 
 on their drums ; others fingered rough stringed-instruments called 
 •'longombi," bearing a crude resemblance to a banjo, and 
 round pieces of flat iron, pierced and strung loosely together, 
 formed excellent castanets. The music was wild, but per- 
 formed in such excellent time that the result was decidedly 
 pleasing. To the accompaniment of this Central African musi- 
 cal band, the Ekuala dancers, wearing wild-cat skins around 
 their waists, gave an exhibition of their skill, which consisted in 
 successions of rapid and graceful movements of the body, which 
 especially delighted the Lukolela natives who thronged into my 
 station to witness the performance. The majority of the villagers 
 were slaves; their varied tattoo marks plainly proclaimed the 
 wide-spread raids of the slaver. The Lolo, from the banks of the 
 Ikelemba, Lulungu, and Malinga Rivers ; the Ngombe, from the 
 far interior ; and the natives of the Ubangi, were all represented 
 in the ranks of my neighbors' households — women, as wives, and 
 the men as recruits to the force of warriors. The slave, having 
 
A NEW COMRADE. 109 
 
 survived misery, starvation, and the many murderous phases of 
 the slave-trade, finds himself at a village like Lukolela in a posi- 
 tion of comparative security, until some horrible native custom, 
 or the superstitious edict of the fetish-man, demands his death. 
 
 The tastes of Congo tribes vary considerably. Here at Lukolela 
 the general ambition of the head men was to own as many slaves 
 as possible, so that they might insult their neighbors with im- 
 punity and destroy those who resented it. Besides this ambitious 
 desire, they have a great love of metal ornaments. The Lukolela 
 chief points with a great deal of pride to his brass anklets, and 
 will boast of the massive "molua" (woman's large brass neck-ring) 
 round his wife's neck. The Ba-Teke, of Stanley Pool, engage 
 largely in the ivory trade, buying from the up-river native traders, 
 and exchange their tusks with the white merchants on the coast 
 for cloth, guns, and powder. 
 
 The merchant, becoming a man of property, will wear a little of 
 the cloth, from the store he has accumulated during his life-time, 
 tied round his waist, with one end dragging in the mud three yards 
 behind him, to exemplify to his admiring neighbors his intense 
 contempt for such paltry wealth. The bulk of his cloth is stored 
 to satisfy his craving for a pompous funeral, and at his death it 
 will be bound around him preparatory to his being smoked 
 before burial, and all the powder and guns of the departed will be 
 used in firing salutes suitable to such an important occasion. 
 
 Five months had passed since Stanley had left my station, 
 promising to send me up a white companion, Avhen the shouts from 
 my men of "Masua anarude" (boats are coming!), imparted to me 
 the welcome tidings that I was about to see a white face again, 
 and very soon two whaleboats heavily freighted with supplies and 
 provisions for the new stations up the river were securely 
 anchored at my beacli. With my consignment of necessaries 
 was landed a stalwart young Englishman, w^ho handed me a let- 
 ter from Stanley, introducing the bearer as D. H. G. Keys, my 
 promised assistant. My new comrade was full of good nature 
 and high spirits. I had now been away from England fifteen 
 months, and as our postal service was rather erratic, my know]- 
 
110 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 edge of recent home news was exceedingly limited. So after the 
 boats had steamed up-river and we were left to ourselves, Keys, 
 who had just come from the old country, would spend many hours 
 in recounting to me such of the events that had happened since 
 my departure as he thought likely to interest me; and when he 
 had exhausted his news, he would sing over the new songs of Gil- 
 bert and Sullivan's latest, till I was able to pick out the gems of the 
 opera on the strings of my old banjo. Keys was by nature suited 
 exactly for the pioneer life among wild people that we were 
 to lead together. He was always kind and forbearing in his deal- 
 ings with the natives, whose child-like ignorance pleaded strongly 
 with him in excuse for their many faults, but if they attempted to 
 take advantage of his good nature, they found him a courageous 
 and determined man. He possessed, too, a certain natural charm 
 of manner which made him instantly a favorite in the villages, 
 where he would freely mingle with the people without that frigid 
 dignity which Europeans so often think it necessary to assume in 
 their intercourse with the African — a fruitful cause of much of the 
 disappointment and ill-success which many unfortunate pioneers 
 have met with in their attempts to benefit and civilize the savages 
 of the interior. 
 
 There was much to be done at this time in obtaining concessions 
 of territory from the chiefs in the district. I was frequently mak- 
 ing excursions by land and water on the business of the expedi- 
 tion, visiting and conciliating various tribes and entering into 
 agreements with their head men. When I was away. Keys, of 
 course, was in charge oi' the station, and it was pleasant to know 
 that the work was not falling into arrears during my absence, 
 and to look forward to a hearty welcome from my comrade when 
 I returned. When we were together, our talk would turn natur- 
 ally to dogs, guns, and game. I would tell Keys all my experience 
 Avith hippopotami and buffaloes, and show him the best hunting 
 grounds fur big game in the neighborhood. We little thought, as 
 we laid out our plans far ahead, that the close of a short season 
 would find only one gun in the field. For the present we ar- 
 ranged that either one or the other should go on a hunting trip 
 
CAUGHT NAPPING. Ill 
 
 each week to replenisii the larder and keep the men in good humor, 
 but we were now in the midst of the season of winds, v/hen the 
 river is very dangerous, as tornadoes were constantly sweeping 
 across the stream, lashing into fury the quiet waters of a few 
 minutes before, rendering the crossing of the Congo in a native 
 canoe a hazardous undertaking. 
 
 The steel lighters, returning from provisioning the up-river 
 stations, had arrived at my place on their way down stream. As 
 these boats could face any weather, I borrowed one of them in 
 order to cross the river, and have a day's hunting. Upon arriving 
 on the other side, we passed through a small channel and entered 
 a large lake-like lagoon in the midst of an extensive plain. "We 
 had a favorable wind, and had not put out an oar. The rough 
 square-sail bellied out before us as we tore through the water. 
 Upon a little tongue of sand, which reached out into the lake, two 
 buffaloes were taking their morning drink, and so noiselessly had 
 our bark sped on its way, that the animals were evidently uncon- 
 scious of our presence until the report of my long Martini rifle 
 brought one to the ground and warned the other of his danger. 
 When I ran my boat in-shore, I found the one I had shot to be 
 quite dead, the ball having struck behind the shoulder and passed 
 through to the lieart. Leaving some of the crew in charge of the 
 boat, I struck into the grass in search of other game. We had 
 tramped all through my different hunting patches, wdien passing 
 through a little stretch of long grass, a small black-and-white bird, 
 which always accompanies buffalo herds, flew up just in front of 
 me. Instinctively arresting my footsteps, I strained forward and 
 peering in the direction whence the bird arose, saw at my feet a 
 big bull-buffalo lying in the grass, with his head toward me. I 
 quickly raised my rifle and fired a snap shot ; fortunately for my- 
 self and trackers, the bullet took instant effect, and after two or 
 three spasmodic efforts to scramble to his feet, the buffalo sank 
 back dead on the grass. I shudder to think what the result might 
 have been Imd I only wounded him. I could never understand 
 the bull's presence there, for it is not often that buffaloes are 
 caught napping in that way. Having skinned the animal, my 
 
112 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 men carried the meat to the boat. They WQre walking just ahead 
 of me, when suddenly I saw each man throw down his load and 
 start back with a terrible fright. The cry of " Moseme ! Moseme !" 
 (Snake! Snake!) explained the situation. Approaching, I saw, 
 half submerged in a slimy puddle of water, a large python, who 
 defiantly lifted his head at our approach. The reptile had gorged 
 itself, and did not seem to be capable of any great activity. I 
 shot it through the head, and my men carried it to the boat. In 
 its stomach was found a wild goose, which the serpent had just 
 swallowed, but the operation the bird had just undergone, did not 
 debar it from being utilized by my native followers, as a piece de 
 resistance, and the meat of the snake was cooked and eaten in 
 due course, its skin subsequently made a handsome trophy. 
 
 The report of my rifle, when I fired at the snake, had started a 
 small herd of buffalo. I heard them splashing tiirough the swamp 
 ahead of us. Taking my hunter, Bongo Nsanda, with me, I got 
 within shot, fired, and hit one of the herd ; and not bringing the 
 animal down, I had to follow the tracks of blood through swamp 
 and plain, and push my way through tangled grass and into the 
 depths of the boggy forest, before I came up to my game. The 
 poor wounded brute was standing in a pool of water, and I was 
 able to approach unobserved and bowl him over, making my day's 
 total, three buffaloes, and one snake with attendant goose. 
 
 This abundance of meat was very acceptable to my own men, 
 and also to the crews of the whale-boats, who had buffalo steaks 
 enough to last them on their trip down stream. 
 
 In all my hunts I was accompanied by Bongo ISTsanda, who 
 stood ready at hand, and often with his heavy spear, which he 
 preferred to a rifle, he gave the coup-de-grdce, and ended the dy- 
 ing struggle of the animal that I had shot. 
 
 He had a tremendous reach, and being very powerful would 
 hurl his weapon, and bury the whole length of his twelve inch 
 blade in the carcass of an animal. 
 
 How different was the result of the next hunting party, which 
 started from Lukolela station. Its disastrous termination was 
 one of the saddest events in mv life. 
 
ALONE AGAIN. 113 
 
 It was my companion Key's turn to go and try and bag some 
 game, and renew our food supply. He started off in high spirits, 
 saying to me as he went away, "Have a good lunch ready, old 
 man— back about one — shall be awfully hungry — always am when 
 I come home from hunting." I could not accompany him, as I 
 was busy that day looking after station matters. One o'clock 
 passed, two, three, and then, as he was usually punctual in re- 
 turning at the appointed hour, I began to have a fear that some- 
 thing was wrong. I felt sure that something had happened, and 
 as time wore on and brought no news of my canoe, this forebod- 
 ing of evil tidings increased. At last just as the sun was sinkmg, 
 I saw my canoe returning, but my straining eyes could catch no 
 glimpse of poor Keys. There was in the canoe an ominous gap, 
 which arrested the beating of my heart, and upon its arrival at 
 the 'beach I found that my presentiment was sadly converted into 
 fact. I then learned the story of his death. Having come upon a 
 herd of buffaloes, eager for the sport he fired away until he ex- 
 hausted his stock of cartridges ; he w^as then in the midst of a 
 large plain, but was suffering so much from thirst that he decided 
 to make for the river, which was distant about half a mile. He 
 took with him one Houssa and a little native boy. When they 
 had proceeded a few hundred yards, they had to traverse a stretch 
 of very long grass, upon entering which they were startled by the 
 snorting and tramping of an enraged buffalo. The two frightened 
 blacks skipped off the patch and hid in the tangled cover. Keys 
 also tried to escape. The brute charged here and there, at oqe 
 time beating down the long grass within a yard of the two blacks. 
 Then, at last, suddenly sighting poor Keys, he charged furiously 
 at him. One slight moan was all the blacks heard. Death must 
 have been instantaneous. It was a sad blow for me; the re- 
 membrance of it is still vivid in my mind. We had been the best 
 of friends ; no angry word or thought had ever passed between us. 
 He had left me that morning full of life, rejoicing in his youth and 
 strength. I fancied I could almost hear the echoings of his eager 
 calls, hurrying his men to the hunt, and faint lingering notes of 
 his joyous farewell shouts seemed to reach me as I sat alone while 
 
114 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the gloomy shades of the fateful day gathered darkly round the 
 desolate station. They had placed the body in his room on the 
 narrow camp-bed. All the weary night I paced restlessly up and 
 down the mud floor of the house, listening and watching, intensely 
 expectant for something to assure me that it was all the fancy of a 
 feverish brain. The strain at last became unendurable. Before 
 the dawn broke I was lying: delirious with fever in my own room. 
 When I regained my senses I found my men gathered round 
 me, anxiously awaiting the first sign of returning consciousness. 
 
 I buried poor Keys just behind the station house. A great silk- 
 cotton tree throws its shade over the grave — a heap of stones en- 
 circled with a rough wooden paling, at the head of which stands 
 a little cross bearing his name and the date of his death. 
 
 I was destined to see no white face for five months, and it would 
 be a long time before the poor mother, in far-away England, could 
 receive the awful news of her dear boy's death. 
 
 A FAN PALM. 
 
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, UPPER CONGO. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HUNTING NOTES, AND SAVAGE CEREMONIES. 
 
 Buffalo hunting — Caught in a stokm— A spirit in a rifle barrkl— The medicine man's 
 RETREAT— Extraction of bullets— Friendly chat with the natives— A human 
 sacrifice— The Executioner— Horrors of slavery— The young chief Ndobo— His 
 despotism and fate. 
 
 The sad death of my comrade Keys was a great blow to me, and 
 left me in an awful state of depression. 
 
 It was but yesterday we two were talking of home, and antici- 
 pating our future careers in Africa, with hearts full of hopeful- 
 ness and boyish ambition. At night our overflow of good spirits 
 had found lusty relief, as we sat by the log fire and boisterously 
 sang our songs till the gloomy jungles around us echoed them 
 back. 
 
 To-night pitiless disaster had hauled the flag half-mast, and the 
 nocturnal silence was unbroken except by cry of a savage beast or 
 the weir:l call of the vampire to remind me of the grievous fact 
 that I was alone. 
 
 But it was absolutely necessary to overcome fate's merciless as- 
 sault, for my responsible position as commander of Lukolela de- 
 manded that my energy and judgment should be in thorough, 
 robust condition, and so I was determined to dismiss the sad 
 subject as much as possible from my mind, by keeping my time 
 fully employed in my station work, and in my duties of research 
 in the native settlements. 
 
116 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 My blacks were greatly depressed at the dreadful accident, and 
 when in a few weeks' time, I suggested another buffalo hunt, they 
 tried hard to persuade me to abandon the idea, expressing the 
 dread that I, too, might lose my life, and then, they asked " what 
 will become of us?" But I allowed no such argument, and I was 
 resolved to rouse them from their disheartened mood. Their ob- 
 jections to accompanying me became almost mutinous, and I was 
 compelled to make forcible display before they would pick up 
 their paddles and board the big dug-out canoe for a trip in search 
 of game. However, they finally took their paddles, and we crossed 
 the river to my old hunting field without mishap, and rowed 
 silently up a small creek which headed away in a forest swamp, 
 and flowed languidly through a winding channel till it discharged 
 its muddy little volume into the Congo. Upon rounding one of 
 the many curves, we came in full view of four buffaloes standing 
 in the water up to their bellies. They saw us at once, and amidst 
 a great splashing, they hastily plunged toward the bank. Three 
 of them had already got safely out, and into the long grass before 
 I could get a steady aim, but as the fourth one reached the dry 
 land he turned his head, and looked at us for a moment. 
 
 This injudicious curiosity gave me the right opportunity; my 
 bullet struck him in the forehead, and he dropped heavily to the 
 ground with a low moan, which is the sign of a fatal shot, and 
 upon our reaching the animal he was quite dead. My men were 
 delighted that we had bagged our game without at all endanger- 
 ing ourselves in the venture. The meat was soon cut up and 
 stowed away in the canoe, and all of us, now greatly encouraged 
 by the successful result of the hunt, were beginning to enjoy a 
 more cheerful condition of mind. 
 
 The Congo River just above Lukolela is about four miles wide, 
 and sudden storms render this wide stretch of water very danger- 
 ous to cross. On this day the heavens certainly looked rather 
 threatening, but there were apparently no signs of an immediate 
 squall, so we started for the other side. When about midstream, 
 a few gusts of wind came sweeping along, just slightly ruffling 
 the river's surface, and Bongo Nsanda, who always acted as my 
 
SWAMPED BY A TORNADO. 117 
 
 steersman, pointed to the horizon in the north-west, where a fiery 
 patch arched over by darkened clouds warned us that a storm was 
 nigh. 
 
 "Koolookanangooea!" (Paddle with all your might!) "Mboonge 
 anakooial" (Waves are forming!) My crew had the greatest con- 
 fidence in my black hunter's knowledge on such a subject, and 
 every man worked with a will, and the canoe staggered along 
 over the choppy seas which had sprung up so suddenly around us. 
 
 We were rapidly nearing t'he shore, but the waves increasing in 
 size every moment, were rolling in over the gunwale, and I was 
 compelled to order the men to lighten the canoe by throwing our 
 meat overboard, but in spite of this precaution, and the excellent 
 management of the craft, the heavy seas closed in on us on all 
 sides, and sw^amped us. Fortunately every one could swim, and 
 when thrown into the water, all held on to the gunwale of the 
 water-filled dug-out, which was a cotton wood, and w^e reached the 
 beach in safety. As I also took the precaution of firmly lashing 
 m}' guns to the side of the canoe, these indispensable weapons were 
 all saved, so except for the loss of the meat, and the unpleasant 
 risk we ran of being nipped by a crocodile whilst sw^imming 
 ashore, the accident was trifling. 
 
 As the natives of Central Africa attribute to some mysterious 
 influence any hitch or hindrance occurring in ordinary every-day 
 affairs, the little mishap I have just related was credited to the 
 Moloki or evil spirit, who is said to be guilty of indulging in petty 
 annoyances. I was assured that the evil spirit had aided me to 
 bag my buflfalo, and had then allow^ed me to get the meat supply 
 almost back to the sta^;ion, but had acted with this generosity 
 only to have the opportunity of vexing me by swamping mv 
 canoe, and robbing me of its cargo, 
 
 I was once somewhat astonished to hear this mysterious in- 
 fluence accused of tampering with fire-arms. Continual practice 
 among African big game had given me a steady hand, and rendered 
 my aim with the rifle fairly sure. As a rule after a day's hunting 
 among the buffaloes or hippopotami, I returned home with at least 
 one of these animals. But during one season it happened that for 
 
118 JiV" SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 two consecutive days I failed to kill any thing although I saw 
 plenty of game. I had used every effort, too, as my larder stood 
 much in need of fresh supplies. The men who accompanied me 
 were thoroughly disheartened at my want of success, and were 
 convinced of the interference of some spirit who had bewitched 
 my gun, and they earnestly asked my permission to expel the ob- 
 jectionable evil-doer. "Let us have your rifle and we will remove 
 the Moloki," said they; and upon my inquiring the mode of eject- 
 ment they proposed trying, they answered : " Simply put the barrel 
 into the fire till it is red hot, and burn out the evil-spirit." As 
 the cure suggested seemed to me worse than the evil it was in- 
 tended to remedy, I decided that the Moloki could retain his pres- 
 ent quarters rather than that my rifle should suffer such treat- 
 ment, and moreover I myself would attend to any such ejections 
 which I found to be necessary. 
 
 Whilst at Lukolela I had a fine well-stocked medicine chest, and 
 the natives now thoroughly convinced of my interest in their wel- 
 fare, would come to me to have their ailments doctored ; even 
 their crude minds could see that an actual remedy applied Avas 
 more consistent than the charm doctors' rattle and his muttered 
 incantations; moreover I made no charge, whilst my dusky com- 
 petitor aided the suffering only after exorbitant payment. Many 
 of the natives, however, stubbornly clung to tribal prejudices. 
 
 The wife of one of my men had a child who was suddenly taken 
 ill. She, unknown to me, called in the village medicine man. I 
 watched this celebrity's ofiicial arrival as he walked with 
 measured step and awed his credulous fellow-men with his im- 
 posing manner. He viewed the sick baby with a good deal of pro- 
 fessional concern, and then after receiving an advance payment, 
 he proceeded to chalk his face in different colors with stripes, 
 smudges, and dots, and having produced from his knitted sack a 
 few packets of feathery charms, asked that a large pot of water 
 might be placed over the fire, in the vessel he threw a few beads 
 and shells, and then ordered his audience to sit down in silence, 
 and warned them all to so remain until he had completed his investi- 
 gation. AVhen I arrived on the scene, he was eagerly gazing into 
 
THE NGANGA'S DISCOMFITURE. 119 
 
 the water watching- for the apj^earance of the face of the possessor 
 of au evil spirit which had bewitched the child. My athletic 
 treatment of this village ecclesiast however prompted a return 
 journey, in which dignity certainly was not the promnient feature. 
 He had unexpectedly discovered a far more robust spirit than had 
 been expected. Subsequently the little child, which had very lit- 
 tle the matter with it, got well under a treatment of nutritious 
 food supplied from the station kitchen. 
 
 There were two native trails running through my territory ; one 
 ran along in front of the house, and the other at the back through 
 my plantation ; the charm doctor in future always took the latter, 
 as his public appearance at my station had added to his list of 
 recollections, one of decided bodily discomfort. 
 
 There is a great deal of sickness among these people. Fevers 
 and agues haunt the swamps, and there is much suffering from 
 ulcers and sores. There are some herbal medicines of valuable 
 properties known to these people. But the fetish-man, in order to 
 maintain his reputation, invests all actual medical treatment with 
 such elaborate magical surroundings as to convince the ignorant 
 savage that the cure is due to the charm, and the application of 
 the herbal mixture subservient to fetish agencies. 
 
 To his religious functions the Nganga unites those of the sur- 
 geon and the physician, and whatever his pretentions in the one 
 calling may be, his skill in the other is more than considerable. 
 In skirmishes of intertribal warfare natives are often badly 
 wounded ; powder is a scarce commodity in this part of the world, 
 so the owner of a musket will not fire at his enemy unless he is 
 near enough to be certain of his aim. The slugs used are rough 
 pieces of copper, brass wnre, and stones of all shapes. These fired 
 at a distance of twelve or fifteen yards inflict ugly wounds, and 
 are found deeply embedded in the flesh. In the extraction of 
 these rude bullets the fetish-man displays great surgical skill, al- 
 though of course he always attributes such ability to the agency 
 of his wonder-working charms. At one time, during a little fight 
 I was forced into by the hostile attitude of a neighboring chief, 
 several of my men received wounds from the enemy's overcharged 
 
120 IN' SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 liint-locks. I called in a native charm doctor who was renowned 
 for surgical skill. When he arrived I told him that if he suc- 
 ceeded in extracting the slugs from my men I would give him a 
 handsome present. One of my men Avas badly hit ; the charge 
 had entered the shoulder just below the neck, and worked its way 
 down toward the armpit. The Nganga, covered with magic para- 
 phernalia, assumed the impressive demeanor characteristic of his 
 clan. He first compelled all present to seat themselves on the 
 ground before him, allowing no one to stand behind him while he 
 was performing the operation. My man was then brought and 
 firmly held, while the Nganga examined the wounds, carefully 
 probing with the hair of an elephant's tail to ascertain the position 
 of the slugs. Having satisfied himself on this point he addressed 
 himself to his charms, bewildering the simple onlookers with mut- 
 tered incantations of fearful-sounding words : he would often con- 
 sult a basin filled with water placed near the head of the patient, 
 into which he had dropped a few shells ; then he smeared his body 
 with different colored powders, and to increase the keenness of 
 his insight, into the hidden things of the spirit world he anointed 
 his eyelids with a bluish paste. All influences being propitious he 
 proceeded to work again, gently squeezing and pinching the flesh 
 to coax the bullets from the wounds. When his fingers assured 
 him that he had succeeded in his endeavor to bring tiie bullet near 
 the surface, he produced a number of leaves from a bag carried 
 on his person, pressed them to pulp between his palms, and placed 
 a portion of them over each wound. This done he continued his 
 manipulations with one hand while gesticulating to a mysterious 
 bundle he had in the other. Finally he removed the leaves, and 
 taking the extracted bullets from the aperture of each wound 
 dropped them one by one with a triumphant gesture into the basin. 
 The skill of the Nganga compelled my admiration, and 3-et all the 
 natives who witnessed the extraction, the patient included, de- 
 parted more impressed by the irrelevant and absurd rites that ac- 
 companied the operation than by the knowledge and dexterity of 
 'the operator. 
 
 The old medicine man is the most important individual in a vil- 
 
NATIVE CHARACTERISTICS. 121 
 
 lage. Even the head men fear his tyranny. His authority should 
 always be weakened by any white man living in the district. 
 I invariably n.ade it my business to scoff at their ability, and 
 eventually succeeded in convincing a great part of the settlement 
 that they were being duped by the charm doctor's deceit and 
 hypocrisy. 
 
 My station at Lukolela was thronged all day and far into the 
 niglit with dusky crowds, and the station and native village of 
 Lukolela were living on tlie best of terms. 
 
 The natives brought me presents of goats, fowls, bananas, pine- 
 apples, and palm wine, and 1 delighted their childish hearts with 
 penny forks, tiny bells, brass wire, and bright cloth. They nar- 
 rated to me incidents and historical events in connection with 
 their nation, and I endeavored to give them some idea of Avhat a 
 great country the white man dwelt in, but they could not under- 
 stand how our " village" could be important. They had seen so few 
 white men, and had never seen a white woman, they did not be- 
 lieve there were many of us, and when I asked them to draw in 
 the sand the size of Mputu, (white man's land), they portrayed it 
 as having the dimensions of a man's hand, while quite an exten- 
 sive area was shown as the size of Lukolela, which they con- 
 sidered far larger than all the white man's land put togetlier. 
 
 They were greatly amused at the rough drawings 1 made with 
 charcoal on the whitewashed side of my house, and when I 
 depicted in crude designs, steamboats, locomotives, and other 
 civilized appliances so strange to them, and gave explanation 
 in their own tongue, 1 had always a most appreciative audience. 
 For a long time they could not understand small printed illustra- 
 tions; the diminutive representation of objects puzzled them 
 greatly. If I pointed out a man in a picture, they would say "•If 
 that is a man" — "A ku jala muke muke." (He is a very small 
 one). 
 
 These natives have a strange combination of characteristics; 
 they are light-hearted, plucky, industrious, and make stanch fol- 
 lowers, but they are pitilessly cruel, and delight to witness human 
 suffering and the spilling of human blood. 
 
122 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 . Horrible ceremonies of human sacrifice result from the belief 
 prevailing amongst these people of an existence carried on under- 
 ground after death, as on earth, a life in which the departed ones 
 require the services of slaves and wives to attend to their several 
 wants. 
 
 They believe that death leads but to another life to be continued 
 under much the same conditions as the life they are now leading, 
 and a chief thinks that if when he enters into this new existence 
 he is accompanied by a sufficient following of slaves, he will be 
 entitled to the same rank in the next world as he holds in this, 
 and from this belief arises a hideous ceremony of human 
 slaughter. Upon the death of a chief a certain number of his 
 slaves are selected to be sacrificed that their spirits may accom- 
 pany him to the next world. Should this chief own thirty men 
 and twenty women, seven or eiglit of the former and six or seven 
 of the latter will suffer death. The men are decapitated, and the 
 women are strangled. When a woman is to be sacrificed she is 
 adorned with bright metal bangles, her toilet is carefully attended 
 to, her hair is neatly plaited, and bright-colored cloths are wrapped 
 around her. Her hands are then pinioned behind, and her neck 
 is passed througli a noose of cord ; the long end of the cord is led 
 over the branch of the nearest tree, and is drawn taut at a given 
 signal ; and while the body is swinging in mid-air, its convulsive 
 movements are imitated with savage gusto by the spectators. It 
 often happens that a little child also becomes a victim to this hor- 
 rible ceremony by being placed in the grave alive, as a pillow for 
 the dead chief. These executions are still perpetrated in many 
 villages of the Upper Congo. 
 
 Upon the occasion of an execution all peaceful occupation is 
 thrown aside, and old and young of both sexes give themselves up 
 to the indulgence of the ghastly spectacle. 
 
 At early morn a peculiar slow beating on the war drums is the 
 death signal for the poor slave pinioned and guarded in a hut near 
 by, and the well-known sounds announce to the savage audience 
 that the executioner is about to add to his list of victims. 
 
 The natives hurriedly leave their huts, and very soon groups of 
 
AN EXECUTION. 
 
 123 
 
 men, women, and children form themselves in circles and excitedly 
 perform dances, consisting of violent contortions of the limbs, ac- 
 companied by savage singing, and repeated blasts of the war- 
 horns, each dancer trying to outdo his fellow in violence of 
 movement and strength of lung. 
 
 About noon, from sheer exhaustion, combined with the heat of 
 the sun, they are compelled to cease, when large jars of palm 
 wine are produced, and a general bout of intoxication begins, 
 increasing their excitement, and showing up their savage nature 
 in striking colors. The poor slave, who all this time has been 
 lying in a corner of 
 
 some hut, shackled . x- -. ..^^x^ 
 
 hand and foot, and 
 closely watched, 
 suffering the agony 
 and suspense which 
 this wild tumult 
 suggests to him, is 
 now carried to some 
 prominent part of 
 the village, there to 
 be surrounded and 
 to receive the jeers 
 and scoffs of the drunken mob of savages. The executioner's as- 
 sistants, having selected a suitable place for the ceremony, procure 
 a block of wood about a foot square. The slave is then placed on 
 this, in a sitting posture; his legs are stretched out straight in 
 front of him ; the body is strapped to a stake reaching up the back 
 to the shoulders. On each side stakes are placed under tlie arm- 
 pits as props, to which the arms are firmly bound; the other 
 lashings are made to posts driven into the ground near the ankles 
 and knees. 
 
 A pole is now planted about ten feet in front of the victim, from 
 the top of which is suspended by a number of strings a bamboo 
 ring. The pole is bent over like a fishing-rod, and the ring 
 fastened round the slave's neck, which is kept rigid and stiff by 
 
 AWAITING EXECUTION. 
 
124 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the tension. During this preparation the dances are resumed, now 
 rendered savage and brutal in the extreme by the drunken con- 
 dition of the people. Groups of dancers surround the victim 
 and indulge in drunken mimicry of the contortions of face which 
 the pain caused by this cruel torture forces him to show. He has 
 no sympathy to expect from this merciless horde. 
 
 Presently in the distance approaches a company of two lines of 
 
 young people, each holding a stem of the 
 palm tree, so that an arch is formed be- 
 tween them, under which the executioner 
 is escorted. The whole procession moves 
 with a slow but dancing gait. Upon ar- 
 riving near the doomed slave all dancing, 
 singing, and drumming cease, and the 
 drunken mob take their j^laces to witness 
 the last act of the drama. 
 
 An unearthly silence succeeds. The exe- 
 cutioner wears a cap composed of black 
 cocks' feathers; his face and neck are 
 blackened with charcoal, except the eyes, 
 the lids of which are painted with white 
 chalk. The hands and arms to the elbow, 
 and feet and legs to the knee, are also 
 blackened. His legs are adorned profusely 
 with broad metal anklets, and around his 
 waist are strung wild-cat skins. As he performs a wild dance 
 around his victim, every now and then making a feint with his 
 knife, a murmur of admiration arises from the assembled crowd. 
 He then approaches and makes a thin chalk mark on the neck of 
 the fated man. After two or three passes of his knife, to get the 
 right swing, he delivers the fatal blow, and with one stroke of his 
 keen-edged weapon severs the head from the body. The decapita- 
 tion brings to a climax the frenzy of the natives ; some of them 
 savagely puncture the quivering trunk with their spears, others 
 hack at it with their knives, while the remainder engage in a 
 ghastly struggle for the possession of the head, which has l)een 
 
 THE EXECUTIONER. 
 
THE FIGHT FOR THE HEAD. 
 
 125 
 
 jerked into the air by the relaased tension of the sapling. As each 
 man obtains the trophy, and is pursued by the drunken rabble, the 
 hideous tumult becomes deafening ; they smear one another's faces 
 with blood, and 
 fights always spring 
 up as a result, when 
 knives and spears 
 are freely used. The 
 reason for their anx- 
 iety to possess the 
 head is this — the 
 man who can retain 
 that head against all 
 comers until sun- 
 down will receive a 
 present for his 
 bravery fro m the 
 chief. It is by such 
 means that they test 
 the brave of the vil- 
 lage, and they will 
 say with admira- 
 tion, speaking of the 
 local hero, " He is a 
 brave man, he has 
 retained two heads 
 until sundown." 
 
 When the taste for 
 blood has been to a 
 certain extent satis- 
 fied, they again re- 
 sume their singing and dancing while another victim is pre- 
 pared, when the same ghastly exhibition is repeated. Some- 
 times as many as twenty slaves will be killed in one day. 
 The dancing and general drunken uproar are continued until mid- 
 night when once more absolute silence ensues, in utter contrast 
 
 5afS0^°'^^^*^-^'* 
 
 ^:xECUTIo^•I•;K's cap, swokd, anu loin ci.orii. 
 
126 ^^ SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 to the hideous tumult of the clay. I had frequently heard the 
 natives boast of the skill of their executioners, but I doubted 
 their ability to decapitate a man with one blow of the soft 
 metal knives they use. I imagined they would be compelled 
 to hack the head from the body. When I witnessed this 
 sickening spectacle I was alone, unarmed, and absolutely 
 powerless to interfere. But the mute agony of the poor black 
 martyr who was to die for no crime but simply because he 
 was a slave — whose every piteous movement was mocked by 
 frenzied savages, and whose very death throes gave the signal for 
 the unrestrained outburst of a hideous carnival of drunken 
 savagery, appealed so strongly to my sense of duty, that I de- 
 cided upon preventing by force any repetition of this scene. I 
 made my resolution known to an assembly of the principal chiefs, 
 and though several attempts were made, no actual executions 
 took place during the remainder of my stay in this district. 
 
 A few words are necessary to define the position of the village 
 chiefs as the most important factors in African savage life, es- 
 pecially as in one way or another they are intimately connected 
 with the worse features of the slave system, and are responsible 
 for neirly all the atrocities practiced on the slave. 
 
 The so-called chiefs are the head men of a village, and they 
 rank according to the number of their warriors. The title of 
 chieftain is not hereditary, but is gained by one member of a tribe 
 proving his superiority to his fellows. The most influential chief 
 in a village has necessarily the greatest number of fighting men, 
 and these are principally slaves, as the allegiance of a free man 
 can never be depended upon. A chief's idea of wealth is slaves. 
 Any kind of money he may have he will convert into slaves at 
 the first opportunity. Polygamy is general throughout Central 
 Africa, and a chief buys as many female slaves as he can afford, 
 and will also marry free women, which is, after all, only another 
 form of purchase. 
 
 Sometimes misfortune creates great changes in the chieftain's 
 career. I will narrate a short story of a young tyrant named 
 Ndobo, whose ambitious career was unexpectedly checked. 
 
THE STORY OF NDOBO. 127 
 
 Ndobo was an African savage ; liis father was the chief Ncossi ; 
 his mother, Molumbu, was a slave woman. 
 
 When old Kcossi died, his son Ndobo, who was a brave fellow, 
 took his place as chief of Ikengo, a village on the banks of the 
 Congo Eiver, about a hundred miles from Lukolela. 
 
 In former days it had been the custom for the different chief- 
 tains of the whole country to combine and form themselves into a 
 council for the shaping of laws for the ruling of the land, but 
 when the young and ambitious Ndobo came into power, he re- 
 fused to admit such division of authorit}'. He at once assumed 
 supreme control, and threatened with barbarous punishment all 
 who opposed him. The slave who disobeyed him was killed, and 
 a discontented district was fiercely assailed till the entire land ten- 
 dered submission and homage to the young tyrant. 
 
 In single combat Ndobo had vanquished every warrior who had 
 dared to draw his blade. He was proud of the ugly scars which 
 stood out in long wales all over his body, recording savage fights 
 with man and beast. 
 
 I must here mention that in this land the utterance of a 
 malicious wish is a direct challenge to whomsoever it is addressed, 
 and the speaker never fails to support his words by grasping his 
 knife in readiness. "Owi na mail" (May you get drowned I) 
 "Owi na ncorlil" (Maya crocodile eat you!) are insults which 
 will unsheathe two glistening blades and throw two stahvart 
 savages into angry conflict, and due satisfaction is not acknowl- 
 edged till both are weak from loss of blood, and the van 
 quished drops his knife and gasps out his surrender. So feared 
 had Ndobo become that he would stand unarmed and heap offen- 
 sive threats on both chieftains and slaves with impunity, for no 
 one dared- to resent them. Though brave in war and fearless in 
 the chase, he was withal a cruel and merciless savage; the life of 
 a human being to him was no more than that of a fowl or a goat. 
 
 On the roof of Ndobo's hut a score of whitened skulls bore evi- 
 dence of how his father's death was signalized, and how 
 thoroughly the son and heir had fulfilled the grim demand of 
 tribal fashion, which decides that upon the death of a chief half 
 
128 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 of the number of slaves owned by the deceased shall be sacrificed, 
 so that they may accompany their master into the next world, and 
 do his bidding there, as they had done on earth. 
 
 When the village is not roused to brutish frenzy by some hideous 
 exhibition of savagery prompted by national custom or resulting 
 from Ndobo's cruel whim or anger, then there is an air of calm 
 and content about this African settlement. The neat bamboo huts 
 roofed with grass, embedded in a mass of tropical verdure, and 
 
 shaded by stately palm trees, the 
 throngs of orderly beings quietly 
 engaged in cheerful and friendly 
 conversation, and the hearty 
 laughter of the rollicking young- 
 sters form a picturesque and 
 peaceful scene. 
 
 Recently several large canoes 
 had come down stream from Lu- 
 lungu loaded with slaves and 
 ivory, the owners of which had 
 sold to the Ikeilgo chieftains the 
 entire human freight and all the 
 costly elephant tusks. ISTdobo, who 
 was a keen trader, had bought 
 the bulk of the cargo, and set to work at once to organize an ex- 
 pedition to convey the newly acquired wealth down stream 
 several hundred miles, and there make exchange with the Chum- 
 biri people for cloth, brass wire, metal ornaments, beads, and the 
 variety of trinkets which go to make up the currency. 
 
 Five large canoes had been selected, each to be manned by a 
 crew of twenty- five stalwart paddlers; the hardiest men of the 
 land had been pressed into Ndobo's service. Some of the chief- 
 tains of the surrounding country would accompany the expedi- 
 tion, others were detailed to remain in defense of the villages. 
 
 For several days all the women had been busily engaged in pre- 
 paring provisions for the trip, not only for the journey down 
 stream, but for their stay there, and also for the return journey, 
 
 SLAVE FROM UP-STREAM. 
 
PREPARING MANIOC. 129 
 
 for the Chumbiri people would take advantage of their hungry 
 condition to charge them ridiculous prices for any food they 
 might need. 
 
 Manioc is the bread of that land, the most popular and general 
 preparation of it being chiquanga. Manioc is a vegetable re- 
 sembling in appearance a very large potato; a number of bulbs 
 grow in a cluster at the roots of a bush, which reaches ten feet in 
 height, with lanky limbs and a scant covering of dainty foliage. 
 A small twig of the manioc bush, planted in due season, will 
 develop to maturity after fifteen months, and about a score of 
 large potato-like vegetables ripened to perfection will be clinging 
 to the roots a few inches below the surface on the ground. The 
 African woman, who conducts all agricultural arrangements, cuts 
 down the bush, and digs out the roots. When taken from the 
 ground, the vegetable is of the substance of an artichoke, but 
 very stringy throughout. Big baskets are loaded with these roots 
 and sunk into the water, and after a few days are taken out, 
 when a great change has taken place by fermentation; the 
 manioc has now become quite mealy, and all the threads can 
 be easily removed. It is then kneaded into dough, and made 
 into round puddings weighing about three pounds, which are 
 boiled for several hours. When properly cooked it is white, 
 and looks like a white duff pudding, and is very wholesome 
 and nourishing. It is rather difficult at first for a white man 
 to learn to like this dish, which tastes somewhat like sour milk. 
 But the white man in this land has no bakeries or restaurants 
 catering to his wants, and after a while, if he is deprived of 
 chiquanga, he feels the want as keenly as any native. 
 
 All preparations for the journey had now been completed, and 
 early one morning the sharp rattle of Ndobo's drum sounding tlie 
 "Nkundila" (all aboard) signal summoned the paddlers for the 
 start and threw the village into a state of bustle and commotion. 
 The canoes lying swamped, to protect them from the sun, were 
 soon lifted and baled out dry, ready to be loaded, and then Ndobo 
 himself stood on the beach and superintended operations. All the 
 ivory (some tusks weighing ninety pounds), was carried down 
 
130 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 and laid along the bottoms of the dug-outs ; then the bales of fish 
 and chiquanga were snugly stowed, also bundles of " ngula" (pow- 
 dered red-wood), which the "swells" in that country mix into 
 a paste with fat, to smear their bodies with when wishing to 
 appear fully "dressed." Everything is packed so that the canoe 
 is kept in perfect trim all the time. The slaves to be sold, down 
 stream, are led down and crowded together in a sitting posture, 
 all securely handcuffed, on the bottoms of the dug-outs. 
 
 When all the canoes were properly loaded and in perfect trim, 
 Ndobo gave the order, "Nkundila!" and every paddler was soon 
 in his place, and the dug-outs pushed into the stream. Before 
 making the actual start they paddled two or three times up and 
 down in fr(mt of the village to receive for their formidable ap- 
 pearance the admiration of the girls they left behind them. It 
 was a barbaric but impressive display, and the sweethearts and 
 wives who remained in the village viewing that well-equipped 
 and well-armed force need feel no anxiety for the result if some 
 hostile tribe should attack them on the way down stream, for they 
 were perfectly capable of rendering a good account of them- 
 selves. 
 
 The warriors, all standing, with their heads bedecked with 
 feathers, strained on the pliant paddle till the long heavily laden 
 dug-outs leaped along the water in graceful curves, ably steered 
 by four stout paddlers at the stern. Drums were beaten on board 
 and on shore, loud blasts were blown through large ivory trum- 
 pets, crude cymbals were dashed together, and every voice 
 shouted a tribal war-song. Every now and then the warriors laid 
 down their paddles and grasped their knives and shields and 
 spears, and stabbed and slashed in mimic warfare. Finally they 
 wheeled around, each man laid his weapons by his side, within 
 easy reach, and took up the paddle, and the journey commenced 
 in real earnest. 
 
 "Cooma!" (beat time), shouted Ndobo, and one man in each 
 canoe raised a foot to the gunwale of the dug-out, and hammered 
 out the time for the paddlers' strokes. 
 
 When on an expedition, if the weather is favorable, the na- 
 
NDOBO'S VOYAGE. 131 
 
 tives will travel by water fifty miles without a halt ; their canoes 
 when loaded sink down so deep that they cannot venture out when 
 the river is rough, so when they get a spell of fine weather they 
 will paddle till exhausted. And when on a trading venture, with 
 a, cargo of slaves, the fewer nights spent en route the better, for 
 there is always the fear that some may escape. 
 
 Ndobo's flotilla, propelled by powerful strokes and aided by a 
 swift current, was soon many miles away from Ikengo. The 
 canoes raced along down stream amidst an incessant tumult 
 •of singing and drumming, now threading their way through a 
 scattering of pretty tropical islands, then past immense sand-banks 
 upon which monster crocodiles lay, basking iathe sun, with opened 
 jaws, which closed with a sharp snap at the unusual approach, 
 and the loathsome reptiles waddled lazily into the stream. 
 
 Herds of hippopotami, lying huddled in shallow water with only 
 the tops of their heads and backs showing above the surface, 
 startled by the strange intrusion, reared up angrily, and clumsily 
 stampeded away and plunged out of sight into deep water, to 
 appear again presently, scattered all over the surface of the water, 
 each animal, however, showing only his ej'es and the tips of 
 his ears above the surface. 
 
 Each night the canoes were firmly fastened to the shore, and 
 the big earthen cooking pots were carried ashore, filled with the 
 savory manioc, and dried fish were steaming over log fires. When 
 the cooking was done, the crowd divided itself into parties 
 of a dozen, each with a pot of its own, around which they 
 swarmed, eating from it with tlieir fingers, those in the back- 
 ground being greatly handicapped by having to reach over the 
 others' heads, bat always trying in such a case to dip in the dish 
 more frequently, and regulate the result in that way. After 
 having eaten, they spread out their mats near the fires, and, 
 having had a comfortable smoke, loll off to sleep. When the mos- 
 quitoes are bad (and it is seldom they are not), the African lies on 
 the edge of his mat and, throwing the remainder of it over him 
 as a roof, ho then builds a smoky fire at each end to deny admit- 
 tance to the hateful torment. 
 
132 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 After a few days' hard paddling, Ndobo and his flotilla arrived 
 at Chumbiri without having suffered any mishap. The young 
 tyrant chief was duly greeted by the various chieftains at this 
 place, to whom he was well known, having made frequent jour- 
 neys here before. 
 
 In this land in the heart of Africa there is a game of chance 
 called lobesi ; pieces of pottery are chipped into wheels about the 
 size of a quarter of a dollar; one side is whitened, the other burnt 
 black. The player takes an odd number of these pieces in one 
 hand and throws them on a mat, first betting upon either black 
 or white; and, of course, if the majority turn up his color, 
 he wins. Upon ISTdobo's arrival here, a party of Chumbiri na- 
 tives was earnestly engaged in a game of lobesi. They were 
 playing for very low stakes — a few beads, a piece of fine brass 
 wire, or perhaps a fathom of cotton cloth. Young Ndobo at once 
 joined the game, and at first he began to win ; he then bet more 
 heavily, and instead of playing for beads and brass wire, he 
 staked his "valuable knife and spear, and lost both. Then he lost 
 all the smaller trinkets he had previously won. He became ex- 
 cited and reckless, and he ordered one of his men to bring up a 
 slave from the gang in his canoes, and upon his arrival Ndobo 
 challenged all to stake their slaves. Only one player, however, 
 accepted and agreed to continue the play ; the others who had 
 been gambling left the game. 
 
 The whole village now became interested, and a dense throng 
 gathered round to watch the play. 
 
 Ndobo's opponent was rapidly winning. Slave after slave was 
 brought up from the canoes, till the whole lot was gambled away. 
 Then Ndobo produced a tusk of ivory, lost it, and staked another, 
 and played till he had lost all. The young tyrant chief of Ikengo 
 was a ruined man. Ever/ form of wealth was gone, but he was 
 yet a free man himself, and at liberty to gamble away his own 
 existence. He hesitated for a few minutes in angry meditation, 
 then nervously gathered up the seven lobesi wheels, bet on white, 
 and threw. The little pieces rolled and twirled, and finally set- 
 tled — three white and four black. He had lost. 
 
MOLUMBE'S TRIUMPH. I33 
 
 Several years previously Ndobo had come down to Cliumbiri 
 with a cargo of slaves for sale, among them a boy named Mol- 
 umbe. This boy had grown to be a man, and it Avas he who 
 had dared to play Ndobo for so high a stake, and who had in one 
 short afternoon won all the property of his former master, and 
 even deprived him of his freedom. 
 
 That afternoon the young tyrant Ndobo, whose word was law 
 in his own country, and at whose threat his whole dominion 
 trembled, was seated handcuffed and shackled amidst the gano- 
 of half -starved slaves he had brought down stream ; like them, 
 he was now for sale. 
 
 Ndobo, sitting with his arms outstretched on his drawn-up 
 knees, and face hidden, was struck to the quick by his former 
 slave's quiet irony: 
 
 "My slave, Ndobo! Pesa 'ngai lusaku!" (Tender me homage.) 
 Ndobo, the tyrant, was helpless to resist. He answered: 
 "Lusaku, Nkulu! !" (I am your slave, my master.) 
 I regret very much to say that it is not often that the cruel, 
 despotic chieftains meet so well-deserved a fate. 
 
thkovvinl; the steak. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MY LAST J>AYS AT LUKOLKLA. 
 
 Short hand spei;ch—"Nyo"— Congo orators— Lkoai, Discussions -A duel— The sleeping 
 SICKNESS— Gorillas— Natural punishments- Fights amongst animals— A guinea 
 fowl story— An ill-tempered hippo— The Congo Free State— Lukolela abandoned. 
 
 Having been for many months in constant communication with 
 my dusky neighbors, I was no longer looked upon as a foreigner. ^ 
 In fact, it was only when an occasional white man paid a passing 
 visit that I spoke in English at all. I conversed with my own 
 Zanzibaris in their language, the Ki-Swahili, and none of my 
 Lukolela friends knew any tongue but their own Ki-Bangi 
 which I had thoroughly learned. 
 
 The study of this revealed to me several abbreviated expres- 
 sions, scraps of short-hand speech. On the lower reaches of the 
 Congo the word "mbote" at first puzzled my comprehension. If I 
 asked a native to sell me pine-apples or fowls, he answered, 
 "Mbote," and whether I arrived in the village in the morning, 
 afternoon, or night. I was greeted in friendly salutation by the 
 single word, which also was the reply to any interest I might 
 
NA TIVE SIGN LANG UA GE. 135 
 
 express with regard to the state of health of the chief and family. 
 As I made my departure, the natives, no matter whether they 
 regretted my leaving their settlement or were pleased to see the 
 last of me, bade me farewell in the expression ''mbote." It seemed 
 as though this word had monopolized an extravagant portion of 
 the tribal dictionary. 
 
 Amongst a variety of other meanings, it could be translated, 
 "Certainly, with pleasure," "Good -morning," "Good-afternoon," 
 "Farewell," "Very glad to see you," and "Sorry you have to go." 
 1 suppose, when civilization will have established some of the 
 observances of the white man, "Mbote will be invested with the 
 additional meanings of "Many happy returns of the day," "Merry 
 Christmas," and "A Happy New Year." 
 
 The word "be", accompanied by the sign of firmly holding the 
 chin between the first finger and the thumb, means quantity, under 
 favorable conditions: for instance, I would interview Bongo 
 Nsanda, and suggest to him that as our present hunting-grounds 
 were being cleared of all the game by our frequent visits, we 
 should try a new stretch of country, and would ask him if he knew 
 of any place within easy reach where Ave could bag a buffalo 
 or elephant ; if I received the answer, "Be," there was no need 
 of my questioning him further on the subject, for that word and 
 its attendant signs of holding the chin, signified that he knew of 
 a locality with the necessary conditions altogether favorable. 
 
 By far the most forcible of all the abbreviations is the one ex- 
 pressing destruction and fulfillment of promise. It is a sound pro- 
 duced by screwing the mouth up into whistling positit>n, then 
 blowing a sharp breath, and at the same time passing the hand 
 rapidly across the mouth close to the lips, making a noise resem- 
 bling the sudden escape of steam. 
 
 I will cite an instance of the use of this expression. An old chief 
 named Manjimba one day visited my station and sadly narrated 
 to me how his village had been surprised by an inhmd tribiMif 
 hostile natives, who had captured some of his people and taken 
 several prisoners. "Why don't you punish your enemies?" I 
 asked. "You ought to be able to do so : you have a fine following 
 
136 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 of stalwart warriors, all well armed with spears, knives, arrows, 
 and shields. Why do your men carry such weapons if they re- 
 main inactive after such an unprovoked attack?" 
 
 Manjimba answered, in tones of unmistakable determination : 
 
 " Yes, Makula, I intend to fight these people. I am preparing to 
 attack them and before many days are past my fighting men and 
 myself will steal stealthily through the forest and pounce upon 
 the marauders at night. I will kill some, enslave others, burn 
 their huts to the gtound, and destroy their fruit plantations." 
 
 Having deliyored himself of this relentless threat, he picked up 
 his spears and shield, and, affably wishing me good-by for the 
 present, (Narke mboka), he strolled home again to attend to the 
 warlike project in hand. 
 
 A few weeks after this interview the old chief returned to my 
 station, and stood in an imposing attitude before me. I at once 
 recalled our last conversation, and asked him the result of the 
 venture. A lusty puff of breath rendered into a mild explosion 
 by the rapid passing of his hand across his mouth at the time 
 of exhalation was Manjimba's answer. After having informed 
 me of the result of his expedition by this effective sign, a savage 
 smile on the old warrior's face indorsed his meaning, which was, 
 of course, that he had carried out his threat in its entirety. 
 
 I became so accustomed to the use of these peculiar forms of 
 speech, that long afterward, even when conversing with white 
 men, I would unconsciously use a native word, and sometimes 
 startle my civilized companions by expressing myself in Lukolela 
 sign talk. Another habit which I contracted was that of counting 
 on the fingers. The native always quotes numbers by this means, 
 and in complicated addition the toes also aid him to work out the 
 result. It is surprising how rapidly, and with what accuracy, the 
 Central African will conduct his arithmetical computations. He 
 signifies a ten by a closed fist, and a hundred is represented by 
 clapping together the open palms of the hands. Thus two hun- 
 dred and fifty-three would be in the native language "Minkama 
 mibale joom itano na esartu" — literally, two hundreds, five tens, 
 and three. By the hands this number would be indicated by two 
 
VILLAGE POLITICS. 
 
 137 
 
 claps of the palms, for the hundreds, the closing of the fist five 
 times for the tens, and holding up of three fingers for the small 
 numbers. 
 
 There are no roads in the country ; the paths are simply wide 
 enough for the passage of a single individual so that a party of 
 natives; must always walk in single file. When those marching 
 ahead are carrying on the conversation they will signify any 
 number referred to in their talk, on their hands, which they hold 
 up above their heads so that those behind can see. 
 
 The natives spoke to me with the same carelessness as when 
 talking among themselves. Village politics 
 and general happenings were discussed in my 
 hearing, as I never interfered until they at- 
 tempted cruelty to their fellow-men, or acted 
 with barbarous injustice. They argued that 
 a man like myself, who would go out in the 
 swamps and forests and tramp all day in 
 search of the buffalo so as to provide them 
 meat during hungry times was a friend who 
 could be intrusted even with the important 
 secrets of Lukolela village. 
 
 Eventually all the serious disputes arising 
 between tribes and families were referred to 
 
 me for judgment. This privilege gave me opportunities to patch 
 up old quarrels and keep the whole settlement living at peace. I 
 did not, however, attempt to exercise any control over personal 
 squabbles and the investigation of petty offenses. 
 
 In all their legal discussions the word "nyo," the utterance of 
 which is accompanied by drawing the end of the first finger down 
 from the inner corner of the eye, to the mouth, is an emphatic nega- 
 tive, and plays a leading part in tribal debate. When an offender 
 is delivering an oration in his own defense, he at first utters all his 
 negative sentences in the affirmative, and then reverses them to 
 the intended sense, by the use of "nyo." For instance, if a man is 
 accused of having stolen a canoe. He will say, "Na yebaki 
 buatu!" (I stole the canoe!) Then he adds the negative, to change 
 
 "KYO." 
 
138 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the meaning of his sentence entirely, which now is, "I did not 
 steal the canoe." The use of "nyo" is a convenient means of gain- 
 ing the full attention of one's hearers, as it is tribal politeness for 
 the whole audience to have their fingers ready to chime in with 
 a speaker's "nyo." The effect of this custom is very curious, as a 
 chorus of lusty voices is added to th« utterance of every iiegative. 
 The speechmaker of the Dark Continent holds in his hand a bundle 
 of small sticks, one of which he puts down in front of him for each, 
 new subject and argument and upon referring to any topic he 
 picks up the particular little stick which he has placed as its rep- 
 resentative, and this he holds in his hand while he is speaking 
 on the subject. 
 
 Their harangues are lengthy and decidedly wearisome, for 
 in all their arguments they will commence and talk for hours 
 upon subjects altogether irrelevant to the discussion on hand; 
 they will tell the audience all they know, and they will recite 
 cunningly worded descriptions of their own good deeds in peace 
 and war, in order to make a favorable impression upon their 
 hearers. 
 
 The gathering upon such an occasion is remarkably well be- 
 haved, and a dusky orator is never unreasonably interrupted; in 
 fact, the crowd of listeners, packed in a solid ring around the 
 space reserved for the council and those interested, fearful lest 
 they should create disturbance by any vocal outburst, of approval 
 or surprise, firmly cover their mouths with their hands at any 
 sensational statement, and bottle up feelings which would if re- 
 leased constitute a most boisterous demonstration. At such a 
 meeting the eyes, painfully protruding from every head, suggest 
 earnest anxiety to shout, and we can easily understand why 
 the precaution of closing the mouth during holding of court has 
 become a legal regulation. 
 
 A council of chieftains is generally appointed to pass judgment 
 upon disputes, and when both prosecutor and defendant have 
 argued their cases the judges retire to arrange their verdict, and 
 upon returning proclaim the victor by marking on his right arm 
 a broad white chalk stripe. 
 
TORTURING WITNESSES. 
 
 139 
 
 Upon such an occasion the most influential chief present occu- 
 pies a large chair fancifully carved. Men of minor importance 
 may also use seats, but these must be smaller, as it is a breach of 
 etiquette for any one to sit in a more ccmfortable or imposing chair 
 than the "Mokunge 
 Monene" (Big Chief). 
 
 I am sorry to say 
 that bribery often in- 
 fluences the verdict, 
 the guilty man, by gen- 
 erously handing to the 
 assemblage of chief- 
 tains a goodly stock of 
 cloth, beads, and metal 
 trinkets, can depend 
 upon the proclamation 
 of his innocence, in 
 spite of overwhelming 
 evidence against him. 
 
 A r a t h e r r o u g h 
 means is employed of 
 eliciting evidence from 
 a sulky and reticent 
 witness. He is bound 
 hand and foot, with 
 leather thongs, and is 
 then placed in some 
 conspicuous clearing, 
 while his mouth is held wide open by a block of wood ; the ter- 
 rible downpour of the tropical sun by day and the torment of the 
 mosquitoes by night, coupled with the agony of the thongs and 
 gag, invariably persuade the victim to divulge any information 
 required of him. 
 
 Many of the stout-hearted young warriors disdain to submit per- 
 sonal disputes to the judgment of others. 
 
 When they fail to arrive at a settlement by veroal means, then 
 
 Al-JUCA.N LlULl's LllAU;. 
 
140 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 they will obtain decision by resort to arms. Every man carries 
 around his shoulder a keen-edged blade, which he has the cour- 
 age and the nerve to use in defense of his opinions. 
 
 I remember once, uj^on going into one of the Lukolela villages, 
 I found all peaceful occupations suspended ; tools had been hastily 
 cast down and the cooking-pot on the fire had resented the in- 
 attention paid to it by toppling over into the ashes and spilling a 
 fine savory stew of crocodile, monkey, and red peppers. All the 
 natives were eagerly crowding around some happening of great 
 interest. Upon my arrival I found two young warriors fiercely 
 engaged in single combat. They already presented a ghastly ap- 
 pearance, both had been so slashed over the head and body that 
 their bodies were flooded with crimson, and the ground at their feet 
 had become saturated with their blood. There was no need of my 
 interference, for utter exhaustion had compelled a cessation of 
 the contest. They stood staggering face to face, their ^word-arms 
 trembling from weakness, when one of them gasped out that he 
 was beaten, and their friends helped them back to their huts. It 
 is surprising how quickly these people will recover from such 
 shocking treatment. The next day both walked to my station, and 
 I doctored their wounds with carbolic oil, a tin of which I always 
 kept ready for such occasions. This excellent remedy I smeared 
 on with a varnish brush. 
 
 The cause of this fight I learned was the utterance of a male- 
 diction. The two men had fallen into hot dispute, and one of 
 them had said, "Owa na ntolo" (May you die of sleeping sickness). 
 I must here explain that this is a mysterious disease peculiar to 
 Africa, and incurable even by the cunning of their charm doctors. 
 A native apparently in the best of health will be suddenly attacked 
 "by a continual desire to sleep, and within a very few weeks he 
 will be so overcome by the malady that he will only wake up oc- 
 casionally from sound sleep into a dreamy stupor, which period 
 is occupied in the voracious consumption of food, and while thus 
 engaged he will fall off again into his previous comatose state. 
 One so afflicted rapidly wastes away to a mere skeleton, and then 
 dies. 
 
A CONGO LEGEND. 141 
 
 This disease is held in such dread by the natives that it has been 
 embodied into one of their bitterest curses, and no man expresses 
 his hatred for another in the insulting form of " Owa na ntolo" 
 (May you die of the sleeping sickness), without first grasping his 
 knife in readiness, as this utterance is a direct challenge to fight, 
 and no one but a coward will fail to accept it. 
 
 With regard to the contraction of debts the natives had a curi- 
 ous tradition, connecting defaulters with the origin of the gorilla. 
 When a chief contracts a debt and refuses to pay, his creditor will 
 lay in wait and obtain payment by capturing one of the debtor's 
 slaves ; but occasionally a poor man, unable to pay, fearing lest he 
 himself may be pounced upon and sold into serfdom, will leave 
 his village and try and make his way to some far off settlement and 
 thus escape his creditors. The large monkey called the Soko, if we 
 are to believe the Congo negro, is descended from a man who in 
 ages past, having unfortunately drifted into debt and difficulty in 
 his village, fled to the woods to escape his creditors, and while 
 waiting for his troubles to blow over, his limbs altered in shape 
 and his body became covered with long hairs. 
 
 The Soko is of the gorilla type, brown-haired, large-eared, with 
 round face, smooth except the eyebrows, and a scanty beard. The 
 women are much frightened at the sight of this animal and clutch 
 their babes fearfully to their bosoms, as they are persuaded that 
 very small children are the only property the transformed debtor 
 now attempts to lay hands on; these, they say, he will catch 
 and carry to the topmost bough of some tall tree. To recover pos- 
 session of an infant the Soko must be humored. If approached 
 with threatening gestures by the natives he will hurl it in rage to 
 the ground, but if it is left to him to decide, the child will be re- 
 turned unhurt by its captor. The habits of these strange creat- 
 ures certainly afford some foundation for the exaggerated state- 
 ments which the superstitious African makes about them. I my- 
 self have seen a family of them at early morn clustered for 
 warmth round a camp-fire which has been left smoldering ]»y some 
 fishermen, but they have not intelligence enough to maintain the 
 fire by a fresh supply of fuel. 
 
142 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 The actions of these animals are certainly very remarkable. I 
 have heard a family of them making a peculiar noise like the rat- 
 tle of drums, which is produced by beating on their chests. Sud- 
 denly these sounds would cease, evidently at a given signal from 
 the leader of their Simian orchestra, then the air would be filled 
 with shrill cries, such as one hears from a large gathering of 
 school-children when lesson time is over, and they find themselves 
 in the open air again and their time is their own for play. 
 
 There is a fruit they are very fond of called Mapambo ; this grows 
 on a tall tree with slender trunk ; the natives say that the Soke save 
 themselves the bother of climbing after the fruit by shaking it 
 down. They are also credited with covering the ground with big 
 broad leaves, making a carpet on w^hich to sit in some shady spot 
 during the heat of the day. Of course, all such accounts are nec- 
 essarily exaggerated, but there is no doubt that this Soke, which I 
 am convinced is the veritable gorilla, is gifted with unusual cun- 
 ning. Bongo Nsanda, who had had great experience with all 
 kinds of animals, endeavoring to give me undoubted evidence of 
 the high-classed intellect of the Soke, pointed to a large leaf grow- 
 ing like a mushroom, told me that mamma gorilla will carry her 
 haby in one arm and shelter its little head from the sun with one 
 of these leaves by holding it by the stalk as an umbrella. My 
 experience with gorillas was not extensive. I saw and heard 
 numbers at a distance, but they are very wary and I only suc- 
 ceeded in killing one, which took two men to carry ; the natives 
 would not eat him, though their palate craves for monke}' ; they 
 told me, unlike the tribes of the far interior, they were not can- 
 nibals. 
 
 In every village in this section of the land will be found slaves 
 of both sexes with an ear cut off. This is a popular form of pun- 
 ishment; in an African village it is not at all unusual to hear such 
 threats as, " I will cut your ear off, I will sell you or I will kill 
 you," find often they are said in earnest. As I always openly 
 proclaimed my sympathy for the slaves in the village and lost 
 no opportunity to condemn the cruel treatment of their masters, 
 the oppressed creatures were always very well disposed toward me. 
 
THE SLAVE'S DEATH. 
 
 143 
 
 They 
 
 have 
 
 often 
 
 told me 
 
 that the 
 
 chieftains 
 
 did not look 
 
 upon them as 
 
 human beings. 
 
 but considered their 
 
 live of no more con 
 
 been bound round with all the cloth the deceased had 
 left, and was ready for interment. In the morning 
 the young slave was busy digging the grave, 
 and as he completed the pit one of the by- 
 standers at a given signal plunged liis 
 spear into the poor young fellow's heart, 
 and he fell back dead into the pit he had 
 just dug for his master. 
 
 The native of Central Africa is not 
 
 troubled with a large wardrobe ; his 
 
 outfit for a three months' journey 
 
 is not at all elaborate. Even a 
 
 change of loin-cloths is not a 
 
 necessity. With a mat to roll 
 
 in at night, and weapons to 
 
 cern than that of a 
 goat or fowl. One told 
 me of an incident that 
 had occurred a few months 
 previous to my arrival at 
 Lukolela. An old chief had 
 died, leaving behind him only 
 one slave, a fine, stalwart young 
 fellow. Upon the night before the 
 burial, a council of head men, pre 
 sided over by the charm doctor, de- 
 cided that the deceased's funeral ought 
 to be signalized by human sacrifice, and 
 it was secretly decided that the only slave 
 he possessed should be taken unawares and 
 executed for this purpose; the next day was 
 arranged for the funeral, the dead body had 
 
 defend himself and kill 
 game and fish, and an 
 earthen cooking pot, he 
 feels he has all his 
 wants supplied: 
 such preparation 
 is a great con- 
 trast to the kit 
 required b y 
 the man of 
 
 c i v i 1 i z a- 
 
 t i o n , 
 
 whose 
 
 CONGO Sl'KARS. 
 
144 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 prospect of a two weeks' journey throws the whole household into 
 a state of bewilderment, in their efforts to collect blankets, shirts, 
 suits of clothes, shoes, hats, brushes, and a hundred and one 
 articles naturally and reasonably required as companions. 
 
 It is curious to have one's workmen all armed to the teeth. 
 When building clay houses, or making stockades, I always em- 
 ployed the natives from the neighboring villages and when my bugle 
 sounded at sunrise in the morning they would appear in front of my 
 house in line ready to be told off to their duty of the day. Every 
 one carried a weapon of some sort ; some had knives and spears, 
 others bows and arrows and shields. Whilst actually at work they 
 would take off their arms and lay them down within reach, for a 
 signal drum, in a village near by, might call them hurriedly home 
 in defense of their huts. These people have a saying that the un- 
 armed man is a woman, and should go to the plantation and dig 
 up sweet potatoes. 
 
 Rivalries and fights are by no means confined to human beings. 
 Far away from the village huts the cries of the savage animals of 
 African jungles engaged in deadly combat often break the silence 
 of those wild regions. The unwieldly hippopotamus, strolling 
 along a buffalo path, is charged unawares by one of those ill-tem- 
 pered animals. The dispute culminates in a duel between the 
 hippo's keen, gleaming tusks and the sharp-pointed horns of the 
 buffalo bull. 
 
 The result of such an encounter depends usually upon the ad- 
 vantage given by the lay of the land to one of the combatants ; as, 
 should the buffalo have an unimpeded rush at his enemy, the 
 hippo would receive such a blow as would render his ultimate dis- 
 patch a very easy matter. But should the slower moving but 
 heavier hippopotamus have any opportunity to use his formidable 
 tusks, the buffalo would have no chance at all. I remember hear- 
 ing such an encounter ; I did not actually witness the fray, but a 
 visit to the scene of it after the battle was a sufficient proof that 
 the fight had been fierce and protracted. The ground was broken 
 and torn up in every direction ; saplings, grass, and bushes were 
 crushed and stamped into the muddy ground. 
 
A BUFFALO DUEL. 115 
 
 Bon^o Nsanda once brought me in some fresh meat which he 
 had obtained in rather a curious way. Whilst fishing in a lagoon 
 he saw two buffaloes fighting savagely on a clear patch of ground 
 near the shore. After a stubborn contest one animal fell fatally 
 wounded, and the victor trotted away into the long grass, leaving 
 the vanquished one in such a crippled condition that my black 
 hunting friend put him out of his misery by a thrust of his heavy 
 spear, and, of course, took all the meat, and no doubt felt thank- 
 ful that a buffalo's ill-temper had so replenished his larder. 
 
 These so-called buffalo do not resemble at all the heavy-necked, 
 shaggy -headed bison of America. They w^ould be more correctly 
 termed bush cattle, for they resemble very closely the domestic 
 animal, varying in color from a dark cream to a dark brown, M-ith 
 very neat limbs and a pretty head. With their short but very 
 sharp horns they remind one very forcibly of the ordinary cow. 
 But they are very fierce in nature, and when they have young 
 they w^ill attack unprovoked. As a rule, when wounded they look 
 about for an enemy, and very often charge about in the grass in 
 the vicinity of the hunter, seeking for some clew to his where- 
 abouts, and if you do not succeed in dropping them tlie results 
 may be very serious. 
 
 In the upper reaches of the Congo, when the wet season, or 
 "Mpila," is prolonged, the river rises to a great height, flooding 
 huge tracts of bush and plain, and compelling the different wild 
 animals to assume for the time an amphibious nature, as they 
 must swim from place to place in search of food. 
 
 During the continuance of such a season the natives are enabled 
 to kill off a great many buffaloes. They will surround a small herd 
 that happens to be swimming together. Then they throw long 
 wooden poles in the water all around the animals to liamper their 
 progress and exhaust them. A buffalo, under these conditions, is 
 a very harmless creature, and is easily approached and killed by 
 the natives with a spear thrust. 
 
 It is not unusual to see an elephant swimming across the river ; 
 and this monster is as helpless as any when away from terra 
 firma. He has very little posver when in deep water, as. in order 
 
146 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 to breathe, he must keep his trunk raised above the surface of the 
 water, and is thus deprived of a formidable weapon. 
 
 Hunting is always a popular topic of conversation in Africa. 
 I remember when in 1883 I was at Vivi, our lower Congo depot, a 
 great deal was said about sport at the dining table. A friend of 
 mine was an attentive listener ; he had just arrived from Europe 
 full of big ideas as to his hunting capabilities. 
 
 Somebody made the remark that it was very strange, considering 
 the number of men who posed as hunters, that the larder of the 
 station never received any benefit from it. Said he : " There are 
 any amount of guinea fowls within a mile from this station. You 
 have only got to go over the hill and down into the opposite valley 
 and you can always find them." This piece of intelligence seemed 
 to rouse my friend's spirit and ambition. He decided within him- 
 self that he would keep the secret to himself, but that he meant to 
 kill some guinea fowls. So, the next morning, he harnessed him- 
 self with his gun, game-bag, knife, pistol, and the usual parapher- 
 nalia necessary to hunting in Africa, and, taking with him his 
 black servant with spare ammunition and another game-bag, he 
 sallied forth early in the morning, climbed the hill, and got down 
 into the hunting-ground mentioned the previous evening. He 
 was immediately rewarded with a sight which cheered him up 
 and put him into a state of great nervous excitement, for there, 
 within fifty yards of him, was a brilliant-plumaged bird, wander- 
 ing about on a spit of sand, unconscious of its wily pursuer. Our 
 hunter immediatelyy threw himself on the ground, compelling his 
 servant to do the same. Then with a few serpentine wriggles he 
 managed to get behind a stone. Here he staid for a second or 
 two to regain his breath ; and again stealthily wriggled up to 
 some other cover. Now, he was within ten yards of the still 
 unconscious feathered one, and, there being no other cover by 
 which he might approach nearer, he decided upon firing, at the 
 same time giving himself great credit for having stalked so suc- 
 cessfully, and wondering at the difficulties that other people 
 found, placing it liberally to the credit of their imagination. His 
 gun was loaded with number one shot, so he took a long, steady 
 
STALKING A TAME DUCK. 147 
 
 aim, and fired. With ecstasies he gathered up the results, and fled 
 back with news of his triumph to the station. Breathless and over- 
 heated with his excitement, he arrived in the midst of a little 
 group of white men who were talking together. For a few 
 moments he did not speak ; he simply held up to their amazed 
 view the result of the chase, triumph beaming in his eye. When, 
 however, he had sufficiently recovered himself to speak he said, 
 *' You fellows are all talk. You talk about your guinea fowl hunt- 
 ing, but you never do anything. You see I have been up in the 
 morning before you were up, and have shot this guinea fowl." 
 He was surprised to see that a burst of laughter was the reception 
 given him for this piece of information, and he felt considerably 
 galled when he was informed that he had shot one of the station 
 ducks. 
 
 Hippopotami, when guarding their young, are excessively spite- 
 ful, and attack the natives' canoes, very often upsetting them and 
 killing the occupants. I remember one morning at a much earlier 
 time than I was accustomed to rise, Bongo Nsanda woke me by 
 hammering on my door with the butt of his spear. AVhen I let 
 him in he said tome: " Ngubu mbi akujala iisi ina" ! (There is a 
 very bad hippopotamus on the other side of the river). Then he 
 told me that early that morning a fisherman, while in his canoe 
 attending to his nets, was chased by this animal. The frightened 
 fisherman, paddled with all his might to avoid his fierce pursuer, 
 and had just touched the bank with the nose of his canoe when 
 the furious old hippo, with his great bony jaws, seized the stern 
 of the frail canoe with a terrible crunch. Fortunately, the fisher- 
 man kept his balance, and was shot out of his canoe a distance of 
 several feet and landed high and dry on the bank. The hippo, 
 baffled in his attempt to overtake the native, smashed and tram- 
 pled to pieces the little dug-out, as if to show the trembling wretch 
 who had sought shelter in a tree-top, the kind of treatment he 
 would have received if good fortune had not befriended him. 
 This piece of information was held out to me as an inducement to 
 rid mankind of so formidable a foe, but it was, of course, the 
 prospect of hippo stew and roast, that prompted my hunter to feel 
 
148 IN' SA VA GE AFRICA . 
 
 such an interest in the occasion. His fellow-man's acrobatic per- 
 formance resulting from an old hippo's angry ways did not com- 
 mand his sympathy to any great extent. 
 
 "Yo ku-buma ye te, Makula?" (Won't you kill him, Makula?) 
 asked Bongo Nsanda, using my native name. I felt now, with my 
 experience, I could safely pit my Martini rifle against an}"" hippo 
 on the river, no matter how terrible his reputation might be. So 
 I crossed the river in my large canoe, fearing to use my small one, 
 lest the ill-conditioned old fellow might pitch me into the air, and 
 perhaps select a locality which had not the advantage of» present- 
 ing soft sand or grass on which to break my fall. In case he 
 should charge, I felt sure that my present canoe would stand 
 sound and steady. 
 
 When I reached the other side, there was our eneiny on guard 
 over a little bay. I put my canoe in-shore, just below the creek 
 where he was swimming with his head hardly above water; then, 
 creeping silently along the edge of the grass, I arrived in a position 
 where I could get a good shot at him. I fired, and struck him in 
 the head ; my ball hit the skull where the bone was thickest, and 
 only maddened the brute. He charged about in the shallow water 
 near the bank, snorting, and churning up the muddy stream. 
 Bongo Nsanda stood ready with his heavy loaded spear, and as 
 the hippo came forward endeavoring to find the hiding-place of 
 the enemy who had wounded him, Bongo !N"sanda hurled his spear 
 in behind the brute's shoulder, the keen blade piercing the body 
 to the heart. The fishermen, attracted by the gunshot, were de- 
 lighted to see their old enemy killed, and a deep-drawn sigh of 
 relief escaped from the man who but the day before had been 
 compelled by the hippopotamus to make such an undignified 
 landing from his canoe, and the old fellow forgot his recent tum- 
 ble as he enjoyed the substantial revenge of eating toasted slices 
 from the fat carcass of his ungainly enemy. 
 
 I remember, at this hunt, my men found that they had left all 
 their pipes at home ; they had fire and tobacco, but no means of 
 smoking ; they were very much amused at my suggestion of using 
 a rifle for the purpose by placing the tobacco in the breech and 
 
THE CONGO FREE STATE. 
 
 149 
 
 using the barrel as the stem. This was tried and found to be a 
 very satisfactory method in such an emergency. 
 
 I had now lived for two years at Lukolela. Great strides liad 
 been made on the Congo since I first arrived, in '83. The natives 
 of the wild regions of the Congo Basin, who had never seen a 
 white man until '77, when Stanley passed through their country 
 on his marvelous journey "Througli the Dark Continent," having 
 placed themselves under the protection of Stanley's expedition, 
 "L'Association In- 
 ternationale A i r i- 
 caine," had by 
 treaties ceded their 
 territory to this so- 
 ciety. In 1885, tliis 
 territory was recog- 
 nized by all the 
 civilized powers as 
 "L'Etat Independ- 
 ant du Congo" (The 
 Congo Free Slate). 
 
 In 1885 the Berlin 
 Conference dis- 
 tinctly defined the 
 
 limits of this new State, and this part of equatorial Africa was 
 then exempt from European disputes. Better transport on the 
 lower river was being organized, and new steamers were con- 
 stantly being built and launched on the Upper Congo. The State 
 had added "Le Stanley," a stern-wheeler, seventy feet long, to 
 their fleet; the Livingstone Inland Mission had built and floated 
 their steamer the "Henry Reed;" and besides these, tlie Baptist 
 Mission twin-screw steamer "Peace" was already navigating tlie 
 river. 
 
 This increased service of boats greatly improved the means of 
 communication between the Stations. Letters were now received 
 every three or four months. Only those wljo have traveled far 
 away from home and dear friends can understand the pleasure a 
 
 A NOVKI, TOliACCO I'lTE. 
 
150 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 letter gives to one surrounded by wild and ignorant people, with 
 whom, no matter how friendly they may be, he has no thought or 
 feeling in common. 
 
 At times when one feels indeed isolated and cut off, the arrival 
 of home letters puts him again in touch with the dear ones at 
 home. If disappointed in receiving a mail, we try to account for 
 the failure by gloomy suggestions, or think, Why have I not re- 
 ceived a letter?— perhaps because of severe illness or even death! 
 A steamer will sometimes arrive without letters. Intense is the 
 suspense of a disappointed man, until the next arrival of a 
 steamer. Friends are utterly unable to imagine the amount of 
 pleasure they convey to the wanderer in distant climes by a 
 thoughtful little note of kindness from home. The postal service, 
 in wild, far-away countries, is erratic and unreliable. Sometimes 
 six months will elapse without an opportunity of sending letters 
 up into the interior. But the little packet of letters is all the 
 more heartily welcomed after months of anxious waiting. 
 
 My station at Lukolela had been founded in order to secure 
 rights to a certain territory by occupation of it, but now the lim- 
 its of the Congo Free State and of French and Portuguese posses- 
 sions in this part of Africa had been definitely settled, several 
 posts founded for similar reasons were to be abandoned, as the 
 object for which they were built had been attained. It was a 
 great blow for me to know that Lukolela was among the doomed. 
 I received orders from headquarters that I was to proceed one 
 hundred miles down-river to Bolobo, with my garrison and all its 
 belongings. It was further intimated that a small steel boat 
 would be placed at my disposal for the transportation. The 
 natives of Lukolela and the surrounding country, with all of 
 whom I was on the best of terms, gathered together and pro- 
 tested most strongly against my leaving them ; they offered me 
 all kinds of inducements to stay. Ivory, goats, sheep, fowls, 
 bananas, were to be mine, ad libitum, if only I would remain. 
 But although I regretted leaving a people who showed so many 
 proofs of affection for me, the orders were imperative and there- 
 fore had to be obeyed. 
 
DEPARTURE FROM LUKOLELA. 
 
 151 
 
 We exchanged parting gifts. luka, Mungaba, :\[puke, Man- 
 jimba, all brought their goats and sheep, and Bongo Nsanda, the 
 courageous and faithful hunter, who had many a time occupied a 
 dangerous corner with me in the tangled grass or the dark jungles 
 of the neighboring forest, gave me his long cherished spear as a 
 keepsake. 
 
 Our departure from Lukolela was as grotesque as it was sad. 
 The natives crowded along the river-bank, all with sorrowful 
 countenances, exchanging parting words with us as wo dropped 
 down-stream. The means I had at my disposal for the removal 
 of my garrison were one steel whale-boat, twenty-five feet 
 long, and one large dug-out canoe; and in these were to be 
 conveyed twenty men, goats, sheep, fowls, ducks, furniture, my 
 own belongings, and those of my men. We looked like an itiner- 
 ant menagerie or troupe ot tumblers. Men, tables, chairs, goats, 
 ducks, boxes, mats, etc., were all mixed up so indescribably that 
 the superstitious natives along the banks of the river above 
 Bolobo fled in dismay as the tangled mass of men, animals, and 
 freight piled into two small boats, floated past their villages. 
 
 ^^~<?f>^<^*': 
 
 KMVtS ANU lLLU rUUM TIIL; FAR INTEIUoK. 
 
CONGO PADDLES AND BAILEE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BOLOEO. 
 
 A TRIP DOWN STREAM— Robbed by a hippo— Liebeechts at Bolobo Station— " Ibaka"— 
 (HARM WORSHIP— '-The Red Opera Hat"— Charged by a buffalo— The baby's bath- 
 Taken BY' a CROCODILE— Abandon Bolobo— Visit to Bangala— Native Carriers- A 
 TRIP TO England. 
 
 Our iournev down from Lukolela to Bolobo was bv no means a 
 pleasure-trip, the whale-boat was so overcrowded and top-heavy 
 with the crew, goats, and furniture, etc.. that it required very 
 careful management to maintain the craft in trim at all, but we 
 were favored by fine weather and smooth water, so crept slowly 
 on without accident. Herds of drowsy hippopotami huddled to- 
 gether in the shadows and sequestered inlets, grunted and snorted 
 angrily as the splash of the oars and boatman's songs disturbed 
 their comfortable snooze. I took the precaution, however, to avoid 
 these animals as much as possible, as our decks were not "cleared 
 for fighting," and, though several of their great heads offered a 
 very inviting shot as they arose out of the water to get a good 
 view of the crowded miscellany floatimr through their domains, 
 yet I preferred to postpone shooting till the opportunity was more 
 favorable, as a wounded hippo would certainly have resented my 
 ill-treatment of him, by ripping a hole in the metal plates of the 
 boat. 
 
 We were destined, however, before we reached Bolobo, to 
 experience another adventure with these animals. Every evening 
 
ADVENTURE WITH A HIPPOPOTAMUS. 153 
 
 we selected a nice camping-place on the river-bank, anchored our 
 boat on the beach, gathered up a pile of dry wood for cooking pur- 
 poses and pitched the tents in preparation for the night's stay ; at 
 this season the mosquitoes were extremely numerous and vora- 
 cious, and we were compelled to sleep under the protection of 
 gauze curtains; several of my men had clubbed together and 
 made out of thin cloth a large tent with a square top ; this was 
 raised into position and suspended from long stakes driven in 
 the ground at each corner. The sides, of course, fell to the ground 
 and prevented the tormenting insects from getting inside. 
 
 When the men had completed their cooking and duly disposed 
 of it, they would creep into this mosquito bar. 
 
 On one occasion about midnight, when all the camp fires had 
 burned low and even the most talkative of the crew had exhausted 
 their stock of yarns and had gone to sleep, I was suddenly awak- 
 ened by a fearful confusion of yelling and hurried activity ; the 
 whole camping-ground was enjoying a state of uproarious excite- 
 ment. Amid the deafening shouts I could recognize the frequent 
 utterance of the word Xgubu (hippopotamus), and I knew at once 
 that one of these unwieldly monsters was in some way responsi- 
 ble for the rude disturbance of the nocturnal silence. 
 
 Hastily dressing, I joined my men to learn the true cause of the 
 extraordinary tumult. A few hundred yards back from our camp 
 there was a large swamp, and every night herds of hippopotami 
 visited this place in search of the succulent grass, for upon such 
 herbs thev subsist entirely. One of these animals, evidently of a 
 roving disposition, had left the herd and was wandering about 
 the forest and had evidently come suddenly in view of our camp, and 
 had made a hasty rush for the safety of the river, but in making 
 his escape he ran foul of the big mosquito net and continued 
 his ungainly retreat with his huge body wrftpped in the entan- 
 gled folds of about forty square yards of cotton stuff. My men, 
 unceremoniously robbed of their cherished shelter, and trampled 
 into wakefulness by the hippo's heavy feet, had ample reason for 
 their intense bewildment. When I appeared on the scene many of 
 them had not vet fullv realized the true nature of the excitement. 
 
154 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 and had climbed into trees in order to conduct any further medita- 
 tions in safety. The okl hippo, with head smothered in the cotton 
 stuff and trailing behind him several yards of the texture, iiad 
 plunged into the water and was in as utterly disturbed a frame 
 of mind as those whom he had unintentionally robbed and ex- 
 posed to the torment of mosquitoes ; the wet material, which clung 
 stubbornly to his hide, angered the brute till he roared with rage 
 as he threw his body nearly out of the water, striving to free him- 
 self. His noisy behavior warned the remainder of the herd that 
 some strange element was in the district, and a general stampede 
 took place from the swamp to the river. They passed close to us, but 
 we were spared another visit in our camp. When these animals, 
 of which there were about a score, saw the strange predicament 
 of their muffled companion, they fled from him, and grunting, 
 and snorting, swam away down stream. Finally the animal disen- 
 gaged himself from the cloth, the waters became quiet again, 
 and the old hippo started away to join the others and give them, I 
 suppose, an explanation of his recent strange behavior. There 
 was no more sleep for my men that night ; the visit of the hippo 
 and the exposure to mosquito bites, to which the loss of their tent 
 subjected them, maintained them in an unusual state of vigilance. 
 There were several false alarms before daybreak, but the men 
 were so agitated that they sought safety in the trees at the croak 
 of a bull-frog or the chirp of a cricket. Every man imagined he 
 had been trampled on by the hippo; but their escape was quite 
 miraculous, for although the animal had passed right amongst the 
 sleeping figures, only three of them were touched, and even their 
 injuries were very slight. 
 
 At a largo village called Moi, which we visited on our way 
 down, my blood brotherhood with a Lukolela chieftain proved 
 of great service to me. The natives objected to our landing on 
 their territory, although I explained that I merely wished to 
 obtain from them fowls and fruit in exchange for my cloth and 
 beads. At first they adopted arguments offensive but purely ver- 
 bal ; but finding that such means did not seem to influence us, 
 their manner became threatening, a few knives were drawn and 
 
A SKIRMISH PREVENTED. 155 
 
 Spears poised in readiness. I ordered my men to load their rifles 
 in preparation for our defense. This action on our part seemed a 
 direct declaration of war to those on shore, and they seized their 
 weapons and made ready to fight from behind the shelter of trees 
 and rocks. Recognizing the old chief in the crowd, 1 called to him 
 that I was a blood brother of Mungaba of Lukolela. This informa- 
 tion had a magic effect. He sheathed the knife he had been 
 clutching in earnest anger and ordered his men to lower their 
 spears. He then came forward fearlessly, and told me that Mun- 
 gaba was a blood brother of his and therefore we were friends. 
 We shook hands. I slept that night in the old fellow's hut, and 
 during my stay of several hours in his settlement, the natives 
 brought us food for sale and no unpleasantness occurred to mar 
 the friendship established by reason of blood brotherhood. 
 
 When I at last arrived at my destination, I was most heartily 
 welcomed by my old friend Lieutenant Liebrechts, a Belgian artil- 
 lery officer, who was in command of Bolobo Station. I was right 
 glad to shake hands again with Liebrechts; we were very old 
 friends, having occupied the same quarters together at Leopold- 
 ville in 1883. What a change in this station at Bolobo since I 
 first saw it in 1883 ! There had been much trouble between whites 
 and natives then, and the station houses had been burned to the 
 ground ; even now the grounds were encircled by a high, stout 
 palisade. Nice, well-kept houses and stores had been built. 
 There were also flocks of goats and sheep, good poultry-yards full 
 of fowls and ducks, and immense plantations of sweet potatoes, 
 maize and peanuts, and gardens of vegetables. What was more 
 important still, the relations with the formerly unfriendly and 
 hostile natives were now of a most satisfactory nature in every 
 
 way. 
 
 The villagers of all the surrounding country were constantly 
 
 visiting the station and exchanging presents. 
 
 Markets had been re-established for the sale of food, pottery, 
 and native produce, and long-standing feuds between the differ- 
 ent tribes were amicably settled by the happy intervention of 
 Liebrechts. It is such as he who are required to gain the confi- 
 
156 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 dence of the African savage, men with a keen sense of justice, 
 and the will to enforce it. My life at Bolobo was a happy one. 
 Liebrechts and I spent our time in visiting the different chiefs, 
 superintending station matters, and making little excursions into 
 the interior in search of guinea-fowl, partridges, ducks, or the 
 more formidable buffalo of the plain. I shall always remember 
 with the greatest pleasure our strolls amid the banana and 
 palm-groves of these Central African villages, our more extended 
 tramps through swamps and forest in search of tlie buffalo, and 
 the pleasant chats we had over the sentry -fires of the station. 
 
 At Bolobo, in former days, the buffalo 
 used to come even into the station. On 
 one occasion, there were three white men 
 living there, and news was brought in 
 that a herd of buffalo were just outside. 
 They immediately equipped themselves 
 for the chase and started out, following 
 the tracker. They had gone about twenty 
 yards only, when they could see the ani- 
 mals two hundred yards away. Before 
 catching sight of the brutes they had 
 been eager for the sport ; but the nearer 
 they approached their game the more did 
 their stock of valor decrease ; so much so, that when they got well 
 within shot, and saw an old buffalo turn his head in their direc- 
 tion, prick up his ears, and assume a very inquiring attitude, one 
 of these hunters discovered that he had not got the right boots 
 on for hunting. His companions most generously offered to es- 
 cort him back to the station and asssist him in making the neces- 
 sary alterations. They started to walk back, but with every 
 step the matter appeared more urgent. They broke from a jog- 
 trot into a regular racing pace. Arrived at the station, breath 
 recovered, and boots found, it was decided not to renew the chase, 
 as the delay caused by this unfortunate oversight had put them 
 completely out of the vein for shooting ! 
 
 Formerly, Ibaka was the most powerful chief of Bolobo dis- 
 
 BOI.OBO GIRL. 
 
IBAKA'S SUPERSTITIONS. 157 
 
 trict. His name vvas mentioned by tlie natives of the surrounding 
 villages with a great deal of reverential awe. But his village had 
 become disunited ; each of his sons was at enmity with him, and 
 Manga, Gatula, Lingenji, Nkoe, ISTgai Utsaka, the chiefs of the 
 neighboring territory, being keen traders, had obtained numbers 
 of fighting men, and Ibaka's word, which at one time com- 
 manded instant obedience, was now but little regarded. His title 
 of chief of Bolobo was of small value ; he had lost all influence. 
 During my stay at Bolobo many a time he applied to us for assist- 
 ance against his neighbors, and on several occasions he arrived at 
 our gates in full flight, chased by his own sons, armed with heavy 
 sticks, who sought by this method of persuasion, to make their 
 father agree to an immediate and complete division of the little 
 wealth he still possessed, or to gain his consent to any other ex- 
 tortionate demand that might have suggested itself to their inven- 
 tive minds. 
 
 Poor old Ibaka had developed into a well-meaning fellow, and 
 was now very favorably disposed toward the white men. He was, 
 indeed, anxious to be on a friendly footing with his white neigh- 
 bors, but the other villagers were jealous of him, and talked him 
 into some trifling but irritating acts of arrogance toward the sta- 
 tion, which resulted, a few months before my arrival, in a little 
 war between Ibaka and Liebrechts, who was in command of the 
 station. As a punishment for his aggressiveness, Ibaka's town 
 was burned to the ground. 
 
 He was exceedingly superstitious, and kept the charm doctors 
 constantl;/ employed in devising new charms to cope with the 
 stroke of misfortune which seemed to have checked his career. 
 Previous to Liebrecht's energetic control of the district, human 
 sacrifices were constantly made to appease the anger of evil spir- 
 its, which gave vent to their wrath in thwarting the ambition of 
 Ibaka ; but the presence of a plucky white man compelled him 
 to adopt less bloodthirsty measures to counteract spiritual malevo- 
 lence. Among his miscellany of wonder-working property was 
 a large white rooster, which strutted about the village in perfect 
 safety, for this bird had been supplied by a renowned medicine 
 
158 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 man, and the possession of it was said to have a most pacifying 
 influence upon the Moloki; any one killing this charmed fowl 
 would sicken and die, and the whole of Ibaka's family would 
 suffer some terrible disaster if any accident happened to the bird. 
 Before eating and drinking, the old chief had to conduct most 
 elaborate observances ; different colored chalks were smeared on 
 his face or body, leaves and threads of plaited fibre were fastened 
 around his limbs, rattles and gongs were sounded, while his slaves 
 sat by with closed eyes, murmuring incantations. Near by 
 Ibaka's hut a tiny grass roof sheltered three large earthen jars, 
 liberally coated with chewed betel nut, containing birds' claws, 
 loins of wild animals, feathers, peculiar-shaped stones, etc., a 
 varied assortment of articles supplied by the charm doctor to 
 ward off sickness and ill-luck, and in a visit to the village one 
 would generally find Ibaka gravely attending to his mystic be- 
 longings. 
 
 There is an institution among these people which cannot be 
 more correctly described than by terming it the " Order of the 
 Tall Hat." There is in each district a chief who has proved by 
 his warlike success that he, of all the chiefs, is the most power- 
 ful. A public acknowledgement is made of this fact, and the 
 elected individual is carried around on men's shoulders through 
 the different villages, the bearers proclaiming to all that he is the 
 Mokunje Monene (Big Chief), and that in future all tribal dis- 
 putes are to be submitted to his judgment. Upon his return to 
 the village, amidst dancing and singing, and general feasting and 
 joy, the Fetishman, or charm doctor, places on the chief's head a 
 tall hat, resembling the "stovepipe" of civilized countries, but 
 which is built with a brim at the crown, and not at the base. 
 This hat is hereafter worn on all great occasions, and the wearer 
 retains it until his death, when a new candidate is elected. In 
 times gone by Ibaka had received the honor of election to this 
 proud order, but, unfortunately, during the trouble with Lieb- 
 rechts the towering emblem of peculiar distinction was burned, 
 A sympathizing white man, traveling through the country, heard 
 of the old chief's hatless condition, and presented him with a red 
 
IBAKA'S EMBLEM OF RANK. 
 
 159 
 
 opera-hat of exaggerated construction, which had probably in 
 years past formed a prominent feature in a pantomime or bur- 
 lesque, or had been used with great effect by some comic singer 
 or wandering minstrel. 
 
 The possession of this truly wonderful creation of the theatrical 
 costumer made Ibaka a proud and happy man. His delight in his 
 new decoration would have been unalloyed were it not for a 
 
 OLD IBAKA WITH HIS RED OPERA HAT. 
 
 haunting fear that some one might steal it. He kept it. when not 
 in use, in our station house, and called for it only on state occa- 
 sions and big public drinking-bouts. I insisted on his continual 
 care of this valuable acquisition, and would place it on the side 
 of his head for him, and impress upon him the necessity of wear- 
 ing it in that position, as we white men were very particular 
 about such details. Old Ibaka was intensely superstitious, and 
 was constantly with the Fetishman, who was kept busy manufac- 
 turing new charms to protect liim against imaginary evils. The 
 
160 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 poor old cliief was easily gulled, and would accept from anybody 
 anything- that had the semblance of a charm. 
 
 One day Ibaka arrived back from some prolonged native festi- 
 val. The old fellow bore evidence of having taken more than his 
 share of the strong wine. He had worn the red opera-hat on this 
 occasion, and he now brought it to the station to see it returned 
 to its place of safe-keeping. Upon closing it up I noticed a mys- 
 terious little package, and was informed that it was a "monkanda 
 monganga" (fetish letter). It was, in fact, a Mohammedan prayer, 
 given to him by one of our boat's crew, as a safeguard against all 
 forms of death. It struck me that a red opera-hat with a Moham- 
 medan prayer pinned in it was, indeed, a strange " find" in the 
 wilds of Central Africa. 
 
 Bolobo was a good hunting field, and there was plenty of game 
 both large and small in the district. The African buffalo is the 
 most dangerous animal Avhich the hunter will meet in these lands, 
 and a wounded bull will often provide within a very few minutes 
 a sufficiently stirring entertainment to gratify the most fervent 
 yearner for excitement. Whilst at Bolobo I had a very narrow 
 escape from one of these animals. Liebrechts and I, and a small 
 party of blacks, had gone hunting to some large prairies about 
 twelve miles below the station. We soon came upon some fresh 
 tracks, which sve followed up, and finally came up to a herd of 
 about two hundred buffaloes ; stalking was extremely difficult, 
 as the ground upon which they were gathered had been worn 
 clear of every tuft of grass by the frequent visits of the animals. 
 This bare stretch, probably twenty acres in extent, was sur- 
 rounded by plains of long grass. 
 
 We had approached within one hundred and fifty yards unper- 
 ceived, but there was no possibility of creeping nearer without 
 exposing ourselves to the view of the herd, so I selected a big 
 black bull who was offering a fair shot. I aimed as usual 
 behind the shoulder for the heart, but my bullet struck the bone a 
 little too far forward ; the herd stampeded off at the crack of the 
 rifle, but the wounded animal decided to remain and investigate 
 the cause of- his ill-treatment; he trotted about in every direction. 
 
A CLOSE SHAVE. 161 
 
 sniffing the air and endeavoring to obtain some clew to the where- 
 abouts of his enemies ■, failing in this he ran across the cleared 
 space and into the long grass. I started off with three of the best 
 men to pick up the trail so as to follow him up and put him out of 
 
 his misery. 
 
 Very soon Buna, my black servant, walked right on the brute 
 who was lying hidden in the tall grass. He rose quickly and 
 stood for a moment staring angrily at the backing form of the boy, 
 who called to me, "mbogo, buana! !" (buffalo, master! 1) At this 
 Avarning I rushed back into the open again as I always prefer to 
 tackle a wild beast where I can avoid an unseen attack. 
 
 The wounded buffalo emerged at the same time as myself, 
 he had followed up Buna, and had increased his walk to a trot, 
 irritated into a quicker pace by the pain from his wounds. When 
 he caught sight of me, however, I ac once absorbed all his atten- 
 tion ; for a second he stood and glared at me, switching his tail 
 and pawing the ground beneath his feet, then shaking his head 
 with an angry snort, he lowered his nose almost to the ground 
 and bounded toward me. At that time I was using a single barrel 
 Martini rifle ; it flashed across me at once to wait until the furious 
 brute was close and not run the chance of simply wounding him 
 by firing at a distance. I waited until he was about five yards from 
 me. Then he swerved to one side to get the right swing, I sup- 
 pose, for tossing me in the air, but he exposed a fatal part of his 
 body and I sent a bullet to his heart which brought him headlong 
 to the earth. He was charging at such a terrific pace that his own 
 impetus hurled his body right over his head and lay him out at 
 my feet with his tail toward me. Although tlio ball had pierced 
 his heart, the animal struggled to regain his feet, and I gave him 
 the couj) de grace with my revolver. The Zanzibaris, grateful 
 for the termination of the danger, dropped on their knees and 
 fervently uttered the Mohammedan thanksgiving, " Hemd il Illahi" 
 
 (Praise to Allah). 
 
 During that hunt I had been exposed bare-headed to the sun for 
 several hours, having foolishly, to facilitate stalking, removed my 
 hat and handed it to a native who had, at an early stage of the 
 
162 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 proceedings, escaped to a clump of trees about a quarter of a mile 
 away and sought shelter in the topmost boughs; the exciting 
 developments of the chase, viewed from his retreat, had so scared 
 the individual that he did not return with my hat. I tried to 
 frighten him from his perch by pointing my rifle threateningly 
 at him, but neither this nor the shouts of the men had the desired 
 effect, and finally I had to send my boy over to him and escort 
 him back. 
 
 Previous to our departure from the villages I had been informed 
 by the medicine man that, although buffaloes were usually very 
 dangerous, still one of the men, he who so carefully guarded my 
 hat, was supplied with a very potent talisman, which would keep 
 an angry buffalo at a distance. This knowledge, combined with 
 the power of the white men's rifles, I Avas assured, would render, 
 buffalo hunting a safe undertaking. 
 
 The man who had this charm had also smudged the corners of 
 his eyes with a blue powder which is supposed to have the virtues 
 of rendering a man invisible at will, but I noticed this individual 
 adopted other means of making himself scarce when the case was 
 really urgent. 
 
 The lengthy exposure to the sun which I suffered on this occa- 
 sion brought on one of the most serious fevers I ever had, and 
 upon our return to the station, during my hours of delirium, it 
 required several of my men to watch me and prevent my leaving 
 the couch for the purpose of hunting imaginary buffalo. 
 
 A few weeks after this occurrence a Bolobo native was very 
 badly gored by a buffalo ; he was camping near the river-bank 
 and walked through the grass to a patch of forest in search of dry 
 wood for his fire. On the way he was attacked by a cow which 
 had a calf ; tlie animal inflicted ten horrible wounds with its sharp 
 horns and then scampered off. The man's companions, fearful at 
 his prolonged absence from camp and receiving no answers to 
 their shouts to him, eventually followed his trail and found him 
 unconscious. Liebrechts and I dressed his wounds and took care 
 of him, with the happy result that he finally recovered, though we 
 both at first considered it a forlorn hope. 
 
TRIALS OF AN AFRICAN BABY. 
 
 163 
 
 These natives of Central Africa are possessed of very hardy 
 constitutions, and they are capable of a great deal of endurance. 
 This is no doubt owing to some extent to the introduction which 
 they receive at a very early age to the strengthening influence of 
 cold water bathing. 
 
 The Central African baby does not know the comforts of a cozy 
 nursery. The little fellow is not washed with fine, soft sponges 
 or powdered from head to foot with a velvety puff. Hot and cold 
 water, cannot be obtained by 
 pressing a button, in his 
 mother's hut. All lavatory 
 arrangements are conducted 
 down on the beach in the open 
 air. 
 
 In the early morning the 
 women file down to the river 
 to give their babies a bath. 
 The mother walks into the 
 water knee deep, then catch- 
 ing the half awakened infant 
 by the wrist, she dips him into 
 the chilly water and holds him 
 wriggling beneath tlie surface. 
 As it often happens that 
 several women are thus occupied at the same time; they natu- 
 rally engage in conversation discussing local events of so interest- 
 ing a nature that the submerged infant is sometimes forgotten 
 until the frantic struggles and tugging as if a big fish were hooked 
 warn the dusky parent that the juvenile is not amphibious. The 
 child is then hauled out of the Avater for a few moments, but 
 before he can possibly recover, his violent choking and splutter- 
 ing is drowned again in the depths of the muddy stream. 
 
 This operation is repeated four or five times, and then the mother 
 carries the bewildered piece of humanity back to the village hut 
 and lays him out on a mat to dry in the sun, and gradually re- 
 cover from the shock. 
 
 AFiaCAN BABIES. 
 
164 I^ SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Thi.s is a rough and uncomfortable method of carrying out the 
 law of the survival of the fittest. 
 
 As soon as these children can walk and talk tlieir training com- 
 mences, and when still quite babies they catch small fish, snare 
 birds, and cook them on the ashes ; often the mother will build 
 a fire, put the big cooking pot on to boil with its stew of fish and 
 game, and then leave the kitchen arrangements in charge of her 
 children, who sit by and carefully carry out the instructions given 
 to them of stirring up the savory mixture at certain times, of 
 replenishing, and any other attention which the important oper- 
 ation demands. 
 
 A serious family dispute betwee^i Ibaka and some of the neigh- 
 boring chieftains threw the district into a state of fierce war for a 
 few days, but after six or eight had been killed on each side it was 
 decided to conduct any further contest verbally with the idea of a 
 settlement of the disagreement. In connection with this fight a 
 strange case of misfortune came to my notice. One of the war- 
 riors was very badly wounded and it was feared he would die ; 
 the charm doctor who was attending him discovered, by consult- 
 ing his wonder-working implements, that if the man was moved 
 away to a small fishing camp on the opposite bank of the river ho 
 would quickly recover, but if he remained at Bolobo he would 
 surely die. Accordingly, the wounded man's friends packed 
 him into a canoe and conveyed him to the place recommended. 
 He had been there only a few days when one morning Avlnlst 
 at the river bathing his wounds, a crocodile lying hidden in the 
 mud seized him and carried him off. 
 
 The Bolobo meaicine man of course attributed this occurence to 
 some evil spirit, the same one which had attacked the young war- 
 rior in the village and hindered his recovery. Had there been no 
 white men in the district at the time, some poor slave Avould have 
 been pounced upon as the culprit and his execution would have 
 been found necessary for the tribal welfare. 
 
 I had been at Bolobo only a few months, wdien instructions from 
 headquarters deprived me of my friend Liebrechts. He was 
 directed to proceed up-river to take command of another station. 
 
ATTACKED BY THE EXECUTIONER. 165 
 
 I was left in command of Bolobo, where I remained but a few 
 months, and then instructions from headquarters directed me also 
 to abandon the station. 
 
 A steamer was placed at my disposal, and with orders to return 
 up stream again one hundred miles beyond Lukolela and join 
 Liebrechts at the Equator Station. I was very sorry to make 
 these repeated chang-es. I had become good friends with the 
 Bolobo people and I felt very lotli to leave them. 
 
 The voyage up-river was barren of any interesting events. I 
 was able only once to replenish the larder by shooting a buffalo 
 at one of our stopping places. 
 
 Whilst at the Equator I took part in a little fight against a sec- 
 tion of the tribe which continued, in spite of frequent warnings, 
 to execute their slaves. But this trouble had not any serious 
 results, only one man was killed, and I am glad to say it was the 
 principal offender, the executioner himself. He had always 
 opposed any control by the white men, and when efforts were 
 made to prohibit ceremonies of human sacrifice he incited the 
 natives to resist this interference with their national customs. He 
 had urged some of the villagers to attack some of our men who 
 were walking unarmed through the native villages, and when 
 Liebrechts and I went with our guard to protest against this 
 behavior and to demand explanations, the executioner himself 
 told us in his bitterest language that the only satisfaction we 
 would get would be with spears and knives. He followed up the 
 speech by an actual attack and whilst advancing at the head of 
 his warriors, he fell, shot through the head. After his death the 
 conduct of the native villagers was much more peaceful. 
 
 M}' first term of service on the Congo was now rapidly drawing 
 to a close ; it will be remembered that I received an appointment 
 for three years. 
 
 Before returning to the coast I made a journey to the cannibal 
 villages of Bangala still another hundred miles farther in the 
 interior. Many of these people still bear scars of wounds received 
 in the fight with Stanley in '77. This was the first time they had 
 ever heard a gun and their stubborn attack upon Stanley's flotilla 
 
166 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 at that time proved a very unpleasant introduction to the deadly 
 
 weapon. 
 
 The Bangalas were now comparatively well behaved ; Lieuten- 
 ant Coquilhat, who had been in command of the station had 
 cleverly got the upper hand of them, and was recognized as the 
 big chief of that district. 
 
 I returned from Bangala to Leopold ville in the large stern- 
 wheeler steamer "Le Stanley." Everywhere on the trip the 
 natives were most friendly. As our boat touched the beach, 
 bananas, pine-apples, fowls, goats, eggs, etc., were brought down 
 to us and exchanged for our cloth, beads and melted trinkets. 
 The natives had now become better acquainted with the pacific 
 intentions of white men than they were in the wild times when I 
 first came to the Congo. 
 
 Leopoldville had greatly increased in size. New steamers were 
 being put together and bands of workmen both white and black, 
 were busily at work. Lots of new houses had been built and the 
 station was equipped with well stocked storehouses and work- 
 shops. A new transport service had been opened up between 
 Leopoldville and Matadi, at the head of navigation on the Lower 
 Congo. There are no beasts of burden in this land, and every 
 pound for the interior has to be carried on men's heads. 
 
 The native carriers are hired in gangs. Each gang of carriers 
 is under a "Capita," or head man. He gets one man's pay only, 
 but in consideration of the responsibility he takes in engaging to 
 deliver all the loads at their destination, he does not carry a pack ; 
 if he does so he receives double pay. These capitas are gener- 
 ally xhe older and more influential men of the villages, usually 
 the chief and his relatives. 
 
 To look at these gaunt, slender shanked, lanky, half-starved- 
 looking beings, it seems incredible that they can carry heavy 
 loads over such distances. Some of them will even carry as much 
 as one hundred and fifty pounds and receive double pay. A car- 
 rier receives, for the transportation of a sixty-five or seventy 
 pound load from Matadi to Leopoldville, eight pieces of hand- 
 kerchief printed in gaudy colors and costing in England forty 
 
SELLING WIVES FOR CLOTH. 
 
 167 
 
 cents apiece, besides which he receives one extra piece of some 
 cotton stuff to purchase food on the road. The use of coin is not 
 yet known, except on the coast. The moneys of the country are 
 cloth, beads, etc. 
 
 With the pay for their packing services these Ba-Congo por- 
 ters are able, after a number of journeys, to have accumulated 
 enough of the 
 highly prized cot- 
 ton stuff to enable 
 them to add to 
 their connubial 
 bliss by marrying 
 additional wives ; 
 the mothers-in-law 
 or fathers-in-law 
 in that part of the 
 world require a 
 goodly pile of 
 brightl.y colored 
 dress stuff, flint- 
 lock muskets, kegs 
 of powder, beads, 
 etc., for their 
 daughters' hands. 
 
 In the rainy sea- 
 son, when the streams become swollen, whole caravans are kept 
 waiting until the flood decreases. Some of the streams have to 
 be crossed in canoes, and over some of them swinging bridges 
 have been thrown, ingeniously constructed of rattan cane and 
 plaited fiber. 
 
 In the dry season, when the streams are easily forded and the 
 carriers liave not to suffer the inconvenience and discomfort of 
 the rain, the caravan road seems almost one continuous line of 
 natives, who tramp along always in single file. One minute a 
 gang of thirty is met, all trudging along with a swinging gait. 
 Each man carries seventy pounds of brass wire or bales of cot- 
 
 A BA-CONGO PORTER. 
 
168 IN' SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 ton stuff, and the next caravan to be seen may be partly loaded 
 with sections of boats and tools; others will be carrying boxes of 
 provisions, and occasionally a native trader with a cargo of ele- 
 phants' tusks, or, if on his return journey from the coast, he will 
 be weighed down with the various miscellany of property which 
 old Chief Lutete or Makoko have obtained from the wdiite traders 
 in exchange for their costly ivory. 
 
 At different points along the trail daily markets are held, where 
 the natives of the outlying hamlets meet under some spreading 
 tree to exchange their peanuts, palm nuts and oil, yams, sweet 
 potatoes, bananas, pineapples, dried snakes and mice, and other 
 African delicacies with the hungry porter for his gay-striped 
 handkerchief, blue baft, or beads. The carriers are recruited 
 from the districts of Lutete, Lukungu, Manyanga, etc. ; they are 
 spare-built, slender-shanked individuals, but their endurance is 
 phenomenal. A distance of one hundred miles is often traversed 
 by them in fivt3 da\^s, which is no feeble task for a man nourished 
 with a few peanuts or bananas, and w^ith a seventy-pound load 
 on his head. He has no smooth path to travel over. The cara- 
 van trail leads through the stifling, heated valleys, where he 
 must often push his way through the long, coarse grass, waving 
 twenty feet above one's head and drooping across the trail ; and 
 the steep ascent, where the path winds up the mountain-sides and 
 over the hill-tops, adds not to the facility of his task; but he 
 trudges manfully along, halting, when tired, in some shady nook 
 where he enjoys a light luncheon of a few inches of shriveled 
 snake and a banana or two. 
 
 At nearly everv brook or spring these natives take a big 
 draught of the delicious cool water, and in the middle of the day 
 they throw down their loads and lie down at full length and enjoy 
 the soothing Aveed in some form or other, some smoking, others 
 preferring to enjoy the narcotic in the shape of snuff. 
 
 I had a gang of these Lower Congo carriers to carry my belong- 
 ings down to the coast. I was a curiosity to them ; a man who 
 had been living for nearly three years wuth the wild beings of 
 the far interior did not come on that trail every day. They were 
 
ENGLAND AGAIN. 
 
 169 
 
 very anxious to know all I could tell them and each night 
 round the camp-fire they kept me busy answering a long string of 
 questions. Each village we passed tlirough was informed of my 
 experiences and I became quite an attraction. 
 
 The pun}' inhabitants of the Lower Congo did not compare 
 favorably either in physique cr intellect with the old stalwart war- 
 riors of Lukolela. Even the old Congo itself loses its appear- 
 ance of magnitude near the coast. Away in the interior several 
 hundred miles it is a good day's journey to cross from shore to 
 shore ; here, near its mouth, it is walled into narrowed limits by 
 the gray highlands, and does not at all suggest that it is the third 
 largest river in the world. 
 
 Upon arriving back at Banana I had to wait a few days for a 
 steamer ; I then embarked and cruised along the African coast, 
 touching at the same ports as when I had arrived. 
 
 At the latter part of June I was home in England again with 
 my mother and father, sisters and brothers. I was but a boy 
 when I left in '83, but surely I could now call myself a man after 
 serving three years in Central Africa in Stanley's expedition. 
 
 I intended to make but a flying visit to England. I would start 
 for Central Africa again in a few weeks' time. 
 
 iilE i;()\i,n M.AK TlIK COAST. 
 
A MOONLIGHT SCENE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX, 
 
 FROJI ENGLAND TO BUKUTK. 
 
 A NKW Expedition— Back to the Congo— Rknewal of old acquaintances— Elephants' 
 MOONLIGHT stroll— Established at Bukute— African youngsters— Bienelo—Ele- 
 
 I'HANT HINTING— KUELU OF MONZOLE— THE 8IGNaL DRUM— THE BaRL'MBE-BUKUNU 
 the YOUNG NGANGA— IVOBY TRADING— BlENELO'S ENEMY— IN COMMAND OJ' THE 
 
 "Florida." 
 
 Upon my return to England in '86, I found that a new expedi- 
 tion was being organized for important work in Africa, and upon 
 Mr. Stanley's advice I accepted a responsible position offered me 
 in this new enterprise, called the Sanford Exploring Expedition ; 
 the object of which was to visit all the villages along the banks 
 of the Congo and its tributaries, and make thorough research into 
 the marketable products of the land, with the ultimate object of 
 establishing commercial exchange between the civilized world 
 and the inhabitants of Central Africa. 
 
 Most of my time, during a brief holiday of ten weeks at home, 
 was spent in superintending preparations for the new work, in 
 buying the necessary provisions, general stores, and trading 
 goods, in having all suitably packed in sixty -pound loads for their 
 long overland journey into the interior, and in attending to their 
 shipment. 
 
 Our expedition had also decided to take out a light draught 
 stern-wheeler sixty feet long. As this boat was to be conveyed by 
 manual transport into the interior beyond Stanley Pool, it had to 
 
EQUATOR STATION. 171 
 
 be constructed in such a way as to be easily taken to pieces and 
 put together again. All the machinery was made in sections as 
 light as possible, and the hull composed of small plates to be rivet- 
 ed together when it reached its destination. The charge of this 
 construction was also one of my duties, in which I was greatly 
 aided by Mr. W. J. Davy, wiio was to rebuild the boat, and offici- 
 ate as engineer when she was afloat on the waters of the Upper 
 Congo. 
 
 When the equipment for the new expedition was complete, and 
 had been dispatched to Africa, I left England for my second term 
 of service in that wild land. 
 
 On September 20, 1886, I was again at the mouth of the Congo, 
 and traveled without delay into the interior. 
 
 Whilst the steamer, to be called the "Florida," was being trans- 
 ported overland to Stanley Pool, to be put together there, I de- 
 cided to establish myself at the Equator Station in the district of 
 Bukute, a hundred miles beyond my old station of Lukolela. 
 
 The Equator was a most important centre ; numerous populous 
 villages surrounded the station and several large rivers emptied 
 into the Congo in the vicinity. An extensive commercial inter- 
 course was already carried on by the natives themselves, and it 
 would be an interesting study to discover what developm.ents 
 trading would assume when stimulated by the introduction of the 
 white man's manufactures. 
 
 After a very short stay at our station at Kinsassa, at the lower 
 end of Stanley Pool and a few miles bej^ond Leopoldville, I pro- 
 ceeded up stream, bound for the Equator Station. On mv way 
 up I renewed acquaintance Avith my old friends at Bolobo and 
 Lukolela. Ibaka and Ngoi and luka, and Mungaba all brought me 
 presents of goats and fruit and received in return cloth and trin- 
 kets. Poor Bongo iSTsanda was grieved to think that I could not 
 stay at least a few months at Lukolela, so that we could have 
 some hunting amongst the big game in the country ; he told me 
 that the buffaloes on the opi)Osite shores had worn the plains clear 
 of grass in their joyous frolics at my departure for "Mputu" (white 
 man's land). 
 
172 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 One night, whilst on this trip, we saw an interesting sight; a 
 family of elephants, mother, father and baby, strolled leisurely up 
 the side of a hill a half a mile away from our camp ; the full moon 
 shining at the time threw out the great figures in bold outline, and 
 the true picturesque effect was reached when the bull, who was 
 leading, arrived at the crest of a knoll and throwing up his trunk, 
 trumpeted a loud and prolonged blast, which wakened the whole 
 country with its rumbling echo. 
 
 Upon arriving at the Equator Station I installed myself in the 
 large clay house which had been built by Captain Van Gele when 
 he had command of the station. 
 
 During my stay at this post, I had excellent opportunities for 
 studying the inhabitants of the villages in the neighborhood and 
 the surrounding country. I found that I was in the midst of the 
 powerful tribes of the Ba-Nkundu, whose customs and peculari- 
 ties closely resembled those of the Ba-Bangi at Lukolela, but they 
 spoke a different tongue. As the low-lying country round the sta- 
 tion was frequently flooded during the wet season, the native set- 
 tlements were built on a strip of dry land along the river bank. 
 Just at the back of the huts this strip merged into a great swamp 
 which extended for several miles inland. 
 
 The natives around my station were a light-hearted, friendly 
 people, and it required but a little tact and patience to preserve at 
 all times friendly relations with them. I always had in my em- 
 ploy a few of the villagers to work on the station, and found 
 among them many of sterling worth and admirable character. 
 
 Their shapely spear-heads and knives, cleverh" beaten from 
 native iron smelted by themselves from the rough ore. their 
 graceful styles of pottery, their ingenious fish and game nets, bore 
 ample proof of their intelligence. 
 
 Throughout the whole section of Central Africa the children 
 commence their education at a very early age; there are no 
 schools with books where they can get instruction ; their training 
 is of an entirely different nature from a white boy's; they aim to 
 acquire ability which will enable them to enjoy, the benefits of 
 their particular surroundings and will also aid them to battle w4th 
 
AN AFRICAN BOVS EDUCATION. 
 
 the 
 perils 
 and dif- 
 ficulties 
 attending 
 life in these 
 
 regions 
 
 by savage war cries and the deafening rumble of 
 the monster war drums calling all to arms. 
 
 At the age when the white boy has left off 
 knickerbockers and has been promoted into 
 
 trousers, 
 
 young African has thrown 
 
 away his toy weapons and stands pluckily 
 
 behind the spiked stockade with keen 
 
 edged blade and iron tipped spears 
 
 and fights to the death in defense of 
 
 the village huts. 
 
 The training of the girls is not 
 
 neglected. They receive from 
 
 their mothers instruction in 
 
 the various domestic duties 
 
 which they will be called 
 
 upon to perform. 
 
 At the period of life 
 
 173 
 
 When their 
 grown up rela- 
 tions are busily 
 employed at their 
 trades, the boys at- 
 tentively study the 
 w^ork in progress and 
 w here possible they 
 give a helping hand ; 
 after a while they carry 
 on the easier parts of manu- 
 facturing themselves, and 
 eventually when they have 
 srown to be men, thev have 
 become experts at shaping out 
 weapons and metal bracelets, at 
 carving pliant paddles and spear 
 shafts, and in the knitting of fish and 
 game nets, and the weaving of rattan 
 shields. The boys' principal pastime is 
 mimic warfare — they form sides and at- 
 tack each other with blunted spears and 
 wooden knives, and at a very early age 
 become excellent marksmen. Such a train- 
 ing can be received none too early. 
 
 Often the baby is startled from his slumbers 
 
 when the white girl 
 is wearing the 
 shortest of frocks, 
 the little n eg- 
 ress has been 
 initiated into 
 the possibil- 
 ities of an 
 A. f r ican 
 kitchen. 
 
 SPKAKS AM> now 
 
174 AV SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 She can toast to perfection a hippo or buffalo steak, knows each 
 kind of insect and caterpillar that graces the Congo bill of fare, 
 and she can also plait, and sew and attend to her garden. 
 
 In the village near my station I found one youth, named 
 Bienelo, who was an exceptionally fine fellow, brave in war and 
 in the chase, and thoroughly trustworthy and devoted. He re- 
 mained with me the whole of my second term of three years in 
 Africa, and served me well. He was a slave, having been caught 
 when quite a baby by some raiders ; but his determined and fear- 
 less character soon raised him from the abject condition of the 
 majority of slaves ; and the support and encouragement which I 
 was bound to extend to him gave him a good position in the vil- 
 lage. He was my head man, ashore and afloat. Whether with 
 me on the track of a tusker, or exposed to the arrows of the fierce 
 Baruki, or laboring through the swampy bog in search of fuel for 
 the steamer, he always remained the same devoted servant. He 
 was a perfect example of what can be made of the African savage 
 when properly handled. With an army of such men, under reso- 
 lute officers, the Arab slave-raiders and their Manyema banditti 
 would before long be driven from their present man-hunting 
 ground, and, if necessary, could be utterly destroyed. 
 
 I was delighted to find such a companion to take the place of 
 Bongo Nsanda, who could not leave his wife and family at 
 Lukolela to join me here a hundred miles away from them. 
 
 I was enabled to indulge my love of hunting while at Equator 
 Station, as herds of hippopotami could usually be found within a 
 few hours' journey. Occasionally, too, elephants would make 
 their way down to the river, when their inland drinking places 
 became dried out from a long rainless season. 
 
 Herds of elephants are to be found, with very few exceptions, 
 throughout the whole territory of the Congo Free State. I sup- 
 pose at the present time they are to be found there in greater 
 numbers than in any other part of the world. In the deadly 
 swamps and impenetrable forests of Central Africa, they are 
 secure for many years to come. In South Africa, and other parts 
 they have been almost exterminated, as hunters of big game 
 
HUNTING ELEPHANTS. 175 
 
 in that land are not exposed to such a climate as is found in the 
 swamp land of the Congo. 
 
 An elephant-hunt, although very exciting, is attended by great 
 hardship and risk. The elephants are not, as a rule, found 
 in open places. They prefer the forest, and seek the shelter of 
 the thick tropical foliage. They sometimes roam about in fam- 
 ilies of two or three, and often in herds of two and three hundred. 
 Some districts are rendered quite uninhabitable for the natives by 
 the depredations the elephants commit on the plantations, and by 
 the very dangerous nature of the midnight maraudings of these 
 great animals. They seem to know that the natives have no very 
 powerful weapons of defense, and it is really extraordinary how 
 fearlessly they take possession of a village. The natives naturally 
 are very anxious that a white man should come to shoot these 
 persecutors; and, when a herd appears in a district, news is 
 always brought in to the nearest camp or station. If the white 
 man is a hunter, and decides to follow up the elephants, he takes 
 with him one or two natives of his OAvn training, or men known 
 to be trustworthy, and then, accompanied by the messenger who has 
 seen the elephants and brought the news, they proceed to follow 
 up the tracks. If it is about the middle of the day, the party will 
 not have much difficulty in coming up to the game, as from about 
 eleven o'clock till about three o'clock the elephants rest. On the 
 other hand, if the time is early morning or evening, it may mean 
 a tramp of many miles before finding the herd. A full grown ele- 
 phant will consume between six and eight hundred pounds of food 
 a day, and, as he is a dainty brute eating only the choicest mor- 
 sels of leaves and herbage, he must cover a lot of ground in his 
 search for his daily allowance. 
 
 Even when you have reached a herd, you have still serious 
 obstacles in your path, as, more often than not, a band — say, of 
 fifty — will be scattered over a patch of two or three acres. You 
 have to move about around the outskirts of this resting-place, and 
 find out their positions, and see which are, and which are 
 not, "tuskers." You must then watch and note in what direction 
 the animals are moving, always taking care, of course, to have 
 
176 AV SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the wind in your favor— that is, blowing from them to you. It 
 happens sometimes, too, that they are almost completely shel- 
 tered by the luxuriant growth of the tropical underbrush. You have 
 to allow for this, and be ready to fire your shot when a little more 
 open ground is reached, and you are able to distinguish some vital 
 spot. It is not at all unusual for an elephant-hunter to be within 
 thirty or forty yards of a herd of elephants for five or six hours 
 without an opportunity to fire a shot. Of course you could hit 
 one; but unless an elephant is struck in some vital part, to wound 
 him is simply downright cruelty. The best places at which to 
 aim are: in the forehead, four inches above the line of the eyes; 
 and between the eye and the ear, four inches above a Ime drawn 
 between those two points. Another very good place is just behind 
 the ear. Some prefer to shoot at the heart, but to aim at the head 
 is the more deadly shot and the one I always endeavor to make. 
 
 When you have fired, you must be wary, as it is likely that you 
 may find elephants on all sides of you. Upon their being startled 
 by the report of your gun, they all close together, preparatory to 
 making their escape, so that you have to be very careful to avoid 
 being trampled under foot. It requires a man of cool tempera- 
 ment and strong and steady nerves to carry on an elephant hunt 
 successfully. 
 
 The noise made by a herd of elephants is simply indescribable. 
 Every animal seems to wish to outdo the others in the shrillness 
 of its screeching and trumpeting. Their angry uproar, combined 
 with the crashing down of trees as they plow their way through 
 the matted undergrowth of the forest, once heard, will never be 
 forgotten. A wounded elephant will very often charge at the 
 hunter, especially if the animal is a female protecting a young 
 one, so that a hunter seldom fires unless he is close enough to be 
 sure of his aim. 
 
 I had been at the Equator Station a few weeks and had demon- 
 strated my ability to kill big game, by bagging a hippopotamus, 
 when a native from a neighboring village arrived one day at my 
 house excited and breathless. He informed me in short gasps 
 that he had seen a large herd of elephants quietly feeding in a 
 
A BIG HERD. 
 
 177 
 
 forest swamp a few miles away. As he volunteered to lead me up 
 to these animals, I took my rifle, and, accompanied by Bienelo 
 with a spare Martini, I followed our guide to the woods. We had 
 not gone far before we heard the breaking down of branches and 
 the peculiar champing noise which these animals make in their 
 throats when resting. There were certainly a hundred of the 
 great creatures. We crept close up to them, but they were in the 
 midst of a thick undergrowth, and we could only discern their 
 whereabouts by an occasional glimpse of their great bodies through 
 
 ELEPHANTS STARTLED AT NIGHT. 
 
 the foliage or the raising of a trunk as one of them would snap 
 off a branch in order to pluck from it some delicate sprout which 
 had caught his eye. But, all around us, the rustling among the 
 big leaves and the waving of the slender slirubs denoted their 
 presence. 
 
 I had approached witliin a few yards of one several times, but 
 the dense thicket prevented me from clearly distinguishing my 
 game. At last, however, from a patch of tangled bush and creep- 
 ers, a large elephant came striding along right in my path. 
 
 I fired, and fortunately dropped the beast on her knees ; and 
 then, after another shot from my Martini, she rolled over on her 
 side, dead. I had been uncomfortably close to this big animal, 
 and after she had fallen she lay just seven yards from Avliere I 
 
178 I^ SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 stood when I fired. Had I not succeeded in bringing her down at 
 the first sliot, I am afraid she would have taken such steps as 
 would have been exceedinerly unpleasant for me, and very possibly 
 might have brought my African career to an abrupt ending. The 
 remainder of the herd retreated in full stampede amidst a deaf- 
 ening tumult. 
 
 I had imagined that my small following of blacks and myself 
 were alone here in the jungles, but the Africans seem to have 
 some instinctive foreknowledge of a meat supph^ ; the great beast 
 I had just shot had been dead but a few seconds when black, 
 woolly heads were peering from out the bush on all sides of me, 
 and voices anxiously asked in whispers, "Owi?" (Is it dead?) and 
 but a few minutes elapsed before the elephant's body was hidden 
 from view by the crowd of natives eagerly engaged in carving 
 up the meat. Soon the women arrived with big baskets, and in a 
 very short time nothing remained but the skeleton of the giant 
 brute which had but recently had strength enough to tear up a big 
 tree by the roots and cast it away as though it were a blade of 
 grass. A caravan of delighted natives filed home in haste to 
 banquet sumptuously on elephant meat — all of which I gave to 
 the villagers, as it is strong in flavor and very tough, and commend- 
 able only to a white man when his larder is in an extremely im- 
 poverished condition, but the Africans deem it a delicacy, and by 
 furnishing them with such a supply you gain substantial prestige. 
 
 Elephants live to a very great age, and so accustomed do the 
 natives become to certain ones that they know each b}'^ a special 
 name. Sometimes the title is bestowed on account of some well- 
 known incident of the animal's life, and sometimes the elephant 
 is named after a deceased chief. These old fellows are generally 
 bull elephants, and, more often than not, tuskers, who prefer lead- 
 ing a solitary life to joining a herd. I remember one wily old fel- 
 low often mentioned among the natives by the name " Miongo 
 Moco" (one tusk), so called from his having only one tusk. I 
 never saw him, although I have been on his track. It seemed 
 strange to hear these people say, in speaking among themselves 
 after this elephant had visited their plantations, "Miongo Moco 
 
EXPEDITION TO MONZOLE. 
 
 179 
 
 
 paid another visit last night," and then proceed to recount the 
 damage done by him and to abuse him in their quiet way, just as 
 if he were a human being. 
 
 Whilst living amongst the Ba-Nkundu here I was repeatedly 
 hearing rumors in the villages of an expected attack from a large 
 inland tribe called Monzole, As 
 no white man had ever visited 
 these people, I decided that I 
 w^ould endeavor to make friends 
 with them by visiting their vil- 
 lages, and entering into blood 
 brotherhood with the chief, Euelu. 
 I therefore detailed Bienelo, my 
 trusty aide-de-camp, to engage a 
 few friendly natives to accom- 
 pany us on this little expedition. 
 This place was reached by a 
 path which led for twenty miles 
 through the swampy jungles. 
 In some places the mud was 
 several feet deep, and at these 
 dangerous spots trees had been 
 felled and thrown across to serve 
 as bridges. 
 
 Upon my arrival I was re- 
 ceived most cordially by Euelu. 
 He seemed delighted to think that 
 a white man had paid such a trib- 
 ute to his importance as to wade 
 
 through twenty miles of mud to visit him. He placed his own hut 
 at my disposal, rationed my men, gave me goats, sheep, fowds, and 
 eggs, and made me feel thoroughly at home. AVhen I had re- 
 moved the coating of mud which covered me from head to foot, I 
 found time to take a good look at my redoubtable host. He had 
 heard of my coming from some of his young hunters, who, sur- 
 prised at the sight of a band of strangers crossing the swamp, 
 
 EUELU THE MONZOLE ClIIliF. 
 
180 IN SA VA GE AFRICA. 
 
 had left their trapt. and nets and had hurried back to the village 
 with the news. 
 
 In view of so important an event, Euelu had donned the very 
 best costume his wardrobe contained. He vv'ore a tall hat, on 
 which was fastened a circular plate of beaten brass, twelve inches 
 in diameter and covered with roughly stamped designs. He 
 clutched a handful of spears and a cane shield ; the ever-ready 
 knife hung over his right shoulder, while from his left shoulder 
 was suspended a capacious bukumbe, or sack. He was evidently 
 a suspicious old fellow. His restless eyes were sufficient proof of 
 that, and the persistent habit of carrying iiis belongings in the 
 bukumbe was a further confirmation of the fact. His drinking- 
 cuj), medicines, razors, hair-pins, colored chalks, adze, monkey 
 skins, copper rings — all accompanied him on every step he took. I 
 asked him the reason for carrying his property in this manner, 
 and he told me that he had several sons who were always seeking 
 an opportunity to lay their hands on his valuables, and it was 
 therefore necessary for him to take them with him wherever he 
 went. 
 
 Euelu was a short man, but of wiry build, with a determined- 
 looking head. His face and body bore many marks of war's rav- 
 ages. The questions he put to me showed him to be possessed of 
 great intelligence, and he was much amused at my descriptions of 
 the manners and customs in Mputu (the white man's country), and 
 by some rough drawings I made with a piece of chalk on the door 
 of his hut ; my gun delighted him so much that he at once proposed 
 that we should form an alliance and wage war on the surrounding 
 villages and reduce them to subjection. 
 
 "With such a gun as that," said he, "we could fight the whole 
 country." If not beloved, Euelu was certainly much feared by his 
 neighbors. The other villages in the district were jealous of his 
 power ; but whenever they put forward a headman to contend 
 with Euelu for leadership in the country, the native selected for 
 that honor would receive a visit from the old chief, and would in 
 consequence retire from the competition rather speedily. 
 
 At the time of my visit he was engaged in a war against a 
 
EUEL U'S DEA TH. 181 
 
 neighboring settlement, the Bandaka Nsi, and he was disappointed 
 that 1 would not aid him. 
 
 In attempting to surprise his enemies at early dawn, four of his 
 men had been killed by spears from the opposing warriors who had 
 been warned of his coming and were lying in ambush ready to 
 entrap him. 
 
 The village of Monzole was built on a strip of dry land rising 
 from the swamp. The government of tliese people was far more 
 intelligent than any I had ever met with among the Congo natives. 
 Here, there was always one responsible chief at the head of 
 affairs. 
 
 From Euelu, whose warlike excursions had penetrated far in all 
 directions, I learned a great deal about the land beyond. 
 
 The old chief visited my station several times after this little 
 trip of mine. But early in '88 he attempted to suppress a drunken 
 squabble which was going on in the village. Some of his enemies, 
 taking advantage of his unarmed condition, treacherously speared 
 him, leaving him dead in his own village. Since that time the 
 name of Monzole, unaided by the great reputation of Euelu, fails 
 to create such fear among the neighboring tribes. 
 
 Here at Monzole I had an excellent opportunity of noting the 
 marvelous results obtained by the native signal drum, which plays 
 an important part in the African existence. 
 
 A large oblong block of wood is cleverly hollowed out through 
 a small slit at the top ; one side of the drum is left thicker than 
 the other, so that a blow struck on one side gives an entirely differ- 
 ent sound from one struck on the ot;her, giving the instrument two 
 distinct notes. This drum is used for sounding out messages for 
 a long distance, and it is really marvelous with what accuracy 
 a nati\e conversant with it can deliver and receive information. 
 They can convey words several miles without difficulty. There 
 is an elaborate code of signals for this purpose, made up of the 
 two distinct sounds and a system of intervals between taps. Only 
 a few men in each village beconie experts in this wonderful form 
 of telegraphy. 
 
 Whilst on this visit to Euelu, hearing that there was big game 
 
182 
 
 7.V SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 to be found beyond the upper end of the villages seven or eight 
 miles away, I shouldered my rifle and started off with Bienelo 
 for a hunt. Upon reaching the ground I found trails, but no fresh 
 ones to denote the presence of animals in the immediate neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 lELEGRAPHING IN AFlilCA. 
 
 The natives occupying the huts near by told me that the ele- 
 phants came into the banana plantations nearly every night, and 
 as 1 intended to return back to Euelu's hut to sleep, they prom- 
 ised that in case the animals made their usual visit they would 
 inform me by drum signal. That night when all was quiet a faint 
 tapping of a drum was heard, distinguishable only to the prac- 
 ticed ear. 
 
 Euelu, ever on the alert, heard the sound at once. He imme- 
 diately ordered perfect silence in the village, and the slight mur- 
 
THE BARUMBE. 183 
 
 murs, that were heard from time to time from a few people who 
 were sitting up late over their fires, were hushed. 
 
 The old chief then listened earnestly to the feeble sounds of the 
 drumming carried toward us on the evening breeze. The signal 
 taps struck several miles away were barely audible by the time 
 they reached us; but the drummer knew the difficulties of hearing 
 the sound at so great a distance, so the message was repeated over 
 and over again, till at last Euelu turned to me and said : " There 
 are elephants feeding in the banana plantation now and the natives 
 want you to go and shoot them in the morning." 
 
 I made the trip as suggested, and found that the old chief had 
 understood the message by signal drum exactly as it had been 
 sent. 
 
 Near the village of Euelu was an encampment of roving hunt- 
 ers known as Barumbe. Originally, these people were Nomads, 
 but the Bankundu chieftain persuaded them to settle in the land. 
 These seemed a very peaceful tribe, and wished to live at peace 
 with their neighbors. They employed their time ia hunting the 
 small game in the forests with bow and arrow, while pitfalls and 
 other traps set for big game showed that the larger animals also 
 were objects of their craft. They were not cannibals, and 
 greatly to their credit, did not indulge in human sacrifices. 
 Their objection to cruel ceremonies did not seem to recommend 
 them to the neighboring tribes, who looked down upon them. The 
 Barumbe were not allowed to intermarry with the Bankundu ; 
 they had to find wives amongst their own people. TheA^ were keen 
 sportsmen and useful trackers, being able to discern, b}' a careful 
 scrutiny of the trail, the exact time the animals had passed 
 through the swamps. They had never seen a whiie man, and I 
 had great difficulty in getting my tracker to go ahead, as he pre- 
 ferred to walk behind me in order to indulge his curiosity by hav- 
 ing a good look at me. 
 
 Among the great variety of objectionable insects the ants were 
 the most troublesome. There are three species with which the 
 traveler is daily brought in contact : the white ant, the driver-ant, 
 and the red ant. The last is found on shrubs in the forests, and 
 
184 /iV SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 if you brush against a branch on which these insects live, you 
 will become painfully aware of the reason why the Zanzibari call 
 this pest "Maji moto" (hot water), for its bite resembles a burn 
 from scalding- water. The dwarfs who gave Stanley so much 
 trouble around Lake Albert during his last expedition, poisoned 
 their arrows with crushed red ants. 
 
 Another very annoying member of the ant race is the dark- 
 brown driver. These ants crawl along the ground in a solid mass, 
 twelve inches wide and several yards long, composed of many 
 millions of them. They move slowly alon^ like a great army, 
 occasionally stopping to devour whatever animal-food they may 
 meet in their path. 
 
 I have often been visited by these unwelcome guests at night. 
 On such occasions the contents of my larder would form a meal 
 for them; and if my mosquito-net was not properly tucked in, so 
 as to exclude such intruders, I would be overrun with them, and 
 would have to beat a precipitate retreat until they had ransacked 
 my establishment to their satisfaction. This has happened to 
 me several times. The bite of the driver ant is Yery painful, for 
 the insect is provided with large pincers with which he digs deep 
 into the flesh of an enemy. His bite is so pertinacious that, when 
 you attempt to remove him, the head remains buried in 3^our flesh, 
 and if not carefully extracted it will develop into a painful sore. 
 
 The white ant makes itself an equally unwelcome visitor by eat- 
 ing away all woodwork, leather, or cloth which it can find. A 
 wooden case, if exposed to the attacks of this insect for two or 
 three days, will have the bottom eaten away ; and a pair of boots, 
 left at the mercy of this pest, will be m.ade utterly worthless in a 
 few days. 
 
 Large clay mounds, sometimes reaching thirty feet in height, 
 mark the house and storehouses of the white ant. 
 
 These mounds are of cellular formation, and contain their store 
 of grubs. So large and solid are these ant hills that at one of our 
 stations we leveled the top of a deserted ant hill and built a sentry 
 post upon it. 
 
 Nature has bestowed upon the African a rich gift in the palm 
 
PALM WINE. 185 
 
 tree. Its branches form a canopy to shelter the village huts from 
 the noonday sun ; with its leaves the houses are thatched ; and 
 the Congo kitchen would be devoid of its chief means of flavor 
 and delicacy if deprived of the mbila, or oily palm-fruit. And it 
 plays an even more important part. Its juice, as malafu, cheers 
 the hunter on his return from the chase, is partaken of at every 
 tribal ceremony, and provides a sparkling nectar for the other- 
 wise insipid African banquet. It is obtained by tapping the tree 
 at its very top. 
 
 Holes are bored in the heart of the palm tree, and gourds are 
 attached. Into these the juice flows, and the gourds are collected 
 by the natives, who climb up the trunk of the tree by means of a 
 band of leather or cane which encircles climber and tree. By this 
 ingenious device the native is kept from falling, and can ascend 
 the trees with great rapidity. Using the rough projections of the 
 "bark as steps they lean back and mount higher and higher, at 
 the same time lifting with a jerky motion the band that holds 
 them to the tree. 
 
 This malafu, or palm-wine, resembles milky water in color, is 
 of a sweet acidulated flavor, and when not too old is exceedingly 
 refreshing and palatable; but in a few days it becomes sour, and 
 is then very intoxicating. Excellent bread can be made by 
 mixing it with flour; then after thoroughly kneading, the 
 dough must be exposed to the sun for an hour or so till it is prop- 
 erly raised and then baked in a quick oven ; no yeast or baking- 
 powder is needed ; simply palm wine, flour, and a pinch of salt. 
 
 I had in my employ, besides Bienelo, a bright, intelligent young 
 fellow named Bukunu. who had gained in his village the reputa- 
 tion of being a rising Nganga. One day I asked him to tell me 
 something about his profession Making sure that no other 
 native was within hearing to betray his words to the villagers, 
 and eliciting from me a promise that I would not divulge any- 
 thing he told me, he confessed that so far as he was concerned it 
 was an imposture, and that he invented charms simply to meet 
 the demand of the credulous. He had in his hand a large ante- 
 lope's horn, over the aperture of which was a woven covering. 
 
] 60 IiV SA VA GE AFRICA. 
 
 "This article," said he, "is supposed to possess mystic power. By 
 this I can discover in case of sickness whether the sufferer will re- 
 cover or die. When I am called to a sick person this horn will at 
 once foretell his fate. If he is to die, the charm will remain silent ; 
 but if recovery is certain, a low whistle will be heard. See, I will 
 hold the charm at arms' length and it shall w^histle when you 
 wisli." I tendered the necessary invitation, and was surprised to 
 hear a wiieezy whistle, which sounded as if it came from the horn. 
 I asked the man to explain it to me, but he was not inclined to part 
 with so valuable a secret without some consideration. Finally he 
 agreed that I should become the possessor of the charm for an 
 empty bottle, which I gave him. Going to the door to make 
 sure that no listeners were there, he drew from his nostril a 
 perforated bean. It was with this that he had made the sound 
 supposed to come from the horn. He explained to me that it 
 was by such means that the fetishman amassed his wealth. 
 
 Natives fear the fetishman, as they are unable to determine the 
 extent or limit of his authority over evil influences. But the 
 belief in his power has no deeper root than this uncertainty, and 
 it is greatly lessened in natives who come in contact with white 
 men, who, they are quick to perceive, perform greater wonders. 
 When I had killed an elephant, a buffalo, or a hippopotamus, I 
 often asked them : " Can your Nganga kill these big beasts? Has 
 he even the courage to face them and to risk his life to obtain 
 them for you? I do it and succeed. But I have no fetish charm." 
 
 Such reasoning on my part was not without effect ; my men 
 invariably ignored the power of the Nganga when far away from 
 him, although on returning to their villages they relapsed into the 
 same feeble submission to senseless custom, not because they still 
 had any faith in it, but because they knew that any declaration of 
 disbelief in the power of the fetishman would bring trouble upon 
 them, and in all probability the Nganga would soon find an oppor- 
 tunity to accuse them of witchcraft. The poison test would be 
 administered, and the draught so mixed as to establish guilt by 
 certain death. 
 
 Owing to defective transport on the lower river, my supply of 
 
BIEXELO DEFENDS HIS LIFE. 
 
 lb- 
 
 trading goods was limited at the commencement of the expedi- 
 tion, but with the small amount I had I was able to buy a goodly 
 pile of ivory. I obtained the tusks in exchange for red and blue 
 cloth, handkerchiefs, brass wire, tin spoons and forks, beads, 
 shells and metal ornaments; the few tons of ivory I bought cost 
 twenty -five cents a pound, and sold in the European markets at 
 that time for two dollars and a half per pound. 
 
 After a stay of a few months at the Equator, the "Florida" 
 arrived at a most opportune moment, when a little trouble was 
 pending between the station and Baruk Nsamba, a village a few 
 miles away. Bienelo had gone out to shoot some guinea fowls for 
 me, and whilst wandering about the plantation searching for the 
 birds, he met an old enemy of his, Ntulu, who immediately 
 guarded himself with his shield and threw his spear at Bienelo. 
 Bienelo warded off the weapon with his gun barrel, and quickly 
 retaliated by shooting Ntulu dead on the spot. The chieftains 
 of the dead man's village demanded the life of Bienelo as he was a 
 slave and the deceased was a free man. Naturally I would not 
 give my man up, and rumors were afloat of an attack upon the 
 station, but all the warriors about my post volunteered to join me 
 in case of war, and the timely arrival of the "Florida," with an 
 extra force, had a pacifying effect, and they decided to let the 
 well deserved death of Ntulu remain unavenged. 
 
 UIKNELO. 
 
LOLO SPEARS AND SIIIKM). 
 
 CHAPTER X^ 
 
 SLAVETIY. 
 
 LtTLUNGtT Pirates— A Row with the Nativks— Slave Markets— The Lufembe Raiders— 
 TnK Hai.ou)— Elephants at night— A rude awakening — Malinga village— My 
 hkother Iskkeaka— Natives ask for help- Ivory trading— Slavery in the Ike- 
 
 LEMUA. 
 
 About forty miles above the Equator Station the Lulungu River 
 flows from the east and joins the parent stream, the Congo, on the 
 south bank. As the Luhingu promised important commercial 
 results I decided to visit its waters upon m}^ first trip in the 
 "Florida." Thirteen hours steaming brought us to the mouth of 
 the river, where 1 camped and kept my crew busy all night cut- 
 ting down dry trees and splitting up logs for a fresh supply of fuel. 
 Whilst my men were thus occupied I purchased a few fine tusks of 
 ivory, brought along side the boat in canoes, by moonlight. 
 
 My special duty, however, was to conduct operations in the lit- 
 tle known regions of the far interior; so the next morning we were 
 again under way, steaming up the muddy water of the Lulungu. 
 
 About fifty miles up this stream we reached the powerful settle- 
 ments of Lulungu from which the river takes its name. The 
 inhabitants of this district had, previous to my trip, controlled 
 the right of way ; they permitted none of the natives above them 
 
THE L UL UNG U FIR A TES. 18» 
 
 to descend to the lower reaches of the river, and the trading canoes 
 from the villages on the Congo were not allowed to pass without 
 paying a heavy toll, unless they were in sufficient force to figlit 
 their way through. 
 
 At Lulungu the lay of the land furnished the natives with an 
 excellent strategic position. Each bank of the river was studded 
 with stockaded villages and the islands midstream were care- 
 fully fortified. Lying on the beach, in front of each settlement., 
 monster war canoes were ready to launch at a moment's notice 
 in case of alarm, and signal drums were placed at every point 
 which afforded a good view up and down stream. Sentries were 
 always on the lookout, and a strange arrival from any direction 
 was immediately com.municated by the drums along the line of 
 villages, and the warriors would arm themselves and stand by their 
 dug-outs, prepared to dart out into the stream and attack any 
 aliens who might attempt to run the gauntlet through these 
 piratical regions in order to avoid the customary dues, 
 
 I always carried a small wooden drum on board, and BienelO; 
 who was an expert in it use, heralded our appproach b}^ systemat- 
 ically tapping out my name and my business. The "Florida" was 
 too formidable a looking monster to be subject to any native 
 extortion, and my powerful crew aboard, and a score of rifles 
 bracketed in full view on the front of the cabin, rendered us ex- 
 empt from the usual Lulungu toll extortions. 
 
 Upon our arrival in these settlements we usually ran our boat in 
 shore ; the natives were not actually hostile, but they were sullen 
 and naturally looked upon us as intruders and did not attempt to 
 disguise their feelings. When they showed signs of any arrogant 
 display, however, a blast on the harmony w^iistle would quiet 
 their loud talk into whispered words of fear. 
 
 . At one of these villages we had a little row w^ith the natives, 
 but there was no serious damage done; ill feeling sprang up 
 between the villagers and my crew, and their arguments could 
 not be settled except by blows ; but the chief was a sensible 
 old fellow, and seeing that a fight was inevitable, and if allowed 
 to proceed might terminate disastrously, he threatened his people 
 
190 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 with death if they drew a sharpened weapon. My men were not 
 armed ; for I allowed no rifle to be used without my permission. 
 The contest was carried on between the two sides with fists, sticks, 
 and stones, but the lumps and bruises resulting from this meeting 
 bore ample proof of the earnestness that had been employed by 
 all hands. 
 
 At every village bands of slaves were offered for sale ; it would 
 be difficult to give a truthful picture of the suffering endured 
 by the captives in this region. They are hobbled with roughly 
 hewn logs which chafe their limbs to open sores ; sometimes 
 a whole tree presses its weight on their bodies while their necks 
 are penned into the natural prong formed by its branching limbs. 
 Others sit from day to day with their legs and arms maintained 
 in a fixed position by rudely constructed stocks, and each slave 
 is secured to the roof-posts by a cord knotted to a cane ring 
 which either encircles his neck or is intertwined with his woolly 
 hair. Many die of pure starvation, as the owners give them 
 barely enough food to exist upon, and even grudge them that. 
 These hungry creatures form indeed a truly pitiable sight. After 
 suffering this captivity for a short time they become mere skele- 
 tons. All ages, of both sexes, are to be seen: mothers with their 
 babes; young men and women; boys and girls; and even babies 
 who cannot yet walk, and whose mothers have died of starvation, 
 or perhaps been killed by the Lufembe. One seldom sees either 
 old men or old women ;• thev are all killed in the raids ; their mar- 
 ketable value being very small, no trouble is taken with them. 
 
 Witnessing groups of these poor, helpless wretches, with their 
 emaciated forms and sunken eyes, their faces a very picture of 
 sadness, it is not difficult to perceive the intense grief that they 
 are inwardly suffering; but they know only too well that it is of 
 no use to appeal for sympathy to their merciless masters, who 
 have been accustomed from childhood to witness acts of cruelty 
 and brutality, and to satisfy their insatiable greed will commit, 
 or at least countenance, any atrocity, however great. Even 
 the pitiable sight of one of these slave-sheds does not half 
 represent the misery caused by this traffic— homes broken up, 
 
THE HORRORS OF SLAVERY. 191 
 
 mothers separated from their babies, husbands from wives, and 
 brothers from sisters. At Masankusu, a large village in the nest 
 of piratical settlements, I saw a slave woman who had with her 
 one child, whose starved little body she was clutching to her 
 shrunken breast. I was attracted by her sad face, which be- 
 tokened great suffering. I asked her the cause of it, and she told 
 me in a low, sobbing voice the following tale : 
 
 ''I was living with my husband and three children in an inland 
 village, not many miles from here. My husband was a hunter. 
 Ten days ago the Lufembe raiders attacked our settlement ; my 
 husband defended himself, but was overpowered and speared to 
 death with several of the other villagers. I was brought here 
 with my three children, two of whom have already been pur- 
 chased by the slave traders. 1 shall never see them any more. 
 Perhaps they will sacrifice them on the death of some chief, or 
 perhaps kill them for food. My remaining child, you see, is ill, 
 dying from starvation ; they give us nothing to eat. I expect 
 even this one will be taken from me to-day, as the cliief, fearing 
 lest it should die and become a total loss, has offered it for a very 
 small price. As for myself," said she, "they will sell me to one 
 of the neighboring tribes, to toil in the plantations, and when I 
 become old and unfit for work I shall be killed to celebrate the 
 death of a free man. " 
 
 There were certainly five hundred slaves exposed for sale in this 
 one village alone. Large canoes were constantly arriving from 
 down the river, with merchandise of all kinds with which to 
 purchase these slaves. A large trade is carried on between the 
 Oubangi and Lulungu Rivers. The people inhabiting the mouth of 
 the Oubangi buy the Balolo slaves at Masankusu and the other 
 markets. They then take them up the Oubangi River and ex- 
 change them with the natives there for ivory. These natives who 
 are confirmed cannibals buy their slaves solely for food. Having 
 purchased slaves they feed them on ripe bananas, fisli, and oil, 
 and when they get them into good condition they kill them. 
 Hundreds of the Balolo slaves are taken into the river and dis- 
 posed of in this way each month. A great many other slaves are 
 
192 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 sold to the large villages on the Congo, to supply victims for the 
 execution ceremonies. 
 
 Much life is lost in the capturing of Slaves and during their cap- 
 tivit}^ many succumb to starvation. Of the remainder, numbers 
 are sold to become victims to cannibalism and human sacrifice 
 ceremonies. There are tew indeed who are allowed to live and 
 
 prosper. 
 The Lulungu is fed by two branches the Lupuri and the Malinga, 
 
 which have their junction just 
 above the village of Masankusu ; 
 the district about the latter is 
 the more thickly populated and 
 its inhabitants are hunters and 
 trappers of elephants. 
 
 The natives we had until now 
 visited were the Ba-Nkundu, 
 speaking the same language 
 and having the same tattoo 
 marks as at the Equator Sta- 
 tion, a row of rounded scars 
 down the forehead, from the 
 hair to the top of the nose, re- 
 sembling exaggerated pimples. 
 When we steamed away from 
 Masankusu we entered the ter- 
 ritory of the Baiolo, who are the principal owners of the land 
 through which the Malinga flows ; but for a hundred miles up 
 this stream the whole country is a dense forest swamp, and all 
 the villagers are far away inland. 
 
 Nearly all the slaves seen in the markets on the Lulungu were 
 from the branches of the Lolo nation. Without exception the 
 most persecuted race in the dominions of the Congo Free State are 
 the Lolo tribes, inhabiting the country through which the Ma- 
 linga and Lupuri Rivers flow. These people are naturally mild 
 and inoffensive. Their small, unprotected villages are con- 
 stantly attacked by the powerful roving tribes of the Lufembe 
 
 A I.OLO GIRL. 
 
THE SLAVE-HUNTERS. 193 
 
 and Ngombe. These two tribes are voracious cannibals and 
 fierce man-hunters, and lead a Nomadic life, roaming through 
 the land in vast hordes. They surround the Lolo villages 
 at night, and at the first signs of dawn pounce down upon 
 the unsuspecting Balolo, killing all the men who resist and 
 catching all the rest, of both sexes. They then select the 
 strongest and most robust of their captives, and shackle 
 them hand and foot to prevent their escape. As a rule 
 after such a raid many are killed for cannibal orgies. These 
 freebooters form a small encampment; they light their fires, seize 
 all the bananas in the village, and any other supplies there may 
 be, and rest there so long as the provisions last. They then march 
 over to one of the numerous slave-markets on the river, where 
 they exchange the captives with the slave-traders of the Lulungu 
 River for beads, cloth, brass wire, and other trinkets. The 
 slave-traders pack the slaves into their canoes and take them 
 down to the villages on the Lulungu River where the more im- 
 portant markets are held. Masankusu, the village we have just 
 left, situated at the junction of the Lupuri and Malinga tributaries, 
 is by far the most important slave-trading center. The people of 
 Masankusu buy their slaves from the Lufembe and Ngombe 
 raiders, and sell them to the Lulungu natives and traders from 
 down river. The slaves are exhibited for sale at Masankusu in 
 long sheds, or rather under simple grass roofs supported on bare 
 poles. It is heart-rending to see the inmates of one of these slave- 
 sheds. They are huddled together like so many animals, and re- 
 ceive just enough of the commonest food to keep life flickering 
 in their emaciated bodies. 
 
 It was a long dreary journey up the Malinga to the first Lolo 
 villages. The land was so flooded b}^ a long rainy season that 
 we had great difficulty in finding dry stopping-places for gather- 
 ing and cutting wood for the steamer. 
 
 At one camp, where we had anchored for the night, my sentry 
 on the boat awoke me and whispered, "Njoku, njoku"! ("Ele- 
 phants, elephants.") Hurriedly dressing, I got out and saw, 
 about fifty yards from the bow of my boat, a small herd of ele- 
 
194 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 phants. It was not yet morning. I could hear their blowing and 
 could dimly perceive their great heads above water, but it was 
 really too dark to shoot with any chance of success. We deter- 
 mined to try, however ; so the engineer and myself got into the 
 canoe with our crew, and pushed off toward the animals. They 
 were in shallow water, and as we neared them they became con- 
 fused and huddled together; there was evidently a division of 
 opinion as to whether it was best to keep on the way they were 
 coming or return ; they continued to jostle each other until one old 
 bull, furiously trumpeting, led the way to the shore. The whole 
 herd stampeded through the shallow water, splashing up the 
 water and starting big waves running in every direction. We lost 
 sight of the black mass as they reached the shadow of the forest- 
 clad bank and made off into the woods, where we heard them 
 crashing through the thicket in their retreat. At the first signs of 
 daylight, we followed them for several miles, but did not come 
 up to them. If they had arrived half an hour later it would have 
 been light enough to have seen the bead of the rifle; as it was, 
 although we were at one time within twenty feet of them, we 
 could see only the black mass of the bodies. It is impossible to 
 shoot with any accuracy in the dark, so I decided to make no 
 experiments. If a wounded animal had charged us, my chances 
 of stopping him would be small when I had to carry on the 
 defense at night time from an unsteady canoe. 
 
 One evening, just at sundown, turning a point in the river, we es- 
 pied in the distance a few native huts built on a low-lying shore. As 
 we neared the village we could see that it was entirely deserted, and 
 moreover, there were ghastly evidences of the cause of the deser- 
 tion. The huts were seven in number, old, dilapidated habitations, 
 built on piles, with a floor just above the water's edge. Placed on 
 sticks in front of them were several whitening skulls. What a 
 tale of suffering these grim and hideous trophies told ! Probably 
 but a few months before, the poor natives had been surprised at 
 night by the murderous slave-raiders, who had in hideous playful- 
 ness thus recorded their heathenish work. 
 
 I hoped to find dry land here ; but all the region was under 
 
AN OLD CANNIBAL CHIEF. 195 
 
 ■vvater. It was now too dark to go farther, so I anchored for the 
 night, allowing my men to go in my canoe to these native huts, 
 shelter themselves under the roofs, and light their fires on the 
 raised platforms. The dwellers in these pile houses, in order that 
 their fires shall not burn their wooden stick flooring, always have 
 a large cake of clay on which to build fires. 
 
 There was one of these huts which, by its size, suggested that 
 it had been the general Council House of the little settlement. My 
 men crowded into this, and after talking, smoking, and singing 
 far into the night, they rolled themselves in their mats and went 
 to sleep. They had made a large, bright fire, but had not taken 
 the necessary precaution of building it upon the clay. In the dead 
 of night the deep silence was rudely broken by mingled screams 
 and groans. I jumped up at the first cry, thinking that perhaps 
 we had been attacked. The fire had eaten into the flooring and let 
 my men through into the water. Such an unceremonious waking 
 they had never experienced. To be suddenly hurled, without the 
 slightest warning, from their cozy sleep to the deep, dark river 
 below, was certainly sufficient excuse for the screams, groans, 
 and yells which rose up from that mass of black figures, floating 
 mats, and sparks. The grinning skulls, lit by the lamps aboard 
 the "Florida," added a dramatic weirdness to the scene. 
 
 Upon nearing the village of Malinga I instructed Bienelo to 
 announce our arrival to the natives by the signal drum. These peo- 
 ple had been so intimidated by constant raids from powerful tribes 
 that they feared to receive us ; they had erected a rough stockade 
 of spiked stakes behind which they crouched and warned us not 
 to steam in shore. Knowing, however, that it was only through 
 fear that they displayed this apparent hostility, I unloosened my 
 canoe and sent two of my men to hand the chief a present of cot- 
 ton stuff and beads; this put everybody in a better frame of mind 
 and prepared the way for a talk. Finally I went ashore myself 
 and underwent the ordeal of blood brotherhood with old Iseke- 
 aka. the principal chief. He gave me a present of a tusk of ivory 
 weighing sixty pounds. I spent three days in this village and 
 bought a big pile of tusks at the rate of about three cents a pound. 
 
196 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 They were delighted with the opportunity, which our coming 
 afforded them, of exchanging their property for our cloth, beads, 
 
 shells, brass trinkets, 
 and empty bottles. 
 
 If blood brotherhood 
 is a perpetual relation- 
 ship, I have amongst 
 my relatives some very 
 undesirable members- 
 of society. This old 
 Chief of Malinga ad- 
 mitted to me in confi- 
 dence that he was a 
 cannibal, but only re- 
 sorted to such practices 
 when they were not 
 catching any fish, and 
 his people were suffer- 
 ing from hunger. 
 
 Here at Malinga the 
 assembled chiefs voted 
 me several tusks of 
 ivory if I would live 
 among them and de- 
 fend them against the 
 Lufembe, and enable 
 them to resist the per- 
 secutions they were 
 exposed to from the 
 neighboring tribes, 
 who were continually 
 making raids into 
 their districts and cap- 
 turing their people. It always appears to me that the cry for justice 
 uttered by the poor African has already remained too long un- 
 answered, They said : " We are being starved to death. We can 
 
 A LI FKMBE SLAVE-HUNTER. 
 
THE BALOLO. 197 
 
 make no plantations, because when our women visit them they are 
 caught, killed, and eaten by the crafty Lufembe, who are constantly 
 prowling around and taking away any stragglers they may see." 
 Isekeaka told me that already from time to time twelve of his 
 women had been stolen from him, and several of his children. 
 
 It can be readily imagined that the incessant persecution which 
 the natives are suffering renders them cruel and remorseless. 
 Throughout the regions of the Malinga they become so brutalized 
 by hunger that they eat their own dead, and the appearance of 
 one of their villages always denotes abject misery and starvation. 
 I have repeatedly seen young children eating the root of the 
 banana tree, vainly endeavoring to obtain some kind of nourish- 
 ment from its succulence. That they are able to exist at all is a 
 mystery. Every living object they are able to obtain is accepted 
 as food ; different kinds of flies, caterpillars, and crickets are all 
 eaten by these people. The wretched state of these Balolo has 
 always saddened me, as intellectually they are a grade higher 
 than the tribes surrounding them ; and it is really owing to the 
 gentler fiber of their natures, and their peaceful, trusting dis- 
 position, that they easily fall a prey to the degraded and savage 
 hordes in their district. They have artistic taste and mechanical 
 ingenuity, and make exquisitely woven shields and curiously 
 shaped and decorated spears and knives. They are exceedingly 
 intelligent and faithful, and, when properly officered, brave. 
 
 One who has lived for some time in Central Africa comes to 
 understand the little impression that acts of the most atrocious 
 and wanton cruelty make on the savage mind. Surrounded from 
 childhood by scenes of bloodshed and torture, their holidays and 
 great ceremonies marked by massacres of slaves, the mildest and 
 most sensitive nature becomes brutalized and callous; and if this 
 is so with the free, what must be the effect upon the slave, torn 
 when a child from its mother, perhaps at the age of two years, 
 and even in its infancy compelled to suffer privation. If indeed 
 this child runs tlie gauntlet of cannibalism and execution cere- 
 monies, it can hardly be expected that he will sympathize with 
 any suffering. 
 
198 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Suppression of human sacrifice ceremonies on the Upper Congo 
 and tributaries would be a great blow to slavery. For a chief 
 during his life-time devotes his ambition to the accumulation of 
 slaves, so that he may be surrounded by numerous women and 
 warriors during his life-time, and have his importance signalized at 
 his death by the execution of about half the number of the people 
 he has purchased body and soul. 
 
 Cannibalism exists amongst all the peoples on the Upper Congo 
 east of 16° E. longitude, and is prevalent to an even greater extent 
 among the people inhabiting the banks of the numerous affluents. 
 
 During my first visit to the upper waters of the Malinga River 
 cannibalism was brought to my notice in a ghastly manner. One 
 night I heard a woman's piercing shriek, followed by a stifled, 
 gurgling moan ; then boisterous laughter, when all again became 
 silent. In the morning I was horrified to see a native offering for 
 sale to my men a piece of human flesh, the skin of which bore the 
 tribal tattoo mark of the Balolo. I afterward learned that the cry 
 we had heard at night was from a female slave whose throat had 
 been cut. I was absent from this village of Malinga for ten days. 
 On my return I. inquired if any further bloodshed had taken place, 
 and was informed that five other women had been killed. 
 
 Proceeding up stream from Malinga a few hours brought me to 
 Baulu, the most important ivory market on the river. Here I 
 bought in one afternoon and through the night four thousand 
 pounds of elephants' tusks at an average of two cents per pound. 
 The native trader would bring a tusk along and sit down on it to do 
 his bargaining in order to maintain full possession till the trans- 
 action was completed. In one hand he would hold his knife in 
 readiness in case he should be obliged to defend his property. This 
 precaution was no arrogant display, but simply a suggestion to the 
 purchaser that he would have to pay before getting his goods, and 
 if he attempted to take the tusk without payment a serious con- 
 test would be the result. 
 
 In making a sale they commence by asking an extravagant fig- 
 ure and gradually decrease the amount to a reasonable price. 
 They mention the different articles they want, for example, forty 
 
TRADING IX IVORY. 
 
 199 
 
 brass rods, two yards of handkerchief, two forks, two spoons, etc., 
 and whilst speaking they emphasize the numbers by denoting 
 them with their fingers. 
 
 In this journey up the Malinga I visited every village and 
 ascended the stream till the waters were so narrow I could just 
 turn the boat. Everywhere we succeeded in making friends with 
 the people, though it was exceedingly difficult at times. They 
 
 A LOLO IVORV TRADER. 
 
 frequently threatened us with spears and arrows till we had given 
 them presents and proved our inoffensive intentions. It was 
 something very new to them to receive a friendly visit from a 
 force perfectly capable of overcoming them. And when they 
 grasped their weapons at our approach, they were simply acting 
 with very natural precaution. 
 
 So wretched is the condition of the people on the upper 
 reaches of the Malinga that numbers of them have been driven by 
 the Lufembe from their settlements on the mainland, and are 
 actually compelled to live on the river in miserable huts, the floors 
 of which are supported on piles. From these dwellings they sus- 
 
200 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 pend their nets, and as the river is full of fish, they subsist almost 
 entirely on the produce of their hauls. This has given rise to a 
 curious state of things ; for, as the Luf embe grow only manioc, 
 and have more roots than are suflHcient for the tribe, they are only 
 too glad to exchange these for fish caught by their victims. And 
 so when a market is held an armed truce is declared, and Lufembe 
 and Malinga mingle together and barter, with their products held 
 in one hand and a drawn knife ready in the other. At all these vil- 
 lages we were able to buy ivory, most of it very cheap. Many of 
 the people had no idea of its value at all. I remember I purchased 
 one tusk weighing seventy-five pounds for beads and shells of the 
 value of one dollar. At the present day I have no doubt the 
 conditions are greatly changed, new trading boats have made re- 
 peated visits and the natives have learned the value of ivory. 
 
 Many of the tusks were much injured by having been hidden 
 in the stream so as to be out of the way of the slave catcher. It 
 was curious to see a native dive into the river and fetch up a big 
 tusk from his watery cellar for sale. 
 
 Most of the ivory is procured by a branch of the Balolo called the 
 Bambutu, who inhabit the extreme headwaters of the river. 
 
 They kill the elephants by spear traps and pitfalls, and also 
 attack them on foot and stab the brutes with their heavy spears. 
 
 I came down stream with the boat well loaded with ivory. At 
 one place where I camped to cut wood, I found smoldering fires 
 and signs of a recent visit from a big band of men. I took 
 the precaution to place sentries around so that my wood-cutters 
 would not be surprised by hostile natives ; but we saw no enemy. 
 We had been stealthily watched, however, all the time, for when 
 we steamed out into the stream a mob of savages, with faces 
 blackened and ready for fighting, sprang into the clearing we had 
 just left. I presume they wanted to make us believe they had just 
 arrived, intending to find us ashore. Among them were some of 
 the Lufembe, with whom I would like to have a tilt, so I put 
 the nose of the boat inshore again, and the brave persecutors' of 
 the defenseless Balolo proved at once that their powers of prompt 
 departure were quite equal to the abruptness of their arrival. 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 201 
 
 In every village we saw slaves for sale, poor hungry creatures 
 of both sexes from babies to full grown men and women. Just 
 above the Equator Station is the river Ikelemba, peopled also by 
 the Balolo and overrun by the slave raiding Lufembe and ISTgombe. 
 I ascended to the head of navigation of this stream which is 
 probably one hundred and fifty miles in its entire length, and 
 varies in width from one hundred to three hundred yards. 
 
 "FOR SALE. 
 
 There are clearings at intervals all along the banks of the 
 Ikelemba, where on certain days are held small local markets for 
 the exchange of slaves. As one travels up stream small settle- 
 ments are passed more and more frequently, and fifty miles from 
 the mouth all the country on the left side of the river is thickly 
 ""populated. It is noticeable that the villages are all on the left side 
 of the river, the opposite side being infested by marauding and 
 roving tribes who would raid any settlement made on their banks. 
 All the slaves from this river are Balolo, a tribe which is easily 
 recognizable by the exaggerated tattoo marked on the forehead, 
 on the side of the temples, and chin. 
 
202 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 During my ten days' visit to this river I met dozens of canoes 
 belonging to the country at the mouth of the Ruki river and the 
 Bukute district, whose owners had come up and bought slaves, 
 and were returning with their purchases. When traveling from 
 place to place on the river the slaves are, for convenience, relieved 
 <^f the weight of the heavy shackles. The traders always carry, 
 hanging from the sheaths of their knives, light handcuffs, formed 
 of cord and cane. The slave when purchased is packed on the 
 floor of the canoe in a crouching posture with his hands bound in 
 front of him by means of these handcuffs. During the voyage he 
 is carefully guarded by the crew of standing paddlers ; and when 
 the canoe is tied to the bank at night the further precaution is 
 taken of changing the position in which the hands are bound and 
 pinioning them behind his back, to prevent him from endeavoring 
 to free himself by gnawing through the strands. To make any 
 attempt at escape quite impossible, his wrist is bound to that of 
 one of his sleeping masters, who would be aroused at his slightest 
 movement. 
 
 In one canoe, which I noticed particularly, there were five trad- 
 ers, and their freight of miserable humanity consisted of thirteen 
 emaciated Balolo slaves, men, women, and little children, all 
 showing unmistakably by their sunken eyes and meager bodies 
 the starvation and the cruelty to which they had been subjected. 
 These slaves are taken down to the large villages at the mouth of 
 the Ruki, where they are sold in exchange for ivory to the people 
 in the Ruki or the Oubangi district, who buy them to supply some 
 cannibal orgy. A few, however, are sold about the district, the 
 men to be used as warriors, and the women as wives ; but com- 
 pared with the numbers who suffer from the persecution of the 
 slave-raiders, few indeed ever live to attain a secure position of 
 even the humblest kind in a village. 
 
 I purchased the redemption of a great many slaves during my 
 life on the Congo, and it was curious to observe the different 
 effects on slaves freed so unexpectedly. As a rule, the bewildered 
 man would go from one to another of my boat's crew, asking all 
 sorts of questions as to the meaning of the ceremony. What was. 
 
REDEMPTION OF CAPTIVES. 203 
 
 to be his fate? Was he to be exchanged for ivory, or was he to 
 be eaten? And it would take some time and patience to explain 
 to him, after his first surprise was over, the full import of the 
 paper I had placed in his possession. Others, more intelligent, 
 would immediately understand the good fortune that had befallen 
 them ; and it was strange to see the startling change in the ex- 
 pression of their countenances, Avhicli a moment before betokened 
 nothing but unresisting acquiescence in their miserable destiny, 
 and to note their inert and weary bodies, which seemed at once to 
 become erect and vigorous, when released from the degrading 
 fetters. 
 
 Several of my crew were Balolo slaves whom I engaged at the 
 Equator Station. When first I engaged them they came into my 
 hands in the rough. They were savages, some of them cannibals; 
 but they were of a very malleable nature, and with a policy of firm- 
 ness and fair play I was able to convert them into devoted and 
 faithful servants. As evidence of what can be done by gaining 
 the confidence of the natives, through a policy of firmness and 
 fairness, I think I may safely quote my experience at the Equator 
 Station. I had previously to taking the "Florida," remained 
 there for several months with only one Zanzibari soldier ; all the 
 rest of my people were natives I had engaged from the neighbor- 
 ing villages. I was surrounded on all sides by powerful people, 
 who, had they wished, could easily have overcome me and pil- 
 laged my post. But not the slightest act of hostility or of an un- 
 friendly nature was ever attempted, and I felt just as secure 
 among them as I do in London or New York. It is true the natives 
 had nothing to gain by molesting me, and they were intelligent 
 enough to perceive that fact. In realit}^ my presence was, to a 
 great extent, beneficial to their interests. I had cloth, beads, 
 looking-glasses, spoons, cups, and trinkets, and these I exchanged 
 with them; every now and then I would organize a little liunt 
 after elephants or hippopotami ; and as my part in the consump- 
 tion of either of these animals was a very small one, most of the 
 meat was given to the natives. 
 
 My life during my stay at tha Equator Station was a pleasant 
 
204 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 one. The people were of a happy and gay disposition ; all were 
 friendly and talkative. They would sit for hours and listen most 
 attentively to my tales of Europe, and their intelligent questions 
 proved them to be possessed of keen understanding. There is no 
 more attentive audience in the whole world than a group of Afri- 
 can savages, if you can speak their language and make yourself 
 understood. When I was tired of talking to them, I would ask 
 them questions concerning their manners, customs, and traditions. 
 As I was much impressed by their cruelty, I always made a point 
 of expressing my abhorrence of it, and have even told them that 
 one day I should strike a blow for the slave. My audience on such 
 occasions consisted principally of slaves, and these poor wretches 
 were always much gratified to hear my friendly opinions toward 
 themselves. My arguments, I could see, often appealed strongly 
 to the chiefs themselves, as I asked them: "Why do you kill 
 these people? Do you think they have no feeling because they 
 are slaves? How would you like to see your own child torn away 
 from you and sold into slavery, to satisfy the cravings of canni- 
 balism, or to be executed?" Some of them even said, at the time, 
 that they would not hold any more executions. The executions 
 did take place, however, but in a secret manner, and all news of 
 them WRs kept from my ears until some time afterward, when I 
 learned of them from m.y own men. But I would have been 
 unable to prevent the carrying out of such a ceremony with the 
 force I had at my disposal in a single Zanzibari soldier! 
 
 I remember hearing of one execution which took place during my 
 absence on an exploring trip, the details of which I learned from a 
 slave. It was to celebrate the death of a chief who had been 
 drowned while on a trading expedition. As soon as the hews of 
 his death was brought to the village, several of his slaves were 
 tied hand and foot and lashed down into the bottom of a canoe. 
 The canoe was then towed out to the middle of the river at night; 
 holes were bored in it, and it was allowed to sink with its human 
 freight. When we are able to prohibit the sacrifice of human life 
 which the children of to-day are compelled constantly to witness, 
 more humane feelings may develop themselves, and surrounded 
 
S UPPRESSION- OF SLA VER Y. 205 
 
 by healthy influences they will, unspoiled at least by open ex- 
 hibitions of cruelty, grow into a far nobler generation. 
 
 The people on the lower part of the Upper Congo seldom prac- 
 tice slave-raiding. It is only when we come to the Bakute dis- 
 trict that we are brought much in contact with it. The large vil- 
 lages around Stanley Pool, Chumbiri, Bolobo, Lukolela, Butunu, 
 Xgombe, Busindi, Irebu, Lake Mantumba , and the Oubangi River^ 
 all rely principally upon the Balolo tribes for their slaves. All 
 these villages except Stanley Pool are daily making human sacri- 
 fices, either in connection with the death of a chief or for some 
 other ceremonial reason. 
 
 From Banana Point to Stanley Pool slavery does exist, but of 
 such a mild character that when operations are actually begun 
 Stanley Pool should be the starting point. If half a dozen fast 
 boats were placed on the river at Stanley Pool, each armed with 
 twenty black soldiers, officered by two or three Europeans who 
 had proved by their past services that they were capable of deal- 
 ing with the question, and if such a force had the recognition of 
 the civilized powers and was allowed to strike a blow at the evil,, 
 thousands of human lives would be saved. 
 
 These boats would be continually moving about the river, and 
 those in command would begin by making a careful study of local 
 politics. They would have tc convince the natives of their deter- 
 mination to stop these diabolical ceremonies of bloodshed. The 
 natives should be warned that any villages which in the future 
 were guilty of carrying out such ceremonies w^ould be most 
 severely punished. Some of the better-disposed native chiefs 
 would have to be bought over to the side of the white man. Spies 
 should be engaged all over the district, so that a boat on arriving 
 would immediately hear of any execution that was about to take 
 place or that had taken place ; and I would suggest that any vil- 
 lage which still continued these acts of cruelty, after liaving been 
 fairly and fully warned, should be attacked, and a severe example 
 made of the principal offenders. A few such punishments would 
 soon have a most salutary effect. These operations should be car- 
 ried on between Stanley Pool and the Falls. Posts should also be 
 
206 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 established in commanding positions to control the mouths of the 
 slave-raiding rivers. Each point should be supplied with a patrol 
 boat for the lower river. Other stations should be established 
 in the center of the slave-raiding district. Slaves at the time in 
 the market might be redeemed and placed in some settlement 
 where they could learn some handicraft or receive training as 
 soldiers with the ultimate object of creating an army of slaves 
 with which to fight the raiders. 
 
 A WKIRD CAMPING PLACE. 
 
N^v •; -^ 
 
 THE FLORIDA." 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE CANNIBALS OF THE OUBANGI 
 
 Return to Kinsassa— Hunting in Stani.ky Pool— Thk "Nkw York"— Stanley— The Emin 
 Bey Relief Expedition- Tutu Tib— My cook "IMochindu'-Tiie Fierce Bahi — 
 
 BlENELO'S fight— BACCUNG AN ELEPHANT— CANNIBAL AVARI! lORS— WAR— BARBAROUS CUS- 
 TOMS— FISHING— KILLED BY' AN ELEPHANT. 
 
 Having collected in the Malinga a cargo of several tons of ivory, 
 I proceeded down stream with the " Florida" to our base of sup- 
 plies at Kinsassa at the lower end of Stanley Pool. 
 
 The "Florida" was a most comfortable boat; she was over sixty 
 feet in length and about thirteen feet beam ; there were good cabin 
 accommodations on board and she was fitted with powerful engines. 
 She was, however, too large a boat for steaming up the small chan- 
 nels at the headwaters of rivers which it was my duty to explore. 
 
 We already had a smaller boat on the stocks at Kinsassa, which 
 when completed would be handed over to me, and I would in future 
 conduct my investigations with her instead of the "Florida," which 
 was needed to carry supplies to the different trading posts we had 
 already established on the Congo and its tributaries. 
 
 I was able to do some very useful work with my rifle whilst 
 down stream. The natives around Stanley Pool were suffering 
 from a veritable famine, owing to the failure of their crops and 
 
208 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the scarcity of fish in the river, and my crew of the Bankundi 
 V. horn I had brought down with me, had difficulty in obtaining 
 sufficient suppUes, but there were herds of hippopotami to be 
 found in the sheltered bays and on the sand-banks of Stanley 
 Pool, and I succeeded in considerably decreasing the number of 
 these animals and furnishing an ample if not luxurious meat sup- 
 ply for my people. 
 
 The " New York" was by no means a success ; she was but 
 twenty -five feet in length, with no cabin, and had a single cylinder 
 engine, and though she consumed an extravagant pile of fire- 
 wood, she was the slowest boat on the river. When her steaming 
 capacity was being urged to the utmost, she developed about one 
 
 " dog" power. 
 
 In future my time would be devoted to journeys by water to far 
 away villages, and I decided to retain for myself at the Equator 
 Station a part of the building to be utilized as a reserve store- 
 house for my expedition. The Equator was a central point for 
 my work, and as a base of supplies was far more convenient and 
 practicable than Kinsassa. 
 
 Early in 1887, my quiet little station at the Equator was thrown 
 into a fever of excitement by a very interesting occurrence. The 
 shouts from my men told me that a boat had been sighted. 
 
 I ran hastily to the beach and saw the little steamer " Peace'* 
 breasting the rapid river at the point just below, and out in the 
 stream were "Le Stanley" and the " Henry Reed," each towing 
 lighters alongside, and battling against the swift current. I could 
 see that the decks of all the boats were crowded with blacks, and 
 besides the natives there were several white men aboard. 
 
 It was evident to me that some important expedition was on its 
 way up river in this formidable flotilla. 
 
 As the first boat neared my beach, I glanced along the deck^ 
 and to my intense delight I saw standing in the bow of the 
 " Peace" my old chief Mr. Stanley. Having received no warning 
 of the arrival of this expedition, it was naturally a great surprise. 
 I felt beside myself with excitement, and shouted, " Hip, hip, hur- 
 rah!" at the top of my voice as the boat touched the shore. Mr, 
 
A VISIT FROM STANLEY. 209 
 
 Stanley was dressed in his usual traveling costume of jacket, 
 knickerbockers, and peak cap, and he looked remarkably well. 
 He dined with me, and explained during the evening that the 
 black crowds on board the boats were men of his expedition for 
 the relief of Emin Bey at Wadelai. 
 
 The next day was occupied by the members of the expedition in 
 procuring food for the journey, and by the crews of the boats in 
 cutting dry wood for the steamers. 
 
 I had then the pleasure of meeting Stanley's gallant officers, 
 whose names are now so well known to the world. 
 
 The Equator Station had never seen so busy a day. Crowds of 
 Zanzibaris, Soudanese, and other blacks hurried about all day ; and 
 old Tippu Tib, the well-known Arab chief, who was being taken 
 up to his headquarters at Stanley Falls, pitched his tent in my 
 yard. He and his followers occupied it during their stay. Tippu 
 was certainly a fine-looking old fellow and a very intelligent man. 
 He looked like a pure negro and showed no sign of the Arab 
 blood which was supposed to be in his veins. He wore a long white 
 linen robe, and around his waist a silk sash in which was stuck 
 his silver-hilted dagger. On hisfeet he wore a pair of light san- 
 dals, ornamented with fine embossed leather. 
 
 Being able to speak his language, I had quite a long talk with 
 him, and I was surprised at his accurate knowledge concerning 
 European matters. 
 
 Mr. Stanley was exceedingly jolly all day ; nothing occurred to 
 worry or trouble him during his brief stay at my station. 
 
 I had the pleasure of entertaining him at dinner, together with 
 all his officers, on the night before their departure up river. 
 
 Early on the third morning, Stanley and the Emin Bey relief 
 expedition moved up river, leaving the Equator Station again to 
 its wonted quiet. 
 
 Since that time the great explorer and his brave followers, after 
 suffering terrible privations and hardships in their arduous jour- 
 ney through Africa, have braved the lurking dangers of the dense 
 forests, fought off the savage hordes of cannibals and dwarfs, and 
 rescued and brought Emin Pacha back to the coast. 
 
210 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 On the " Florida" there was a good cooking stove, and it was 
 possible to enjoy a very fair table. But the "New York" was 
 only seven feet wide ; and as two-thirds of the boat were taken 
 up by the machinery and boiler, the small space amidships 
 did not give sufficient room for myself and crew, and I had 
 to tow a large dug-out alongside. In this canoe I carried some 
 
 TRIALS OF AN AFP.UAN COOK. 
 
 of my men, with their mats and cooking-pots, two or three goats, 
 some fowls, and last, but not least important, my cooking appar- 
 atus — a small earthenware native bowl in which my cook kept his 
 fire and over which every dish was cooked. My cook was a 
 native boy, named Mochindu, to whom I had imparted, to the 
 best of my ability, the few culinary recipes which I had gathered 
 during my travels. But his position as cook on board my boat 
 was not an enviable one, as he was exposed to all weathers, and 
 sometimes had to turn out a dish under the most trying circum- 
 stances. The slightest ripple of the water or any movement of 
 
MV NATIVE COOK. 211 
 
 the men in the canoe would upset any gastronomic calculation 
 that he might have made. Often he had to fry a fowl or make 
 some kind of stew under a heavy downpour of rain; and the poor 
 little chap had a very dejected appearance as he struggled 
 to hold up an umbrella to keep the rain from the fire, and at the 
 same time made frantic efforts to save the whole cooking appar- 
 atus from toppling over as the canoe lurched from side to side. 
 When his cooking was all finished and the dishes were passed 
 along to the boat, he always seemed to give a sigh of relief as he 
 stepped out of the canoe and crept into the boat near the boiler to 
 get thoroughly warmed so as to be ready for the next culinary 
 struggle. 
 
 I remember that one day he was frying some fowl which he had 
 chopped up into cutlets. We were on the beach of a large vil- 
 lage, and were surrounded by natives, a group of whom, 
 evidently attracted by the savory odor of the cooking, pointed 
 to something in the boat and asked my little cook what it was. 
 When he turned his head in the direction indicated, one of the 
 fellows made a grab at the pan and, snatching two of the cutlets, 
 bolted off. When Mochindu came to look into the pan, for the 
 purpose of turning over his meat, he connected the hasty retreat 
 of the native with the ominous gap in his frying-pan, and picking 
 up his knife made a rush for the fellow. Then I saw a great 
 struggle going on. Blows were being exchanged, and there was 
 a tussle on the ground ; and presently Mochindu returned, hold- 
 ing in his hand the missing cutlets. His face, begrimed with dirt, 
 seemed struggling between sorrow at the mishap and joy at hav- 
 ing recovered the booty. If I had not been watching him he 
 would have put the cutlets back in the pan in spite of the sand 
 and dirt they had accumulated. 
 
 During the two months' voyage which I made on the Oubangi 
 Eiver, I had much experience in dealing with some of the wild- 
 est natives in the Congo basin. The Oubangi, which enters the 
 north bank of the Congo nearly opposite Equator Station, has 
 four hundred miles of navigable water before the rapids are 
 reached. On the lower reaches of the river the Balui, a section of 
 
212 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 the Bangala tribe, have settled. These people, besides being 
 keen traders, are skillful hunters. They trap the elephant in the 
 forests, and on foot pluckily hunt with spears the buffalo in the 
 plains ; nor is the hippopotamus in the river safe from their deadly 
 weapons. They attack him while he sleeps on a sand-bank or in 
 shallow water, stabbing him with a heavy spear, to the handle of 
 which a float is attached by a cord, so that if they only succeed in 
 wounding him, his whereabouts may be known by the float which 
 remains fastened to the weapon. 
 
 I ascended this river in the "New York," and was accompanied 
 by only fifteen Ba-Nkundu men recruited from the villages 
 around the Equator Station. Our small numerical strength was 
 taken advantage of by the savages. They tried in every way to im- 
 pose on me. These Balui are a most murderous and piratical race, 
 and to their other shortcomings is added that of cannibalism. 
 They are constantly lying in wait, concealed in their canoes amidst 
 grass and bush, near to some of their neighbors' fishing-grounds; 
 and upon the arrival of a small party of fishermen, they will steal 
 out from their hiding-places, give chase, spear the fishermen, and 
 devour the bodies of those who fall in the fray. They tried on 
 several occasion to pick quarrels with my men, and at one place 
 the relationship between the villages and my crew became seri- 
 ously strained. Bienelo had bought a bunch of bananas from a 
 woman, and he and his friends had consumed half of them, when 
 the husband of the woman arrived and insisted that the fruit 
 should be forthwith returned. This old savage was too angry to 
 listen to reason and admit the impossibility of his demand, and he 
 sought to gain redress by attacking Bienelo with his spear; but 
 my dusky aide-de-camp was an expert in the use of arms. He 
 sprang at his assailant and dextrously stabbed the fellow in the 
 stomach with his own spear. The wounded man raised a cry for 
 help and was immediately surrounded by the warriors of the set- 
 tlement. Bienelo joined my crew who were cutting wood and 
 warned them of the danger of an attack, and they returned 
 quickly to the boat. 
 
 Hearing of this trouble I rushed ashore and was met by a crowd 
 
A WOUNDED WARRIOR. 
 
 213 
 
 •of natives moving toward the beach in threatening array, every 
 one holding his weapon in readiness. My little black servant 
 "Itela"had followed me with my elephant rifle and with this in 
 my possession I felt more comfortable ; by this time my men had 
 got their loaded rifles and were prepared for a fight. • I did not 
 want war at all. The natives were in overwhelming numbers, 
 and my supply of cartridges was not a very liberal one. 
 
 OUHANGI AKMS AND PIPE. 
 
 I could have held my own, but I had many hundred miles to 
 journey up the Oubangi, and if I engaged in a contest now I 
 should certainly lose some of my men and exhaust my ammuni- 
 tion and should be compelled to return to the Equator for fresh 
 supplies. I decided to fight this battle with cunning if possible. 
 
 Relying on the belief universally current in this land that the 
 white man is possessed of mystic power, I called out to the infuri- 
 ated mob, that if they would lower their spears and calm them- 
 selves I would apply a remedy to the wound, and that my medicine 
 had such marvelous properties that by to-morrow morning not 
 even a scar would remain where to-day the flesh was deeply 
 gashed. My medicine, however, would only be efficacious under 
 certain conditions. Everybody must be seated and not move 
 
214 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 without my permission, and after due application of the medicine 
 the wounded man nmst walk slowly back to his hut ; any excite- 
 ment or haste would reopen the wound, and the consequence 
 would be serious. 
 
 At the time of the commencement of the quarrel my steamer 
 fires were drawn and the acceptance of my proposal by the 
 natives would give the engineer time to get up steam and allow 
 me to leave these hostile regions. 
 
 My proffer was accepted and with a good deal of formality 
 and outward show, I examined different parts of the invalid's body 
 in order to impress the crowd by my seriousness of action. I de- 
 layed the operation of bandaging up the wound till my engineer 
 quietly informed me that he had enough steam to make a start. 
 During this performance all my crew were ashore ; they knelt 
 down with loaded rifles and faced the village savages, whose be- 
 havior betokened anything but friendship. 1 was conducting this 
 medicine farce in between these rival forces, and had the unusual 
 equipment of a bottle of iodoform and a revolver, in case the latter 
 remedy might be necessary for some of the un wounded who were 
 anxious for a fight. 
 
 Before getting aboard my boat I again impressed the wounded 
 man with the importance of moving slowly. There was a long 
 stretch of cleared ground fronting the village and reaching to the 
 river. As the man whom I had just treated moved away in full 
 view the natives could not attack our boat without exposing him, 
 so we were able by this to get well out of range and escape from 
 what might have been a serious fight. 
 
 Generally speaking, the land through which the Oubangi flows 
 
 is swampy, and the banks of the river are clothed with densest 
 tropical vegetation — huge trees, among which lovely creepers trail 
 from branch to branch. Various orchids of brilliant colors, cling 
 to the branches of the trees, far overhead, and animals of all kinds 
 roam through the woods. 
 
 The Balui have not penetrated far up the river. A hundred 
 miles from the mouth one meets other tribes, speaking an 
 entirely different language, but with habits and tastes as horrible 
 
BAGGING A ''TUSKER.'' 215 
 
 as those of the Balui. These tribes are most confirmed cannibals 
 and freely advertise that fact, by exhibiting the bones of their vic- 
 tims. The members of the various tribes are constantly at war with 
 one another ; each village seems only too anxious to pounce down 
 upon some other. This state of things maintains a perpetual 
 state of alarm ; nearly every village is surrounded by a heavy 
 stockade of sharpened posts, strapped to which are bundles of 
 wooden spears, ready to the hand of the warrior in case of a sud- 
 den attack. One is constantly passing patches of cleared ground, 
 which show the charred stumps and general debris of destroyed 
 villages. These, I learned, were once populous villages that had 
 been destroyed through the avarice and ferocity of their neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 Whilst journeying up one of the small tributaries of this river, 
 one afternoon, we came within sight of a small herd of elephants ; 
 one old male was standing in about two feet of water and was 
 leisurely enjoying a drink, and a female was carefully plucking 
 tender young sprigs from the branches overhead. The crashing of 
 branches in the forest beyond showed that the remainder of the 
 herd were busily feeding. As quickly as possible I ran my boat 
 in-shore with the object of crawling up unperceived on my game. 
 
 The old fellow in the water offered the best opportunity, I 
 approached within twenty-live yards of him and waited in hiding 
 till he offered a good mark. A shot behind the ear brought him to 
 his knees, but he staggered to his feet again and tried to reach 
 the forest when I emptied my left barrel squarely into his fore- 
 head and he dropped fatally wounded. 
 
 Some Oubangi fishermen, hitherto unacquainted with the gun, 
 came over from their camp to see the dead brute, and were bewil- 
 dered with astonishment at the power of my rifle. 
 
 I camped at this place for three days so as to allow the native 
 report concerning my deadly weapon to spread and intimidate 
 would be enemies into treatiag us a little more reasonably. 
 
 This delay had the desired effect. The surrounding settlements 
 which we visited did not exhibit any great anxiety to attack a 
 boat having such weapons aboard. 
 
216 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 All the villages alone; the Oubangi River are full of stalwart 
 and fierce savages. At one place I saw a canoe on its way to 
 war. It was a huge dug-out with large platforms fore and aft, and 
 was manned by thirty-five fine young warriors, who for sym- 
 metry of limb and 
 general physique 
 would compare favor- 
 ably with any band of 
 fighters in the world. 
 In the center, seated 
 on a chair, was the 
 old chief himself, who 
 leaned gracefully, 
 with his arms folded, 
 ov^er his shield. In 
 the bow was a young 
 fellow beating a war- 
 drum. On the plat- 
 form at the back were 
 two men with war- 
 drums and two men 
 acting as steersmen. 
 In the body of the 
 canoe were the war- 
 rior paddlers. Every 
 man had on the usual 
 ' leather breast-plate of 
 tanned buffalo-skin, 
 colored in fantastic 
 patterns with yellow 
 
 -si>.e,rs7T 
 
 A CANNIBAL WARKIOK. 
 
 and white chalk. They also wore caps of various colored feathers 
 and skins. The shields and spears were arranged along the sides 
 of the canoe so that, at a moment's notice, every man could be 
 armed. 
 
 The sun was shining brilliantly, and the bright metal of the 
 knives and spears flashed with every movement, while the wild 
 
''THE GUN WON'T KILL:' 217 
 
 surrounding scenery completed a striking and impressive pic- 
 ture. These people are fierce, warlike, and aggressive. I had 
 only fifteen of the Ba-Nkundu men with me, and it required all 
 my stock of patience to put up with our pursuers' arrogant behav- 
 ior. They would surround us in their canoes, and tantalize us by 
 throw^ing corn-cobs, pieces of wood, and stones; and it was with 
 the greatest difficulty that I was able to prevent them from 
 smashing the machinery of the steamer, as time after time they 
 chased my boat and tried to drive the prows of their canoes into 
 the wheel. These attacks I repelled by placing some of the crew 
 at the end of my own canoe to guard our w^ieel with long sticks. 
 It was very humiliating to be made a target for a rubbish fusil- 
 lade, but as my boat was very slow I was unable to escape the 
 indignity. 
 
 1 make it my policy to use the rifle upon the natives only as a 
 last resort, when patience and diplomacy have failed. To my 
 peaceful overtures, these savages only yelled^ and informed me 
 that they would eat me and all my crew ! I signed to them that 
 it was very possible I might dispute that. Upon my showing them 
 a rifle, they laughed, jeered at me, and said, "The spear is the 
 weapon to kill. The gun won't kill!" They followed me up river 
 until we came abreast of another long stretch of villages. Here 
 the natives did not confine themselves to verbal insults, and I was 
 compelled to fight them. They overstepped the most generous 
 limits that I could grant. 
 
 As I passed close in-shore, steaming slowly past their villages, 
 an ominous sullenness was noticeable on the features of all the 
 men who w^ere sitting crouched along the bank with their eyes 
 fixed on me, and their weapons lying ready just in front of them. 
 At a given signal ihey all rose and hurled their spears. One of 
 these weapons just missed my head and splintered the wooden 
 sun-deck of my boat. The warning beat of the war-drums struck 
 up throughout the whole district. 
 
 This actual attack 1 was bound to punish. I put the nose of my 
 boat in-shore and steamed ahead. 
 
 The enemy grouped together to resist, but we poured such a 
 
218 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 withering fire into them that they soon began to throw their spears 
 at random and then broke and fled for shelter behind the huts and 
 trees. 
 
 I was determined to give them a lesson that they would remem- 
 ber — a lesson that would cause them to think twice before they 
 again attacked a friendly white man. 
 
 I routed them out of their own village ; then they made a slight 
 
 T-3 
 
 
 ****j*i; 
 
 ^^^mw^'- 
 
 «K*- 
 
 
 IIGHT Wim THE CANNIBALS. 
 
 stand behind their palisade, from which we cleared them, and 
 scattered them in full retreat before us. I completed the punish- 
 ment by burning their houses and capturing their live stock, and 
 then camped on an island opposite, for the night, keeping a careful 
 watch till the morning, when we resumed our way up river. 
 
 It was surprising how such a lesson improved these people. I 
 came back to the same village twelve days afterward, and although 
 they were dreadfully scared, succeeded in pacifying, and, indeed, 
 making friends with them. They admitted that they had been 
 
A FIGHT WITH OUBANGI WARRIORS. 219 
 
 in the wrong; they thought that I, with so small a party, could be 
 easily overcome, and so had commenced the attack. They paid 
 dearly for their mistaken judgment. 
 
 I noticed that they were wearing as ear-rings the empty rifle 
 shells used in our recent fight against them. These natives, 
 unlike those of Lukolela, do not plait the hair, but prefer to shave 
 it, and then wait until the head is covered with three or four days 
 growth, from which they shave away some of the hair and leave 
 the remainder in half-moon patterns, squares and other designs. 
 When the patches of hair grow too long, they shave all off again 
 and start afresh. Their faces are rendered exceedingly repulsive 
 by their custom of cutting off the two upper front teeth close to 
 the gum. The news of my little fight spread far and wide. The 
 slowness of my boat afforded opportunity for such a report to 
 travel, and at no other village above did the natives dare to receive 
 us with hostility, nor did we again become the recipients of their 
 spare stock of corn-cobs, old roots, and other contents of rubbish 
 heaps. Most of the native plantations were cultivated on the 
 islands amid stream. Elephants and buffaloes destroyed any crops 
 growing inland. 
 
 These people are constantly at war among themselves and hos- 
 tile parties are always lurking about an enemy's village in the 
 hope of carrying off captives. The gardens on the islands cannot 
 be approached by any one without their being seen by people in 
 the village, so that the women can conduct their agricultural 
 pursuits in safety ; but they are always accompanied by a few 
 warriors, who keep a good lookout while tlie women work. 
 
 Trading was exceedingly difficult — cannibalism constituted 
 their principal ambition. They would sell a tusk for a man ; in 
 fact, they offered to exchange a big pile of ivory for my whole 
 crewl These savages considered me very eccentric because I did 
 not avail myself of my opportunities. They could not understand 
 why with such guns I did not wage war on the villages and cap- 
 ture the ivory and slaves ! 
 
 On several occasions during this trip the Oubangi chiefs offered 
 to make a partnership with me. Their native forces would com- 
 
220 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 bine with my men ; armed with rifles we would overcome the large 
 villages containing ivory, all of which would belong to me, and 
 my allies would take the dead bodies of those slain in the pro- 
 posed raids! It was strange to these savage beings that I should 
 express an abhorrence of their scheme. 
 
 The only attempt at ornamenting their village huts is by hang- 
 ing up bunches of skulls in conspicuous places. Suspended from 
 
 their horn goblets human jaw bones 
 seemed the popular adornment. 
 
 At one settlement the old chief received 
 me affably at his beach, and taking my 
 hand escorted me to his village where his 
 hut was surrounded by rows of human 
 skulls which were placed in line on a 
 raised clay platform. 
 
 As I had bought a few tusks of ivory 
 here the natives imagined that I was 
 anxious for any substance of that na- 
 ture, and had I been a willing purchaser 
 I could have returned from the trip with 
 a cargo of human skulls. 
 
 So brutal are some of the tribes of Cen- 
 tral Africa that even the declaration of 
 peace must be accompanied by the slaugh- 
 ter of a slave. Near old Ndisi's village, 
 on the upper waters of the Oubangi, there 
 Avas a dead body suspended by the heels from a high gallows. 
 I learned that the chief had but recently settled a long stand- 
 ing quarrel with a neighboring people, and had celebrated 
 the event b)' this cruelty. A young slave had been hung up head " 
 downward when alive and thus tortured to death, and he would 
 be left there till the stakes rotted and the ghastly monument fell 
 into the river. 
 
 But even more horrible is the fate of such a one at Chumbiri, 
 Bolobo, or the large villages around Irebu, where the expiatory 
 victim is actually buried alive with only the head left above the 
 
 VILLAGE DECORATION. 
 
NATIVE FISHERMEN. 221 
 
 ground. All his bones have first been crushed or broken, and in 
 speechless agony he waits for death. He is usually thus buried 
 at the junction of two highways, or by the side of some well 
 trodden pathway leading from the village ; and of all the numer- 
 ous villagers who pass to and fro, not one, even if he felt a 
 momentary pang of pity, would dare either to alleviate or to end 
 his misery, for this is forbidden under the severest penalties. 
 
 During this Oubangi trip I visited all the villages along the four 
 hundred miles of navigable river, but bought only a small quan- 
 tity of ivor}'. In every case they wished to exchange their 
 property for slaves. However, the few tusks I was able to pur- 
 chase were very cheap. They term ivory "Minjeka mimbungu," 
 (elephant's dry wood), they carve it into ear-rings, and armlets, 
 pestles for pounding up maize, and I have often seen big blocks 
 from a monster tusk used as seats in the Oubangi villages. 
 In those days they had no idea of the value of the precious 
 substance. 
 
 The popular metal is copper. They have in their country rich 
 deposits of this, and not only are some of their weapons shaped 
 from it, but they wear anklets, leg-rings and other body orna- 
 ments made from the same metal. 
 
 This river teems with fish, of every size and variety. Their 
 haunts and habits are thoroughly well known to the fishermen, 
 whose curiously minute observations have taught them where 
 to spread their nets with a certaint}' of the largest haul. 
 There is one large yellow fish, the "mbutu," esteemed a great 
 luxury by the natives, which lives upon the soft, succulent stems 
 of the swamp grass, and, as a rule, feeds about eight or ten 
 inches below the surface of the water. The fisherman, with spear 
 poised ready for tlie throw, glides noiselessly along in his canoe, 
 skirting the fringe of the grassy swamps, carefully watching to 
 see the slightest trembling of a stem of grass, which tells that a 
 fish is nibbling. Suddenly he deftly plunges his weapon below the 
 surface, and almost invariably a fat mbutu is drawn to the side of 
 the canoe, struggling on the end of the spear. All along the 
 Congo and its tributaries are large bays where the water is invari- 
 
222 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 ably sluggish ; these places are the resorts of shoals of fish. In 
 the rainy season, when the river is swollen, the natives build 
 walls of cane mesh-work across the mouths of these bays ; so that 
 when the river falls, all the fish are securely penned in ; open- 
 ings are then made in the netting, and a basket-trap attached over 
 each. The fish endeavoring to escape by these apertures are 
 caught in the traps. With but little effort, a plentiful supply of 
 fish is secured at this time of the year. Sometimes, during a 
 rapid fall of the river, thousands of fish are taken in this way in a 
 few days. Near to these fishing-grounds the natives build rough, 
 temporary huts and also construct low tables of sticks about one 
 and a half feet from the ground. The fish are placed on these 
 tables, and are smoked perfectly dry by means of large fires 
 placed underneath. 
 
 Upon coming down-stream, near the mouth of the river, I one 
 night shot a hippopotamus. Next morning, on proceeding to the 
 place where I had left it the night before, I found it surrounded by 
 a crowd of Balui. They jumped into their canoes at my approach 
 and paddled off with all their might, but I followed them, because 
 they had taken all the meat. When they arrived at their homes 
 they jumped ashore and bolted into the bush with the meat. Upon 
 my arrival at the village I found all the huts deserted. A careful 
 inspection proved that the village was inhabited by fishermen, 
 and the quantity of dried fish in the village certainly pointed to 
 the fact that the season had been a very good one. Exchange 
 being no robbery, as they had stolen my hippo, I helped myself 
 to their fish, and as my own men had been having rather too 
 much hippo meat for some time past, the change of diet was 
 welcome to them. 
 
 Upon my return to the Congo I was grieved to learn that there 
 was a new grave at my old deserted station of Lukolela. 
 
 Among the white officers whom I knew on the Congo, one of the 
 bravest was an Englishman named Deane. He had spent five 
 years on the Congo, formerly as an officer of the Congo Free 
 State ; he had also commanded one of the government stations on 
 the Kasai. There the natives, taking advantage of his small 
 
DEANE'S FIGHT WITH THE ARABS. 223 
 
 force, attacked him when he was out in the river and clinging 
 to his canoe, which had been upset by a tornado. 
 
 His guns had sunk to the bottom, and he had only his knife; 
 but with this he fought so desperately that he succeeded in keep- 
 ing off his enemies, receiving, however, a wound on his leg from 
 the thrust of a barbed fishing-spear. 
 
 A few months later he was on his way to Stanley Falls to 
 replace the officer in command of that station, who had finished 
 his term of service. At nightfall a terrific storm compelled him 
 to seek shelter ashore, as his little boat, the "Royal," loaded with 
 her steel lighter and thirty black Houssa soldiers, could not have 
 lived through the waves. They anchored in the channel, just be- 
 low the Monongeri villages, a few days journey from Stanley Falls. 
 As the steamer was very small, Deane slept on shore in a small tent. 
 His men, rolling themselves in their blankets and mats, tried to 
 sleep. Cold and cheerless it was that night, as camp-fires were 
 impossible in such a storm. Suddenly the roar of the tempest 
 was drowned by groans of agony and yells of rage. The Monon- 
 geri savages, under the cover of the night and storm, had been 
 gathering around the band. So stealthily and silently did they 
 come that the actual attack was the first signal of their presence. 
 
 Only a few minutes before, Deane had been his rounds to see that 
 the sentries were at their posts ; hardly had he returned to his camp- 
 bed when the villainous onslaught began. He himself was severely 
 wounded in the shoulder ; and the keen blade of a Monongeri spear 
 pierced his thigh. His cartridges were damp and would not ex- 
 plode ; but he fought manfully, using the butt of his revolver, and a 
 shield which he had wrested from one of the enemy, holding at bay 
 the fierce natives, who savagely hurled their spears, but at last 
 were driven to the dark shadows of the forest, by volley after vol- 
 ley fired by the Houssa sentries. In short gasps and feeble tones 
 Deane rallied his men, and then he fell exhausted to the earth, 
 unconscious. Several of his people had been killed, and many 
 more lay dying from their wounds. Harris. Deane's companion, 
 carried the dead and dying on board the little steamer, and get- 
 ing up steam jiushed off and anchored in midstream. What a 
 
224 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 night of misery ! The groans of the wounded were mocked by the 
 unearthly mirth and drumming which the wind bore to them from 
 the savages gathered thickly on the banks. Early in the morning 
 the boat steamed away, with Deane wounded and half his men 
 massacred. With so diminished a force, punishment of the Monon- 
 geri for this treacherous onslaught was out of the question ; so 
 they pushed on up-stream; the natives, emboldened by their vic- 
 tory, came out in large war-canoes, harassing the fugitives until 
 the deadly rifle warned them that there was still danger from that 
 little boat. At last he arrived at Stanley Falls, but so weak was 
 he that all feared he would die. It was decided that he should re- 
 turn to Leopoldville. But a few months elapsed, and again Deane 
 was on his way up-river to punish the Monongeri villages and 
 take command of Stanley Falls. With his renewed forces he was 
 able to avenge the death of his men and his own sufferings. 
 
 After he had been at Stanley Falls a few months, hostilities 
 broke out between the station and the Arabs. Deane fought des- 
 perately, killing a great number of the Arab slave-raiders and 
 Manyema banditti, until, the ammunition being exhausted, his 
 men, with the exception of three deserted him. Deane fired the 
 station and escaped into the forests, where he lived on berries and 
 roots for a month, hunted about by the Arabs who were in search 
 of him. 
 
 A few months later he was again on the Congo, this time to try 
 his fortune in hunting big game. He joined Captain Bailey, and 
 they decided to hunt together the elephants, vvhich abound all 
 through this part of Africa. 
 
 They spent a little time at Lukungu, on the lower reaches of the 
 Congo, after which they had some good sport hunting ante- 
 lopes and buffaloes on Long Island, in Stanley Pool. But they 
 were impatient to try their guns on the elephants, so they hurried 
 on up-stream. Captain Bailey had a severe attack of fever, and 
 had to return to Europe invalided. So Deane was left at camp 
 alone. Eventually, prompted by reports of the great quantities of 
 game at Lukolela, he shifted his camp to that place, and had been 
 there but a few days when, returning to the station after a short 
 
POOR DEANE'S DEATH. 225 
 
 absence up the Ikelemba River, I heard the sad news that he had 
 been killed b}' an elephant. 
 
 The scene of the tragedy was about one hundred miles down the 
 river, and I decided to leave the next morning and learn full par- 
 ticulars from the people on the spot. It took me two days to 
 get down to Lukolela with my slow craft. Arriving on the 
 second' day I learned the details from the whites at the Mission 
 Station, wiiich had been established near-by my old garrison; 
 and the news was graphically confirmed by my old hunter. Bongo 
 Xsanda, Avho was with poor Deane at the time of his death. I 
 tell the story nearly as I learned it from Bongo Nsanda. He said 
 it was a very wet morning, a day not at all suitable for hunting, 
 being very misty ; but Deane was determined to go out. Bongo 
 Nsanda advised him to postpone the hunt, but this he would not 
 consent to do. So getting his few men in a canoe they paddled 
 down the river, and entered a small grass-blocked creek. 
 
 Upon arriving there, in a little stretch of open water they heard 
 the breaking down of branches by an elephant — to the hunter's 
 ear an unmistakable sound. Deane gave his orders, and the nose 
 of the canoe was noiselessly brought up to the bank, w^iere there 
 was a little dry land. When the hunter had arrived at this stage 
 of his story, I took two of my men and determined to go over the 
 ground and hear the remainder of the sad story on the spot. 
 Bongo Nsanda, as soon as he landed, seemed to become melan- 
 choly in the death-like silence of this wood. The only sounds to 
 be heard were the combined murmuring hums of numberless 
 insects, and the occasional mournful call of the hornbill. When 
 we had walked twenty or thirty yards, Bongo Nsanda arrested 
 my footsteps, and said, "Here, you see, these footmarks were 
 made by the white man. Now, if you will go Avith me over there, 
 I will show you where the elephant was standing." 
 
 I accompanied him. He pointed out to me a long strip of the 
 bark of a tree. Said he, "The elephant was tearing off that bark." 
 
 "The white man," added Bongo Nsanda, "took a long aim: 
 but he must have just missed the vital spot, as the elephant curled 
 up his trunk, gave one shrill trumpet, and made off into the bush. 
 
226 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 Deane and the hunter followed him as quickly as they could, but 
 the wounded animal ran a great distance, and Deane became 
 tired. " He sat down on a log," said Bongo Nsanda, "and told me 
 in a whisper to keep my ears open as the elephant might be within 
 hearing, and at the same time added that I must make no noise. 
 After a few minutes, a sound told him that the elephant was not 
 far away. He held his head low, and his hand to his ear, and 
 listened for about half a minute, when the sound was repeated." 
 
 Again Bongo Nsanda moved on another thirty or forty yards, 
 and then, suddenly stopping, he said in a whisper, as if the same 
 great danger was still hanging over us, "This is where he stood. 
 He was a brave man ; he was not afraid of an elephant or a buf- 
 falo, for the elephant was standing in that open space under the 
 trees, and was just filling it up with his head, this way ; but Deane 
 boldly crept up within ten yards of him and fired. This time the 
 elephant came down on his knees ; but before the smoke had blown 
 away, he rose to his feet, and plunged off in another direction." 
 
 I again followed Bongo Nsanda's footsteps. The same feeling 
 of awe that was shown by this black hunter took possession of 
 me also, as we approached nearer the fatal spot. Bongo 
 Nsanda must have been deeply impressed indeed ; for, at every 
 step he took, he looked all around with a hesitating glance, as if 
 expecting that an angry elephant might appear any moment. 
 
 At last we came to a little patch of clear ground, perhaps ten 
 or eleven yards square. "Over there," said Bongo Nsanda, "the 
 elephant was standing, swaying his trunk backward and forward, 
 and switching his tail in an angry manner." Deane at first got 
 behind a tree near where we stood, opened' the breech of his rifle 
 to make sure that he had put in two cartridges, and then boldly 
 left his cover and approached to within seven yards of his game. 
 He raised his rifle and fired his two barrels in quick succession, 
 causing the elephant to stagger. The lever of his gun was stiff, 
 and he seemed to be struggling with it trying to open it; but, as 
 it would not work, he threw down his own rifle, and snatched 
 from the hands of his hunter a loaded Snider rifle, aimed, and 
 fired. This was the last shot ever fired by poor Deane, for the 
 
AN ANGRY ELEPHANT. 227 
 
 elephant made a short, wild rush at hira, and killed him on the 
 spot just as he reached his cover. 
 
 Upon examining the surrounding forest, I was forcibly im- 
 pressed by the destruction which this wounded and infuriated 
 elephant had wrought in his anger. He had evidently imag- 
 ined everything about him to be an enemy. From some trees the 
 Tiark had been ripped. He had torn down all the branches within 
 his reach, and trampled them beneath his feet ; young trees had 
 yielded before his mighty strength and had been uprooted and 
 flung from his path. 
 
 I followed the elephant's track for a long distance. At first he 
 had made his way through a forest, and then plunged into a 
 f^wamp. Here he seemed to have rested for a time in the water, 
 and to have regained his strength to some extent ; for after this 
 his tracks became firmer and firmer, until, when the tracks had 
 passed right through this swamp and into another forest beyond, 
 there was nothing in them to show that they were those of a 
 wounded animal. Finding it was hopeless to track him any 
 farther, I returned to the Mission Station at Lukolela. Probably 
 the elephant eventually died of his wounds, but it is surprising 
 how far they will travel after being badly wounded. 
 
 Deane, throughout his whole career on the Congo, had shown 
 himself to be a man of undoubted pluck. I admired him, and we 
 were the best of friends. Some time before, on my road up from 
 Kinsassa, I had put in at his camp, when we had spent a ver}' 
 merry day together. But now everything had been taken away 
 from the spot; his last tent had been struck, and there was a sad 
 and somber blank in the place of the vivid scene I had left onlj' a 
 few days earlier. 
 
 COPPER NKCK KINO. 
 
A '-TUSlvliU. 
 
 CHAPTEP XII. 
 
 MY SIXTH YEAR TN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
 Arab Slavery— Tutu Tib— Persecuted natives— Ivory— Thompson's hunt at ntoht— A 
 
 TRIP UP THE RUKl— ATTACKED BY CANNIBALS— DIVING FOR A WOUNDED CROCODILE- 
 ATHLETIC MEETING— "Nep"— Progress on the Congo— Suppression of Slavery— Over- 
 land TO THE coast— Congo Railway— Home Again. 
 
 Every traveler who has penetrated into the heart of Africa has 
 been compelled to witness the lamentable persecution which the 
 natives incessantly suffer at the hands of the Arab slaver. All 
 the great authorities on African history have graphically depicted 
 the sufferings caused by this inhuman traffic. Stanley, Gordon, 
 and Livingstone have drawn the world's attention to the existing 
 evils of African slavery. The most remorseless and cruel of all 
 these persecuting hordes are certainly the Arabs, Manyemas, and 
 Zanzibaris, at present so energetically employed on the head- 
 waters of the Congo and its tributaries. 
 
STANLEY FALLS. 229 
 
 Stanley Falls, half way across Africa at the head of navigation 
 on the Upper Congo, is the main depot of the Arab slaver. Here 
 Tippu Tib and his Arab associates live a life of comparative lux- 
 ury, reside in fine large clay dwellings, cultivate plantations of 
 grain and vegetables, have a little stock and poultry, and, sur- 
 rounded by a goodly retinue of servants, they pass their time 
 apparently in indolence, making little calls and sipping coffee. 
 But Tippu Tib and his associates, so immaculately robed in white 
 linen, represent an administrative power controlling several thou- 
 sands of hired murderers, who are told off in bands and sent into 
 the neighboring country in search of ivory. These men, more 
 correctly speaking, are ivory hunters ; it is the search for ivory 
 that takes them into the heart of Africa. How the refined pos- 
 sessor of a delicately carved ivory toilet set, fan, or button-hook 
 would recoil with horror, were it possible to see the blood-stained 
 panorama of destruction to human life, relentless cruelty, and 
 remorseless barbarism daily and hourly enacted to obtain the 
 precious substance so highly prized, but purchased so dearly with 
 human life. Slavery and its attendant cruelties play a part sub- 
 servient to ivory; there is no attempt on the part of the Arabs 
 to purchase the ivory from the elephant hunters of the far inte- 
 rior. They steal it. A band of Arabs and their followers learn 
 of a village in which some of the occupants have ivory. During 
 the night the native settlement is surrounded by these fiends, and 
 at the earliest streaks of dawn some of the grass thatched roofs are 
 fired and a few guns discharged to throw the village into a state 
 of consternation. The natives, frightened by the unusual noise, 
 emerge from tlieir huts onh' to fall into the hands of their perse- 
 cutors. Some of the older men are shot, in order to intinndate 
 tlie others, and any who resist meet with instant and violent 
 death. All the captives are securely shackled with heavy iron 
 chains and wooden forks to prevent their escape, and the Arabs 
 then open negotiations with the remainder of the tribe, and 
 return the enslaved captives in exchange for ivcry. Often it hap- 
 pens that there is not enough ivory to redeem all those who have 
 been captured ; in that case the Arabs carry off the remaining 
 
230 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 slaves and exchange them with some foreign tribe for ivory, or as 
 subjects for human sacrifice in connection with some tribal cere- 
 mony, or even to supply a cannibal orgie. Some of the stronger 
 are retained as carriers for the stolen ivory, and a few of the 
 women enter the harems of the slavers. 
 
 These natives are fine, robust specimens of humanity, and their 
 country is teeming with natural wealth ; but these elements, so 
 conducive to prosperity and happiness, are simply a mockery 
 under the present conditions of oppression and persecution to 
 which they are always subject. The heart of Africa is the happy 
 hunting-ground of the Arab slaver ; giant expeditions, well-armed 
 and equipped, are constantly pouring into Africa from Morocco, 
 Tunis, Egypt, Zanzibar, and other ports, solely for the object of 
 gathering slaves and ivory. 
 
 Can it be wondered at that these Africans are savages? How 
 could they be anything else, suffering as they have done, as far as 
 their memory can carry them, all the cruelty, indignity, and bar- 
 barous persecution which the devilish mind of the man-hunter 
 can invent and perpetrate? 
 
 At the head-waters of all the great tributaries of the Congo 
 River the natives are incessantly suffering the same persecution 
 at the hands of the mongrel Arabs. 
 
 Occasionally the Arabs will make friends with certain tribes, 
 so as to utilize them against their neighbors. Some of the native 
 villages on the river bank have no ivory, and are powerful fighters 
 and industrious agriculturists or fishermen. The cunning Arab 
 has respected the villages of these people, as they could be most 
 useful friends. 
 
 Cannibalism, so general on the higher reaches of the Congo, is an 
 aid to the Arab slaver. He avails himself of this hideous propensity 
 of the native by enlisting tribes in his behalf, paying them for their 
 services as fighting men and guides by a share of the " meat" ob- 
 tained in the raids— being the human beings killed by these brutes. 
 
 The Arab is absolutely without mercy for the poor wretches he 
 holds in bondage— the young men and women in the prime of life, 
 mothers with babies, all herded like so many cattle, covered with. 
 
THE ARAB MAN-HUNTERS. 231 
 
 festering sores from the chafing wooden blocks on their wrists and 
 ankles and the cumbersome fork which holds their necks, and re- 
 ceiving from their heartless masters just sufficient food to keep 
 the spark of life flickering in their skeleton bodies. 
 
 Fate seems unrelentingly antagonistic to the native of Equator- 
 ial Africa. He is born to suffer pain and sorrow— often from birth 
 doomed to wretchedness and oppression. 
 
 All the ivory pillaged by the raiders is brought to Stanley Falls ; 
 thence it is carried on the shoulders of slaves a distance of three 
 thousand miles to the east coast of Africa, and the Arabs them- 
 selves calculate that only one-third of the carriers dispatched reach 
 their destination. The enormous death-roll caused by this scourge 
 to Africa can be imagined — the number of those killed in the raids, 
 those who die of sickness, privation, and hunger at the camps, 
 and the loss of life on the caravan road to the east. All this 
 cruelty exists — homes are destroyed and pillaged, husbands cruelly 
 shot while defending their wives and children, and slaves cap- 
 tured, sold to be eaten, or sacrificed for tribal ceremony. All these 
 atrocities are committed by man on man, to enrich the white-robed 
 Arab of Stanley Falls. It is for this perfectly arrayed being that 
 this injustice exists. 
 
 The man of civilization condemns with indignation the barbar- 
 ism of the Arab slaver, but let the white man pause and think for 
 but one moment and he will realize how deeply he himself is im- 
 plicated. By whom are the guns and ammunition supplied with 
 which this persecution is carried on, and who is the purchaser of 
 the costly elephant tusk? 
 
 The power of the Arab and his Manyema follower lies in his su- 
 perior weapon, the fire-arm; Arabs are not able to make guns or 
 powder. These articles are supplied by the white trader, and this 
 is a traffic which the great powers should at once control as far as 
 possible. It is the possession of the gun by the Arab which gives 
 him his present tyrannical position over the multitudes of inoffen- 
 sive and poorly-armed natives. TIhtc is a common saying 
 amongst the slavers "Bunduki Sultani ya Bara Bara," meaning 
 "The gun is the Sultan of Africa." 
 
232 
 
 IN SAVAGE AFRICA, 
 
 In some few parts of northern Africa slavery is simply the sub- 
 stitution of enforced for free labor. The natural indolence of the 
 Mohammedan has taught him to surround himself with a retinue 
 of slaves to wait hand and foot and answer every beck and call ; 
 and thousands of these poor wretches are caught and ill treated by 
 their cruel masters, who drive them, shackled and yoked, in herds 
 over the hot desert and through the tangled jungle, leaving the 
 sick to die and be torn to pieces by the wild beasts. The roads 
 over which the slave caravans travel are clearly defined by 
 
 ghastly landmarks of whiten- 
 ing skulls and fetid corpses. 
 
 During the last few years 
 the limits of slavery have 
 been considerably contracted. 
 Not many years ago fleets of 
 sailing-vessels left the west 
 coast of Africa laden with 
 slaves for foreign ports; the 
 traffic by the Arab dhows 
 / 1^^^^!^,-^ ^■^^yV ^ \\ from the east coast has 
 
 greatly diminished. A church 
 
 now stands in Zanzibar where 
 
 the public slave-market stood 
 
 but a few years ago. The 
 
 British squadron has done much to suppress this part of the traffic. 
 
 Their fast, well equipped steam launches are always coasting 
 
 along the shores of the Indian Ocean. 
 
 They examine every Arab craft and if slaves are found aboard 
 they are at once liberated and their masters are imprisoned. 
 
 On my way home in 1889 I met an old Portuguese who had been 
 engaged in the slave traffic. He was now a very old man and 
 counted among the varied incidents of his life an experience which 
 he does not refer to with any degree of pride or pleasure. He was 
 caught in the act of shipping slaves, and had the opportunity 
 of spending two years in irons on a British man-of-war. The west 
 coast of Africa at least is now cleansed of this hideous traffic. 
 
 MANVEMA WOMAN. 
 
CENTRAL AFRICAN SLAVE MARKETS. 
 
 233 
 
 The European powers, by dividing among themselves the con- 
 tinent of Africa, accept a contract, of course, to administer in 
 their respective territories justice to the inhabitants. Therefore 
 the Congo Free State, French, English, German, and Portuguese 
 governments, must protect their subjects from the perpetual op- 
 pression of their avaricious persecutor, the Arab slaver. The 
 shackle and chain, now cruelly chafing the limbs of thousands and 
 thousands of human 
 beings in Africa, can 
 only be broken asun- 
 der by force. The 
 crimson banner of the 
 Arab now floats 
 boldlv over the great f / / /. /r///'^^^ 
 slaving centers, 
 T a b o r a, Nyangwe, 
 Kasongo, and Ujiji, 
 an emblem of in- 
 iquity; and the spot- 
 less, white-clothed 
 man-hunters of Stan- 
 ley Falls will not de- 
 sist from their iniqui- 
 tous calling until 
 some superior force 
 
 compels them. The Germans and English on the east coast are 
 constantly strengthening their position and moving farther to 
 the westward. 
 
 The forces of the Congo Free State are strongly intrenching 
 themselves around Stanley Falls, These forces are gradually 
 closing in on the Arabs, and enlightened civilization will be com- 
 pelled in the near future to cross swords with relentless cruelty 
 and barbarism. Such an issue is a very important one, and no pre- 
 paration should be neglected; the chance of failure must not 
 exist. The whole of the civilized world should aid these powers 
 in their noble work in Africa, The downfall of the Arab slaver 
 
 TIPPU TIH. 
 
234 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 should be made doubly sure and every influence brought to bear 
 to gain the entire confidence of the natives and render them hos- 
 tile to the Arabs and friendly to the whites, so that not only will 
 they render assistance in fighting their natural enemies, from 
 whose merciless persecution they have so long suffered, but when 
 the bugle sounds the attack, and the guns of the white man pro- 
 claim the war declared, they will rally round the standard raised 
 for their delivery. 
 
 When the Arab slaver is beaten and compelled to flee he should 
 find himself confronted by a hostile barrier of bristling spears 
 handled by resolute natives resolved to complete the downfall 
 of their infamous oppressors. 
 
 For more than two years I was constantly employed journeying 
 on the waters of the Upper Congo, and its tributaries, and my life 
 during the whole of that time was spent with some of the wildest 
 tribes on the face of the earth. I was in frequent communication 
 with the cannibals of Bangala and the other tribes of that fierce dis- 
 trict, and also with the wild peoples dwelling on the Lulungu, Ma- 
 iinga and Oubangi, and my adventures on land and afloat, amongst 
 savage beings and dangerous beasts, provided an exciting life. 
 
 There seems to be almost a fatality attached to the hunting of 
 wild animals in the district of Lukolela. Poor Keys and Deane 
 met their death in encounters with wild animals at this place. 
 And just before I left the Congo, in 1889, another friend, named 
 Thompson, had a narrow escape from becoming a victim to the 
 ferocity of a buffalo. 
 
 We were camped below Lukolela, near a large buffalo plain, 
 where just a narrow fringe of bush ran along the water's edge. 
 At night my watchman came and told me that he heard a buffalo- 
 munching up grass a few yards distant in the plain. I answered, 
 "My experience with buffaloes does not encourage me to hunt 
 them at night; they are bad enough to deal with in the daytime.'^ 
 But Thompson said, "Til go, then'. I want to shoot a buffalo!" I 
 remonstrated with him, and tried to convince him of the risk which 
 he was running; but he answered, "It is all right,"— and off he 
 started. It was foolish on my part to have allowed it. He took his 
 
THOMPSON ' S NARRO W ESCAPE. 235 
 
 rifle, loaded it, and started, followed by the fag end of my crew. 
 There were with him two watchmen, the fireman, two table-boys, 
 a steward, the cook, the boy who looked after the fowls, and one 
 or two other small boys who were employed about the "'Florida." 
 
 Thompson had been absent only a few minutes when the pre- 
 cipitous retreat of his rear-guard plainly told me that something 
 was wrong. I then heard a shot, and presently Thompson came 
 walking down to the boat bleeding from a wound on his head. 
 He coolly told me that he had tracked the buffalo, and had heard 
 him eating grass, but could not see him. Presently the buffalo 
 caught sight of the hunter, and made a quick rush at him. 
 Thompson, with great presence of mind, threw himself on the 
 ground, and the buffalo passed over him. In doing so, the ani- 
 mal's hoof had tapped him on the head, taking out a piece as big 
 as a silver dollar; and had also bruised Thompson's back with 
 one of his hind legs. It was indeed a narrow escape. 
 
 When another opportunity occurs to shoot buffalo at nine 
 o'clock at night, I am sure Thompson will not unnecessarily vol- 
 unteer for the honor of being the hunter. 
 
 The last steamer voyage I made before leaving for Europe was 
 up the Ruki, a tributary just above the Equator Station. 
 
 It had always been my wish to visit the people living in these 
 regions, but I would not attempt such an expedition in my small 
 boat, as the ferocity and hostility of these Baruki were too well 
 known for me to attempt the journey without a faster and more 
 imposing craft. So I exchanged the "New York" for the "Flor- 
 ida." Now that I had command of tlie bigger boat again, I de- 
 cided to ascend the Ruki, and hoped to see the natives, about 
 whose wnrlike abilities and cannibalistic qualities I had heard so 
 many tales. 
 
 I left the Equator Station early one morning with a cargo of 
 merchandise and trinkets, with which I hoped to overcome, if pos- 
 sible, the prejudices of the terrible Baruki. I was warned by the 
 natives around our settlement what I was to expect from 
 my present venture; but I was accompanied by an Eng- 
 lish engineer, named Davy, upon whom I could rely in help- 
 
236 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 ine- us to give a good account of ourselves if any serious trouble 
 arose. And besides, the same crew who accompanied me through 
 my Uttle Oubangi difficulties, and had proved their pluck and 
 devotion, were now on board in charge of my trusty Bienelo. 
 
 After five hours' steaming up the river, at the invitation of some 
 natives on the shore, I put in to their beach, and exchanged beads 
 and cowries for fresh eggs and fowls. These people I found very 
 friendly ; they had been down in their canoes as far as my sta- 
 tion, so knew that they had nothing to fear from me. In this 
 village, Nkole, we saw but few knives and spears, but all the men 
 were armed with bows and arrows. 
 
 They were very friendly toward us, but exceedingly frightened 
 at our strange actions. We had a harmony steam whistle on 
 board which alarmed them a great deal. Just before leaving 
 their beach, on continuing my voyage, 1 called my men together 
 by blowing the whistle. The poor natives of Nkole, superstitious, 
 as all savages are, thought it was some angry spirit who was kept 
 by me to terrify people, and who gave vent to his feelings in this 
 vray. The natives on the beach beat a hasty retreat at this un- 
 usual sound, and those who were in canoes lost all presence of 
 mind. Some jumped into the river ; and we steamed away leaving 
 in our wake a mass of upturned canoes and struggling figures, 
 while on shore the beach was deserted, and from behind every 
 tree black faces grinned in safety at their less fortunate friends 
 in the water. 
 
 After an hour's steaming above this settlement we were beyond 
 the district of the friendly people. 
 
 And now to all my offers to buy their goats, fowls, or ivory, in 
 exchange for beads, cowries, knives, and cloth, the natives in 
 the villages we passed, responded by such a plentiful supply of 
 sticks, stones, and village refuse that I decided that I should have 
 to seek a more rational people to deal with, so I steamed up past 
 this line of villages, which were built on a high bank and seemed 
 to be very thickly populated. 
 
 Before long I was compelled to meet more serious attacks. At 
 one large village, crowds of people lined the beach and invited us 
 
FIGHT WITH THE CANNIBALS. 237 
 
 to approach, saying that they wished to trade witli us and be 
 good friends; but, when we turned the boat in their direction, 
 they fired a flight of arrows at us, then ran and hid among the 
 thick bushes which grew at the water's edge. From here they 
 kept up their fire in comparative security. Their beach was 
 too rocky to admit of my taking the steamer right in shore ; so, 
 firing a few volleys into tJie shrubs to drive them from their 
 hiding places, we manned our large dugout and paddled toward 
 the beach. We landed and routed them out of their village. 
 Then, throwing out skirmishing sharpshooters at the limits of the 
 settlement, I completed the punishment by order- 
 ing the huts to be destroyed by fire. 
 
 On my return to this village a few weeks after- 
 wards I made friends with these people; it is a 
 good trait in the character of these natives that 
 they know when they meet their master, and they 
 bear no malice. It is unfortunate that war is neces- 
 sary at all here in Africa, but the agressive hostil- wtt, \\\^\ 
 ity of the natives renders it unavoidable at times. iJ^/'''^//'f||^^^ 
 
 For the first few hours' steaming, above the spot Mm/^/i^ 
 
 , . . J J 1 1 . , RUKI GIRL. 
 
 where this engagement took place, we met with 
 no opposition. The inhabitants had sensibly taken warning from 
 the result of their neighbors' arrogant behavior. But, in the af- 
 ternoon, when we arrived at villages where news of the fight had 
 not preceded our arrival, we had to contend with the same diffi- 
 culties again. 1 could easily have avoided the arrows by keeping 
 out in the middle of the stream and steaming away ; but my ob- 
 ject was to make friends, and to learn something of the people 
 and the commercial possibilities of their country. 
 
 In the Ruki I had repeated evidences of cannibalism, which 
 interfered with any legitimate commerce, as they wanted me to 
 exchange members of my crew for tusks of ivory. 
 
 The women wore peculiar costumes consisting of a belt around 
 the waist, from the front of which hung two or tliree wild cat 
 skins; l)ehind, a bunch of fibre was attached which stuck out like 
 an enormous rooster's tail. 
 
238 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 These people generall)' were very suspicious; they held their 
 arms in readiness all the time; as a rule the wives accompanied 
 them, and carried a reserve stock of arrows. Even when alone 
 the women were well armed. 
 
 They did not understand the gun ; they had an indefinite idea of 
 some weapon which created a great noise and killed in some mys- 
 terious way, but their knowledge was derived from native report 
 from down country and had reached their far away locality with 
 gtrange contortions and exaggerations. 
 
 One niglit, while camped at a village called Esenge, up the 
 river, I heard the muffled paddles of an approaching canoe, and 
 thinking perhaps some natives intended treachery, I told Bienelo 
 to call out to the village about three hundred yards away, on the 
 opposite bank, and tell the natives that if I found any one sneak- 
 ing about my camp at night I would fire on him. 
 
 The general murmur of the village ceased at Bienelo 's voice, 
 and one native answered that his people would not attempt to do 
 us any harm, but he said he did not believe that we had any guns, 
 but if we had he asked us to prove it by firing a few volleys. 
 
 The village opposite was in a state of perfect silence awaiting 
 the result. I fired two shots in quick succession with my elephant 
 gun. A tremendous roar of astonishment greeted the report, 
 which, after a few seconds, however, was abruptly hushed, and 
 the same man who had previously spoken, shouted across to us, 
 "White man, you have guns, we will see you to-morrow!" The 
 next day at sunrise these people came across and were very 
 friendly. 
 
 After each journey in my boat I would take a few days holiday 
 at the Equator Station, and with a crew in charge of Bienelo 
 would employ such vacations for hunting. In this way I was able 
 to keep my men in good condition and good spirits with fresh 
 meat, as there were buffaloes and hippos in the neighborhood. 
 
 I remember on one of these occasions I shot a crocodile which 
 was swimming with its ugly head just above the surface. The 
 reptile turned on his back and lashed the water savagely 
 with his tail, and then sank. We paddled over to the place 
 
NEW STATIONS ESTABLISHED. 
 
 239 
 
 and found the water to be about eleven feet deep. Two of 
 my men pluckily volunteered to go down and tie a rope to the 
 creature if dead, and if still alive to finish him off with a knife. 
 They both armed themselves and dropped over the side into the 
 water, and presently their black heads popped up again, and they 
 coolly asked for a rope. They had found the crocodile fatally 
 crippled and had stabbed him to death. Then, tying the rope 
 around the creature's neck they hauled him on board. 
 
 I tried the experiment, at one time," of holding an athletic meet- 
 
 t-soitoi. 
 
 COXGO-LAND. 
 
 ing for the natives. They were active and agile, and jumped 
 and ran splendidly ; but my way of awarding prizes did not suit 
 them at all. They did not understand why the first and second 
 only should receive prizes. They wished every one to have a 
 prize and argued that it was just as hard work to lose as to win. 
 
 My six years of African service were now drawing to a close. 
 The expedition to which I belonged had proved a brilliant success. 
 Upon our reports concerning commercial prospect on the Congo, a 
 large trading company was formed, with a capital of a quarter of a 
 million francs, which has since my departure from the great river 
 built new boats and established many other ivory stations. Sev- 
 eral commercial houses have now taken boats on to tiie upper 
 
240 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 waters of the Congo. The pioneer efforts of our expedition opened 
 the field for such development. 
 
 In the middle of 1889, I came down to Leopoldville in my 
 steamer and there left the river and returned to the coast by the 
 caravan route. While waiting for the native porters who were 
 to carry my baggage, I occupied my leisure time in making short 
 hunting excursions in the neighborhood of Stanley Pool. 
 
 An old friend of mine on the Congo, Captain Bailey, who has 
 killed elephants and hunted lions at the head waters of the 
 Zambesi, had a thrilling experience and a very narrow escape 
 from a buffalo on Long Island, in Stanley Pool; and had it not 
 been for the plucky conduct of his little terrier he would undoubt- 
 edly have lost his life. He had tracked a buffalo out of the 
 swamps, had dropped his game and thought it was dead, as it lay 
 quite motionless. But upon his coming closer, it sprang upon its 
 feet and charged him. He had only time to fire, but without 
 taking good aim ; so he hit a little too low on the forehead and 
 the animal was not stopped. Captain Bailey barely escaped the 
 buffalo by swinging himself to one side ; the animal, in charging 
 past, actually grazing his side. Finding it had missed its mark, 
 the brute wheeled sharply about again ; but the hunter had also 
 turned and bolted for a tree wdiich was at hand. He reached it 
 only just in time. The buffalo, making a furious charge, came 
 full tilt against the tree, and knocked off a big piece of bark. 
 Although the captain had succeeded in getting behind the tree, 
 he had no time to spare as the brute would not give up the chase, 
 but made a rush around the tree. At this moment, the brave lit- 
 tle fox terrier, "Nep," sprang at the huge beast's neck; and, 
 although thrown off, still continued to harass the angry bull, 
 thereby distracting its attention from master to dog, and giving 
 the hunter time to put another cartridge into his rifle, and with 
 another shot to drop his game 
 
 All hunters of big game expect to meet occasionally with ani- 
 mals v/ho will show their disapproval of a bullet, and an exhibi- 
 tion of a buffalo's power and agility often results disastrously. 
 
 For many years previous to Stanley's journey "Through the Dark 
 
COMMERCE ON THE CONGO. 241 
 
 Continent" in 1877, the mouth of the Congo and a hundred miles of 
 its course from the sea had been known. Trading establishments 
 of different nationalities had long carried on a lucrative business 
 near the coast, engaged in exchanging merchandise of all kinds, 
 cloth, guns, powder, etc., for the native produce-peanuts, palm 
 oil, palm kernels, gums, ivory, beeswax, ebony, logwood, etc. 
 
 For many, many years this commerce was confined to the coast 
 districts; the interior had not been penetrated, and was unknown 
 to the white man, although several determined attempts had been 
 made, mostly by English naval officers, all of which efforts ter- 
 minated in a most disastrous manner, as they were stricken down 
 right and left by the fierce attacks of the African fever ; for in those 
 early davs but little was known with regard to medical treatment 
 in caseJ of African sickness. The Congo River until 1877 was 
 only marked in definite lines on the map as a hundred miles in 
 length and an elaborate system of branches, penned in dotted 
 lines suggested hypothetically the different directions beyond, 
 modestly hinting at the possible course of the stream, but abso- 
 lutely nothing w^as known geographically. 
 
 Not until 1889 was it considered possible for a big ocean gomg 
 steamer to ever steam the current of the Lower Congo, from the sea 
 to the rapids, a distance of a little over a hundred miles. \\ hen 
 one of the Liverpool boats dropped her anchor abreast of Matadi a 
 great deal of surprise was created among the white men; and the 
 gan-s of native carriers who saw it hastened back to their mland 
 hom^es with an exaggerated story of the Buatu Nnene, "big boat, 
 which, discussed among themselves around their camp-fires along 
 the trail, would gradually receive additional proportions, and the 
 fathers and mothers at Manyanga. Kensuka, and Lutete heard 
 that a boat a mile in length, with the speed of the swallow, had 
 plowedupthe waters of the Congo! 
 
 Afatadi is just below the Yelala Rapids, about one hundred miles 
 from the ocean, and the river is here hemmed in by banks of tower- 
 ing heights, where, angered at its stinted limits, it flings itself 
 madlv against the giant bowlders which strew its bed and flows 
 onward to the sea, its surface churned into a disordered torrent. 
 
242 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 At present the manual transport, from Matadi to Leopoldville, 
 although it has assumed such giant proportions, is totally inade- 
 quate to comply with the demand of the possible developments of 
 Central Africa, and the expensiveness of transport from the inte- 
 rior to the coast will admit only of the purchase of ivory with any 
 profit at all; but the forests along the banks of the Congo River 
 are well stocked with natural wealth, and with the cheaper trans- 
 port of the railway, rubber, gums, hard woods, dyes, and even 
 minerals, oils, etc, can be shipped with profit. Around Stanley 
 Pool there are now established trading-stations under the Eng- 
 lish, French, Dutch and Belgian flags. Already they are doing a 
 lucrative business by purchasing ivory in the interior, but their 
 harvest will be reaped when they are able to purchase and ship, 
 with profit, the quantity of oils, etc., which the country produces. 
 
 Strange to say, these commercial houses have 
 not one American competitor. Yet what na- 
 tion is more deserving, if any benefits are to 
 be derived from the dark continent? 
 
 The discovery and exploration of the Congo 
 
 NATIVE POTTERY. ^^^^ Auglo-Saxou deeds. The finding of Dr. 
 
 Livingstone was an American triumph, and Stanley's journey 
 
 through the dark continent was under the Stars and Stripes of 
 
 the United States, and the Union Jack of Great Britain. 
 
 In all developments of Central African history the great 
 question of the suppression of slavery has been neglected. The 
 slaves are bought and sold as heretofore— those white men seek- 
 ing commercial prosperity have been of no aid to the persecuted 
 slaves. 
 
 The executions, with their attendant brutality, ought to be, 
 and can be, stopped. The bloodshed is even greater to-day 
 than when Stanley first saw thete people in 1877 ; the reason 
 being, as I have before mentioned, that contact with white men 
 has made them richer, and has enabled them to obtain more 
 slaves. The great powers of the civilized world are now discus- 
 sing the anti-slavery movement, and if such discussions should 
 result in some united action directed toward the suppression of 
 
SUPPRESSION OF SLAVERY. 243 
 
 the trade in the interior, there are a few peculiar features which 
 might be turned to advantage. 
 
 First, and most important, this traffic is not complicated bv 
 religious fanaticism of any kind. 
 
 Second. These people are disunited; every village of fiftv or 
 sixty houses is independent of its neighbor, and small family 
 wars are continually taking place. 
 
 Third. There is nothing so convincing to the African savage as 
 physical superiority. 
 
 Now all these points are in favor of the anti -slavery movement. 
 
 The absence of religious fanaticism, the disunited condition of 
 I the natives, and their acknowledgement of physical superiority 
 
 ought to be taken advantage of, and always borne in mind when 
 plans for the suppression of the slave-trade and its attendant bar- 
 barism are projected. In my opinion, it will be some years before 
 the slave-trade carried on by the Arabs can be successfully grap- 
 pled with, but there is no reason why any delay should occur in 
 striking a blow at the inter-tribal trade. 
 
 The' Congo Free State has moved a step in the right direction 
 by establishing near Stanley Falls an intrenched camp, with the 
 object of forming a barrier to keep the Arabs, with their Man- 
 yema banditti, east of that position. Every country in the world 
 should support the State to effect this object, as it will play a 
 most important part in the history of Central Africa. When Stan- 
 ley left Wadelai the Malidists were already there. If their hordes 
 join with those at Stanley Falls it will require most strenuous 
 efforts to protect the whole Congo basin from their devastations. 
 While we are still able to keep the Arabs east of the falls, no time 
 should be lost in eradicating the existing bloodshed west of that 
 point. It is a big work, but it is a duty which the civilized world 
 owes to the helpless slave. Although black, and a savage, still he 
 is a human being. It should alwaj'S be remembered that the sup- 
 pression of slavery in Africa does not mean merely striking the fet- 
 ters from the limbs of the slave ; its end is not only the substitu- 
 tion of paid forced labor, but also the relief of enslaved humanity 
 throughout all these regions from a life of unspeakable horror. 
 
244 ' IN SAVAGE AFRICA, 
 
 When action is to be taken for the suppression of slavery all the 
 people exposed for sale should be redeemed and warning should 
 be given that any attempt in future to purchase human beings 
 for slavery would be the signal for war, and that the buyer 
 would be severely punished. 
 
 The most important part of the movement is to convince the 
 slaves of our earnestness and sincerity. I feel confident that 
 should operations be carried on in the way thus suggested most 
 satisfactory results would ensue. 
 
 The reason for the native villages being disunited is, that there 
 seldom exists a chief strong enough to form a combination. This 
 weakness should be taken advantage of, and capable white men 
 might, through their personal influence, unite the tribes under 
 their leadership. Sooner or later the Arabs at Stanley Falls will 
 have to be battled with. At present they remain there, not 
 because the white men will not allow them to come lower down, 
 but because they are in the center of such a rich field, and they 
 know that by coming down the river they must rely entirely on 
 their canoes, as roads in the interior are few and far between, 
 owing to the swampy nature of the land. They would also have 
 the populous and warlike districts of Upoto, Mobeka, and Bangala 
 to fight against, which would not be so easily overcome as the 
 small scattered hamlets around Stanley Falls, which at present 
 they are continually persecuting. 
 
 All the natives on the Upper Congo, quite up to the limits at present 
 reached by the Arabs, should be controlled as much as possible and 
 be combined together under white leaders, so that when the time 
 arrives that the Arabs decide to move westward they would be 
 met at the frontier by a barrier of well-armed and resolute natives. 
 
 The slave-trade of to-da}^ is almost entirely confined to Africa. 
 The slaves nre caught and disposed of in that continent, and the 
 number of those who are shipped to Turkej^ and other parts is in- 
 deed small compared with the enormous traffic carried on in the 
 interior. We have the authority of Stanley and Livingstone and 
 other explorers concerning the iniquity existing in the eastern 
 portion of Equatorial Africa, 
 
DEVOTED FOLLOWERS. 245 
 
 In India we have an example of what determination and resolu- 
 tion can accomplish ; as the inhuman ceremonies of the suttee 
 car of Juggernaut, infanticide, and the secret society of the Thugs 
 have all been suppressed by the British Government. The oppor- 
 tunities for reaching the center of Africa are yearly improving. 
 Since Stanley first exposed to the world's gaze, in 1887, the blood- 
 stained history of the dark continent, rapid strides have been 
 made in opening up that country. The work for Africa's welfare 
 so determinedly pursued by Livingstone has been most nobly car- 
 ried on by Stanley, and the rapid progress which is at present 
 taking place is due entirely to Stanley's efforts. Whole nations 
 are following in his footsteps and wearing his trails into broad 
 roads. 
 
 The Central Africans are capable of heroic deeds. Stanley's 
 companions, on all his great journeys, have been Zanzibaris, 
 whose stanch support has enabled him to carry out his giant 
 projects. 
 
 When Dr. Livingstone died in Central Africa, two natives pre- 
 served the body and carried it to the coast, a distance of over two 
 thousand miles. 
 
 Only recently when the French explorer Crampel was treach- 
 erously killed by the Arabs, a young African girl, who had been 
 protected by the white officer, snatched up a gun and shot one of 
 the murderers. 
 
 I myself have sincere admiration for the brave young Ba- 
 Nkundu with whom I have fought side by side against over- 
 whelming odds of hostile cannibals. Such plucky and devoted 
 fellows as Bongo Nsanda and Bienelo are a credit to any nation. 
 
 A party of engineers was engaged in 1887-88 surveying the 
 country of the Lower Conso, with the object of finding a road 
 suitable for a railway. A route was then decided upon, and now 
 there are gangs of Zanzibaris, Kabindas, and Kroo-boys busily em- 
 ployed in road-making. Matadi is to be the starting-point and 
 Leopoldville the terminus. This enterprise was commenced last 
 year, and it is estimated that its completion will require five vears 
 although the chances are it will take a longer time than that. 
 
246 IN SAVAGE AFRICA. 
 
 How ctartled will be the herds of buffaloes and elephants which 
 used to roam around Banza Mantika unmolested, until the arrival 
 of the white man. It will be a rude intrusion, indeed, when the 
 whistle of the locomotive echoes among the fastnesses of the 
 Lower Congo, but its advent at Stanley Pool will be an important 
 epoch in the history of Africa. With the completion of this rail- 
 way there will be an uninterrupted service of steam from the civ- 
 ilized world to the heart of Africa. 
 
 The natives in Central Africa have frequently had their wonder 
 aroused by the strange belongings of the mundele (white man). 
 Rifles, scientific instruments, and field-glasses convinced the den- 
 izens of the dark continent that Mputu (white 
 man's land) must be a marvelous place, but they 
 have got accustomed to all these strange things 
 now. The shrill whistle of the tiny "En 
 Avant" threw them all into a grievous state as 
 she churned up the dark waters of the Upper 
 Congo. But when the railway is finished and 
 the natives around Stanley Pool have become 
 accustomed to the conductor's cry of " All aboard 
 
 ONE OF MT CREW. 
 
 for Matadi," then the dusky porters of Manyanga, 
 Kensuka, and Ngombe, whose bodily efforts have been superseded 
 by the enlightened brain of mankind, will see their calling lost 
 to them, and they must seek some other occupation in which they 
 can earn the wherewith to purchase wives and the gayly colored 
 cloths to dress them. And we white men of the early days of the 
 Congo, who have so often scaled the rocky heights near Mpozo, 
 trudged wearily up Palabala Hill and Congo da Lemba, marched 
 through the stifling valley of Lukungu and crossed the river 
 Nkisi in rickety old canoes, will perhaps sigh and inwardly regret 
 that the railway did not exist in our times, a few years ago. 
 
 After a stay for a week at Kinsassa I engaged carriers and 
 started for the coast homeward bound. I have tried all available 
 methods of locomotion on land in Africa, and I have come to the 
 conclusion that walking is the most satisfactory. The hammock 
 is sometimes used ; this article of porterage is a, piece of canvas 
 
RETURN TO ENGLAND. 247 
 
 looped up on a long pole, -svlierein the traveler lies and is carried 
 by the blacks, one being at each end of the pole ; but the small 
 bridle-path of the caravan-route is at places so ston}- and ragged 
 that falls often occur by the carriers stumbling, and bruises are 
 the result. Donkeys are sometimes seen on the Congo, but 
 unless you get a really good animal you have no end of trouble. 
 The ordinary beast becomes affected by the climate, and require 
 a great amount of encouragement and assistance. As a rule, you 
 must have one man to pull him, another to push him, and when 
 he is very tired you may require the assistance of two others to 
 prevent his falling. Taking all the drawbacks of other methods 
 of locomotion into consideration, I prefer to walk. 
 
 In the fall of 1889 I reached England again after six years' wan- 
 derings. I had left home a raw lad, and I returned feeling quite 
 an old and hardened traveler. Something more than the interval 
 of time separated me from those early days. My thoughts and 
 habits had been molded by the experiences through which I had 
 passed. My interests and sympathies were centered in the land I 
 had left and I felt almost a stranger among my own people. 
 
 I missed for some time the wild tropical scenery, the shouting 
 negroes, and the hundred sounds and sights of savage life. 
 
 If Africa had seemed strange to me six years before, my own 
 country was now as unfamiliar. I had left many a dear friend 
 and comrade on the banks of the great river in lonely stations in 
 the far interior; and in my heart there will always be a warm 
 corner for the poor savage, who has often been my sole companion 
 in the wilds of Central Africa. 
 
 NATIVE HASKKT AM> JARS. 
 
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