THE FALL 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 
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 THE CONGO ARABS
 
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 THE FALL 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 SIDNEY LANGFORD HINDE 
 
 CHEVALIER DE l'oRDRE ROVAL DU LION 
 
 MEMBRE HONORAIRE DE LA SOCi6t6 BELGE DE GEOGRAPHIE 
 
 MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE INTERIOR, BRITISH EAST AFRICA 
 
 LATE CAPTAIN, CONGO FREE STATE FORCES 
 
 METHUEN & CO. 
 
 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 1897

 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ....... 1 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Introductory ....... 21 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Arrival at Banana — Description of a Caravan — Journey from 
 
 tlie Coast Inland — Skirmish with Natives of Interior , 26 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Bangala Cannibals — Voyage up the Kasai and Sankuru 
 Rivers — Arrival at Lusambo — Defeat by Commandant 
 Dhanis of Tippu Tib's Slave-raiding Agent, Gongo 
 Lutete — Basongo Cannibals . . " . .51 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Proposals of Peace and Alliance with the State Forces from 
 Gongo Lutete — Visit to Gongo Lutete at his capital, 
 N'Gandu— The Little People of the Forest . . 70
 
 vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gongo Lutete finally leaves the Arabs and allies himself 
 with the State Forces— Arrival at Kabinda, capital of 
 Lupungu, Great Chief of the Baluba — Movements of 
 the Enemy headed by Tippu Tib's son, Sefu — Prepara- 
 tions for an Encounter . . . . .92 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 First Encounter with the Arabs — Capture of two of their 
 
 Forts ....... 112 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 Skirmishes with the Enemy — Return of Sefu to the Attack . 126 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 More Arab Defeats — The Commandant decides to take the 
 
 initiative and to lead an Attack upon Sefu's Forces . 141 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 The State Forces camp opposite the town of Nyangwe, on 
 the other side of the River Lualaba — Description of the 
 Water-people — Surprise Encounter with two columns of 
 advancing Arabs . . . . . .153 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Account of the Fall of Nyangwe . . . .169 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Arrival of Ambassadors from Sefu with offers of Peace— The 
 Commandant postpones his March on Kasongo — Rein- 
 forcement of the State Forces— March on Kasongo : its
 
 CONTENTS vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fall — Description of tlie Luxuries found in the Town — 
 Kelics of Emin Pasha — Insubordination in the conquered 
 town of Nyangwe . . . . . .178 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The State Forces settle down at Kasongo — Superstitions of 
 
 the Natives : their Habits and Mode of Living . .194 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Our ally, Gongo Lutete, accused of Treachery and executed 
 at N'Gandu — Arrival at Kasongo of five Officers from 
 Europe — Continued Encounters with the Enemy — The 
 Arabs decamp from the town of Stanley Falls, leaving 
 it at the mercy of the State Troops — The State Forces 
 are joined by Captain Lothaire from Bangala, and follow 
 the Arabs up the River — After severe Fighting, the River 
 cleared of Arabs and their Hordes as far as Nyangwe — 
 Reverses of the State Forces — Attack by Commandant 
 Dhanis on Rumaliza's Fort, eight hours' march from 
 Kasongo ....... 206 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Transference of the State Forces from Kasongo to Bena 
 Musua — The Commandant divides his Forces in order 
 to cut off the Arab Communication — Extra Forces 
 stationed at Bena Quia, on the main road to Kabam- 
 bari, at Bena Kalunga, and at Bena Musua — Reinforce- 
 ment of the Enemy — The State Troops form a semicircle 
 round the Arab Forts and cut off their Food Supply — 
 Arrival of Captain Lothaire with contingent of Soldiers 
 from Bangala — Explosion in the Arab Camp — Capitula- 
 tion of the Enemy — The Taking of Kabambari — Arab 
 Chiefs made Prisoners by Lothaire . . . 233
 
 viii ' CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Description of Expedition to explore the Upper Waters of 
 
 the Lualaba River ...... 248 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 The Return Journey to the Coast .... 272 
 
 Note on Cannibalism ...... 282 
 
 Note on Congo Lutete's Bodyguard .... 285 
 
 Note on Exploration of section of Lualaba River by Captain 
 
 Hinde ....... 287
 
 / 
 
 
 27 
 
 Vincent BrooUs^Da/ 1 Son (iLh
 
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 o
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The year 1892 marks tlie crisis of a struggle in 
 Central Africa between the conflicting forces of the 
 East and the West. Between these forces, repre- 
 sented on the one hand by the Arabs from Zan- 
 zibar, and on the other by the Europeans from 
 the mouth of the Congo, a collision had long been 
 pending ; and since each was bent upon supre- 
 macy within the same area, it was evident that 
 the extinction of one power or the other could 
 alone solve the problem. 
 
 A body of Arab traders, hunters of slaves and 
 ivory, had long striven to gather to Zanzibar the 
 entire trade of Central Africa ; while the Belgians 
 of the Congo Free State, later in the field, sought 
 to divert the commerce of the Interior to the 
 Congo mouth, and thence, ultimately, to Europe.
 
 2 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 During the present century, many circumstances 
 have combined to make the Zanzibar Arabs the 
 most noted slave-hunters and slave-dealers in the 
 world. Of their earlier history little is definitely 
 known, beyond the fact that already in the tenth 
 century there were Arab settlements along the 
 East Coast of Africa. 
 
 After the discovery of the Cape Road to the 
 Indies, most of these settlements were conquered 
 by the Portuguese, and were then gradually re- 
 conquered in the eighteenth and beginning of the 
 nineteenth centuries by the Imams of Muscat. 
 
 Of this second Arab dominion the most im- 
 portant centres were the islands of Zanzibar and 
 Pemba ; and from these islands, as the result of the 
 mingling of Arab and negro blood, a race of black 
 Arabs has sprung. Yet, despite their long occupa- 
 tion of the Zanzibar coast and neighbouring dis- 
 tricts, it is only within recent times that the Arabs 
 have advanced into the Interior. 
 
 Some two generations ago the island of Pemba 
 developed into a great clove-plantation, worked by 
 slaves in the manner of the cotton and sugar
 
 INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 plantations of America. A little later, certain 
 merchants of Zanzibar, becoming involved with 
 their creditors, migrated to Central Africa to 
 prospect for ivory. Owing to the destruction of 
 their beasts of burden by the tsetse fly, they found 
 it necessary to employ the natives as porters ; and 
 thus it arose that blacks were shipped to the 
 Zanzibar slave-market, as a by-product of the 
 ivory-trade, at the very time when there was a 
 strong demand for their laliour in the clove-planta- 
 tions of Pemba. The supply of slaves ultimately 
 became such as to permit of a large export across 
 the seas to the Mohammedan countries of Asia. 
 
 Many of the ivory and slave hunters, failing to 
 make their fortunes, or drawn by the spell of a 
 nomadic life, remained in the Interior ; and hence 
 there grew up a system of Arab trade-routes and 
 trade-centres, controlled by certain well-known 
 Arab chiefs. It was along these routes, and with 
 the aid, or at times the obstruction, of the Arabs, 
 that the European explorers of the Lake country, 
 and of the sources of the Congo and the Nile, 
 travelled. Thus the great trunk-route from Baga-
 
 4 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 moyo (opposite to Zanzibar), by Tabora in Unyan- 
 yembe, to Ujiji on Tanganyika, was followed 
 successively by Burton and Speke, Livingstone 
 and Stanley, Cameron, and, in part, by Speke 
 and Grant. An extension of this route from Ujiji, 
 across Tanganyika, led through the Manyema 
 country, by Kabambari and Kasongo, to Nyangwe 
 on the Lualaba River. 
 
 So far, European discovery had followed in the 
 track of the Arabs from Zanzibar as a basis. But 
 the serious occupation of Central Africa by the 
 Europeans began with Stanley's expedition under 
 the International Association, from the mouth of 
 the Congo up the river ; and from that moment 
 a conflict, however postponed, was certain. Nor 
 was it less certain in what region, and along w^hat 
 strategical lines, the struggle would take place. 
 The Europeans had access for their ocean steamers 
 to Matadi, just below the Yellala Falls, and thence 
 by portages, far removed from Arab interference, 
 up to Stanley Pool. From the Pool, their river 
 steamers could navigate without interruption, on 
 the one hand, eastwards, along the main river to
 
 INTRODUCTION § 
 
 Stanley Falls, and, on the other, from the Kwa 
 mouth, southwards, along the Kasai and Sankuru 
 systems. Since the Falls are to the north, and the 
 Sankuru is to the west, of the Manyema country, 
 the Belgians had two separate lines of advance, 
 converging from two distinct bases upon Nyangwe, 
 the head of the road from Zanzibar. The Man- 
 yema country was therefore the natural centre, 
 both offensive and defensive, of the Arabs. 
 
 When the Belgian expedition of which Captain 
 Hinde was a member, passed from the Kasai, 
 southwards, to the copper country of Katanga, it 
 exposed itself to a flank attack from the east, at a 
 time when the Arabs wxre secure on the side of 
 the Falls ; for they had destroyed the State station 
 there in 1886. Reinforced by Commandant 
 Dhanis, the expedition turned eastwards to face 
 the Arabs, and advanced upon Nyangwe, crossing 
 tributaries of the Congo and driving the Arabs 
 from river-line to river-line. Successive encounters 
 took place at the Lubefu and the Lualaba, ending, 
 in each case, in the successful passage of the 
 Belgians.
 
 6 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 On the Lualaba the Arabs made a long stand 
 at Nyangwe, the two forces occupying the two 
 banks of the river, firing across it, and occa- 
 sionally attempting the passage by a flank 
 movement. 
 
 At a later stage of the campaign, when the 
 fighting had been carried still farther eastward, to 
 Kasongo, the Belgians, having recovered their 
 position in the Falls country, brought reinforce- 
 ments from the north — thus illustrating the second 
 line of advance that was open to the forces 
 of the Free State. 
 
 In summing up the results of the Belgian cam- 
 paign, Captain Hinde says ^ : — 
 
 "The political geography of the Upper Congo Basin has been 
 completely changed, as a result of the Belgian canipaign among 
 the Arabs. It used to be a common saying, in this j^art of Africa, 
 that all roads led to Nyangwe. This town, visited by Living- 
 stone, Stanley, and Cameron, until lately one of the greatest 
 markets in Africa, has ceased to exist ; and its site, when I last saw 
 it, was occupied by a single house. Kasongo, a more recent though 
 still larger centre, with perhaps 60,000 inhabitants, has also been 
 swept away, and is now represented by a station of the Free State 
 nine miles away, on the river bank. 
 
 1 Paper entitled " Three Years' Travel in the Congo Free State," 
 read before the Koyal Geographical Society, 11th March 1895.
 
 INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 "In harmony with this political change the trade-routes have 
 been completely altered, and the traffic which used to follow the 
 well-beaten track from Nyangwe and the Lualaba, across Tan- 
 ganyika to Ujiji, or round the lake to Zanzibar, now goes down the 
 Congo to Stanley Pool and the Atlantic. 
 
 " Despite their slave-raiding propensities during the forty years 
 of their domination, the Arabs have converted the Manyema and 
 Malela country into one of the most prosperous in Central Africa. 
 The landscape, as seen from high hills in the neighbourhood of 
 Nyangwe and Kasongo, reminds one strongly of an ordinary English 
 arable country. There is nothing similar, that I am aware of, in 
 any other part of the Congo Basin ; and yet the Arabs have left the 
 Malela perhaps the most inveterate cannibals on the face of the 
 globe." 
 
 Chief of the Arabs who organised this imperium 
 in imperio — for the Manyema country was wholly 
 within the treaty frontiers of the Congo Free State 
 — was the great slave-raider Tippu Tib. So closely 
 are the events of the last thirty-five years inter- 
 woven with this man's personality that it is im- 
 possible to realise their full significance without 
 some conception of the moving force from which 
 they resulted. Tippu Tib's career supplies the key 
 to the Arab position before the collision of forces 
 which led to the transfer of power in Central 
 Africa. 
 
 Hamed ben Mohammed ben Juna, known to
 
 8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the world by his nick-name of Tippu Tib/ is 
 descended from a line of wealthy and influential 
 merchants settled at Zanzibar. ^ His father was a 
 half-caste Arab, and his mother a full-blooded 
 negro slave - woman. Yet, despite the strong 
 element of negro blood in his veins, Tippu Tib is, 
 in most of his mental characteristics, essentially 
 Arab ; and it is from this side of his descent that 
 the indomitable will, which raised him from a 
 Zanzibar merchant to the position of potentate 
 over a vast tract of country, has doubtless its 
 origin. 
 
 At an early age Tippu Tib struck out an 
 independent line for himself, and, having gathered 
 round him a band of a hundred fighting men, 
 entered the African mainland in quest of ivory and 
 slaves. After plundering several large districts, 
 and forcing the inhabitants into bondage, he re- 
 
 ^ Tippu Tib, or " the gatherer together of wealth.'"' According 
 to some theories the name originated in the frequent use he made 
 of his guns, which the natives described as sounding like 
 " tip-u-tip-u-tip." 
 
 2 Since Mr. Stanley in 1876 describes Tippu Tib as "about forty- 
 four years of age," he was presumably born somewhere about the 
 year 1832.
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 turned to Zanzibar to realise on his captured ivory 
 and to recruit his forces. This he successfully 
 accomplished, and his second entry into Africa was 
 at the head of a large armed following. 
 
 With this increase of strength Tippu Tib was 
 able to extend his raids, and to penetrate into 
 regions hitherto unexplored and presenting rich 
 possibilities of ivory. His tactics, based upon and 
 shaped by the ruling motive of his life — an in- 
 satiable greed for riches — were of wider scope than 
 those of his fellow slave-traders ; and although the 
 policy most generally adopted by him was the 
 ordinary system of attack and plunder, he was 
 sufficiently statesmanlike to be guided by the 
 special circumstances he had to deal with. Thus, 
 on more than one occasion, he employed the 
 method of stirring up discontent and jealousy 
 among rival native chiefs, and, through bringing 
 about a condition of strife which resulted in war, 
 gained his ends by identifying himself with the 
 victorious side and claiming a large share of the 
 booty. Of his resourcefulness in furthering his 
 own interests many instances testify. It is told
 
 10 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 of him that, at a time when his ammunition 
 was at too low an ebb for summary measures to 
 be advisable, he pacifically gained entrance, for 
 himself and his following, to a strongly-fortified 
 town by impersonating the king's nephew, who 
 had been carried into slavery years before in a time 
 of war. So successful was this strategy that the 
 king abdicated in his favour, and Tippu Tib 
 suddenly found himself reigning sovereign over 
 some thirty or forty thousand people. From this 
 position of vantage he conquered the neighbouring 
 chiefs, and annexed their spoils and ivory ; and 
 by these means, together with the establishment 
 of his allies in strongholds in the surrounding 
 districts, his influence extended so widely that 
 he became practically unassailable. On various 
 occasions the native chiefs of adjacent tribes, 
 goaded by his brutality, united in making an 
 attack upon him ; but each time Tippu Tib 
 routed his enemies, to the complete destruction 
 both of their forces and of their villages. Such 
 was the terror inspired by his name that many 
 of the chiefs voluntarily tendered their stores of
 
 INTRODUCTION ii 
 
 ivory to him, seeking by means of these bribes to 
 ensure safety against his raids. But though Tippu 
 Tib appropriated the gifts, he remained unin- 
 fluenced by them, and continued to drain the 
 district of its most valuable product. 
 
 At the end of some years, during which time he 
 had amassed great wealth and almost unbounded 
 influence, this life of raiding began to pall upon 
 Tippu, and he resolved to make a journey to the 
 Arab settlements of Kasongo and Nyangwe. At 
 Nyangwe, which he reached in the year 1874, he 
 fell in with Cameron, who already had knowledge 
 of the great slave-raider through Livingstone. 
 Tippu Tib had crossed Livingstone's path as early 
 as 1867, in the interval between which date and 
 his meeting with Cameron he had trebled his 
 influence and importance. After escorting Cam- 
 eron across the Lualaba as far as Utotera, and 
 providing him with escort sufficient to enable 
 him to continue his journey, Tippu Tib proceeded 
 to Kasongo. Here, in recognition of his position 
 as the most powerful Arab of the Interior, he 
 was elected governor. But a stationary life held
 
 12 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 few attractions for the restless slaver, and, placing 
 his son Sefu in command of the settlement, he 
 diverted his energies to raiding the surrounding 
 districts, and to the further increasing of his 
 wealth and strength. 
 
 In the year 1876 Stanley arrived at Nyangwe, 
 on his great expedition down the Congo Kiver, 
 and there met Tippu Tib. It is from this meet- 
 ing at Nyangwe that dates the connection between 
 the organisers of the rival powers — the Congo 
 Free State and the Arab dominion at Kasongo. 
 Tippu Tib was at this time, as described by 
 Stanley, " about forty-four years of age, of middle 
 stature and swarthy complexion, with a broad face, 
 black beard just greying, and thin-lipped." His 
 manners were those of a well-bred Arab, and 
 his presence conveyed a sense of great power and 
 energy. With considerable difliculty Stanley 
 succeeded in persuading Tippu Tib and a large 
 following of his people to accompany him part- 
 way on his expedition. The agreement between 
 them stipulated that Tippu Tib and his people 
 should, on certain specified conditions of Tippu's
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 own making, act as escort for a distance of sixty 
 camps, for which service he was to receive the 
 sum of 5000 dollars. 
 
 The expedition started from Nyangwe on the 
 5th November 1876, but, from the first, so 
 great were the difficulties encountered that before 
 many days were over Tippu Tib lost heart, and, 
 after some weeks of vacillating between his desire 
 for the 5000 dollars and his conviction that the 
 undertaking was an impossible one, he finally 
 deserted Stanley at Vinga Njara on the 28th 
 December. 
 
 From this point Tippu Tib made his way across 
 the country — raiding and plundering as he went — 
 to Ujiji, where he made a halt of some length 
 before continuing his journey to Zanzibar. There, 
 and at Tabora (at which place he extended his 
 acquaintance with European travellers by meet- 
 ing the explorer Wissmann), he established trusted 
 vassals, whose business it was to receive and 
 forward his goods, and to keep the road open. 
 By a great stroke of diplomacy, he succeeded in 
 making peace between the Arab settlers at Ujiji
 
 14 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and a hostile native chief who had for years 
 blocked the trade-road. This achievement secured 
 to Tippu Tib the favour both of the Sultan and 
 of the British Consul at Zanzibar ; and in the 
 light of their approval he made a protracted stay in 
 the island, utilising the opportunity by investing a 
 considerable portion of his fortune in firearms 
 and powder. 
 
 When Tippu Tib again returned to the Interior 
 it was as uncrowned king over a vast territory, 
 and at the head of a following of many 
 thousands. He struck out in the direction of 
 Stanley Falls, where he had decided to make 
 his headquarters ; and there he arrived soon after 
 the founding of the Free State, and the establish- 
 ment of the Falls station, by Stanley. 
 
 From the Falls as a basis, Tippu began a fresh 
 system of operations. He erected small fortified 
 camps in the surrounding districts ; wdiile bands 
 of his Arabs made organised incursions into wide 
 regions beyond, capturing slaves which they 
 bartered back to their tribes in return for ivory. 
 
 This state of affairs continued until 1886, when,
 
 INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 for reasons of his own, Tippu Tib resolved upon 
 another expedition to Zanzibar. On the way he 
 inspected his settlements along the trade-route, 
 and chanced to fall in with Dr. Lenz and Dr. 
 Junker, whom he accompanied back to Zanzibar. 
 
 It was during this absence of Tippu Tib that 
 the Arabs attacked and destroyed the Falls station 
 of the Free State. Though Tippu was himself 
 absent from the scene, it is inconceivable that 
 the attack should have been planned without his 
 knowledge, and it is probable that he was the 
 instigator of this fresh development of Arab 
 enterprise. 
 
 Hostile relations had from the first existed 
 between the officer in command of the station 
 and the Arab chiefs in the neighbourhood, who 
 strongly resented the white man's authority. On 
 his departure for the coast, Tippu Tib had left as 
 deputy in control of his people, his partner, Bwana 
 N'Zigi ; and N'Zigi, with his son Raschid, exercised 
 unlimited sway over the natives, and interfered 
 largely in matters connected with the manage- 
 ment of the station. Perpetual friction between
 
 i6 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the European officer and N'Zigi culminated in an 
 open contest of authority, which presented to the 
 Arabs the excuse, long sought by them, for an 
 attack upon the station. As they fully realised, 
 the opportunity was one not likely to recur ; 
 the station was cut off from all possibility of 
 reinforcement, and was at the mercy of an 
 attacking force overwhelmingly greater than its 
 power of resistance. From the outset, notwith- 
 standing the desperate defence made by the com- 
 manding officer, Deane — who with a handful of 
 men kept his opponents at bay for four days — 
 the fall of the station was inevitable. 
 
 No immediate attempt was made by the State 
 to retake the position, and the Arabs were for 
 some time left in undisputed mastery of it. 
 
 After the overthrow of the Falls station 
 Tippu Tib and Stanley again met — this time at 
 Zanzibar, where Stanley was organising the Emin 
 Pasha Belief Expedition. The position to be 
 faced was one of extreme difficulty'; and it is 
 unnecessary here to enter into the motives which 
 induced Stanley to adopt the policy of installing
 
 INTRODUCTION 17 
 
 the chief instigator of the attack, and the most 
 renowned slave-raider of the Interior, as State 
 Governor of the Falls. As was to be expected, 
 Tippu Tib gave a ready assent to his proposal, 
 and thus, in the year 1887, the notorious slave- 
 trader climaxed a life of adventure as the repre- 
 sentative of law and order on behalf of a recognised 
 Government. 
 
 The anomaly of the situation was, from the 
 first, distasteful to the State officials, who found 
 it hard to reconcile Tippu Tib's professions of 
 good faith with his known characteristics. 
 In order, therefore, to strengthen their de- 
 fences in the event of Arab treachery, the Free 
 State Government despatched a Belgian officer, 
 with a small force, to occupy the abandoned 
 island' of Stanley Falls. This slight Tippu Tib 
 had the wisdom outwardly to ignore, though at 
 the same time he quietly set about increasing his 
 strongholds, which were beginning to assume for- 
 
 ^ The State station was built upon an island in the river, 
 just below the cataracts. Most of the Arabs were established 
 upon the mainland, but some occupied a village on the island 
 itself.
 
 i8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 midable dimensions. Both within and without 
 the limits assigned to him by the State his 
 Arab allies had established themselves, and from 
 all sides, in districts hitherto uninvaded, their 
 usurpation was reported. 
 
 Parallel with this Arab advance was the gradual 
 extension of European influence ; and as each force 
 realised that the contest was drawing to greater 
 significance, hostilities assumed a more definite 
 character. The Belgians, who had erected fortified 
 camps on the Aruimi, the Lomami, and the San- 
 kuru Rivers, began to push back the Arab out- 
 posts, and sought by occupation of the country to 
 prevent further encroachment. Meanwhile the 
 Arabs, recognising to the full the largeness of the 
 stakes at issue, and foreseeing that the impending 
 struggle would be the final one, resolved to take 
 the initiative. To this end they allied to them- 
 selves, as vassals of Tippu Tib, many powerful 
 chiefs in the surrounding districts, among whom 
 Lupungu and Gongo Lutete were of widest influence. 
 These two chiefs, and Gongo Lutete in especial, 
 were largely instrumental in shaping the subse-
 
 INTRODUCTION 19 
 
 quent course of events. The defeat of Gongo in 
 an attack led by him against the State, and his 
 subsequent desertion to the Free State, brought 
 on the Arab invasion in force, headed by Tippu 
 Tib's son, Sefu ; and this opened the campaign 
 narrated in the following pages by Captain Hinde. 
 Had the attempt of the Arabs succeeded, it is 
 probable that the Free State would have been 
 replaced by a Mohammedan Empire analogous 
 to that of the Khalifa in the Soudan. But cir- 
 cumstances combined against the Arabs ; and in 
 their attempt to obliterate the white man's influ- 
 ence in Central Africa they precipitated their 
 own downfall, and brought about the destruction 
 of a power which, though not so indicated in 
 our maps, was virtually an independent rival of 
 
 the Congo Free State. 
 
 E. C. M.
 
 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 Within the limits of the Congo Free State, as 
 arranged by the Berlin Congress, was a great 
 district often marked Kasongo or Many em a in 
 the map of Africa, over which the Government 
 of the Congo Free State had no control, except 
 through Tippu Tib, Raschid, and one or two other 
 Arabs, who were appointed officials in their own 
 country by the Congo Free State Government. 
 In this great district a powerful Arab organisation 
 was established, w^hich was in constant communi- 
 cation with Zanzibar by the direct road through 
 Ujiji, and by other more roundabout routes. 
 This Arab power recognised that as soon as the 
 
 European influence was sufficiently strong in the 
 
 •n
 
 22 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Congo Basin a collision between the two forces was 
 inevitable. The Arabs, moreover, realised that, in 
 the event of a European success, the greater part 
 of the ivory and rubber trade would be taken out of 
 the hands of the Mohammedans, and would, instead 
 of going to the east coast, go down the Congo to 
 the Atlantic. The great country, which was then 
 their hunting-ground for forays and slave-raiding, 
 would thus be lost to them for ever. Anticipating 
 this, they chose their moment well, at a time when 
 the Free State was utterly unprepared for war. 
 With the success of the Mahdi, in founding an 
 empire from which he had ousted Europeans, before 
 them, they were encouraged to hope that they 
 might do likewise in the Congo Basin. Their 
 first move was to murder Hodister's expedition, 
 together with the white men left in the two 
 trading stations he had formed within their 
 territory ; they then murdered Em in Pasha, who 
 was at the time a harmless traveller through 
 their country, and under the protection of a 
 powerful Arab chief. Lastly, they organised a 
 large army, and attacked the expedition to which
 
 INTRODUCTORY 23 
 
 I was attached ; the object of which was to 
 establish stations in Katanga, a district not 
 under Arab influence. Had they succeeded in 
 annihilating us, it would have been easy for them 
 to continue by land to Stanley Pool ; at the same 
 time they hoped that their attack on Stanley Falls 
 Station would be successful, in which case they 
 would have descended the Congo itself with 
 another column, and would have found small 
 difiiculty in ousting the remaining Europeans, 
 and in subsequently establishing a Mohammedan 
 Empire. As will be seen from the following pages, 
 extraordinary luck, together with good leading, 
 was the cause of our first success. Realising what 
 was at stake, and fully recognising the gravity 
 of the position, the Mohammedans fought to the 
 bitter end, returning again and again to the 
 attack, even when there was no hope of success. 
 An almost incredibly large loss of life was the 
 result. To the casual reader unfamiliar with 
 African history, this might, on the surface, appear 
 to have been a curious little war, with a dozen 
 white officers and four hundred regular black
 
 24 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 troops on the one side, and a couple of hundred 
 Arab chiefs, supported by a few hundred half-bred 
 Arabs and commanding large numbers of irregular 
 soldiery, on the other. But it must be borne in 
 mind that, unlike the Soudan struggle, this war 
 took place in a thickly-populated country, whose 
 whole population, used to savage warfare, took 
 part in the fighting, and that large bodies of men 
 were constantly changing sides as the prestige of 
 one or other party increased or diminished. As the 
 Arabs were driven back towards Tanganyika, they 
 succeeded in enrolling all the fighting men of fresh 
 tribes under their banners. This was the easier, 
 since for thirty years they had been the sole power; 
 Europeans were also unknown, and the credulous 
 natives readily believed the tales spread among 
 them by the Arabs of European cruelties to their 
 subordinates. Though large our losses and those 
 of our allies, the Arab loss was immensely greater ; 
 it is, in fact, estimated at seventy thousand men. 
 This great struggle is, without doubt, a turning- 
 point in African history. It is impossible to even 
 surmise what would have been the efiect on the
 
 INTRODUCTORY 25 
 
 future of Africa had another great Mohammedan 
 Empire been established in the Congo Basin. As 
 things now are, with the Arab power in Central 
 Africa crushed out of existence, the result to the 
 country is difficult to prophesy. 
 
 In our present state of ignorance, colonisation, 
 as opposed to settlement, by Europeans is out of 
 the question. Increased knowledge of diseases, 
 and of the treatment of those peculiar to tropical 
 climates, may some day render it possible for a 
 healthy European colony to spring up in this 
 rich land, in which migratory traders with some 
 sort of military occupation form now the sole 
 European element.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ARRIVAL AT BANANA — DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN 
 — JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND — 
 SKIRMISH WITH NATIVES OF INTERIOR 
 
 The Congo Free State, as most people now know 
 (though four or five years ago few knew of 
 more than its existence), is, roughly speaking, a 
 country from which the Congo and its tributaries 
 draw their water supply. It extends from the 
 Congo mouth, on the Atlantic coast, to the western 
 shore of Lake Tanganyika ; and from the fifth 
 degree north latitude to the thirteenth degree 
 south latitude. All the important tributaries 
 of the Congo, with one exception in the district 
 known as French Congo, are within these bound- 
 aries. Large tracts of this enormous space of 
 country in equatorial Africa are covered by the 
 great Congo forest. Of the world's great tropical 
 forests, one may say that there are three only —
 
 ARRIVAL AT BANANA 27 
 
 the Amazon, tlie Malay Archipelago, and the 
 Congo. From the coast to Stanley Pool, a dis- 
 tance of about two hundred and eighty miles, the 
 Congo lies between great cliffs, and forms a series 
 of rapids and cataracts which render the com- 
 munication by water with the interior absolutely 
 impossible. Once arrived at Stanley Pool, com- 
 munication with the interior is easy. Stanley 
 Falls, a thousand miles up the river, can be 
 reached by steamer, since between it and Stanley 
 Pool there are no rapids. Nearly all the tribu- 
 taries of the Congo are navigable, and some of 
 them for hundreds of miles. As may be easily 
 imagined, the country in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of any of these tributaries is now fairly 
 well known, though at a very short distance 
 away from a river bank it is still entirely 
 unexplored. The fact that unknown country 
 and as yet unknown races are to be found in 
 the Congo Basin gives it a curious fascina- 
 tion to many people. From my boyhood, 
 everything connected with the mysterious con- 
 tinent interested me ; and I determined to see
 
 28 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 something of it if ever circumstances gave me 
 the opportunity. 
 
 The possibility of doing so arose in the follow- 
 ing manner : — 
 
 My friend, Dr. Park, of the Emin Pasha Relief 
 Expedition, had several times asked me to go out 
 to Africa in the service of His Majesty the King 
 of the Belgians ; and at last, after holding several 
 resident appointments in hospitals, I decided to 
 do so. I went down to Netley on the 26th of 
 October 1891, and, after an hour's conversation 
 with Park, left for Brussels the same night. On 
 the following day I accepted a commission as 
 medical ofhcer in the Congo Free State forces, and 
 duly arrived at Banana, at the mouth of the 
 Congo, in December 189L Taken into conside- 
 ration with the reputation the West Coast of 
 Africa has, the entrance to Banana creek is not 
 encouraging. The first thing noticeable is that 
 the head of the little strip of sand on which 
 the station is built is entirely occupied by a 
 crowded cemetery. Yet this strip of sand, not 
 many inches above high-water mark, with man-
 
 ARRIVAL AT BANANA 29 
 
 grove swamps and lagoons on the landward side, 
 has the Atlantic rollers on the other, and is a 
 very good sanatorium for many of the enfeebled 
 Europeans who come down from the far interior. 
 My reception at Boma was, for the first few days, 
 not of the pleasantest. The hotel was crowded ; 
 and as it seemed nobody's business to find me 
 a lodging, I slept on board the steamer at the 
 quay. The Custom House arrangements, also, 
 strike one as peculiar. An ofticer has to pay duty 
 on his guns, ammunition, and even on his service 
 revolver. After a short time, however, orders to 
 proceed to Lusambo on the Sankuru reached me, 
 and I accordingly took the next boat to Matadi, 
 from which point the caravan route starts for 
 Stanley Pool. As the river Congo for upwards 
 of three hundred miles from Stanley Pool to 
 Matadi consists of a series of cataracts, this part 
 of the journey had to be done on foot, though 
 matters will soon be facilitated by the railway, 
 which is now well on its way. Just below Matadi 
 the scenery is magnificent ; the mighty Congo — 
 the second largest river in the world — has to force
 
 30 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 itself through a narrow gorge less than a mile wide, 
 and known as the " Chaudron Infernal." Though 
 the ocean steamers go up to Matadi regularly, they 
 have never yet succeeded in getting soundings in 
 this gorge. It is probably only a matter of time 
 for one of these boats to break its steering-gear or 
 other machinery, and for a fearful catastrophe to 
 take place. Matadi — as its name in the native 
 language implies, meaning " stone " — is a bare, arid, 
 rocky plateau, where the heat is intense. After 
 a week's futile waiting here (during which time 
 I was supplied with neither house, bed, nor tent, 
 but had to sleep in my overcoat on the verandah 
 of the commissary's house), I, in company with 
 three officers since dead, was given a few dozen 
 porters to carry my baggage, and we started on 
 the caravan road. 
 
 A caravan, as most people know, is a number of 
 people travelling together for mutual comfort and 
 protection : that it should contain the proper 
 elements and equipment is indispensable for the 
 success of its mission. As I shall often have 
 occasion to mention a caravan, and as this my
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN 31 
 
 first was in no sense typical, I will describe ours of 
 some months later, leaving Lusambo for Katanga. 
 It was composed as follows : — 
 
 White officers and their servants ; gun-bearers 
 and porters ; regular soldiers, and a certain 
 number of additional porters to carry the extras 
 which are indispensable to the health, well-being, 
 and contentment of the men. The porters carry 
 all loads — including food, ammunition, and water 
 — for the caravan en route, together with the loads 
 pertaining to the special object of the expedition, 
 such as the forming of stations, exploration, trade, 
 or war. Most of the expeditions with which I 
 was connected included all four elements. A few 
 extra men — such as a carpenter, blacksmith, 
 armourer, tailor, and cook — add largely to the 
 general comfort ; and all expeditions in Central 
 Africa should be accompanied by one or two 
 hunters by trade, and at least half a dozen good 
 canoe and general water men. Commandant 
 Dhanis instituted a new departure in African 
 travel by allowing every soldier to take his 
 wife, or wives as the case might be, along with
 
 32 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 him ; and even the porters were generally 
 followed by their women. Only by personal 
 experience of caravan-travelling with and without 
 women is it possible to realise the enormous 
 advantages gained by allowing the men full 
 liberty in this respect. Among the most indis- 
 putable of these advantages is the avoidance of 
 trouble with native villages, or peoples, on the 
 subject of w^omen. The annoyance and danger 
 due, despite the strictest discipline, to what 
 every African traveller knows as "woman palaver" 
 is ]3ractically done away with when the men are 
 accompanied by their wives. On the road, too, 
 the women form extra porters — it being much 
 easier for a soldier to carry his food, mat, cooking- 
 pot, blanket, ammunition and rifle, with a wife to 
 help him ; and if she has a servant or two in 
 addition, it makes things easier still for him. 
 It must be borne in mind that among the races 
 of which I am speaking the women are all used 
 to hard work ; and I have rarely heard of a case 
 in which they preferred to stay in a comfortable 
 station to following their men on the road.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN 33 
 
 Arriving at the camp, each man immediately 
 sets to and builds a small hut for himself and 
 his family, and while he is thus occupied the 
 women forage for and cook the food. As a 
 consequence the men are comfortably housed and 
 well fed, and are not affected by the changes of 
 weather. At the end of a long and weary 
 march, it is almost impossible to get the men 
 to take care of themselves : after carrying a 
 heavy load all day, they refuse to take the 
 trouble of looking after themselves properly, and 
 in the case of bad weather, or short commons, 
 soon become ill. If a man falls sick on the road, 
 though he may still be able to walk well, the first 
 thing he throws away is his supply of food — 
 often a heavy and cumbersome bundle — in the 
 hope that on the following day he will be able 
 to beg, borrow, or steal another supply. The good 
 health enjoyed by our caravans, as a consequence 
 of this system, was most remarkable. On one 
 occasion we were on the road for seven months, 
 with four hundred soldiers and a caravan com- 
 prising eighteen hundred souls, and during the 
 3
 
 34 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 whole of this time did not lose one man from sick- 
 ness or desertion. The expedition included seven 
 days' marching through a district recently raided 
 by Arab parties, in which it was impossible to 
 find an atom of food of any kind, and during 
 which time we saw no living thing, the natives 
 having all been taken prisoners or destroyed. 
 They had previously exterminated the game ; and 
 the pigeons and guinea-fowl, which prefer the 
 neighbourhood of man, had taken themselves off 
 into other districts. Knowing what was in store 
 for us, the whole caravan had loaded itself 
 beforehand with food, the women in many 
 cases carrying more than an average man could. 
 Caravans in Africa usually march in single file, 
 the paths through the country being seldom 
 more than ten inches wide. Our formation was 
 generally headed by a strong advance-guard of 
 soldiers, who were not allowed to carry anything 
 but their rifles and ammunition ; after them came 
 the loads with the guard, then the women, and 
 lastly a strong rear-guard. The white ofiicers, 
 each with a good bodyguard, were distributed
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN 35 
 
 along the whole line, which was sometimes two 
 or three miles in length. The officer in command 
 of the advance - guard halted the head of the 
 caravan for perhaps twenty minutes after passing 
 even so small an obstacle as a fallen tree. All 
 auxiliary forces and camp followers were sent on 
 in front of the caravan, and if overtaken had to 
 withdraw from the road, since they were not 
 allowed to mingle with or interfere in any way 
 with the main caravan. With the rear-guard the 
 available extra porters and prisoners marched, 
 whose duty it was to collect and bring in any 
 loads or sick that had fallen out of the ranks. 
 
 The caravan road itself merits some descrip- 
 tion. It is seldom more than ten inches wide, 
 and wherever it goes the width never varies : 
 whether crossing rocky uplands or traversing 
 forests, descending mountains or the steep sides 
 of ravines, it is always the same monotonous 
 track. It is wearying enough to follow for a 
 few hours, but when the hours grow into days, 
 and the days into weeks, one comes to regard it 
 almost in the light of a personal enemy. After
 
 36 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 crossing a scorching sandy plain, with its dry 
 blades of grass a foot or two apart — so drear 
 and lonely that the insects do not even hum — 
 one perhaps emerges on a rising rocky ground 
 (for hours before seen as a grey streak in the 
 distance), from whence the unending path stretches 
 away in a yellow line towards the horizon. It 
 may be that away to the northward, though the 
 course has been a north-easterly one, a blue line 
 of mountains is visible, and you know that, how- 
 ever hard they may be to climb, the path will 
 turn aside and scale them at their steepest point. 
 If it has led you into a fertile country, it winds 
 about like a snake, forming itself into letter S's, 
 and succeeds in doubling the distance to the 
 village, apparently quite close an hour or two 
 before. The hostile native looks upon this path 
 as his friend. He digs holes in it a foot in 
 diameter, and places sharp spikes or poisoned 
 arrow-heads in them, laying dust-covered leaves 
 over the opening, into which the unwary among 
 the barefooted porters puts his foot, and becomes 
 useless or dies on the road. A fallen tree across
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A CARAVAN 37 
 
 the way also serves the enemy : he places a spear 
 in the grass or brushwood overhanging the track 
 on the other side, in such a position that the first 
 man who steps over or jumps across the tree is 
 impaled. When a man dies on the caravan road 
 he is not buried, and the path takes a little turn 
 aside two or three yards from the body, and 
 returns to its course at the same distance on the 
 other side of it. The loop thus formed remains 
 for ever — once having left the straight course, the 
 path never returns to it again. A small thorny 
 bush, a fallen tree, or a stone may be sufficient 
 to turn it, and if a precipice or a ford forces it 
 into a detour of yards or miles, it invariably 
 returns to the point opposite to, and never very 
 far from, the obstruction. Rivers and ravines the 
 path usually ignores : whatever the difficulty of 
 crossing them may be, it winds its way up the 
 bank on the opposite side, neither larger nor 
 smaller for the fact that, though the river is per- 
 haps fordable in the dry season, a bridge or canoe 
 is often the only means of crossing during the 
 wet.
 
 38 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 But to return to the journey to Lusambo. 
 Before we were many days on the road we came 
 to the conclusion that something unusual must 
 be the matter. Dead bodies in every state of 
 decomposition were lying on the path just as they 
 had fallen, and loads of all kinds and descrip- 
 tions were hanging from the trees, often within 
 a few feet of the bodies of the men who had 
 evidently placed them there. It is a habit with 
 native porters to hitch a load in a forked branch 
 of a tree, or, with the help of the six-foot walking- 
 stick which all of them carry, to balance it on 
 some excrescence. By this means they are saved 
 the trouble of lifting the load from the ground 
 when they wish to resume their journey. All the 
 way to Lukungu — the half-way station to Stanley 
 Pool — we found this horrible state of affairs. 
 Several times we had difficulty in obtaining water, 
 as a dead body was lying in the stream or spring 
 which we had been making for as a good camping 
 neighbourhood. We saw no one to tell us what 
 was the matter, or to warn us of the then danger- 
 ous state of the district. Arriving at Lukungu,
 
 JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND 39 
 
 we found that, owing to an epidemic, said to be 
 dysentery, practically all communication with the 
 coast had ceased, the natives refusing to go 
 through the infected district. This epidemic 
 spread like wildfire through the caravans, chiefly 
 because of the filthy habits of the natives of these 
 especial districts. It was, in addition, the rainy 
 season (which is also the tornado season), and we 
 had altogether many uncomfortable experiences. 
 Having been forewarned, I always sank the 
 poles of my tent six or eight inches lower than is 
 usually considered necessary into the soil, and saw 
 to the driving of each individual tent-peg myself 
 In consequence of the poles being sunk, the flap 
 at the lower edge of the tent was on the ground, 
 and, with earth thrown up upon it, formed an 
 extra security. This, with a trench dug round the 
 tent and my baggage piled in front of the most 
 exposed side, gave even a tornado some difliculty 
 in shifting my habitation. Several times in the 
 night, with little or no warning, the tents of one 
 or other of my companions, who were too lazy to 
 superintend things themselves, were whirled away
 
 40 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 from over them, and occasionally even deposited 
 in the surrounding trees. 
 
 After travelling for some time with them, I 
 eventually grew tired of the slow and haphazard 
 manner in which my companions proceeded on the 
 road ; I therefore left them, and, forging ahead, 
 arrived at Leopoldville, on Stanley Pool, on the 
 7th of February 1892. At Stanley Pool, which 
 was extremely short of provisions, an order had been 
 issued to the effect that every officer must in 
 turn go hippo-hunting to supply the troops with 
 meat. This seemed a delightful break in the 
 monotony of station life, and I immediately 
 volunteered to hunt whenever or whatever was 
 desired. There had, unfortunately, been one or 
 two accidents during elephant hunts, and antelope 
 and hippopotamus hunting was therefore the 
 only sport then allowed. My first experience of 
 hippo-shooting, though in itself unnoteworthy, 
 serves to illustrate the foolish things that ignor- 
 ant men may do. I had camped on a sand- 
 bank near the head of Stanley Pool — a place, as I 
 discovered to my cost, usually the camping-ground
 
 JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND 41 
 
 for natives. On turning in for the night I found, 
 in addition to the sandflies and mosquitoes, my 
 tent so infested with vermin that sleep or rest was 
 alike impossible. My Bangala canoe-men, who 
 were huddled in groups enveloped with the thickest 
 smoke they could make by putting damp grass on 
 the fire, were no better ofi", and the constant slap 
 slap on their bare bodies as they disposed of some 
 audacious biter was very irritating. Sleep being 
 out of the question, I determined to try hunting 
 by moonlight. After an hour or two's silent 
 paddling, the Bangala intimated that on an island 
 close to us hippos were to be found, and, running 
 the canoe into the rank vegetation fringing its 
 edge, we forced our way some distance up a 
 narrow slippery path. This led to an open space, 
 where the grass had evidently been trampled 
 down or eaten, and almost immediately I found 
 myself face to face with a pair of hippopotami not 
 twenty yards distant. I had only a Mannlicher 
 and the five cartridges in its magazine with me. 
 As the trampled and broken grass was still nearly 
 up to my shoulders, I had no difficulty in working
 
 42 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 my way round the open space, which enabled me 
 to get a fair shot at the nearer animal. I fired at 
 the shoulder, and, as he swung round, a second 
 time, at the head. The other hippo meanwhile 
 advanced towards me, and I fired, as I thought, 
 between his ears. As he still advanced, I fired 
 again, and he dropped on to his knees, but 
 immediately afterwards got up. This interval 
 enabled me to make a bolt for the narrow path 
 by which I had come, it being almost impossible 
 for a man to break a path for himself through the 
 grass, where every grass stem is from half an inch 
 to an inch in diameter and ten or twelve feet 
 high. I arrived at the path first, fired my last 
 cartridge at the old bull, and, rushing down the 
 narrow track, jumped into the Congo, to find that 
 my boatmen had already embarked, and had 
 departed in the canoe to a safe distance. No 
 sooner was I swimminsr in the Congo than I 
 remembered the crocodiles. I seized the first 
 clump of big reeds I came to, and, lying still, 
 shouted till the canoe returned and picked me up. 
 Taking a fresh supply of cartridges, we returned,
 
 JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND 43 
 
 and found my first hippo dead, but the second one 
 had apparently rolled down a steep place into the 
 water, and was nowhere to be seen. From the 
 amount of blood about I was sure that he was in 
 his death struggles, but could not persuade the 
 men — who were quite satisfied with the prospect 
 of gorging themselves that the one hippo aff'orded 
 — to help me to look for him. We loaded the 
 canoe with as much meat as it would hold, and 
 towed the remainder down the river to Leopold- 
 ville. The other hippo was picked up the next 
 day lower down the river, stone dead. When 
 wounded on land a hippopotamus generally 
 charges, but it is a very easy matter, with a 
 certain amount of space, to get out of its way, since 
 it is only able to turn slowly. A hippo almost 
 invariably returns to the water, when alarmed, by 
 the same road from which he left it, and one 
 should therefore never run down or stand in the 
 trail left by a hippo when on shore. It is unwise 
 to approach big game, especially in a circumscribed 
 space, with a small-bore rifle such as the Mann- 
 licher, since, however great its accuracy and
 
 44 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 penetration may be, its stopping power is practi- 
 cally nil. In this particular case my shoulder-shot 
 at the first hippo passed through both shoulder 
 blades and a rib, in each case leaving only a small 
 hole, through which it would have been difficult 
 to force an ordinary cedar pencil. My second 
 bullet had entered just above the right eye and 
 had penetrated the brain. It is fairly safe^ as I 
 afterwards often found, to fire at the head of big 
 game with the new small-bore rifles ; for though it 
 is improbable that the game will be bagged, except 
 by accident, the animal is too stunned to know 
 what he is doing, and his mad charges are without 
 method. The use of a small-bore rifle for big 
 game seems, however, hardly sportsmanlike, since 
 the number of animals wounded in this way com- 
 pared with those killed outright must always be 
 enormous. Some two years after this I had nine 
 close careful shots with a Mauser rifle at a big 
 bull elephant, the bullet used being within half a 
 grain of the same weight as our Lee-Metford 
 rifle ; yet I did not succeed in bagging him, and 
 eventually he made off" at a pace wliich defied
 
 JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND 45 
 
 pursuit. The poor beast probably died in the 
 depths of the jungle before many hours were over. 
 My stay at Stanley Pool, though it involved 
 some most unpleasant work, taught me much 
 which was afterwards of use. The doctor was 
 generally ill, and his duties devolved almost 
 entirely upon me. The station was badly 
 supplied with provisions, and, as a consequence, 
 both the white and black men were thoroughly 
 out of health. More than half the black soldiers 
 were suffering from ulcerated legs and feet — huge 
 gangrenous sores, which at first resisted all treat- 
 ment. Later on, I found that the probable cause of 
 this state of things was a want of salt ; for, when 
 some months afterwards we were in the Lualaba 
 district, in which salt is plentiful, these ulcers were 
 never seen except in troops arriving from down- 
 river. On several occasions a whole contingent 
 suffering from these loathsome ulcers joined us, 
 and within a month were perfectly well, with no 
 other treatment than a large ration of salt daily 
 with their food. 
 
 Punishment for offenders of the black race is a
 
 46 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 very difficult matter to arrange. In the Congo 
 Free State the men are supplied with rations while 
 up-country, and are only paid on returning to the 
 coast after the expiration of their term of service. 
 Certain advances on their pay during their service 
 are allowed, and it is almost impossible to stop 
 this advance as a punishment, since the few things 
 obtainable up-country are necessary to their health. 
 Prisons, in the present state of the country, 
 are almost an impossibility, and the substitute 
 used of chaining the men in gangs is not only 
 detrimental to health, but is in every way per- 
 nicious and abominable in the extreme, and should 
 certainly not be used for any but dangerous 
 criminals. When half a dozen or a dozen men 
 are chained in a row, and have to work, rest, eat, 
 and sleep without being ever free of the chain for 
 weeks and sometimes months together, their health 
 naturally gives way. Commandant Dhanis was so 
 convinced of the harm done by this treatment, 
 which often incapacitated a man from work for 
 months afterwards, that he practically abolished 
 the chain in his district. During my stay at
 
 JOURNEY FROM THE COAST INLAND 47 
 
 the Pool I managed to keep in health, partly- 
 through taking plenty of exercise, and also by 
 contriving to get a pigeon or two, or some 
 other kind of game, almost every day. Con- 
 tinuous living on tinned food seemed to damage 
 everybody's physique, and a little fresh food daily- 
 has an extraordinary effect on a white man's 
 health and strength in this climate. The question, 
 too, of suitable clothing should, I am convinced, 
 be emphasised much more than it is. Woollen 
 clothing should always be worn, and an extra wrap 
 in the evening is indispensable. The white popu- 
 lation in the Congo district are gradually coming 
 to the conclusion that a house, or station, set on 
 a hill is always a danger to health. A house 
 situated on higher ground than the surrounding 
 country is exposed to every wind that blows, and 
 the difference of temperature is sufficient to make 
 it dangerous for anyone in a heated condition to 
 return in the evening to the cooler situation. The 
 statistics of sickness and death rates of the stations 
 in the Congo on high altitudes, compared with 
 those in valleys or actually on river banks, are
 
 48 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 found to be enormously in favour of those low 
 down, despite the accepted theory with regard 
 to malaria. There seems to be little doubt 
 amongst those who have been on the Congo, that 
 the healthiest class of men in the whole country 
 are the officers, mechanics, and engineers employed 
 on the steamers and boat services ; and this not- 
 withstanding the fact that they live on the water, 
 and are every night moored to the river bank 
 in the immediate neighbourhood of the forest, in 
 order that they may be able to procure fuel for 
 the following day. 
 
 In the beginning of April some natives in the 
 interior murdered one of the station soldiers, and 
 their chief, calling his people together, attacked 
 and routed one of our friendly chiefs within three 
 or four hours' march of Leopold ville, killing his 
 two sons and many of his people. An expedition, 
 which I accompanied, consisting of a hundred and 
 fifty men with a couple of officers, was sent to 
 punish the offender. The marauders declined to 
 enter into open action, and we were nearly worn 
 out at the end of a week by chasing an invisible
 
 SKIRMISH WITH NATIVES OF INTERIOR 49 
 
 foe, whose villages when we climbed the palisades 
 were always empty, though our arrival five 
 minutes before in front of the defence was invari- 
 ably saluted by a volley. They also made their 
 presence felt when we were on the march, by occa- 
 sional shots. All the paths in the district had 
 traps arranged in them — small dug-out holes, with 
 a spike or arrow fixed point upwards in the bottom, 
 and the whole covered over with a plantain leaf 
 sprinkled with dust or sand, so that it was indis- 
 tinguishable from the surrounding soil. Every 
 bush or tuft of grass which obstructed the path 
 had a spear placed in it in such a manner that any 
 person pushing through was sure to be wounded. 
 After a week of this amusement we returned to 
 Leopoldville, very doubtful whether we had not 
 sufi'ered as much as the enemy in actual casualties, 
 though we had brought back with us a flock of 
 goats and a number of fowls. The blacks with us 
 were all young soldiers, most of whom had been 
 recruited, and who were terribly afraid of what 
 they termed " bush niggers." Charging into the 
 jungle or scouting in twos or threes they point-
 
 50 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 blank declined to do, and they were afraid to 
 move a dozen yards from the main body unless 
 accompanied by a white man. It was curious, 
 however, to find how quickly many of these men 
 developed into good soldiers some months after- 
 wards, when we had a serious war with the Arab 
 slave-raiders.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 BANGALA CANNIBALS — VOYAGE UP THE KASAI AND 
 SANKURU RIVERS — ARRIVAL AT LUSAMBO — 
 DEFEAT BY COMMANDANT DHANIS OF TIPPU 
 TIB's SLAVE-RAIDING AGENT, GONGO LUTETE — 
 BASONGO CANNIBALS 
 
 On the 29th of April I embarked on the Stanley^ 
 a thirty-ton stern-wheel paddle-steamer, towing 
 two large whaleboats full of men. Her crew 
 consisted of sixty Bangala and three white 
 officers. 
 
 The Bangala, a very intelligent useful people, 
 are a sort of Kru boy of the interior, and are 
 largely employed on the steamers. They dress 
 their hair fantastically, allowing one or more pig- 
 tails to grow a foot long, and stiffening the plaits 
 with wax to give them the appearance of horns. 
 They also cut and re-cut the skin from the root 
 of the nose upwards to the hair, the cicatrix 
 
 51
 
 52 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 thus formed being often an inch high, and re- 
 sembling a cock's-comb. Upon the steamers they 
 are invaluable. They are at once hunters, soldiers, 
 and sailors. When the boat approaches the bank 
 with the intention of mooring, two or three of 
 them tumble overboard, and hanging on to the 
 flukes of the anchor, run along the bottom in 
 several fathoms of water, till they come up at the 
 bank, and are able to hook the anchor into the 
 root of a tree. They are, however, cannibals, and 
 are constantly giving trouble in this respect. 
 When I was returning from Stanley Falls on my 
 homeward journey, over two years afterwards, six 
 of the crew were in irons on board the ship, whom 
 the captain delivered up to justice at Bangala for 
 having eaten two of their number during the 
 voyage up to the Falls. I was not at the trial, 
 but the captain told me that two of the crew had 
 fallen ill on the upward voyage, and had been 
 given a day or two's rest. On the next ration 
 day these two were missing, and, upon making 
 inquiries, the captain was informed that they had 
 died in the night and had been buried on shore.
 
 BANGALA CANNIBALS 53 
 
 This, however, did not satisfy him, and having 
 his own suspicions he searched the ship, and dis- 
 covered parts of the men smoke-dried, and hidden 
 away in the lockers of the six Bangala, whom he 
 was then handing over to the authorities. 
 
 Leopoldville, as the chief port of the Upper 
 Congo, has large numbers of these Bangala con- 
 stantly coming and going, and has, as a conse- 
 quence, to keep a guard on the cemetery, several 
 cases of body - snatching having been proved 
 against them. This practice became at one time 
 so inveterate that capital punishment had to be 
 resorted to as the only means of putting it down. 
 
 The Bangala have themselves told me when, 
 on shooting parties, I remonstrated with them 
 for only breaking the wings and legs of the 
 wounded game instead of killing it outright, that 
 it was better to let the bird linger, as it made 
 the flesh more tender. This led to conversation, 
 in which they explained that, when at home and 
 about to prepare a feast, the prisoner or slave who 
 was to form the piece de resistance had always 
 his arms and legs broken three days beforehand,
 
 54 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and was then placed in a stream, or pool of water, 
 chin-deep, with his head tied to a stick to prevent 
 him committing suicide, or perhaps falling asleep 
 and thus getting drowned. On the third day he 
 was taken out and killed, the meat then being 
 very tender. Though I cannot vouch for the truth 
 of this story, I have heard it from different men 
 at different times, and it is curious that they 
 always break the legs and wings, or arms, as 
 the case might be, of birds and monkeys before 
 killing them. 
 
 During this voyage on the Stanley we stopped 
 every evening, and, putting all the crew and soldiers 
 on shore, formed a camp. Half of the men were em- 
 ployed in cutting up timber and carrying it on board 
 before five o'clock the following morning, when 
 we resumed our voyage. A steam launch, with 
 a lieutenant and his men on board, accompanied 
 us. This was deemed advisable, since a trading 
 station, established only a short time previously on 
 the Kasai River, had just before this been burned, 
 and its occupants murdered by the district natives. 
 On the 7th of May we moored opposite the charred
 
 VOYAGE UP THE KASAI RIVER 55 
 
 remains of the trading station, but were not 
 attacked during the night. The day following 
 all the troops were landed, and operations com- 
 menced with the intention of punishing the 
 natives who had committed the outrage. The 
 Bangala crew of the steamer departed in a canoe 
 on their own account, and returned the same 
 evening with about forty other canoes, and a 
 great deal of the cloth and tinned food which 
 had been taken from the trading station. They 
 also brought with them a few prisoners, and the 
 heads of those they had killed. Later on, the 
 regular troops returned, several of them being 
 wounded, though they had seen very few natives. 
 The Bangala proved splendid men for this sort 
 of work. They seemed to know by instinct where 
 the natives hid their canoes in the swamps, and, 
 when attacked, immediately opened out, each 
 individual hunting an enemy through the bush 
 until he either caught him, or, what rarely hap- 
 pened, was himself killed. At the end of some 
 two or three days, having, thanks to the Bangala, 
 collected nearly all the canoes (which we broke
 
 56 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 up for firewood) in the swamps, we proceeded on 
 our way, and the launch returned to Stanley Pool. 
 Almost daily when, owing to sandbanks or other 
 obstructions in the river, we had to approach the 
 bank, we were fired at by the natives, who, how- 
 ever, seemed to have very few guns ; and as their 
 arrows usually either fell short or stuck in the 
 sun-deck overhead, no one was wounded. At 
 night the woodcutters were on several occasions 
 attacked, or had their axes stolen by the natives, 
 who were on the watch for anything they could 
 pilfer. 
 
 While steaming up the Kasai one day at noon, 
 the air was suddenly darkened by bats in such 
 numbers that the crew of the steamer knocked 
 some of them down with sticks. Upon every tree 
 on the islands and river banks the bats were con- 
 stantly settling, and flying ofi" again when some- 
 thing alarmed them, such as the breaking of a 
 branch by their own weight. I measured some 
 that were killed, and found that they averaged 
 from eighteen inches to two feet six, from wing- 
 tip to wing-tip. The boys on board and the
 
 VOYAGE UP THE SANKURU RIVER 57 
 
 crew of the steamer cooked and ate them, and 
 maintained that they were very good eating. On 
 one occasion I saw myriads of bats behaving in 
 the same way near Stanley Falls, and I have also 
 seen them in large numbers on the Lualaba. 
 
 The whole of the Kasai district teems with game 
 — elephant, buffalo, buck, and hog in the forest and 
 swamps ; and hippopotami, crocodiles, and birds 
 of every description on the islands and banks, and 
 in the river itself. 
 
 At this time — 18th May 1892 — there were no 
 other stations on the Kasai, though now there are 
 several dozen on this river and its tributaries. 
 The natives, too, have become friendly, and bring 
 in great quantities of indiarubber, which is found 
 everywhere in the forest, to trade. At Benabendi, 
 at the mouth of the Sankuru, we stopped a couple 
 of days. Here a Frenchman was established, who 
 was doing a roaring trade in rubber and ivory. 
 
 The Sankuru River is only from half a mile to a 
 mile wide, and is very deep, with a slow current. 
 It is in every respect a marked contrast to the 
 Kasai ; there are few islands in it, and the banks
 
 S8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 are clothed with forest down to the water's edge. 
 Hippopotami are rare, and all other game, with 
 the exception of monkeys, is, owing to the dense- 
 ness of the forest, invisible ; as there are no islands 
 or open spaces, birds also are not to be seen. At 
 one place on the Sankuru I noticed a small kind 
 of hippopotamus in a herd of twenty-three, none of 
 which were larger than an Alderney cow. Some 
 time later in the Lualaba district I saw a herd 
 of seventeen of these small hippos. To anyone 
 acquainted with the habits of this animal, it is 
 impossible to suppose that these could have all 
 been young hippos together, and leads to the 
 conclusion that they must have been an, as yet, 
 undescribed species. They were considerably larger 
 than the slightly-known Liberian hippopotamus, 
 and not half the size of the common hippopotamus. 
 On both occasions I could easily have shot some, 
 but since, except by great luck, I should have been 
 unable to pick them up I refrained from firing, 
 hoping to come across them again under more 
 favourable circumstances. 
 
 Up the Sankuru we found ourselves always ex-
 
 ARRIVAL AT LUSAMBO 59 
 
 pected, the steamer having been signalled two or 
 three days in advance. When we arrived at our 
 destination we found that the whole native popula- 
 tion at Lusambo had known that we were coming, 
 a couple of days before our arrival. Here, as else- 
 where in Africa, the natives have such a perfect 
 system of telegraphing, or signalling, by means of 
 their drums that they are able to make any 
 communications as far as a drum can be heard, 
 which is often several miles. As the information 
 is usually repeated by all the drummers who hear 
 it, a whole district knows of an event a very 
 few minutes, or hours, after it has occurred. 
 This system of telegraphing is most interesting. 
 Though different tribes and parts of tribes have 
 their own codes, there seems to be some method 
 running through all the codes ; for, when inter- 
 rogating a drummer on the subject of another 
 chiefs signal, he often replied that he had 
 never heard that particular drum, or would of 
 course know it. We were, by means of these 
 drums, able to keep up a constant communication, 
 day and night, with our allies and natives for
 
 6o THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 miles round the camp. Every evening some 
 member of our company would amuse himself 
 by rapping out abuse at the enemy, which was 
 returned with zest from the hostile camp. Occa- 
 sionally a friendly gossip would be kept up, one 
 side telling the other news of its respective 
 harems, what food they had to eat, and how 
 many hours the chief had slept that day. The 
 native instinct for boasting and exaggeration 
 generally became a predominant feature on these 
 occasions, and the conversation would almost in- 
 variably degenerate into a lying match, each 
 drummer trying to cap his opponent's last message. 
 Everything that happened was so well known 
 in both camps, that by simply telling a piece 
 of news to one's servant it immediately spread 
 throughout the whole Arab camp. 
 
 Our arrival at Lusambo was the signal for 
 tremendous rejoicing ; for we not only brought 
 the first intelligence from the coast, but were the 
 bearers of the only letters that had been received 
 for seven months. I was heartily welcomed by 
 de Wouters and de Heusch, two of the nicest
 
 DEFEAT OF CONGO LUTETE 6i 
 
 men I had met in the Congo Free State. A few 
 hours after our arrival the Commandant Dhanis 
 appeared, having just finished a most successful 
 little campaign against Tippu Tib's slave-raiding 
 agent, Congo Lutete. He brought with him over 
 two thousand prisoners of war and freed slaves. 
 A fete, lasting three days, celebrated the Com- 
 mandant's successful return ; at the end of which 
 period of rejoicing I had most of the station 
 on the sick-list. There were also occasional cases 
 of smallpox in the town, and I vaccinated some 
 hundreds of people with vaccine I had brought 
 from Europe, but unfortunately none of it took. 
 
 After the defeat of Congo Lutete by Dhanis 
 and Descamps, the Arab authorities at Stanley 
 Falls refused to take any action in the matter. 
 Upon the State officials demanding satisfaction 
 for the incursion, they replied that they were 
 not responsible for Congo Lutete, who was acting 
 independently of them, and that the Free State 
 officials must take what steps they pleased in the 
 matter. 
 
 With us orders had arrived from Europe to
 
 62 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 form at the earliest date possible a large ex- 
 pedition to explore Katanga; and before many- 
 days had passed we were all engaged in drilling 
 men, sorting stores, and making up loads to last 
 a caravan of four hundred men for a year. No 
 load was allowed to exceed forty pounds, which 
 did away with the likelihood of delay on the road 
 through the lagging behind of overloaded porters. 
 On the 5th of July, just as we were ready to start, 
 one of our most energetic men, named Smit, 
 died suddenly, and two other men sickened with 
 hsematuric fever. This threw a gloom over the 
 station, which arrested work for some days. 
 
 It was during this time that the commissary 
 of the district found that a regular human traffic 
 was being carried on ; the people on the upper 
 river — the Basongo — themselves cannibals, being 
 in the habit of selling slaves and children lower 
 down the river to the Basongo Meno for food. 
 He therefore ordered the sentries on the river to 
 take, or fire on, any canoes descending the river 
 with children on board, and, after catching a few, 
 succeeded in stopping the traffic. Some of the
 
 BASONGO CANNIBALS 63 
 
 people belonging to Pania Mutumba (the chief of 
 the tribe in question up the river) accompanied 
 the Commandant in an attack on Gongo Lutete, 
 One of these men was on "sentry go" for a 
 night, and, having shot a man, came in to report 
 what he had done, and despatched someone else 
 to bring in the body. When it was brought 
 in, he found, to his astonishment, that he had 
 shot his own father. He immediately went to 
 Dhanis and complained that the spy he had 
 shot was his father, and that it was very hard 
 lines, since he was unable to eat him. The 
 Commandant ordered him to bury the body pro- 
 perly, but discovered afterwards that, though the 
 man would not eat the body himself, he had 
 given it to his friends to eat. That same week 
 a young Basongo chief came to the Commandant 
 while at his dinner in his tent, and asked for the 
 loan of his knife, which, without thinking, the 
 Commandant lent him. He immediately dis- 
 appeared behind the tent and cut the throat of 
 a little girl-slave belonging to him, and was in 
 the act of cooking her, when one of our soldiers
 
 64 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 saw him, and reported what he was doing. This 
 cannibal was put in irons, but some two months 
 later I found him in such a wretched condition that, 
 fearing he would die, I took him out of the chains, 
 and gave him his liberty with a warning. Scarcely 
 a fortnight had passed, when he was brought in 
 by some of our Hausa soldiers, who said that he 
 was eating the children in and about our canton- 
 ments. He had a bag slung round his neck, 
 which on examining we found contained an arm and 
 a leg of a young child. As three or four children 
 had disappeared within the fortnight, and there 
 had been no deaths amongst them in camp, this 
 was at the trial considered sufficient evidence 
 against him, and he was taken out and shot, as 
 the only cure for such an incorrigible. 
 
 Shortly after this a number of the prisoners of 
 war took to deserting, and, finding out in which 
 direction they went, we demanded of the great 
 chief of the district that they should be given 
 up to us. He replied that, with the exception of 
 one prisoner, they had all been eaten, and sent 
 thirty-seven slaves in exchange. The one he
 
 BASONGO CANNIBALS 65 
 
 returned proved to be a little boy-servant of 
 mine who had been persuaded to run away by 
 some of the deserters. By a lucky chance, how- 
 ever, he had found a friend in the village, and 
 was the only one of the party not eaten. His 
 descriptions of what he had seen at the time 
 were quite sickening. 
 
 Prisoners or servants have often spoken to me 
 in this manner: "We want meat; we know you 
 have not enough goats and fowls to be able to 
 spare us some, but give us that man [indicating 
 one of their number] ; he is a lazy fellow, and 
 you'll never get any good out of him, so you 
 may as well give him to us to eat." 
 
 The question of cannibalism in Africa has been 
 very little discussed ; the great travellers, such as 
 Livingstone, Cameron, Stanley, and Wissmann, 
 frequently refer in their works to the simple 
 fact that the peoples they passed through were 
 cannibals, but all details or statement of the 
 causes that led to these references have usually 
 been omitted. As travellers through an unknown 
 continent, accompanied by an alien race or races,
 
 66 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 they were naturally not in touch with the people 
 through whose countries they passed, who, when 
 not actually hostile, remained in a state of armed 
 neutrality. So far as I have been able to discover, 
 nearly all the tribes in the Congo Basin either are, 
 or have been, cannibals ; and among some of them 
 the practice is on the increase. Races who until 
 lately do not seem to have been cannibals, though 
 situated in a country surrounded by cannibal 
 races, have, from increased intercourse with their 
 neighbours, learned to eat human flesh ; for since 
 the entry of Europeans into the country greater 
 facilities for travelling and greater safety for 
 travellers have come about. Formerly the people 
 who wandered from their own neighbourhood 
 among the surrounding tribes were killed and 
 eaten, and so did not return among their people 
 to enlighten them by showing that human flesh 
 was useful as an article of food. 
 
 Soon after the station of Equator was estab- 
 lished, the residents discovered that a wholesale 
 human traffic was being carried on by the natives 
 of the district between this station and Lake
 
 BASONGO CANNIBALS 67 
 
 M'Zumba. The most daring of these natives 
 were the tribes about Irebo, whose practice was 
 to ascend the river Luluno;u with large armed 
 parties, and raid among the natives on its 
 banks. These people, though a well-built sturdy 
 race, were not fighting people. When the 
 raiders had collected a sufficient number of 
 people to fill their canoes, they returned to the 
 Congo, and carried them up the Oubangi, where 
 they were sold to the natives to serve as food. 
 Even now, though since the establishment of the 
 Government stations some years ago this traffic 
 has been stopped, it is almost impossible for the 
 steamers that go up the Oubangi to buy meat. 
 The captains of the steamers have often assured 
 me that, whenever they try to buy goats from the 
 natives, slaves are demanded in exchange, and the 
 natives often come on board with tusks of ivory or 
 other money with the intention of buying a slave, 
 complaining that meat is now scarce in their 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 Judging from what I have seen of these people, 
 they seem fond of eating human flesh ; and though
 
 68 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 it may be an acquired taste, there is not the 
 slightest doubt in my mind that they prefer 
 human flesh to any other. During all the time 
 I lived among cannibal races I never came across 
 a single case of their eating any kind of flesh raw ; 
 they invariably either boil, roast, or smoke it. This 
 custom of smoking flesh to make it keep would 
 have been very useful to us, as we were often 
 without meat for long periods. We could, how- 
 ever, never buy smoked meat in the markets, it 
 being impossible to be sure that it was not 
 human flesh. 
 
 The preference of difl"erent tribes, more than 
 diff'erent individuals of a tribe, for various parts 
 of the human body, is interesting. Some cut 
 long steaks from the flesh of the thighs, legs, 
 or arms ; others prefer the hands and feet ; and 
 though the great majority do not eat the head, 
 I have come across more than one tribe which 
 prefers the head to any other part. Almost all 
 use some part of the intestines on account of 
 the fat they contain ; for even the savages of 
 Central Africa recognise, in common with our
 
 BASONGO CANNIBALS 69 
 
 own cooks, that fat in some form is a necessary 
 ingredient of different dishes. 
 
 During the war in which we were engaged for 
 two years, with our enormous crowds of camp 
 followers we reaped perhaps the only advantages 
 that could be claimed for this diso^usting custom. 
 In the night following a battle or the storming 
 of a town, these human wolves disposed of all the 
 dead, leaving nothing even for the jackals, and 
 thus saved us, no doubt, from many an epidemic. 
 
 A man with his eyes open has no difficulty in 
 knowing, from the horrible remains he is obliged 
 to pass on his way, what people have preceded 
 him on the road or battlefield ; — with this differ- 
 ence : that on a battlefield he will find those parts 
 left to the jackals which the human wolves have 
 not found to their taste ; whereas on the road — 
 generally by the smouldering camp fire, or the 
 blackened spot indicating where the fire has been 
 — are the whitening bones, cracked and broken, 
 which form the relics of these disgusting banquets. 
 These form a diary by the way, which •' he who runs 
 may read," if he know the habits of these peoples.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PROPOSALS OF PEACE AND ALLIANCE WITH THE STATE 
 
 FORCES FROM GONGO LUTETE VISIT TO GONGO 
 
 LUTETE AT HIS CAPITAL, n'gANDU — THE LITTLE 
 PEOPLE OF THE FOREST 
 
 On the 19th of July, Gongo Lutete had in- 
 formation conveyed to us that he was sending 
 ambassadors with a large present, hoping to make 
 peace. De Wouters and I received orders to 
 proceed on the way to meet them, and at five 
 o'clock the following morning started up the river 
 in a large canoe. Our canoe was a very good 
 one, of the usual kind used by the Bakuba — the 
 Sankuru water-people — who are not nomadic, but 
 are a fine race of traders and farmers. The canoe 
 was flat-bottomed, with sides about ten inches 
 high, and tapering to a point fore and aft. The 
 paddles used by these people are about nine 
 feet long, and are well made, many of them
 
 PROPOSALS OF PEACE AND ALLIANCE 71 
 
 having a small knob at the upper end which is 
 held in the hand. While paddling, the water- 
 people chant, and take a step forward as they 
 catch the beginning of the stroke, and draw the 
 foot back as they pull through. They keep the 
 most perfect time. Ten of them paddle in an 
 ordinary canoe. On this occasion we had two- 
 and-twenty paddles, as the canoe was a specially 
 large one. We arrived at Pania Mutumba's at 
 the end of the second day — a very rich village, 
 well built in straight lines, and with about three 
 thousand inhabitants. The huts were square, but 
 with roofs of the ordinary beehive shape. They 
 were larger than the usual native hut, being 
 thirty or forty feet high, and fifteen feet square 
 on the ground. The only sanitary arrangements 
 the village could boast of were a herd of pigs, 
 which was turned loose morning and evening to 
 dispose of the dirt in and about the village. All 
 the sick who die, and some before they are dead, 
 I fancy, are thrown into the river, which passes 
 in front of the village. Those who die violent 
 deaths are generally eaten.
 
 72 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Here we found five envoys from Gongo, in a 
 very nervous condition, not knowing how we should 
 treat them. They showed their pluck in coming to 
 us at all, though of course the fear of death was 
 behind them if they had returned to their chief 
 with their mission unfulfilled. They had brought 
 with them a present of some ivory and a flock of 
 goats, and said that Gongo had been badly treated 
 by the Arabs, and, having been beaten whenever he 
 had attacked the State forces, had now determined 
 to make terms for himself, and, if allowed to, 
 would become our friend and auxiliary. This 
 seemed satisfactory, and we sent the envoys with 
 their present, under a strong guard, to Lusambo. 
 The guard was necessary as a protection against our 
 own natives, who were far from friendly to Tippu 
 Tib's people, their raiding propensities being 
 known far and wide. De Wouters and I re- 
 turned to Lusambo by water. Gongo's terms 
 were so favourable that his emissaries, after 
 having been feted at Lusambo, were sent back to 
 him with presents, and a promise that we would 
 visit him and arrange the final terms of the
 
 VISIT TO CONGO LUTETE 73 
 
 agreement. Immediately afterwards two officers 
 were sent with a strong guard to visit Gongo ; the 
 Commandant, as a result of this new arrangement, 
 wdiich had upset many of his plans, being unable 
 to start for another fortnight. At this time we 
 found that a fetisher, or " medicine man," in 
 the immediate neighbourhood of Lusambo was 
 poisoning people in the district, and several 
 suspicious cases among our own people decided 
 the Commandant to arrest him. He was brought 
 in for trial, much to the surprise of the native 
 population, who arrived by hundreds to see what 
 would happen to us for having interfered with 
 him. Upon being found guilty, he was sen- 
 tenced by the tribunal to receive a flogging. 
 Before his sentence was carried out, however, the 
 Commandant told him publicly that he was going 
 to be flogged, but that he would be allowed to 
 make medicine first, in order that he should not 
 feel it. He replied that he had nothing to make 
 medicine with, his materials being all in his hut. 
 Some men were accordingly sent to his village, 
 and returned to the compound with the hut itself
 
 74 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and everything it contained. He was thereupon 
 put inside it, and given half an hour to make 
 medicine, after which he was taken out and 
 publicly flogged. His squeals soon convinced 
 the assembled multitude that the white man's 
 " medicine " was stronger than his, and when 
 liberated afterwards we were obliged to give him 
 a guard as protection against the natives over 
 whom he had so long tyrannised, and who would 
 otherwise have torn him to pieces. The follow- 
 ing day there was a tornado accompanied by a 
 hailstorm, some of the hailstones being as large 
 as hens' eggs. Hail is a most unusual occurrence 
 in this district — in fact, numbers of natives said 
 they had never seen it before ; and it was 
 immediately supposed by the native population 
 to be a vengeance brought on us by the 
 " medicine man " for having interfered with him. 
 As we, however, all rushed out and collected the 
 hailstones, with which we made iced drinks, this 
 feeling soon wore off, the natives tersely remark- 
 ing that it was no good making medicine against 
 the white man, who only ate it.
 
 VISIT TO CONGO LUTETE 75 
 
 Lusambo was blessed with a half-wild herd of 
 cattle, the bulls from which herd we broke in 
 without much difficulty and used for riding. 
 For this purpose they are most useful, as their 
 huge horns enable them to push through thick 
 grass or light bush with comparative ease. They 
 are not at all afraid of swampy ground, but 
 plunge and struggle through it without hesita- 
 tion. 
 
 On the 18 th of August I started with the 
 Commandant on an expedition to visit Gongo 
 Lutete and Lupungu, on the way to Katanga in 
 the south. On the following day, having crossed 
 the Sankuru, I had my first experience of travel- 
 ling in the great forest. 
 
 There is, despite the myriad difficulties it 
 presents at every hand, an element of fascination 
 about a tropical forest unlike anything else, 
 though perhaps the chief pleasure lies in looking 
 forward to getting out of it. A great silence 
 hangs over everything, and seems only greater 
 for the extraordinary and often unaccountable 
 sounds which break in upon it at intervals,
 
 ye THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 mingled with those more familiar, such as the 
 harsh shriek of the toucan, the chatter of an 
 occasional monkey, or the crash of a falling 
 branch or tree. Still, despite all its strange 
 sounds, the forest silence is oppressive, and makes 
 itself so much felt that the different members of 
 a caravan generally speak in whispers, or in low 
 tones, and the slightest noise on either side of 
 the way will turn instinctively every head. There 
 seems a complete absence of life everywhere — no 
 whir of insects or twitter of birds ; and though 
 everywhere but in the forest each blade of grass 
 and every inch of soil is teeming with life of 
 some sort, here there is no sound or movement. 
 The dank heavy smell which pervades everything 
 is unrelieved by other odours, or even breezes ; 
 for in a tropical forest a very strong wind only 
 can make itself felt. There are no flowers, and 
 no birds sing. Miles and miles of sombre greens 
 and browns stretch unrelieved by a single blossom. 
 Of the life, the flower-wonders, the brilliance told 
 of tropical forests, there is no sign. It has been 
 said that these may all be found on the tree
 
 VISIT TO CONGO LUTETE yy 
 
 tops, a hundred feet or more overhead ; but 
 though on several occasions I climbed to the 
 summit of a spur of rock rising out of the forest 
 into the sunlight, and commanding a full view of 
 the tree tops, and from there watched the great 
 undulating sea of green for hours together, the 
 same monotony of colour and of soundlessness 
 was above us as in the depths below. Every 
 now and then a solitary toucan or a flock of 
 green pigeons would pass, but even these were 
 only to be seen in the evening or the morning. 
 Here and there, perhaps half a mile apart, a tree 
 top was entirely covered with blossom, usually 
 dead white in hue, and sometimes a tree with 
 scarlet leaves gave the efii"ect of flowers in the 
 distance. These notes of colour were, however, 
 so rare that they could hardly be said to relieve 
 the uniformity of sombre green stretching on 
 every side as far as eye could reach. Camps in 
 a forest are most melancholy aff'airs. Everything 
 is damp, and the only wood that will burn is a 
 newly-dead log or branch, from which half an 
 inch or an inch of the sodden exterior has to be
 
 78 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 cut away first. The ordinary cheery signs of 
 camp life are absent, and everyone moves about 
 noiselessly — the many layers of sodden and decay- 
 ing veo-etation under foot deadenine; all sound. 
 Even the porters and soldiers lie quietly round 
 the fires, and do not laugh and chatter and sing 
 as usual. 
 
 We arrived at Pania Mutumba's village on the 
 24th, and here rearranged the caravan. In reply 
 to our demand that fifty men should be sent 
 with us to serve as guides or extra porters, Pania 
 raised many difficulties, but eventually said we 
 could have the men if we paid for them. The 
 Commandant thereupon bought sixty-three men 
 for two cups of white beads each. A few of 
 these men afterwards ran away, but many of 
 them were promoted, and became good soldiers 
 when they recognised the advantages of freedom. 
 The advantage to be derived from freedom is one 
 of the hardest things it is possible to explain to 
 the ordinary negro slave. His powers of reason- 
 ing never seem to get beyond this : " If I am 
 free and don't get work, who is going to feed me ?
 
 VISIT TO CONGO LUTETE 79 
 
 Whereas, if I have a master, he has to find me 
 work, and when there is no work he has still to 
 feed me." 
 
 On crossing the Sankuru we marched through a 
 deserted district for five days, in which it was very 
 difficult to feed the caravan. As we had, how- 
 ever, been forewarned, the men, and the women 
 who accompanied them, had as much food with 
 them as they could carry, and we got through 
 the desert in comparative comfort, arriving at 
 Mono Kialo's village on the 1st of September. 
 Mono Kialo was a sub-chief of the Baluba race, 
 the great chief being Lupungu, four days' march 
 to the southward, whom we afterwards visited. 
 The Balubas are a fine, healthy, industrious race, 
 the products of whose industries are to be found 
 immense distances outside their own district. 
 They are agriculturists, iron-workers, and cloth- 
 makers ; the cloth made in this district being the 
 money used by a great portion of the Arab settle- 
 ments to the westward. Until quite lately they 
 were not cannibals, and even now the men only 
 eat their enemies who fall in battle. All the
 
 8o THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Balubas, both men and women, have their teeth 
 filed and pointed ; but though this is often 
 considered a habit peculiar to cannibal races, 
 I have noticed that it is by no means an 
 invariable custom amongst them, and that many- 
 inveterate cannibal tribes do not make it a 
 practice. The Baluba women are graceful, lively, 
 gay, and industrious. The whole Baluba race, 
 and the women more especially, are no darker 
 than the Egyptians. They have very good 
 features, with the exception of the nose, which is 
 flat ; though even this is more prominent, and has 
 a more pronounced bridge, than is common amongst 
 negro races. The lips are thin and well formed, 
 the face oval, and the eyes large and brilliant. 
 Most of the women of the Baluba race use a 
 pigment to blacken the upper and lower lids, as do 
 many European women, though this custom is not 
 peculiar to them alone, but is common wherever 
 Arab influence has penetrated in the Congo Basin. 
 Nearly all the natives of this region are brown 
 or dark yellow in colour, a really black person 
 being very rare. The front teeth are all filed,
 
 VISIT TO GONGO LUTETE 8i 
 
 though, strange to say, this is hardly a disfigure- 
 ment. Their many good qualities and high moral 
 standard make them very valuable, and they are 
 much sought after by Arab and even native chiefs 
 for their harems. 
 
 Another point that struck me among the 
 Balubas within the Arab sphere of influence was 
 their extreme personal cleanliness. A thorough 
 bath half a dozen times a day was the rule rather 
 than the exception. 
 
 Amongst most of the natives in these districts 
 it is customary for girls and boys to marry at the 
 ages of seven and eight or nine respectively, yet 
 it is an indisputable fact that the negroes are both 
 a healthy and prolific race. The women are middle- 
 aged at fourteen or fifteen, and the men, with the 
 exception of the chiefs, do not live to old age, the 
 accidents of life among these savage tribes being 
 so common that a man is usually killed before he 
 is out of his prime. 
 
 While resting a couple of days at Mono Kialo's 
 village, two large presents arrived, one from 
 Gongo Lutete and one from Lupungu, each of
 
 82 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 whom begged us to visit liim first. As Gongo 
 Lutete's present was the larger, the Commandant 
 turned north-east to pay him the first visit. Our 
 march for some days lay through tracts of forest, 
 and here, for the first time, I saw the Batwa, the 
 interesting "little people of the forest." Through 
 the influence of a guide, who was on friendly terms 
 with them, they did not disappear from sight as 
 they usually do at the approach of a caravan, and 
 I had therefore opportunities of observing them 
 more closely than would otherwise have been 
 possible. 
 
 What first impressed me was that, despite the 
 fact that their average height is under four feet, 
 they are both sturdy and independent. They are, 
 as a rule, nomadic, and I have never met anyone 
 who has seen them in large numbers in a settle- 
 ment. Being hunters, they follow the game in 
 small parties, changing their locality with the 
 migration of the game. Since they are the only 
 real hunters in the Congo Basin, and are versed 
 in all the science of woodcraft, the ordinary 
 traveller (European or native) may pass within a
 
 THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE FOREST 83 
 
 few yards of them and be utterly unaware of their 
 presence, though they meanwhile may be watching 
 him. Their short stature enables them to run 
 along a game-path with perfect ease, which to an 
 ordinary man would be impassable unless bent 
 nearly double. In fact, it is as difficult for an 
 ordinary man to find, or to see, them in the forest 
 as it is for a town-bred person in this country to 
 discover mice in a cornfield. I can remember 
 on more than one occasion, while marching in a 
 shower of rain, walking over their little footprints, 
 which were still dry but which in a few moments 
 became wet, thus showing that the small people 
 must have passed within a few yards of me, 
 though I had seen and heard nothing ; the silence 
 of the great forest seeming, from the presence of 
 human beings, more unbroken than usual. For 
 though man may frequently be unaware of the 
 proximity of his fellow-man, nature, whether 
 animal or insect, seems often instinctively to know 
 when the arch-enemy is in the vicinity. 
 
 The pygmies possess an intimate knowledge of 
 poisons, and their bows and arrows, which have
 
 84 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the appearance of harmless toys that children in 
 Europe would disdain as playthings, are as deadly 
 engines in hunting or war as have ever been in- 
 vented. The action of some of these poisons is 
 so rapid that a man will die in from three to ten 
 minutes after having been scratched. An elephant 
 in one of our stations, which was scratched on 
 the haunch by a poisoned spear, fell down dead 
 before going a hundred yards ; and on another 
 occasion a poisoned arrow, which had passed 
 through my corduroy coat at a distance of 
 thirty yards, killed a fowl I scratched with it 
 in about two minutes. One trick the little 
 forest people have in common with the bushman 
 (which though often mentioned by travellers yet 
 stated in black and white sounds impossible), 
 namely, the shooting of three, or even four, arrows 
 so rapidly that the last is discharged before the 
 first reaches its mark. They are also able to throw 
 a lance so that it goes in at one side of a man and 
 out at the other. The Arab slave-raiders and 
 ivory-hunters have often sent expeditions into the 
 great forest, which have suffered to such an extent
 
 THE LITTLE PEOPLE OF THE FOREST 85 
 
 at the hands of these small demons, that few, and 
 sometimes none, have returned to tell the tale of 
 how they died, without even seeing who smote 
 them. Occasionally the dwarf people attack a 
 caravan in the openings of the forest, and so agile 
 are they in their movements that defence is practi- 
 cally impossible. On seeing the flash of the firing 
 gun, they drop, and running in, hidden by the 
 grass, spear their opponent while he is in the act 
 of reloading. This system, though answering very 
 well with ordinary expeditions armed with muzzle- 
 loading guns, did not succeed against us and our 
 breechloaders. Many of us were, however, scared 
 by the seemingly magical appearance of these 
 gnome-like beings within three or four yards of us, 
 with their murderous little spears pointed for our 
 destruction. And, indeed, their success was often 
 extraordinary enough to make one almost doubt 
 their being human. 
 
 Our march from here to N'Gandu, Gongo's 
 capital on the Lomami River, was through a 
 country devastated by the slave-raiders in Tippu 
 Tib's employ. Ever since we left Pania Mutum-
 
 86 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 ba's, with the exception of the small district in 
 which Mono Kialo's village was situated, this 
 vacancy, devoid alike of men and food, surrounded 
 us. Every height was covered with splendid 
 palm plantations ; and the remains of villages, 
 whose precise extent was indicated by the bomas, 
 or palisade fortifications, which had taken root 
 and grown into ring fences. Our caravan did not 
 suff'er hunger, for the Commandant had allowed 
 every man to take at least one woman and a boy, 
 who acted as transport, and who looked after the 
 commissary's arrangements. On the 13th of 
 September we arrived at N'Gandu, and received 
 a splendid reception by Gongo Lutete : thousands 
 of his people turned out to welcome us, firing 
 guns, and dancing and yelling as if they were 
 possessed. 
 
 Gongo Lutete was born in Malela, and was by 
 blood a Bakussu. He had himself been a slave, 
 having as a child fallen into the hands of the 
 Arabs. While still a youth, as a reward for his 
 distinguished conduct and pluck on raiding ex- 
 peditions, he was given his freedom. Starting
 
 AT N'GANDU 87 
 
 with one gun, at eighteen years of age, he gradu- 
 ally collected a band of brigands round him, whom 
 he ruled with a rod of iron, and before long became 
 Tippu Tib's chief slave and ivory-hunter. 
 
 He established himself at N'Gandu on the 
 Lomami, holding part of Malela for Sefu, and 
 by raiding gradually extended his influence to the 
 westward, which brought him into conflict with 
 the State. Captain Descamps first, and Baron 
 Dhanis afterwards, defeated him. After the de- 
 feat by Dhanis, in April 1892, he came to the 
 conclusion that it was no use fighting any longer 
 against the State ; and since the Arabs for some 
 time past had paid him neither for his work 
 nor for the ivory he sent them, he determined if 
 possible to make peace with the State on his own 
 account. This was a wise decision, as there is no 
 doubt that the Arabs were both afraid and jealous 
 of his power, and would probably before long 
 have assassinated him. 
 
 At this time Gongo Lutete was perhaps thirty 
 years of age. He was a well-built intelligent- 
 looking man of about 5 ft. 9 in. in height, with
 
 88 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 a brown skin, large brown eyes with very long 
 lashes, a small mouth with thin lips, and a 
 straight, comparatively narrow nose. His hands 
 were his most remarkable characteristic ; they 
 were curiously supple, with long narrow fingers, 
 which when outstretched had always the top joint 
 slightly turned back. One or both hands were 
 in constant movement, opening and shutting rest- 
 lessly, especially when he was under any strong 
 influence. His features meanwhile remained ab- 
 solutely immovable. Though very familiar and 
 friendly with some of us, he had a way of never 
 letting anyone forget that he was a chief, and his 
 manners were extremely dignified. One had to 
 see this man on the warpath to realise the different 
 aspects of his character. The calm haughty chief, 
 or the genial and friendly companion, became on 
 the battlefield an enthusiastic individual with a 
 highly nervous organisation, who hissed out his 
 orders one after another without a moment's hesi- 
 tation. He was capable of sustaining intense 
 fatigue, and would lead his warriors through the 
 country at a run for hours together.
 
 AT N'GANDU 89 
 
 The band of brigands with which Gongo had sur- 
 rounded himself were mostly of the Batetela race. 
 These Batetela, and more particularly one tribe 
 called the Bakussu, are, as far as I could ascertain 
 from making inquiries in every direction, the most 
 inveterate cannibals. During excursions in the 
 neighbourhood of their towns, I on more than one 
 occasion saw a public execution. When the chief 
 of the town — who is of course an absolute monarch 
 — decides that a man must die, he hands him over 
 to the people. He is immediately torn to pieces, 
 and disappears as quickly as a hare is broken up 
 by a pack of hounds. Every man lays hold of him 
 at once with one hand, and with the other whips off 
 the piece with his knife ; no one stops to kill him 
 first, for he would by doing so lose his piece. 
 More than once, after a drum-head court-martial, 
 when a spy or deserter was shot, the onlookers 
 have said to us, " Why do you bury him ? It's 
 no use — when you are gone, we shall of course dig 
 him up." Hanging fetishes over the grave, with 
 a view to preventing the people from touching 
 it for fear of magic, had no efi'ect. These people
 
 90 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 seem to have no form of religion whatever, and 
 no fecar of death or evil spirits. Through the 
 whole of the Batetela country, extending from the 
 Lubefu to the Luiki, and from the Lurimbi north- 
 wards for some five days' march, one sees neither 
 grey hairs, nor halt, nor blind. Even parents are 
 eaten by their children on the first sign of 
 approaching decrepitude. It is easy to under- 
 stand that, under the circumstances, the Batetela 
 have the appearance of a splendid race. These 
 cannibals do not, as a rule, file their front teeth, 
 nor do they tattoo the face. 
 
 I explored the Lomami for some six or eight 
 hours above N'Gandu. The river is about two 
 hundred yards wide, rapid in many places, and 
 rocky, and navigation even in a canoe is very 
 difficult. Northwards, eastwards, and southwards 
 of N'Gandu extends a vast palm forest, containing 
 great patches of indiarubber creepers. 
 
 N'Gandu itself, as I first saw it, was situated on 
 an open plain, one side of which was separated 
 from the left bank of the Lomami by a strip of 
 swamp and forest one or two hundred yards in
 
 AT N'GANDU 91 
 
 width. This village — containing from ten to fifteen 
 thousand inhabitants — was oval in form, and 
 strongly fortified by a double ditch and loop- 
 holed earthwork, the whole being surrounded by 
 a palisade. The top of every tree in this palisade 
 was crowned with a human skull. Six gateways 
 defended the village ; and, after passing through 
 each gate, it was necessary to traverse a tunnel, 
 some thirty yards long, made out of piles of large 
 timber, and loopholed throughout its whole length. 
 On the top of this tunnel was a guardhouse, the 
 floor of which was honeycombed into holes, through 
 which the guard above could spear an unsus- 
 pecting passenger on the road below. The ap- 
 proach to each of these six gates was ornamented 
 by a pavement of human skulls, the bregma being 
 the only part that showed above the ground. 
 This pavement was of a snowy whiteness, and 
 polished to the smoothness of ivory by the daily 
 passage of hundreds of naked feet. I counted 
 more than two thousand skulls in the pavement 
 of one of the gates alone.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 GONGO LUTETE FINALLY LEAVES THE ARABS AND 
 ALLIES HIMSELF WITH THE STATE FORCES — 
 ARRIVAL AT KABINDA, CAPITAL OF LUPUNGU, 
 
 GREAT CHIEF OF THE BALUBAS MOVEMENTS 
 
 OF THE ENEMY HEADED BY TIPPU TIB'S SON, 
 SEFU — PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER 
 
 For a whole month we were regally entertained 
 at N'Gandu. Almost every day Gongo sent us a 
 present, and as he seemed to count everything by 
 hundreds — a hundred sheep one day, a hundred 
 goats another, a hundred baskets of corn, or a 
 hundred bunches of bananas — we fared well. To- 
 wards the end of the month Gongo Lutete 
 announced that he would leave the Arabs and come 
 over to us, providing we would keep faith with 
 him, and, in the event of his being attacked by 
 the Arabs, help him to defend himself. In proof 
 of his own fidelity he gave a large present of 
 
 02
 
 GONGO LUTETE ALLIES HIMSELF 93 
 
 ivory, and obtained leave from the Commandant 
 to remain in the territory in which he was estab- 
 lished, and which, according to a treaty arranged 
 by Mr. Stanley for the Congo Free State, at 
 Zanzibar, was outside the Arabs' sphere of in- 
 fluence. Gongo told us that the Arabs had 
 massacred M. Hodister's whole expedition, and 
 the " white Pasha from the East," whom we 
 guessed to be Emin. He also told us that they 
 had murdered the Stairs and Delcommune ex- 
 peditions in the south ; but this, though we did 
 not then know it, was of course incorrect. We 
 left two officers with a guard at N'Gandu, and 
 resumed our march towards Katanga, following 
 the ridge of the watershed between the Lomami 
 and the Lubefu. During this march we came 
 across hundreds of human skeletons — according 
 to our Batetela guides, the victims of a smallpox 
 epidemic. But there were bullet-holes in some of 
 the skulls, and the epidemic had probably been 
 a Batetela slave-raid. 
 
 After six days' march we arrived at Kabinda, 
 Lupungu's capital. Lupungu was the great chief
 
 94 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 of the Balubas, with an influence extending 
 northwards to Lulua, and southwards to Katanga. 
 The people in this district are olive-coloured, with 
 thin lips, and, even from a European point of view, 
 are good - looking. De Heusch was appointed 
 resident, and immediately set to work to build 
 a station at Kabinda. 
 
 At this point Dhanis was obliged to return to 
 Lusambo. There were many affairs in the district 
 to arrange, and this was the last place from which 
 it was possible to communicate with Lusambo, 
 before resuming our march to Katanga. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Kabinda — a fine, rich, 
 healthy country — I constantly made exploring and 
 shooting expeditions during my stay, and had very 
 good sport. 
 
 On the 16tli October Scherlink and I decided 
 to start for Kolomoni's town on the Lurimbi 
 River. Our reasons for making this decision 
 were several : food was, we heard, very plentiful 
 there, and our host Lupungu either had no 
 supplies or was unwilling to give us any. The 
 men, too, were complaining ; and de Heusch,
 
 ARRIVAL AT KABINDA 95 
 
 having finished the big house he was making, 
 all but the floor and walls, had begun to 
 bring into camp large quantities of freshly- 
 dug sandy clay for this purpose. As a conse- 
 quence of the newly-turned soil being in our 
 vicinity, we were all out of health, and several 
 of the blacks, with Scherlink and Cerkel, had 
 fever. The injurious effect of newly-turned soil 
 is probably due in a large measure to the fact 
 that it has not been exposed to the influence of 
 light, this being apparently instrumental in 
 destroying the bacilli with which untilled earth 
 teems. In support of this theory, the outbreak 
 of malaria in Antwerp, which followed upon the 
 excavations made in that city during the building 
 of the new fortifications, may be cited. This red 
 sandy clay, which, when wet and dry, becomes 
 as hard as a brick, is found all over the district 
 at a depth of from one to two yards. 
 
 We took eighty men with us, and on the fourth 
 day arrived at Kolomoni's. At about an hour's 
 distance from the town, two fine straightforward- 
 looking young chiefs, Kolomoni and Makipula by
 
 96 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 name, met us with a thousand men, many of whom 
 were armed with guns. These people danced 
 round us, firing their guns and giving vent to 
 extravagant expressions of delight at seeing us. 
 It was hard to imagine what prompted them, 
 but it spoke well for the Delcommune expedition, 
 which passed about a year before. During a 
 talk with the chiefs, who had given us, amongst 
 other things, presents of pigs and goats and forty 
 baskets of flour, we learnt that Makipula was a 
 personal friend of Kolomoni's, and, though a 
 good agriculturist, no warrior. They had, it 
 appeared, decided to live in the same town and 
 make common cause, as Kolomoni was good 
 only for fighting. This arrangement seemed to 
 have worked well, for the whole country was 
 cultivated, and the large town itself one of the 
 best built I had seen. 
 
 On the 22nd October a letter arrived from 
 Sub-Lieutenant Debruyne, a Belgian officer, who, 
 with Commandant Lippens, was resident at Sefu's 
 court at Kasongo. In it he told us that he was a 
 prisoner, and Tippu Tib's son, Sefu, accompanied by
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE ENEMY 97 
 
 ten thousand men armed with guns and swords, 
 had marched from Kasongo with the intention 
 of destroying us. This was, however, only part of 
 a general Arab rising, the Arabs having already 
 murdered the Hodister - Emin expeditions. The 
 letter went on to say that Sefu's plan was, after 
 killing us, to take all the country as far as Leopold- 
 ville ; and that the only thing to save us and pro- 
 pitiate Sefu would be, either to give up our friend 
 Gongo Lutete, or else to send his head as a 
 present, and then depart out of the country, which 
 Sefu maintained was his. Unless these two con- 
 ditions were immediately complied with, Sefu would 
 cross the Lomami River and fight us. We wrote a 
 temporising letter, and, as soon as the carriers had 
 started, broke camp and followed them, hoping to 
 arrive at Goimuyasso's on the Lomami before the 
 Arabs — to reach the river before the Arab forces 
 succeeded in crossing, being our only chance of 
 checking their advance. The first day's march 
 nearly wore out the energies of the caravan. We 
 crossed no fewer than twenty-five rivers and 
 streams, all running into the Lurimbi, glimpses
 
 98 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 of which river we sometimes caught to the north- 
 ward. Unluckily for us, there had been several 
 storms during the previous week, and every stream 
 had become a torrent. At 5 p.m. we camped, quite 
 tired out, having marched without stopping for 
 ten hours. 
 
 Goimuyasso's town, which we reached on 26th 
 October 1892, has a grand situation on the fertile 
 banks of the Lomami River, here about two 
 hundred yards wide, with the current running 
 at about three knots. After great difficulty we 
 found a fairly good place for a camp, with planta- 
 tions belonging to Goimuyasso all round us, and 
 commanding the river for about a mile above and 
 below our position. Goimuyasso, a great greasy 
 chief, brought us a quantity of flour and goats, but 
 gave us little or no information, either from the 
 usual African apathy, or else incredulous that the 
 Arabs were within four hours' march of us, and 
 that at any hour of the day or night he might 
 have to run for his life. Possibly, the most likely 
 solution of his incommunicativeness was that he had 
 then not decided whether he would join us or the
 
 MOVEMENTS OF THE ENEMY 99 
 
 Arabs. The following day our spies reported that 
 Sefu had ordered Gongo Muchufa and Nyar Gongo 
 — two chiefs on opposite sides of the river, five or 
 six hours' march to the northward — to hold their 
 canoes in readiness to ferry his forces over, as in a 
 few days he intended to cross the river in their 
 neighbourhood. We also heard that a big chief 
 named Dibui, though unwilling to fight, had been 
 compelled by Sefu to join his forces. The same 
 afternoon a niece of Goi's, a chieftainess from up 
 the river, brought me news that Mahomedi and 
 Dibui were trying to cross the river opposite to 
 her village, but that she had driven back the first 
 canoes. On hearing this. Lieutenant Scherlink 
 and I decided to march at night. To anyone 
 who has not experienced a night-march through 
 an unknown part of tropical Africa, it is almost 
 impossible to explain the difiiculties that this 
 entails. The ordinary ten-inch-wide trail through 
 swamp and forest, which, without warning, leads 
 the traveller up and down ant-hills or rocks, down 
 ravines, and into streams and game-traps, is in the 
 daytime, with plenty of light, trying enough to
 
 lOO THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 temper and physique. But to follow one of these 
 trails in the dead of night, dodging thorn-bushes 
 and ant-hills, with the risk of being strangled by 
 "monkey-ropes" or tripped up by roots at every 
 turn, verges almost upon impossibility. 
 
 After three hours of stumbling about in the forest, 
 it was a great relief to meet a messenger from our 
 friendly princess, who told us that her people had 
 crossed the river in the dark, and had lifted all the 
 canoes from the right bank, so that there was no 
 immediate danger of the enemy crossing. We 
 thereupon retraced our steps, heartily glad to get 
 back to camp. The next few days were occupied 
 in constructing a boma — which consisted of a 
 thorn fence with a double ditch — to surround 
 the whole camp. This was a very poor defence 
 compared with those contact with the enemy after- 
 wards taught us to build. As these Arab fortifica- 
 tions formed an important element in our subsequent 
 dealings with the enemy, it may be well to describe 
 one in detail. 
 
 An Arab force on the march employs a large 
 number of its slaves in cutting down, and carrying
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER loi 
 
 with them, trees and saplings from about twelve to 
 fifteen feet in length and up to six feet in diameter. 
 As soon as a halting-place has been fixed on, the 
 slaves plant this timber in a circle of about fifty- 
 yards in diameter, inside which the chiefs and 
 ofiicers establish themselves. A trench is then dug 
 and the earth thrown up against the palisades, in 
 which banana stalks, pointing in difi"erent direc- 
 tions, are laid. Round the centre, and following 
 the inequalities of the ground, a second line of 
 stakes is planted, this second circle being perhaps 
 three or four hundred yards in diameter. Another 
 trench is then dug in the same way, with bananas 
 planted, as before, in the earthwork. The in- 
 terval between the two lines of fortification is 
 occupied by the troops. If the boma is only to 
 be occupied for two or three days, this is all that 
 is usually done to it ; but if it is intended for a 
 longer stay, a trench is dug outside the palisades. 
 The object of using banana stalks in this manner 
 is ingenious. Within four or five hours they shrink, 
 and on being withdrawn from the earth leave 
 loopholes, through which the defenders can fire
 
 102 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 without exposing themselves. Little huts are 
 built all over the interior of the fort, and these 
 huts are also very ingeniously devised, and are 
 furthermore bomb-proof. They consist of a hole 
 dug a yard and a half deep, and covered with 
 wood. This wood forms a ceiling, over which the 
 earth from the interior is placed to the depth of a 
 couple of feet, and a thatched roof placed over all 
 to keep off the rain. In many of the bomas we 
 found that the defenders had dug holes from the 
 main trenches outwards, in which they lived, having 
 lined them with straw. The whole fort is often 
 divided into four or more sections by a palisade 
 and trenches, so that if one part of it is stormed 
 the storming party finds itself in a cross fire — a 
 worse position than when actually trying to effect 
 an entrance. We found that the shells from the 
 7 '5 Krupps did little or no damage to these 
 forts. 
 
 On the 29th October we received another letter 
 from Debruyne, saying that the Arabs had divided 
 forces with the intention of crossing the river 
 in three places at the same time, and thus com-
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER 103 
 
 pelling us to divide up. In the event of this 
 succeeding, they anticipated no difficulty in 
 destroying us in detail. Debruyne begged us to 
 abandon the idea of fighting, which he maintained 
 was hopeless, and, instead, to cross the river and 
 hold a friendly palaver with Sefu. He added, 
 as a warning, that Sefu, although not anxious to 
 fight, had told him the night before that his 
 patience was nearly exhausted, and that he would 
 spare none of us if we did not give in at once. 
 The first men he intended to kill were Lippens 
 and the writer of the letter. We naturally de- 
 cided not to throw ourselves on Arab generosity, 
 and sent to say so, at the same time despatching 
 more than half our stores to Debruyne. That 
 evening we had a letter from de Heusch, saying 
 that he and forty men would arrive next day 
 from Lupungu. 
 
 On the 2nd November definite information con- 
 cerning Gongo Muchufa reached us. He held his 
 canoes in readiness for the passage of Sefu's 
 forces. As we knew that de Heusch must soon 
 arrive, I took forty men and marched down the
 
 104 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 river bank, my object being, if possible, to cut 
 out the canoes — if not, to attempt to check the 
 Arab forces while in the act of crossing the river. 
 Six hours' marching brought me to the river 
 bank, which the high ground, however, compelled 
 me to leave again, the dry and open space a 
 mile or two from the river affording much better 
 walking. I found the ferry village deserted, and 
 all the canoes gone. As there was no open space 
 near the river, and the forest was dangerously 
 thick, I retired to some high ground about a 
 mile off. A tornado was raging, and there 
 being nothing else to do, we lay down, hungry, 
 wet, and cold, and waited for the wind and rain to 
 stop. My men built a little house of palm 
 branches for me, and grass ones for themselves. 
 With the additional luxury of a fire I felt warm 
 and comfortable, and, in spite of the storm, slept 
 quietly until roused by a leopard sneaking into 
 the camp and scaring the sentries nearly out 
 of their wits. The following morning I was 
 honoured by a visit from Nyan Gongo, a 
 muscular man about six feet two inches in
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER 105 
 
 height, and one of the finest -built natives I 
 ever met. His village, the capital of the 
 district, was near ; and after the usual talk — in 
 which he showed his familiarity with Arab 
 customs — I requested him to bring food for sale, 
 which he did, but asked so high a price for it 
 that we bought very little. It was, however, a 
 mistake to offer to buy food, the Arab custom 
 being to supply travellers with it gratis. For two 
 days after this Nyan Gongo showed no signs of 
 life, at the end of which time, our supplies being 
 completely exhausted, I sent a native to him, 
 requesting an interview. He responded by 
 swaggering into my camp at the head of his 
 harem and a large following of his people, preceded 
 by a band composed of girls singing and men 
 beating tum-tums, and with several hundred armed 
 men. He insolently demanded what present I had 
 for him. I temporised by asking what he supposed 
 we were going to feed on if he had brought us no 
 food, to which he replied that he could not afi'ord 
 to feed us, as we paid him too little, and that 
 before we began to talk I must give him my coat
 
 io6 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and boots. The Arabs, he said, had more cloth 
 and presents for him than I had, which was un- 
 pleasant, the more so because it was probably 
 true. The Arabs also were on the other side of 
 the river and anxious to cross, whereas I was 
 on his side and had nothing to gain. It was, 
 however, imperative that we should get food 
 somehow. I therefore whistled my men round 
 us, and in a moment, before they knew what was 
 happening, we had disarmed and taken prisoner 
 the unaccommodating chief and half a dozen of 
 his head men. I then explained to him that it 
 would be better to send away all his armed 
 men, as if one of them forgot himself the con- 
 sequences would be to his disadvantage, and 
 that the sooner his people brought me food the 
 better, since I had no intention of dying of 
 starvation unless he and his chief men died too. 
 After some time he appeared convinced, and 
 sent for food, which came into camp in enormous 
 quantities the same evening. He was then set 
 at liberty, with a small present to soothe his 
 ruffled dignity. He seemed more surprised at
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER 107 
 
 the idea of a man, in whose power he was, giving 
 him his liberty and a present, than he was at 
 being disarmed and kidnapped while he thought 
 himself monarch of all he surveyed. Nyan 
 Gongo and I were from that time always friends. 
 Months afterwards, when he was only an indi- 
 vidual in a crowd of petty chiefs — who were 
 indebted to us for their very existence, and who 
 were not expected to pay tribute in any shape 
 or form except through Lupungu — he used to 
 bring me little presents himself; I suppose from 
 the same instinct which causes a dog to fawn 
 on the person who has punished him. 
 
 For three or four days I patrolled up and down 
 the river, which, my spies told me, Sefu was 
 actually trying to cross in this neighbourhood. 
 At this time I received a letter from Duchesne, 
 at N'Gandu, enjoining us to be very careful — his 
 spies having discovered that Sefu really meant 
 to attack us where w^e were, and that our so- 
 called friendly natives had arranged to assist the 
 Arabs. Lieutenant Scherlink arrived in my camp 
 on the 7tli November, having left dc Heusch
 
 io8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 in charge of Goimuyasso's. I was delighted to 
 see him, as I had had little or no rest, night or 
 day, sifting false news and marching on " reliable 
 information" to meet an enemy who had never 
 even crossed the river, and who, as we afterwards 
 discovered (knowing that I was there), had no 
 intention of crossing. On the evening of the 9th 
 November we got a hurried note from de Heusch, 
 saying that by the time it reached us he would 
 probably be cut off from us. A prisoner he had 
 taken, gratuitously informed him that Sefu would 
 make an attack on the morning of the 11th. We 
 struck camp when the moon gave light enough, 
 and, without finding any signs of the enemy, 
 arrived at Goimuyasso's. Simultaneously with 
 our arrival, a number of prisoners, caught by 
 Goi's people in the act of stealing canoes, were 
 brought in. They said that Sefu had sent them 
 across the river to get him canoes, and this seemed 
 to have been the whole source of the alarm. One 
 of these prisoners, a " witch-doctor," calmly told us 
 that he changed himself into a duck whenever he 
 wanted to cross a river. This man was afterwards
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER 109 
 
 caught in our camp and shot as a spy. Every 
 native, and even some of our own regulars, firmly 
 believed he had passed the sentry changed into 
 the form of some animal, and told us it would be 
 useless to try and kill him. He was, however, 
 given ample warning, and we demonstrated that 
 his witchcraft was not proof against lead. 
 
 In preparation for the reported attack on the 
 11th we put up some rests for the rifles, and placed 
 them in a position to command the chief roads round 
 the camp. Our men, who were mostly Hausas, 
 were such appallingly bad shots, that, left to them- 
 selves, they would not have been likely to hit a 
 man at thirty yards. Letters from Commandant 
 Dhanis reached us on the 11th, saying that 
 he hoped to arrive on the 14th with about ten 
 thousand native allies, and giving us orders not 
 to cross the river on any pretext whatever until 
 then. Hearing that there were a number of canoes 
 higher up the river, which the Arabs were trying 
 to get hold of, we sent a detachment under de 
 Heusch up the river bank to bring them down to 
 us if possible, or, failing this, to destroy them.
 
 no THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 De Heusch, who was known as the most reckless 
 of dare-devils, had been told not to cross the river. 
 He surprised the town where the canoes had been 
 found, and discovered that the Arab forces had 
 already taken them to the other side. Having 
 come across one half of an old canoe, he patched 
 this with clay, and, taking two men with him in 
 this apology for a boat, crossed the river and set 
 about to hunt for the canoes, which were hidden in 
 the long grass. The Arab allies lined the bank 
 by hundreds, and amid a shower of balls and 
 arrows de Heusch beat a retreat, strange to say 
 unhurt, and left, " apres les avoir envoyes quelques 
 prunneaux" as he expressed it to me. During his 
 absence Sefu had despatched Debruyne with a strong 
 escort to the river, his object being to persuade 
 us to cross over and visit him, escorted by not 
 more than half a dozen men. Our own spies had 
 warned us that Sefu intended by some pretext to 
 persuade us to cross over, and then either to kill 
 us or make us prisoners. Being forewarned we 
 refused, and explained that we had the Com- 
 mandant's orders not to pass the Lomami, at the
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR AN ENCOUNTER iii 
 
 same time mentioning that we expected the Com- 
 mandant Dhanis to be with us in a day or 
 two. I did my best to persuade Debruyne to 
 swim over to us, but as things then stood he 
 refused to. Some months afterwards, when we 
 opened the poor fellow's grave at Kasongo, we 
 found that he had been cut into pieces about a 
 foot long, though happily, as we discovered from 
 his murderers and from independent witnesses, 
 this was post-mortem mutilation. 
 
 On the 20th November the Commandant arrived, 
 having with him one 7 '5 Krupp gun, and 
 accompanied by Captain de Wouters, Cerkel, 
 Lupungu, Kolomoni, and a great following. On 
 the way, hearing that the Arabs had appeared 
 lower down the river opposite N'Gandu, Dhanis 
 had sent Captain Michaux with eighty men to 
 reinforce Lieutenant Duchesne, who was with 
 Congo Lutete at N'Gandu. This detachment 
 became eventually a second of attack.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE ARABS — CAPTURE OF 
 TWO OF THEIR FORTS 
 
 The day following tlie Commandant's arrival at 
 the Lomami we heard that some of Sefu's people 
 had crossed the river about eight hours' march 
 below us. Not thinking it a very serious matter, 
 we sent a detachment of forty men under a black 
 sergeant named Albert Frees and a corporal called 
 Benga, together with Lupungu, Kolomoni, and 
 their people, to reconnoitre and, if necessary, fight. 
 Albert Frees, a Monorovian by birth, was a 
 wiry little man of about five feet six, who spoke 
 English with a strong American twang and much 
 volubility. His energy and intelligence were ex- 
 traordinary in a man who had had no education. 
 Benga was a native of Sierra Leone, a thick-set 
 heavy-faced negro, who seldom spoke unless he had 
 something very important to say. His reticence
 
 FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE ARABS 113 
 
 was most remarkable, and for hours together he 
 would not open his lips. These two were sworn 
 friends ; and as each of them had more pluck in his 
 body than all the other blacks I have ever met 
 with put together, and both were capital shots, 
 they succeeded during the campaign in successfully 
 accomplishing the most daring exploits possible 
 for anyone to undertake. After a day's fighting 
 they habitually got their men together, and 
 followed the retreating enemy far into the night. 
 How they came out alive from some of their 
 undertakings was always a marvel to us. 
 
 The next evening a man rushed into the camp 
 carrying an Arab gun, and bringing a message 
 to the eflfect that the Arabs were in force, and 
 that after severe fighting the position had not 
 been carried. The Commandant immediately 
 started for the scene of action, Scherlink and I 
 accompanying him with a detachment of all the 
 best men. We marched half the night, when, 
 getting into a dense forest, where it was too dark 
 and dangerous to move on, we lay down in our 
 tracks and waited for dawn. We were only about
 
 114 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 three hours on the road next morning when we 
 met a number of natives sent to us with a letter 
 from Michaux. Tliey were carrying several Win- 
 chester repeating rifles, and escorting prisoners — 
 tokens of a victory over the Arab forces. Gongo 
 Lutete, it seems, had found that the Arabs were 
 already across the river ; whereupon he and all his 
 people, ahead of Michaux and Duchesne, together 
 with the regulars, had marched to find the Arabs, 
 and had arrived at the two forts just as the sun 
 went down. Albert Frees, meanwhile, had been 
 skirmishing round these forts for some hours. 
 Arriving at dark, Michaux and Gongo Lutete 
 withdrew their men and encamped about an 
 hour's march distance from Albert Frees and Lup- 
 ungu, who lay down in front of the smaller fort. 
 [The diagram on page opposite shows the position.] 
 A tornado came on, followed by rain, which 
 lasted all night, and at dawn Albert Frees recom- 
 menced to attack. The Arabs charged out in 
 force, but very few of their cap guns (which re- 
 presented the great bulk of their armament) went 
 off, the night's rain having thoroughly soaked the
 
 FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE ARABS 115 
 
 powder. Albert Frees was quick to see the 
 dilemma they were in, and, taking advantage of it, 
 charged them home with Lupungu, and carried 
 the smaller fort just as Michaux and Gongo Lutete 
 came up. The Arabs retreated to the larger fort, 
 
 « ** 
 
 • «» 
 
 "ta* 
 
 which did not long resist the combined attack. 
 A panic, of which no one knows the cause, started 
 among the Arab forces, and the whole crowd 
 jumped into the river, here about a hundred yards 
 wide, with a four-mile current. The regulars and 
 friendly natives killed them by hundreds in the
 
 ii6 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 water. Sefu himself had recrossed before the 
 fighting began, and so escaped. On counting the 
 Arab loss, we found it to be over 600 on the field 
 of battle, and between 2000 and 3000 killed or 
 drowned in the river. We took about 30 good 
 repeating rifles and upwards of 2000 cap guns, 
 with large quantities of powder and cartridges. 
 Sergeant Albert Frees and Corporal Benga were 
 the first to get to the palisades of the fort, Albert 
 being three times touched by balls. Benga, who 
 was a great athlete, managed, by running hard and 
 flinging himself against the palisade, to start two or 
 three posts ; this gave an opening, through which 
 he and Albert, quickly followed by their men, 
 managed to efiect an entry. Here we took three 
 chiefs prisoners, one of whom, Sadi by name, had 
 served with Stanley. Both his arms were broken 
 and his thigh and scalp were ripped open by 
 bullets, yet he lingered on in this state for three 
 weeks. 
 
 The Commandant now decided to follow the 
 Arabs into their country. He was at liberty to 
 do this, since they, by crossing the Lomami and
 
 CAPTURE OF TWO OF THEIR FORTS 117 
 
 attacking us, with Sefu, an officer of the State, 
 at their head, had broken the Treaty of Zanzibar. 
 Scherlink and I were in charofe of the advance- 
 
 '&' 
 
 guard. We crossed the Lomami River on the 
 26th of November and camped in a plain about 
 half a mile from the river bank. After two days of 
 inactivity, while waiting for the main body to cross 
 the river, we, to satisfy the men — who were dis- 
 contented and hungry — started foraging. We 
 rushed a fortified village named Chile, the most 
 tastefully built and beautifully planted town I 
 have seen in Central Africa. The houses were 
 built on platforms raised about two feet from the 
 ground, and were made of wood, thatched with 
 the ordinary grass. On the inside, the walls were 
 plastered with white clay, grotesquely ornamented 
 in yellow, black, and red. Nearly all of these 
 houses were furnished with regular-made fireplaces 
 and seats. Windows or openings of any form in 
 the sides of his hut are things the African native 
 never dreams of arranging. A small hole in the 
 roof is occasionally left for the smoke to escape 
 by, though even this is by no means a general
 
 ii8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 practice, and, more often than not, a small low 
 doorway is the only means of ventilation, with 
 the exception of any stray chinks that may have 
 been left through careless thatching of the roof. 
 
 I frequently noticed among African natives a 
 certain brown, and often bloodshot, condition of 
 the conjunctiva, though, on opening the lid a 
 little wider than normal, the white of the eye 
 not usually exposed was found to be clean and 
 clear. This condition of things was, I came to 
 the conclusion, produced by smoke. It will be 
 easily understood that the atmosphere inside a 
 hut of this description, with a fire in it, is so 
 thick with smoke that an ordinary European, 
 unused to the life, would be almost suffocated. The 
 natives are, however, accustomed to it from their 
 earliest days, and when sitting by a fire in the 
 open air generally choose to place themselves to 
 leeward, the smoke being a protection against 
 the attacks of mosquitoes and other noxious 
 insects. 
 
 It was here that the cannibal propensities 
 of our friendlies and camp followers were first
 
 CAPTURE OF TWO OF THEIR FORTS 119 
 
 brought before me. On returning through the 
 town after following the inhabitants a mile or two 
 beyond, I found that the killed and wounded had 
 all disappeared, and some of my men volunteered 
 the information that the friendlies had cut them 
 up and carried them off for food. This I did not 
 believe. On our way home, however, we were 
 again attacked. The friendlies, who were dancing 
 along in front, promptly broke and fled, leaving 
 amongst the other loot scattered about the road, 
 several human arms, legs, and heads, which the 
 men whose information I had doubted took care 
 to point out to me as proof that they had not 
 lied. This skirmish was curious, for another 
 reason. I mounted an ant-hill to see how 
 things were going, and how the enemy were 
 posted ; straight in front of me, on another hill 
 about sixty yards off", the opponent chief with 
 his staff was posted. On seeing me he promptly 
 commenced emptying his Winchester in my 
 direction, till I knocked him off his perch with 
 a Mauser bullet in his chest. A year afterwards 
 Scherlink met this man ; and the chief, quite proud
 
 I20 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 of them, showed him the scars that the bullet 
 had left in his breast-bone and back, after which 
 it had passed through the abdomen of one of his 
 men, who died some days after from the wound. 
 My brother officers used to suggest that the bullet 
 had become septic in passing through the chiefs 
 chest, and that the second man had probably died 
 of blood-poisoning. 
 
 After much experience with different patterns 
 of the newest small-bore rifles, we all lost faith 
 in their killing and stopping power, and preferred 
 to arm our men with the old chassepots used in 
 the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. 
 
 On our way back from the skirmish we met the 
 Commandant, with de Wouters, the white sergeant 
 Cerkel, and all the available force he could muster. 
 We immediately camped, and that evening the 
 Commandant repeated what he had before told us 
 when he asked who would go with him — namely, 
 that he had no intention of returning alive from 
 the campaign if it were unsuccessful, and that 
 if any of us were unfortunate enough to be 
 taken prisoners by the enemy he would consider
 
 CAPTURE OF TWO OF THEIR FORTS 121 
 
 us as dead, and would not risk a man to save 
 us. 
 
 The next day we took Kitenge's town. Albert 
 Frees had been sent on in front to reassure the 
 chief and his people. As they were natives, we 
 had no intention of fig-hting with them, our 
 quarrel being, of course, only with the Arab slave- 
 raiders and their allies. He succeeded in tranquil- 
 lising them, and was quietly talking to the chief 
 when our forces appeared on the hill above the 
 town, at the sight of which the entire population 
 was seized with panic and fled. Kitenge himself 
 dodged through the crowd ; but Albert, realising his 
 intention, gave chase into the jungle, and brought 
 him back to us just as we had taken possession 
 of the town. Upon being asked by the Com- 
 mandant what had happened, Albert vouchsafed as 
 answer, " I catched man plenty wild passed him 
 before." We took our whole force into the 
 town and gave them quarters in Kitenge's harem, 
 which he had emptied. It contained about two 
 hundred separate houses, and was surrounded by a 
 strong palisade, the whole forming a very efiicient
 
 122 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 camp for our people. The situation possessed the 
 additional advantage of being separated from the 
 natives and the town, and thus lessened the chance 
 of collision between the two parties. The country 
 round this town is exceedingly rich. Our people 
 brought in prodigious quantities of bananas, differ- 
 ent kinds of corn, pineapples, potatoes, sugar- 
 cane, and other food. 
 
 On the 3rd of December we commenced march- 
 ing in a N.N.E. direction. Though our way lay 
 through swamps, there were fortunately no forests. 
 We arrived at Kabamba's on the 5th, and were 
 met by the chief, who assured us that he had no 
 quarrel with us, and that he had already refused 
 to join the Arabs against us, though he had no 
 intention of joining us against the Arabs. He 
 boasted that he had never yet been drawn into 
 war. Living as he did amongst almost inter- 
 minable swamps, it is probable that even the 
 Arabs had found it useless to try to coerce him. 
 He presented us with a splendid bullock left in 
 his charge by Wissmann four years before, but he 
 brought us no other present, nor did he ask for
 
 CAPTURE OF TWO OF THEIR FORTS 123 
 
 any. After a week's stay there news reached us 
 that Michaux and Gongo Lutete were advancing 
 to meet us, which made the Commandant doubt- 
 ful whether to meet them at Dibui's or at Lusuna. 
 After some days' waiting, during which our camp 
 was fixed on a small space of dry ground about 
 a foot above the level of the surrounding morass, 
 we heard that Michaux's column was advancing on 
 Lusuna, whereupon, to the great delight of every- 
 one, the Commandant gave orders to start on the 
 morrow. On the 11th we arrived at Lusuna, and 
 there found Michaux, who had taken the town by 
 storm three or four days before. He gave us 
 sugar, tobacco, and salt, which were great luxuries 
 after three weeks with no other food than the 
 flesh of the tough goats taken in some of the 
 skirmishes, and rice boiled in the stinking swamp 
 water. Of the many hardships encountered 
 during the expedition, I think we all agreed 
 that the worst was the deprivation of salt. During 
 the whole time spent in these swamps the health 
 of the caravan was excellent, although the water 
 drunk by everyone varied in colour from red,
 
 124 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 green, and yellow to black. The officer of the 
 day who had the rearguard, and more particularly 
 the gunguard, under supervision, was invariably 
 ten or twelve hours on his feet, often without food, 
 and working the greater part of the day up to his 
 waist, or even neck, in the swamps. I can only 
 attribute the absence of fever in the caravan to 
 the effect of light, since there were no forests 
 in the immediate neighbourhood, and all the 
 swamps were open to the sun's direct rays. 
 
 At Lusuna we found that Michaux had brought 
 Gongo Lutete, with between 5000 and 10,000 
 auxiliaries with him ; and as we were accom- 
 panied by Lupungu, Kolomoni, and Goimuyasso, 
 our camp at this time numbered about 25,000 
 natives, 400 regulars, and 6 white officers. The 
 old Lusuna — or Rusuna as Cameron calls him 
 — had died a few months before our arrival, and 
 his successor was a mild man of very different 
 stamp. 
 
 The fact that both sides were cannibals, or 
 rather that both sides had cannibals in their 
 train, proved a great element in our success.
 
 CAPTURE OF TWO OF THEIR FORTS 125 
 
 The teaching of the Mohammedan religion does 
 not allow that a man whose body has been 
 mutilated can enter into the highest heaven, 
 where only perfect men are admitted. As a con- 
 sequence of this belief, the white Arabs and other 
 faithful followers of Islam would, after a rebuff, 
 instead of trying to retrieve the fortunes of the 
 day, fly from the field with all possible speed — not 
 so much in order to save their lives, as through 
 fear lest their carcasses, in the event of their 
 falling, should be torn to pieces. Notwithstanding 
 this, however, on the occasions on which they 
 were practically cornered, the desperate valour 
 generally attributed to the Arabs showed itself 
 in full force.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY — RETURN OF SEFU 
 TO THE ATTACK 
 
 The Commandant instituted a very good system 
 which we afterwards often felt the benefit of, namely, 
 the supplying of every white man, at the State 
 expense, with as many boy-servants as he chose to 
 employ. These were generally savage little rascals, 
 lately -freed slaves, and either the children of 
 prisoners of war, or presents sent from native 
 chiefs. Their business being to attend to the 
 personal comfort of the whites, they rapidly ac- 
 quired a certain amount of civilisation, and an 
 absolute confidence in white men. While still 
 quite small, they acted as interpreters in the ordi- 
 nary business with natives. As soon as they were 
 old enough and sufficiently strong — often, with 
 good feeding, a matter of only a few months — they 
 were given guns, and taught how to use them ; 
 
 126
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 127 
 
 thus forming a sort of bodyguard for their 
 masters when visiting friendly native chiefs. 
 Very quickly after having arms in their hands 
 they asked to be allowed to become soldiers, and 
 were then drafted into the regular force. Eventu- 
 ally, what was called a " boy company " was 
 formed, and it became the smartest set of soldiers 
 we had. Their chief amusement when off duty 
 was to go through their drill. The boy corporals 
 had generally a few natives, or prisoners, who had 
 been given into their charge to look after ; these 
 recruits they used to drill for the pleasure of 
 drilling them, and many of them also became 
 soldiers. One great advantage in connection with 
 these boys was, that, when in action they got into 
 trouble or retreated, they invariably rallied round 
 the nearest white man, their sole idea of safety 
 being to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 
 the whites. 
 
 It having been decided that we should count the 
 auxiliary forces, in order that some idea of how 
 much powder to give to the different chiefs might 
 be arrived at, we proceeded to do so in the usual
 
 128 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Arab manner. A wild animal's skin was placed 
 on the ground, and the whole number of forces to 
 be counted walked over it one by one. We found 
 that Gongo Lutete had little over two thousand 
 guns ; Lupungu and the tribes with him, over three 
 thousand. Gongo Lutete and Lupungu were old 
 enemies ; Lutete having represented the Arab 
 power, whereas Lupungu was grand chief of the 
 native powers. Lupungu at this juncture coolly- 
 announced that he was afraid to advance any 
 farther ; that his people would desert if he did so, 
 as dysentery and smallpox were rife towards the 
 Lualaba, and that all would die if they advanced. 
 As the question of feeding this enormous multitude 
 had also to be considered, Commandant Dhanis 
 sent Lupungu with all his people home, giving 
 out that we had a large enough force at our dis- 
 posal without him. This was a bluff which rather 
 scared the Arabs advancing against us. While at 
 Lusuna's we heard that Delcommune and Frankie 
 had returned from their expedition to Katanga, 
 and the Commandant requisitioned them to come 
 to us or to send what help they could. News also
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 129 
 
 reached us here of the murder of Lippens and 
 Debruyne, two officers representing the Free State 
 Government, resident at Sefu's court in Kasongo. 
 We found out later that, after the defeat of Sefu 
 on the Lomami (which resulted in the death of 
 his cousin and several other noted chiefs), an 
 advance party of the retreating Arabs arrived at 
 Kasongo, and, by way of individual revenge, mur- 
 dered the two Residents. It is probable, since we 
 have no actual proof to the contrary, that this 
 was done without Sefu's orders. Twelve of these 
 people, armed with knives hidden in their clothing, 
 made some trivial pretext for visiting Lippens at 
 the Residency, who, however, refused to come out 
 and interview them. They then said that news 
 of a big battle had come to them from Sefu ; on 
 hearing which Lippens came out, and, while talking 
 in the verandah, was promptly and silently stabbed. 
 Some of the murderers entering the adjoining 
 room, found Debruyne writing, and killed him 
 before he had learned the fate of his chief. When 
 Sefu returned to Kasongo, a day or two afterwards, 
 he gave orders that the pieces of Debruyne's body
 
 130 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 should be collected and buried with Lippens, whose 
 body, with the exception of the hands (which had 
 been sent to Sefu and Mohara of Nyangwe as 
 tokens), was otherwise unmutilated. The strong 
 innate respect for a chief had protected Lippens' 
 body, while that of his subordinate had been 
 hacked to pieces. A curious fatality followed 
 these twelve murderers. The chief of the band, 
 Kabwarri by name, was killed by us in the battle 
 of the 26 th of February with Lippens* Martini 
 express in his hand. Of the others — all of whom 
 were the sons of chiefs, and some of them impor- 
 tant men on their own account — four died of 
 smallpox, one was killed at Nyangwe, one in the 
 storming of Kasongo, and the remaining six we 
 took prisoners at Kasongo. During the trial they 
 one day, though in a chained gang, succeeded 
 in overpowering the sentry, and thus escaped. 
 One was drowned in crossing a river ; three more 
 were killed, either fighting or by accident, within 
 a month or two of their escape ; and the two 
 remaining we retook and hanged ; — which brings 
 to me a curious point. Of the many men I have
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 131 
 
 seen hanged nearly all died by strangulation, and 
 not by having the neck broken. As compared 
 with shooting, hanging seems to me the less pain- 
 ful death ; the wretched being becomes insensible 
 in a very few seconds, whereas a man shot will 
 often require a coup de grdce, no matter how care- 
 fully the firing party is placed. 
 
 During this time I made several excursions 
 through the country in search of game, and also as 
 a means of getting to know the district What 
 struck me most in these expeditions was the 
 number of partially cut-up bodies I found in 
 every direction for miles around. Some of them 
 were minus the hands and feet, and some with 
 steaks cut from the thighs or elsewhere ; others 
 had the entrails or the head removed, according to 
 the taste of the individual savage, though, as I 
 afterwards discovered, this taste is more tribal 
 than individual. Neither old nor young, women 
 or children, are exempt from the possibility of 
 serving as food for their conquerors or neighbours. 
 
 Many rumours reached us that Mohara of 
 Nyangwe was advancing against us. We had
 
 132 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 several false alarms of night attacks, and were 
 very glad when, on the 29th of December, these 
 rumours became so definite that Gongo Lutete 
 oftered to bet the Commandant that if we marched 
 on the morrow we should meet the Arabs. Dhanis 
 was still unbelieving, and took up the bet for ten 
 bales of cloth, hoping that he would lose it, as the 
 uncertainty and false alarms were wearing out 
 the temper of our caravan. 
 
 At five o'clock on the morning of the 30th we 
 marched, with Gongo and his thousand guns 
 scouting in front of us. After six hours and a 
 half's severe marchino; we heard firino' in front. 
 The Commandant and I raced on, and emerged 
 on a plain covered with short grass in time to see 
 Gongo and his men in full flight before the vic- 
 torious Arabs, not four hundred yards ofi" in front 
 of us. Michaux soon came up with his company, 
 and the Commandant gave orders to charge. As 
 we started he ordered me to draw ofi" my men, 
 and to stay behind to guard the women and bag- 
 gage. He also charged me to send on the other 
 companies with the Krupp as soon as they arrived.
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 133 
 
 At this moment the Haiisas started their war-cry. 
 My men were all Hausas, and no sooner had they 
 heard it than they bolted into the fight, leaving 
 me alone with the chief corporal. Perched on the 
 top of an ant-hill, with my corporal at my side, 
 I had certainly as good a view of a battle as 
 any man could wish for. I saw the Commandant 
 and Michaux disappear apparently into the ground 
 — the cause being, what neither they nor I knew 
 till they were in it, that a swamp, some hundred 
 yards wide, intervened between us and the enemy. 
 It was a most curious effect to see our men up to 
 their necks in mud and water firing on the Arabs. 
 As they advanced the Arabs retired, and Gongo, 
 seeing that help had arrived, i-allied his retreating- 
 forces, and, in conjunction with our own forces, 
 drove the Arabs across the plain and into their 
 entrenched camp, which the regular troops then 
 stormed. A large body of Arabs were gathered on 
 our left wing, though apparently neither our 
 troops nor Gongo had noticed this, and to my 
 horror I saw our forces commence driving the main 
 body into the scrub, and following them out of
 
 134 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 sight. Soon the crack of the rifles became almost 
 inaudible, and I was left as a target for the four or five 
 hundred Arabs who were now between me and the 
 Commandant, at less than four hundred yards from 
 my ant-hill. The only thing I can think of that saved 
 me is, that these Arab troops must have mistaken 
 the baggage and women by whom I was surrounded, 
 for a reserve. After about twenty minutes Scher- 
 link arrived, and, proceeding to join the Com- 
 mandant, was quickly followed by Captain de 
 Wouters with the gun. We then followed as 
 rapidly as possible, skirting the swamp. I saw on 
 this battlefield the only case I can remember of a 
 native putting love before fear or danger. In a 
 bare spot my comrades had just swept over, I 
 passed a woman seated on the ground by a dead 
 chief, quietly crying with his head in her lap, 
 while the bullets whizzed round her, sometimes 
 only missing her by inches. A little later on, 
 when recrossing the battlefield, the only signs 
 left were bloodstained spots here and there, 
 marking the place where the victims of the fight 
 had been cut up to furnish a banquet in the even-
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 135 
 
 ing to the victorious survivors. Our disgust may 
 be better imagined than expressed, for we found 
 that the camp followers and friendlies made no 
 difference in this respect between the killed and 
 wounded on their own side or the enemy's. One 
 of Gongo Lutete's wives was killed during the 
 progress of the battle, and was cut up and eaten by 
 his own men, on whom, however, he took summary 
 vengeance the day following by handing them over 
 to form a repast for their comrades. Several of 
 our people had been taken prisoners during the 
 Arab successes earlier in the day, and when the 
 Arabs were retreating they killed some of them, 
 and frightfully mutilated others without killing 
 them, leaving them on the road. This was not 
 a wise proceeding, as it did not tend to make our 
 people more tender in their dealings with the 
 retreating perpetrators of these outrages. 
 
 The Arab camp which we took was situated on 
 a rising ground in and around the village of 
 Kasongo Luakilla. Being a strong position, it 
 served us well for headquarters. In the camp 
 we took powder, cartridges, rifles, and other
 
 136 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 ammunition ; and we also found Arab tents and 
 paraphernalia, with a tent made by Edison, which 
 had probably belonged to a member of Hodister's 
 unfortunate expedition. We discovered from 
 prisoners and some of the papers taken in the 
 camp, that Muni Pembe (the son of Mohara) 
 and Mahomedi commanded the Arabs. Their loss 
 was difficult to estimate, but we imagined must 
 have amounted to over two hundred killed. Our own 
 loss amounted to eighty-two killed and wounded. 
 
 On the 1st of January we broke camp to look 
 for food. A fearful storm overtook us, and, as 
 it showed no signs of abating, we were forced 
 to camp on a hillside. Everybody was very 
 miserable and bad-tempered, food was scarce, 
 cooking impossible, and all things were wet and 
 cold. The next day we advanced under a hot 
 sun, and found the heat delightful after the cold 
 and wet of the previous day and night. A couple 
 of hours brought us to the Mwadi Eiver, which, 
 with its rapid current and twenty-five feet depth of 
 water, was a difficult obstacle for the caravan to cross. 
 With four hours' hard work we succeeded in making
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 137 
 
 a bridge, and everyone crossed in safety, with the 
 exception of some half a dozen of Gongo Lutete's 
 people, who were drowned. After another two 
 hours' march we camped on a plateau called 
 Goio Kapopa, about three hundred feet above the 
 surrounding plain, in which the courses of three 
 moderately large rivers could be easily made out. 
 Opposite us, to the eastward, was a high range of 
 hills. 
 
 One evening, while lying in camp at Goio Kapopa, 
 some of the superstitious among our men came as a 
 deputation to the Commandant and begged him as 
 a favour to "make medicine," to show what the 
 result of the next conflict with the enemy would 
 be. The Arabs, they said, had been trying every 
 form of fetish known to them, but their oracles 
 were dumb (the Arab method most usually 
 practised is, after certain forms and ceremonies 
 have been gone through, to kill a goat or fowl, 
 from the appearance of whose entrails the witch- 
 doctor pretends to be able to read the future). 
 They had never seen the white man experiment, 
 and were very anxious that we should comply with
 
 138 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 their request. The Commandant gave out that he 
 would test the fates at eight o'clock that evening, 
 and told them that if his medicine, after due pre- 
 paration, became red, the Arab forces in the next 
 battle would be annihilated ; if it became white, 
 the battle would be drawn ; but if green should be 
 the colour, we should have to avoid battle for a 
 couple of months, as the result would be uncertain. 
 By the evening every soul in our and the native 
 camps around had turned out to see what would 
 happen, and Sefu's hosts on the opposite hills 
 were also eagerly watching. We had a few dozen 
 signal rockets with us, of which, however, only a 
 dozen were in good order, and which had been 
 kept in the event of a great emergency. When 
 the Commandant ordered three of the red signal 
 rockets to be fired, the yell of joy that rang 
 through the camp was perfectly appalling. As 
 the onlookers realised that the "medicine" was 
 red, three times repeated, they danced round us in 
 a perfect frenzy of joy, and demanded that powder 
 should be given to them to make a night of it. 
 It is a characteristic of Arab followers and natives
 
 SKIRMISHES WITH THE ENEMY 139 
 
 to let off their guns at every opportunity — ^joy or 
 sorrow, arrival or departure, serving as an excuse 
 for the discharge of firearms. Even a shower of 
 rain causes a reckless waste of powder, and every 
 man fires his gun " for fear the powder should get 
 wet." When the rain stops and the sun reappears, 
 he fires another charge "to make sure that the gun 
 has not got damp." On this special occasion they 
 asked for powder, and were made happy with a 
 couple of barrels, when with yells and dances and 
 the constant discharge of firearms they made night 
 hideous. A corresponding silence reigned in the 
 enemy's camp, who, I believe, had we been able to 
 attack them, would have stampeded then and there. 
 On the 5th of January three or four hundred 
 women, who had been left behind at the Lomami 
 River with the soldiers' private baggage, came to 
 us, and there was great rejoicing in camp. The 
 men having been without their extra blankets, and 
 not having had their women to look after them, 
 had been out of condition and ill-nourished. The 
 women also brought a note from the Lomami, 
 saying that Delcommune had responded to the
 
 I40 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Commandant's requisition by sending a white 
 officer named Cassar, some soldiers, and all his 
 rifles and ammunition, but that he could not send 
 the bulk of his soldiers. They would, he said, 
 have to be re-engaged at Lusambo, so that we 
 could not expect to see them for a couple of 
 months. From Frankie's expedition there was no 
 response whatever. That same evening we saw 
 camp fires on the hills opposite, and heard drums 
 rolling and great shouting. The next day we 
 could see, with glasses, a very large camp covering 
 upwards of a mile. This turned out to be Sefu, 
 with the other princes of Kasongo, who had 
 returned to the attack in spite of his overwhelm- 
 ing defeat at the Lomami. The Commandant 
 determined to let them cross the river, or at all 
 events to land part of their force on our side, 
 before attackinoj them.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MORE ARAB DEFEATS — THE COMMANDANT DECIDES 
 TO TAKE THE INITIATIVE AND TO LEAD AN 
 ATTACK UPON SEFU's FORCES 
 
 On the morning of the 9 th of January, at about 
 6 o'clock, we heard firing behind our camp. On 
 inquiring from Gongo Lutete, he suggested that 
 some of his people might have become involved in 
 a quarrel with the natives. After a few minutes, 
 however, we distinctly heard volley -firing, and, 
 since it was not possible that this could be from 
 natives, the Commandant sent Michaux and de 
 Wouters to reconnoitre. They returned without 
 having discovered what it was. A few minutes 
 later a man rushed breathless into the camp, 
 and, holding up a breechloader and half a dozen 
 cartridges, shouted, " The white man is attacked 
 and wants help," and fell down fainting. When 
 he could give a coherent account of himself, he 
 
 141
 
 142 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 said that the white man was still fighting, but was 
 very hard pressed, and had sent for help. Michaux, 
 de Wouters, and Scherlink promptly started off 
 with their companies and a contingent of Gongo 
 Lutete's, leaving the Commandant, with myself 
 and Cerkel, in a horrid state of suspense. We got 
 the camp ready to resist an attack ; Sefu's force 
 being camped in front of us, and, according to the 
 report we had just received, Mohara of Nyangwe 
 fighting in our rear. This, at the time, seemed 
 scarcely credible, though it turned out to be true. 
 At midday the firing commenced a few hundred 
 yards from our camp, in the grass. Just as we 
 thought the fight would begin, Cassar marched into 
 the camp with all his baggage — wounded, but 
 having extricated himself from the dilemma he 
 was in without even seeing the force we had sent 
 to help him. His first words amused us : " Com- 
 mandant," said he, " I was all but taken, and I 
 have burnt an awful lot of cartridges." " Oh," 
 said the Commandant, " you're alive, and that's the 
 main thing. I suppose you've lost all the baggage 
 and ammunition you were bringing us," But the
 
 MORE ARAB ATTACKS 143 
 
 plucky little man had not; and this, from the 
 account he gave us, is what had taken place. 
 
 He had, the evening before, camped about two 
 hours and a half's march in our rear, and, suspect- 
 ing nothing, had slept well. He was bringing 
 us about 50,000 rounds of ammunition, and 
 40 chassepot rifles tied up in bundles; and his 
 caravan consisted of 26 regular soldiers, and 250 
 of Gongo Lutete's men as porters. While washing 
 himself at his tent door at a quarter to six in 
 the morning, he was astonished by a volley fired 
 into the camp from the surrounding scrub. He 
 found that the bush on every side of him was full 
 of turbaned forces. Getting his men in hand 
 immediately, he returned the fire. Those of his 
 porters who were not armed with muzzleloaders, 
 broke open the ammunition boxes, and, taking the 
 chassepots, kept up an erratic fire in every direction 
 but the one most necessary. This ill -directed fire 
 was, however, enough to prevent the Arabs from 
 rushing the camp, and Cassar charged out with his 
 soldiers at any point where the enemy approached 
 too closely. This continued for over four hours,
 
 144 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 when, for a reason unknown to Cassar at the time, 
 the Arabs withdrew for an hour and twenty 
 minutes. The explanation, as we afterwards 
 discovered, was that Mohara had been wounded 
 in the leg by a chance shot. During this pause 
 Cassar dismounted his tent, got his loads and 
 wounded on the road, and retired in our direction. 
 The bush was very thick, and when the Arabs 
 followed him in force he managed to hold them in 
 check till all his own force had crossed a deep river, 
 which, fortunately for him, was on his road. As 
 the only means of crossing the river was by a 
 single enormous tree, which had been felled across 
 it, he had no difficulty in keeping the Arabs at 
 bay till the main part of his caravan had got a 
 long start. He then raced after them, and arrived 
 at our camp as I have described. 
 
 While we were still talking, firing commenced 
 again almost in the same direction as we had heard 
 it in the morning. In the evening one of our 
 soldiers came in, bringing with him Mohara's 
 head, and a note from de Wouters saying that 
 they had fought the Arabs' main body, which they
 
 MORE ARAB ATTACKS 145 
 
 had defeated, and had killed Mohara, whose head 
 he was sending for identification. Our troops 
 arrived in the early morning, bringing with them 
 great quantities of food, donkeys, and a large 
 bundle of Arab despatches, in addition to prisoners 
 and tents. De Wouters' report said that on 
 taking the Arab camp they had found enormous 
 numbers of wounded, and many freshly-made 
 graves, which testified to the severity of Cassar's 
 fighting in the morning. He had, he said, suc- 
 cessfully carried the position through the Arabs 
 having mistaken our force for an envoy from 
 Sefu and his guard, whom they were expecting. 
 Through this mistake, they had allowed de 
 Wouters' party to march through the swampy 
 valley which defended one side of their position, 
 and to gain the high ground on which the camp 
 stood, without molestation. As soon as they had 
 crossed the swamp, they got into high grass and 
 cassada fields, which hid their real character from 
 the enemy until they had formed line and broken 
 cover within a hundred yards of the nearest Arab 
 
 line. Though the Arabs had seen the arrival of 
 .10
 
 146 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 our people, they were to all intents and purposes 
 surprised. Mohara, who had been wounded in 
 the morning, was, luckily for us, killed very 
 early in the fight ; and the loss of their chief, 
 as is usual with any but European soldiers, spread 
 dismay among the ranks. . ' 
 
 The nearest river to us to the eastward was the 
 Lufubu. After our successes on the 9th, the 
 Commandant decided that there was no reason 
 why we should not attack Sefu's forces, who were 
 still in front. On the 11th, therefore, Michaux 
 and his company were sent as a guard to Lutete's 
 people, who were ordered to build a bridge over 
 the Lufubu. This they accomplished in about 
 three hours, at a point where the river was only 
 forty yards wide and about ten feet deep. When 
 the bridge was finished Michaux crossed over, and 
 after a couple of hours' march found himself on 
 the banks of the Kipango, not a mile from Sefu's 
 camp, which was pitched on a height about three- 
 quarters of a mile from the river. The enemy, on 
 discovering our troops so near them, came down 
 in force to prevent our people crossing the river
 
 THE COMMANDANT LEADS AN ATTACK 147 
 
 Kipango, which they naturally supposed was our 
 intention. There seems to have been a sharp 
 skirmish across the river. Wordy war, which also 
 raged, had more effect than even our rifles. 
 Mahomedi and Sefu led the Arabs, who were 
 jeering and taunting Lutete's people, saying that 
 they were in a bad case, and had better desert the 
 white man, who was ignorant of the fact that 
 Mohara with all the forces of Nyangwe was 
 camped in his rear. Lutete's people replied : 
 *' Oh, we know all about Mohara ; we ate him the 
 day before yesterday." The news of Mohara's 
 defeat had not then reached Sefu, as our camp 
 lay between, and Mohara was defeated and slain 
 before communication had been established be- 
 tween the Arab armies. 
 
 Michaux retired, leaving Lutete's people, masked 
 by the forest and unknown to the enemy, to build 
 a bridge across the river higher up. On the 
 12th we crossed the Lufubu, and coming to the 
 Kipango found that the bridge, made in the night 
 by our allies, had been carried away. Three hours' 
 steady work enabled us to build another, strong
 
 148 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 enough to bear the passage of our regulars and 
 baggage, part of Lutete's force having crossed 
 the river before the bridge was carried away. A 
 great many of the remainder of his force succeeded 
 in passing by climbing the trees on the bank, and 
 swinging across by the creepers. Though in some 
 places the boughs of the trees were interlocked, the 
 most frightful scenes nevertheless occurred. We, 
 who were working lower down stream, saw many a 
 face, arm, or leg in the boiling flood, which was 
 tearing like a mill-race past us. Help it was 
 impossible to render. Our own men had many 
 narrow escapes, and one was carried away and 
 drowned. Just as the sun went down our forces 
 crossed, and after forty minutes' marching we 
 rushed into the Arab camp, and were surprised 
 to find it deserted. We spent a miserable night, 
 as the baggage and provision porters were unable 
 to find their way into the camp in the dark. From 
 information volunteered by some prisoners the 
 next day, it appeared that Sefu had been some- 
 what perturbed ; one of his favourite wives had 
 been killed by a stray shot fired during Michaux's
 
 THE COMMANDANT LEADS AN ATTACK 149 
 
 skirmisli on the river bank, wliile sitting in his 
 tent with him a mile away from the scene of 
 combat. Shortly after Michaux had retired, a 
 messenger confirmed what our allies had already 
 told them — namely, that Mohara was killed and 
 his forces dispersed. 
 
 The hill on which the Arabs had made their 
 camp, and which we now occupied, rose abruptly 
 out of the plain, and formed a plateau about a 
 mile and a half square, surrounded on every side 
 by nearly perpendicular grassy slopes. No better 
 position for defence could possibly have been 
 found. Had Sefu only defended this position, I 
 doubt if we should ever have been able to take it ; 
 but he was still smarting after his rout at the 
 Lomami, and was much alarmed by hearing of 
 the death of Mohara, who was known to be the 
 grandest old warrior west of Lake Tanganyika. 
 A saying of Mohara's was well known in the 
 country : " I have never lost a battle which I 
 personally conducted ; I would rather die on the 
 field than go home after it was lost." One cannot 
 help admiring this grand old slave-raider, who,
 
 I50 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 after years of victory, preferred to die rather than 
 leave the scene of his first defeat. 
 
 On the 20th January the Commandant struck 
 camp, having suggested the night before that we 
 might have a look at the Lualaba, in order that 
 we might be able to say that we had seen it — we 
 having received definite information that all the 
 Arab forces had retired to the right bank of the river. 
 Our caravan was heavily laden with food, everybody 
 who pretended to know anything about it seeming 
 to agree that between us and the river there was 
 only a desert, and that it would be impossible to 
 nourish the caravan for more than a day or two. 
 While in this camp we had had a great deal of sick- 
 ness — chiefly colic and slight fevers — which I attri- 
 buted to the exposed position of the plateau. The 
 nights were really cold — with a fall in temperature 
 from 100" to about 50° — though we were only some 
 three hundred feet above the surrounding plain. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, however, our caravan was 
 in a great state of jubilation, as we were now in 
 the Salt District, several large saline marshes being 
 within an hour's march. These salt marshes
 
 THE COMMANDANT LEADS AN ATTACK 151 
 
 extend from tte Lufubu to the westward, to the 
 Lualaba to the eastward. The salt from this 
 district supplies the whole country from Tan- 
 ganyika to Kasai. I visited, among others, a rather 
 curious salt-pit at the bottom of a dark narrow 
 gorge of triangular shape. Through this marsh, 
 hot black brine was bubbling out of the ground 
 over almost the whole surface ; yet down the 
 middle ran a stream of pure cold water, which 
 had been banked up by the natives to prevent 
 the fresh water diluting the brine. 
 
 Two eagles on the cliff above looked as if they 
 were stuffed ; everything was hot and still ; and 
 even the men spoke only in whispers. In the 
 middle of the silence half a dozen bullets suddenly 
 hissed round, and the far side of the gorge filled 
 almost instantaneously with Arabs. In a moment 
 the most terrific din filled the place — everyone 
 was shouting and firing. I noticed that even one 
 of the eagles shrieked. The echoes were tre- 
 mendous, and caught up and doubled the confusion. 
 When we had cleared the gorge I sat down and 
 rested. The whole place, pervaded with the smell
 
 152 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 of sulphur and hung with clouds of smoke, sug- 
 gested the gateway to the Inferno. One of my 
 men, an American nigger from Liberia, who was 
 quietly hacking the hand off a dead body as the 
 simplest method of removing the bracelets, said, 
 " I guess they ain't had such a dust up in this hole 
 since creation." At this I blew the retreat — the 
 echo of which went on sounding for over two 
 minutes — and left.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE STATE FOPwCES CAMP OPPOSITE THE TOWN OF 
 NYANGWE ON THE OTHER SIDE OP THE RIVER 
 LUALABA — DESCRIPTION OF THE WATER- 
 PEOPLE — SURPRISE ENCOUNTER WITH TWO 
 COLUMNS OF ADVANCING ARABS 
 
 At midday on the 21st of January 1893, on coming 
 out of a dense belt of forest, we saw Nyangwe 
 spread out before us. Between us and it was a 
 plain some two miles wide and the river Lualaba, 
 which we knew to be about a thousand yards 
 across ; yet so clear was the air that we felt as if we 
 were within rifle-range of the city. We had not 
 been many minutes in the open before we could 
 detect with our glasses tremendous commotion in 
 the streets of Nyangwe. It was evident that we 
 had been seen. The Commandant halted our 
 forces in order to get the different divisions into 
 position. At this point a tornado commenced, 
 
 153
 
 154 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 but the line being formed we advanced forces, and, 
 as soon as we had descended from the heights, 
 the long grass with which the plain was covered 
 prevented any individual from being able to see 
 more than ten or fifteen yards ahead. When 
 nearly opposite to the south end of Nyangwe, and, 
 as it proved, at least a mile and a half from the 
 river bank — though at the time it seemed much 
 nearer — we came upon a knoll of ground rising 
 out of the half-dry swamp in which we were 
 marching. From this situation we saw a long 
 line of men advancing towards us through the 
 grass, not more than half a mile away. We 
 promptly laagered, and the Commandant ordered 
 off two companies to check the supposed advance 
 of the enemy. When we were within hailing 
 distance, it was discovered that they were a 
 detachment of Lutete's force who had lost their 
 way, and had, to their great surprise, struck the 
 Lualaba just in front of the town. A volley or 
 two, fired at them from the opposite river bank, 
 sent them flying in our direction as fast as their 
 legs could carry them. This precipitance was
 
 CAMP OPPOSITE NYANGWE 155 
 
 within an ace of costing them dearly, and, had 
 they not been in open order, we should certainly 
 have shelled them before finding out who they 
 were. On and by this knoll we camped, the highest 
 part of which was only a few inches above the 
 surrounding swamp ; and daily for five or six 
 weeks some part of our force waded through the 
 swamp, in the latter days having to swim part of 
 the way to the bank of the Lualaba. Opposite 
 the main part of the town of Nyangwe was an 
 island about three-quarters of a mile long, and 
 strongly fortified by the Arabs. It took us some 
 time every morning to silence the trenches com- 
 manding our favourite position on the bank of 
 the river for annoying the town itself. In 
 the daily interchange of civilities there were many 
 interesting incidents. One of the favourite 
 ruses of the Arab chiefs was to ask for a few 
 moments' quiet in which to talk with one of 
 the white officers ; and on several occasions an 
 officer — believing in the good faith of the enemy 
 — while holding conversation with the chief, and 
 thoroughly exposed, was, without warning, fired
 
 156 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 on simultaneously by a dozen or two of men. 
 It seemed to us curious that the Arab allies using 
 muzzleloaders made good practice from the other 
 side of the river, their bullets being iron, 
 hammered round, or pieces of copper about an 
 inch long and nearly half an inch in diameter. 
 These pieces of copper scared our men consider- 
 ably at first, for the muskets from which they 
 were fired were not rifles, and the bullets arrived 
 on our side of the river with a horrid shriek. From 
 the island, which was only four hundred yards off, 
 these bolts were very efi'ective ; and some of them 
 fired from the town itself occasionally dropped in 
 among us, though the nearest point across the 
 river was over nine hundred yards. 
 
 A large herd of cattle we could see in Nyangwe 
 sometimes afi'orded us sport. On one occasion 
 when they were brought down to the river bank 
 to drink (their herdsmen being unaware that we 
 were lying in the reeds opposite them), we killed 
 or wounded a number of them. The herd became 
 enraged, and seemed further annoyed by their 
 masters, who were returning our fire from the
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE WATER-PEOPLE 157 
 
 trenches in their neighbourhood. They charged 
 into them, and in a very few seconds emptied the 
 trenches. The flying soldiers, turning round and 
 firing on the infuriated beasts, were quickly dis- 
 persed by one or two volleys from us. But for 
 some hours afterwards we could see the cattle 
 racing after terror-stricken wretches through the 
 streets of the town. 
 
 We should have done much better during the 
 siege with smokeless powder. As it was, the 
 Arab soldiers dropped down in the trenches at 
 first sight of a puff of smoke, and could of course 
 not be hit. Our marksmen made big grass fires 
 behind them, and, firing in front of the thick 
 smoke, bettered their chance of getting the shot 
 home unperceived. 
 
 During the whole of this time, the Waginia, who 
 are the water-people, and who do all the transport 
 on the river, were constant visitors in our camp. 
 The Waginia are in every respect a peculiar 
 race. Though they are all free men they have 
 no slaves, and in most of their characteristics they 
 are curiously contradictory. They never walk.
 
 IS8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 yet — water-people as they are — those with whom 
 I came in contact were very bad swimmers. All 
 the ferrying and up and down transport, both for 
 us and for the Arabs, was done by them, without 
 any other payment than their food during the 
 time they worked. Their villages are made of 
 grass only, and change position almost daily. All 
 the Waginia know each other. When any member 
 of the tribe happens to want a canoe, he helps 
 himself to any he chances to come across, and 
 returns it perhaps months afterwards. These 
 canoes are dug out of the trunks of trees, and 
 hold from one to fifty men ; but, though always 
 used by the Waginia, they are unable to make 
 them themselves, and buy them from the little 
 forest people with fish and pottery. Neither do 
 they fight, and, at the first sign of disturbance in 
 a district near to them, they drop down the river 
 one or two hundred miles, and are within an hour 
 hopelessly beyond chase. They constantly brought 
 us information about the doings of the Arabs 
 (for which, of course, we paid them), and then 
 went direct from us back to the town, and told
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE WATER-PEOPLE 159 
 
 the Arabs all about us. Though we knew this, 
 and taunted them with double-dealing, they were 
 quite unconcerned. 
 
 After we had been some time in camp, Dhanis 
 ordered Lutete to build a canoe. In addition to 
 this a boat was on the road to us from Lusambo, 
 and with these two we hoped to be able to get 
 together some of the canoes from the other side 
 of the river. The boat was, however, lost in 
 crossing the Lufubu River, and the canoe when 
 finished would only hold six men. Before we 
 could build another, circumstances were so changed 
 that we had no need of them. The Commandant 
 despatched Lutete and his people to fight to the 
 northward, with instructions to be back in a fort- 
 night. Lutete departed, leaving behind him, as a 
 guard for over five thousand women whom he left 
 in his camp, two hundred muzzleloaders and the 
 men who carried them. Shortly after his departure, 
 the Waginia, who were as usual spying about the 
 camp, had an interview with the Commandant, in 
 which they told him that provisions were very 
 scarce in Nyangwe. In the course of the con-
 
 i6o THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 versation they inquired how soon Lutete would 
 be back, to which the Commandant replied 
 that he expected him in a fortnight or so. He 
 furthermore added that it would be a grand 
 chance for the Arabs to attack him then, and 
 suggested that they should inform Sefu of his 
 opportunity. " Give him my compliments," said 
 Dhanis, "and tell him I hear he is hungry, so 
 am sending him half a dozen fowls. You see we 
 have plenty. When we have eaten all the food 
 on this side of the river, we shall cross over to 
 the other." And he gave them the last half 
 dozen fowls we had in camp. The Waginia, how- 
 ever, seem to have reported this conversation 
 faithfully on the other side of the river, and it 
 had its effect. A few days later we heard that 
 the Arabs had crossed the river, a couple of hours* 
 march below us. This information we treated 
 with the contempt that rumours in Africa ordi- 
 narily merit. Next day, however, a runaway slave 
 came to us, declaring that he had been brought 
 across the river by his master, and had been 
 engaged for the last two days in building bomas ;
 
 SURPRISE ENCOUNTER i6i 
 
 the whole free population of Nyangwe with 
 the ordinary Arab forces would, he said, attack 
 us in a day or two. That same evening eight of 
 our people, while fetching water from a spring 
 within two hundred yards of the camp, were carried 
 off by an Arab scouting party. As the plot seemed 
 to be thickening, everyone was on the alert. 
 Towards midnight a tremendous uproar took place : 
 the women of Lutete's camp stampeded and over- 
 ran the corner of our camp in which Michaux's 
 lines were situated. With great difficulty we got 
 rid of them, but in less than an hour they again 
 were panic-stricken, by the accidental discharge 
 of a rifle, and a second time spread confusion 
 throughout our camp. We then made them lie 
 down on the ground, and put sentries over them, 
 with orders to shoot if anyone stood up. Nothing, 
 however, happened during the night ; and as the 
 Arabs, contrary to their custom, did not attack 
 at dawn, the Commandant decided to take the 
 initiative. De Wouters and I were given the 
 advance-guard, with which we had a Krupp gun ; 
 the camp being left in charge of two officers and
 
 i62 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 half the men. After three-quarters of an hour's 
 march the road forked : the right-hand branch, 
 the guides told us, led direct to the Arab bomas ; 
 the left-hand branch we followed, the guides 
 explaining that by so doing we should take the 
 Arab force in the rear. On our right, we had 
 now a strip of forest which separated us from 
 the other road. Hearing a hum at this point, 
 which sounded like a large body of men in our 
 immediate neighbourhood, we mounted the Krupp 
 gun and advanced. Before very long we heard 
 firing on our right flank rear. After a consulta- 
 tion, we came to the conclusion that it must be 
 the Commandant, who had taken the direct road 
 to the bomas with the object of attacking them 
 in front, and who was to have followed us within 
 half an hour. It being then too late to turn 
 back, we advanced at the double, hoping to arrive 
 in time to attack the rear of the force before he 
 had effected an entry. To our astonishment, how- 
 ever, on arriving in a sort of cul de sac of open 
 ground — at no point more than four hundred yards 
 wide, and surrounded on three sides by forest — we
 
 SURPRISE ENCOUNTER 163 
 
 were hailed by volleys on both flanks and in front 
 at the same time. We had run in between two 
 columns of advancing Arabs, who, hearing us 
 arrive, or warned by their scouts, had formed in 
 open order, and had posted large bodies of men 
 in the wood on each side of the road by which we 
 were arriving. These first volleys, being fired at 
 from thirty to one hundred yards from our line, did 
 more damage to each other than to us, most of the 
 bullets passing over our heads. How de Wouters 
 escaped on this and subsequent occasions it is hard 
 to imagine : six feet five inches in height, and 
 nearly always dressed in white, he was the man 
 of all others who served as a mark for the Arab 
 riflemen. On this occasion, a body of Arabs 
 charged into our line between de Wouters and 
 me, in the hope of taking Kirongo — " the Heron," 
 as he was called both by our men and the enemy. 
 Their orders were to take "the Heron," alive or 
 dead, and to use their knives, since bullets were 
 useless against his fetish's witchcraft. I was 
 lucky enough to be able to stop this rush before 
 they had effected their object. The left-hand
 
 i64 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 column of Arabs broke and fled after about an 
 hour's fighting. De Wouters and I then turned 
 to attack the right-hand column, which was the 
 stronger. Just as the movement was completed, we 
 were delighted to find Michaux on our right flank, 
 he having come up at full speed upon hearing 
 the firing in front. It was fortunate for us that he 
 decided on this line of action, instead of returning 
 to find out what the firing was, which he had also 
 noticed in the rear. This was now the position : — 
 
 ihri AH the blank Spares 
 
 The grass was certainly twelve feet high, and 
 rendered our charge most rafjged and irreo;ular.
 
 SURPRISE ENCOUNTER 165 
 
 This, however, was of small consequence, as the 
 Arabs broke and retired. De Wouters, owing to 
 some inequalities in the ground, and confused by 
 the smoke, led his men from the left flank across 
 to the right flank, where he and Michaux attacked 
 small numbers of the enemy, who had posted 
 themselves in the forest. I followed the main 
 body, and found myself suddenly on the enemy's 
 rear, posted in a belt of forest. Making a charge, 
 I found that the only way through this belt was 
 by a path not five feet wide. The sensation of 
 going through this undergrowth, with the enemy 
 all the time firing apparently from out of the 
 ground, from the tree tops and in every direction, 
 was not a pleasant one. I, however, got safely 
 through the forest, and, halting my men on the 
 other side, tried to get them into something like 
 order. There I was rejoined by de Wouters and 
 Michaux, who had hardly found an Arab in the 
 wood : as they had not succeeded in stopping 
 me, they realised that they would have been 
 caught between two fires had they remained. As 
 soon as we had collected sufficient men we again
 
 i66 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 charged the main body of Arabs, and were sur- 
 prised at their stubborn resistance ; for it is 
 generally easy to keep a body of men moving 
 who have once started retreating. During this 
 part of the engagement our right flank was 
 attacked. The enemy kept up a well-sustained 
 steady fire, which approached yet seemed to 
 advance on our front obliquely ; then the main 
 
 body, which we were attacking in front, gave 
 way, and we continued to fire on the troops 
 advancing on the right flank. Presently we 
 heard a drum, which we recognised as belongingr 
 to our allies, and immediately ceased fire. [The 
 diagram shown above explains what happened.]
 
 SURPRISE ENCOUNTER 167 
 
 The Commandant had taken the other road, and 
 had immediately fallen in with the enemy, whom 
 after some severe fighting he drove back. We, 
 in making our way through the belt of forest, had 
 driven the enemy in front of us across his column, 
 which checked them, and we advanced at a right 
 angle. When the Arab forces dispersed, we were 
 left firing into each other, the grass being very 
 long and neither of our columns numerous. 
 Fortunately, only one of our men was killed and 
 three or four wounded by this unpleasant accident. 
 Our buglers, on both sides, were blowing their 
 best, but could of course not be heard more than 
 twenty yards distant in the din of battle, whereas 
 the drum could be heard above everything. As 
 soon as we could get a large enough number of 
 men into order we followed the retreating Arabs, 
 and came upon their advanced fort, which, after 
 about two minutes' sharp work, we stormed. 
 The Arabs, not having had time to organise 
 after their defeat in the open, seemed unable 
 to rally, and their other holds quickly fell. As 
 they commenced to re-form on the plain between
 
 i68 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the forts and the Lualaba, we again advanced 
 against them, and they retreated to the river 
 bank. At about an hour and a half's march 
 from the forts, the Lufubu River empties itself 
 into the Lualaba, and is here about one hundred 
 yards wide and very deep. The enemy gathered 
 in solid masses in the angle formed by the junction 
 of the two rivers. On our approach something 
 started a panic in the re-formed lines of the enemy ; 
 and as Sefu and Miserera were crossing the Lufubu 
 (filling all the canoes with their own staff), the 
 rank and file tried to swim across by hundreds at 
 a time, and great numbers were drowned. 
 
 On this occasion we might claim to have unin- 
 tentionally surprised the Arab forces. It seems that 
 they left their forts at the same hour at which we 
 left our camp, with the intention of attacking us 
 in camp on three sides at once. The three columns, 
 taking different roads, were intended to arrive at 
 the same time ; but two of them, owing to the 
 bad state of the ground, were forced within two 
 hundred yards of each other, just at the moment 
 when de Wouters and I marched in between.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE PALL OF NYANGWE 
 
 On the 1st of March the Waginia offered to give 
 us their canoes, if we, in return, would give them 
 an escort past the Arab camps on the islands 
 down the river. The impression made on them 
 by our victory was so great that they were quite 
 confident in the result of our attack on Nyangwe, 
 and were even willing to lend us their canoes to 
 cross the river. Their hope was, if we succeeded, 
 to be able to do some looting in the town ; and on 
 the other hand, if by chance we failed, to gather 
 a considerable amount of booty in our camp. The 
 Commandant sent Scherlink and Cerkel down the 
 river bank, and, after a smart skirmish or two, they 
 succeeded in arriving at our landing-place opposite 
 the camp with a hundred large canoes. 
 
 On the 3rd of March letters and despatches of 
 great interest reached us from Inspector Fivd
 
 170 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and others. We had heard nothing of what had 
 been going on outside our own little world for 
 months. The Inspector gave us good news too, 
 and his despatches informed us that he had 
 ordered Commandant Chalian of Basoko to form 
 junction with us, and to bring with him artillery 
 and supplies. Commandant Gillian, he said, would 
 join as soon as possible with all the available 
 men from the Sankuru-Kasai districts. He hoped 
 that with these forces arrayed against them the 
 enemy would not be able to hold out long. On 
 talking affairs over, it occurred to us that Chaltin 
 might take Nyangwe by marching up on the right 
 bank of the river. This idea took hold of us, 
 and we all rushed out from mess with our glasses, 
 to make sure that the Arab flag was still flying 
 over Nyangwe. It would have been a disappoint- 
 ment if, after all our trouble and discomfort, 
 somebody else had had the honour of taking 
 Nyangwe. This notion had, I think, a great deal 
 to do with Commandant Dhanis' prompt attack 
 on the town within an hour of our having the 
 canoes which made it possible.
 
 THE FALL OF NYANGWE 171 
 
 During the morning of the 4th March we struck 
 camp and immediately formed on the river bank. 
 The canoes started loaded with soldiers, each white 
 officer having in his charge about thirty or forty 
 men. It was certainly a grand sight to see over 
 a hundred canoes in open order, full of yelling 
 demons, dashing down the stream on the doomed 
 city. We succeeded in landing and in taking 
 the greater part of the town, scarcely firing a 
 shot. By ten o'clock that evening we had fortified 
 ourselves in the higher part of the town. The 
 Waginia withdrew as soon as we landed, and it 
 was not until they were assured of our success 
 that they consented to continue ferrying over the 
 camp followers, women, baggage, and friendlies. 
 We were established in a not altogether enviable 
 position, with hardly a footing on the hostile 
 bank of the Lualaba, an enormous river behind 
 us, no means of retreat, and no possibility of 
 receiving either a reinforcement or a fresh supply 
 of ammunition. All, however, went well. The 
 following day Albert Frees was sent off with a 
 detachment and some of Lutete's people to attack
 
 172 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the camp which Muni Pembi — who was supposed 
 to have two of Hodister's children as prisoners — 
 had formed at a few hours' march from Nyangwe. 
 After marching all night in a storm, the expedition 
 succeeded in surprising the Arab camp, and brought 
 back Hodister's children. Muni Pembi's harem, and 
 large quantities of powder, arms, and other loot. 
 An envoy from Sefu at Kasongo had meanwhile 
 come to us with ofTers of peace. Dhanis replied 
 that he could make no conditions whatever until 
 Lutete's two children, whom Sefu held as hostages, 
 were returned to us, after which, he said, he would 
 see what could be done. The envoy, who had 
 been Lippens' body-servant, had since the death 
 of his master been an Arab slave ; he was not 
 afraid to return to Sefu, and, on being questioned, 
 naively remarked, " I will lie to him if necessary, 
 till he sends me here on another mission, and then 
 I need not return." This was what eventually 
 took place. Large numbers of splendid-looking 
 natives came in offering their submission to the 
 Commandant. Many were men who acknowledged 
 themselves to be defeated Arab soldiers, and many
 
 THE FALL OF NYANGWE 173 
 
 were chiefs with large followers, but they all had 
 the same story ready : " They would give up their 
 arms and become the white man's men." 
 
 On the 9 th of March Nyangwe was discovered to 
 be overrun by armed men. I was strolling about 
 in some gardens at a distance from our part of 
 the town, when I came across hundreds of people 
 gathered together. Our men became uneasy, and 
 flocked round us. Suddenly the whole town 
 seemed to wake up at once, and several of our 
 people were seized upon and murdered by the 
 Mohammedans. The Commandant sent for Lutete 
 and told him that there was treachery in the town. 
 Lutete, who was camped outside the south end 
 of the town, fancied that the Arabs must be 
 arriving from the north side ; he therefore 
 followed the river bank to the northward till he 
 reached the outside of the town, when, steady 
 firing having commenced inside, he turned, and, 
 coming across the town towards our quarters, took 
 the Mohammedans in the rear. When the attack 
 commenced, every man, white or black, fought where 
 he stood. It was so sudden that there was no
 
 174 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 time for any plan of action, and it was not for 
 a couple of hours that we had any idea of how 
 the tide of battle was turning. Then, with one 
 accord, the masses of the enemy seemed to break 
 up. They continued to fight only in isolated 
 knots in the squares, or defended individual houses 
 in different parts of the town. After another hour 
 or two of patrolling the streets, and occasionally 
 engaging in small fights, the town was cleared. 
 Our loss was very heavy, but might have been 
 much greater, and many of our own and Lutete's 
 casualties had been caused by wild shooting on the 
 part of our own men. The town was set fire to in 
 several places, and hundreds of houses were burnt 
 during the night. On the following day the whole 
 force was sent out with instructions to bury the 
 dead, or rather to throw them into the river, it 
 being impossible to deal otherwise with them. 
 Matters were, however, simplified for us, since 
 only a few hundred heads were to be found, 
 all the bodies having been carried off for 
 food. The Commandant then ordered the greater 
 part of what remained of the town to be burned,
 
 THE FALL OF NYANGWE 175 
 
 as it was impossible for our small force to keep 
 such an enormous number of buildings under 
 proper supervision, and we were also thus guarded 
 against a second outbreak of treachery. This 
 might be said to be the last stand of Mohara's 
 army, the few who escaped being entirely dis- 
 organised. For three days we saw nothing of 
 Lutete, and I learned afterwards, when talking 
 over affairs with him, that during this time he 
 had not left his own quarters ; the sights in his 
 camp were so appalling that even he did not care 
 to put himself in the way of seeing them unneces- 
 sarily. He told us that everyone of the cannibals 
 who accompanied him had at least one body to 
 eat. All the meat was cooked and smoke-dried, 
 and formed provisions for the whole of his force 
 and for all the camp followers for many days after- 
 wards. A volunteer drummer who had been with 
 us for some time disappeared, and we imagined 
 had been killed. A day or two afterwards he was 
 discovered dead in a hut by the side of a half- 
 consumed corpse — he had apparently over-eaten 
 himself, and had died in consequence.
 
 176 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Now began the worst time we had known during 
 the campaign. A very virulent form of influenza 
 broke out in the camp. On the first day there were 
 thirty cases of it, on the day following nearly 
 seventy, and before the end of the week almost 
 all our men were down — the few who were still fit 
 having double duty, both mounting guard and 
 attending the sick. For the ensuing fortnight 1 
 spent my time going round the camp and insisting 
 on the survivors burying the dead. The great 
 bulk of the dead or dying were thrown out on 
 to the open street by the other inhabitants of 
 each hut. At about this time, also, the Arabs and 
 their friends began sending into what was left of 
 the town all the smallpox cases in the district. 
 This ruse succeeded, and influenza was followed by 
 an epidemic of smallpox. In connection with the 
 smallpox outbreaks during the whole expedition 
 there are some curious facts. Our Hausas were, 
 with one exception, all vaccinated, and this man was 
 the only one in the company who caught smallpox, 
 and he died of it. In the Elmina company there 
 were only two men unvaccinated, both of whom
 
 THE FALL OF NYANGWE 177 
 
 got smallpox, and one of whom died of it. Of our 
 Lower Congo porters very few had had smallpox, 
 and only some half dozen had been vaccinated. 
 Among this body of two hundred men rather over 
 two-thirds took smallpox, and there were sixty- 
 five deaths amongst them. The mortality both 
 from smallpox and influenza among Lutete's 
 people and the other friendlies and camp fol- 
 lowers was frightful. A great deal of it is easily 
 accounted for by the fact that, in spite of the 
 most stringent orders to the contrary, after the 
 third day of the fever, when they were beginning 
 to feel a little better, they insisted on bathing. 
 The Mohammedans and Manyema natives had 
 learnt from the Arabs (who had not got vaccine) 
 to inoculate with smallpox. Though on several 
 occasions vaccine was sent to me from Europe, 
 and packed in a dozen different ways, in no single 
 instance could I get it to take. This was most 
 unfortunate, since, if I could have got but one 
 successful case, we should have been able to 
 vaccinate the whole population. 
 
 iz
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 ARRIVAL OF AMBASSADORS FROM SEFU WITH 
 OFFERS OF PEACE — THE COMMANDANT POST- 
 PONES HIS MARCH ON KASONGO — REINFORCE- 
 MENT OF THE STATE FORCES — MARCH ON 
 KASONGO: ITS FALL — DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 LUXURIES FOUND IN THE TOWN — RELICS OF 
 EMIN PASHA — INSUBORDINATION IN THE CON- 
 QUERED TOWN OF NYANGWE 
 
 While we were in this predicament Sefu sent 
 ambassadors to us from Kasongo, bringing with 
 them Lutete's son and daughter, whom the Arabs 
 had held as hostages, and making offers of peace. 
 After much palavering, the Commandant agreed not 
 to march on Kasongo for five days, on condition 
 that Sefu sent him all Lippens' effects, and also 
 his servants, who had been made slaves. Within 
 five days the ambassadors reappeared with all 
 that was demanded, and the Commandant granted 
 
 178
 
 MARCH ON KASONGO POSTPONED 179 
 
 Kasongo another respite of five days, on condition 
 that all the ivory that had been taken from 
 Lippens should be delivered up to us. This they 
 also complied with, and brought an additional 
 present of some thirty magnificent tusks, praying 
 us to wait another four or five days. The Com- 
 mandant assumed a magnanimous pose and gave 
 way to their supplications, casually remarking that 
 he supposed Sefu wanted to finish the fortifica- 
 tions of Kasongo. To this, he said, he had no 
 objection, as he wished to teach his soldiers how 
 to take a properly-fortified town. All this was 
 the more amusing as, during the time these 
 negotiations were proceeding, we had not more than 
 thirty or forty available men at our disposal. In 
 this afiair Omari, an old soldier of Stanley's, was 
 the chief ambassador ; he protested all the time 
 that he loved the white man, and that he intended 
 to throw in his lot with us, but when it came to 
 fighting again he joined our enemies. On the 
 23rd of March we again received letters repeating 
 that the Inspector Five had ordered the camp of 
 Basoko, with guns and at least five hundred men,
 
 i8o THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 to march to our support (thus confirming what we 
 had heard on the other side of the river) ; and 
 also stating that the Commandant Gillian was 
 coming to our support with reinforcements from 
 Lusambo, and might be expected to arrive a day 
 or two after the despatches. 
 
 We allowed for an African day or two, which 
 usually means a fortnight at least — and were not 
 far out ; for though Commandant Gillian arrived 
 on the 5th of April, the whole of his caravan did 
 not reach us until the 13th, which gave our people 
 a chance of recovering from the effects of their 
 sickness. By the 14th of April we were in march- 
 ing order and in very good spirits, a large supply 
 of ammunition and reinforcements making every 
 one feel confident that better days were in store. 
 On the 17th Commandant Dhanis gave orders to 
 march towards Kasongo, leaving de Wouters with 
 a white sergeant and fifty men in command of 
 Nyangwe, which in six short weeks had been 
 reduced from a well-built town of about thirty 
 thousand inhabitants to one large fortified house 
 with a soldiers' camp round it. Commandant
 
 MARCH ON KASONGO i8i 
 
 Gillian and Lieutenant Doorme with their men 
 formed the advance-guard; the Commandant 
 Dhanis, Lieutenant Scherlink, and myself the 
 main body ; and Sergeant Cerkel the rear. We 
 marched very slowly, and it was not until the 
 morning of the 22nd that we came in sight of 
 Kasongo. The Commandant — as w^as usual when 
 there was anything to be done — had left the main 
 body and was well in advance, when he was 
 attacked by Sefu's skirmishers, whom he drove in. 
 Meanwhile Doorme charged Said - ben - a - Bedi's 
 fort. This fort defended the end of the town at 
 which we entered, and was by a great piece of 
 fortune carried in the first rush by Doorme, though 
 his men had never engaged an Arab force before. 
 He then followed the retreating garrison through 
 the town. Kasongo was built in a valley and on 
 the hill-slopes on two sides of it. Doorme, in his 
 charge, went across the valley, and appeared on 
 the opposite hill just as our whole force deployed. 
 This altogether upset the calculations of the de- 
 fenders : in the first instance, owing to the fact 
 that we had lost our way, we arrived by a detour
 
 i82 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 instead of by the direct road, and took all their 
 defences in the rear. Ten minutes after the 
 fighting had commenced, Doorme appeared on 
 the other side of the town, and the enemy were 
 thus caught between two fires. As we advanced 
 through the maze of streets the Arabs steadily 
 retreated before us, impeded in their movements 
 by enormous numbers of unarmed slaves and by 
 the crowd of women and children. After a while 
 the non-combatants became panic-stricken, and in 
 their flight spread further confusion among the 
 Arab ranks. We allowed them no time to steady 
 themselves again, and within an hour and a half 
 were masters of all the main points and chief 
 fortified places in the city. Our auxiliary forces 
 and camp followers, encouraged by the position, 
 became very brave, and followed the retreating 
 Arabs through the open country — knowing well 
 that nothing is easier than to keep a retreating 
 body on the move. With the retreat the panic 
 became greater, and enormous numbers were 
 drowned in trying to cross the rivers which lay 
 in their road. One large body of men was driven
 
 THE FALL OF KASONGO 183 
 
 by Lutete to the Lualaba, about three hours 
 distant. Here they were cornered ; and the 
 Waginia, under pretence of ferrying them over 
 the river, either carried them off as prisoners or 
 threw them overboard, and the whole force, with 
 the exception of the women and children — many 
 of whom also suffered — was annihilated. 
 
 Soon after the chars^e through the town all the 
 different companies were separated, and the Com- 
 mandant, with four men, was not only separated 
 from everyone else, but also from his own company. 
 While looking for his men he was all but shot from 
 the watch-tower of one of the finest houses in the 
 town, which he supposed to be vacant ; and on 
 approaching the loopholed wall he again narrowly 
 escaped being killed. The place, however, capitu- 
 lated when I came up with about a dozen men. 
 He had just taken five white Arab prisoners, one 
 of whom was, I believe, a very large merchant at 
 Zanzibar, named Said-ben-Halfan. 
 
 Kasongo was a much finer town than even the 
 grand old slave capital Nyangwe. During the 
 siege of Nyangwe, the taking of which was more
 
 i84 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 or less expected, the inhabitants had time to carry 
 off all valuables, and even furniture, to places of 
 safety. At Kasongo, however, it was different. 
 We rushed into the town so suddenly that every- 
 thing was left in situ. Our whole force found new 
 outfits, and even the common soldiers slept on 
 silk and satin mattresses, in carved beds with silk 
 mosquito curtains. The room I took possession of 
 was eighty feet long and fifteen feet wide, with a door 
 leading into an orange garden, beyond which was 
 a view extending over five miles. It was hard, on 
 waking, to realise that I was in Central Africa, 
 but a glance at the bullet - holes in the doors 
 and shutters, and a big dark red stain on the wall, 
 soon brought back the reality. Here we found 
 many European luxuries, the use of which we had 
 almost forgotten : candles, sugar, matches, silver 
 and glass goblets and decanters were in profusion. 
 We also took about twenty-five tons of ivory ; 
 ten or eleven tons of powder ; millions of caps ; 
 cartridges for every kind of rifle, gun, and revolver 
 perhaps ever made ; some shells ; and a German 
 flag, taken by the Arabs in German East Africa.
 
 LUXURIES FOUND IN THE TOWN 185 
 
 The granaries throughout the town were stocked 
 with enormous quantities of rice, coffee, maize, 
 and other food ; the gardens were luxurious and 
 well planted ; and oranges, both sweet and bitter, 
 guava, pomegranates, pineapples, and bananas 
 abounded at every turn. 
 
 One of the first visits we paid — and it was a sad 
 one — was to the house occupied by Lippens and 
 Debruyne, our poor brother officers, sometime 
 ambassadors at Sefu's court Strange to say 
 (though they had been murdered and mutilated), 
 they were buried opposite their own front door, 
 with a neat little tomb built over them by their 
 murderers. On disinterring their bodies we found 
 that, owing to the nature of the soil in which 
 they had been buried seven months before, they 
 were not decomposed. We re-buried them with 
 military honours. 
 
 Our men brought in, among the other spoils, 
 several ten-bore double breechloaders, sixteen-bores, 
 twelve-bores, about fifteen Winchester expresses, 
 and the same number of ordinary Winchesters. 
 They also found dozens of Martini — ordinary
 
 i86 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and express — and innumerable cap guns ; thirty 
 or forty watches and chains in silver, gold, and 
 nickel ; and several of Emin Pasha's relics, in- 
 cluding his diary from January to October 1892, 
 and two decorations — the Crown Royal of Prussia 
 and Francis Joseph of Austria. Even our Arab 
 prisoners told us that Emin was the most inojQfen- 
 sive man that was ever seen in Africa. They 
 had, according to their own accounts, no other 
 reason for murdering him except that a general 
 massacre of white men had been decided on, and, 
 coming into a district in which all the white 
 men had already been killed, he shared their fate. 
 
 The herd of cattle we found in Kasongo was com- 
 posed of three distinct breeds : the small Indian 
 cattle — large-humped, and extremely docile — gave 
 the best milk, though for eating purposes the half- 
 Portuguese long-horned variety was best. Where 
 the third variety originally came from I have not 
 been able to find out. They were weedy medium- 
 sized cattle, usually white or piebald in colour, and 
 not very good either for fattening or as milkers. 
 We also took two fine breeds of donkeys — the
 
 STATE FORCES AT KASONGO 187 
 
 large white Syrian ass, and the cross between this 
 and the small donkey, in appearance very like the 
 coster's donkey of this country. The Syrian ass, 
 though a fine animal, with one or two exceptions, 
 did not turn out so useful as either of the other 
 varieties. The cross between the common kind 
 and the Syrian ass was enormously strong, and, 
 though often bad-tempered, was certainly the most 
 useful animal of the donkey class I have ever seen. 
 When running away, the Arabs shot many of their 
 best asses and some of the cattle, to prevent their 
 falling into our hands alive. 
 
 During the time spent at Kasongo I made a 
 point of getting to know the surrounding country, 
 and was constantly astonished by the splendid 
 work which had been done in the neighbourhood 
 by the Arabs. Kasongo was built in the corner 
 of a virgin forest, and for miles round all the 
 brushwood and the great majority of trees had 
 been cleared away. Certain trees, such as the 
 gigantic wild cotton-tree, had been left at regular 
 intervals, whether as landmarks or for the shade 
 they afforded I do not know. In the forest-
 
 i88 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 clearing splendid crops of sugar-cane, rice, maize, 
 and fruits grew ; and some idea of the extent of 
 this cultivation may be gathered from the fact 
 that I have ridden through a single rice-field for 
 an hour and a half. When placing groups of 
 people about this country to form villages, these 
 villages became self-supporting within three or four 
 months. Rice yielded two or three crops between 
 the planting in October and the commencement of 
 the dry season in May ; and maize could often be 
 eaten six or seven weeks after planting. Game 
 had naturally been driven out of the neighbour- 
 hood — except on the Lualaba, where I often went 
 on small shooting expeditions. All kinds of water- 
 fowl and small game might be shot on the banks 
 of the river in quantities — in greatest number 
 during the wet season ; though on the Lower Congo, 
 Kasai, and other rivers the best shooting season 
 is the dry (from May to October), when the 
 sandbanks are bare, and the swamps and streams 
 of the interior are all dried up. On the Lualaba, 
 however, when the river is low, during a long 
 day's canoeing one rarely sees even a duck or a
 
 STATE FORCES AT KASONGO 189 
 
 goose, and never a wader. Hippopotami, for a 
 hundred miles or so above and below Kasongo, 
 are scarce and very vicious, constantly attacking 
 unprovoked either canoes or people who approach 
 them. The natives are so afraid of the hippos 
 here that it is a matter of difficulty to get a crew 
 to approach a herd ; the most extravagant pro- 
 mises of unlimited meat having no effect, even 
 with men who have already been present at a 
 successful hunt. It was while on the road from 
 Kasongo to Nyangwe, on my way to visit de 
 Wouters — which I was in the habit of doing as 
 often as possible — that I shot the largest hippo 1 
 have ever seen. The sight of his four feet in the 
 air fifty yards from the canoe, instead of reassur- 
 ing my crew, so scared them that they all jumped 
 overboard and swam ashore. Luckily, I had three 
 or four soldiers with me, by whose help I managed 
 to secure him. His curved teeth, measured on the 
 convex, were thirty-two and a half inches long, and 
 one of his straight lower teeth eighteen and a half 
 inches — the other, which was broken, measuring 
 somewhat less.
 
 IQO THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 The best way of securing a hippo is to approach 
 him as near as possible in the canoe directly he is 
 wounded. Provided with a long sounding pole and 
 in deep water, he can be approached without danger, 
 and a cord made fast to him while still struggling. 
 What is not generally recognised with regard to 
 the hippopotamus is that his short legs and small 
 feet, compared with the enormous bulk of his body, 
 render him a very indifferent swimmer ; in fact, he 
 can only just swim enough to keep his head above 
 water while breathing or looking round. His 
 usual mode of progression, owing to the fact that 
 he displaces a weight of water less than his own 
 weight, is to run along the bottom. I remember 
 seeing a herd of hippopotami trying to work up 
 stream in ten fathoms of water : it was comical 
 to see the bound and explosion with which 
 they arrived at the surface after each dive — the 
 greater part of which was spent in getting a footing 
 at the bottom — having gained only some four or 
 five yards during the whole time. 
 
 It was on this occasion of visiting Nyangwe in 
 July 1893 that I found de Wouters somewhat
 
 INSUBORDINATION IN NYANGWE 191 
 
 awkwardly situated. Within the town a number 
 of small Arab chiefs and vassals, who had sub- 
 mitted and sworn fidelity to us, were established. 
 Of these, a desperate rascal named Ali gave de 
 Wouters a great deal of trouble. After many 
 acts of insubordination and petty treacheries, 
 matters culminated in the discovery by de 
 Wouters' faithfuls of a plot arranged by Ali to 
 murder the entire garrison in the swamp and 
 long grass within a hundred yards of de Wouters' 
 house. Ali had intended to post his men — of 
 whom he had three or four hundred in the town — 
 close to the garrison and hidden in the grass, 
 when, by raising an alarm, he hoped to draw de 
 Wouters and some of his men into the snare ; de 
 Wouters' energetic way of looking into every 
 question himself being well known. On hearing of 
 the plot, de Wouters despatched his interpreter, 
 Selimani, alone to All's camp, which was situated 
 at the end of the swamp above mentioned. Seli- 
 mani's business was to inquire into the affair, and 
 to tax Ali with it, who it was thought, knowing 
 that his trick was discovered, would be afraid to
 
 192 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 carry it out. Selimani had hardly started when 
 de Wouters repented of having sent him alone. 
 Fearing lest Ali might take it into his head that 
 Selimani was the only man who knew of the plot, 
 and might murder him on the spot, he quickly 
 sent a corporal with five-and-twenty Hausas into 
 the grass after him. The Hausas, passing the 
 word round in their own language (which even 
 their wives could not understand), slipped into the 
 grass on different sides of the town, and, completely 
 hidden by it, joined the corporal one by one in 
 the swamp, from which they were able, unobserved, 
 to approach All's camp to within twenty-five yards. 
 Selimani meanwhile, accompanied only by his boy, 
 approached the camp by the main road. When 
 Selimani was within fifty yards of the camp, 
 Ali called out to him to remain where he was and 
 not to enter his camp : if he had a message to 
 deliver, Ali himself would come to him. Then, 
 without any warning, Ali ordered his men to fire 
 a volley on Selimani, who, strange to say, was 
 untouched, though his boy was killed. The Hausas 
 immediately realised the position, and, running
 
 INSUBORDINATION IN NYANGWE 193 
 
 into the camp, fired a volley into the rear of All's 
 force, who were rushing out to catch Selimani. 
 This created such confusion amongst them that 
 the Hausas managed to hold their own with their 
 long knives till de Wouters and the rest of his 
 force — who had heard the firing — arrived, and 
 drove All's force into the Lualaba. Ali himself 
 and a few of his men succeeded in swimming across 
 the river, and thus escaped. Some time afterwards, 
 having collected together a fresh band of men, he 
 attacked another party of our people, but was 
 taken prisoner and shot, after a drum-head court- 
 martial. 
 
 13
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE STATE FORCES SETTLE DOWN AT KASONGO — 
 SUPERSTITIONS OP THE NATIVES : THEIR HABITS 
 AND MODE OP LIVING 
 
 While arranging the country after having 
 settled down at Kasongo, we found it advisable to 
 make use of those native and Arab slaves who 
 were capable of teaching the others. All the 
 masons, brickmakers, agriculturists, carpenters, 
 armourers, and ironworkers found among the 
 prisoners were given charge of the intelligent lads 
 among the prisoners or volunteers from the native 
 tribes, and set to work, with the intention of event- 
 ually forming colonies in suitable districts for these 
 trades. We even employed their elephant-hunters, 
 who had been taken fighting, and left them their 
 arms on condition that they hunted for us, and 
 taught everyone who chose to go with them what 
 to do. The elephant-hunters were very super- 
 
 194
 
 THE STATE FORCES AT KASONGO 195 
 
 stitious, and used to spend a week before the new 
 moon rose in " making medicine " to ensure the suc- 
 cess of the ensuing expedition. As a consequence 
 they could only be induced to go hunting every 
 second new moon, and nothing would persuade 
 them to start on an expedition (which generally 
 lasted a month) under any other conditions. They 
 were armed with old long ten-bore muskets, and 
 refused to use either lead or iron as bullets, saying 
 that copper made the best missile. We used to 
 buy all the copper bracelets and anklets obtainable 
 from the women, and hammer them into balls. I 
 had always my suspicions, however, that copper, 
 being very valuable throughout the country, was 
 found a convenient form of money. I was sorry 
 never to have had time to accompany one of these 
 expeditions. Their mode of procedure seems to 
 have been to set up a camp in a district where 
 elephants were common, and for the slaves, in the 
 first instance, to watch and follow a troop of ele- 
 phants. The head hunter, accompanied by a 
 dozen or so armed freemen, was then sent for, and, 
 choosing his elephant, approached quite close and
 
 196 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 fired a shot. If he was lucky enough to kill the 
 animal, which rarely happened, matters were sim- 
 plified ; if not, he returned to camp, and the re- 
 mainder of the detachment followed the wounded 
 animal for a day or a week, as the case 
 might be, till they succeeded in killing him. 
 The tusks were handed over to us, the sale of the 
 meat alone making these hunters the wealthiest 
 people in the district. 
 
 We were at this time having a good deal of 
 trouble with the natives to the westward of the neigh- 
 bourhood of Kasongo, who had been attacking our 
 friendlies, and even our own people, whenever they 
 went out to look for food. The caravans of friendly 
 natives bringing food to sell in the town had been 
 stopped and dispersed. Lieutenant Doorme and 
 Sub-Lieutenant Cerkel were sent by the Com- 
 mandant to punish them, and at the same time to 
 explore the country. Within six hours' march of 
 Kasongo the expedition entered a virgin forest, 
 in which they wandered about for a week. The 
 undergrowth was very dense, forming a kind of 
 wall on each side of the path ; and in this dense
 
 THE STATE FORCES AT KASONGO 197 
 
 bush paths had been cut at right angles to the 
 main road, which was hidden by a single bush on 
 each side at the point of intersection. The natives 
 stationed themselves on one side of the main road, 
 and as the caravan passed (in Indian file, with occa- 
 sional long gaps between the men) jumped across 
 the road, seized the first man they could lay 
 hold of, and disappeared with him into the dense 
 bush on the other side. In this way it would often 
 happen that, without anyone knowing what had 
 taken place, every straggler would be killed. Spears 
 were launched out of the dense jungle, and trans- 
 fixed the men without warning. The by-paths and 
 game-paths were known only to the natives, and they 
 were thus enabled to accompany the caravan and 
 to watch their opportunity for attack. On several 
 occasions the assailants fired from trees, within ten 
 or fifteen yards of the path, and, dropping down 
 iminediately, were safe from pursuit with ten or 
 fifteen yards of impenetrable jungle between them 
 and our people. The villages in this district were 
 all fortified, and were practically hidden by the 
 forest, which had only been cleared sufficiently to
 
 198 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 allow the necessary building space. Most of the 
 villages in this district were burnt before Doorme 
 arrived. When camping in the few which he 
 managed to surprise, he was subjected the whole 
 night to volleys of arrows, spears, and bullets 
 from the surrounding forest, to which it was 
 useless even to reply. He, however, succeeded 
 in taking some twenty-five or thirty important 
 prisoners, and returned to Kasongo after perhaps 
 the most unpleasant ten days he had ever spent. 
 
 From the time that we crossed the Lualaba 
 we were continuously worried by the native and 
 Arab superstition concerning what they call 
 " Kim - putu " — " Kim - putu " being in reality 
 nothing more than a common tick. I have 
 often had one brought for my inspection by the 
 people, who always declared that if this insect 
 bit an individual he was sure to waste away and 
 die. As a consequence of this belief, all cases of 
 poisoning, tubercular disease, or indeed any form 
 of death for which their ignorance could not see 
 an exact cause, were attributed to "Kim-putu." 
 So strong is this feeling, that once a native (and
 
 SUPERSTITIONS OF THE NATIVES 199 
 
 even some of our own men became infected with 
 the superstition) had made up his mind that he 
 was in the clutches of the " Kim-putu " fiend, it 
 was practically impossible to save him. 
 
 In Kasongo and its neighbourhood the inhabit- 
 ants, both Arab and native, have a firm belief in 
 ghosts. They believe that the spirits of the dead 
 haunt not only certain places, but individual people 
 also, and that one of these spirits may appear to a 
 living man and call him, after which he is certain 
 to die. This belief had, we found, influenced our 
 own people to such an extent that even intelligent 
 well-educated men from the coast were afraid 
 to move about at night. Several people came 
 to me with stories of havins; been called or 
 attacked by an invisible being ; and one case 
 in especial I remember, of a soldier who came 
 with his sergeant, Albert Frees. This man 
 declared that, towards evening, while sitting 
 with three or four people round a fire, a 
 " thing " which he could not see had come up 
 behind him and had smacked his face and boxed 
 his ears. He wanted to know if I could catch
 
 200 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the spirit for him, for if I could not, he said, 
 he would surely die. I tried to laugh him out 
 of his belief, expecting to be supported by the 
 sergeant, but he astonished me by requesting 
 that I would not treat the matter lightly, and 
 assured me that if I did not do something for him 
 the man would die. Though I used every argu- 
 ment I could think of, I was unable to shake their 
 belief. The sergeant, however, came back and 
 begged me to take things seriously, as the man 
 was valuable and we could not afford to lose 
 him. I explained that I could do nothing, and 
 told them both to come up and talk it over 
 in a couple of days. The following evening I 
 was called to the man, who was in a very 
 weak condition and apparently dying. He was 
 convinced that he would have to die, and the 
 next day was dead. When the average black 
 man makes up his mind to die, die he will, and 
 it is almost impossible to do anything for him. 
 I mention this as one out of many instances 
 recorded in my diary of similar cases. 
 
 Both in Kasongo and Nyangwe every large
 
 HABITS AND MODE OF LIVING 201 
 
 house was fitted with one or more bathrooms, 
 the arrangements of which were very ingenious. 
 A large hollow log, or an old canoe with a small 
 hole drilled through the bottom and closed by 
 a plug when not in use, was suspended from 
 the roof. When filled with water, it formed a 
 most convenient shower-bath, and half a dozen 
 logs, laid side by side in a depression in the 
 ground, made a clean platform for the bather. 
 The water was conveyed away by a trench, in 
 which a hollowed log, carrying the waste water 
 through the wall of the house to the exterior, 
 was placed. Every house or hut, however small, 
 had an enclosure attached to it containing the 
 same arrangements for cleanliness, with the ex- 
 ception only of the shower-bath. The Arabs 
 have also introduced soap-making, and, as a con- 
 sequence, in every large establishment or market, 
 soap of a coarse but useful kind can be bought. 
 This soap is made by mixing potash — generally 
 obtained by burning banana stalks and leaves — 
 with palm oil. 
 
 During the first few months we occupied
 
 202 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Kasongo, we were constantly worried by alarming 
 fires, which always occurred at night. We found 
 that the conflagrations on the far side of the river 
 were due to Lutete's people, who were in the 
 habit of setting fire to the houses as a means 
 of driving out the rats, which they were very 
 fond of as food. This was eventually put a 
 stop to by Lutete in a somewhat summary 
 manner. After this, fires were seen on our 
 side of the river, and, as they always started 
 up - wind from our own quarters, we concluded 
 that there was treachery somewhere, and dis- 
 covered that they were caused by people in 
 our camp who were friendly to the Arabs. On 
 several occasions we had very narrow escapes, 
 and eventually decided to pull down all the houses 
 in our immediate neighbourhood. When we had 
 left a ring of about two hundred yards wide 
 round our headquarters the fires ceased. It was 
 curious to notice the attitude of our men on these 
 occasions. When an alarm was given, I have 
 often rushed out to find myself immediately 
 surrounded by a voluntary guard of a dozen
 
 HABITS AND MODE OF LIVING 203 
 
 or more armed soldiers, who refused to allow 
 me to approach the crowd, or indeed to move a 
 yard in any direction unaccompanied. The other 
 officers were, I believe, treated in the same way, 
 as the men explained that it was easy to stick 
 a knife even into a white man at night or in a 
 crowd. 
 
 During these months we had great difficulty 
 in separating, arranging, and organising the 
 enormous numbers of people — male and female 
 — who considered themselves our slaves, and who, 
 since the Arabs had been driven out, were like 
 sheep without a shepherd. Thousands of Arab 
 slaves, and native freemen and slaves with their 
 herds of women, were daily coming to ask what 
 they were to do. We selected the petty chiefs 
 who still existed (and in cases where the chiefs 
 had been killed, made new ones), and these, in 
 turn, selected their own people ; one of us then 
 marched this party out into the surrounding 
 country, and, choosing a convenient place for 
 them, gave orders that they should build a 
 village and start planting. AVe supplied these
 
 204 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 colonies with maize, rice, and other seeds ; and 
 so successful was this method that within three 
 or four months they became self-supporting, and 
 later on supplied our whole forces with food. 
 At about an hour's march to the north of Kasongo, 
 I found a splendidly rich country, with beautiful 
 clearings in the forest and a good water supply. 
 Traces of former villages abounded, and I should 
 much have liked to raise up a thriving colony 
 in so convenient a district. Two or three times 
 I established villages, witli invariably the same 
 result : the whole population decamped, and either 
 took up their abode elsewhere, or arrived in 
 Kasongo clamouring to be placed in some other 
 district. The leopards in their neighbourhood, 
 they said, were so numerous, and so big and 
 courageous, that any man going out of his hut 
 after five in the evening or before seven in the 
 morning was certain to be carried off by them. 
 These people never seemed to have the pluck 
 or energy either to hunt or trap the leopards. 
 
 While at Kasongo a flight of locusts passed 
 over the country in a south-south-easterly direc-
 
 HABITS AND MODE OF LIVING 205 
 
 tion, and continued to pass for upwards of a 
 month. The Arabs and natives told us that this 
 was the first time they had ever seen a locust 
 pest, though they had heard of them many years 
 before. It would be interesting to know if the 
 cause of this might not be looked for in the fact 
 that the greater part of the Central African Basin 
 had been, owing to war, in a disturbed state for 
 nearly three years. It is a custom all over the 
 Congo Basin for the natives to burn the grass 
 during the dry season ; when occupied by war 
 they naturally did not continue to do so ; and 
 there is no doubt that other pests, such as rats 
 and snakes, in consequence of this habit, never 
 become a plague except in the forest districts. 
 May it not be that the locust larvae, owing to the 
 plain fires, are under ordinary circumstances 
 never allowed to come to maturity ?
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 OUR ALLY, GONGO LUTETE, ACCUSED OF TREACHERY 
 AND EXECUTED AT n'gANDU — ARRIVAL AT 
 KASONGO OF FIVE OFFICERS FROM EUROPE — 
 CONTINUED ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ENEMY — 
 THE ARABS DECAMP FROM THE TOWN OF 
 STANLEY FALLS, LEAVING IT AT THE MERCY 
 OP THE STATE TROOPS — THE STATE FORCES ARE 
 JOINED BY CAPTAIN LOTHAIRE FROM BANGALA, 
 AND FOLLOW THE ARABS UP THE RIVER — 
 AFTER SEVERE FIGHTING, THE RIVER CLEARED 
 OF ARABS AND THEIR HORDES AS FAR AS 
 NYANGWE — REVERSES OF THE STATE FORCES — 
 ATTACK BY COMMANDANT DHANIS ON RUMAL- 
 IZA's fort, EIGHT HOURS* MARCH FROM KAS- 
 ONGO 
 
 In the last week in August tlie Commandant 
 started for Nyangwe from Kasongo. For some 
 time previously rumours had been arriving from 
 
 206
 
 CONGO LUTETE ACCUSED 207 
 
 the Malela and Lomami districts, showing that 
 Duchesne's rule was not altogether successful. 
 The natives were in a quarrelsome turbulent 
 state, and our ally, Gongo Lutete, had been sent 
 back to his capital, N'Gandu, to arrange matters. 
 As there seemed no chance of active service, or 
 any immediate prospects of an expedition to Lake 
 Tanganyika, I determined to volunteer for the 
 district of N'Gandu, and with this intention 
 went down to Nyangwe to interview the Com- 
 mandant. While at Nyangwe despatches arrived 
 from Duchesne, saying that he had discovered, 
 among other charges, that Gongo Lutete was a 
 traitor, and that he had made him a prisoner. 
 This seemed to us a most extraordinary proceed- 
 ing, and the rumour that Gongo was plotting to 
 assassinate the Commandant Dhanis himself we 
 placed no faith in whatever. 
 
 Taking twelve men and two hundred of Lutete's 
 people under a petty chief named Kitenge, I 
 started at five o'clock on the morning of September 
 11th. My interview with the Commandant had 
 lasted the whole night. Six days' rapid marching,
 
 2o8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 with an average of eight hours a day, brought 
 us to N'Gandu — too late, however, to save our 
 brave and faithful ally, who had been shot forty- 
 eight hours before our arrival. I was perhaps the 
 first to feel the effects of this ill-conceived policy. 
 While yet two days from Lomami, and only a 
 few hours after the death of Gongo Lutete, the 
 natives, by means of the drum telegraph, all knew 
 of what had taken place at N'Gandu, and, 
 as their great chief was dead, considered them- 
 selves at liberty to murder and eat all his personal 
 followers and outposts. This particular tribe had 
 seven of Gongo's men billeted on them, whose 
 duty it was to forward all communications between 
 the Lualaba and the capital N'Gandu. After the 
 news of Gongo's death, these seven men were set 
 upon and killed and eaten by the inhabitants 
 of the town belonging to the chief Wembe. 
 Wembe, collecting all his forces together, 
 attacked my camp, under the impression that it 
 was a party of Gongo Lutete's soldiers going 
 home ; he, however, immediately withdrew on 
 discovering that I was present. The following
 
 CONGO LUTETE ACCUSED 209 
 
 morning some men from the capital came in 
 with news that Congo Lutete had been shot by 
 the white men ; and later that same day we 
 heard that, after the death of their chief, the 
 Bakussu had attacked the State station, and were 
 then besieging it. This was anything but re- 
 assuring news, as I had made a forced march, 
 hoping to arrive before the fall of the station. 
 Later in the day we heard that the station had 
 fallen. This report, however, I did not believe, 
 since it seemed impossible that it should not have 
 been able to hold out a week or two at least. As 
 we approached the Lomami River, however, I 
 noticed that my dozen Hausas kept very close. 
 They had given everything, with the exception of 
 their rifles and ammunition, to their women to 
 carry, and would not allow any of Kitenge's people 
 to come within thirty yards of me : a somewhat 
 futile precaution, even supposing the station to 
 have fallen, since, though we might have routed 
 for the moment the body of Congo's people with 
 us, our position — six days from help — would have 
 
 been an absolutely hopeless one. This was 
 14
 
 2IO THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 another instance of what I have often noticed, 
 that the Hausas always meant to die game, and 
 would stick to their white officers as long as 
 they were able to stand. 
 
 On surmounting the hills on the east side of 
 the Lomami, I was delighted to see by the help 
 of my glasses that the State flag was still flying, 
 three miles off" across the valley. Arriving in 
 the station, the cause of the disquieting rumours 
 which had reached me became apparent. The 
 whole population of N'Gandu and the surrounding 
 districts (deprived as they were of their head) 
 had split up into factions, which were fighting 
 amongst each other, raiding each other's quarters, 
 and murdering whoever they came across. A 
 few shots had even been fired at the State station, 
 probably by drunkards or men in a fighting 
 frenzy. 
 
 During the ten days following my arrival, the 
 unfriendly attitude of the white officers and the 
 anarchy in the district made my position any- 
 thing but an enviable one ; and I was very pleased 
 when, ten days after, Commandant Gillian arrived
 
 GONGO LUTETE ACCUSED 211 
 
 to hold an inquiry. He settled himself in the 
 town, at about a mile's distance from the station 
 (in which I remained), and we soon had Lupungu 
 established in place of his father, and his authority 
 fully recognised. 
 
 Gongo Lutete exceeded his compact with us, 
 and it is due in a great measure to his care and 
 pluck that we were successful during the first 
 half of the campaign. More than half of our 
 transport department was under his charge, and 
 with everything entrusted to his care he was so 
 successful that we never lost a single load. After 
 we had conquered Malela and Samba he held 
 them for us, and established regular communica- 
 tion between Nyangwe and Lusambo. All letters 
 and loads were simply handed to him, without 
 even one of our own men accompanying them, and 
 were always safely delivered at their destination. 
 One thing ought not to be forgotten with regard 
 to him. When war broke out the Arabs held 
 two of his children — a son and a daughter — as 
 hostages, and when he threw in his lot with us 
 he thought that he could never hope to see them
 
 212 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 again. The Commandant, however, as may be 
 remembered, ransomed them from Sefu, in ex- 
 change for postponing our attack on Kasongo for 
 five days. When the children arrived and were 
 presented to Lutete, his transports of delight 
 were quite affecting to everyone present. Though 
 this was his eldest son, since he had been five years 
 with the Arabs, Gongo would not allow him to 
 succeed him, but made his second son, Lupungu, 
 his heir, and sent him to live in one of our 
 stations to be educated by us. When, after the 
 court-martial, poor Gongo was told that he would 
 be shot the following morning at eight o'clock, 
 he appointed Lupungu his successor, and when left 
 in his cell hanged himself with a rope plaited 
 from part of his clothing, to avoid the disgrace 
 of a public execution. Unfortunately, he was dis- 
 covered before life was extinct, and was cut 
 down and resuscitated, and, as soon as he was 
 sufficiently recovered, marched out and shot. 
 
 At Dhanis suggestion he had relaxed his 
 discipline, and had pardoned so many offenders — 
 who before his alliance with us would have been
 
 GONGO LUTETE EXECUTED 213 
 
 handed over to the others for food — that at one 
 time his power was in danger, and we had to 
 interfere on his behalf. His great idea was to 
 visit Europe, and before his death he had made 
 arrangements to send his eldest son, N'Zigi, to 
 Europe to undo the evil effects of his Arab teach- 
 ing. The lad is now at school in Belgium. 
 
 This was perhaps the hardest-worked month 
 I had known during the expedition, — there were 
 palavers to be arranged, cases to be tried, and 
 much galloping about the neighbourhood, to and 
 fro between the town and station, as fast as my 
 donkeys (a magnificent pair, imported into the 
 country by the Arabs from Muscat) could carry 
 me. The sight of a white man riding seemed 
 to be an unfailing source of interest to the natives 
 of this district, who had seldom seen anything of 
 the kind. On one occasion, I remember, I was 
 going fast across an open space in the town, 
 where two large expeditions, just having returned 
 from a foray, were drawn up and had formed a 
 line to see me pass. As we went about un- 
 guarded, not to appear afraid of them, I always
 
 214 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 rode as fast as I could, so that, if any mal- 
 content took it into his head to fire or to 
 throw a spear, I was more likely to be missed. 
 I was just returning the chiefs salute when my 
 ass put his foot in a hole, and turning a complete 
 somersault sent me flying. My boy, who was 
 carrying a spare revolver, seeing everybody 
 laughing at my discomfiture, promptly emptied 
 it in their faces, which, though it stampeded the 
 whole mass, luckily did not touch anybody. 1 
 noticed that in my subsequent gallops through 
 the town everyone seemed to get out of my 
 neighbourhood, having apparently urgent business 
 inside the houses or behind the trees. 
 
 Just as things had begun to settle down, five 
 officers arrived from Europe and proceeded to 
 join the Commandant at Kasongo, where he was 
 supposed to be preparing for an attack on 
 Rumaliza, who had left Ujiji and had crossed 
 Tanganyika, and established himself with Sefu, 
 and what was left of his forces, at Kabambari. 
 During the preceding month, rather important 
 movements had taken place to the northward.
 
 FIVE OFFICERS FROM EUROPE 215 
 
 In March 1893, by order of the Inspector of 
 State (Fiv^), Captain Chaltin, commander of the 
 military camp at Basoko, was ordered to join us 
 with all his available forces at the seat of war. 
 He was in a particularly good position to give us 
 every succour, as the camp at Basoko had been 
 established by the Free State as a precaution, in 
 the event of a quarrel with the Arabs at Stanley 
 Falls. He, with two steamers, went up the 
 Lomami, and occupied the former Arab post, Bena 
 Kamba. From this point he had only three days' 
 march to the large Arab town, Riba Riba, on the 
 Lualaba ; but owing to bad weather he was de- 
 layed, and when he arrived at Riba Riba the town 
 had been burnt and deserted by the natives. 
 Miserera and Boina Loisi, the Arab governors, 
 had left the town with their forces some time 
 previously, and at the very moment were engaged 
 in fighting us at Nyangwe. Chaltin returned to 
 Basoko, as smallpox had broken out in his 
 caravan. He arrived at Stanley Falls on the 18th 
 of May, where Captain Tobback and Lieutenant 
 Van Lint had for five days been resisting the
 
 2i6 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 attacks of the Arabs under Raschid, the rebel 
 governor and State officer of Stanley Falls. On 
 the landing of the troops from Basoko at Stanley 
 Falls, the Arabs decamped, leaving the town, with 
 all its riches, at the mercy of the State troops. 
 After this everything remained quiet till the 
 25th of June 1893, when Commandant Ponthier 
 arrived at the Falls from Europe. He imme- 
 diately collected all the troops he could, and, taking 
 Commandant Lothaire and some men from Bangala 
 with him, followed the Arabs, who had fled from 
 the Falls up the river. After some severe fighting 
 and many skirmishes, he cleared the river, and its 
 neighbourhood, of Arabs and their hordes as far 
 as Nyangwe, where he arrived a day after I left 
 for N'Gandu. 
 
 Meanwhile we at N'Gandu had received several 
 despatches from the front at the same time — the 
 sum-total of which amounted to this : that the 
 attacks on the forts of Rumaliza had failed ; that 
 during a fortnight's severe fighting Commandant 
 Ponthier had been killed ; and that the supplies 
 of ammunition had nearly run out. A powerful
 
 REVERSES OF THE STATE FORCES 217 
 
 auxiliary chief, named Kitumba Moya, half an 
 hour after hearing of the execution of Gongo, had 
 gone over to the Arabs with six hundred guns. 
 His example was naturally followed by many 
 others. We were, the despatches said, to join 
 with all possible speed, bringing all the ammuni- 
 tion and men with us. The latest despatch was ten 
 days old, and we could not hope to reach Kasongo in 
 less than ten days, when in all human probability 
 we should be too late. We started on the 4th 
 of November, four officers, of whom two — Com- 
 mandant Gillian and Lieutenant Augustin — had 
 to be carried in hammocks. Our force consisted 
 of fifty soldiers, and all that was left of Gongo 
 Lutete's forces — a thousand indifferently-armed 
 men. 
 
 This was a most trying time, and at times I 
 almost despaired of getting the two sick officers 
 alive to Kasongo. We had infinite trouble, too, 
 in trying to keep Gongo's people and their petty 
 chiefs (now without a leader) in hand. They had 
 taken it into their heads that they were at liberty 
 to plunder the whole country through which we
 
 2i8 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 passed, under the impression that I was not 
 sufficiently strong to enforce my orders to the 
 contrary. We arrived at Kasongo on the 14th 
 of November, to find that, the day before, the 
 Arabs had abandoned their bomas and had com- 
 menced what appeared to be a retreat towards 
 the east. This is what had taken place : — 
 
 On the 13th of October 1893, there being now 
 no further doubt that Rumaliza had formed a 
 camp not more than eight hours' march from 
 Kasongo, the State troops, under the command of 
 Baron Dhanis, commenced the advance against 
 this new enemy. The troops were divided as 
 follows : — A reserve under Commandant Dhanis, 
 and another under Commandant Ponthier; six 
 companies under Lieutenants Lange, Doorme, and 
 Hambursin, and Sergeants Collet and Van Kiel ; 
 the whole force of regulars, consisting of four 
 hundred men ; and a 7*5 Krupp, for which we 
 had only forty-four shells and a dozen rounds of 
 canister left. They were accompanied by irregular 
 troops armed with muzzleloaders, to the number 
 of over three hundred. The first march of ten
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 219 
 
 miles was made to the village of Piani Mayenge. 
 The next day a dozen miles brought the column 
 to Mwana Mkwanga, when the enemy were 
 supposed to be within a couple of hours' march. 
 On the 15th of October, with the auxiliaries 
 scouting in front, the column started with the 
 intention of getting a position in the rear of the 
 Arab positions ; the enemy being established in 
 several forts, two of which were situated between 
 the Lulindi and Luama — tributaries of the Lualaba 
 — and were very large, splendidly built, and well 
 defended. Our experience had taught us that the 
 Arab fortifications were generally weaker in what 
 they considered their rear, and the Commandant, 
 moreover, wished to be on the enemy's natural 
 line of retreat in the event of a successful attack. 
 In spite of the severe lessons we had already 
 taught them, the Arabs seemed unable to grasp 
 the fact that we were as likely as not to make a 
 detour before attacking. 
 
 Having completely turned the enemy's flank, 
 at about two o'clock in the afternoon the column 
 approached a large fort, hidden by the high grass.
 
 220 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and not visible until within a quarter of a mile 
 of the enemy. The line having been formed, the 
 companies of Doorme and Lange advanced slowly 
 in skirmishing order, the signal to charge being 
 a shell thrown into the fort. They charged up to 
 within twenty yards of the boma without firing 
 a shot, the enemy's fire not doing material damage. 
 When within twenty yards, the enemy's fire 
 became so hot that the rush was checked, and 
 the men commenced to return the fire. The 
 supports arrived almost immediately, and the men 
 lay down within a few yards of the fort. It was 
 some time before the officers could make the men 
 cease firing. Luckily, the enemy's loopholes were 
 placed at such an angle that our men were under 
 the line of fire, and the enemy, to ensure an 
 efi'ective fire, had to expose themselves over the 
 top of their earthworks. Lieutenant Lange was 
 badly wounded during the first few minutes of 
 this his first battle, but he nevertheless succeeded 
 in directing his company until the end of the day. 
 Despite the reckless energy of the Commandant 
 and all the officers, it was found impossible to
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 221 
 
 induce the men to climb the obstacles, in the face 
 of such a well-sustained fire, into the fort. The 
 gun was ordered up, to try to stop the enemy's 
 fire with canister ; but so many of the porters on 
 the drag ropes were hit that a panic started, and 
 they bolted precipitately, leaving the gun in the 
 hottest of the fire. Commandant Ponthier, 
 Hambursin, and Collet dragged the gun nearly 
 into position themselves, and, with the timely help 
 afi'orded by Doorme and a few of his men, the 
 gun was got into position within a hundred yards 
 of the fort. Protected by the effective fire of the 
 piece, the men were withdrawn from under the 
 walls of the fort with comparatively little loss. 
 At this very moment a large body of the enemy 
 appeared on the right flank, having come out of 
 a much larger fort, so masked by the bush that 
 until the appearance of their troops no one had 
 noticed its existence. The great bulk of the 
 troops faced this new enemy, leaving only sufiicient 
 forces in front of fort No. 1 to check any attempt 
 at a sortie that might be made by the garrison. 
 The main body had a much pleasanter time now
 
 222 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 with the enemy in the open, and soon drove them 
 back to their shelter, their return being consider- 
 ably more rapid than their advance. A small 
 plateau, about a mile from the big fort and half a 
 mile from the lesser fort, was then chosen, and, with 
 the exception of a skirmish in the morning, the 
 night passed quietly. After a good deal of re- 
 connoitring, Commandant Ponthier found a better 
 position for the camp closer to the forts. During 
 his absence Doorme drove in the enemy — who had 
 come out of the lesser fort to attack the Krupp — 
 keeping, meanwhile, the larger fort quiet with a 
 few shells. As soon as the troops commenced to 
 take up the position, prior to forming a new 
 camp, the enemy attacked on all sides, but, 
 directly the new position was occupied and 
 shelter thrown up for the men, they withdrew 
 to their forts. During the following two or three 
 days several small attacks on the camp were 
 repulsed, and the remaining shells thrown into 
 the forts. 
 
 Captain de Wouters, meanwhile, joined us from 
 Kasongo with seventy men, leaving a young Ger-
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 223 
 
 man sergeant named Mercus, with twenty men 
 and the sick, as a guard at Kasongo. A few days 
 later, the Commandant sent an order to Mercus to 
 send every cartridge that could be spared vid the 
 Lualaba and Luama Rivers, and thus to his camp 
 by the rear, the Arab forces being between him 
 and Kasongo. What was his horror, a couple of 
 days later, to see Mercus himself arriving with the 
 ammunition, having left Kasongo absolutely unde- 
 fended, and knowing that, by the means of drums 
 and spies, Rumaliza would instantly be aware of 
 the position ! 
 
 De Wouters immediately started with a detach- 
 ment, hoping to be able to get between Rumaliza 
 and Kasongo before it was too late. Thanks to a 
 terrific tornado, which stopped the Arabs but 
 which did not check de Wouters, who knew it to 
 be a case of life or death, he managed to get before 
 them on the road, and, turning round, attacked 
 them in front. Finding that they had been out- 
 manoeuvred, the Arabs retired to their fort, and 
 de Wouters entrenched himself in the position he 
 had taken up. De Heusch, who arrived a few days
 
 224 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 later, was ordered to take up a position to the 
 eastward of de Wouters. As will be seen from 
 the accompanying sketch-map, the Arabs were in 
 an awkward position — the Commandant Dhanis 
 cutting off their retreat, de Wouters and de Heusch 
 on each side of their advanced fort in front, the 
 Lualaba, a mile wide, to the westward, and almost 
 inaccessible and arid mountains to the eastward. 
 The whole plain, in the neighbourhood of de Wou- 
 ters and de Heusch, and from there to Kasongo, 
 was cultivated — immense fields of rice, plantains, 
 and cassada being ripe and ready for food, so that 
 our forces had plenty to eat; whereas the Arabs 
 could only draw their supplies from the narrow 
 strip between their forts and the Lualaba. Nearly 
 all the skirmishes during the following ten days 
 took place in this district, and innumerable Arab 
 foraging parties were cut up. As the Arab slaves 
 — who of course felt the famine first — were begin- 
 ning to die of hunger, Rumaliza made a tremendous 
 attack on Dhanis' position, which he nearly suc- 
 ceeded in turning. At one time he actually suc- 
 ceeded in occupying a portion of the camp, and
 
 m
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 225 
 
 here our brave Ponthier was killed. Captain 
 Doorme, whose part of the camp it was, had been 
 surrounded, whereupon Ponthier, seeing his posi- 
 tion from a distance, with his pipe in his mouth 
 and not even a revolver in his hand, called on a 
 dozen men who were standing near to follow him. 
 The enemy tried to take him alive, but, fearing 
 they would fail, shot him. He lingered for three 
 or four days, and was buried under his tent, which 
 was left standing, food being carried in regularly, 
 and a confidential guard placed over the tent. 
 The morale of our force would have suflfered had 
 they known of the death of so important an officer, 
 and Rumaliza would have been in a corresponding 
 degree elated. 
 
 Five hours' heavy fighting saw the Arabs re- 
 pulsed all along the line, the Commandant Dhanis 
 himself leading the last and most successful charge 
 of the day right up to Rumaliza's gates. Review- 
 ing our position that night, we found it a deplor- 
 able one ; for besides the large number of killed 
 and wounded, there were only forty rounds per 
 
 head for the regular troops left, and no powder or 
 15
 
 226 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 caps for the auxiliaries and friendlies, and, what 
 was worse, they could not expect us to arrive from 
 1^'Gandu with supplies in less than a fortnight. 
 But the Arabs had also had enough fighting for 
 the time being, and remained quiet in their bomas 
 for the next few days. Spies informed us that a 
 caravan from Ujiji was expected by the Arabs, with 
 powder and other supplies, and small expeditions 
 were sent out to try and discover its whereabouts. 
 An auxiliary chief surprised it, and, beating a 
 retreat, it came on our sergeant Albert Frees, who 
 was out in the same neighbourhood, and between 
 them they cut the caravan to pieces. Albert 
 marched proudly into the camp the same evening 
 with over 2^ tons of splendid German powder 
 and 60,000 caps, the greater part of which was 
 immediately distributed among the auxiliaries and 
 friendlies. These latter, day and night, prowled 
 round the whole neighbourhood, and attacked any 
 small parties of the enemy who ventured out of 
 their fortifications in search of food. During these 
 times Captain Doorme selected numbers of natives 
 and Arab slaves from among the prisoners, and
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 227 
 
 drilled them as soldiers with most successful results. 
 In the subsequent fighting he frequently led a 
 hundred of them himself into action. The idea 
 occurred to him in a somewhat singular manner. 
 He had an intense objection to writing reports, 
 and whenever a man was killed in his company he 
 reported the death, and immediately filled his 
 place by one of these recruits, giving the recruit 
 the dead man's name, number, rifle, and accoutre- 
 ments. This was not discovered for a long time, 
 till the Commandant one day, on looking over the 
 reports of effectives, found that Captain Doorme, 
 though he had had 50 per cent, killed, had appa- 
 rently his company identically the same, in names 
 and numbers, as it was three or four months before. 
 On the 16th of November the Arab forces, who 
 had suffered severely from famine, abandoned 
 all their positions and fled to the eastward, with 
 our irregular forces and auxiliaries following on 
 their trail. The Commandant returned to Kasongo 
 with his own guard and Ponthier's men, leaving 
 all the rest with de Wouters at Mwana Mkwanga. 
 A light column was immediately organised by
 
 228 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Captain de Wouters, with which he followed the 
 retreating Arabs. For two hours' march the 
 road was strewn with dead bodies, showing how 
 precipitate had been the flight of the Arabs, and 
 what destruction had been worked by the irregulars 
 and other natives in their rear. De Wouters heard 
 from the natives that the Arabs were entrenched 
 not very far in front of him, so, leaving all natives 
 and irregulars to follow in the rear (to avoid the 
 inevitable recoil when face to face with the Arabs), 
 he advanced with the regulars, hoping to take the 
 position in the first rush. The route was bad : 
 there were no roads, and only the broad trail left 
 by the flying enemy to follow. While advancing 
 through the forest, which lay across their route, they 
 could hear the enemy in every direction cutting 
 wood for their fortifications. They were, however, 
 lucky enough to approach the enemy's position 
 without being discovered, and the advance-guard 
 was only fired upon after holding conversation 
 with the enemy in camp, whom they had mistaken 
 for natives. The irregulars had reported the 
 enemy to be encamped on a large plain, whereas
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 229 
 
 they had taken possession of an opening in the 
 forest ; this they had surrounded by a palisade, 
 which, as it subsequently turned out, was in some 
 places still unfinished. Outside the palisade were 
 many grass huts, showing that the enemy had only 
 formed the inner circle of the fort (see description, 
 p. 101). Many of the enemy thus surprised fled 
 into the surrounding forest, and the rest took up 
 their position inside the fort. Outside the fort 
 large numbers of guns and caps, bales of cloth, and 
 other loot fell into our hands. The other com- 
 panies became successively engaged, taking up 
 their position by their right. Lieutenant de 
 Heusch led his company round the fort and 
 attacked it in the rear, hoping to find a weak place. 
 In this he was successful : the palisade not having 
 been finished, there were openings of two or three 
 yards wide in several places, and de Heusch, find- 
 ing that he could probably effect an entrance 
 before the Arabs had recovered from their surprise, 
 led his company up to the very ditch, where he 
 fell, shot through the breast. His men retreated, 
 leaving their gallant leader and many of their
 
 230 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 number on the ground, marking the position they 
 had occupied. The black sergeant Albert Frees 
 and a native corporal named Badilonga saw him 
 fall, and alone rushed up to try to save him from 
 falling into the hands of the enemy. De Heusch's 
 fall gave courage to some of the enemy, who 
 charged out of the gap in the palisade a few yards 
 distant, but were driven back by the two blacks, 
 who kept up a steady fire across their leader's 
 body. Albert sent the corporal for help, and, upon 
 his return with Captain de Wouters and half a 
 dozen men, they found the sergeant still in position. 
 He had not only prevented the enemy from getting 
 the body, but, though exposed to a terrific fire, was 
 himself untouched. De Wouters carried off his 
 comrade, who was already dead. When de Wouters 
 had time to review the position, he found that de 
 Heusch's company and all the irregulars and auxiliary 
 troops had disappeared, the white man's fall having 
 had such an effect on their morale. Only civilised 
 troops can stand the strain of a leader's fall. As 
 the regular troops had themselves to carry the 
 dead and wounded — and they were numerous — de
 
 ATTACK ON RUMALIZA'S FORT 231 
 
 Wouters decided to beat a retreat. No sooner, 
 however, was the movement understood by the 
 enemy than they took the offensive, and it was 
 only with the greatest difficulty, and by a series of 
 attacks and retreats, that he succeeded in burying 
 the dead and in getting the wounded, together 
 with the guns and ammunition taken in the early 
 part of the engagement, safely out of action. 
 
 During one of the Arab charges, Sefu (Tippu 
 Tib's son, and the first great Arab chief who 
 attacked us on the Lomami) was mortally wounded, 
 and died a few days afterwards. The Arabs con- 
 tinued to attack the retreating column until it was 
 within a couple of miles' march of our position at 
 Mwana Mkwanga. Commandant Dhanis never 
 decided whether this was a victory or a defeat ; 
 for though we failed to take the fort and lost de 
 Heusch, the Arabs lost Sefu, many men, and a 
 quantity of guns and ammunition. 
 
 For ten days no further operations were under- 
 taken, when, Rumaliza having crossed the Lulindi 
 (in reality another advance on Kasongo), de 
 Wouters, with Doorme and Hambursin estab-
 
 232 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 lished himself at Bena Musua, on the road 
 between Rumaliza's new position and Kasongo. 
 Lange, whose wound was now nearly healed, was 
 left at Mwana Mkwanga with two other officers. 
 
 By the 4th of December we had been reinforced 
 by one hundred and eighty men, under the com- 
 mand of Captains Collignon and Rom, and two 
 other officers, and a good supply of ammunition 
 with three hundred new breechloading rifles. The 
 Commandant thus found himself again in position 
 to assume the offensive.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 TRANSFERENCE OF THE STATE FORCES FROM KASONGO 
 
 TO BENA MUSUA THE COMMANDANT DIVIDES 
 
 HIS FORCES IN ORDER TO CUT OFF THE ARAB 
 
 COMMUNICATION EXTRA FORCES STATIONED 
 
 AT BENA GUIA, ON THE MAIN ROAD TO KABAM- 
 BARI, AT BENA KALUNGA, AND AT BENA 
 
 MUSUA — REINFORCEMENT OF THE ENEMY 
 
 THE STATE TROOPS FORM A SEMICIRCLE ROUND 
 THE ARAB FORTS, AND CUT OFF THEIR FOOD 
 
 SUPPLY ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN LOTHAIRE 
 
 WITH CONTINGENT OF SOLDIERS FROM BANGALA 
 — EXPLOSION IN THE ARAB CAMP — CAPITULA- 
 TION OF THE ENEMY — THE TAKING OF KABAM- 
 
 BARI ARAB CHIEFS MADE PRISONERS BY 
 
 LOTHAIRE 
 
 By the 20tli of December the Commaiidant had 
 transferred all the available officers and men from 
 Kasongo to Bena Musua, and himself joined us on
 
 234 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the 23rd. Rumaliza, who had also been reinforced, 
 was in a very strong position, having a large and 
 well-built fort on the right bank of the Lulindi 
 Kiver, and three smaller advanced forts in the 
 direction of Kasongo. He had direct communi- 
 cation by a small bridge (which he had succeeded 
 in building over the Lulindi) with the fort where 
 de Heusch was killed, and had thus a safe line of 
 communication with the large fortified town of 
 Kabambari. Kabambari was at this time held 
 by Bwana N'Zigi, who, it may be remembered, 
 commanded the attack on Stanley Falls station, 
 which ended in Deane and Dubois being driven 
 out, and the establishment of the Arab dominion 
 on the Congo proper. This Arab success was after- 
 wards ratified by Mr. Stanley, who placed Tippu 
 Tib, the greatest Arab slave-raider, there as gover- 
 nor with almost absolute power. 
 
 On the 23rd of December a council of war was 
 held, as a result of which Commandant Dhanis 
 decided to divide his forces in order to cut off the 
 Arab communications as much as possible. He 
 had fairly authentic information that Raschid and
 
 THE STATE FORCES DIVIDE 235 
 
 the other Arabs from Stanley Falls, who had been 
 driven south by the Commandant Ponthier (in his 
 campaign at Kirundu and on the Lowa River) 
 before he joined us, were now reunited and march- 
 ing from the north-east to join Rumaliza. Every 
 effort was to be made to turn the natives of the 
 whole district to co-operate with us and to supply 
 us with food, and thus starve out Rumaliza's forces. 
 Many of the natives had informed us that certain 
 of the tribes who had already joined Rumaliza were 
 willing to come over to us to carry out this policy. 
 Commandant Gillian and Captains Collignon and 
 Rom were detached with a strong force of the new 
 troops, and started on the 24th of December for 
 Bena Guia, on the main road to Kabambari. The 
 same day Captain de Wouters and other officers, 
 with two hundred and fifty regulars and four 
 hundred irregulars, departed to establish them- 
 selves at Bena Kaluuga, an hour to the south-east- 
 ward and about three thousand yards from the 
 main fort of Rumaliza. The Commandant and I 
 meanwhile held Bena Musua, on the main road to 
 Kasongo, which was the intermediate position
 
 236 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 between the other two. We had been joined by- 
 Mr. Mohun, the United States commercial agent, 
 who had arrived the day before our departure 
 from Kasongo. He had also taken part in the 
 march by Captain Chaltin on Riba Eiba, eight 
 months before, and had very kindly taken charge 
 of some supplies for us which he brought through 
 from Lusambo to Kasongo. Our position was 
 now as follows : — Lemery was in command at 
 Nyangwe, and in a very dangerous position, since 
 Raschid and his forces from the north might at 
 any moment, instead of attempting to form a 
 junction with Rumaliza, turn aside and attack 
 Nyangwe ; Kasongo was held by Lieutenant 
 Middagh ; on our extreme right Lange was at 
 Mwana Mkwanga with one hundred and twenty 
 men and a Krupp gun, in a very strong position ; 
 de Wouters and the Commandant Dhanis and my- 
 self were in the centre ; and Commandant Gillian 
 occupied the extreme left at Bena Guia. We, in 
 the centre, had two 7*5 Krupps, and, for thefirst time 
 during the war, plenty of ammunition. 
 
 De Wouters found that, owing to the nature
 
 ^/ 
 
 / 
 
 '^ Sj
 
 THE STATE FORCES DIVIDE 237 
 
 of the ground and a very thick bush, he could 
 approach one of Rumaliza's forts to within three 
 hundred yards, without the enemy being able to 
 see them. He therefore determined to try to make 
 a breach, and hoped to carry the fort. At six 
 o'clock on the morning of the 28th he commenced. 
 Having nothing in particular to do, I climbed 
 to the top of a mountain which commanded a 
 view of the scene of operations, and was in the 
 tantalising position of seeing the fight going on, 
 though unable to know" with what result. After 
 steady cannonading till nine o'clock there was 
 very heavy musketry fire on two sides of the fort, 
 and this ceasing led me to suppose that the fort had 
 been carried, whereas the real state of affairs was 
 quite diflferent. De Wouters had only succeeded 
 in making a breach of not more than a yard square, 
 although he had advanced the gun to within a 
 hundred yards of the fort. While thus engaged, 
 Commandant Gillian had, unknown to him, attacked 
 the main fort in the rear, and after twenty minutes' 
 hard fighting had been repulsed with very heavy 
 loss. De Wouters and Doorme then led the men
 
 238 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 up to the fort, but nothing they could do could 
 persuade the men to mount the breach, though 
 some of them followed actually into the ditch. 
 De Wouters eventually retired. When we took 
 the fort we found that the Arab loss on this day 
 had not been more than a dozen men killed, so 
 well protected were they by their earthworks and 
 the holes in the ground beneath their huts. 
 
 The Commandant had now fresh difficulties to 
 contend with, as we had definite information that 
 Bwana N'Zigi, with a large reinforcement from 
 Tanganyika and quantities of ammunition, was 
 marching from Kabambari to join Rumaliza, and 
 that he was then situated at Kitumba Moyo. 
 Lieutenant Hambursin was detached with as strong 
 a column as could be spared to cut Bwana N'Zigi 
 oflf or to drive him back. He had to make a 
 detour, the country on the left bank of the 
 Lulindi — with the exception of that on our 
 extreme right at Mwana Mkwanga — being held 
 by the Arabs. The natives in the district were 
 also hostile to us. After a week's continuous 
 fighting with N'Zigi — who was entrenched at
 
 STATE FORCES FORM A SEMICIRCLE 239 
 
 Kitumba Moyo — Hambursin was forced to retire. 
 He had lost many men as the result of the fight- 
 ing and of a bad epidemic of smallpox which broke 
 out in his troop. N'Zigi had, however, suffered 
 so severely that, instead of trying to advance 
 and join Rumaliza, as soon as Hambursin was 
 recalled he returned to Kabambari, and shortly 
 afterwards, when Kabambari was taken, fled to 
 Zanzibar. 
 
 On the 30th of December, despatches, in answer 
 to the Commandant's demand for reinforcements, 
 arrived from Commandant Chaltin at Basoko, and 
 also from the Falls, to the effect that none would 
 be forthcoming. Mr. Mohun volunteered to go 
 down the river to Basoko and bring us up what- 
 ever reinforcements he could raise, and he 
 accordingly left us on the 1st of January. On 
 the 8th, Captain Collignon was detached from 
 Gillian and established at Bena Bwesse, in front 
 of the Arabs' two advanced forts. Our semicircle 
 was thus completed ; and as patrols could now pass 
 with comparative safety between our different 
 positions, the Arabs could only draw their supplies
 
 240 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 of food from the left bank of the Lulindi. They 
 soon began to find difficulty in feeding their men, 
 as, in accordance with their usual practice, they had 
 devastated most of the country through which 
 they had marched. On the 8th of January we 
 were surprised and delighted by the arrival of 
 Commandant Lothaire with a strong contingent of 
 soldiers from Bangala and two smart officers. He 
 had outrun the courier ; in fact, Dhanis had not 
 even hoped to get an answer to the requisition he 
 had sent to him for another fortnight. One need 
 hardly emphasise the contrast between Chaltin's 
 action and Lothaire's, the same demand having 
 been sent to both. Lothaire immediately departed 
 with two hundred men to join de Wouters, and 
 within two days they had established themselves 
 in a position three hundred yards from Rumaliza's 
 own boma and between it and his first advanced 
 boma, our men being thus in a position to annoy 
 both. Rumaliza, under the impression that they 
 were simply reconnoitring, did not attack them 
 until their camp was established, and partly forti- 
 fied, in a deserted village, the huts of which, being
 
 EXPLOSION IN THE ARAB CAMP 241 
 
 made with clay walls, were a very useful protection 
 
 from rifle fire. 
 
 On the 14th of January, Hambursin, having 
 
 returned from his expedition against N'Zigi, joined 
 
 Lothaire, bringing with him a Krupp. The gun 
 
 was placed in position, and Hambursin fired a 
 
 shell to measure the distance, in order that all 
 
 should be ready for the bombardment, which was 
 
 intended to take place on the morrow. This trial 
 
 shot, however, efi'ected other results than were 
 
 intended : it blew up the magazine and set the 
 
 Arab fort on fire. Being the wet season, all the 
 
 huts, trenches, and retiring holes in the fort were 
 
 very heavily thatched. A few rounds of canister 
 
 prevented the enemy from extinguishing the fire, 
 
 and in a few minutes the whole fort, covering three 
 
 or four acres, was a roaring fiery furnace, with 
 
 ammunition exploding in every direction. Our 
 
 troops were not idle, and, taking advantage of the 
 
 disorder that prevailed among the enemy, climbed 
 
 the fortifications in every direction and poured in 
 
 a most destructive fire with their rifles. The heat 
 
 inside became so intense that the Arabs heaved 
 16
 
 242 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 immense quantities of cartridges, powder, and caps 
 over their defences to prevent them exploding. 
 They broke out of the fort and fled precipitately 
 to the river, being forced into this direction by the 
 position of our forces between them and their 
 other bomas. On arriving at the river, they 
 crowded on to the bridge in such numbers that it 
 broke : the irregulars, natives, and even their own 
 auxiliaries, harassed them, and as the panic became 
 complete they jumped into the river, and, in trying 
 to cross, drowned each other. What with the 
 falling of the bridge, crammed with humanity, and 
 those killed by native arrows or drowned, their 
 losses at the river alone must have been several 
 hundreds. The official report for the day was 
 "Enemy's loss over a thousand." Our gain in 
 ammunition was small, most of it having exploded 
 during the fire, and the greater number of guns 
 and repeating rifles were so badly burned as to be 
 useless. Without following the flying enemy, 
 Lothaire turned his attention to the other fort in 
 his immediate neighbourhood, and partially in- 
 vested it. The following day Commandant Dhanis,
 
 CAPITULATION OF THE ENEMY 243 
 
 leaving me in command of the centre at Bena 
 Musua, joined Lothaire, and, taking command, 
 completed the circle round the boma. The line 
 was advanced so that our men were established 
 actually between the enemy and the brook from 
 which they drew their water supply. These 
 positions were maintained for three days and 
 nights, the enemy during this time keeping up a 
 well-sustained fire, which our men did not return ; 
 in fact, for these three days and nights hardly a 
 shot was fired on our side, except when the enemy 
 attempted a sortie. On the third day, under a 
 flag of truce, the Arab chiefs sent ten men to the 
 Commandant offering ten guns for a bowl of water. 
 The Commandant ordered a bowl of water to be 
 brought to him, and poured it on the ground before 
 them, after which he sent them back into the fort 
 with their guns. This ruse succeeded. In half an 
 hour the fort capitulated — the men having seen 
 water, there was no holding them. They piled arms 
 in our camp, after which the fort was searched, for 
 fear of treachery, and the thirsty wretches were 
 allowed to rush down to the brook, into which they
 
 244 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 plunged. This affair was liardly finished when a 
 tornado came on, and rain enough fell in ten 
 minutes to have supplied the garrison with water 
 for a month had they still held out. With this 
 capitulation 2000 prisoners, 600 guns, 20 repeat- 
 ing rifles and ammunition fell into our hands. 
 During this time Commandant Gillian had left 
 Bena Guia and had joined Collignon in attacking 
 the two advanced forts, both of these officers 
 having been rather severely handled by the 
 defenders. The intermediate fort having now 
 fallen, all our troops marched with Commandant 
 Dhanis to invest the remaining positions of the 
 enemy ; but before this was accomplished the 
 forts capitulated. Captain Rom did a plucky but 
 (with our knowledge of the Arab character) foolish 
 thing. Bwana N'Zigi, the commander of the Arab 
 forts, sent a messenger into Commandant Gillian's 
 camp carrying a Koran, who said that if a white 
 man would come to the fort with the same Koran 
 in his hand no harm should happen to him, and 
 Bwana N'Zigi would himself arrange terms with him. 
 While discussing the question, Captain Rom seized
 
 THE TAKING OF KABAMBARI 245 
 
 the Koran and started off with it, saying that this 
 would probably save bloodshed. He went to the 
 fort, arranged the terms of capitulation with Bwana 
 N'Zigi, and at the end of the palaver exchanged 
 a State flag with Bwana N'Zigi for his standard. 
 
 On the 18th of January a column was despatched 
 after Rumaliza, under Commandant Lothaire and 
 Captains de Wouters and Doorme. By a forced 
 march they surprised Kabambari on the 25th 
 of January, arriving at the outskirts of the town 
 at four o'clock in the afternoon, and rushing into 
 it before the Arabs had time even to shut the 
 gates. The natives and slaves in the surrounding 
 fields were, meanwhile, looking on in apathetic 
 indifference at their arrival. This easily achieved 
 success may be attributed to the excellent policy 
 which the Commandant Dhanis had pursued 
 throughout the whole campaign, in never allowing 
 the natives to be interfered with or molested, 
 unless they actually attacked us under the Arab 
 flag. The natives throughout the whole country 
 had got to know this, and, on Lothaire's approach, 
 instead of flying terror-stricken into the town, they
 
 246 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 simply watched with curiosity our troops passing. 
 Rumaliza is said to have escaped into the great 
 forest, accompanied by only four men. De Wouters 
 and his company marched to Tanganyika, to open 
 communication with the forces of the Anti-Slavery 
 Society, who had lain inactive during the whole 
 of our campaign. He met Captain Descamps on 
 the road, twenty miles from Albertville. Descamps 
 had just taken command of the Anti- Slavery 
 troops, and immediately organised an expedition 
 and took the field. De Wouters returned with 
 him, and they joined Commandant Loth aire, who 
 was marching towards the north-east on the Ujiji 
 road, this being the direction in which the relics of 
 the Arab force had fled. They took four forts on 
 the road, which the defenders on each occasion 
 deserted as soon as our troops came in sight, 
 without firing a shot. Arriving at the Lake, a 
 station was formed at Bakari on Burton's Gulf, of 
 which Lieutenant Lange was left in command ; 
 the troops meanwhile returning to Kabambari, 
 where a large fortified camp was immediately 
 formed in the event of a return of the Arabs from
 
 ARAB CHIEFS MADE PRISONERS 247 
 
 the south or east. All the natives, and small 
 detached bands of Arabs, submitted ; and Lothaire 
 took Raschid, Said-ben-a-Bedi, Miserera, and Amici 
 prisoners. Said-ben-a-Bedi had conducted Emin 
 Pasha from the Equatorial province to the neigh- 
 bourhood of Kabungi, where Emin was murdered 
 by the Chief Kibungi, and was accused of being 
 himself concerned in the murder. After trial by 
 court-martial he was acquitted, and afterwards 
 came to Europe with us. 
 
 On the 12th of March, Mr. Mohun, the American 
 Consul, returned from Basoko, having collected 
 about a hundred men, who were following him 
 under the command of Lieutenant Baldwin. It 
 will be remembered that after the refusal of Com- 
 mandant Chaltin to send us help, on the 1st of 
 January, the Consul had offered to go down the 
 river and get together what men he could, we being 
 very hard pressed at the time. He returned hav- 
 ing successfully accomplished this voluntary work, 
 though, fortunately for us, the danger was then 
 already averted. Lieutenant Baldwin arrived with 
 the men in due course.
 
 CHAPTER Xy 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE THE 
 UPPER WATERS OF THE LUALABA RIVER 
 
 The country being for the moment practically 
 quiet, and a road open to Tanganyika, the Com- 
 mandant was anxious to find out if a water- 
 way to the Great Lake were possible to discover. 
 On the old caravan road through Kabambari 
 everything had to be carried on men's heads, 
 which was naturally a very expensive method, and 
 a water-way for even part of the road would mean 
 enormous advantages. I received an order to 
 take over Baldwin's men and to form a caravan 
 to explore the upper waters of the Lualaba, which 
 till then were unknown to Europeans. 
 
 My instructions were in the following terms : — 
 
 Kasongo, le 16 Mars, 1894. 
 Monsieur le Docteur,— J'ai I'hoiineur de vous faire savoir que 
 je vous charge de conduire une expedition de reconnaissance vers 
 le Tanganyika.
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 249 
 
 M. le Consul Mohiin exprime le dosir de vous accompagner ; 
 vous lui rendrez tous les services que vous pouvez. 
 
 Vous partirez avec le detachement de Basoko. 
 
 Votre but sera de suivre le Lualaba et le Lukuga, et d'examiner 
 la navigabilite de ces cours d'eau jusqu'au Lac. Vous devez surtout 
 marquer les noms des villages, des chefs, indiquer leur importance, 
 dire le cas echeant de quels Arabes ils dependaient, indiquer le plus 
 exactement possible jusqu'ou s'etendait I'influence Arabe. Je joins 
 d'ailleurs h cette lettre une instruction concernant les itineraires. 
 
 Vous irez jusqu'a M'pala ou Albertville. Si vous le jugez 
 necessaire vous pouvez aller en tout autre endroit ou se trouve le 
 Comt. de la Region Administrative. Si ce n'est pas trop loin. 
 
 Dans tous les cas, 11 faudra lui donner communication de votre 
 rapport et de votre carte de Kasongo au Lac. II ne faudra rester au 
 Lac que le temps strictement necessaire pour reposer votre troupe 
 ou pour achever vos relations officielles. 
 
 II faudra rapporter si possible du Lac des pommes de terre 
 d'Europe et des semences de ble ; vous en donnez une petite partie 
 a Kabambari. 
 
 J'enverrai votre correspondance k Albertville et vos colis postaux 
 a Kabambari. 
 
 Le Commandt. de la Zone Arabe 
 Dhanis. 
 
 Monsieur le Docteur Hinde. 
 
 Thomson, Stanley, and others had suggested 
 that the Lukuga, flowing out of Tanganyika, 
 emptied itself into the Lualaba, or indirectly 
 into the Lualaba through Lake Lanchi. It had 
 also been suggested that the Lukuga flowed into 
 Tanganyika, and not out of it. These were, 
 naturally, important points to be solved. The
 
 250 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 United States agent, Mohun, wished to accompany 
 me, and we started arranging the caravan. After 
 carefully eliminating the worst men from Bald- 
 win's detachment, I found sixty - five sturdy 
 fellows to take with me. They proved, however, 
 the most undisciplined disobedient set of thieves 
 I had ever to deal with. In addition to their 
 general worthlessness, they could neither swim 
 nor paddle — an exceptional disadvantage in an 
 expedition by water, since, in the matter of trans- 
 port, it left us entirely in the hands of the 
 natives through whose districts we passed. 
 Among these men were five Abyssinians, the 
 only survivors out of a band of seventy-five who 
 had started from Boma to join us, the rest having 
 died on the way, unable to withstand the bad 
 climate, bad feeding, and want of care to which 
 they had been subjected. These five Abyssinians 
 were in a wretched condition and sufi'ering from 
 fever when they joined us, but it seemed to me 
 that something might be made of them ; and so 
 it proved, for with proper care and feeding they 
 became the most useful, hard-working, and faith-
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 251 
 
 ful men in the whole detachment. On several 
 occasions, when the detachment was on the verge 
 of mutiny, these Abyssinians kept close to Mohun 
 and myself, and, in fact, usually insisted on sleep- 
 ing within a yard or two of our tents. 
 
 On the 14th of March I distributed a hundred 
 cartridges per head and a new suit of uniform 
 to each man. That night I was wakened by an 
 alarm of fire on our side of Kasongo, and rushing 
 out found that the section of the camp in which 
 the Kwangolas (my new company) were quartered 
 was in flames. A whirlwind, or small tornado, 
 had unluckily at that moment sprung up, and the 
 whole of that section of the camp was quickly in 
 a blaze. My men, though supposed to have been 
 soldiers for more than six months, were absolutely 
 useless, and, as a consequence, I lost three rifles 
 and over seven hundred cartridges, and had also 
 two very narrow escapes from cartridges exploding 
 when I was trying to save them. Notwithstand- 
 ing this, the Commandant severely reprimanded 
 me for the loss of ammunition, and on the follow- 
 ing day I had to start without being allowed to
 
 252 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 replace my losses. We marclied to Farrhagis 
 on the Lualaba, where we were to be supplied 
 with canoes. Mohim had six men of his own, 
 and a Hausa cook named Philip, who was a 
 useful interpreter and a good cook when he was 
 not drunk. At Farrhagis we lost a whole day 
 hunting up canoes which were supposed to be 
 ready for us. The Waginia, true to their instincts, 
 had made away with, and hidden in the lagoons 
 and swamps, all the best and biggest canoes they 
 could lay their hands on. We, however, eventually 
 got together a dozen canoes, which were sufficient 
 to carry our whole party. These canoes, though 
 simply dug out from a single tree, are a grand 
 means of transport. The largest one, which 
 belonged to Mohun, carried sixty men to paddle ; 
 twelve soldiers with their kit and food ; Mohun, 
 his bed and luggage, in a house built on the canoe ; 
 the cook Philip and two or three other servants ; 
 together with a kitchen fire and a couple of milk 
 goats, besides half a ton of stores. This canoe passed 
 through the most extraordinary adventures without 
 damage. Coming down rapids at the rate of
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 253 
 
 twenty miles an hour, it was often suddenly 
 arrested in full career by a rock, the shock send- 
 ing half the paddlers flying overboard. (In this 
 region the men all paddle standing up, both the 
 bow and stern being flattened into a platform, 
 three or four feet square, on which numbers of the 
 men stand while at work.) After some months 
 of the roughest work, which I do not think any 
 other kind of boat could have withstood, I left 
 this canoe at Stanley Falls, apparently as good as 
 new. 
 
 On the 17th of March we started, and within 
 an hour were poling and dragging the canoes up 
 the first rapids. The whole day was spent in 
 this work. When the current was too strong, 
 or when there was an actual fall of two or 
 three feet to be mounted, we cut long creepers 
 of monkey ropes, and, attaching them to the 
 canoes, set a couple of hundred men hauling, and 
 in this way dragged them up by main force. 
 For a present of a few yards of cloth or a handful 
 or two of beads, we generally got as much help 
 as we Wanted from the fishing villages on the
 
 254 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 river bank. Occasionally, the only passable part 
 of a cataract or rapid was blocked by enormously 
 strong weirs, some of which were made of whole 
 trees, and had evidently been placed there by 
 the natives when the water was low. Holes, 
 two or three feet square, were left in these 
 weirs, over which fish-traps, formed like an 
 ordinary lobster-pot and made of wicker-work, 
 were placed. The mouths of these traps were 
 always placed down river, in order to catch the 
 fish mounting the stream while on the feed. In 
 one of these traps, which measured over eight 
 feet in diameter, I found a kind of carp about 
 twenty-five pounds weight. This carp is of a 
 golden brown colour, and is the most delicious 
 fish I have tasted from Congo waters. 
 
 The rocks in these rapids were a very dark 
 brown — almost black — streaked with red, and 
 apparently exceedingly rich in iron. As a con- 
 sequence, we had great difficulty in mapping this 
 part of the river, our compasses being practically 
 useless, and always pointing towards the nearest 
 rock. Game was very plentiful, especially in the
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 255 
 
 rapids. Herons, of various colours and sizes, 
 abounded, from flocks of snowy egrets to enormous 
 solitary birds. One of these latter, which I shot, 
 measured eight feet six inches from wing-tip to 
 wing-tip, and six feet nine inches from the point 
 of his bill to his toe-nails. A species of grey 
 plover, and ducks of half a dozen different colours 
 and sizes, were to be seen in every direction. I shot 
 many sperm-wing geese, which, though rather out 
 of season, were much liked by the caravan. Hip- 
 popotami were comparatively scarce, the natives 
 having learnt how to kill them by spearing, or 
 with the ordinary hippo trap. This consists of 
 a spear fixed in a beam, suspended in a likely 
 place near the river bank, the suspending cord 
 being fastened to a trigger placed in the hippo's 
 way. In the villages in which we camped w^e 
 often found the heads and teeth of hippos, wart 
 hogs, and wild pigs, and occasionally a buffalo or 
 antelope horn. Although elephants and buff'alo 
 are numerous all over this district, they are 
 seldom molested, as the natives stand in great 
 awe of them.
 
 256 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 On the 20th of March, after a very hard day's 
 work, we arrived at Mona Tambui's village. It 
 was situated on an island, surrounded and inter- 
 spersed by rapids and streams, with the main river 
 passing in front of the village — a most beautiful 
 situation, and one which completely commanded 
 the surrounding country. Mohun and I sat by 
 the front of the village and amused ourselves by 
 shooting duck, which were constantly passing and 
 repassing overhead, to and from their feeding- 
 grounds. The whole population turned out, mani- 
 festing intense surprise and delight to find that 
 it was possible to kill birds on the wing, flocks 
 of which they were in the habit of seeing pass 
 before them every day of their lives. 
 
 Whenever it was possible, instead of sleeping 
 in the boats or putting up our tents, we slept in 
 native villages. Most of these villages were 
 hostile, though throughout a great part of the 
 district the natives did not know what a gun 
 was, and, under the impression that we were 
 only armed with clubs, even twenty or thirty 
 of them were willing to attack us with their
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 257 
 
 arrows and spears. I found the best way of 
 approaching a village (the warriors of which were 
 usually all grouped on the beach, with their 
 arrows on the string) was to leave the rest of the 
 flotilla at some distance, and to exhibit, from 
 my canoe, handkerchiefs and strings of beads as 
 I drew near — as soon as possible throwing a few 
 handfuls of beads on shore. If anyone in the 
 village could speak Swahili, or one of the 
 other languages known to us, I then put 
 myself into communication with the chief. 
 After giving him a present, and promising a 
 bigger one the next day, I allowed him half an 
 hour to clear the village of all the women, 
 goods, and chattels, explaining that my men were 
 bad, and would probably take anything that he 
 left behind. In this way I generally succeeded 
 in passing through the country without disturb- 
 ances with the natives. As soon as we took 
 possession of a village, and such food as was left 
 in it, we started a market and bought whatever 
 more was necessary. This greatly astonished the 
 
 natives, who always consider that they must feed 
 17
 
 258 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 travellers for nothing, if the said travellers are 
 strong enough to demand it. We generally 
 brought our marketing transactions to a close by 
 scrambling a few handfuls of beads, handkerchiefs, 
 or wire ; or by starting races, for which a handker- 
 chief or a small bell, fixed on the top of a tree or 
 a hut, was the prize. The whole population would 
 race and fight for the prize, often bringing the 
 establishment, on the top of which it was sus- 
 pended, to the ground in their efi'orts to secure it. 
 Having established these relations with the natives, 
 we had usually little difficulty in getting men to 
 paddle us on our way the following morning. 
 If our camp the next evening happened to be 
 situated among people of the same tribe, or among 
 a tribe friendly to our former host, we found that 
 our reputation had preceded us, and we were 
 received with open arms. Occasionally, however, 
 the other side to the question presented itself, 
 and all did not proceed so smoothly, the trouble 
 usually arising through the disobedience of my own 
 men. On one or two occasions when I was on 
 shore arranging matters with the chief, and accom-
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 259 
 
 panied by only two or three of the Abyssinians, 
 several canoes sneaked into the bank lower 
 down, and, led by the native paddlers — who, like 
 most natives, rob or murder their own kith and 
 kin without hesitation — took the village in the 
 rear and commenced looting. This placed me 
 many times in most uncomfortable and dangerous 
 positions, and, though I made example of several of 
 the worst blackguards, I had trouble almost to the 
 end of the chapter. As soon as we got above Fam- 
 busi village we found no more Waginia, the water 
 race here being called Waujabillio. And a very 
 fine race they are — tall, almost handsome, brown 
 men, w4th the most fantastic methods of dressing 
 the hair ; though, curiously enough, the men only 
 pay attention to this part of their appearance, "and 
 I rarely saw a woman who seemed to have taken 
 any trouble at all- about her headdress. This, 
 however, may have been owing to the fact that 
 we saw only slaves — the free women and chief's 
 wives being kept out of the way. The men wore 
 festoons of fetishes suspended round their necks 
 and waists, some of which, representing figures of
 
 26o THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 men and women, were beautifully carved in ivory 
 or wart hogs' teeth. They all wore round their 
 waists a piece of native cloth, woven from palm 
 fibre, called madeba. They were armed with 
 fairly powerful bows and arrows, the arrows 
 being well made, barbed and tipped with iron, and 
 coated with poison. This poison was not, however, 
 invariably fatal, probably owning to the fact that, 
 in common with most of the native poisons I 
 have seen in the Congo Basin, it loses its virulence 
 when not fresh. One of my men who had his thigh 
 transfixed by an arrow, thickly coated with so- 
 called poison, did not die, though the only remedy 
 I used was a drink of ammonia and water, with 
 a couple of drops of ammonia poured into each 
 of the wounds. This pained him so much, and 
 stung his nose, throat, and eyes to such an extent 
 that he concluded the white man's medicine must 
 be more powerful than native poison, and so made 
 up his mind to live. Almost every "Waujabillio 
 that I saw carried a curious razor with a triangular 
 blade fixed on a handle, and stuck in a sheath 
 suspended from the waist-belt or neck. These
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 261 
 
 razors were, for some unaccountable reason, always 
 carried handle down, the blade being jammed so 
 tightly in the sheath that it did not drop out. 
 Their carving in wood and ivory is really beautiful, 
 and I was fortunate in beinsj able to o;et to England 
 some fine specimens in the shape of paddles, walk- 
 ing-sticks, and axe handles, which are now in the 
 British Museum. The houses of this race are 
 curious : they are built of mud, and consist of two 
 rooms, the front one about seven feet square, and 
 the back one — which is the main part of the house 
 — of circular shape and about ten feet in diameter. 
 The entire hut is thatched, the circular portion 
 having a beehive roof, and the square part a lean- 
 to. In the interior were always twenty or thirty 
 balks of timber thickly covered with soot. Some 
 of these were evidently used as beds, but for what 
 the others served I could never discover, though 
 the general idea in the caravan was that they were 
 used for forming platforms, on which to smoke fish 
 or flesh. This seems almost incredible, with the 
 far simpler alternative of using lighted sticks. In 
 both the outer and inner rooms were placed raised
 
 262 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 platforms of clay, about a yard long and two feet 
 wide, which served as fireplaces. On these hearths 
 three or four conical lumps of clay, shaped like an 
 ordinary flower-pot and inverted, were always 
 found. Three of these, placed close togetlier with 
 the fire between, formed a capital stand for a 
 cooking-pot. This system is common all over the 
 Lualaba and Lomami districts. In other parts of 
 the Concro I have seen the common mushroom- 
 shaped ants' nests used for this purpose. All the 
 houses were infested b}^ myriads of rats, which 
 were fearfully and horribly tame. Enormous 
 numbers of them used, nightly, to swarm up and 
 down the sides of my mosquito net, and on 
 more than one occasion broke the strings 
 and descended in a solid mass upon me in bed. 
 We eventually became so accustomed to them that 
 they ceased to disturb us, unless they were of the 
 musk variety — a grey long-nosed animal about 
 the size of our own drain rat, with the abominable 
 peculiarity that wherever it goes or whatever it 
 touches is infected with the stench of musk for 
 days afterwards. One only of these rats in a hut,
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 263 
 
 if I did not succeed in catching it, was sufficient 
 to necessitate a change of dwelling. The extra- 
 ordinary numbers of rats found in these districts 
 led me to suppose that the natives, unlike those of 
 other parts of the Congo Basin, do not make use 
 of them as food. 
 
 Once free of the Waginias our daily worries 
 increased — and with reason, for we were outside 
 the sphere of Arab influence. I have always found 
 that peoples and tribes who have had to do with 
 the Arabs are civil and obliging, having doubtless 
 learned that the best way to get rid of both 
 pleasant and unpleasant visitors is to help them 
 on their way. One of the most difficult people 
 we had to deal with was a chief named Kitenge, 
 a powerful and unruly vassal of a good-natured 
 timid old patriarch named Kongolo, whom we 
 afterwards visited. Kitenge's headquarters were 
 on a large island in the middle of the river. The 
 greater part of this island was formed of a beauti- 
 ful white quartz, and the approach to it was one 
 of the finest pieces of scenery I have ever seen. 
 At the lower end of the island were a series of
 
 264 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 falls and rapids called Nyangi. On the left bank 
 of the river, at this point, a magnificent cliflf of 
 quartz rose abruptly ; at the foot of which, huge 
 blocks, piled up into fantastic shapes, stretched out 
 into the river. In the middle of the rapid a great 
 cone-shaped block of quartz, thirty-five or forty 
 feet high, stood, crowned with a little grass plateau 
 and two or three trees, round which flocks of white 
 and black eagles were circling. On the left side 
 the hill -slope rose sharply from the river bank, 
 forming almost perpendicular cliff's sparsely covered 
 with grass. 
 
 Kitenge promised us both food and men to 
 proceed on our journey, and left us without either, 
 to starve on the island. On the following day he 
 renewed his promises, but protested that he had 
 no men handy ; he had, he said, sent for some to 
 the interior, but since he possessed neither boats 
 nor paddles we would have to lend him our own 
 to bring the people from the mainland. While so 
 talking, we saw three canoes quietly crossing over 
 to the lower end of the island. Keeping the chief 
 engaged in conversation, I despatched some of my
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 265 
 
 men with orders to seize the canoes, which they 
 succeeded in doing and in bringing them up to 
 our end of the island, much to the chief's chagrin. 
 In one of the canoes was a fine cat-fish weighing 
 perhaps two hundred pounds, which was very 
 acceptable to the hungry troops. With these 
 canoes, Omarri the interpreter and a few men 
 crossed over to the mainland, the chief meanwhile 
 being detained by us on the island. After a couple 
 of hours they returned with all that we wanted, 
 and we started, under the impression that we had 
 done with Kitenge ; we had, however, not seen the 
 last of him. Later in the day, as I had just 
 passed a difficult piece of rapid, and was waiting 
 at the tail of the next one for the rest of the 
 boats to come up, I saw the natives deliberately 
 overturn one canoe in the middle of the stream. 
 Though it was in comparatively smooth water, 
 as the Kwangola were unable to swim, they were 
 all drowned. The canoe fortunately contained 
 only eight men — one of whom was the interpreter 
 Omarri, who swam ashore with his rifle in pur- 
 suit of the natives. From my perch on a rock
 
 266 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 I could of course do nothing, the roar of the cata- 
 ract above preventing anyone from hearing the 
 directions I shouted. The catastrophe occupied 
 only a few seconds : I saw a head and two hands 
 appear, and the great river swept on, leaving no 
 sign of what had taken place. Omarri returned 
 to me, but the native paddlers all disappeared into 
 the bush, and I saw none of them again. 
 
 Towards evening we were still in the rapids, and, 
 since there was great difficulty in getting Mohun's 
 big canoe along, I joined him in it. At dusk, 
 having only succeeded in getting half the canoe 
 over a ridge of rocks, all the natives jumped over- 
 board and swam to the shore half a mile away 
 in the gloom. By an unfortunate chance the 
 provisions and bedding had preceded us in the 
 other canoes, and we were left in the unenvi- 
 able position of passing the night in a wet canoe, 
 worried by myriads of mosquitoes, hungry, and 
 drenched by a dense fog. The following morning 
 our servants, the interpreter, and the Abyssinians 
 returned and helped us out of the predicament ; 
 the remainder of our men, thinking themselves
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 267 
 
 quit of us, amusing themselves meanwhile to the 
 annoyance of the natives. We afterwards dis- 
 covered that Kongolo, to whose village we next 
 came — and who was grand chief of the whole 
 district — had given orders that we were not to be 
 allowed to land. His village was situated above 
 the rapids, and when, in spite of his orders, we 
 put in our appearance, he made the best of what 
 he considered to be a bad job, and treated us very 
 welh From him we learned that we could con- 
 tinue paddling up the river for another three 
 weeks without encountering any more rapids. This 
 was probably not true, and I am sorry that we 
 were unable to test its accuracy; for on the 31st 
 of March, four days afterwards, we reached the 
 mouth of the Lukuga, up which we turned. Before 
 getting there I had rather an unpleasant experience. 
 At Kiembenema village, which was situated half a 
 mile from the shore on which we were encamped, 
 a number of my men broke loose and started off 
 looting into the village. The chief came to me 
 complaining of the treatment his people were 
 receiving, but was pacified when, after following
 
 268 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the men, I took from them the fowls, goats, and 
 other things they had looted, and returned them 
 to him. One of my rascals, however, seeing the 
 position of affairs, bolted with his prey, and when 
 I came up with him dodged behind a bush. I 
 heard his breech-block snick as he opened it. 
 Springing through the bush with a revolver in 
 hand, I was just in time to fell him with the butt- 
 end as he closed the breech and before he had 
 time to draw on me. As he was rather badly 
 injured by the blow, I disarmed him and let him 
 continue the rest of the journey without further 
 punishment. The moral effect of this incident on 
 the men was very marked, and there were never 
 afterwards any open signs of insubordination when 
 I was in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The Lukuga, or, as the natives at its mouth call 
 it, the Lumbridgi, was at this time — early in April 
 — not within many feet of the highest water- 
 mark. This river empties itself directly into 
 the Lualaba. There is no sign whatever of Lake 
 Lanchi, which is marked in so many maps at this 
 point. Nor is there even a broadening of the
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 269 
 
 Lualaba which could be mistaken for a lake either 
 above or below the mouth of the Lukuga. We 
 found the mouth of the river, which here forked, 
 partially blocked by a delta about half a mile 
 wide and a mile and a half long. The river above 
 the delta was about ten feet deep, with perfectly 
 clear water, and varied from a mile and a quarter 
 to a mile in width, with the same depth right 
 across. Long grass was growing in a great 
 portion of it, and there were no signs of swamp 
 about its banks. Some miles up the river we 
 were brought almost to a standstill by the grass, 
 which was six or seven feet above the water and 
 blocked all outlook. The water at this point 
 being more than five or six feet deep, we had 
 great difficulty in paddling, poling, and pushing 
 the canoes through. We felt absolutely lost in 
 this trackless wilderness of grass, and could only 
 follow the course of the river by going against 
 the current, the bank being completely hidden. 
 After several miles of this unpleasant travelling 
 we found an open stretch of water about forty 
 yards wide, which led us up to the village of
 
 270 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Angoma. It has been suggested that, by the 
 growth of this rank grass and other vegetation, 
 together with the debris deposited in it by the 
 percolating water, the Lukuga is sometimes 
 dammed, and that this may be a cause for the 
 extraordinary variation of the level which has 
 been noticed on Tanganyika. Sir Francis de 
 Winton told me that in one year when he was 
 at Vivi, near the mouth of the Congo, the river 
 rose over fourteen feet in a single night. On 
 subsequent inquiry he succeeded in getting a 
 report from Stanley Pool to the efifect that a great 
 lake had broken out above. There are only two 
 things to be said with regard to this. First, 
 that it is always open to doubt whether the 
 bursting of a dam in the Lukuga would affect 
 the great river sixteen hundred miles lower 
 down to the extent of raising its level fourteen 
 feet in a night ; secondly, that what applies in 
 this respect to Tanganyika might also apply to 
 Lake Leopold II., the latter lake being com- 
 paratively near to the coast. 
 
 When we were in this neighbourhood the spur-
 
 EXPEDITION TO EXPLORE 271 
 
 wing geese seemed to be flocking preparatory to 
 migrating. For hours on end I paddled through 
 the largest flock of birds I have ever seen. The 
 river and river banks, islands, and plains, as far 
 as the eye could see, were literally covered with 
 geese, and no other birds but geese were to be 
 seen. 
 
 We reached M'Burri, or M'Bulli as the natives 
 (who cannot articulate the letter " r ") pronounce 
 it, on the 4th of April. This was the farthest 
 point, from the eastward on the Lukuga, to which 
 either Thomson or Delcommune had penetrated. 
 I am thankful to say that I did not break down 
 until the exploration of the unknown parts of the 
 river had been accomplished. For some days I 
 had been feverish, and here became delirious.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE RETURN JOURNEY TO THE COAST 
 
 On the 11th of April Mr. Mohun took command 
 of the expedition, and returned down the river, 
 hoping to get me back to Kasongo alive, where 
 there was some chance of finding the necessary 
 medicines and light food. The very first night 
 (when landing on a strip of sand under a high 
 clifi" covered with bush) the natives attacked us, 
 under the impression that we were afraid to 
 proceed, and were not really so strong as they 
 had first thought us when going up the river. 
 I was too weak to sit up, and lay helpless while 
 the skirmish raged around ; everyone was engaged, 
 and I could get no information as to what was 
 happening even on the sandbank, on the edge of 
 which my canoe was drawn up. It ended in the 
 natives being driven oft', leaving some prisoners, as 
 well as their dead and dying, in Mohun's hands. 
 
 272
 
 THE RETURN JOURNEY 273 
 
 To each of the prisoners he gave a present, and 
 dismissed them in the morning after trying to 
 explain to them that we had not come there to 
 fight. When we got back to the Lualaba we 
 found that the waters had risen many feet, and, as 
 a consequence, were able to shoot down many 
 of the rapids, which would otherwise have neces- 
 sitated disembarking to negotiate. The journey 
 was not a pleasant one to me, for besides being ill 
 and being unable to eat goat's flesh, which was 
 the staple food, I was several times more than 
 half drowned by the canoe filling with water in 
 shooting the rapids. Of the rest of the journey I 
 have little recollection. We reached Kasongo on the 
 25th of April, to find that Baron Dhanis had gone 
 down the river to Stanley Falls on his way home ; 
 and my great friend, the Chevalier de Wouters 
 d'Oplinter, arrived from Tanganyika in a dying 
 condition. I was carried to see him, and on 
 examination found that he was sufl'ering from an 
 abscess in his liver. This set me thinking ; and 
 the next day, when a little rested after the 
 
 journey, on examining myself as well as I could, 
 18
 
 274 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 I found that I also was suffering from the same 
 complaint. There was, however, nothing to be 
 done, as we were without instruments ; and even 
 had we possessed them, there was no one near us 
 capable of using them. Poor de Wouters died 
 two or three days afterwards. Commandant 
 Lothaire, whose kindness nothing could exceed, 
 on talking over my condition with me, decided 
 that I had better try to get down to Basoko, 
 below Stanley Falls, where there was a doctor. 
 There was still a chance that I could get there 
 in time to be operated on ; but since it depended 
 on my keeping alive, in the weak condition I had 
 been in for three weeks, the chance was a small one. 
 I, however, agreed with him that it was better 
 to take it, together with the risks of the road. 
 Commandant Lothaire despatched Captain Rom 
 to convoy me, and, notwithstanding all the trials 
 and worries of looking after a sick man, I can 
 only say that he treated me as if I had been a 
 brother instead of a stranger and a foreigner. 
 
 On the 29th of April, two days after the death 
 of poor de Wouters, I left Kasongo, comfortably
 
 THE RETURN JOURNEY 275 
 
 installed in the big canoe I have already mentioned. 
 I arrived at Nyangwe on the 1st of May. Here 
 Lieutenant Lemerie, who was in command, insisted 
 on our remaining for two or three days, urging 
 that the cows' milk he had succeeded in obtaining 
 from the herd at Nyangwe would go a long way 
 towards giving me strength to bear the journey. 
 He had, after many difficulties — for the herd of 
 cattle was practically wild — succeeded in getting 
 sixteen cows that were possible to milk, and had 
 established a dairy. He was very proud of being 
 able to make butter, though the milk from the 
 sixteen cows gave him only enough cream to 
 make three or four ounces of butter a day. It 
 had until then always been an accepted theory in 
 the Congo, that, owing to the climate, it was im- 
 possible to make butter either from cows' or goats' 
 milk. This idea had most probably originated 
 from the fact that the milk, partly owing to the 
 climate and partly to the rank vegetation on 
 which the animals feed, contains so little fat that 
 no one had before succeeded in getting a sufficient 
 quantity from which it was possible to extract
 
 276 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 enough, cream, before it became solid, to get any 
 result at all. 
 
 From Nyangwe to Riba Riba 1 suffered a great 
 deal, but on arriving there the abscess in my liver 
 burst successfully, and so saved my life. Lieu- 
 tenant Rue was established at Riba Riba, and had 
 built three or four houses on the site of the old 
 town, which was burnt by the natives after the 
 Arabs had left, and just before the arrival of 
 Captain Chaltin many months before. It was 
 here that Miserera and the other Beloochies, 
 established as Arab chiefs, had flogged Noblesse and 
 Michels to death, afterwards cutting them up and 
 dividing them among their slaves for food. These 
 were the only two officers of Hodister's ill-fated 
 expedition who were unfortunate enough to fall 
 into the hands of the Arabs alive. One of the 
 only relics of the original town left intact was 
 pointed out to me as the identical sugar-cane 
 crusher to which these wretched men were bound 
 while being tortured to death. Of the instigators 
 of the outrages, Mohara, the great chief of Nyangwe 
 (who had ordered the extermination of the white
 
 THE RETURN JOURNEY 277 
 
 men), was killed by us in battle on the 9th of 
 January 1892; Boina Losa, one of the chiefs 
 of Riba Riba, was also killed by us, in the 
 battle of the 26th of February 1892 ; and 
 Miserera and his son were taken prisoners at 
 Kirundu, and hanged after trial by Baron Dhanis. 
 
 On the 9th of May we arrived at Kirundu, 
 where we found Dhanis established. He had 
 found the district in so disturbed a state that, 
 instead of starting direct for Europe, he had re- 
 mained behind to arranoje matters. With him I 
 spent a most delightful though painful evening, 
 for he, determined that I should have one more 
 good laugh before I died, gave such a ridiculous 
 description of his doings, and of the state of the 
 district, that he kept me laughing the whole 
 evening. It proved the best thing that could 
 have been done, for the constant shaking, it 
 appears, so effectively emptied the abscess that I 
 got rapidly better from that day forward. 
 
 It was at Kirundu that retribution overtook 
 most of the murderers of Emin Pasha and his men. 
 Mohara of Nyangwe had, after the murder of
 
 273 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 Hodister and his company, given orders that 
 all the white men in his dominions were to 
 be slaughtered. Said-ben-a-Bedi, an intelligent 
 well - educated young Arab chief (who had 
 accompanied Emin Pasha from the Equatorial 
 province, through the great forest, to within two 
 days' march of the Lualaba, in the neighbourhood 
 of Kirundu), received orders through Kibungi, the 
 chief of Kirundu, to murder the Pasha. Instead 
 of doing so, he immediately went to Nyangwe and 
 begged of Mohara to spare Emin's life. The old 
 tyrant was, however, immovable in his determina- 
 tion, and Said returned, still hoping to be able 
 to save Emin on his own responsibility. When 
 yet a day or two from Kirundu, Kibungi and 
 his company took upon themselves to carry out 
 Mohara's orders. Emin Pasha and his soldiers 
 were shown every mark of friendship, and treated 
 with the greatest hospitality, till any suspicion 
 they may have entertained towards their host 
 was lulled. After establishing relations of trust 
 between Emin and his caravan, each individual 
 — being surrounded by a little group of appar-
 
 THE RETURN JOURNEY 279 
 
 ently the most friendly persons — was, at a given 
 signal, slaughtered where he stood. This, so far 
 as I can remember, is the story told to me by 
 two or three members of Emin's harem whom 
 we rescued. At the tribunal, Said-ben-a-Bedi 
 was acquitted of any participation in Emin's 
 murder, he having apparently done all in his 
 power to save him. Eleven of those actually 
 concerned in the massacre, together with Miserera 
 and his son, were hanged the same morning at 
 Kirundu for the murder of Noblesse and Michels. 
 Kibungi himself escaped into the great forest, and 
 it was not until nearly nine months later that he 
 was caught by Captain Lothaire, and tried by 
 court-martial and shot. 
 
 We reached Stanley Falls on the 15th of May, 
 and the same day Captain Cock arrived from 
 Stanley Pool in the Ville de Bruges. With him 
 I went down to Basoko, where the doctor inclined 
 to think that, though out of danger, it was advis- 
 able for me to return to Europe without loss of 
 time, to recruit. Captain Jasen arriving with his 
 ship a few days after, I took a passage with him
 
 28o THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 to Stanley Pool. I was much struck on the way 
 by the fact that, the farther we descended the 
 river from Stanley Falls, the more savage, uncouth, 
 and dirty the natives seemed to be, though Bomba, 
 on the main river, is the only place where the 
 natives are absolutely naked. Arriving at Leo- 
 poldville I found myself so much better, that 
 since both doctors had told me if I chose to take 
 the responsibility I might return to Stanley Falls, 
 I decided to do so. My good friend Captain 
 Jasen was taking his ship up to the Falls again ; 
 so after a few days' rest I embarked with 
 him, not caring to go home without Baron 
 Dhanis, who had also been through the whole 
 campaign and still considered that he had 
 some work to do. Our voyage to Stanley Falls 
 was, excepting for one small scrimmage with the 
 natives in Itimberie, uneventful. To my immense 
 disgust I found, on arriving at the Falls, that, 
 while we were in the Itimberie River, Dhanis had 
 passed us on his way home. A despatch from 
 him awaited me with orders to join him at 
 once, he having heard on his way down that I
 
 THE RETURN JOURNEY 281 
 
 had gone up again. This I was only too delighted 
 to do, and we joined him at Stanley Pool — Jasen 
 having made a record passage from Stanley Pool 
 to the Falls and back, including a trip to Ibembo, 
 in thirty days. After a few days at Stanley Pool, 
 spent in organising a caravan, the Commandant 
 and I started for the coast, in company with 
 Monseigneur van Aertzlaer, and Pere de Deken, 
 the celebrated Asiatic traveller of the Belgian- 
 Chinese African Mission. 
 
 On arriving at Congo de Lemba we found a 
 special train awaiting our arrival. I, however, 
 preferred to continue the march, rather than trust 
 myself to the railway in its then insecure state ; 
 and having arrived at Matadi a couple of days 
 later, on the 1st of September 1894, a few weeks 
 afterwards took ship for Europe.
 
 NOTES 
 
 Note on Cannibalism 
 
 Tlie Manyema country, which was the scene 
 of the Belgian campaign, lies mid-way between 
 the Arab centre at Zanzibar and the Belgian 
 settlement at the mouth of the Congo. Living- 
 stone, in his endeavours to find the Great River 
 of which the Arabs brought him word, was the 
 first European to cross Many em aland ; and it was 
 under the protection of a party of Arab slave- 
 traders that he entered the country in the year 
 1869. Travelling with the Arabs, and compelled 
 to follow their erratic course, he was enabled, by 
 the delays this involved, to observe more closely 
 than would otherwise have been possible the 
 habits of the people. Though the cannibalistic 
 propensities of the Manyema were well known, 
 and a subject of great terror to his followers, it 
 was some time before Livingstone himself accepted 
 the fact, and it was with great reluctance that he
 
 NOTES 283 
 
 became convinced that their cannibalism was the 
 outcome of gourmandise, and, from whatever cause 
 it might originally have resulted, had then little to 
 do either with religious ceremony or with supersti- 
 tion. The Manyema freely admitted their practice 
 of eating human flesh, which they described as 
 " saltish in flavour, and requiring little condiment," 
 though certain parts, such as the heart, were some- 
 times mixed up in a mess of goat's flesh ; and on 
 one occasion, after a fight, Livingstone saw the 
 bodies " cut up and cooked with bananas." 
 
 In summing up the question of cannibalism, 
 Livingstone finally came to the conclusion that, 
 amongst the Manyema at any rate, a depraved 
 appetite could alone account for the custom, since 
 the country was rich and full of foods (both animal 
 and farinaceous), and starvation, or want of animal 
 matter, could not be urged as a defence. " And 
 yet," said Livingstone, " they are a fine-looking 
 race ; I would back a company of Manyema men 
 to be far superior in shape of head, and generally 
 in physical form too, against the whole Anthropo- 
 logical Society. Many of the women are very 
 light-coloured and very pretty." 
 
 The practice of cannibalism would seem to be 
 less a matter connected with civilisation than the 
 result of a definite perversion of taste ; and it is
 
 284 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 frequently the case that cannibal races are less 
 cruel and bloodthirsty than many tribes not ad- 
 dicted to the practice. Mr. Herbert Ward, in his 
 Five Years tvith the Congo Cannibals, says : " It 
 must not be supposed that the cannibal tribes of 
 the interior are altogether brutal in every action 
 of life. On the contrary, I have observed more 
 frequent traits of affection for wife and children 
 among them than are exhibited in the conduct of 
 domestic affairs among the people of the lower, or 
 Ba Congo, country, Avho are not cannibals, nor ad- 
 dicted to the shedding of blood, save in religious 
 matters." 
 
 A note on the " Origin and Distribution of 
 Cannibalism " in the Geographical Jouryial for 
 July 1893 says, that while some writers have 
 attributed the origin of cannibalism to religious 
 motives, others consider that " hunger was the 
 original incentive to the practice, which was after- 
 wards persisted in from choice, the superstitious 
 and religious aspects being later developments. 
 Cannibalism seems to have prevailed to a con- 
 siderable extent among the primitive inhabitants 
 of Europe, and still more in America. The fact 
 that no traces of it have been found dating back 
 to palaeolithic times, while the lower animals rarely 
 devour their own species, seems to show that a
 
 NOTES 285 
 
 certain degree of intelligence was first attained. 
 With this may be compared the remark of Peschel, 
 that the custom is most prevalent among tribes 
 distinguished by a certain social advance. . . . 
 While instances of resort to human flesh as food 
 in times of famine are widely diff'used, the most 
 common motive seems to be the well-known super- 
 stition that by eating the heart or other part of an 
 enemy — to which the practice is often restricted — 
 his prowess is acquired. In Polynesia and in 
 Central America it occurs most frequently in con- 
 nection with religious rites. In the former region, 
 special preference is given to the eye of the victim. 
 Human sacrifices, however, do not always lead to 
 cannibalism. . . . While in many cases the flesh of 
 relatives especially is eaten, this was viewed with 
 abhorrence among the Maoris, who also forbade 
 human flesh to women." E, C. M. 
 
 Note on Gongo Lutete's Bodyguard 
 
 Gongo Lutete's bodyguard consisted of about 
 600 men, who, as the only members of all his 
 people in whom he could place trust, held special 
 privileges. A day or two after the execution of 
 Gongo, these men, who were devoted to their chief, 
 showed a disposition to avenge his execution. For
 
 286 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 his own safety, and the greater security of the 
 station, Lieutenant Scherlink despatched them to 
 Lusambo, and from thence on to Luluaburg, since 
 it was thought that outside their own district they 
 would be less likely to cause trouble. 
 
 I arrived at N'Gandu from Nyangwe on the day 
 on which they were ordered to leave ; and, angry 
 at their power being broken, they vowed vengeance 
 against the white man and the rest of Gongo's 
 people, whom they had ruled with brutal 
 severity. As they marched out of N'Gandu they 
 fired on the townspeople, killing and wounding a 
 few, and shouting through the streets that they 
 would come back some day and would kill and eat 
 everyone they found there. 
 
 Shortly after their arrival at Luluaburg, they 
 were enlisted as soldiers in the State service, and 
 in this capacity distinguished themselves for intelli- 
 gence, willingness, and pluck against a rebellious 
 slave-raiding tribe in the Kasai district. 
 
 Some two years later they revolted, and, after 
 murdering their officers at Luluaburg, marched 
 through the country, killing white men and raid- 
 ing natives, till eventually, having raised the whole 
 country against the Government, they arrived at 
 N'Gandu. In the battles that followed, Com- 
 mandant Lothaire and Captain Doorme were
 
 NOTES 287 
 
 wounded, and many officers, including Lieuten- 
 ants Collet, Franken, Augustin, and Sandrad, and 
 also Said-ben-a-Bedi — who came to Lothaire's 
 assistance — were killed. Captain Collignon died 
 of fever, and Captain Bauduin was drowned in 
 Stanley Pool. S. L. H. 
 
 Note on Exploration of Section of Lualaba 
 River by Captain Hinde 
 
 As the geographical aspect of Captain Hinde's 
 work has been somewhat hurriedly dealt with in 
 his account of the Belgian campaign, the follow- 
 ing epitome of a paper entitled " Three Years' 
 Travel in the Congo Free State," read before the 
 Royal Geographical Society on 11th March 1895, 
 is given : — 
 
 Towards the close of the campaign I received 
 orders to survey the Lualaba and Lukuga, from the 
 neighbourhood of Kasongo upwards. This mission 
 was successfully accomplished as far as M'Bulli on 
 6th March 1894. It will be remembered that the 
 river below Kasongo had been explored by Stanley, 
 and by others since his time, and that the Lukuga 
 from Tanganyika as far as M'Bulli had been made 
 known by Thomson and Delcommune. My work, 
 therefore, was to connect the surveys of Thomson
 
 288 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 and Delcommune with those of Stanley and his 
 successors. 
 
 The United States commercial agent, Mr. Mohun, 
 obtained leave to accompany me. 
 
 The journey up the river from the coast, by 
 Leopoldville to the station of Lusambo on the 
 Sankuru, has been frequently described, and I need 
 only draw attention to one or two points concern- 
 ing the path from Matadi up to Stanley Pool — a 
 way which is now so far a made road that there are 
 bridges over most of the rivers, and the pathway 
 is cleared of trees and all large obstructions. 
 Shelters have been built at intervals of three hours 
 over the whole distance. The porters employed 
 for the carriage of goods belong to the Manyanga 
 and kindred tribes. There is a marked difference 
 between these people and the carriers used by the 
 Arabs in the Manyema district : the latter are 
 slaves, forced to work, but fed on a sufficient meat 
 diet ; the former are free men, but indifferently 
 nourished. The Manyemas are able to carry 80 or 
 90 lb. without much difficulty, while the Man- 
 yangas are rarely equal to a burden of more than 
 60 lb. 
 
 After three months spent in the neighbourhood 
 of Stanley Pool, I received instructions to proceed 
 to the district of Lualaba on the Sankuru. I left
 
 NOTES 289 
 
 Stanley Pool in the Stanley, with 500 soldiers and 
 porters, and after four days' steaming we reached 
 the mouth of the Kasai, up which we turned. We 
 were now in the land of plenty. Goats could be 
 bought for a handful of blue beads, or for cloth or 
 handkerchiefs if blue. Wood for the steamer was 
 difficult to obtain, the edge of the forest being 
 usually a mile or so from the river bank, and 
 we repeatedly steamed a whole day without being 
 able to replenish our stock. The marshes and 
 grassy plains along the river border, and the sand- 
 banks and islands in its course, literally teemed 
 with game : there were vast flocks of egrets, 
 pelicans, geese, and many other species. On one 
 occasion we counted 230 hippopotami in a line, 
 looking like a ridge of black rocks. The Kasai 
 natives seem to be dangerous. On several occasions 
 when we were passing close to the land, at points 
 where the scrub on the banks was sufficiently thick 
 to hide them, the natives fired into the steamer 
 with arrows and muskets, apparently from pure 
 love of mischief ; for, at the time of which I am 
 speaking, there had not been enough traffic on the 
 river for steamers to have given general cause of 
 quarrel. 
 
 After twenty -two days' steaming we arrived at 
 Benabendi — the Belgian Commercial Company's 
 
 19
 
 290 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 station, where the Sankuru joins the Kasai. Three 
 years ago this was the only station on the Kasai, 
 though at the present moment there are, I believe, 
 fourteen belonging to different companies. 
 
 We now turned from the racing Kasai to the 
 placid Sankuru, whose banks, in marked contrast 
 to those of the Kasai, are clothed with forest to the 
 water's edge. At this time the Sankuru was without 
 a single station ; there are now twelve stations 
 engaged in the collection of large quantities of 
 indiarubber. 
 
 Ten days more of steaming took us to Lusambo, 
 the capital of the Lualaba district, situated, accord- 
 ing to Lemarinel, in 23° east longitude, latitude 4° 
 south. The station is built on a sandy plain, on 
 the right bank of the Sankuru, opposite the mouth 
 of the Lubi, and was founded to check the Arab 
 advance from the east. It consisted of a garrison 
 of 13 white men and 400 black soldiers. There 
 having been little fighting, the whole station had 
 been occupied for two years in making large planta- 
 tions of cassava, maize, and rice, which were in 
 such splendid condition that the station was self- 
 supporting. 
 
 The Stanley had brought up orders for the 
 despatch of an exploring expedition to Katanga, 
 and I was at once directed by the Commandant to
 
 NOTES 291 
 
 join the caravan, which consisted of 7 officers (white 
 men), 300 soldiers, and 200 porters, besides camp 
 followers and women. The Commandant himself 
 took command. Each of the seven officers had 
 three trained bulls to ride, which eventually served 
 for food on the road. 
 
 We started on 17th July for Pania Mutumba's 
 village, three days' march from Lusambo. Crossing 
 the Sankuru, we marched up its left bank through 
 an extensive forest, in every part of which were 
 wild coffee, indiarubber, and elephants. In all 
 parts of the virgin Congo forest I have visited, 
 wild coflfee is so abundant, and so excellent, that 
 we left our tins of imported coffee unopened. For 
 five days south-eastwards to Mona Chellios we 
 found practically no food on the road — the vacancy 
 of this district, devoid alike of men and food, 
 having been created by slave-raiders in Tippu Tib's 
 employ. 
 
 Two or three hours beyond Mona Chellios, to the 
 eastward, we came on two villages in clearings, 
 freshly constructed, and inhabited by Baquas, or 
 pygmies, from the surrounding forest. 
 
 Immediately beyond the last dwarf village we 
 came to the Lubefu, an extremely rapid stream 200 
 yards wide, which took the caravan two days to 
 cross. The water was at this time red, a small
 
 292 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 tributary higher up, wliidi flows through red 
 clay, being in flood. At this point, ambassadors 
 came to us from Gongo Lutete with proposals 
 of peace, and requesting the white man to 
 visit him at his capital, N'Gandu. Commandant 
 Dhanis decided to do so, at the cost of a long 
 deviation north-north-east from the direct road to 
 Katanga. 
 
 Among the hills, about four hours' march from 
 Mulenda on the Ludi, we found a small circular 
 lake of about a mile in diameter. This lake is 
 supposed by the natives to be haunted. It is, they 
 say, dangerous to sleep near it, drink of it, or bathe 
 in it, and, thanks to this superstition, it is inhabited 
 by two of the largest bull - hippopotami I have 
 ever seen. The water of the lake is perfectly pure. 
 On a subsequent occasion many of our people 
 drank of it, and bathed in it for a couple of days, 
 without any ill eff'ects. 
 
 We halted for a month at N'Gandu, at the end 
 of which period, leaving a post with two ofiicers 
 behind us, we resumed our march towards Katanga, 
 following the ridge of the watershed between the 
 Lomami and the Lubefu. We passed the Two 
 Mountains, seen from a distance by Wissmann. 
 Seen from a point a mile away, it is almost impos- 
 sible to believe that one of them is not a castle
 
 NOTES 293 
 
 built by human hands, the vast square blocks of 
 grey rock having all the look of old masonry. 
 After six days' march we arrived at Kabinda, 
 Lupungu's capital, at which point Dhanis was 
 obliged to return to Lusambo. 
 
 Kabinda is in 6° south and 24° 35' east, and is 
 built on a hill. Its chief industry is the making of 
 native cloth out of palm fibre. Pieces of this cloth, 
 about eighteen inches square, called Madebas, serve 
 as money at Kasongo on the Lualaba, where there 
 are no palms. Iron is also a source of riches to 
 these people, and some of their work is very beauti- 
 ful, especially the axes and arrow - heads. We 
 hunted and shot in this neighbourhood, and found 
 that the Lukassi, a tributary of the Lomami, dis- 
 covered by Wissmann, rises in a lake about twelve 
 miles south of Kabinda. This lake, though only 
 about two miles square, is full of hippopotami. 
 
 For six weeks we encamped in the swamps 
 described by Cameron, on the left bank of the 
 Lualaba, opposite to Nyangwe. 
 
 On returning to Kasongo I received instructions 
 to try to discover a road from Kasongo, by water if 
 possible, to Lake Tanganyika, the caravan road 
 by Kabambari being one full of difficulties. The 
 United States commercial agent, Mr. Mohun, had 
 requested to accompany me, and I had orders to
 
 294 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 assist him in any way in my power, since he was 
 anxious to get through to Zanzibar. 
 
 We started on 16th March and struck the Lualaba 
 at a commanding bluff just below the first of the 
 Kasongo rapids. Here we managed to obtain 
 twelve canoes. We pulled up the rapids, and 
 stopped at Luntumba's, on the left bank, the 
 country we passed being low and rich, and culti- 
 vated by the Arabs. The river above the rapids 
 was very fine, running like the tail of a mill-race 
 for several miles. Twenty minutes' above Lun- 
 tumba's village we came to other rapids, through 
 which the natives dragged our canoes. This they 
 did by attaching creepers to the canoes, by which 
 means sixty or seventy men hauled them one by 
 one up the rapids. In one place I calculated 
 the fall to be about twenty feet. The rocks in this 
 second series of rapids are dark in tint, in places 
 nearly black, and streaked with deep red. They 
 are very rich in iron — so much so that all this 
 day our compasses were of no use. In going 
 twenty yards in a straight line, with no rock visible 
 above the water, the needle would turn halfway 
 round the box. 
 
 Immediately above the second rapids, the 
 Lualaba, here a mile wide, is joined on the right 
 bank by the Lulindi. In the upper angle formed
 
 NOTES 295 
 
 by the Lualaba and Lulindi are fine mountains, 
 covered with forest, and called the Mountains of 
 Bena Twiti. Some distance higher up, the Lualaba 
 is joined by another tributary from the east — the 
 Luama. Between the Luama and the Lulindi the 
 main river describes a right angle, flowing west- 
 ward to the village of Sekabudi, then northwards 
 to the confluence of the Lulindi. We camped on 
 the left bank of the Luama, this river at its con- 
 fluence with the Lualaba being about 250 yards 
 wide, with a very rapid current. On the right 
 bank of the Luama the Mountains of Bena Twiti 
 seem to be about ten miles distant. Passino; two 
 more small rivers on the right bank — the Kasima 
 and the Kalambija — we came to the rapids of 
 M'Toka. These rapids were formed by a whitish 
 rock, which broke up the river into small streams. 
 The main current was about 100 yards wide, 
 churned into froth, and apparently not very deep. 
 The difficulty of seeing the banks, and of following 
 the course of the river, made it impossible to say 
 what its exact width here was ; but I should think 
 that from the mainland on the one hand to the 
 mainland on the other must be about two miles, 
 though this would, to a great extent, depend on 
 the season. We saw large flocks of geese and 
 some hippopotami here. The mountains, com-
 
 296 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 mencing about a mile from the river bank on either 
 side, are, as far as the next falls, called Simbi ; 
 they are not very high, and are thickly wooded. 
 After having ascended these rapids we arrived at 
 Mutetele ; here the Lualaba narrows, and just above 
 the falls is not more than 100 yards across. From 
 this point we could see high blue mountains to the 
 south-west, apparently about twenty miles off. One 
 of these mountains, now called Mount President, 
 was of a curious shape — something like an elephant 
 with the head pointing eastwards. Enormous 
 quantities of geese and duck were shot, with which 
 the entire caravan was fed. Palm-trees were fairly 
 common, though the natives refused to give us 
 palm wine, alleging, as the excuse, that it was 
 habitually stolen by the elephants. 
 
 At the falls of Simbi the native chief Tamwe 
 had a couple of hundred men ready, when we 
 arrived, to haul us up. The natives at this place 
 were very kind — probably because they were 
 anxious to get rid of us. The Lualaba here 
 narrowed considerably ; the river banks were 
 thickly wooded, and there seemed to be large 
 numbers of buffalo on the plains. The hills were 
 only 200 to 300 feet high, and commenced about 
 a mile from the river side. The river itself varies 
 from 100 to 200 yards wide, is very rapid, and
 
 NOTES 297 
 
 has a rocky bottom. When the river is at its 
 fullest it is evidently at least 400 yards in width, 
 and deep enough to cover all the rocks. Palm- 
 trees abound, but natives are scarce, this country 
 having frequently been raided in days gone by. 
 
 At the top of the rapids we came to the village 
 of Fambusi, at which point there is a sort of pool ; 
 it is not a lake, but a mere broad in the river. The 
 mountains are wooded, and are covered with game, 
 and grassy plains run for about two or three miles 
 inland from the river banks. The natives here are 
 of a new race, the Waujabillio, and speak a dialect 
 of the Batetele language. Here, at Fambusi, we 
 saw the elephant-like Mount President, about twenty 
 miles off, to the westward. For the next three hours 
 the river was not difficult of navigation. We then 
 came to fresh rapids, where I saw, for the first 
 time, a quantity of grey plover, and also large 
 flocks of wild geese, which were very acceptable to 
 the caravan. We slept in the villages of the 
 Waujabillio. 
 
 The next rapids were those of Lukalonga, formed 
 of dark-coloured rocks. In the middle of the river 
 was a very large island, thickly populated by a 
 settlement of a vassal of Sefu's. There we arrived 
 on 23rd March, and were told that this was the 
 last point at which the Arabs had posts. We went
 
 298 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 on to Kinsali, and then to Kufi. The country 
 seemed very thickly populated in this district, 
 having apparently never been raided. Forests 
 came down to the river banks, in which enormous 
 troops of monkeys were to be seen. To the east, 
 apparently about ten miles ofif, were some very fine 
 mountains. This stretch of the river is about one 
 mile wide at high water, not improbably two miles 
 if the grass islands be included. The next reach 
 of the river came from the westward, with very 
 high mountains on the left bank, and was free 
 from rapids, very slow, and apparently very deep. 
 I found no bottom at thirty-five feet. 
 
 We passed the mouth of the Mukalli, an appar- 
 ently insignificant tributary, on the right bank. 
 In the angle between the left bank of the Mukalli 
 and the Lualaba there was a high range of hills, 
 and here the rapids again began. After working 
 up them for many hours we came to a specially 
 difficult one called Nyangi. The fall here cannot be 
 less than fifteen feet. A curious cone-shaped rock, 
 about forty feet high, apparently of white quartz, 
 juts out in the middle of the river, on both sides of 
 which are enormous blocks of quartz, while on the 
 left bank is a cliff" of quartz about ninety feet high. 
 We camped on an island, which seemed to be a 
 solid block of quartz, with only scrubby grass
 
 NOTES 299 
 
 growing on it. This island is called Kitenge, after 
 the chief who owns it, and is about three miles long, 
 and from half a mile to a mile wide. 
 
 We had great trouble with the natives here, and, 
 after working all day to make an advance of three- 
 quarters of a mile, Kitenge refused us food, and 
 was very ferocious. From our position on an island 
 we should have starved, but that my men were 
 fortunate enough to catch a cat-fish weighing 200 lb. 
 "We had further difficulties when we left, for the 
 chief would find us neither canoes nor men. 
 When at last w^e got started, w^e found the country 
 very thickly populated, the people turning out in 
 thousands to see us off". Kongolo, the great chief 
 in this region, had apparently given orders that we 
 were not to proceed. Our paddlers told us that it 
 was impossible to mount the rapids, but, despite 
 the impossibility, we succeeded in persuading them 
 to do so. Kongolo's village was situated at 
 the head of the rapids, where the river forms a 
 pool, and looks almost like a lake : here we were 
 told that there were no more rapids, and that we 
 could travel for three weeks or a month up the 
 Lualaba without finding any obstruction. I am 
 sorry I could not verify this ; but it is probably 
 not true. 
 
 We now paddled for a couple of days past islands.
 
 300 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 the stream running only about two knots an hour. 
 As far as we could see into the interior, village 
 followed village, the river banks being densely 
 covered with people, brought out by curiosity to 
 see the white man. They were a fine race called 
 Jambulus, fairly well clad in native cloth, the hair 
 of the men being arranged fantastically in various 
 forms. Two splendid ranges of hills rose, one on 
 each bank of the Lualaba ; those on the right bank 
 are called Muambo, and those on the left bank 
 Kaloni. As the people speak a bastard Batetele, 
 which we could not understand, it is possible that 
 these are not the names of the mountains at all, 
 but only those of the chiefs of the districts. 
 
 On the 31st we came to the mouths of the 
 Lukuga, which form a delta. The northern mouth 
 is about thirty yards wide, the southern about eighty 
 yards. The latter has a very rapid current. The 
 Lualaba, at the confluence with the Lukuga, is about 
 400 yards wide, and about half a mile higher must 
 be nearly a mile wide. It runs in the direction 
 north 20° west for several miles, and there is no 
 sign whatever of Lake Lanchi, which is marked on 
 so many maps. The Lualaba runs from the mouth 
 of the Lukuga southward, and is so straight that, 
 except for a few palm-tops, sky and water touch 
 at the horizon. As soon as we got into the
 
 NOTES 301 
 
 Lukuga, the natives told us this was Tanganyika 
 water. This is interesting, since I see Mr. H. H. 
 Johnston has said that he has never been able 
 to find any natives who call Tanganyika by its 
 name. 
 
 The Lukuga above the delta is about ten feet 
 deep, and was at this season perfectly clear, vary- 
 ing from one and a quarter to a mile wide, with the 
 same depth right across. A great part of it had 
 long grass growing in it. There was no sign of 
 swamp about its banks. Some miles up we were 
 blocked by grass, but were able to follow the 
 course of the river by going against the current, 
 though we could not see the banks. After three 
 or four miles through the grass we came to an open 
 stretch of water forty yards wide. The whole ex- 
 panse of water from bank to bank was about a 
 mile. We stopped at a village called Angoma. 
 The country is very densely populated, but the 
 people did not seem to know anything about the 
 Arabs. They speak a kind of patois of the Batetele 
 language, which a man from Lusuna, in the Malela, 
 whom we had with us, could understand. We 
 reached M'Bulli (passed by Delcommune a year and 
 a half previously) on the 5th, and here I was taken 
 ill. Opposite M'Bulli was a high range of hills, which 
 seemed to grow higher towards the east. M'Bulli
 
 302 THE FALL OF THE CONGO ARABS 
 
 told me that he sent his ivory to be sold at Tan- 
 ganyika, a journey of six days. 
 
 Mr. Mohun here took command of the expedi- 
 tion, and returned down the river to Kasongo. 
 
 S. L. H.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Anti-slavery Society, 246 
 
 Arab attacks upon the State 
 
 forces, 143, 144 
 Arab bomas, 100, 101, 102 
 Arab camp, explosion in, 241 
 Arab fortifications (see Bomas), 
 
 100, 101, 102 
 Arab habits, 201 
 Arab prisoners, 183 
 Arabs, 7, 13, 216 
 Arabs, appearance of, at N'Ganda, 
 
 111 
 Arabs at Stanley Falls, 215 
 Arabs at Zanzibar, 1, 2 
 Arabs, first encounter with, 113 
 Arabs, encounter with, at Ka- 
 
 songo Luakilla, 133, 134 
 Arabs, flight of, from Stanley 
 
 Falls, 216 
 Arab rising at Nyangwe, 173 
 Arab soldiers, 24 
 Arab trade-routes, 3, 7 
 Arab usurpation, 18 
 Augiistin, Lieutenant, 217, 287 
 
 B 
 
 Bagamoyo, 3 
 
 Bakuba, Sankuru water-people, 
 
 70 
 Baldwin, Lieutenant, 247 
 
 Baluba, people, 79, 80, 81, 94 
 Banana, town of, 28 
 Bangala, people, 51, 52, 53, 55 
 Basoko, camp at, 215 
 Basongo, people, 62, 63 
 Batetela, people, 89, 90 
 Bats, 56 
 
 Batwa, dwarf people, 82 
 Belgians, 1, 5, 6, 18 
 Belgians, King Leopold ii. of, 28 
 Belgians, erection of forts by, 18 
 Benaljendi, trading-station of, 
 
 289 
 Bena Musua, 232, 233, 235, 243 
 Bena Twiti, Mountains of, 295 
 Benga, Corporal, 112, 113, 116 
 Berlin Congress, 21 
 Boina Loisi, Arab chief, 215 
 Boma, town of, 29 
 Bomas, Arab, 100, 101, 102 
 Boy companies, 126, 127 
 Burton, Sir Richard, 4 
 Bwana, N'Zigi, 15, 16, 234, 238, 
 
 244, 245 
 
 C 
 
 Cameron, Commander, 4, 11, 65, 
 
 124, 293 
 Cannibalism, 65, 60, 67, 68, 69, 
 
 118, 119, 124, 131, 135, 175, 
 
 283, 284, 285
 
 304 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cannibals, Baluba, 79 
 Cannibals, Bangala, 52, 53, 54 
 Cannibals, Basongo, 62, 63, 64, 65 
 Cannibals, Batetela, 89, 90 
 Canoes, native, 70, 71, 252 
 Caravan, description of, 30, 31, 
 
 32, 33, 34, 35 
 Caravan road, 35, 36, 37 
 Cassar, Lieutenant, 140, 142, 143, 
 
 144 
 Cerkel, Sergeant, 95, 111, 142, 
 
 169, 181, 196 
 Chaltin, Commandant, 170, 215, 
 
 236, 240, 247 
 Chaudron Infernal, 30 
 Clothing, in tropics, 47 
 Cock, Captain, 279 
 Coffee, wild, in Congo Forest, 291 
 Collet, Sergeant, 218, 221, 287 
 Collignon, Captain, 232, 235, 
 
 239, 244, 287 
 Congo Free State, 1, 12, 21, 20 
 Congo River, 4, 12, 27, 29 
 
 D 
 
 Deane, the late Mr. Walter, 16, 234 
 Debruyne, Lieutenant, 96, 102, 
 
 103, 110 
 Debruyne, Lieutenant, murder 
 
 of, 129 
 Debruyne, Lieutenant, disinter- 
 ment of body at Kasongo, 185 
 Delcommune Expedition, 93, 128, 
 
 139, 271, 287, 288 
 Descamps, Captain, 61, 87, 246 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 abolition of chain punishment 
 
 by, 46 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 advance against Rumaliza by, 
 
 218 
 
 Dhanis Baron (Commandant), 
 
 at Kirundu, 277 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 attack on Nyangwe by, 1 70, 171 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 arrival at Lusuna, 123 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 campaign against Congo 
 
 Lutete by, 61 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 conditions made with his 
 
 officers by, 120 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 decision to attack Sefu's forces 
 
 of, 146 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 defeat of Congo Lutete by, 87 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 defeat of Rumaliza by, 225 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 division of forces by, 234 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 encampment opposite Nyang- 
 we of, 153 
 Dlianis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 escape during the taking of 
 
 Kasongo of, 183 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 interview with Sefu's envoy, 
 
 172 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 journey from Kasongo to 
 
 Nyangwe of, 206 
 Dlianis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 makes "medicine," 137 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 march against Mohara of 
 
 Nyangwe by, 132, 133, 134 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 new departure in caravan 
 
 travelling by, 31
 
 INDEX 
 
 305 
 
 Dlianis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 march on Kasongo hy, 180 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 organisation of boy companies 
 
 by, 127 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 position in attack on Ruma- 
 
 liza of, 236 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 return to Lusambo of, 94 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 attack on Arabs of Nyangwe 
 
 by, 161-168 
 Dhanis, Baron (Commandant), 
 
 system of boy servants adopted 
 
 by, 126 
 Doorme, Captain (Lieutenant), 
 
 181, 182, 196, 198, 218, 220, 
 
 221, 222, 225, 227, 231, 237, 
 
 245, 286 
 Drum-signalling, 59, 60 
 Dubois, Lieutenant, 234 
 Duchesne, Lieutenant, 107, 111, 
 
 114 
 
 E 
 Emin Pacha, 16, 22, 93, 186, 
 
 247, 277 
 
 F 
 Fambusi, 297 
 Falls, Stanley, 5, 14, 23, 27, 
 
 216 
 Falls Station, 5, 6, 14, 15, 16 
 Fetishes, 73, 74, 89, 137, 138 
 Fivd, Inspector, 169, 179, 215 
 Forests, tropical, 26 
 Franken, Lieutenant, 287 
 Frankie, 128 
 
 Free State, Congo, 1, 7, 14, 16 
 Free State, defences of, at Stan- 
 ley Falls, 17 
 20 
 
 Frees, Sergeant Albert, 112, 113, 
 114, 115, 116, 121, 171, 199, 
 226, 230 
 
 G 
 
 Gillian, Commandant, 170, 180, 
 181, 210, 217, 235, 237, 239, 
 244 
 
 Goio Kapopa, 137 
 
 Gongo Lutete, 18, 19, 61, 70, 72, 
 75, 81, 82, 86, 87, 88, 89, 97, 
 111, 114, 123, 124, 128, 132, 
 133, 141, 173, 175, 183, 207, 
 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 285, 
 286, 287, 292 
 
 Grant, Captain, 4 
 
 H 
 
 Hambursin, Lieutenant, 218, 
 
 221, 231, 238, 239, 241 
 Hanging, death by, 131 
 Hausas, 109, 133, 176, 192, 193, 
 
 210 
 Heusch, Lieutenant de, 60, 94, 
 
 103, 107, 108, 109, 110, 223, 
 
 224, 229, 231, 234 
 Hippopotamus hunting, 41, 42, 
 
 43, 44, 189, 190 
 Hippopotamus, Liberiau, 58 
 Hippopotamus, small unde- 
 
 scribed species, 58 
 Hodister Expedition, 22, 93 
 Hodister-Emin Expeditions, 97 
 Houses, native, 117 
 
 I 
 
 Imams, 2 
 
 Influenza epidemic, 176 
 
 Ivory, 3, 8, 4 
 
 J 
 Jambulas, race of, 300 
 Jasen, Captain, 279, 280
 
 3o6 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jolmston, Sir H. H., 301 
 Junker, Dr., 15 
 
 K 
 
 Kabambari, 234, 235, 238, 239, 
 
 248, 293 
 Kabinda, 93, 94, 293 
 Kalarabija Kiver, 295 
 Kasai natives, 289 
 Kasai River, 5, 7, 289, 290 
 Kasai River, stations on, 57 
 Kasima River, 295 
 Kasongo, 6, 7, 11, 21, 217, 218, 
 
 223, 227, 234, 236, 287, 293, 
 
 302 
 Kasongo, fall of, 182, 183 
 Kasongo, life of State forces at, 
 
 194-205 
 Kasongo, luxuries found in town, 
 
 184 
 Kasongo, march on, by State 
 
 forces, 180, 181 
 Kasongo, murder of Lippens and 
 
 Debruyne at, 129, 130 
 Kasongo, postponement of attack 
 
 on, by Commandant Dhanis, 
 
 178, 179 
 Kasongo, spoils found by State 
 
 forces in, 185, 186 
 Kasongo, surrounding districts 
 
 of, 187, 188, 189 
 Katanga, 5, 23, 62, 75, 290, 
 
 292 
 Kibungi, Chief, 247, 278, 279 
 Kitenge, Chief, 299 
 Kitenge, village of, 299 
 Kirundu, 277, 278, 279 
 Kolomoni, Chief, 96, 112 
 Kolomoni, village of, 94, 95 
 Kongolo, Chief, 299 
 Kongolo, village of, 299 
 
 Lanchi, Lake, 249, 268, 300 
 Lange, Lieutenant, 218, 220, 232, 
 
 246 
 Lemery, Lieutenant, 236, 275 
 Lenz, Dr., 15 
 Leopold II., Lake, 270 
 Leopoldville, 40, 48, 49, 53, 288 
 Liberian hippopotamus, 58 
 Lippens, Commandant, 96 
 Lippens, Commandant, murder 
 
 of, 129 
 Lippens, Commandant, disinter- 
 ment of body at Kasongo, 185 
 Livingstone, Dr., 4, 65, 282, 283 
 Locusts, flight of, 204, 205 
 Lomami River, 85, 90, 93, 97, 98, 
 112, 117, 129, 139, 140, 208, 
 210, 231 
 Lothaire, Commandant (Major), 
 216, 240, 241, 242, 243, 245, 
 246, 286 
 Lualaba River, 5, 6, 7, 11, 154, 155, 
 168, 171, 188, 213, 248, 268, 
 287, 294, 295, 296, 299, 300 
 Luama River, 295 
 Lubefu River, 5, 93, 291 
 Lufubu River, 168 
 Lukalonga, rapids of, 297 
 Lukassi River, 293 
 Lukuga River, 267, 268, 269,270, 
 
 287, 301 
 
 Lukuga River, mouth of, 300 
 Lukungu, 38 
 Lulindi River, 294, 295 
 Lupungu, Chief, 18, 75, 81, 82, 
 93, 94, 111, 112, 114, 124, 128 
 Lurimbi River, 97 
 Lusambo, 29, 38, 60, 72, 73, 75, 
 
 288, 290, 291 
 Lusuna, 123, 124, 128
 
 INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 M 
 Malela, 7, 86, 87 
 Manyanga carriers, 288 
 Manyema country, 4, 5, 7, 21 
 Manyema people, cannibalism 
 
 of, 182, 183 
 Manyema country, 282 
 Manyema porters, 288 
 Marriage amongst natives, 81 
 Matadi, 4, 29, 30, 288 
 M'Bulli or M'Burri, 271, 301 
 M'Bulli's village, 287 
 Micliaux, Captain, 111, 114, 123, 
 
 132, 133, 141, 142, 146, 147, 
 
 149, 164, 165 
 Middagh, Lieutenant, 236 
 Miserera, Arab chief, 168, 215, 
 
 247, 276, 277, 279 
 Mohammedan religion, in connec- 
 tion with cannibalism, 125 
 Mohara of Nyangwe, 130, 131, 
 
 142, 144, 146, 147, 149 
 Mohun, Mr., U.S. commercial 
 
 agent, 236, 239, 247, 250, 251, 
 
 256, 272, 288, 293, 302 
 Mono Kialo, 79, 81 
 M'Toka, rapids of, 295 
 Mukalli River, 298 
 Muscat, Arabs from, 2 
 Mwana Mkwanga, 227, 231, 232, 
 
 236, 238 
 
 N 
 N'Ganda, 85, 86, 87, 90, 91, 92, 
 
 207, 208, 216, 292 
 Nyangi, rapids of, 264, 298 
 Nyangwe, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 189, 
 
 190, 236 
 Nyangwe, arrival of State forces 
 
 at, 153, 154, 155, 156 
 Nyangwe, attack upon, by State 
 
 forces, 170, 171 
 
 Nyangwe, battle with Arabs in, 
 
 174 
 Nyangwe, meeting between 
 
 Stanley and Tippu Tib at, 12 
 Nyangwe, ruined condition of, 180 
 N'Zigi, Bwana, 15, 16, 234, 238, 
 
 244, 245 
 
 O 
 Oubangi River, 67 
 
 P 
 
 Pania Mutumba, Chief, 78 
 Pania Mutumba, village of, 71, 
 
 291 
 Park, Dr., 28 
 Peniba, island of, 2, 3 
 Ponthier, Commandant, 216, 218, 
 
 221, 222, 225, 235 
 Portuguese, 2 
 
 President, Mount, 296, 297 
 Prisons, 46 
 Pygmies, 82, 83, 84, 85 
 
 R 
 
 Raschid, Arab chief, 15, 21, 216, 
 
 234, 236, 247 
 Rats, 262 
 
 Riba Riba, 215, 236, 276 
 Rom, Captain, 232, 235, 244 
 Rue, Lieutenant, 276 
 Rumaliza, 214, 216, 218, 222, 
 
 223, 224, 225, 231, 234, 235, 
 
 238, 239, 246 
 
 S 
 Said-ben-a-Bedi, 181, 247, 279 
 Salt, deprivation of, 123 
 Salt district, 151 
 Sankuru River, 5, 29, 57, 58, 270 
 Scherlink, Lieutenant, 94, 95, 
 
 99, 107, 113, 117, 119, 134, 
 
 142, 169, 181, 186
 
 3o8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Sefu, 12, 19, 87, 96, 97, 99, 103, 
 
 107, 108, 110, 116, 117, 129, 
 
 130, 140, 147, 148, 149, 168, 
 
 172, 178, 214, 231 
 Simbi, Falls of, 296 
 Simbi Mountains, 296 
 Slaves, 8, 14 
 Slave-trade, 3 
 
 Smallpox epidemic, 176, 177 
 Speke, Captain, 4 
 Stairs Expedition, 93 
 Stanley, Mr. H. M., 4, 8, 12, 13, 
 
 14, 16, 65, 93, 116, 179, 234, 
 
 249, 287, 288 
 Stanley Falls, 5, 14, 23, 27 
 Stanley Falls, flight of Arabs 
 
 from, 216 
 Stanley Pool, 4, 7, 23, 27, 40 
 Superstitions, native, 198, 199, 
 
 200 
 Sultan of Zanzibar, 14 
 Swamps, 123, 124 
 
 Tabora, 4, 13 
 
 Tanganyika, Lake, 24, 26, 270, 
 
 293, 301, 302 
 Thomson, the late Mr. Joseph, 
 
 249, 271, 289 
 Tippu Tib, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 
 
 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 234 
 Tobback, Captain, 215 
 Trade routes, 3, 7, 15 
 Tropical forest, description of a, 
 
 75, 76, 77 
 Two Mountains, the, 292 
 
 U 
 Ujiji, 4, 7, 13, 21, 214, 226 
 Ulcers, caused through depriva- 
 tion of salt, 45 
 
 V 
 Vaccination, eftects of, amongst 
 
 natives, 176, 177 
 Van Lint, Lieutenant, 215 
 Van Rial, Sergeant, 218 
 
 W 
 Waginia, water-people, 157, 158, 
 
 159, 169, 171, 183, 252 
 Waujabillio, race, 259, 297 
 WaujabiUio, carving of, 260 
 Winton, Sir Francis de, 270 
 Wissmann, Dr., 13, 65, 122, 292, 
 
 293 
 Witch doctor, 108 
 "Wouters, Chevalier d' Oplinter 
 de, 60, 70, 72, 111, ,120, 
 134, 141, 142, 144, 163, 164, 
 165, 180, 189, 190, 191, 192, 
 193, 222, 223, 224, 227, 228, 
 230, 231, 235, 236, 237, 238, 
 240, 245, 246, 273, 274 
 
 Zanzibar, 2, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 
 
 21 93, 
 Zanzibar, Arabs from, 1, 2 
 Zanzibar, Arab centre at, 1, 2, 8 
 Zanzibar, British Consul at, 14 
 Zanzibar, Sultan of, 14 
 Zanzibar, Treaty of, 93, 117 
 
 PRINTED BY MORRISON AND C;IEB LIMITED, EDINBURGH.
 
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 A 2
 
 lo Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
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 Messrs. Methuen's List u 
 
 the adventures of hajji baba of ispahan. 
 
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 12 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 H. C. Beeching. A BOOK OF CHRISTMAS VERSE. Edited 
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 Messrs. Methuen's List 13 
 
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 14 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
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 Messrs. Methuen's List 15 
 
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 i6 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 S. Baring Gould. HISTORIC ODDITIES AND STRANGE 
 
 EVENTS. By S. Baring Gould. Third Edition. Crown^vo. 6s. 
 
 ' A collection of exciting and entertaining chapters. The whole volume is delightful 
 reading.' — Times. 
 
 S. Baring Gould. FREAKS OF FANATICISM. By S. Baring 
 
 Gould. Third Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 ' Mr. Baring Gould has a keen eye for colour and effect, and the subjects he has 
 chosen give ample scope to his descriptive and analytic faculties. A perfectly 
 fascinating book.' — Scottish Leader. 
 
 S. Baring Gould. A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG : 
 
 English Folk Songs with their Traditional Melodies. Collected and 
 arranged by S. BARING Gould and H. Fleetwood Sheppard. 
 Demy £,to. (ys. 
 
 S. Baring Gould. SONGS OF THE WEST: Traditional 
 Ballads and Songs of the West of England, with their Traditional 
 Melodies. Collected by S. Baring Gould, M.A., and H. Fleet- 
 wood Sheppard, M. A. Arranged for Voice and Piano. In 4 Parts 
 (containing 25 Songs each). Parts /., //., ///., 3^. each. Fart 
 IV,, 5^-. In one Vol., French morocco, l^s. 
 'A rich collection of humour, pathos, grace, and poetic fancy.' — Saturday Revieiu. 
 
 S. Baring Gould. YORKSHIRE ODDITIES AND STRANGE 
 EVENTS. Fourth Edition. Crowji 8vo. 6s. 
 
 S. Baring Gould. STRANGE SURVIVALS AND SUPER- 
 STITIONS. With Illustrations. By S. Baring Gould. Cro-cun 
 Szio. Secoiid Edition. 6s. 
 ' We haveread Mr. Baring Gould's book from beginning to end. It is full of quaint 
 and various information, and there is not a dull page in it.' — Notes and Queries. 
 
 S. Baring Gould. THE DESERTS OF SOUTHERN 
 FRANCE. By S. Baring. Gould. With numerous Illustrations 
 by F. D. Bedford, S. Hutton, etc. 2 vols. De/fiy %vo. 325. 
 
 This book is the first serious attempt to describe the great barren tableland that 
 extends to the south of Limousin in the Department of Aveyron, Lot, etc., a 
 country of dolomite cliffs, and canons, and subterranean rivers. The region is 
 full of prehistoric and historic interest, relics of cave-dwellers, of mediaeval 
 robbers, and of the English domination and the Hundred Years' War. 
 
 ' His two richly-jllustrated volumes are full of matter of interest to the geologist, 
 the archasologist, and the student of history and manners.' — Scotsman. 
 
 ' It deals with its subject in a manner which rarely fails to arrest attention.' — Times. 
 
 R. S. Baden-Powell. THE DOV^NFALL OF PREMPEH. A 
 
 Diary of Life with the Native Levy in Ashanti, 1895. By Lieut. -Col. 
 Baden-Powell. With 21 Illustrations, a Map, and a Special 
 Chapter on the Political and Commercial Position of Ashanti by Sir 
 George Baden-Powell, K.C.M.G., M.P. Demy Svo. los. 6d. 
 
 ' A compact, faithful, most readable record of the campaign.' — Daily News. 
 'A bluff and vigorous narrative.' — Glasgo%u Herald. 
 ' A really interesting \)QQ\i.' —Yorkshire Post.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List \y 
 
 W. E. Gladstone. THE SPEECHES AND PUBLIC AD- 
 DRESSES OF THE RT. HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P. 
 Edited by A. W. HuTTON, M.A., and H. J. Cohen, M.A. With 
 Portraits. 2>vo. Vols. IX. and X. \zs. 6d. each. 
 
 Henley and Whibley. A BOOK OF ENGLISH PROSE. 
 Collected by W. E. Henley and Charles Whibley. Cr. ^vo. 6s. 
 
 'A unique volume of extracts — an art gallery of early prose.' — Binningham Post. 
 
 ' An admirable companion to Mr. Henley's " Lyra Heroica." ' — Saturday Revie7v. 
 
 ' Quite delightful. The choice made has been excellent, and the volume has been 
 most admirably printed by Messrs. Constable. A greater treat for those not well 
 acquainted with pre-Restoration prose could not be imagined.' — Athcnauvt. 
 
 J. Wells. OXFORD AND OXFORD LIFE. By Members of 
 the University. Edited by J. Wells, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of 
 Wadham College. Ci-own %vo. 35. M. 
 This work contains an account of life at Oxford — intellectual, social, and religious — 
 a careful estimate of necessary expenses, a review of recent changes, a statement 
 of the present position of the University, and chapters on Women's Education, 
 aids to study, and University Extension. 
 ' We congratulate Mr. Wells on the production of a readable and intelligent account 
 of Oxford as it is at the present time, written by persons who are possessed of a 
 close acquaintance with the system and life of the University.' — AthetuEtnn. 
 
 W. M. Dixon. A PRIMER OF TENNYSON. By W. M. 
 
 Dixon, M.A., Professor of English Literature at Mason College. 
 Crown %vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 ' Much sound and well-expressed criticism and acute literary judgments. The biblio- 
 graphy is a boon.' — SJ>eaker. 
 
 ' No better estimate of the late Laureate's work has yet been published. His sketch 
 of Tennyson's life contains everything essential ; his bibliography is full and con- 
 cise ; his literary criticism is most interesting.' — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 W. A. Craigie. A PRIMER OF BURNS. By W. A. Craigie. 
 
 Crown Sfo. 2S. 6d. 
 Tills book is planned on a method similar to the ' Primer of Tennyson.' It has also 
 
 a glossary. 
 ' A valuable addition to the literature of the poet.' — Times. 
 ' An excellent short account. ' — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 'An admirable introduction.' — Glohc. 
 
 L. Whibley. GREEK OLIGARCHIES : THEIR ORGANISA- 
 TION AND CHARACTER. By L. Whibley, M.A., Fellow 
 of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Crown %vo. ds. 
 
 'An exceedingly useful handbook : a careful and well-arranged study of an obscure 
 subject. ' — Times. 
 
 ' Mr. Whibley is never tedious or pedantic.'— /"«// ^fall Gazette. 
 
 W. B. Worsfold. SOUTH AFRICA : Its History and its Future. 
 By W. Basil Worsfold, M.A. IVzl/i a Map. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 'An intensely interesting book.' — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 ' A monumental work compressed into a very moderate compass.' — World. 
 
 A 3
 
 1 8 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 C. H. Pearson. ESSAYS AND CRITICAL REVIEWS. By 
 C. H. Pearson, M.A., Author of 'National Life and Character.' 
 Edited, with a Biographical Sketch, by H. A. Strong, M.A., 
 LL.D. With a Portrait. De7ny %vo. los. 6d. 
 
 'These fine essays illustrate the great breadth of his historical and literary sym- 
 pathies and the remarkable variety of his intellectual interests.' — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 ' Remarkable for careful handling, breadth of view, and thorough knowledge.' — Scots- 
 man. 
 
 'Charming essays.' — Spectator. 
 
 Ouida. VIEWS AND OPINIONS. By Ouida. Crown %vo. 
 Second Edition, ds. 
 ' Ouida is outspoken, and the reader of this book will not have a dull moment. The 
 book is full of variety, and sparkles with entertaining matter.' — Speaker. 
 
 J. S. Shedlock. THE PIANOFORTE SONATA: Its Origin 
 and Development. By J. S. Shedlock. Crozvtt 8vo. 55. 
 
 ' This work should be in the possession of every musician and amateur, for it not 
 only embodies a concise and lucid history ot the origin of one of the most im- 
 portant forms of musical composition, but, by reason of the painstaking research 
 and accuracy of the author's statements, it is a verj' valuable work for reference.' 
 — A thencEum. 
 
 E. M. Bowden. THE EXAMPLE OF BUDDHA : Being Quota- 
 tions from Buddhist Literature for each Day in the Year. Compiled 
 by E. M. Bowden. With Preface by Sir Edwin Arnold. Third 
 Edition. i6mo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 J. Beever. PRACTICAL FLY-FISHING, Founded on 
 
 Nature, by John Beever, late of the Thwaite House, Coniston. A 
 New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by W. G. CoLLiNGWOOD, 
 M.A. Crown %vo. -^s. 6d. 
 A little book on Fly-Fishing by an old friend of Mr. Ruskin. 
 
 Science 
 
 Freudenreich. DAIRY BACTERIOLOGY, A Short Manual 
 for the Use of Students. By Dr. Ed. von Freudenreich. 
 Translated from the German by J. R. AiNSWORTH Davis, B.A., 
 F.C.P. Crown 8vo. 2s. dd. 
 
 Chalmers MitclieU. OUTLINES OF BIOLOGY. By P. 
 
 Chalmers Mitchell, M.A., F.Z.S. Fully Illustrated. Crown 
 Szio. 6s. 
 A text-book designed to cover the new Schedule issued by the Royal College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons. 
 
 G.Massee. A MONOGRAPH OF THE MYXOGASTRES. By 
 
 George Massee. With 12 Coloured Plates. Royal %vo. i8s.net. 
 
 ' A work much in advance of any book in the language treating of this group of 
 organisms. It is indispensable to every student of the Myxogastres. The 
 coloured plates deserve high praise for their accuracy and execution.' — Nature.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 19 
 
 Philosophy 
 
 L. T. Hobhouse. THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE. By 
 
 L. T. Hobhouse, Fellow and Tutor of Corpus College, Oxford. 
 
 Demy 8vo. 2is, 
 ' The most important contribution to English philosophy since the publication of Mr. 
 
 Bradley's " Appearance and Reality." Full of brilliant criticism and of positive 
 
 theories which are models of lucid statement.' — Glasgow Herald. 
 ' An elaborate and often brilliantly written volume. The treatment is one of great 
 
 freshness, and the illustrations are particularly numerous and apt.' — Times. 
 
 W. H. Fairbrother. THE PHILOSOPHY OF T. H. GREEN. 
 By W. H. Fairbrother, M.A., Lecturer at Lincoln CoUet^e, 
 Oxford. Crown 8vo. ^s. 6d. 
 
 This volume is expository, not critical, and is intended for senior students at the 
 Universities and others, as a statement of Green's teaching, and an introduction to 
 the study of Idealist Philosophy. 
 
 ' In every way an admirable book. As an introduction to the writings of perhaps the 
 most remarkable speculative thinker whom England has produced in the present 
 century, nothing could be better than Mr. Fairbrother's exposition and criticism. ' — 
 Glasgoiu Herald. 
 
 F. W. BusseU. THE SCHOOL OF PLATO : its Origin and 
 
 its Revival under the Roman Empire. By F. W. BussELL, M. A., 
 
 Fellow and Tutor of Brasenose College, Oxford. Demy Zvo. Two 
 
 volumes, los. 6d. each. Vol. I. 
 ' A highly valuable contribution to the history of ancient thought.'— Glasgow Herald. 
 ' A clever and stimulating book, provocative of thought and deserving careful reading.' 
 
 — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 F. S. Granger. THE WORSHIP OF THE ROMANS. By 
 
 F. S. Granger, M.A., Liit.D., Professor of Philosophy at Univer- 
 sity College, Nottingham. Crown 8vo. 6.f. 
 The author delineates that group of beliefs which stood in close connection with the 
 Roman religion, and among the subjects treated are Dreams, Nature Worship, 
 Roman Magic, Divination, Holy Places, Victims, etc. Thus the book is also 
 a contribution to folk-lore and comparative psychology. 
 ' A scholarly analysis of the religious ceremonies, beliefs, and superstitions of ancient 
 Rome, conducted in the new instructive light of comparative anthropology.'— 
 Times.
 
 20 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 Theology 
 
 E. C. S. Gibson. THE XXXIX. ARTICLES OF THE 
 CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Edited with an Introduction by E. 
 C. S. Gibson, D.D., Vicar of Leeds, late Principal of Wells 
 Theological College. In Two Vohinies. Deviy ?>vo. ys. 6d. each. 
 Vol. I. Articles I.- VIII. 
 
 ' The tone maintained throughout is not that of the partial advocate, but the faithful 
 exponent. ' — Scotsman. 
 
 'There are ample proofs of clearness of expression, sobriety of judgment, and breadth 
 of view. . . . The book will be welcome to all students of the subject, and its sound, 
 definite, and loyal theology ought to be of great service.' — National Observer. 
 
 ' So far from repelling the general reader, its orderly arrangement, lucid treatment, 
 and felicity of diction invite and encourage his attention.' — Yorkshire Post. 
 
 R. L. Ottley. THE DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION. 
 
 By R. L. Ottley, M.A., late fellow of Magdalen College, Oxon., 
 
 Principal of Pusey House. In Two Volumes. DeniyZvo. 155. 
 ' Learned and reverent : lucid and well arranged.' — Record. 
 ' Accurate, well ordered, and judicious.' — National Observer. 
 ' A clear and remarkably full account of the main currents of speculation. Scholarly 
 
 precision . . . genuine tolerance . . . intense interest in his subject — are Mr. 
 
 Ottley's merits.' — Guardian. 
 
 S. R. Driver. SERMONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED 
 WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT. By S. R. Driver, D.D., 
 Canon of Christ Church, Regius Professor of Hebrew in the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 ' A welcome companion to the author's famous ' Introduction.' No man can read these 
 discourses without feeling that Dr. Driver is fully alive to the deeper teaching of 
 the Old Testament.' — Guardian. 
 
 T. K. Cheyne. FOUNDERS OF OLD TESTAMENT CRITI- 
 CISM : Biographical, Descriptive, and Critical Studies. By T. K. 
 Cheyne, D.D., Oriel Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scrip- 
 ture at Oxford. Large crown Svo. Js. 6d. 
 This important book is a historical sketch of O. T. Criticism in the form of biographi- 
 cal studies from the days of Eichhorn to those of Driver and Robertson Smith. 
 It is the only book of its kind in English. 
 'Avery learned and instructive woTk.'— Times. 
 
 C.H.Prior. CAMBRIDGE SERMONS. Edited by C.H. Prior, 
 M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Pembroke College. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 A volume of sermons preached before the University of Cambridge by various 
 
 preachers, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop Westcott. 
 'A representative collection. Bishop Westcott's is a noble sermon.' — Guardian. 
 
 H. C. Beeching. SERMONS TO SCHOOLBOYS. By H. C. 
 Beeching, M.A., Rector of Yattendon, Berks. With a Preface by 
 Canon ScOTT Holland. Crown %vo. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Seven sermons preached before the boys of Bradfield College.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 21 
 
 E. B. Layard. RELIGION IN BOYHOOD. Notes on the 
 Religious Training of Boys. With a Preface by J. R. Ii.i.ing- 
 WORTH. By E. B. Layard, M. A. iSmo. is. 
 
 2Detjotional BooU^. 
 
 IVzi/i Full-page Illustrations. Fcap. ?>vo. Buckram. 35. 6d. 
 
 Padded morocco, K^s. 
 
 THE IMITATION OF CHRIST. By Thomas a Kempis. 
 With an Introduction by Dean Farrar. Illustrated by C. M. 
 Gere, and printed in black and red. Second Edition. 
 'Amongst all the innumerable English editions of the " Imitation," there can have 
 been few which were prettier than this one, printed in strong and handsome type 
 by Messrs. Constable, with all the glory of red initials, and the comfort of buckram 
 binding.' — Glasgozu Herald. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. By John Keble. With an Intro- 
 duction and Notes by W. Lock, M. A., Sub- Warden of Keble College, 
 Ireland Professor at Oxford, Author of the ' Life of John Keble.' 
 Illustrated by R. Anning Bell. 
 
 ' The present edition is annotated with all the care and insight to be expected from 
 Mr. Lock. The progress and circumstances of its composition are detailed in the 
 Introduction. There is an interesting Appendix on the Mss. of the "Christian 
 Year," and another giving the order in which the poems were written. A " Short 
 Analysis of the Thought" is prefixed to each, and any difficulty in the text Is ex- 
 plained in a note. — Guardian. 
 
 ' The most acceptable edition of this ever-popular v/ovk.'— Globe. 
 
 Leaders of Religion 
 
 crown i 
 
 3/6 
 
 Edited by H. C. BEECHING, M.A. With Portraits, crown 8vo 
 A series of short biographies of the most prominent leaders 
 
 of religious life and thought of all ages and countries. 
 The following are ready — 
 
 CARDINAL NEWMAN. By R. H. Hutton. 
 
 JOHN WESLEY. By J. H. OvERTON, M.A. 
 
 BISHOP WILBERFORCE. By G. W. Daniel, M.A. 
 
 CARDINAL MANNING. By A. W. Hutton, M.A. 
 
 CHARLES SIMEON. By H. C. G. MOULE, M.A. 
 
 JOHN KEBLE. By Walter Lock, M.A. 
 
 THOMAS CHALMERS. By Mrs. Oliphant. 
 
 LANCELOT ANDREWES. By R. L. Ottley, M.A.
 
 22 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY. By E. L. Cutts, D.D. 
 WILLIAM LAUD. By W. H. Hutton, M.A. 
 JOHN KNOX. By F. M'CUNN. 
 JOHN HOWE. By R. F. HORTON, D.D. 
 BISHOP KEN. By F. A. CLARKE, M.A. 
 GEORGE FOX, THE QUAKER. By T. Hodgkin, D.C.L. 
 Other volumes will be announced in due course. 
 
 Fiction 
 
 SIX SHILLING NOVELS 
 
 Marie Corelli's Novels 
 
 Crown Svo. 6s. each. 
 A ROMANCE OF TWO WORLDS. Fourteenth Edition. 
 VENDETTA. Eleventh Edition. 
 THELMA. Fourteenth Edition. 
 ARDATH. Tenth Edition. 
 THE SOUL OF LILITH. Ninth Edition. 
 WORMWOOD. Eighth Edition. 
 
 BARABBAS : A DREAM OF THE WORLD'S TRAGEDY. 
 
 Twenty-fiph Edition. 
 
 ' The tender reverence of the treatment and the imaginative beauty of the writing 
 have reconciled us to the daring of the conception, and the conviction is forced on 
 us that even so exalted a subject cannot be made too familiar to us, provided it be 
 presented in the true spirit of Christian faith. The amplifications of the Scripture 
 narrative are often conceived with high poetic insight, and this "Dream of the 
 World's Tragedy " is, despite some trifling incongruities, a lofty and not inade- 
 quate paraphrase of the supreme climax of the inspired narrative.' — Dublin 
 Review. 
 
 THE SORROWS OF SATAN. T-wenty-ninth Edition. 
 
 ' A very powerful piece of work. . . . The conception is magnificent, and is likely 
 to win an abiding place within the memory of man. . . . The author has immense 
 command of language, and a limitless audacity. . . . This interesting and re- 
 markable romance will live long after much of the ephemeral literature of the day 
 is forgotten. ... A literary phenomenon . . . novel, and even sublime.' — W. T. 
 Stead in the Review of Revieius.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 23 
 
 Anthony Hope's Novels 
 
 Crown Zvo. 6s. each. 
 THE GOD IN THE CAR. Seve?tth Edition. 
 
 ' A very remarkable book, deserving of critical analysis impossible within our limit ; 
 brilliant, but not superficial ; well considered, but not elaliorated ; constructed' 
 with the proverbial art that conceals, but yet allows itself to be enjoyed by readers 
 to_ whom fine literary method is a keen pleasure ; true without cynicism, subtle 
 without affectation, humorous without strain, witty without ofience, inevitably 
 sad, with an unmorose simplicity.'— The World. 
 
 A CHANGE OF AIR. Fourth Edition. 
 
 'A graceful, vivacious comedy, true to human nature. The characters are traced 
 with a masterly hand.' — Times. 
 
 A MAN OF MARK. Third Editio7i. 
 
 ' Of all Mr. Hope's books, " A Man of Mark " is the one which best compares with 
 "The Prisoner of Zenda." The two romances are unmistakably the work of the 
 same writer, and he possesses a style of narrative peculiarly seductive, piquant, 
 comprehensive, and — his own.' — National Observer. 
 
 THE CHRONICLES OF COUNT ANTONIO. Third 
 
 Edition. 
 'It is a perfectly enchanting story of love and chivalry, and pure romance. The 
 outlawed Count is the most constant, desperate, and withal modest and tender of 
 lovers, a peerless gentleman, an intrepid fighter, a very faithful friend, and a most 
 magnanimous foe. In short, he is an altogether admirable, lovable, and delight- 
 ful hero. There is not a word in the volume that can give offence to the most 
 fastidious taste of man or woman, and there is not, either, a dull paragraph in it. 
 The book is everywhere instinct with the most exhilarating spirit of adventure, 
 and delicately perfumed with the sentiment of all heroic and honourable deed.s of 
 history and romance.' — Guardian. 
 
 S. Baring Gould's Novels 
 
 Crown Sifo. 6s. each. 
 
 ' To say that a book is by the author of " Mehalah " is to imply that it contains a 
 story cast on strong lines, containing dramatic possibilities, vivid and sympathetic 
 descriptions of Nature, and a wealth of ingenious imagery.' — Speaker. 
 ' That whatever Mr. Baring Gould writes is well worth reading, is a conclusion that 
 may be very generally accepted. His views of life are fresh and vigorous, his 
 language pointed and characteristic, the incidents of which he makes u.se are 
 striking and original, his characters are life-like, and though somewhat excep- 
 tional people, are drawn and coloured with artistic force. Add to this that his 
 descriptions of scenes and scenery are painted with the loving eyes and skilled 
 hands of a master of his art, that he is always fresh and never dull, and under 
 such conditions it is no wonder that readers have gained confidence both in his 
 power of amusing and satisfying them, and that year by year his popularity 
 widens. ' — Court Circular. 
 
 ARM I NELL : A Social Romance. Fourth Editio7i. 
 URITH : A Story of Dartmoor. Fourth Edition. 
 
 ' The author is at his best.' — Times. 
 
 ' He has nearly reached the high water-mark of " Mehalah." ' — National Observer.
 
 24 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 IN THE ROAR OF THE SEA. Fifth Edition. 
 
 'One of the best imagined and most enthralling stories the author has produced.' 
 — Saturday Review. 
 
 MRS. CURGENVEN OF CURGENVEN. Fourth Edition. 
 
 ' A novel of vigorous humour and sustained power.' — Graphic. 
 ' The swing ofthe narrative is splendid.' — Sussex Daily News. 
 
 CHEAP JACK ZITA. Third Edition. 
 
 ' A powerful drama of human -pViSiXon.' ^Westntinster Gazette. 
 ' A story worthy the author.' — National Observer. 
 
 THE QUEEN OF LOVE. Fourth Edition. 
 
 ' The scenery is admirable, and the dramatic incidents are most striking.' — Glasgmv 
 
 Herald. 
 ' Strong, interesting, and clever.' — Westminister Gazette. 
 ' You cannot put it down until you have finished it.' — Punch. 
 ' Can be heartily recommended to all who care for cleanly, energetic, and interesting 
 
 fiction.' — Sussex Daily News. 
 
 KITTY ALONE. Fourth Edition. 
 
 ' A strong and original story, teeming «'ith graphic description, stirring incident, 
 
 and, above all, with vivid and enthralling human interest.' — Daily Telegraph. 
 ' Brisk, clever, keen, healthy, humorous, and interesting.' — National Observer. 
 ' Full of quaint and delightful studies of character.' — Bristol Mc7-ciiry. 
 
 NOEMI : A Romance of the Cave-Dwellers. Illustrated by 
 R. Caton Woodville. Third Edition. 
 
 ' " No^mi " is as excellent a tale of fighting and adventure as one may wish to meet. 
 
 All the characters that interfere in this exciting tale are marked with properties 
 
 of their own. The narrative also runs clear and sharp as the Loire itself.' — 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. 
 ' Mr. Baring Gould's powerful story is full of the strong lights and shadows and 
 
 vivid colouring to which he has accustomed us.' — Standard. 
 
 THE BROOM -SQUIRE. Illustrated by Frank Dadd. 
 
 T/m-d Edition. 
 
 ' A strani of tenderness is woven through the web of his tragic tale, and its atmosphere 
 is sweetened by the nobility and sweetness of the heroine's character.' — Daily News. 
 
 ' A story of exceptional interest that seems to us to be better than anything he has 
 written of late.' — Speaker. 'A powerful and striking story.' — Guardian. 
 
 ' A powerful piece of work.' — Black and White. 
 
 pilbert Parker's Novels 
 
 Croiun 8vo. 6s. each. 
 PIERRE AND HIS PEOPLE. Third Editio7i. 
 
 ' Stories happily conceived and finely executed. There is strength and genius in Mr. 
 Parker's style.' — Daily Telegraph.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 25 
 
 MRS. FALCHION. Third Edition. 
 
 ' A splendid study of character.' — Athetiaum. 
 
 ' But little behind anything that has been done by any writer of our time. ' — Pall 
 
 Mall Gazette. 
 ' A very striking and admirable novel.' — St. Javicss Gazette. 
 
 THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE. 
 
 ' The plot is original and one difficult to work out ; but Mr. Parker has done it with 
 great skill and delicacy. The reader who is not interested in this original, fresh, 
 and well-told tale must be a dull person indeed.' — Daily Ckrcniclc. 
 
 ' A strong and successful piece of workmanship. The portrait of Lali, strong, 
 dignified, and pure, is exceptionally well drawn.' — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 THE TRAIL OF THE SWORD. Fourth Edition. 
 
 'Everybody with a soul for romance will thoroughly enjoy "The Trail of the 
 Sword." ' — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 ' A rousing and dramatic tale. A book like this, in which swords flash, great sur- 
 prises are undertaken, and daring deeds done, in which men and women live and 
 love in the old straightforward passionate way, is a joy ine.xpressible to the re- 
 viewer, brain-weary of the domestic tragedies and psychological puzzles of every- 
 day fiction ; and we cannot but believe that to the reader it will bring refreshment 
 as welcome and as keen.' — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 WHEN VALMOND CAME TO PONTIAC : The Story of 
 a Lost Napoleon. Third Edition. 
 ' Here we find romance — real, breathing, living romance, but it runs flush with our 
 own times, level with our own feelings. Not here can we complain of lack of 
 inevitableness or homogeneity. The character of Valmond is drawn unerringly ; 
 his career, brief as it is, is placed before us as convincingly as history itself. The 
 book must be read, we may say re-read, for any one thoroughly to appreciate 
 Mr. Parker's delicate touch and innate sympathy with humanity.' — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 ' The one work of genius which 1895 has as yet produced.' — New Age. 
 
 AN ADVENTURER OF THE NORTH: The Last Adven- 
 tures of ' Pretty Pierre.' 
 
 'The present book is full of fine and moving stories of the great North, and it will 
 add to Mr. Parker's already high reputation.' — Glas^07u Herald. 
 
 ' The new book is very romantic and very entertaining — full of that peculiarly 
 elegant spirit of adventure which is so characteristic of Mr. Parker, and of that 
 poetic thrill which has given him warmer, if less numerous, admirers than even 
 his romantic story-telling gift has done.' — Sketch. 
 
 THE SEATS OF THE MIGHTY. Illustrated. Fourth 
 Edition. 
 
 ' The best thing he has done ; one of the best things that any one has done lately.'— 
 St. James's Gazette. 
 
 ' Mr. Parker seems to become stronger and easier with every serious novel that he 
 attempts. . . . In " The Seats of the Mighty " he shows the matured power which 
 his former novels have led us to expect, and has produced a really fine historical 
 novel. . . . The great creation of the book is Doltaire. . . . His character is 
 drawn with quite masterly strokes, for he is a villain who is not altogether a villain, 
 and who attracts the reader, as he did the other characters, by the extraordinary 
 brilliance of his gifts, and by the almost unconscious acts of nobility which he 
 performs. . . . Most sincerely is Mr. Parker to be congratulated on the finest 
 novel he has yet written.' — Athenxum.
 
 26 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 'Mr. Parker's latest book places him in the front rank of living novelists. "The 
 Seats of the Mighty" is a great book.' — Black and White. 
 
 ' One of the strongest stories of historical interest and adventure that we have read 
 for many a day. . . . Through all Mr. Parker moves with an assured step, whilst 
 in his treatment of his subject there is that happy blending of the poetical with the 
 prosaic which has characterised all his writings. A notable and successful book.' 
 — Speaker. 
 
 ' The story is very finely and dramatically told. ... In none of his books has his 
 imaginative faculty appeared to such splendid purpose as here. Captain Moray, 
 Ali.xe, Gabord, Vauban— above all, Doltaire — and, indeed, every person who takes 
 part in the action of the story are clearly conceived and finely drawn and indivi- 
 dualised. — Scotsman. 
 
 ' An admirable romance. The glory of a romance is its plot, and this plot is crowded 
 with fine sensations, which have no rest until the fall of the famous old city and 
 the final restitution of love.' — Paii Mall Gazette. 
 
 Conan Doyle. ROUND THE RED LAMP. By A. Conan 
 Doyle, Author of 'The White Company,' 'The Adventures of 
 Sherlock Holmes,' etc. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 ' The book is, indeed, composed of leaves from life, and is far and away the best view 
 that has been vouchsafed us behind the scenes of the consulting-room. It is very 
 superior to " The Diary of a late Physician.'" — I Ihistrated London News. 
 
 Stanley Weyman. UNDER THE RED ROBE. By Stanley 
 Weyman, Author of ' A Gentleman of France.' With Twelve Illus- 
 trations by R. Caton Woodville. Eighth Edition. Crown %vo. bs. 
 
 'A book of which we have read every word for the sheer pleasure of reading, and 
 which we put down with a pang that we cannot forget it all and start again.' — 
 Westminster Gazette. 
 
 ' Every one who reads books at all must read this thrilling romance, from the first 
 page of which to the last the breathless reader is haled along. An inspiration of 
 "manliness and courage." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 ' A delightful tale of chivalry and adventure, vivid and dramatic, with a wholesome 
 modesty and reverence for the highest.' — Globe. 
 
 Mrs. Clifford. A FLASH OF SUMMER. By Mrs. W. K. 
 Clifford, Author of ' Aunt Anne,' etc. Second Editiott. Crown 
 Svo. 6s. 
 
 ' The story is a very sad and a very beautiful one, exquisitely told, and enriched with 
 many subtle touches of wise and tender insight. It will, undoubtedly, add to its 
 author's reputation — already high — in the ranks of novelists.' — Speaker. 
 
 ' We must congratulate Mrs. Clifford upon a very successful and interesting story, 
 told throughout with finish and a delicate sense of proportion, qualities which, 
 indeed, have always distinguished the best work of this very able writer.' — 
 ATanckester Guardian. 
 
 Emily Lawless. HURRISH. By the Honble. Emily Law- 
 less, Author of ' Maelcho,' etc. Fifth Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 A reissue of Miss Lawless' most popular novel, uniform with ' Maelcho.' 
 
 Emily Lawless. MAELCHO : a Sixteenth Century Romance. 
 
 By the Honble. Emily Lawless, Author of ' Grania,' etc. Second 
 Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 ' A really great book.' — Spectator. 
 
 ' There is no keener pleasure in life than the recognition of genius. Good work is 
 commoner than it used to be, but the best is as rare as ever. All the more 
 gladly, therefore, do we welcome in " Maelcho " a piece of work of the first order, 
 which we do not hesitate to describe as one of the most remarkable literary 
 achievements of this generation. Miss Lawless is possessed of the very essence 
 of historical genius.' — Manchester Guardian.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 27 
 
 J. H. Findlater. THE GREEN GRAVES OF BALGOWRIE. 
 
 By Jane H. FiNDLATER. Third Edition. Cro7vn 8vo. 6s. 
 'A powerful and vivid story." — Standard. 
 
 ' A beautiful story, sad and strange as truth itseW—Faniiy Fair. 
 ' A work of remarkable interest and originality.' — National Observer. 
 ' A really original nov^V— Journal oj Education. 
 'A very charming and pathetic tale.' — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 ' A singularly original, clever, and beautiful story." — Guardian. 
 ' " The Green Graves of Balgowrie " reveals to us a new Scotch writer of undoubted 
 
 faculty and reserve force.' — Spectator. 
 ' An exquisite idyll, delicate, affecting, and beautiful.'— 5/n!c/t- and White. 
 ' Permeated with high and noble purpose. It is one of the most wholesome stories 
 
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 Ne-Msagcnt. 
 
 E. F. Benson. DODO : A DETAIL OF THE DAY. By E. F. 
 
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 ' A delightfully witty sketch of society." — Spectator. 
 ' A perpetual feast of epigram and paradox.' — Speaker. 
 ' By a writer of quite exceptional ability.' — A t/tenaum. 
 ■ Brilliantly written.' — ll^'orld. 
 
 E. F. Benson. THE RUBICON. By E. F. Benson, Author of 
 
 'Dodo.' Fifth Edition. Crown %vo. 6s. 
 ' Well written, stimulating, unconventional, and, in a word, characteristic' — 
 
 Birjuingliam Post. 
 ' An exceptional achievement ; a notable advance on his previous ■work.'— National 
 
 Observer. 
 
 M. M. Dowie. GALLIA. By M^nie Muriel Dowie, Author 
 of 'A Girl in the Carpathians.' Thij-d Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 ' The style is generally admirable, the dialogue not seldom brilliant, the situations 
 surprising in their freshness and originality, while the subsidiary as well as the 
 principal characters live and move, and the story itself is readable from title-page 
 to colophon." — Saturday Review. 
 ' A very notable book ; a very sympathetically, at times delightfully written book. 
 — Daily Graphic. 
 
 Mrs. Oliphant. SIR ROBERT'S FORTUNE. By Mrs. 
 Oliphant. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 ' Full of her own peculiar charm of style and simple, subtle character-painting come 
 her new gift, the delightful story before us. The scene mostly lies in the moors, 
 and at the touch of the authoress a Scotch moor becomes a living thing, strong 
 tender, beautiful, and changeful." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 Mrs. Oliphant. THE TWO MARYS. By Mrs. Oliphant. 
 Second Edition. Crown ?>z'o. 6s. 
 
 W.E.Norris. MATTHEW AUSTIN. By W. E. Norris, Author 
 of ' Mademoiselle de Mersac,' etc. Fourth Edition. Crown Sz'O. 6s. 
 ' "Matthew Austin " may safely be pronounced one of the most intellectually satis- 
 factory and morally bracing novels of the current year.' — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 W. E. Norris. HIS GRACE. By W. E. Norris. Third 
 Editiott. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 ' Mr. Norris has drawn a really fine character in the Duke of Hurstbourne, at once 
 unconventional and very true to the conventionalities of life, weak and .strong ui 
 a breath, capable of inane follies and heroic decisions, yet not so definitely por- 
 trayed as to relieve a reader of the necessity of study.'— A ihenaum.
 
 28 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 W. E. Norris. THE DESPOTIC LADY AND OTHERS. 
 
 By W. E. Norris. Crow7t ?)Vo. 6s. 
 
 ' A budget of good fiction of which no one will tire.' — Scotsman. 
 'An extremely entertaining volume — the sprightliest of holiday companions.' — 
 Daily Telegraph 
 
 H. G. Wells. THE STOLEN BACILLUS, and other Stories. 
 By II. G. Wells, Author of 'The Time Machine.' Crown 
 %vo. 6s. 
 ' The ordinary reader of fiction may be glad to know that these stories are eminently 
 readable from one cover to the other, but they are more than that ; they are the 
 impressions of a very striking imagination, which, it would seem, has a great deal 
 within its reach.' — Saturday Revleiu. 
 
 Arthur Morrison. TALES OF MEAN STREETS. By Arthur 
 Morrison. Fozirth Edition. Crown 8vo, 6s. 
 
 ' Told with consummate art and extraordinary detail. He tells a plain, unvarnished 
 tale, and the very truth of it makes for beauty. In the true humanity of the book 
 lies its justification, the permanence of its interest, and its indubitable triumph.' — 
 A tliefiiPum. 
 
 ' A great book. The author's method is amazingly effective, and produces a thrilling 
 sense of reality. The writer lays upon us a master hand. The book is simply 
 appalling and irresistible in its interest. It is humorous also ; without humour 
 it would not make the mark it is certain to make.' — World. 
 
 J. Maclaren Cobban. THE KING OF ANDAMAN : A 
 Saviour of Society. By J. Maclaren Cobban. Croivti Svo. 6s • 
 
 ' An unquestionably interesting book. It would not surprise us if it turns out to be 
 the most interesting novel of the season, for it contains one character, at least, 
 who has in him the root of immortality, and the book itself is ever exhaling the 
 sweet savour of the unexpected. . . . Plot is forgotten and incident fades, and 
 only the really human endures, and throughout this book there stands out in bold 
 and beautiful relief its high-souled and chivalric protagonist, James the Master 
 of Hutcheon, the King of Andaman himself.'' — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 'A most original and refreshing story. James Hutcheon is a personage whom it is 
 good to know and impossible to forget. He is beautiful within and without, 
 whichever way we take him.' — Spectator. 
 
 ' "The King of Andaman," is a book which does credit not less to the heart than 
 the head of its author.' — AtliencEum. 
 
 ' The fact that Her Majesty the Queen has been pleased to gracefully express to the 
 author of " The King of Andaman " her interest in his work will doubtless find 
 for it many readers.' — Vatiiiy Fair. 
 
 H. Morrah. A SERIOUS COMEDY. By Herbert Morrah. 
 Crotvn Svo. 6s. 
 ' There are many delightful places in this volume, which is well worthy of its title. 
 The theme has seldom been presented with more freshness or more force.' — 
 Scots>iian. 
 
 L. B. Walford. SUCCESSORS TO THE TITLE. By Mrs. 
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 2>vo. 6s. 
 
 ' The story is fresh and healthy from beginning to finish ; and our liking for the two 
 simple people who are the successors to the title mounts steadily, and ends almost 
 in respect.' — Scotsman. 
 
 'The book is quite worthy to be ranked with many clever predecessors. It is ex- 
 cellent reading.' — Glasgow Herald.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 29 
 
 T. L. Paton. A HOME IN INVERESK. By T. L Paton 
 
 Crown hvo. os. 
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 'A book which bears marks of considerable promisi^.'— Scotsman. 
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 handhng, and a knowledge of human nature that are worthy of the highest nraise ' 
 — Scotsman. ^ 
 
 J. B. Burton. IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY. By T 
 
 Bloundelle Burton. CroixmZvo. bs. 
 
 ' Unusually interesting and full of highly dramatic situations.'— Guardian. 
 
 ' A well-written story, drawn from that inexhaustible mine, the time of Louis XIV 
 
 —Pall Mall Gazette. ' 
 
 H. Johnston. DR. CONGALTON'S LEGACY. By Henry 
 Johnston. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 ' The story is redolent of humour, pathos, and tenderness, while it is not without a 
 touch of tragedy.' — Scotsman. 
 A worthy and permanent contribution to Scottish creative literature.'— C/^jp-^d 
 Herald. ^ 
 
 Julian Corbett. A BUSINESS IN GREAT WATERS. By 
 
 Julian Corbett. Croiutt ^vo. 6s. 
 
 ' In this stirring story Mr. Julian Corbett has done excellent work, welcome alike 
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 one in all respects. The salt of the ocean is in it, and the right heroic ring re- 
 sounds through its gallant adventures.' — Speaker. 
 
 C. Phillips Woolley. THE QUEENSBERRY CUP. A Tale 
 of Adventure. By Clive Phillips Woolley, Author of ' Snap,' 
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 ' A book which will delight boys : a book which upholds the healthy schoolboy code 
 
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 Robert Barr. IN THE MIDST OF ALARMS. By Robert 
 
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 ' Mr. Barr has achieved a triumph whereof he has every reason to be proud.' — Pall 
 
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 L. Daintrey. THE KING OF ALBERIA. A Romance of 
 
 the Balkans. By Laura Daintrey. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 ' Miss Daintrey seems to have an intimate acquaintance with the people and politics 
 of the Balkan countries in which the scene of her lively and picturesque romance 
 is laid. On almost every page we find clever touches of local colour which dif- 
 ferentiate her book unmistakably from the ordinary novel of commerce. The 
 story is briskly told, and well conceived,' — Glasgow Herald.
 
 30 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 Mrs. Pinsent. CHILDREN OF THIS WORLD. By Ellen 
 
 F. Pinsent, Author of ' Jenny's Case.' Crown 2>vo. 6s. 
 ' Mrs. Pinsent's new novel has plenty of vigour, variety, and good writing. There 
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 Clark Russell. MY DANISH SWEETHEART. By W. 
 
 Clark Russell, Author of ' The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' etc. 
 Illustrated. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. 
 
 G. Manville Fenn. AN ELECTRIC SPARK. By G. Manville 
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 'A simple and wholesome story.' — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 R. Pryce. TIME AND THE WOMAN. By Richard Pryce, 
 
 Author of ' Miss Maxwell's Affections,' 'The Quiet Mrs. Fleming,' 
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 ' Mr. Pryce's work recalls the style of Octave Feuillet, by its clearness, conciseness, 
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 Mrs. Watson. THIS MAN'S DOMINION. By the Author 
 of ' A High Little World. ' Second Edition. Crown Svo. 6s. 
 
 Marriott Watson. DIOGENES OF LONDON. By H. B. 
 
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 M. Gilchrist. THE STONE DRAGON. By Murray Gil- 
 christ. Crown Svo. Buckram. 6s. 
 
 ' The author's faults are atoned for by certain positive and admirable merits. The 
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 unique experience.' — National Observer. 
 
 E. Dickinson. A VICAR'S WIFE. By Evelyn Dickinson. 
 
 Crown Svo. 6s. 
 E. M. Gray. ELSA. By E. M'Queen Gray. Cro'i07i Zvo. 6s. 
 
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 MARGERY OF QUETHER. By S. Baring Gould 
 JACQUETTA. By S. Baring Gould. 
 SUBJECT TO VANITY. By Margaret Benson. 
 THE MOVING FINGER. By Mary Gaunt. 
 JACO TRELOAR. By J. H. Pearce. 
 
 3/6
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 31 
 
 aut diabolus aut nihil. by x. l. 
 
 THE COMING OF CUCULAIN. A Romance of the Heroic 
 
 Age of Ireland. By Standish O'Grady. Illustrated. 
 
 THE GODS GIVE MY DONKEY WINGS. By Angus 
 Evan Abbott. 
 
 THE STAR GAZERS. By G. Manville Fenn. 
 
 THE POISON OF ASPS. By R. Orton Prowse. 
 
 THE QUIET MRS. FLEMING. By R. Pryce. 
 
 THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. By F. Mabel Robinson. 
 
 DISENCHANTMENT. By F. Mabel Robinson. 
 
 MR. BUTLER'S WARD. By F. Mabel Robinson. 
 
 A LOST ILLUSION. By Leslie Keith. 
 
 A REVEREND GENTLEMAN. By J. M. Cobban. 
 
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 7. MY STEWARDSHIP. By E. M'Queen Gray. 
 
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 32 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 3. TODDLEBEN'S HERO. By M. M. Blake. 
 
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 THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By H. DE 
 
 B. GiBBiNS, M.A., late Scholar of Wadham College, Oxon., Cobden 
 Prizeman. Fourth Edition. With Maps and Plans. 3^. 
 'A compact and clear story of our ndustrial development. A study of this concise 
 but luminous book cannot fail to give the reader a clear insight into the principal 
 phenomena of our industrial history. The editor and publishers are to be congrat- 
 ulated on this first volume of their venture, and we shall look with expectant 
 interest for the succeeding volumes of the series.' — University Extoision Jo2i7^al.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 33 
 
 A HISTORY OF ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY. By 
 
 L. L. Price, M.A., Fellow of Oriel College, Oxon. Second Edition. 
 
 PROBLEMS OF POVERTY : An Inquiry into the Industrial 
 Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HoBSON, M.A. Third Edition. 
 
 VICTORIAN POETS. By A. Sharp. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By J. E. Symes, M.A. 
 
 PSYCHOLOGY. By F. S. Granger, M.A., Lecturer in Philo- 
 sophy at University College, Nottingham. 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE : Lower Forms. By 
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 AIR AND WATER. Professor V. B. Lewes, M.A. Illustrated. 
 
 THE CHEMISTRY OF LIFE AND HEALTH. By C. W. 
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 THE MECHANICS OF DAILY LIFE. By V. P. Sells, M.A. 
 
 Illustrated. 
 ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS. H. de B. Gibbins, M.A. 
 ENGLISH TRADE AND FINANCE IN THE SEVEN- 
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 THE CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. The Elementary Principles of 
 
 Chemistry. ByM. M. Pattison Muir, M.A. Illustrated. 
 A TEXT-BOOK OF AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. By M. C. 
 
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 THE VAULT OF HEAVEN. A Popular Introduction to 
 
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 THE EARTH. An Introduction to Physiography. By Evan 
 
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 INSECT LIFE. By F. W. Theobald, M.A. Illustrated. 
 
 ENGLISH POETRY FROM BLAKE TO BROWNING. By 
 
 W. M. Dixon, M.A. 
 ENGLISH LOCAL GOVERNMENT. By E. Jenks, M.A., 
 
 Professor of Law at University College, Liverpool.
 
 34 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 Social Questions of To-day- 
 Edited by H. DE B. GIBBINS, M.A. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. \ /^ 
 
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 TRADE UNIONISM— NEW AND OLD, By G. Howell, 
 
 Author of ' The Conflicts of Capital and Labour.' Second Edition. 
 
 THE CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT TO-DAY. By G. J. 
 
 HoLYOAKE, Author of 'The History of Co-operation.' Second 
 Edition. 
 
 MUTUAL THRIFT. By Rev. J. Frome Wilkinson, M.A., 
 Author of ' The Friendly Society Movement.' 
 
 PROBLEMS OF POVERTY : An Inquiry into the Industrial 
 
 Conditions of the Poor. By J. A. HOBSON, M.A. Third Edition. 
 
 THE COMMERCE OF NATIONS. By C. F. Bastable, 
 
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 THE ALIEN INVASION. By W. H. Wilkins, B.A., Secretary 
 
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 THE RURAL EXODUS. By P. Anderson Graham. 
 
 LAND NATIONALIZATION. By Harold Cox, B.A. 
 
 A SHORTER WORKING DAY. By H. DE B. Gibbins 
 and R. A. Hadfield, of the Hecla Works, Sheffield. 
 
 BACK TO THE LAND : An Inquiry into the Cure for Rural 
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 TRUSTS, POOLS AND CORNERS : As affecting Commerce 
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 THE FACTORY SYSTEM. By R. CooKE Taylor. 
 
 THE STATE AND ITS CHILDREN. By GERTRUDE 
 
 TUCKWELL. 
 
 WOMEN'S WORK. By Lady Dilke, Miss Bulley, and 
 Miss Whitley.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 35 
 
 MUNICIPALITIES AT WORK. The Municipal Policy of 
 Six Great Towns, and its Influence on their Social Welfare Bv 
 Frederick Dolman. ' ^ 
 
 SOCIALISM AND MODERN THOUGHT. By M. Kauf- 
 
 MANN. 
 
 THE HOUSING OF THE WORKING CLASSES. By R. 
 
 F. BOWMAKER. 
 
 MODERN CIVILISATION IN SOME OF ITS ECONOMIC 
 ASPECTS. By W. Cunningham, D. D. , Fellow of Trinity College, 
 Cambridge. 
 
 Classical Translations 
 
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 36 Messrs. Methuen's List 
 
 Educational Books 
 
 CLASSICAL 
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 ELEMENTARY LIGHT. By R. E. Steel. With numerous 
 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 45. 6d.
 
 Messrs. Methuen's List 37 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 ENGLISH RECORDS. A Companion to the History of 
 
 England. By H. E. Malden, M.A. Crow?t ^vo. 3^. 6d. 
 
 A book which aims at concentrating information upon dates, genealogy, officials, 
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 m- 
 
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 ^ 
 
 R 
 
 JAH- 
 
 13 
 
 C JIM 
 R 
 
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 GAYLORD 
 
 PRINTED IN US.
 
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