THE EIVEE CONGO,

FROM ITS MOUTH TO BOLOBO;

WITH A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL HISTORY
AND ANTHROPOLOGY OF ITS WESTERN BASIN.

BY

H. H. JOHNSTON, F.Z.S., F.R.GkS.

WITH TWO ETCHINGS, AND OVER SEVENTY OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS AND THREE MAPS
OF THE CONGO &c., BY THE AUTHOR.

THIRD EDITION.

LONDON:

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & R1YINGTON,

CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET, E.C.

1884.

[All rights reserved.]LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited,

STAMl'OHD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.q f 6-7
J i>

mn

TO

HENRY MORELAND STANLEY

JSjxak w Jbtiijratei,

IN MEMORY OF GREAT KINDNESS SHOWN TO ITS
AUTHOR.

^050PREFACE,

I believe a negro potentate once observed, with
regard to the encroachments of the Anglo-Saxon
race, that first came the missionary, then the
merchant, and finally the British soldier. An
almost analogous case to political conquest is the
occupation by science of new fields of research. The
pioneer is a man of the Livingstone or Stanley type,
who rapidly traverses an unknown region, braves its
dangers and endures its privations, and points out
to his successors where his discoveries may be best
taken up and worked out in detail. I' trust, there-
fore, that as Mr. Stanley may claim to have been the
great missionary of knowledge on the Congo, so I,
in following humbly in his steps, may rank as the
merchant who has brought back for the world’s
inspection some samples from the unworked mines of
information, whose presence the great explorer could
discover, but whose wealth he had perforce to leave
behind him on his rapid march. I have not
ventured to make this work a record of novel ex-
ploration, for I visited few places that were not
already explored; nor of scientific research, for I
lack the necessary ability. I have merely tried toVI

PREFACE.

produce with, pen and brush an ordinary guide-hook
to the Congo, which may convey to intending tra-
vellers or stay-at-home folks a fairly just im-
pression of the main features of the great river.
All that is written or drawn within has been directly
done from Nature, and the faultiness in it arises
more from incompleteness of detail than from
incorrect outline. Nearly the entirety of the book has
been compiled in the midst of my studying-ground.
Many of the chapters here are reproduced exactly as
they were jotted down in pencil, either when stopping
to rest in some shady spot, or as I glided along the
river in a canoe. All the illustrations have been
photographed directly from my drawings, twenty-
three of them being absolute facsimiles reproduced
by the Typographic Etching Company.

Before starting on my journey afresh, I desire to
cordially thank the many friends who have helped me
on the way. Mr. H. M, Stanley must rest content
with a simple mention of his name: a catalogue of
all his kindnesses would oblige my publishers to ex-
tend this work to two volumes. Hardly less do I owe
to Mr. Augustus Cohen, H.M.’s Consul for Angola
and the River Congo, whose genial hospitality has
done much to endear his place of residence, Loanda,
to my memory. Also I have to thank the Commander
of H.M.S. “ Rambler,” Captain the Honourable
Algernon Littleton, for a long and pleasant cruise
down the African coast; and to other African friends
I tender my sincere acknowledgments, and withPREFACE.

Vll

pleasure record their names—Robert Scott Newton,
Esq., British Vice-Consul at Sa5 Paul de Loanda ;
Mijnheer A. de Bloeme, of the Dutch Trading
Company on the Congo; and the Reverend T. J.
Comber, of the Baptist Mission at Stanley Pool.

Lastly, my sincerest thanks are due for much
assistance and encouragement from H. W. Bates,
Esq., Secretary to the Royal Geographical Society ;
Philip Lutley Selater, Esq., Ph.D., Secretary to the
Zoological Society ; Professor Oliver, of the Kew
Herbarium; Edwin Arnold, Esq., C.SL, Editor of
the Daily Telegraph; E. C. Rye, Esq., of the
Field; and Carmichael Thomas, Esq., of the
Graphic.

H. H Johnston.

London, February, 1884.NOTE.

In the orthography of all the African words in this book, I
have followed a simple phonetic system. The consonants are
to be pronounced as in English, and the vowels as in Italian
or Portuguese, viz.:—

a = ah ; e = eh; i = ee; 6 = aw (o = oh) ; u = oo.

I have only diverged from this system where the proper
names from long nse have accustomed us to other spelling.
Thus I write “the liiver Congo” and “Angola,” because for
several centuries the Portuguese have spelt these names in
the same manner. Properly, they should be, according to the
simplest system, “Kongo” and “Ngola.”CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

FROM SAO PAULO DE LOANDA TO THE CONGO.

PAGE

Ambriz—Journey Overland to Kinsembo—An African
Dinner—Books as against Brandy—Description of
Kinsembo—Tbe Calemma—Yegetation—Journey Over-
land to Mussera—A curious Monolith—Phytography
of South West Africa—The Desert Boundary of the
Tropics—Ambrizete—Baobabs—r-Fioral Beauties—The
Trade Route—The Natives and Annexation—Cabega
da Cobra—The Bush at Cabega da Cobra—The Jas-
mines—Mushirongos—The Congo—Its Mouth—Colour
of the Water—Banana Point—Kruboys—Krumanos
and Kabindas—Apprenticeship and Slavery	„	,	1

CHAPTER II.

THE LOWER CONGO—BANANA. POINT TO VIVL

Rissange—The Forest—Lissochilus gigcinteus—The Lagoons
and their Inhabitants—A Vegetable Venice—Birds—
A Native Village—Pets—Antelopes—A Crocodile Ad-
venture—Ponta da Lenha—The River forming its Delta
—Boma—Underhill — Mussuka—Hell’s Cauldron—-A
Visit to Stanley—Belgique Creek—Vivi—Stanley and
the Natives—The Dinner Party—One of Stanley’s
Stations—Life at Vivi .	.

29X

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

PALLABALLA AND YELL ALA.

PAGE

Native Villages—Agriculture—Domestic Animals—Houses
■—Scenery—The Livingstone Inland Mission — Eiote
the Language of the Congo—The neighbouring Kings
— Native Superstitions—Native Feelings towards
Christianity— King Kongo-Mpaka — Cucurbits—The
Lufu—Return to Vivi—Journey to Yellala— Nguvi
Mpanda and its amiable Chief—The Scenery on the
Road—The Grass — Grasshoppers—Kai—Dracaenas—

The Chief of Yellala—Ntete Mbongo’s Toilette—J ourney
to the Falls—The Falls of Yellala—A Fish Breakfast
—Return to Yivi .......	59

CHAPTER IV.

VI v I TO ISANGILA.

My Zanzibaris—The Grass—Nguvi Mpanda—Behaviour
of the Children—The Valley of the Loa—Pleasures of
Bathing—The Camoensia—Sadika Banza—A Pet Fowl
—The African Flora—The Bnzi—The Bundi—Rain—
Awkward Travelling—The Lulu—After the Storm—
Hornbills and the Ducks—The Ngoma Falls—Stanley’s
Name of Bula Matade—The Future of Ngoma—
Isangila ........	87

CHAPTER V.

ISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

The Isangila Fall—Position of the Village—A Native
Market—The Manioc—Cookery for Explorers—Ground-
nut Oil — Toffee — Captain Tuckey’s Expedition —
Journey to Manyanga—Riverside Scenery—Islands—CONTENTS.

XI

PAGE

A Whirlpool—The Pratincoles—Mbote—Lieutenant
Nilis—Disturbance at Manyanga—Different Mediums
of Exchange—A Native Diet—Woman in Africa—
Mlongo-Mlako—Ntombo Mataka Falls .	^	,	111

CHAPTER VI.

MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL).

Koad to Lutete—The Chief Lutete—Ravines on the Road
to Stanley Pool—The Edwin Arnold River—A sudden
Storm—Kindness of the Zanzibaris—An Orgie of
Pine-apples—Trapping Bats—A Fetish-House—Cross-
ing the Inkissi—A Leopard’s Footprints—Carved
Logs—The Wa-mbuno—Ngoma—Leopoldville—The
Missions—The Food Question—The Future of Leo-
poldville .	.	.	,	.	.	.	.139

CHAPTER VII.

STANLEY POOL.

Scenery of the Pool—Dover Cliffs—Brazzaville—Kallina
Point—Death of Lieutenant Kallina—The Chiefs
round Stanley Pool—Ngaliema—Boat Voyage to Bolobo
—A Kinkshasha Village—A Conversazione—Hy-
phsene Palms—Smoked Fish—An African Rain-storm
—Importance of Diet—Hippopotami—Grey Parrots—
Kimpoko—A climbing Palm .	.	.	.	.165

CHAPTER VIII.

STANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.

Native Canoes—Butterflies—Flora and Fauna of the River-
banks—Banana-cooking—Ngui—Narrow escape from a
Hippopotamus—The Birds—The Native Dogs—Lieu ternXll

CONTENTS.

PAGE

ant Janssen—Masnta—A Bay an si Village—Native
Hair-dressing—Personal Decoration—A Sacred Tree—
Mysterious Slaves	.	.	.	.	.	.193

CHAPTER IX.

TO BOLOBO.

Mbongo—French Flags at Mbamo—Embe—Value of Salt
—Footprints of Hippopotami—Sand-banks and Islands
—Bolobo—The Great Chief Ibaka—The Mosquitoes—

A Royal Visit—A Drinking Ceremony—Ibaka’s pecu-
liar Hat—Houses at Bolobo—A Sketching Adventure
—The Fetish Man—His Duties and Occupations—
Herds of Elephants and Buffaloes—Animals of the
District—Metals—Monkoli Topaz .	.	.	.217

CHAPTER X.

MSUATA.

Return from Bolobo—Itimba—A Burial Scene—A Village
decorated with Skulls—Euphorbias—Mbongo again—
Mukemo—The Outlet of the Lawson—Join Lieutenant
Janssen—Life at Msuata—The Haunt of the Elephant—

The Blue Plantain Eater—Birds and Crocodiles—The
Clouds—The Storm—A visit to Gobila—Makole under
Treatment—A Trap for the Leopard—His Death .	243

CHAPTER XI.

HOMEWARDS.

The Start for Stanley Pool—A Floating Mimosa Branch
—A Troop of Elephants—Ba-yansi on the March—A.
Blood-brother—Chased by Hippopotami—Juma brings
News from Home—The Hills at Stanley Pool TheirCONTENTS.

Xlll

Trees and Flowers—Coquilhat’s Welcome at Kimpoko
—Arrive at Kinshasha—A Palaver—Dualla, Stanley’s
Prime Minister — Bankwa’s Speech. — My Stay at
Leopoldville—Manyanga again—Boat-voyage to the
Sea—Welcome at Boma—Arrival at Banana—Parting
with my Zanzibaris—Back to Civilization .	.	.279

CHAPTER XII.

CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

The Unhealthy Districts—Drinking-water—Precautions
against Sunstroke—How to live on the Congo—The
Excessive Moisture—The Rainy Season—“ Smokes
“ Little Dries ”—The Dry Season—The African Spring
-—Early Summer—Violence of the Storms—The Har-
vest—Geology of the District—Metals—Flora and
Fauna—The River not a Natural Boundary—Botanical
Orders chiefly represented—The Palms—List of cha-
racteristic Specimens collected—Colour and Fragrance 301

CHAPTER XIII.

NATURAL HISTORY.

Entomology of the District—Lepidoptera—Their easy
Capture—Butterfly Bait—List of Species most common
—Beetles—Locusts—Ephemeridoe—The Mason Wasp
—Ants — The Jigger—Flies — Spiders — Mollusca—
Crustacea — Ichthyology — Batrachians ■— Reptiles —
Crocodiles — The Spur-win ged Plover — Tortoises—
Lizards—Snakes .......	327

CHAPTER XIV.

NATURAL HISTORY—ORNITHOLOGY.

The Fin -foot — Frigate Birds — G annets — Pelicans —
Aquatic Birds at Stanley Pool—Gypohierax VultnresXIV

CONTENTS.

PAGK

—Hawks—Rails and Plovers—The Crocodile’s Friend
—A Plover Family — Pigeons — Parrots—Rollers—
Crows—List of Birds noticed on the Congo	.	. 349

CHAPTER XV.

NATURAL HISTORY—MAMMALS.

Monkeys — Mandrills — The Gorilla — Lemnrs — The
Leopard—The Lion—Tiger-cats’—Hyaenas—The Civet
Cat—The' Genet Cat—Jackals—The Manatee—The
Elephant — Size of Tusks — The Hippopotamus — A
Rogue Hippopotamus—The Rhinoceros—The Buffalo—
Antelopes—List of Mammalia noticed on the Congo .	375

CHAPTER XYI.

THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

The Dwarf Race—The Upper Congo Races—The Mushi-
rongos—The Bakongo—Conduct and Morality—Phallic
Worship—The Nkimba—The Sacred Language—Art
of Medicine—Domestic Life—Hairiness of African
Races—Early Man—Clothing—Cicatrization—Hair-
dressing—Features—Character—Ceremonies—Educa-
tion—Marriage—Burial— Food—Domestic Animals—
Crops—Houses—Musical Instruments—Population-
Progress .........................................

CHAPTER XVII.

THE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO.

Kongo—Ki-teke—Ki-buma—Ki-yansi .

443LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Baobab coming into Leaf and Flower ...	3

Hyphene Guineensis .	.	.	.	.	.	.10

Pillar at Mussera .	.	.	.	.	.	.11

Crows on the beach at Banana .	.	.	.	.23

A “ Kru-Boy ”........................26

Mangrove Roots at Banana .	.	.	.	.28

Lissochilus Giganteus	.	.	.	.	.	.31

Kissange from the River	.	.	.	.	.	.33

POGONORHYNCUS GEOGASTER	.	.	.	.	.	.37

YlVI FROM THE ISANGILA ROAD .....	49

The Lower Congo seen from Yivi ....	53

Orchids .........	58

Muss^inda grandiflora	.	.	.	.	.	.61

Hen-house ......... 63

Congo house ........	-64

Mouth of Mposo River	.	.	.	.	.	.66

Chief of Nguvi Mranda	.	.	.	.	.	.73

Dracaena Sapochinowki .	.	.	.	.	.76

Yellala Falls .	.	.	.	.	•	.81

Congo Grasses ........	89

Baphia nitida .........	113

First Isangila Fall .	.	.	.	.	.	.114

Second Isangila Fall ,	.	.	.	.	.115XVI

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

The Giant Kingfisher (Ceryle maxima) .	.	. 122

The River Congo seen from the Plateau at Man yang a 129
Mlongo-mlako, King of Dandanga .	.	.	.134

The “ Widowed One” ......	136

A wild Pineapple .	.	.	.	.	.	.141

Scenery near Lutete	.	.	.	.	.	.143

The Port of Leopoldville .	.	.	.	.	.163

Floating reed island on Stanley Pool	.	.	.168

“Brazzaville”................. 170

Hyphcene palms .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.180

An Inhabitant of Kimpoko ......	187

A Queen of Kimpoko .	.	.	.	.	.188

The northern end of Stanley Pool .	.	.	.189

Map of Stanley Pool......................192

Hyphcene ventricosa	.	.	.	.	.	.	.195

High-wooded banks of Congo............196

Pistia stratiotes	.	.	.	.	.	.	.219

The Chief of Embe .......	223

The Friendly Village.....................227

House in Bolobo .......	237

Euphorbia Hermentiana ......	245

The shore at Mukemo .	.	.	.	.	.252

A LANDSCAPE ON THE BpPER CONGO ....	261

Crinum Zelanicum.........................280

The Island opposite Kinshasha .....	292

Camoensia Maxima .......	303

A Python .........	329

Polypterus	340

ScHIZORHIS GIGANTEA......................351

A Galago .........	375LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.	xvii

#	PAGE

A Cobus Antelope	.	.	.	.	.	.385

1. Mu-yansi. 2. Mu-teke, 3. Mu-shi-kongo .	.	.	395

A Nkimba .........	406

A M-buma, A Mu-yansi	.	.	.	.	.	.413

An Example of Cicatrization .	.	.	.	.420

A Congo Sheep ........	428

Ba-teke chair .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	432

1. Pottery on Upper Congo. 2. An Antelope-horn
Trumpet. 3. A Powder-flask ,	433

A Native Lyre and Ba-yansi Knives ....	434

Ba-yansi Chopper, and Axe of Authority belonging to
a Ba-teke Chief ^	.	.	.	.	.	.435

A Native of the Lower Congo .....	440

The Fetish and Sacred Lance of Ganchu <	.	.	443

MAPS.

PAGE

Physical Map of the West Coast of Africa .	.	13

The Congo Eiver from its Mouth to Bolobo End of Booh

ETCHINGS.

Ibaka, King of Bolobo ..... Frontispiece
The River Congo before the Falls of Yellala To face 80A JOURNEY UP THE RIYER CONGO.

CHAPTER I.

FROM SAO PAULO DE LOAN DA TO THE CONGO.

Ambriz—Journey overland to Kinsembo—An African Dinner—
Books as against Brandy—Description of Kinsembo—The
Calemma—Vegetation—Journey Overland to Mussera—A
curious Monolith—Phytography of South West Africa—
The Desert Boundary of the Tropics — Ambrizete —
Baobabs—Floral Beauties—The TradeEoute—TheNatives
and Annexation—CABEgA da Cobra—The Bush at CABEgA
da Cobra—The Jasmines—Musiiirongos—The Congo—Its
Mouth—Colour of the Water—Banana Point—Kruboys—
Krumanos and Kabindas—Apprenticeship and Slavery.

BCHAPTER I.

FROM SAO PAULO DE
LOANDA TO THE CONGO.

In the month of October, 1882, I
left Loanda to carry out a long-
cherished idea of visiting the river
Congo, to study its little-known
natural history, and to endeavour
to portray as accurately as possible
the Jandscapes and inhabitants of
lands which photography had not
yet reached, and where no student
of nature had ever penetrated.
Having obtained a passage on board a Dutch
trading steamer, I proceeded up the coast north-

b 2

BAOBAB COMING INTO
LEAF AND FLOWER.4

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

wards to Arnbriz, tbe last possession of the Portu-
guese province of Angola, and lying distant from
Loanda some sixty miles. When we reached this
place, early in the morning, I left the steamer for a
time, intending to journey some distance along the
coast by hammock, in order to gain a closer ac-
quaintance with the character of the country that
here borders the sea. Carriers are not always easily
obtained at Arnbriz, and they were even more
difficult to secure at this particular time, for they
found such lucrative work in bringing coffee from
the interior to tbe merchants’ stores that they little
cared for the more fatiguing task of carrying a
white man in a hammock to Kinsembo. The day
passed in listless and hopeless waiting at the house
of an English trader, and I began to think it would
be necessary to resign myself to the disagreeable
thought of passing a night with the fleas and mos-
quitoes which Arnbriz lavishes on all new-comers;
but as the sun began to sink very near the sea
horizon, a sufficient number of men were collected
one by one, a hammock was borrowed, and I gladly
shook the dust of Arnbriz off my feet, and settled
comfortably into the half-drowsy state which the
swaying motion of the hammock produces. Our path
lay for some distance along the sea-shore, right in
amongst the foam of the breakers, whose deafening
roar made the ears ring. Here, safe from their cruel
force, on dear Mother Earth, I could look with
wonder and interest on the irresistible roll and ter-FROM SAO PAULO DE LOANDA TO THE CONGO. 5

rible rebound of tbe waves, which render landing on
these unprotected coasts almost impossible in any-
thing but a surf-boat. Half an hour’s jog-trot on the
part of the men brought us to tbe river Loge, which
at present is the northern boundary of the Portu-
guese possessions in Lower Guinea. The clumps of
mangrove which border its narrow mouth are very
fine and picturesque, and afford shelter to many water
birds, which were busily fishing for their evening
meal whilst we waited to cross the river. A native
canoe came from the opposite side, and ferried us
over in two journeys; and then, leaving the river,
we passed through several black and fetid marshes
where the branches of the mangroves grew so low
that they often took me by the chin and nearly
jerked me out of the hammock.

As the ground grew more solid and strong, forests
of “ candelabra ” euphorbias, ugly, bewitched-looking
things, lined the way, and continued to be the only
vegetation visible till we reached Kinsembo. Here,
naturally, I was received with that cordial welcome
and hearty hospitality which are extended by all
English traders in West Africa to the stranger, no
matter what his position or nationality may be. In
a comfortable airy room, with an organ at one end,
and many pictures on the walls, we sat down,
friends of five minutes’ standing, to as good a dinner,
as the tinned provisions of Kinsembo could produce.

In this place, where native food is almost non-
existent, save an occasional water-buck (Cobus ante-6

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

lope) or a dish of little rock oysters, the European
inhabitants live nearly exclusively on provisions sent
out from England, and live well withal. It takes
a stranger to the coast quite by surprise to see the
excellence and variety of these preserves; and except
that one longs occasionally for a little fresh salad,
the bill of fare presented by the great purveyors of
tinned provisions is quite an appetising one in Africa.
On one of the evenings spent at Kinsembo, we had
a dinner much as follows, the menu of which I
append for the consolation of such of my readers as
may be proceeding to the West Coast of Africa.

Mock Turtle Soup.

Salmon Cutlets.

Lobster.

Curried Eabbit.

Boast Beef.	Boiled Mutton.

(with preserved potatoes).

Game patty.

Asparagus.

Plum pudding.

Peaches.	Strawberries. .

Tea.	Biscuits.

All these things, except the rice eaten with the
curry, came out of tins, and the plum-pudding and
asparagus were especially good.

All merchants on the coast do not live thus; it is
only among the English trading-houses that the
employers feed their employes so well. On theFROM 8AO PAULO DE LOANDA TO THE CONGO. 7

other hand, it is with sorrow to be confessed that
amongst the English traders insobriety still lingers,
although latterly this evil has been successfully
combated by the generous supply of good aerated
drinks, and light German beer. In Africa alcohol
is less needed than anywhere else, and it is good
nourishing food that is required to restore the
impoverished blood, not fiery, fever-giving drinks.
The mental depression consequent on the enervating
climate is more healthily dispersed by interesting
and entertaining literature, especially when this is
enjoyed together with a cup of fragrant coffee, than
by the continual glasses of grog, the “ nips ” of
brandy, the “ gins and bitters,” the “ mata-bichos,”
and “chin-chins,” which, to react on the deadening
senses, have to be continually increased in alcoholic
strength. If, as one who has visited most parts
of the West African Coast, from the Gambia to
Mossamedes, and enjoyed hospitality from many
of the great African trading companies, I might
give a word of advice to their managers in Europe :
I would say, “ Send out plenty of books. Be-
member that the mind in Africa runs more risk of
being starved than the body, and that for those to
whom the wonderful country in which they are
residing does not itself seem a great book spread
open for them to read by Mother Nature, the
flagging spirits, the fatal home-sickness, and the
dull depression of the brain are best diverted, not by
constant sips of spirits, but by bright novels, by8

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVJQR CONGO.'

humorous essays, and by the fairy-tales of science
that our current literature can so readily supply.”
Then, when the oil-lamp is lit, and the dusky African
night is chased even from the windows by the
bright reflections in the glass, the pale and languid
European can forget the strange weird things
outside—the marshes with their low white poisonous
mist, the riotous “ niggers ” dancing round their
fires, streaming and gleaming with perspiration, the
great night-moths and the uncomely bats—in the
beautiful creations and merry thoughts of our
master-minds. In having chosen Kinsembo for the
text of this disquisition, I have not meant to imply
that the worthy Englishmen there are more inclined
to alcoholic consolation than elsewhere. Quite the
contrary, in fact; and I am glad to say that it is for
that reason a brighter place than many I know of
farther north; but as it is one of the few great
trading settlements that I encounter on my way to
the Congo, I seize this opportunity of making known
what, as an old African, I feel to be a distinct
and easily remedied want amongst the English
“factories” in West Africa—more books, less
brandy.

Kinsembo is a flourishing place as regards trade,
and has doubtless diverted much of the coffee, ivory,
and india-rubber which should have come to Ambriz,
for it was formed by the settlement of many trading-
houses who left Ambriz and Portuguese Africa in
order to be free from import and export duties.FROM SAO PAULO DE LOANDA TO THE CONGO. 9

The different buildings of Kinsembo all stand on
the summit of a range of high red cliffs, which, end at
the mouth of a little river in' a long rocky point.
This river, of course, has a sand bar, otherwise its
mouth would form the harbour so sadly needed.
As it is, both the landing and embarking of cargo is
attended with considerable risk, as the breakers are
almost more to be dreaded here than anywhere on
the south-west coast. In the time of “ calemma ”
(the Portuguese give this name to the great roll
which every now and then comes across the Atlantic)
the beach of Kinsembo is a grand sight to see—from
the cliffs above. Wave after wave comes in like a
race-horse, dashes itself on the beach, gathers itself
up, and rolls back again to meet the one that follows.
Sometimes these waves will come in one on top of the
other, but generally it is every third wave which is
the worst, and, after this giant billow has expended
its force, there is an interval of comparative calm, in
which the anxious boatmen strive to put off. Land-
ing in a “ calemma ” is, I believe, less dangerous than
putting out to sea. It is, however, a mauvais quart
cl’heure, full of suppressed excitement and anxiety.
The great surf-boat, with neither bow nor stern,
so that it can go backwards or forwards at will,
highly recurved at both ends, and like the crescent
moon in shape, is steered by a man standing upright
in the seaward end of the boat, and using as his
rudder a long paddle. He approaches to within a
certain distance from the shore, and then, after10

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

cautiously waiting liis time, selects a big roller and
rides in with irresistible speed on to the beach, where
the boat is immediately seized by the rowers, who
have jumped out, and hauled up out of reach ere the
retreating wave can roll it back to destruction.

Kinsembo is not quite so barren as the Ambriz
coast, but vegetation is still very sparse. Hyphaene

palms, however, first
make their appearance
here as you approach
this region from the
south, and there are also
strangely stunted bao-
babs (by some thought
to be a different species)
growing on the cliffs,
and acoarse-looking con-
volvulus straggles over
the sea-shore, intermixed
with the Calabar bean.

The usual park-like
scenery of the interior is
some six miles distant
from the sea coast. Kinsembo is one of the first
points proceeding northwards from Angola, where
the influence of the Congo region begins to be
felt. The few native tribes more resemble the Ba-
Kongo in their dialects than the neighbouring Bunda
people to the south.

The journey overland to Mussera, the next trading

Hyphame Guineensis.FROM SAO PAULO DE LOAN DA TO THE CONGO. 11

settlement, occupies about five hours’ travelling on
foot or in a hammock, but I spent some time longer
on the way, as I stopped to sketch the curious pillar
of Mussera, a great pointed stone, poised on a smooth
slab of rock, and crowning the top of a small emi-
nence, from whence it is visible a long way off, both

PILLAR AT MUSSERA.

inland and out at sea. I cannot guess at the cause
of this curious monolith, except that I think it impro-
bable that it owes its origin and position to any act of
man. There are many similar stones in different
parts of the Lower Congo countries. There is a little
vegetation at the base of the low hill on which the12

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

pillar stands, but it is the usual euphorbia and aloe
mixture, and there is no bush capable of affording
shade, so I made my sketch of the monolith as
quickly as possible, and then hurried on once more
through the blazing sun. We passed by many
plantations of manioc, and emerged at last on the sea-
shore, where, sheltered by a few low jasmine bushes,
I halted for a short time to rest and refresh myself with
a frugal lunch ; after which I started once more and
reached the Dutch factory * at Mussera in time for
dinner.

The country round this settlement is much like
Kinsembo in character. The same coarse grass,
sparsely scattered bushes, and euphorbias ; but here
the rich vegetation of the interior is only three miles
from the coast, and as the reader will notice, it is
gradually approaching the sea, until at Cabe£a da
Cobra the last traces of desert influence will vanish
and a tropical wealth of flora reassert its sway.

There are certain curious points in the phytography
of South-Western Africa which are best shown in
this accompanying map. I have endeavoured here
to exhibit more clearly the distribution and compara-
tive abundance of vegetation which may be observed
in travelling over Western Tropical Africa, and
more especially in the country lying between the
river Cunene and the Upper Congo. From Sierra

* All the trading establishments on the West African Coast,
are called “ factories,” more in the sense of the Portuguese word
“ feitoria,” a place of business.OgoweR.

Ryaiuja

KwxbjJt..

JMusserrmo
Fhlst’inbteS
Ambrnz\

SVPaxd de Losmcii

Heruj uelLtiVeVur

C.Gross i

From> the Thoceethings of the Royal Geographical* Society. 188,

C.Lcpez	sy r^\

Cabefo da tobnaxs^
Amhrizette

15°

Mossamedes

KBTTSICAL MAP OP

WEST COAST OF AFRICA

l»jr BLH. Johnston.

Jtense Forest.

I ■	' ■- ! Snvnnnnh with. OiLPrUms.

I	1	Savannah,.

I____]	Scanty ~Vegelation.

1	I - . Desert.FROM 8AO PAULO BE LOANDA TO TEE CONGO. 13

Leone to the river Ogowe along the coast the one
prevailing landscape is that of endless forest. This
is, in fact, part of the forest region-—the forest belt
which has a distinctive fauna and flora, and which
extends eastwards, near the equator, more than half-
way across Africa to Labe Victoria Nyanza and the
western shores of Tanganika. This is the country
of the anthropoid apes, which are found equally
near Sierra Leone, and on the Welle, and near the
Upper Nile. But when the mouth of the Ogowe is
passed, the forest begins to retreat from the coast,*
and is gradually succeeded by more open savannah
scenery, so characteristic of the major part of Africa,
and so happily described by older travellers as “ park-
like,” a designation which its open grassy spaces and
formal groups of shady trees amply justify. Such
is the country at Loango, Kabinda, and along the
Lower Congo up to Stanley Pool. But a little to
the south of the Congo embouchure the park-like
scenery in its turn begins to retire from the sea,
somewhere about Cabe£a da Cobra, a place I have
already mentioned, and there follows a much uglier
region of sparse vegetation and less abundant rain-
fall. Of such is the country around Loanda, where
scarcely anything but euphorbias, baobabs, and aloes
are growing, and where there is often less than two
months’ rain in the year. This harsh country
continues along the coast for some distance until
about the 13th parallel, where it in its turn trends
* Except where it follows the courses of rivers.14

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

off towards the interior, and absolute desert takes its
place and continues uninterruptedly as far as the
Orange River. In a journey from Mossamedes to
the river Cunene, in 15°-16° S. latitude, you may
successively pass through these three last phases of
scenery, and after crossing a zone of absolute desert,
enter a region of sparse vegetation, and finally arrive
at the beautiful undulating coun try of scattered forest
and grassy plains which only reaches the sea as far
north as the Congo mouth. The four districts I have
just described may be said to vary from almost
absolute sterility to transcendent richness of vegeta-
tion : perhaps the word sterility is hardly a true one,
as the desert soil is quite capable of producing ample
crops ; it is merely the rainfall that is lacking. The
sandy wastes between Mossamedes and. the Orange
River grow little but the strange Wdwitscliia mira-
bilis and a few stunted Bauhinias; in the succeeding
region the euphorbias and aloes are the principal
occupants of the soil, with an occasional baobab,
mimosa, or fig. In the park-like country the forest
trees are too numerous and varied to catalogue; but
amongst them may be noticed the beautiful Hyphsene
palm, the oil-palm as far as 10° S., the cotton
wood, the baobab, gigantic mimosas, figs, and a
variety of splendid trees belonging to the papilio-
naceous order. This is the most typical region of
Africa, and it is the country of the large game
animals. The rhinoceroses, zebras, giraffes and
many antelopes never enter the forest belt thatFROM SAO PAULO DE LOANDA TO THE OONGO. 15

clothes so much of Western Africa, and which is the
grand climax of vegetable development where, with/
ample space, continual rain, and an equatorial sun,
plant-life flourishes and rules supreme above the
animal world.

There is a curious resemblance as regards sterility
and paucity of rainfall between the coasts of South-
West Africa, West Australia and Western South
America. They are all more dr less of a desert
character, whereas Queensland, South-East Africa
and Brazil are richly endowed with vegetation.
Further, it is an interesting fact, and one which can
only be briefly noticed here, that in looking over a
physical map of the world, one cannot fail to remark
how, both north and south of the equator, the tro-
pical is separated from the temperate zone by a*
more or less well-defined region of desert or barren
steppe. The Sahara, the deserts of Syria, Arabia,
Persia and Sinde ; the great desert of Gobi, and the
barren wastes in China and Thibet separate the
fertile regions of temperate Europe, Africa, and
Asia from the zone of tropical rain, just as in North
America, almost in the same latitudes, are salt plains,
deserts, and the hideous lifeless tracts in Northern
Mexico. South of the equator, we have in South
America the desert of Atacama and the grassy
steppes of the Gran Chaco, and of the northern states
of the Argentine Republic; the sterility of Central
Australia, and finally, in South Africa, the Kalahari
Desert which extends northwards to Mossamedes,16

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

and makes its influence felt on the western coast line
nearly to the vicinity of the Congo.

I rejoined the Dutch steamer at Mussera and pro-
ceeded to Ambrizete, where there are many factories
belonging to English, French, and Dutch companies.
The inland scenery at about a mile from the coast
is beautiful and park-like, though near the shore
it is still a sandy tract with scanty vegetation.
This soon yields to beautiful prairies, dotted with
clumps of fine trees and radiant with many wild
flowers, principally yellow ground orchids, white
Commelynce, and bright saffron-coloured convolvuli.

The baobabs (Adansonia) in the distance seem to
be fine stout beech-trees in an English park, and
their leaves are tender and green, just budding out
under the October rains. From their branches,
hanging straight down by a thread-like stalk, are the
fair white blossoms with wax-like petals and a mass
of feathery, filamentous stamens. These flowers soon
drop, and their snowy whiteness is tarnished with
yellow stains and bruises as they lie in heaps at the
foot of the swollen, gouty trunk. The “ calabash,”
the large fruit that slightly resembles the outer husk
of the cocoa-nut in shape, remains on the tree simul-
taneously with the freshly-opened flowers, and looks
much like a large bat, folded in its wings and
hanging to the branches. Thirsty with my noonday
wandering xxnder the sparse shade that the half-open
leaves afforded, I jumped at a calabash, dragged it
down and broke it open. Then I took out the pinky-FROM SAO PAULO DE LOANDA TO TOE CONGO. 17

white pith and chewed it, finding therein a most
pleasant, thirst-quenching acid. The monkeys are
very fond of this pith ; so much so that the fruit
of the baobab is sometimes called monkey bread.
Adansonia digitata, the “ Imbundeiro ” of the
Portuguese, the tree generally known as “ baobab ”
(though whence this name comes, I know not), ranges
over all Africa between the Sah&ra and the Kalahari
Desert, and an allied species is found in Australia.
Roughly speaking, it is a huge mallow, and is rather
a gigantic plant than a tree, for the interior of its
great swollen trunk is all spongy pith and not firm
wood.

The candelabra euphorbias, so common on the
Angola coast, still linger on about Ambriz, although
they are handsomer and glossier in this more
favoured region, and have lost that dingy colour
and distorted form that characterise them farther
south.* The aloes are all in blossom, and their tall,
orange-red flower-spikes make a very pretty point
amid the yellow orchids and the yellow-green grass.
The river at Ambrizete is picturesque, its mangrove
woods are exceptionally fine, and as the ground rises
to some height inland a fine view of the stream may
he obtained as it meanders sluggishly through
massive groves. On the snags by the water-side
many aquatic birds are perched, and up the steep

* The candelabra euphorbia (Euphorbia candelabrum) is ne\er
found farther northward on the south-west coasf, or anywhere
on the Congo.

C18

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

river banks there is plenty of greenery amid which
stand out, like hawthorn in May, the snowy sprays of
jasmine flowers which fill the air with such a balmy
perfume. In the shallow pools and marshes are
“mud-fish.”* I notice them here for the first time
so far south.

The Ambrizete River (which is properly called
Nbrlsh) has rather a long course, and rises some little
distance south-east of Sao Salvador on a plateau 2500
feet high, whence it descends in magnificent cas-
cades, called the “ Arthington Falls,” into the plain
below, and wends a tortuous way to the sea. Its
upper waters were first visited and described by one
of the Baptist missionaries from Sao Salvador, and
he named its falls after a well-known English phil-
anthropist.

As Ambriz is the great coffee port, so Ambrizete
is the outlet for the ivory trade, and has been for
many years. As the reader will see farther on, the
ivory road starts from Stanley Pool, passes through
Sao Salvador and debouches at Ambrizete. From
Ambrizete, or some neighbouring settlement, the
pine-apple has been introduced along the trade routes
far into the interior of the southern Congo region,
and it is probable that limes, oranges, maize,
sugarcane, manioc, and many other recent addi-
tions to native agriculture originally started from
here, where the Portuguese traders brought them
from Brazil, and, following the arterial trade

* Anoplithalmus.FROM SAO PAULO HE LOANDA TO THE CONGO. 19

routes, quickly overran these hitherto poorly-fed
countries.

The natives of Ambrizete are very turbulent, and*
decidedly opposed to any idea of annexation or
protection by a European power. For this reason
no white man is allowed to penetrate more than a
few miles into the interior from Ambrizete, and
scientific explorations are indistinguishable in their
eyes from political reconnaissances. In this way
the region lying between Sao Salvador and the
coast, vaguely named Ngoje, remains a terra
incognita to Europeans. Wending my way north-
wards from Ambrizete I touched at different spots
where factories were established, but none of them
offered anything worthy of note until I reached a
small settlement about fifty miles south of the Congo,
called Cabeya da Cobra (the “ head of the snake ”).
This to my long-starved eyes seemed a charming
place. At last the hideous influence of the south
coast was over, and a rich and varied vegetation grew
down to the very waves.

There was a stretch of low-lying land about a mile
or less in width, immediately next the sea, overgrown
with dense bush, and, in fact, a sort of natural
botanical garden with many specimens of the
African flora displayed with prodigal abundance.
There were groups of umbrageous trees (some of

* This is the opinion of the white traders, but the natives
might say, on their side, that they only stood up for their in-
dependence.

c 220

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

them handsome species of papilionacem with violet
laburnum-like blossoms*) offering a welcome and
unaccustomed shade, where, seated amidst a trellis-
work of creepers on a dry carpet of fallen leaves
and fading blossoms, you could dreamingly inhale
the strong fragrant perfume which the ardent sun
drew from the clustering jasmine that thrust itself
into these pleasant arbours. There are apparently
two species of jasmine growing here; one has a
somewhat pinky flower with shiny leaves and thorny
stem, is very common throughout Angola,f and
grows independently in large bushes, and the other
has a much larger pure-white and stephanotis-like
blossom, is without thorns, and seemingly a creeper
in its habits,J clambering high up over the trees
and raining down its lovely star-like flowers in long
trailing sprays.

In the background behind all this greenery the
land abruptly rises, and seems to be a row of ancient
cliffs from which the sea has retreated and whence
the rain has washed down the loose surface soil that
forms this verdant garden of the undercliff. Their
summits are bare and worn from the constant denu-
dation, but about half a mile inland a rich vegetation
once more takes possession of the soil.

* Lonchocarpus sp. inc. In some glades of the woods the
ground beneath these trees was covered with a pinky-mauve
sheet of their fallen flowers.

f I have never seen this jasmine (Corissa sp.) farther north
on the Congo.

£ Probably Jasminum auriculatum.FROM SAO PAULO BE LOANDA TO THE CONGO. 21

The natives, in the neighbourhood of Cabe?a da
Cobra are Mashirongos * a degraded tribe, with dull
black skins and poor physical development, that
extends to the Lower Congo as far as Boma, but
principally inhabits the marshy country along its
southern bank near the sea.

Sometime before we reach the Congo the red
cliffs, which are such a constant feature in the South-
West African coast, sink lower and lower, and
give place at length to mighty mangrove swamps
of considerable extent. Then the sea becomes
coloured by the sediment of the river, and the
contrast is sharply marked where the cloudy river
water meets the clear sea. The colour of the Congo
water is dark-brownish red, and that of the sea
transparent green; the temperature of the two
waters is also different—-that of the Congo registering
88° Fahrenheit, and the sea water 74°, a difference of
nine degrees.

The mouth of the Congo is comparatively simple
and undivided when compared with the great deltas
of the Nile, the Niger, and the Zambesi. In fact,
this is one of the first impressions which gives an
air of “ newness ” to the river, and suggests that
its present outlet into the Atlantic Ocean may not
be of very ancient date. That the Congo in many
directions is trying to force its way to the sea by
means of smaller branches I am inclined to believe,
as many of its so-called “ creeks ” between Boma

* Possibly a corruption of Mushihongo.22

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

and the sea, though at present remaining blind
alleys, yet have gained in length in the memory of
the European settlers on the Lower Congo, and it is
the opinion of some who know the country that the
river may ultimately force a way to the sea at
Kabinda by means of a branch outlet from Boma
(the present “ Crocodile ” river behind the settlement).
The aspect of the mouth of the Congo with its two
opposite points of Padrao and Banana is rather
curious. They seem like the last fragments of the
ancient coast-line through which the river has
broken. Point Padrao is a spit of marshy land
covered with splendid forest and fringed with break-
waters of mangrove and clumps of beautiful Fan
palms.* Banana Point is a little peninsula of sand,
which on one side is lashed by the breakers of the
Atlantic, and on the other meets the brunt of the
mighty Congo. Its existence is only saved or
prolonged by rows of stakes driven into the shore,
while the beach is raised and fortified by masses of
large stones. Why such an unmeaning name was
given to this sandy promontory by the Dutch, who
first christened it, I do not know; certainly it is
no longer applicable, for not a banana is to be seen
growing there. However, the name sticks to it,
and is known far and wide now, for Banana is an
important settlement, and is likely to become more
so in the future development of the Congo, on
account of being the only good and safe harbour at

* Hyphsene Guineensis,CROWS ON THE BEACII AT BANANAI ROM SAO PAULO HE LOANDA TO THE OONGO. 25

its mouth. On this narrow strip of land, where
space is as valuable as in some civilized cities, there
are three separate factories of which that belonging
to the Dutch Company is by far the largest and
most importanti On the ground occupied by this
establishment many handsome palms are planted,
to aid with their roots in keeping the loose soil
together. Where the peninsula is joined to the
mainland it is all overgrown with giant mangroves
and is very marshy in character, being to all intents
and purposes an island, for it is impossible to reach
the high ground beyond, otherwise than by water.
On the inner side of the little promontory is a deep
and capacious inlet, of the Congo, where there is
room for a whole navy to be moored. Here ships
of the greatest size can be anchored within fifty yards
of the shore.

The Dutch trading company of the Nieuwe
Afrikaansche Handels G-enootschap, occupies nearly
half Banana Point, and its site is healthy, for the
narrowing strip of land is swept by the sea breezes,
and all the washed-up refuse of the shore, together
with the garbage thrown out of the houses, is soon
gobbled up by the scapulated crows. These useful
birds are wisely protected at Banana, and are, in
consequence very tame, assembling in numbers on
the sandy shore to demolish and consume all putre-
fying matter that the land-crabs are too slow to eat.
The Dutch establishment is very large, and the white
employe's are perhaps nearly forty in number.
Kruboys, Krumanos, and Kabindas are used for all26	A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the ruder labour in the factories and steamers be-
longing to this company, and there are probably
from three to four hundred of these “ niggers ” in the
employ of the Dutch at Banana Point. There is a
subtle distinction between Kruboy and Kruman, or,
to use its Portuguese form, Krumano. The Kruboy
comes from Sierra Leone* and
the Liberian coast, and is much
sought for throughout West
Africa as an invaluable la-
bourer well worthy of his hire.
He is very independent and in-
variably returns home at the
expiration of his term of ser-
vice, and lives a rollicking life
amongst his relatives before he
re-engages. The “ Kruman ”
is an artificial name given to
the indigenous slaves of the
country—men, for instance, of
tribes, that are sold by their
merchants, who, in order to
avoid shocking British susceptibilities, call them
by the Portuguese rendering of Kruman (or Kru-
boy)—viz. Krumano. Then “ Krumano,s ” are also
obtained by other means than payment. If a native
in these countries steals from a white man, he is
compelled to become his slave, unless his people are
prepared to pay a large indemnity. Naturally, in

* Those at Sierra Leone are rather a separate colony from
the Kru country, which lies to the east of Liberia.

A il KELT-BOY.**

the Lower Congo
chiefs to EuropeanFROM 8A0 PAULO HE LOANDA TO THE CONGO. 27

nine cases out of ten, they do not care to do so, so the
unhappy “ nigger ” who has been caught stealing a
handful of tobacco or a piece of cloth (perhaps spread
out as a bait) becomes the slave of the white man he
has robbed. Such is the custom of the country, and
one that seems to meet everybody’s views just at
present. The native chief rules over a great number
of subjects, and can easily part with one or two if
“ squared,” and the white man stands greatly in need
of black servants—not independent freemen like
Kruboys or Kabindas, that will leave him to return
to their own country just as they are getting to
know his ways ; but a submissive slave that has no
choice but to follow his master everywhere and
remain with him always, knowing well what he may
expect if he runs away—and is caught. Slavery
certainly exists on the Lower Congo, as much as
it ever did; the only difference is that it is internal,
so to speak, and that owing to the vigilance of British
cruisers and the absence of a lucrative market now-a-
days, slaves are no longer exported from the Congo
as in former days. And slavery will continue to
exist, no matter under what name, as long as
European merchants stand sorely in need of labour,
and native chiefs are willing to “ apprentice ” or sell
their superfluous subjects for an important considera-
tion in gin, cloth, or guns. Any traveller who visits
the factories on the Lower Congo—except perhaps in
those belonging to the English—may see groups of
slaves in chains who are so punished for having run
away, and if he arrives at a time when a slave has28

A. JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

just been recaptured—possibly by his own relatives,
who have brought him cheerfully back, sure of a
reward—he will have an opportunity of studying
the application of the formidable cow-hide whips to
the runaway’s skin, and see the blood spirt from his
well-flogged back. As a rule, I am bound to say the
Krumanos are kindly treated. They are well fed,
and have their wives and children often with them
in their huts. If they were allowed to regain their
liberty at the end of seven years of service, without
being forced to renew their contract, there would not
be so much harm in this system. The Portuguese
method of government apprenticeship is one tolerably
free from abuses, and would work well on the Congo.

MANGROVE ROOTS AT BANANA.CHAPTER II.

THE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI.

Kissange—The Forest—Lissochilus giganteus—The Lagoons and
thkir Inhabitants—A Vegetable Venice—Birds—A Native
V ill age—Pets—Antelopes—A Crocodile Adventure—Ponta
da Lenha—The Biver forming its Delta—Boma—Under-
hill—Mussuka—Hell’s Cauldron—A Visit to Stanley—
Belgique Creek—Vivi—Stanley and the Natives—The
Dinner Party—One of Stanley’s Stations—Life at Vivi.CHAPTER II.

THE LOWER CONUO—
BANANA POINT TO YIYI

Early in Decem-
ber 1882,1 started
to ascend the
Congo on a
Dutch steam-
er, the Mo-.
riaan, and made
my first halt
at Kissange,
which is a
small trading set-
tlement some
twenty-one miles from
the sea on the
south bank of
the Congo,
and admira-
bly situated ^S|||!3

Lissochilus gigctnteus.32

A JOURNEY UR TEE RIVER CONGO.

for a naturalist who wishes to study the rich swampy
region of the Lower Congo with comparative ease
and comfort. Here I spent three most pleasant
weeks, enjoying the kind hospitality of Senhor
Ribeiro at the Dutch Factory. Indeed I have
since regretted the shortness of my stay, as there
was such abundant material for study, and at the
same time so many facilities for working in the
midst of one’s field of research without undergoing
privations or unnecessary fatigue. Away from
the temporary and feeble clearings that the few
commercial houses have made is grand majestic
forest towering up into the sky, and displaying
the most splendid effects which a rich and fan-
tastic foliage, a brilliant colouring of varied greens,
and a weird architecture of contorted and massive
trunks can produce.

Our adjectives are too puny to describe fitly the
vegetation of such places as Kissange, We want to
express ourselves in the tongues of Central Africa;
which have sometimes seven different terms to
express different kinds of forest. Beyond the actual
inclosures of the factories here, there is a splendour of
vegetable growth that defies an adequate rendering
either with the brush or the pen. The hot sun and the
oozy mud call into existence a plant life which must
parallel in rank luxuriance and monstrous growth
the forests of the coal measures, and reproduce for
our eyes in these degenerate days somewhat of the
majesty of the vegetable kingdom in bygone epochs.

I)

K1SSANGE FROM THE RIVERTEE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 35

In the marshy spots, down near the river shore,
are masses of that splendid orchid, Lissochilus
giganteus, a terrestrial species that shoots up often
to the height of six feet from the ground, bearing
such a head of red-mauve, golden-centred blossoms
as scarcely any flower in the world can equal for
beauty and delicacy of form. These orchids, with
their light-green, spear-like leaves, and their tall
swaying flower-stalks, grow in groups of forty and
fifty together, often reflected in the shallow pools of
stagnant water round their bases, and filling up the
foreground of the high purple-green forest with a
blaze of tender peach-like colour, upon which, I
should have thought, no European could gaze
unmoved. Yet the Portuguese merchants who lived
among this loveliness scarcely regarded it, and
laughed at the eagerness with which I gathered and
painted this a capim ”—this mere grass or reed, as
they call it.

Clumps of a dwarf palm, Phoenix spinosa, which
bears a just-eatable starveling date, hedge in these
beautiful orchids from the wash of the river, and
seem a sort of water-mark that the tides rarely pass ;
but the water often leaks through the mud and
vegetable barrier, and forms inside the ring of dwarf
palms many little quiet lagoons, not necessarily
unhealthy, for the water is changed and stirred
by each recurring tide; and in these lagoons
bordered by orchids and tall bushes, with large
spatulate leaves, and white shining bracts about

d 236

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

their flower stalks,* by pandanus, by waving oil-
palms, and by mangrove trees poised on tbeir many
feet, and telling out against the shining sky with
tbeir lace-like tracery of leaves—in these quiet
stretches of still water are the homes and feeding-
grounds of myriad forms of life: of blue land-crabs,
whose burrows riddle the black soil; of always alert
and agitated “ mud-fish,” flapping and flopping
through the ooze; of tiny amethystine red-beaked
kingfishers ; of kingfishers that are black and white,
or large and grey and speckled; of white egrets, of
the brown and stork-like Scopus umbretta; of spur-
winged geese; and of all-devouring Gypohierax
vultures. A rustling in the vegetation, and a large
varanus lizard slips into the water; or on some
trampled bank a crocodile lies asleep in the warm
sun, with a fixed smirk hanging about his grim
muzzle. These lagoons are places seething with life
—life that is ever stirring, striving, and active—and
when you suddenly arrive, slipping and splashing in
the watery footholds, the sudden silence that greets
you is rather the frightened expectant hush of a
thousand apprehensive creatures. Beyond the
lagoons and this strip of mud and water, rises an
almost impenetrable barrier of forest, nearly im-
possible to pass by land, but which is fortunately
pierced by many little arms or natural canals of
the Congo that intersect it and penetrate to the
firm dry land beyond. As you paddle gently in

* Muss sendee.THE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 37

a native canoe through the watery alleys of this
vegetable Venice, the majestic trees firmly interlaced
above and overarching the canal, shrouding all in
pale green gloom, the glimpses and vistas through
the forest that you get reveal many beautiful forms
of bird and insect life. Barbets * with red foreheads
and large notched bills
are sitting in stupid
meditation on the
twigs, giving a harsh
and mechanical squeak
if the too near ap-
proach of the canoe
disturbs their reverie.

Little African wood-
peckers are creeping
up the branches, deftly
turning round towards
the unseen side when
they observe you ;	Pogonorhyncus oeogaster.

large green mantises or “ praying insects 59 are chas-
ing small flies with their great pouncing forelegs,
and every now and then a blue roller-bird snaps up a
mantis in spite of its wonderful assimilation to its leafy
suiroundings. Farther into the forest, the canal, a
blind alley of water, stops, the soil becomes solid and
well raised, and a native path is discernible, leading
through the now more park-like and formal clumps
of forest to a distant village, whence the crowing of

* Pogonorhyncus ceogaster.38

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CJONQO.

cocks and the occasional shouts of the inhabitants
can he heard. But the birds do not lessen because
we are approaching the abode of men. Out of
the bosky trees little troops of black and white
hornbills suddenly start and flap their loose irre-
gular flight to another refuge. Violet plantain-
eaters gleam out in their beauty from time to time :
golden cuckoos, yellow-vented bulbuls,* green fruit
pigeons, grey parrots, parrots that are grey and
blue and yellow-shouldered, green love-birds, and a
multitude of little waxbills, a medley of diverse and
beautiful birds enliven this walk through the forest
along the black peat path with their loud cries,
their lovely plumage, and their rapid movements.
In the native village, which I thus reach, buried
in the forest that overawes a stranger with its
majesty, there are many indications of the neigh-
bouring fauna. These riverine natives along the
Lower Congo find it a profitable employment to
capture and tame every possible kind of mammal,
bird, and reptile, which they then bring down to the
English steamers or the merchants at Banana to sell.
Here, in this village near Kissange are young
mandrils with their little leaden-blue faces gazing
at you wistfully from the doorway of some native
hut. In neatly-made wicker-work cages constructed
from the light pithy wood of the baobab, many birds
are awaiting the departure of their captors for
Banana. Here is a green parrot,f green with a few

* Pyononotus.

f Pceocephalus robustus.THE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 39

red splashes on the wings, something like—perhaps
somewhat allied to—the Amazon parrot of South
America. Numberless little “ cordons-bleus,” wax-
bills, and weaver-birds, are twittering in their really
pretty cages. A poor little Galago lemur sits,
huddled and stupid, in his wicker prison, stunned
by the bright daylight to which he is exposed. The
sight of all these living things is too much for me;
and although I know how impossible it is to keep
live creatures when you are travelling, I yield
to the clamorous natives, and buy a cage of rare
barhets (one of which is illustrated on p. 37), five
in a charming little cage for a shilling, or at least
for a shilling’s worth of cloth at the neighbouring
factory.

Kissange is very nearly an island,* being encircled
by two arms of the Congo which only dry up
occasionally in the dry season; on the mainland,
where the land is really firm, more game is present
than on the islands and marshy banks of the
river. Harnessed antelopes,f bush-bucks,J Cobus and
Ceplialophus antelopes are found in certain quantities.
Crocodiles are not so numerous here as towards Boma,
where they become a positive pest. As an illus-
tration of their boldness and rapacity, I will cite the
following incident which has recently been reported
to me from this part of the Congo. A Portuguese
merchant was descending the river in his large native

* Kissange in Kongo means “ island.’’

Tragelaplms scriptus.	J T. grains.40

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

canoe. He was seated on a chair in the bow, and, as
the canoe glided along, he noticed a large crocodile
keeping up with it, and swimming under water. He
paid but little attention to the creature’s movements,
merely noting its constant pursuit to the canoe-men,
who laughed at its persistence. Suddenly, however,
the crocodile sprang from the water and seizing the
white man by the leg, nearly dragged him into
the river. The Kabindas, who were paddling, in-
tervened with great decision and presence of mind,
and heat the crocodile about the head with their
paddles so severely that he moderated his demands,
and went off with a foot instead of the white man’s
whole body. The victim was taken to an English
merchant of Ponta da Lenha, who is skilled in surgery,
and who, I believe, saved the life of the crocodile’s
victim by skilful treatment. This should teach
travellers on the Congo not to welcome the com-
panionship of crocodiles, but fire at them in and
out of season. Hippopotami are not so fre-
quently seen on this lower part of the river, but
become more numerous as we approach Boma.
The carnivora here are represented by civets,
lovely little genet cats and leopards, whose claws
are used to decorate the caps of the chiefs on the
Lower Congo.

The next settlement of importance is Ponta da
Lenha, where steamers call for supplies of wood-fuel
(whence the name in Portuguese—“ The Wood
point ”). Ponta da Lenha, forty-miles from the sea,THE LOWER CONGO —BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 41

and just out of the district of the mangrove swamps,
offers little of interest or note save its fine orange
trees, the only ones to be found on the lower river.
This place is barely above the level of the stream,
and the shore has to be protected with piles, as the
Congo is eating Ponta da Lenha away. Only a little
while ago, a French factory disappeared completely
into the water, which now flows twenty feet above
it. In the ordinary course of events this place would
long ago have disappeared without the intervention*
of man ; for the Lower Congo seems to be widening
its bed year by year, and even striking out new
issues towards the sea—at present all of them
blind alleys; but the Congo is so ambitious of having
a delta, that I am sure he will ultimately attain what
his older fellows in Africa, the Nile, the Niger, and
the Zambesi already possess.

Boma, once, and that not long since, the limit of
European extension on the Congo, lies about eighty
miles from the mouth of the river, and is the site
of many “ factories ” and trading establishments be-
longing to the English, Dutch, French, Portuguese,
and Belgians. There is also a flourishing Catholic
Mission here. The river at and below Boma somewhat
resembles the Congo at Stanley Pool in its great
breadth, its many islands, and the numberless water-
birds that haunt its banks. The sinister influence of
the barren stony hills and straitened stream that
marks the Cataract region is over, and Nature
expands in richness and luxuriance. No villages are42

A JOURNEY UP PEE RIVER CONGO.

found near the river until Yivi is reached. There is,
it is true, a sort of native town near Kissange, but
it is chiefly used for trading purposes, and is
almost abandoned in the rainy season. Boma is,
perhaps, the most unhealthy place on the Congo.
The heat is excessive, and behind the European
houses lie great swamps and fetid marshes, wrhich not
only give rise to much fever, but breed the most
terrible mosquitoes for size and bloodthirstiness
‘that I have ever known. Fortunately, both my
visits there, coming and going, were of short
duration, and I hastened to leave a place which,
whether from fancy or otherwise, seemed to me
eminently disagreeable.

Ascending the river towards Underhill, a settle-
ment of the Baptist Mission on the south bank of
the Congo about 110 miles from the sea, where
I had been invited to pass a few days on my way
to the interior, I noted the increasing asperity of
the river scenery. The rounded grassy downs of
Boma became abrupt and jagged hills with great red
patches of bare earth, and little forest remaining
in tbeir stony clefts. The graceful Hyphsene palms
with their fan-like fronds gradually decreased in
numbers until they finally and completely disap-
peared. Meantime the river narrowed, and wound
tortuously with many whirlpools and sunken rocks
amid the stern precipitous hills, hills that were
fast becoming mountains. I touched at Mussuka, a
point of departure for Sao Salvador, and Noki, aTEE LOWER OONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 43

trading station on both sides of the river, and
finally arrived at “ Underhill, ” the site of a large
Baptist Mission, a place known by the natives as
Tundua. “ Underhill ” stands a few miles from Vivi
on the opposite bank, and is situated amid really
picturesque scenery. The great river takes a broad
bend opposite the station, and is shut in on both
sides by the towering hills, so that it resembles
nothing so much as a beautiful mountain lake lying
in a profound gorge, save that the whirling, racing
current shows you on reflection, that there must be
a great river harassed and exasperated by the many
obstacles that incessantly beset its hurried course
towards the sea. Caught in this great bend, the
river tearing down from Vivi has to pass through a
somewhat narrow passage, and then hurls the whole
of its stream against an immense and imposing cliff
that really seems a great mountain side shorn in
half. It rises almost perpendicularly from the water,
which so boils, and. whirls, and seethes, and eddies
at its base, that this loop of the river has been called
by the Portuguese “ Hell’s Caldron.” The intense
red colour of the earth, where the cliff has been
scarped and bared by the rains, and its lurid
reflections in the streaks of smooth water ; the dark
purple-green woods that nestle in the sombre hollows
of the hills—hills that seem pitilessly to enclose the
scene and forbid escape—the unquiet water and the
ghoul-like vultures, always soaring in black and
white relief against the dark-toned background;4 4

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

all these details render the grim name singularly
applicable, though the scene to which it has been
applied has a savage beauty about it that redeems
the gloom.

The little mission-house was building when I first
went there, the principal element in its construction
being, as in most of the temporary houses on the
Lower Congo, what the Portuguese call “ bordao ”
and the English “ bamboo,” but which really is the
strong shafts of the full-grown fronds of Phcenix
spinosa, a species of dwarf palm, growing abun-
dantly on the river between Boma and the sea,
in the marshy districts and flat mud-banks that
border the widening river. The skeleton of the
house is first formed by a scaffolding of stout poles
cut from among the saplings of the neighbouring
forest, and in between these the “ bamboo” rods are
worked, and make an excellent and firm partition
through the chinks of which the air can freely
penetrate. Underhill is a pretty station, but so shut
in by natural obstacles that it is difficult to explore
much of the neighbourhood in the absence of any
path over the stony hills, where the strong grass,
growing often six feet high, does not conduce to a
pleasant walk.

I was preparing to make a little journey along
the south bank of the river, hoping ultimately to
reach Stanley Pool, when on the eve of my departure
the Belgique, a steamer belonging to the African
International Association, called at Underhill, andTHE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 45

the captain gave me a message from the chief
of Yivi station, inviting me to come over to see
Mr. Stanley, who had just returned from Europe.

I deferred my intended departure for a day, and ac-
companied the captain of the Belgique on his way
up stream to Yivi. Several times before, I had seen
this vessel pass the mission and then disappear, as it
were, into the very mountain side, for the entrance
to “ Hell’s Caldron” was strangely hidden, so that
to the great wish I entertained of meeting Stanley
in Africa, and discoursing with him there on African
things, was added a vague curiosity to' see what was
“ round the corner ” of this great gorge in the
mountains. What I did see, on turning a bend in
the straitened and harassed stream, here flowing
between precipitous hills of a thousand feet, was
Yivi, which, as it rose bright and glistening under
the afternoon sun, its white houses crowning a great
gaunt cliff, and gleaming out in their brightness like
some Eastern city on a fortress-hill, did, indeed,
hardly look a peaceful settlement, but rather the
stronghold of some river pirate and the storehouse
of his booty. The little steamer, fearful in those
days of struggling to the foot of Yivi Hill, where
the last strong rush of water was difficult to stem,
put into a little creek—Belgique Creek as it is still
called—and here we landed, and walked through moist
woods and dank ravines to Yivi, the last part of the
way being an arduous ascent along a red clayey road.
As we neared the station, increasing numbers of46

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

people were seen, till, arriving in the centre of the
great oblong space round which the houses stand,
it was like assisting at some huge African fair. Two
hundred and eighty Zanzibaris had arrived the day
before, in addition to those that were already at the
station, and then there were “ Kruboys,” “ Kabin-
das,” and many of the natives from the vicinity ; for
in addition to the already numerous arrivals, several
important chiefs with their crowds of followers had
come to hold a palaver of honour, a sort of afternoon
call, on “ Bula Matade,”* to welcome him back to his
work on the Congo. Here he was, seated on his
camp-chair, his pipe in his mouth, and a semicircle
of grinning kinglets squatting in front of him,
some of them smoking long-stemmed, little bowled
pipes in complacent silence, and others putting many
questions to “ Bula Matade ” as to his recent journey
to Europe—to “ Mputo,” the land beyond the sea,
as fhey call it—and receiving his replies with
expressions of incredulous wonder, tapping their open
mouths with their hands. I paused involuntarily to
look at this group, for Stanley had not yet seen me
approaching, and was unconscious of observation.
Perhaps he never posed better for his picture than
at that moment, as he sat benignly chatting and
smoking with the native chiefs, his face lighting up
with amusement at their naive remarks, while the
bearing of his head still retained that somewhat
proud carriage that inspired these African chief-

* Stanley’s Congo name, “ The Book Breaker.”TIIE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI, 47

tains with a real respect for his wishes, and a desire
to retain his friendship. Any one observing Stanley
at this moment conld comprehend the great influence
he possesses over the native mind on the Congo,
and could realise how that influence must tend
toward peace wherever Stanley’s fame has reached,
for to attach a friend of Stanley’s seems to the
natives scarcely less futile than attacking Stanley
himself. Stanley turned suddenly as the chief of
the station introduced me, and welcomed me in a
thoroughly cordial manner; then dismissing the
native chiefs, who had examined me curiously under
the belief that I was “ Bula Matade’s ” son, he sent
Dualla for some tea. Dualla was a handsome Somali
lad, son of the chief of the police at Aden, and versed
in many European and African languages. He had
been Stanley’s body-servant on the Congo since
1879.

On the first night of my arrival we were a larger
party—some twenty-seven white men in all—than the
ordinary dining-room would comfortably contain, so,
as the night was brilliantly fine and still, the long
dinner-table was spread in the open moonlight near
the edge of the jagged cliff, and here we sat long
after the meal was over, calmly enjoying the balmy
night, and listening to Stanley’s always vivid descrip-
tions of past African experiences, enhanced in this
case by such a splendid raise en scene to his discourse
as Yivi, the dark mountains, the rushing river, and
the quiet moonlight could lend. Yivi station is48

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

about 360 feet above tbe sea, and a clear 270 feet
above the Congo. The projecting mass of hill upon
which the station is placed rises higher as it nears
the river, and is almost inapproachable save from the
inland side, or by means of a road winding up from
the river bank. . On the left of this precipitous hill
a little slream, dashing in tiny cascades through a
series of small chasms in the blue-grey rock, gives
rise to some vegetation, and, indeed, rather pictur-
esque hanging woods, and fertilises the large gardens
and banana plantations that have been made in the
valley. This stream is very nearly perennial, but
in the dry season it occasionally fails, otherwise it
may be looked upon as the water supply of Yivi, for
its water is more agreeable to drink than that of the
Congo, which, though perfectly wholesome, is charged
with sandy sediment and has often a taste of weak
tea. On the opposite side of Yivi Hill opens another
valley, full of richly-hued green woods, rising and
falling till they reach the distant rolling downs that
rise above “ Hell’s Caldron.” Behind Yivi a huge
mass of rock towers up into the sky, scantily covered
with tufts of vegetation, and surmounted by great
blocks of stone that look like the remains of a cairn
or some Druidical temple.

To describe one of Mr. Stanley’s stations is no
very satisfactory task, for, by the time your descrip-
tion is printed and published, the place may be
utterly transformed, and indeed, so quickly do things
march now on the Congo that Yivi, the most stableE

VIVI FROM THE ISANGILA ROAD.tee LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 51

of all the establishments, is probably no longer as I
knew it. However, in the beginning of 1883, the
arrangement of the buildings was pretty much as
follows. On the summit, and near the riverward
edge of the cliff, was a flat and level platform, nearly
artificial, and about eighty feet square. Here were
placed several important bouses. The principal one
contained an upper story, with Mr. Stanley’s bed-
room, and on the ground-floor a large sitting-room,
surrounded by amply filled book-shelves, the doctor’s
room and laboratory, the bed-room of the second in
command, a “ store,” an office or bureau, and a gun-
room. This bouse was going to be removed and
rebuilt—or rather, an entirely new building was to be
put in its place, as it was hot and badly adapted for the
climate; the double walls did not seem to render
it much cooler, and moreover, bad become the home of
a colony of abominable little bats, whose squeaking,
both at dawn and sunset, was most fidgeting; perhaps,
however, on account of the bats, mosquitoes were
almost absent at Vivi, a great and appreciable
relief to those who suffer from their venomous bites.
The opposite building to “ Stanley’s House ” was a
large sort of one-storied barrack, containing a
number of bed-rooms for the white residents, and a
large dining-room open on three sides to the air.
There were also on this upper plateau, which might
be called the fashionable part of Vivi, an observatory,
a shower-bath, a pigeon-house, and the usual domestic
offices. From the verandah that runs along the

E 252

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

shady side of Stanley’s house a most beautiful view
of the Lower Congo, with its woody islands, its
swirling rapids, and noble downs may he obtained.
Here, also, are placed many comfortable seats and
chairs, and in the warm afternoon hours it is pleasant
to rest here, half dreamily, with a nice book from the
well-furnished library, and let one’s eyes wander from
its pages to the sun-steeped landscape below the hill.
From this raised square two broad flights of steps
lead down to an oblong space of ground with a long
garden in the centre, round which are placed houses
for white men, kitchens, stores, piggeries, fowl-
houses, and finally, apart from all the rest, a powder
magazine. Beyond these, and generally below, for
the “ white ” part of Yivi occupies the summit of
the hill, all the settlements and little tidy cabins of
the Zanzibaris, the Krurnen, and the Kabindas are
placed, each race forming, as it were, a little colony by
itself. This “ native town ” is scrupulously clean,
and some of the little compounds belonging to the
headmen, or to those whose married condition entitles
them to a more excluded way of living, are really
very pretty and bright, with their tiny plantations,
and flocks of chickens and Muscovy ducks. In any
direction, if you want to leave Yivi, you must go
down. The prettiest walk lies towards the little
brook. Thence, at sunrise and towards sunset, the
women wend their way with their pitchers balanced
on the head, to bring water for their households.
Lower down the stream, near where the road toTHE LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 55

Isangila crosses it, is the washing-place where, under
the shelter of a few well-placed umbrageous trees,
the women spend the noontime over the linen. It is
here that all the gossip is exchanged among the
coloured ladies; and it is here that, if your “ boy ”
obtains a few minutes’ leave, he comes to revel in the
scandal of black society.

Life at Vivi had a certain monotony, and one day
passed much like another, save that on Sundays no
work was done, and an air of decorous dulness
pervaded everything. When I stayed at Vivi it was
generally to obtain a temporary rest, and therefore I
led principally an indoor life and devoted myself to
arranging the facts I had already collected in divers
expeditious. My time passed much as follows. In
the early morning, about six, my Zanzibari servant
would come into my room with a tray of light
breakfast—coffee, bread and butter, sardines, &c.
I dallied over this meal with one of the hundred and
fifty hooks of the station library, and then sauntered
out in pyjamas to the shower-bath just outside the
house, and after refreshing myself with a good
douche, I dressed and took a walk to botanise or
sketch. At noon we all met at breakfast— or lunch—
which was laid on the long table in the nearly open-
air dining-room I have already mentioned. This
meal generally began with soup, and then there
would follow roast meat and boiled, the flesh of
sheep, goat, pig, or an occasional antelope; chicken,
cooked in different ways, curry, and all the most56	A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

dazzling show that tinned-meats could offer—not very
brilliant or toothsome these latter it must be owned—■
and I myself always preferred plain roast goat,
however tough, to the insipid contents of a tin,
notwithstanding the attractive title it might bear in
the menu.

Lisbon wine and Bordeaux were always on the
table, and occasionally beer. Breakfast wound up
with coffee and biscuits, and the meal finished, every
one separate?! to pass away the hot hours of the day
either in siesta or reading beneath the cool verandah.
This was the silent hour, when scarcely even a
Zanzibari was seen stirring, and where the European
perspired tranquilly in pyjamas. About four,
afternoon tea was about, or: afternoon coffee or
chocolate, as you preferred it. It was generally made
separately for you by your own “ boy,” and either
drunk in one’s own room, or enjoyed amid a group
of gossipers in the common sitting-room. Then work
began again in earnest. The pickaxes of the road-
makers, the hammering from the carpenter’s shop,
the cries of the Kruboys unloading cargo from a
steamer, the jabbering of the natives come to traffic
their products against the white man’s cloth, beads,
wire, and gin, all formed the busy turmoil that rose
from the awaking station, and which continued till
the sun was down, and the bell had sounded for
cessation of work. Then the cooking fires of the
Zanzibaris and the Kruboys twinkled in the dusky
bush, and the dinner-table was laid for the white men,THE LOWER CONGO— BANANA POINT TO VIVI. 57

with the pleasant glow of lamplight reflected on the
white cloth and the knives and forks, like a glimpse
of far-off civilization. Every one expanded at
dinner-time. The anxious chief forgot his anxieties;
those who thought they were going to die of fever
seemed at any rate resolved to die with a full stomach ;
the doctor rubbed his hands and looked hopeful;
people who had been “ distant ” with one another
during the day became cordial; and after the meal
was over, and the cigars and wine were placed on
the table, we would grow so interested in discussions
as to the relative merits of the governments, the
journals, and the theatres of our respective lands, that
in our conversation we were completely transported
b;,ok to Europe. So: much so, that when we bade
each other good-night, it gave quite a revulsion to
our thoughts to leave the brightly-lighted dining-
room, the laughing faces and the eager talk, and walk
off to one’s bedroom through the warm and scented
African night, where the Southern Cross rose above
that great rushing' river, and where the deep silence
was only broken at times by the cry of a night-bird
or the yelp of a distant dog.OUCHLDSCHAPTER III.

PALLABALLA AND YELLALA.

N ATI VE Y ILL AGES—AGRICULTURE—DOMESTIC ANIMALS—HOUSES—
Scenery—The Livingstone Inland Mission—Fiote the Lan-
guage of the Congo—The neighbouring Kings—Native
Superstitions—Native Feelings towards Christianity—King
Kongo-Mpaka—Cucurbits—The Lufu—Return to Yivi—
Journey to Yellala—Nguvi Mpanda and its amiable
Chief—The Scenery on the Road—The Grass—Grass-
hoppers—Kai—Dracaenas—The Chief of Yellala—Ntete
Mbongo’s Toilette—Journey to the Falls—The Falls of
Yellala—A Fish Breakfast—Return to Yivi.CHAPTER III.

PALLABALLA AND YELLALA.

Leaving Yivi for a time, I returned to Underhill, to
undertake the journey along the south bank of the
river for which I had made previous preparations,
with the intention, however, of returning to Mr.
Stanley’s station should I not succeed in my enter-
prise. I intended, at any rate, to visit the interest-62

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

ing native down of Pallaballa, which lay about six
miles from the Congo, due south from Yivi. Having
mustered my few carriers, most of them the riff-raff
of Boma, I left Underhill in the sultry noontime and
toiled at first up a steep and stony hill, most exas-
perating in character, where my feet slipped back at
every step off the sharp-edged stones. Then as the
little groups of Mission buildings vanished behind,
shut out by the brow of the hill, a fresh stretch of the
river Congo, rolling swiftly along through narrow-
ing banks, came into view, with Vivi rising high
above its north bank, a crest of white houses sur-
mounting a scarped red cliff. The road winding
down from this eagle’s nest to the riverside was very
distinctly seen. The stream of the Congo here,accord-
ing to Mr. Stanley’s soundings, is of immense depth,
ninety fathoms, and in the rainy season flows at the
rate of nine miles an hour, but to any one not knowing
this, it is hard to believe that this river, 500 yards
broad at most, is the same stream as the great Lualaba.

As one descends the valley, the river finally disap-
pears from view. It is flowing from the north, and
Pallaballa lies nearly due east. The path thither leads
you through two or three native villages of a com-
fortable and prosperous appearance, and suggesting
here and there by certain cunning shifts and con-
trivances that their inhabitants are not bereft of
savoir vivre. There are well-cultured plots of maize
and manioc, here and there a lime, and even an
orange tree (these latter rare), papaw trees, and thePALLABALLA AND YELlAlA.

63

beautiful passion-flower, which gives the fruit known
as maracuja or grenadilla, is carefully trained over a
framework of sticks. Little beds of earth are being
assiduously hoed, and are marked out with geome-
trical accuracy by means of the same device as our

HEN-HOUSE.

gardeners employ at home, a tight string tied from
peg to peg, only that in this case a sort of bast or
fibre is used instead of string. There are clucking
fowls with small chicks about them, carefully housed
in large hencoops made of withes and grass to64

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

protect the chickens from their many enemies ; and
for the hens to lay in, and the fowls to roost in at
night, neat little hen-houses are raised on posts, out of
the reach of snakes.

In a rough sort of shanty, constructed principally
of overlaid palm-fronds, are the goats and the sheep
(the sheep are of the usual Central African stock, with
short hairy coats, supplemented in the ram by a
splendid silky mane from his chin to his stomach) ;

CONGO HOUSE.

and even, rarely, we may see a black high-shouldered
bullock stalled in a not ill-fashioned manger made of
the same material.

The houses are well and neatly built, generally
raised a foot above the ground on a platform of
beaten earth. There is first of all a framework of
stout poles, one very long pole forming the apex of
the slanting and wide-spreading roof, and on this is
fixed a covering of thin laths and dried grass. The
roof extends some feet beyond the body of the house,PALLABALLA AND TELLALA.

85

and in front is prolonged to a sort of verandah,
further supported by two extra poles, and susceptible
of any modification, from being the shady space of a
few feet where the inmates of the house pass most of
their time, to becoming the great reception-place and
palaver-ground of kings. Here, as we pass, the in-
habitants of each house are nearly always assembled.
The women look up from pounding palm-kernels and
show all their teeth in a grin at the “mundele”
(white man); the men, squatted in lazy ease, take
their large-bowled pipes from their mouths and call
out a salutation, generally “ Mavimpi,”, whilst,
irresolute between .the threshold and the interior,
large-headed, round-eyed children mutely and dis-
trustfully regard the white man, who must in their
eyes as much embody some notion of uncanny bogy-
ism as the traditional black man does to English
children.

Around each village there is a grove of bananas, or
plantains, a perpetual source of food supply to their
cultivators. Two sorts of fruit are principally eaten
here; the plantain, which has no sweet taste, but is
excellent roasted and. eaten with butter, and the
richly sweet banana. ,	.	.

The style of scenery on the road to Pallaballa is
typical of the cataract region of the Congo, a succes-
sion of stony hills, covered with rough grass, and
rich, fertile valleys with luxuriant forests and run-
ning streams in their depths. About midway to
Pallaballa, you have to cross by means of a native

F66

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

ferry the river Mposo,* a rapid stream that rises
near Sao Salvador, and flows into the Congo exactly
opposite Vivi. Beyond this the road is all np hill
and down dale, till at length we descry a fringe of
forest which marks the site of Pallaballa, on the crest
of a great hill, 1600 feet high. As I pass through
the native village, the people cry out “ Mundele,

MOUTH OF MPOSO RIVER.

mundele,” and several come forward and salute me
witlr “ ’Morning,” a contraction of “ Glood-morning,”
which they have learnt from the missionaries. The
missionary of the Livingstone Inland Mission, who
was resident at Pallaballa, gave me a kind reception,
and a welcome meal was soon prepared for me by his

* Mposo means buffalo. Many African rivers are named after
animals.PALLABALLA AND YELLALA.	67

orders. There were delicious fried bananas, pounded
pea-nut sauce with roast chicken, “ palm-oil chop,”
and many other native dishes, supplemented with a
few European accessories. After dinner I attended
prayers with the missionary in the school-house,
where an English lady, one of the members of the
mission, was residing. Here some twenty people
were assembled, principally boys. There was a little
giggling at our approach, otherwise they were well-
behaved. The missionary prayed in Fiote (the lan-
guage of the Lower Congo) and in English, and also
read a chapter of the Bible in the same tongues. The
subject in Fiote was not wisely chosen, being a weari-
some record of Jewish wars, where familiar-sounding
Bible names were strangely mixed up with unintel-
ligible Fiote. All the while the black congregation
(swelled this evening by my five porters) sat stolidly
unmoved, although the missionary strove to infuse as
much interest as possible into his discourse. After
this followed a Moody and Sankey hymn in Fiote, in
which I felt anything but at home, and could only
make semblance with my lips to be following.
Finally, a short prayer finished up the whole, and
then began a ceremony which the natives would not
miss for the world. Each one came separately and
shook hands with the lady, the missionary and myself,
accompanying the shake-hands with a “ goo’-night,
Sir,” applied indifferently to either sex. We also re-
tired to our rooms, and although mine was rather
damp (there was a fine crop of mushrooms—alas!

f 268

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

not edible, and waving grass growing on my bed-
room floor), I had a comfortable bed and slept well.

It was very humid and wet at Pallaballa. Every
morning and evening a thick mist surrounded
everything and rendered the .place clammy and un-
healthy. There are four kings or chieftains in this
neighbourhood, Kongo-Mpaka, Nikiangila, Tantia,
and a small boy, whose name I forget. Kongo-
Mpaka is the head king, and only owes allegiance
to the king of Congo at Sao Salvador. A little
while ago one of the queens of this king of Congo
made a sort of progress through his dominions,
and was received with great respect at Pallaballa.
The local dialect here is a very pure form of the
Fiote (Fiote really means the “people,” the “mass”)
or “ Congo ” tongue, which has been studied by
Europeans ever since the days of Brusciotto (1659),
Proyart (1776), and Canecattim (1806). The
Portuguese has largely influenced this tongue, as may
be seen by the vocabulary I append; and perhaps
at Pallaballa there are even more terms of that
language in common use than farther north; nor
is this to be wondered at, when we consider that
Portugal has for four centuries exercised a domina-
ting influence, religious and political, over these
lands.

At Pallaballa the natives were, at the time of my
visit, disposed,to be impudent and even aggressive
towards white men, but during the last few months
of my stay on the Congo, they modified their tone,PALLABALLA AND YELLAlA.

69

owing to their commercial relations with Mr. Stanley’s
expedition,

They are very superstitious, and for every person
that dies somebody is made “ ndokki ” (or “ devil
possessed”), and has to take the casca poison.*
This is usually administered in such a way as to be
merely a strong emetic, under the idea that the
victim may “ bring up ” the devil, and cast him out
with his bile. They think a great deal of their

Nkimba,” and on the south bank of the river, where
Mr. Stanley’s influence is not as yet so firmly
established as in the neighbourhood of Yivi, it is
dangerous for a white man to offend these fanatics,
who will severely beat him (as they did a young
member of the Livingstone Mission) with their long
wands or staves in return for fancied slights. The
Nkimba are in all probability males undergoing
circumcision, and initiation into the rites of marriage*
They may be of any age, boys of eleven or men of
forty; but generally the “ Nkimbaship ” is under-
gone by young men. A fuller description of their
ceremonies and observances will be found in
Chapter XYI.

The people of Pallaballa may be said to
“ patronise ” Christianity, a religion which, in my

* This “ Casca ” poison is prepared from the thick, hard bark
of a large tree, Erythrophlceum Guineense, from 40 to 100 feet in
height, belonging to the tribe Dimorgphandrese, suborder Csesal-
pinise, Nat-. Ord. Leguminosse. See Monteiro, ‘Angola and River
Congo,’ vol.i. pp. 61-65 ; and Oliver, ‘Flora of Tropical Africa,’
voi. ii. pp. 320-321.70

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

opinion, they are in their present mental condition
totally unfitted to understand. When the missionary
holds a Sunday service in King Kongo-Mpaka’s
house, some twenty or thirty' idlers look in, in a
genial way, to see what is going on,- much as we
might be present at any of their ceremonies. They
behave very well, and imitate, with that exact
mimicry which only the negro possesses, all our
gestures and actions, so that a hasty observer would
conclude they were really touched by the service.
They kneel down with an abandon of devotion,
clasp their hands, and say “ Amen ” with a deep
ventral enthusiasm. The missionary, on the occa-
sion that I accompanied him, gave a short sermon
in Fiote, well expressed considering the little time
he had been studying the language. The king con-
stantly took up the end of some phrase, and repeated
it with patronising interest after the missionary,
just to show how he was attending, throwing mean-
while a furtive glance at his wives, who were not
pursuing their avocations outside with sufficient
diligence. A short prayer concluded the service,
and when the king rose from his knees, he promptly
demanded the loan of a hand-screw to effect some
alteration in his new canoe.

Hound Pallahalla the vegetation is very rich.
There is beautiful forest in the valleys wherein
pine-apples grow wild, and the bracken fern gives
a familiar air to the undergrowth in the woodland
glades. The CucurMtaeem are very noticeable here,PALLABALLA AND TELL ALA.

71

particularly one species that has most gorgeous
fruits; they are egg-shaped, about the size of a pear,
and covered with prickles. The outside is the most
brilliant orange colour; when ripe, the husk splits
into four sections, displaying the interior where the
black seeds are lying enveloped in pulp of the richest
crimson hue I have ever seen in nature. The com-
monest birds round Pallaballa are the grey parrot,
the Gfypoliierax vulture, and a small black hornbill.

In my journeys beyond this place I reached to
the river Lufu, but the extortions of the local chief,
the difficulty of procuring food, and the untrust-
worthiness of my carriers, who were secretly in
league with the natives, rendered any further pro-
gress along this inhospitable route inadvisable,
especially as Mr. Stanley’s road to the north of the
river was open to me, where I should be perfectly
free from the exactions of the native chiefs, and have
merely the usual physical difficulties of ordinary
African travelling to contend with. In fact, in the
end of 1882, this road along the southern side of the
Congo offered many obstructions which have since
been removed. The negro can only be ruled by
gentle force, and the long-suffering missionaries are
the worst people possible to deal with him. A “ rule
of love ’’ he takes for a confession of weakness, and
abuses it accordingly. When I had once entered Palla-
balla, where the Livingstone missionaries have been
patiently working for three years, I could not leave
it, either to go backwards or forwards, until I had72

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

paid the rascally old.king, Kongo-Mpaka, in the
missionary’s presence, a present of gin to the value
of 25s. The missionary felt humiliated at having to
interpret the king’s demand, but it was a case of
force majeure, and my kind host was powerless in
the matter, having been so often exposed to forced
contributions himself. However, this is all altered
now. Mr. Stanley’s agents have recently made
treaties with the chiefs at Pallaballa and in the neigh-
bourhood, and as a result of their efforts the southern
road now no longer offers the slightest difficulty to
even a solitary traveller. I returned to Yivi on the
first day of the New Year, 1883, and was in time to
participate in a very enjoyable dinner which cele-
brated the Jour de l’An. The succeeding week was
occupied in making various excursions and in pre-
paring for my great journey up the river, which was
to take place with the help, and under the auspices
of Mr. Stanley’s expedition. Amongst the various
shorter trips, however, which I made at different times
to places in the neighbourhood of Yivi, was a visit
to the celebrated Palls of Yellala, the greatest and
first-known rapids of the Congo, which I will here
describe because of their natural sequence to the
country already treated of, although I did not
actually see them until my return from the upper
river.

The Falls of Yellala are only some nine miles from
Yivi as the crow Hies, but by the'winding road it is a
distance of thirteen or fourteen. I started amid thePALLABALLA AND YELLALA.	73

morning mists that marked the commencement of the
dry season. The overarching grass, rank and high
with the previous rainy-season’s growth, was most
fatiguing and difficult to pass through, and before I
halted at the pleasant little village of Nguvi Mpanda,
I was cut and scratched and slashed to such an ex-
asperating degree that I was quite out of temper, the

CHIEF OF NGUVI MPANDA.

more so as myriads of little barbed seeds had crept
down the back of my neck, and were pricking me at
every motion of my body. At Nguvi Mpanda a few
minutes of welcome rest in the verandah of the
chief’s house, and long copious clrinks of creamy,
frothing “palm-wine ” just drawn from the tree,*
restored me to equanimity, and I was enabled to
reciprocate the profession of brotherhood on the part

* In this case, Blais Guineensis, the oil-palin, but the sap of
other palms, as will he seen farther on, is used as a beverage.74

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

of the amiable chief with like effusion. He had not
yet wearied of a whistle 'I had given him on a
previous visit, and u'sed it with unnecessary fre-
quency to enforce his commands. I ought to
remark, en passant, that the palm-wine was served
in a silver-gilt jug, and drank out of a silver-gilt
goblet. This will give you an idea of how civili-
zation is acting upon Nguvi Mpanda.

The path leading to Yellala branched off from the
Isangila road a short distance beyond this village.
For some half mile we wandered through plantations
of sweet potatoes and ground-nuts, and then emerging
from the thick vegetation, stood on the brow of a
great hill, from which an astonishing sweep of view
was commanded. We looked right across a wide
expanse of rolling grassy down and winding valleys,
at a colossal mass of rising-ground, surmounted by a
fringe of dark trees, where lay the distant village
of Yellala. To the right bold ranges of hills on the
other hank of the invisible Congo, and to the left
more hills from whence the little river Loa takes its
rise. The humpy valley at my feet seemed a long
basin of dish-like shape, shut in by these many
mountains. I call it a “ humpy ” valley, because it
was very unequal in surface. Little hummocks or
hillocks broke up its uniformity, and it was dotted and
strewn with blocks of white quartz, which seemed as
if they had been recently washed out of the crumbling
hillside by the heavy rains. A grand view for space
and aerial effect it was, and one moreover singu-PALLABALLA AND YELLALA.

75

lariy characteristic of this part of the Congo ; but
withal ugly, inhospitable, and tame. All alike, hills
and valleys were clothed with waving yellow-green
grass, the monotony only broken by the intrusive
blocks of quartz. Save in one or two sheltered valleys,
where a few pitiful oil-palms clustered, not a tree
was to be seen; and the little gnarled bushes here
and there to be found were almost covered with the
tall, feathery grass that was emphatically the king of
the country. The only signs of animal life were
very large grasshoppers, with green bodies and
scarlet wings, that whirred across the path, in a
blaze of scarlet, and then settled down on some
grass stalk and relapsed into a monotony of green.
The country was not lacking in water, fortunately,
and our immoderate thirst, after scrambling down
the rocky hillside, was amply quenched in the cool
limpid water that flowed through every valley and
ravine.

It was with great relief that we left this country
of grass and rocks behind us, and entered the
village of Ka'i, which was embosomed in rich vege-
tation. Here we paused to drink more palm-wine, for
the thirst engendered by the terrible scramble over
loose stones and through the rasping grass was over-
powering, and fortunate we were to be able to
quench it with freshly drawn “ malafu ” (the sap of
the palm tree), which, to my thinking, is nowhere so
delicious as in the environs of Vivi. Glood palm-wine
resembles strong sweet cider, and is quite as heady.76

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

Ka'i is little more than a suburb of Yell ala village,
and the short distance between the two is filled up
with plantations and banana groves. The rich
and rank vegetation that surrounds the neatly-built

houses is most amazing,

Dracaena SapoohinowM.

compared with the
barrenness outside. I
saw some remarkably
fine clumps of euphor-
bias * as I entered the
village of Yellala, and
further on, some hand-
some Dracaenas,f or
dragon trees, in full
blossom, with graceful
sprays of small cream-
coloured flowers depen-
ding from among the
spikey leaves, the gen-
eral aspect of the plant
recalling the Yuccas,
to which it is distantly
allied. It is the first
and only time that I
remember to have seen

this Dracaena on the Congo, and it seems curious to
find it preserved thus in a village. Indeed, it is an
interesting fact that so many plants should be found

*1 Euphorbia hermentiana.
f Dracsena Sapochinotvlci.PALLABALLA AND YELLAlA.

77

growing in the villages in this part of Africa, which
are never to be seen in the open. The euphorbias,
for instance, I have never seen in a wild state, so to
speak, but they exist in all the villages on or near the
Congo from Yellala to Boldbo. Their native name in
Congo is “ Ndiza,” but although they are known and
named, I never could ascertain that any superstitious
value or importance was attached to them which
would serve to explain their constant presence in
native towns; perhaps the real solution of this fact,
as also of the presence of large trees and luxuriant
vegetation round the villages, is that all the unin-
habited country is periodically set on fire by the
natives, and that only in those places which the
bush-fires do not reach can rich vegetation and forest
trees exist. It is evident—and, indeed, the fact has
struck Stanley, Schweinfurth, and most observant
African travellers—that the grass fires must largely
affect the “ phytography ” of Africa.

The chief of Yellala I discovered by chance in the
act of performing a very hasty toilet in my honour.
He was wrapping a piece of velvet around his loins,
in exchange for the dirty cloth that was his every-
day dress. He added to this a long livery-coat,
which must have been splendid in the days when it;
retained, all its buttons, and then, issuing from his
palisaded hut, he greeted me most politely. His
name, he told me, was Ntete Mbongo, and he was
chief of Yellala, of Ka'i, and of three other villages
with very long names that I forget. A long, conical,78	A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

shaped head, like an Aztec; a pair of very fine
expressive eyes, surmounted by strongly-marked
eyebrows, a well-shaped nose, and thin lips, made up
an original and certainly distinguished physiognomy ;
and though there were at times passing glimpses ol
expression that suggested cruelty and greed, they
were dispersed by an unusually pleasant smile for an
African chief. After the usual exchange of “Mbote,
Mbote ” (the common salutation of the Congo), and
the inspection of my tent and my bed, the chief called
to his little son, who came running up with a splendid
fish laid upon a banana leaf. It was freshly caught,
and the bloom of life still hovered about its pinky
scales. This, and a basket of eggs, was the chief’s
present; and, as I was very hungry, and had not
tasted fish for many weeks, the gift was welcome.
The fish, indeed, was delicious, tasting and looking
much like salmon, and there was so much flesh on it
that I bad, first, fish-soup, then boiled-fish with egg-
sauce, and then fish cutlets fried in butter, and then,
after I had thoroughly dined off him, there still
remained sufficient to satisfy the Zanzibaris. The
next morning, at an early hour, we started under the
guidance of the old chief to view the great Falls of
Yellala—to view them, not as my predecessors had
mostly done, from the summit of a high and distant
hill, but to contemplate this wonderful rush of water
from so near a point that the spray fell in fine
showers over the waterproof I had fortunately donned.
The journey thither was very fatiguing. At firstPALLABALLA AND YELLIlA.

79

the road led through plantations and pleasant forest
glades, but soon quitted this grateful verdure and
umbrageous foliage, and took us over a steep and
stony hill, where the rocks were disposed in ascents
which were almost stair-like, more resembling, how-
ever, the sides of the pyramids, for* each step was
fitted for a giant’s leg to mount, being often three
feet high, Faraji, one of my Zanzibaris, hoisted me
laboriously up each successive block, while the agile
old chief, having wisely divested himself of his blue
velvet, skipped up the steep ascent like any goat.
At length we reached the highest point, and then,
imagine my disappointment—instead of looking sheer
down on the river, as I had hoped, another valley of
waving grass, and yet another hillside lay before
us. The descent was little less fatiguing than the
climb had been, for the legs grew weary and palsied
with continual jumps of three feet from block to
block. Then the grass of the succeeding valley tore
and scratched us, and as I mounted the next, and
what seemed the last, ascent, I was convinced that
the Falls of Yellala could never reward me for such
exertions.

However, we eventually ceased to ascend, and as
the path began to round the summit of the hill, we
looked down on an imposing scene, whilst the sudden
turn in the path brought to our ears a deafening roar
of falling water.

It was a grand view, and the very position from
which we gazed on this scene was enough to render80

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

it more than usually striking. The path hung just on
the edge of a conical hill, and here, where we paused,
a great slab of basalt jutted out over a terrible
precipice. From this projection we looked down
some hundred feet on the giant Congo, leaping over
the rocks and dashing itself wrathfully against the
imprisoning hills. Several islands bestrewed its
stream, one especially remarkable from being a mass
of velvet woods This was called the “ Island of
Pelicans,” for numbers of these great birds used this
inaccessible spot as a breeding-place.

Before the first fall took place the river came
gliding on so smoothly, with such a glassy sur-
face, as if never suspecting the terrible conflict
before it, and when at first it met the rocks and
the descent it streamed over them almost unresis-
tingly until, exasperated by repeated checks, in
the last grand Fall of Yellala, it lashed itself into
white and roaring fury, and the sound of its anger
deafened one’s ears, and the sight of its foam dazzled
the eyes. I had wished to pause long on this rock,
and even make it the limit of my journey, hut the
old chief, who was enterprising enough to personally
conduct a party of Cook’s tourists (and who knows
that he may not yet do so ?), insisted on my comple-
ting the descent, and viewing the falls from their
banks. I really doubted whether I could ever
manage to do so without at any rate seriously
damaging myself in the perilous enterprise, or even
tumbling headlong into the river ; but somehow, byc11)('CRiV(>r C('V nr. hpforfi th&mtHx of }r//n/w-aPALLABALLA AND YELLIlA.

83

means of a rope and a stout rod, I managed at last
to reach a ledge of rock, where the spray of the
great waves fell, and thence I made my way to a
series of little caverns in the wall of stone, whence I
could view the Falls of Yellala at my ease.

In all probability the Congo never descends here
more than twelve feet at a time, but the constant
succession of falls and the obstructing rocks lash the
water into a state of indescribable fury. It is a
splendid race of waves. Some seem to outstrip the
others, and every now and then the water rebound-
ing from the descent meets the oncoming mass, and
their contact sends a shoot of foam and clouds of
spray into the air. The rocks near the water’s edge
are covered with a long, filamentous water-weed of
intense verdure, and looking like masses of long,
green hair. White plumbago and many bright
flowers are growing in the interstices of the grey
rocks, over which large blue and red lizards chase
the flies that are half-stupidly basking in the sunlight.
There is a great overhanging mass of rock which
the shade never quite deserts, and where the native
fishermen are frying the just-caught fish for their
mid-day meal. The wicker-work fishing baskets and
traps are lying about, emptied of their contents, of
which such as are not being smoked or grilled are
tied together in threes and fours, and put in the shade
till their captors are ready to depart. Sometimes one
finny monster, as big as a salmon, is lying apart by
himself, still gasping with his poor expanding and

G 284

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

contracting gills, as lie lies in a death agony in the
dry, hot air. Soon his red gills and his entrails will
he torn out and thrown where other heaps of fish
refuse are already lying—centres of attraction to the
buzzing flies and the fly-hunting lizards, and an all-
absorbing theme of contemplation to the hungry hlaclr
and white vultures that perch irresolutely on the
neighbouring rocks.

The chief, and most of the men who accompanied
us, had stripped, and were bathing with much merri-
ment and satisfaction in the little weirs and back-
waters of the river. After his bath the prince of
Yellala went and sat on a cool ledge of rock under
the overhanging grotto. Here he invited me to
come and partake of an impromptu meal of grilled
fish. This I was in nowise loth to do; so we got
out some salt, and some young ears of green Indian
corn, which the thoughtful Zanzibaris had brought
with them, and ate a most appetising breakfast of
roasted maize and grilled fish—fish that a few
minutes before had been gasping in the wicker-traps,
and that were now served to us with their tails in
their mouths, precisely as whiting are at home.

When my sketches of the Falls were finished, I
wished to return, and in spite of the noonday sun,
began to clamber up the rocks, and regain the
mountain path leading to the village. The old
chief, wiser than I, tried hard to persuade me fo-
rest by the cool river-side until evening ; hut, some-
how, a strange fit of obstinacy possessed me, and IPALLABALLA AND YELL ALA.

85

ran a very near risk of getting sunstroke as a
reward. The fierce heat radiating from the rocks —
which, indeed, were too hot to be touched without
hurting the hand—and the exhausting toil up this
succession of stone blocks were too much for me,
and, by the time I reached the outskirts of the
groves bordering the village, I threw myself down
in the grateful shade utterly sick and faint. I only
mention this unimportant fact to show you that
some Africans are really susceptible of thoughtful
kindness; for, in this case, the old chief, seeing me
exhausted and ill, became most concerned, and sent
off one boy to the village to bripg me some of his
precious rum, and another to the nearest brook for a
calabash of cold water. Whilst these messengers
were absent, he cut a large banana leaf, and fanned
me with it gently, looking all the time most sympa-
thising. I revived long before the rum came,
though unfortunately the old chief insisted on my
taking a drain of this nauseous compound. On my
return to the village, he supported me carefully with
one arm ; and altogether, though my slight indispo-
sition was unworthy all this attention on his part,
the Chief of Yellala impressed me as a kind-hearted
old man. I have met with so many incidents of
genuine feeling and sympathy from the natives
everywhere on the Congo, that I am sure they are
v people of finer natures than the degraded negroid
coast tribes. That night, soon rested from my
exertions at Yellala, I set off and walked back to86	A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

Vivi, ten or eleven miles away; but this journey
occasioned me no fatigue, for the sun was down, and
the glorious full moon had uprisen in the soft grey
air, shining upon hills, and rocks, and palms and
native villages; while a feeling of absolute peace
prevailed over all, and no noise was heard but the
cry of the goat-suckers and the stealthy rustling of
our footsteps in the herbage.CHAPTER IY.

YIVI TO ISAtfGILA.

V

My Zanzibaris—The Grass—Nairn Mpanda—Behaviour of
the Children—The Valley of the Loa—Pleasures of
Bathing—The Camoensia—Sadika Banza—A Pet Fowl—
The African Flora—The Buzi—The Bundi—Rain—Awk-
ward Travelling—The Lulu—After the Storm—Hornbills
and the Ducks—The Ngoma Falls—Stanley’s Name of
Bula Matade—The Future of Ngoma—Isangila.CHAPTER IV.

VIVI TO ISANGILA.

CONGO GRASSES.

Ov January 7th, 1883, I leftVivi for Isangila, and
Stanley Pool. Mr. Stanley Avas very ill Avith fever90

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the day I started; hut although he was burning
and shivering alternately, he would not let me go
forward without ascertaining that everything which
could aid me in my journey had been placed at
my disposal; perhaps the most valuable help he ren-
dered me was to attach to my person, as escort, three
of his favourite Zanzibaris, Faraji, Mafta yu Hali,
and Imbono—and it will be long before I forget
them, or cease to regret the almost affectionate service
they bestowed on me.

Before I start once more in imagination on my
long journey up the Congo, these three faithful
servitors deserve a few words of individual
description.

Mafta, you would at once call a thoroughly
respectable person, and I was so soon impressed by
his superior appearance that I made him head man
of the caravan. He was perhaps approaching
middle-age, and his well-made figure of moderate
height was neatly dressed in white cloth. Though
his face was nearly black, the features were well
formed and very Arab-like. His eyes were quietly
humorous, and though he rarely laughed, yet he
could express much sedate merriment when his eyes
twinkled and his. white teeth gleamed in concert.
The next one was Faraji, a young man in all the
plenitude of physical development, a good-natured
giant, with a power in his muscular form that his
lazy intellect hardly wotted of. Then came one of
those worthy characters, Imbono, who illustrated theriri TO ISANGILA.

91

proverb, “ handsome is as handsome does,” for his
uncouthness was forgotten when you found what an
untiring and never-grumbling worker he was. Mafta
was a very religious Mahomedan, who never touched
any fermented liquor and looked pained when his
laxer companions did so. Both Faraji and Imbono,
although nominally Moslem in faith, became sad
backsliders on the Congo. They drank fermented
palm-wine when they could get it, and became very
forgetful of the hours of prayer. Laziness was
Faraji’s besetting sin, and he was a great framer of
plausible excuses. Imbono had no fault as a servant,
save that he was ugly.

Having assembled my sixteen porters, and sent
them on in advance to the first camping-place, I
bade my last good-byes, and turning my back on
white houses and white faces, rapidly descended
the red hill, crossed the little brook, mounted another
hill, passed quickly through a native village, where
the dogs and the people rushed out to salute us, and
then, gasping with heat and exasperated by the stony
ascent, I arrived on the top of a small mountain and
paused inevitably to regain my breath. Thence we
trudged along through high grass that very much
circumscribed the view. It. is terribly annoying
that all-obscuring grass; one of the first and fore-
most of Africa’s petty disagreeables. Some of this
monstrous herbage scattered on us barbed seeds
that were armed at one end by a sharp needle-point
and surrounded with short reversed hairs, so that,92

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

once the seed entered the clothing it could only work
inward and not backward. Soon our bodies were
pricked and scratched and irritated by the sharp-
pointed awns that had penetrated through the
innermost clothing to the skin.

Nguvi Mpanda, the next village on the road, is
surrounded, as are most Congo hamlets, by splendid
forest trees and well-kept plantations. Before we
entered it the path wound through many fields of
manioc (which gives the edible root so largely
consumed in these regions), and in these fields
women, who are cleaning the weeds away with
strongly made native hoes, look up and scream to
one another, “ Mundele, mundele,” and disperse
with shrieks of frightened laughter. The little
wondering children forget to follow their mothers in
their astonishment, and stand gazing at me, open-
mouthed with awe, as I pass, hut when I stop to pat,
with kindly meant gesture, their little dolicho-
cephalic shaven pates, their terror finds tongue, and
they burst into prodigious roars of agonised fright,
rushing with little pattering feet over the newly-tilled
beds, never daring to look behind at the white bogy,
nor to stop till they are in their mothers’ protecting
arms, where they are received with laughing
sympathy. The chief of Nguvi Mpanda stops us as
we pass his verandah, under which he sits smoking
with the village notables, and proffers palm-wine
with hospitable insistance; which I do not like to
decline, so I hastily quaff the freshly drawn “ malafu ”VIVI TO IBANG1LA.

93

from a narrow-necked gourd and then tramp on again
behind the men through more plantations of manioc,
ground-nuts, and Indian corn, till we arrive at
another village, with another hospitable chief, this
time wearing a very bushy beard and moustache.
However, if we are to reach the river Loa that night,
where the first camp is fixed, there is no time to
dally on the road, so we hurry on, waving aside,
with deprecating thanks, all offers of palm-wine,
which, as a beverage, palls with constant repetition.
Then the winding path—winding for no apparent
reason but the innate tendency of men to walk in
curves—becomes disagreeably rocky, all sharp stones
and sudden descents; then a little bit of marsh
intervenes, and so we are in the valley of the Loa,
or in the valleys, rather, for canons and ravines in-
tersect the hills in all directions.

It is not a beautiful country hereabouts. It looks
seared and yellow on the hillsides, and spotted with
unpleasant, scrubby little bushes, giving no shade,
and bearing unsightly, uneatable fruits. Along the
little stream, where I go to take a bath, through the
tall rank grass that borders the channel, buffaloes
have passed and browsed some few hours before, and
left some traces of their pasturing, the whole place
being redolent of a farm-yard smell. I undressed,
and placed my clothes on the stones. Oh ! the woes
of inexperience. All along the road I had seen
my men slapping themselves with leafy branches
to keep off the flies, but I, being clothed, felt no94:

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

inconvenience, and therefore drew no inference from
their actions. Now that I am naked myself, myriads
of small black flies settle on me, and raise little points
of blood wherever their needle-like probosces pierce
the skin. My bath is but a short one, and is, while
it lasts, total immersion, after which I hurriedly
drag on my clothes, to screen my smarting, itch-
ing skin. Black blood-sucking flies, little creatures,
smaller almost than a midge, are a prominent annoy-
ance in some parts of the “ cataract ” region. They
are not so noticeable either on the lower river below
the falls nor in the open forest country above
Stanley Pool. The first night, after an eight-mile
walk from Tivi, we camped above the little river
Loa, in a country that was somewhat harsh and
stony, although in the deep ravines there was
thick forest. Here were growing in abundance
large, compact bushes of Camoensia, a plant with a
beautiful pendulous blossom of creamy-white, with
a golden centre, and the very delicate, unequally
shaped petals lined with a narrow bordering of dark
brown. Camoensia * is a member of the great
Leguminous or bean-like order of plants, but it has
no very near allies in Africa or elsewhere. It was
first noted by Welwitsch (the great Herman natu-
ralist who so largely contributed to our knowledge
of South-West African flora) in Angola, and
he appropriately named so lovely and tender a

* G. maxima, in this case—see illustration, Chapter XII.VIVI TO ISANG1LA.

95

flower after tiie great poet of his adopted country.*
In the still warm night, the clove-like odour of these
flowers becomes almost overpowering, but there is
nothing sickly or narcotic in their perfume.

The next day I stopped to lunch in a large village,
Sadika Banza, the last collection of habitations we
should meet with on our route. It was a largish
native town, divided into several great squares by
hedges of euphorbia. The chief, although said to
be somewhat cruel to his subjects—he is indeed
suspected of keeping up human sacrifices—is im-
mensely polite to Europeans, much resembling in
this certain Eastern potentates who receive distin-
guished strangers with such hospitality that they
feel obliged to overlook the sufferings of the poten-
tates’ own people.

The chief of Sadika Banza sent me eggs, bananas,
and a fowl on my arrival. The fowl, a somewhat
aged male, was not immediately needed, so he was
tied by the leg to a tent-peg. While in this
fettered condition, all the other village cocks took a
mean advantage of him and advanced to battle.
There would have been little left of my gift horse—
certainly he was half-plucked—had I not intervened
and carried him into my tent. Between this bird
and myself a strange attachment arose. At first I
deferred eating him because he was so tough and
thin; then gradually he became a privileged pet,

* Welwitsch was in the employ of the Portuguese Govern-
ment.96

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

allowed to roost every night in- my tent. During
the day-time, when we were marching, he was tied
up with the cooking-pots and carried on a Zanzibari’s
head, and directly the caravan stopped to rest, this
Gallus Africanus was released, and trotted round the
encampment, finding all sorts of inexpressibly deli-
cious things in the thick grass, to which he lustily
called the attention of a harem of phantom hens.
In every village where we paused to rest he gave
battle stoutly to the local chanticleers, and so iden-
tified himself with the honour of the expedition that
when he was killed and half-eaten one evening: bv a
tiger-cat, we felt we had lost a doughty champion.
Sadika Banza is like nearly every Congo village,
placed on a high hill, and the path which leads up
to it is arched over and hidden by the immensely
thick grass which grows ten and twelve feet high.
The trial to one’s patience occasioned by this
terrible herbage is very great, and I am sure the
grass produces more loss of temper, and causes
consequently more nervous fever than anything in
Africa. The act of continually pushing apart the
intercrossed blades is alone very fatiguing to the
arms, while the face is scratched and tickled by the
seeds and awns, and the shins are bruised by constantly
coming into contact with the stout, inflexible lower
stalks. The grass effectually shuts out all prospect
of one’s surroundings, and harbours and conceals
snakes, buffaloes, and hostile natives. I don’t know
a more despairing outlook than on arriving at theVIVI TO IS AN OIL A.

97

top of a hill in Africa to look down on a tract of
waving grass. If it be a lake, you can either cross
it in canoes or go round it; or if you look forth on
a sterile desert you feel you may hurry over its
sterility and at least see your way before you. But
grass! How are you to know what dangers it does
not veil ? Quagmires, pitfalls, human enemies, or
noxious beasts ? Fortunately this part of the Congo
region is not all grass; the valleys are filled with
fine forests, where you may walk pleasantly at
mid-day in the cool, sweet shade, under the grandly
overarching trees. And here it is that the African
flora is best represented. On each side of the path
are beautiful cannas, thickly growing, with their
crimson flower-spikes and yellow-green leaves telling
out strongly against the dark purple-green foliage
behind. In the interior of the wood may be
discerned flecks of colour caused by the orange
flowers of a species of Jatropha,* and by the delicate
... pinky-mauve blossoms of the Amomum. There are
strange Arums and Anonas and many sprays of a
scarlet Musscenda, which grows as a tall tree, and of
a. large white Musscenda, clematis-like, trailing over
the bushes and undergrowth. Myriads of little blue
Commelynce deck the ground, and there are blue bean-
flowers and white, purple Emilias and Gynurce,
mauve and white Cleome, and large yellow mallows,
while for absolute gorgeousness nothing can
compare with the divers gourds and seed vessels of

* J. multifida.

H08

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the many species of Cucurbitaceos, which when ripe,
split open to expose the crimson interior, where the
black seeds are laid in tempting rows to invite the
birds to assist in their distribution. Indeed the
whole effect in floral colouring like this is to suggest
a tremendous competition going on amongst the
many plants for the favourable notice of birds and
insects, as if the flowers were advertising their
advantages, and saying to the bees, “ Your
patronage is earnestly solicited.” Certainly every
taste is consulted, and every bait is offered in
the way of gaudy colour and attractive scent, and all
to ensure the possession of large families of children,
and to effect their dispersal about the world.

In tropical Africa, at least, is invalidated the
theory of some naturalists, that the equatorial re-
gions cannot offer flower-shows like those of the
temperate zone.

As we near the little river Buzi, the forest comes
to an end, and on the further side of that stream the
country is harsh and stony. We camped out on the
top of a small eminence, and were much troubled by
horrible little black flies which settled in clouds on
one’s hands and face, and sucked blood until they
fell off senseless.

The next day we reached the JBundi. This stream
lies at the bottom of a very deep ravine, and though
it is over thirty feet broad, it flows absolutely hidden
under the magnificent forest that overshadows its
tumultuous course. The descent and ascent of thisVIVI TO ISANOILA.

99

ravine are extremely steep, and as the path lies
through dank forest, and is on a clayey soil, the pas-
sage requires considerable care to avoid slipping and
rolling head foremost into the river. Several of the
carriers do come down now and again very sharply
in a sitting posture, but as it is a point of honour not
to let go their loads, no casualty happens to the
luggage. As the river was swollen and extremely
rapid, I crossed it on the shoulders of Faraji, who
was supported both behind and before by the other
two Zanzibaris, and beyond getting my feet wet, I
reached the other side in perfect comfort.

Between the river Bundi and the Lulu lay a dis-
mal region. One might say, fancifully, that it was
under the enchantment of some ill-disposed wizard
who had cast a spell over everything; perhaps the
evil genius of Africa trying to discourage the pene-
tration of white men into his secrets. The grass is
tall, sometimes eight and nine feet high. When it
is dry it cuts you like a razor. It slashes you across
the face and over the backs of your hands. The
blades intercross and bar your way like hostile
sabres; they insultingly whip off your helmet; they
fetter your legs and interlace themselves round your
ankles ; but, like most African difficulties, they lose
much of their resisting power if boldly encountered.
Squeeze your hat on tightly, lower your head, put
your hands in your pockets, and charge through
them, and they will yield before you. But evidently
the wicked genius, seeing this does not deter us, calls100

A JOURNET UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

another agent to his aid. About midday, the sky
being fairly serene, I notice near the horizon little
masses of blue-grey cloud, hut, as they are blowing
away from us, I think them unworthy of attention;
until my men, who better know the tokens of African
weather than I, look at them and say “rain,” and
although I hope they may be wrong, gradually those
little masses of cloud creep round the horizon,
lifting themselves up bit by bit, and soon the whole
heaven becomes covered with a pail of awful black
cloud. We have arrived at a little camping-place
under some shade, and here, in spite of my ideas of
the connection between trees and lightning, my
carriers advise me to stop. The rain had already
begun to hiss down, but fortunately my tent was
soon pitched, and my luggage brought under shelter.
The ground, however, was very dank, and oppressed
by the gloomy sky, I felt disposed to be miserable,
especially as clouds of horrible mosquitoes tormented
me continually, and sadly inflamed my hands with
their bites. However, with that adroitness which
most uncivilised races possess of quickly lighting a fire,
my men had soon made a splendid and comforting
blaze out of the fragments of wet timber that lay
around, and I presently had water boiling and a
steaming hot cup of coffee ready. Then, when I
had hollowed out a round space in the centre of the
tent, and filled it with red-hot wood ashes, which
diffused a grateful sense of warmth and dryness, and
at the same time routed the many insects, and when myV1VI TO ISANGILA.

101

tent was firmly shut against the rain, and I had satdown
to drink my coffee and read some old newspapers, my
feeling of discontent had completely vanished, and I
passed a not unpleasant evening writing and reading.
It is thus, by taking a little trouble to make one-
self comfortable under unpromising circumstances,
that one may alleviate many African disagreeables,
and avoid much ill-health.

But the next morning was prepared for us a still
harder trial. Each broad blade of grass was charged
with huge raindrops, and as we pushed through their
interlacing stems they showered on us a generous
tribute of water. In five minutes I was wet through,
and with heavy clinging clothes had to pass on
through the wet vegetation, the water from the
leaves “ swishing ” on me as I went. Then followed
worse still. The clayey path became interspersed
with muddy pools, and soon it was a series of black
morasses, connected by an occasional isthmus. Now,
at last, the track frankly recognised the hypocrisy of
pretending to be a path at all, and for four miles
revelled in a wide marsh. This I had to cross on the
shoulders of Faraji, who, if he had ever heard recited
in the cafes of Zanzibar the voyages of Sinbad the
Sailor, must have thought that I strongly resembled
the “ Old Man of the Sea,” by the firm way in which
I clung to his stout shoulders. However, he made
little of his burden, and strode and splashed on
through water and mud and sharp reeds, till at
length, after the wearisome march, came a little102

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

sandy tract, then clear, water, and finally the solid
earth reasserted itself. The evil genius must evi-
dently have regarded this as his severest trial, for
the water in parts reached to the chest of the tall
Zanzibaris, and the footing was slimy and treacherous.
Perhaps he was watching our difficulties under the
form of one of those weird, uncanny marsh-birds
which ever and anon rose from the stagnant ooze,
and uttering a dismal cry, flapped its heavy-winged
flight through the miasmatic air. It did not rain,
but the atmosphere was charged with clammy
moisture, and gloomy tiers of clouds shut out all
glimpses of sunshine and brightness. When we at
length reached firm land, the quaking marsh was
exchanged for harsh rock and sharp-cutting stones.
Nasty, ill-tempered looking little hushes, all gnarled
and crooked with peevishness, and hearing lead-
coloured, uneatable fruits, dotted the dull red soil.
There was no sign of animated life—no birds or
butterflies; all seemed deserted and lone. But the
hour of our deliverance drew nigh; from a stony
height by this time attained, I suddenly looked down
on the river Lulu, which was rolling its brown flood
through a beautiful and thickly-wooded ravine. We
hastened towards it and were soon at its banks; hut
the sorcerer’s power was not yet exhausted. The
river was in full flood, and had swept away the
rough suspension-bridge of lianas, which was used
on occasions when the stepping-stones were covered.
So I had to sit down and wait till the ZanzibarisVIVI TO ISANOILA.

103

arrived—for I always walked so quickly that I was
invariably in advance of the caravan—and two of
them carried me across the blood-red stream, charged
with the red soil of the hills which the heavy rains
of the preceding night had washed by many tempo-
rary rivulets into its swollen current. On the other
side of the river Lulu every one seemed inclined to
repose from their fatigues. The loads were all dis-
posed round the camping-place, the tent was pitched,
and the breakfast put in preparation. In the mean-
time the majority of the men went down to bathe.
I took off my wet things and laid them on great
boulders to dry, and also went to wash in the river.
The water was refreshing and cool, but unfortunately
the horrible little black flies were still here, and ren-
dered any uncovering of one’s person torture, for they
settled in clouds on the naked skin, spotting it with
little points of blood. After a good rest and an
enjoyable meal, I started ahead once more with my
Zanzibaris. The influence of the bad genius was
clearly over, and that of the good fairy had begun.
A different atmosphere reigned here. The lowering
clouds were lifting and the genial sun was dispersing
the general humidity. In the forest through which
the little track or foot-wide path meanders, the
universality of beauty fills me with quiet delight.
Delicious, penetrating scents from the many flowers
embalm the air; the chirping of insects and the
pleasant low cries of birds gently vibrate on the ear,
and the eye is continually feasted with the displays104 A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

of colour or the endless deploying of graceful forms.
Looking up towards the sky, you see the cerulean
blue chequered with a fantastic lace-work of leaves,
and little specks and dapplings of sunlight are scat-
tered lightly over the outer groups of foliage, but
hesitate timidly before the great depths of solemn
gloom in the heart of the forest. Much animal life
is evident here. At almost every turning, the path
introduces you brusquely to a happy family of
monkeys, who have descended from the tree-tops to
feed on the small ground-growing berries, or to
plunge their greedy, wasteful fingers into the crimson
pulp of the straying gourds. They bound up into
the trees on your approach, taking refuge, well within
gunshot, on large platforms and nests of twigs, which
they seem to have constructed on the upper branches.
It would be absolute brutality to take advantage of
their confidence, and bring them down with a bullet
from your Winchester, when you have plfenty of pro-
visions in your cases, and stand in no immediate need
of roast monkey. Besides, if you are but discreet,
and behave as becomes Nature’s guest* your great
hostess will show you many of her quaint and
beautiful children. The green fruit-pigeons startle
you in the trees with their strange cry, commencing
with a whirring noise, two or three clucks, and
ending up with a sweet and prolonged coo. The
bee-eaters are swooping in eccentric circles on the
many flying insects, and little hornbills sit in staid
immobility on bare and exposed branches, watchingVIVI TO ISANGILA.

105'

the bee-eaters, as if they would like to imitate them,
but felt that such great exertions were unbecoming*
These hornbills, large or small, come to the
ground to feed almost invariably, no doubt, because
it is there that most of their food, such as grass-
hoppers and the exuviae of animals, usually lies.
Still they are a curious instance of an arboreal
type of bird gradually becoming terrestrial again.

The great ground hornbill which is found pretty
well all over Africa, except in the purely forest region,
is a most exaggerated case, for it absolutely avoids
the trees. Certain cuckoos, parrots, and woodpeckers
become ground-loving birds in spite of their
zygodactyle feet. I can imagine poor Dame Nature
nearly losing her temper with, for instance, such
a thing as a tree-duck. “ Whatever,” she must say,
“ made you go and take to living on trees when I
had shaped and adapted your feet and your body for
the water ? Why can’t you know your own mind ? ”
But the tree-duck and the ground hornbills and
parrots are influenced by the same cause that makes
a man who has been brought up as a land surveyor
qualify himself for the Stage—the struggle for ex-
istence, the necessity of finding a place somewhere
in life’s economy.

Some such thoughts as these beguile my way
through many a mile of forest and hill, till at length,
arriving on the Congo bank at Ngoma, my attention
is effectually diverted to the imposing spectacle of
the Ngoma Falls. The standpoint from which one106

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

best views them is a little platform or quay pro-
tected by a breakwater, and projecting somewhat into
the river. Here lately stood an immense mass of
precipitous rock; but Stanley, in opening a rapid
route to Isangila, blasted the side of this cliff, and
over the debris constructed a passable way. It was
this that gained for him the name of Bula Matade,
or the stone-breaker, among the astonished natives.
From this quay at Ngoma you command a splendid
view. Nearly in front of you two branches of the
Congo, separated by a long island, come rushing to
a coalition, like two brothers whom a temporary
obstacle has separated, or like two great political
parties which, in view of the difficulties farther on,
agree to coalesce, and carry off between them the
lead that has hitherto been in the possession of a
mild and temporising eddy. At the end of the
island, right across the river, are strewn hidden
rocks but over these the two meeting currents leap
triumphantly, and the waves madly race with a
joyous clamour to their fraternal union. Some
distance after the junction, froth and roar are over,
but a great and irresistible body sweeps on its
course, letting no obstacle stem its overwhelming tide.
On the island the trees bordering the water tremble
and nod paralytically as the great current strikes
against them, but higher up the foliage is. massive,
rich and majestic, and stands haughtily unmoved by
the racing flood beneath, like an unbending aris-
tocracy superciliously regarding the mad progress ofVIVI TO ISANGILA.

107

the democratic torrent that seems so far beneath it.
But the current, however madly, is flowing towards
an. end, the Sea; and it either leaves the great
trees far, far behind it on its course, or, with cruel,
overwhelming force washes away their foundations,
and carries them, poor victims, to be dashed to pieces
in the cataracts, and to strew with their shorn frag-
ments the distant shores where the waves of river
and sea may drift them.

The views of water, wood, and rock are so fine
from here, on this little quay, that in my imagi-
nation I see the day when civilization shall have
covered the Congo, and when places like these will
be the resort of tourists and lovers of nature;
when there shall he a railway from the coast, a
station a mile off, “ Glare des Chutes de iSTgorna,” with
omnibuses and touts—“ Par ici, monsieur, pour
1’Ho tel du Beau Rivage ; ” “ The Falls Inn, sir, very
comfortable, sir, splendid view,” and so on. Then
there will be prospectuses and advertisements in the
“ Gazette d’Isangila ” and the “ Congo Times.”
What embarrassment one will naturally feel at having
to choose between the Falls Inn and its “ twenty
acres of tropical forest attached,” and the Hotel du
Beau Rivage with its billiards and dancing casino !

As I left the spot where I was ruminating on
these possibilities, and entered the “ twenty acres of
tropical forest attached,” I could not escape a pang
of regret at the thought of the degradation and
banalite that this coming civilization would entail.A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

108

How lovely the forest looked in its virgin state !
Man had meddled with it just enough to make a
decent path, hut no more. One could look down,
down, down through the mazes of green leaves and
grey houghs at the twinkling water, which flowed
under the massive trees in a still and quiet backwater.
It was a beautiful semi-transparent screen between me
and the ardent sun, who, through the great and
spreading leaves, sent shafts of light and glorified
whole masses of foliage with an aureole of golden
green. Up above, in the dim purple solitudes of
the forest, there were mysterious possibilities, an
endless field’ for conjecture and for the flight of
fancy. What strange creatures might not live in its
depths ? What sylvan tragedies went on there at
night, when the leopard made his descent on a family
of monkeys just asleep, and awakened the forest
with a momentary clamour. Perhaps, here at night
you would hear the great elephants tearing down
saplings and feeding themselves with juicy leaves
and young shoots. At any rate you know the vast
green gloom stretches far, far away in one direction,
and that you will not come suddenly upon a row of
villas at the other end. And when, satiated and
filled with beauty, you do leave the wood, it is quite
comforting to continue your road along a plain hill-
side which calls for no admiration. Beautiful
scenery is as overwhelming sometimes as the society
of very distinguished people—the incessant admira-
tion it calls for is fatiguing. We crossed a prettyVIVI TO ISANGILA.

109

little river, and camped out that night on the rising-
ground above it. Everybody seemed contented and
satisfied. I had a well-cooked dinner, and sat long
afterwards looking at the southern constellations-
and the crescent moon. The men chatted and sang
round their fires in a happy state of fulness, and 1
went to sleep that night convinced that all the dis-
agreeables of the journey were over, and that to-
morrow morning would see me comfortably settled
at Isangila. But on the morrow, alas ! the sky was
lowering, and soon after our departure the rain
began. All the pathways were turned into rushing
brooks of red water ; the descent towards the Congo
became a terrible glissade, and soon 1 was thoroughly,
hopelessly wet through as I half ran, half waded
along the swampy paths, while a continuous sheet
of water acted on me like a shower-bath. At last I
turned a corner round the hillside I was descending,
and there, conspicuous on a rising mound was the
station of Isangila. The path changed into a broad
causeway, up which I walked, feeling, now that I was
no longer in the wilds, somewhat embarrassed by my
disreputable appearance. However it was absolutely
necessary to change my clothes in order to avoid a
rheumatic attack, so I hastened to present myself to
the chief of the station, who fortunately would not •
wait for an explanation, but hurried me off to a
room, and busied himself so effectively in serving
out fresh garments, and in preparing a hot bath, that
before many minutes were past, I had quickly peeled110

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

off my soaked clothes, and had washed and clothed
myself in dry, if somewhat expansive, habiliments.
I was seated at a comfortable repast, and drinking
endless cups of hot coffee as one by one my be-
draggled men came in, their burdens terribly soaked.
I spent the remainder of the day in learning the
worst, but fortunately although so unprotected my
luggage had very little suffered within. The rain,
which had begun at six this morning, lasted for
twelve hours without intermission; a thoroughly
hopeless, drenching, furious, persistent downpour,
and not at all the violent, but fleeting thunder-shower
one imagines so characteristic of the tropics.CHAPTER Y.

ISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

The Isangila Fall—Position of the Village—A Native
Market—The Manioc—Cookery for Explorers—Ground-
nut Oil—Toffee—Captain Tuckey’s Expedition—Journey
to Manyanga—Eiyerside Scenery—Islands—A Whirlpool—
The Pratincoles—Mbote—Lieutenant Nilis—Disturbance
at Manyanga—Different Mediums of Exchange—A Native
Diet—Woman in Africa—Mlongo-Mlako—Ntombo Mataka
Falls.Baphia nitida.

CHAPTER Y.

ISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

Isangila is a pleasantly situated station on a com-
manding bluff almost oyer-banging the river.
From the terrace of the dwelling-house one of the
grandest views on the Congo may be obtained.

I114

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVEB CONGO.

Right in front across the river there is a great
towering cliff like that above “ Hell’s Cauldron,”
which I have previously described, a hill cloven in
twain, its scarped sides showing the bare purple red
earth ; but its sombre look is relieved by the bright
green grass that clothes the little knolls and irregu-
larities varying its sheer descent towards the Congo,

FIRST ISANGILA FALL.

and the graceful crown of forest which lends a pretty
finish to its somewhat gaunt head. At its base,
the river, which has hitherto been gliding onwards
with deceitful smoothness and a glassy surface,
suddenly breaks into white foam and frothy waves,
but only that part of it near the base of this cliff;
the other half of the great river gpes rolling on
smooth and unruffled, still mirroring the clouds andISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

115

the hills, till at length the whole stream takes one
great bound over some hidden ledge of rocks, and
the mass of this mighty current is lashed and
churned into a terrible conflict of waves, flight
across its breadth seethes a zone of dazzling foam,
and from the constant oncome and recoil of the
masses of water rise tall columns of spray into the air,

SECOND ISANGILA FALL.

descending in glittering drops on the tree-covered
islands, and forming under the sun’s rays fitful gleams
of rainbow colours that at first seem hallucinations
of the eye. Below this great Isangila Fall (rapid is
almost a better word) the harassed fiver breaks
away into many little far-off bays of quiet water
where it seems to dally and rest amid the wooded

i 2116

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER GONGO.

islets, pausing to collect itself for another rush
towards the ocean. At this opportune spot the
river Lufu, come from a great distance southwards,
ventures timidly to join itself to the great Congo
stream, and fortunately finds it in a placid mood,
smiling at the sky, and gently lapping the shores of
its verdant archipelago.

Tsangila station is on a well chosen and healthy
site, and the beautiful views around it alone render
it a pleasant sojourn; but hitherto it has suffered
some disadvantage from being a long way off the
native villages and markets, which are situated at
some little distance from the river, and along the
native roads in the interior. The fact is, that from
Stanley Pool to the coast the native trade—or ivory
—routes do not closely follow the river Congo, but
rather diverge from it right and left, taking a more
direct route to the coast. The southern road goes
from Stanley Pool to Sao Salvador and debouches on
the sea at Ambriz and Ambrizete; and the route
along the northern side of the Congo runs also at a
distance of several miles from the river’s bank, and
divides into two principal branches, one going from
Manyanga to the river Niari-Kwilu and the sea,
and the other rejoining the Congo at Boma. Con-
sequently, the real village of Isangila is situated on
this important trade route and at a distance of six
or seven miles from the river. This renders it
somewhat more difficult to procure plenty of fresh
food from the markets ; but by degrees the natives,ISANGILA TO MANTANGA.

117

never long in finding ont where their best interests
lie, are shifting their great weekly market nearer to
the newly-founded station.

One of these native markets is a curious and in-
teresting sight to see. They are generally held every
four or every eight days, either weekly or fortnightly,
for the native week is of four days only. One of the
days of the week often bears a distinctive name of
“ selling,” or “ market ” day. The natives will often
come a hundred miles to attend one of these big
markets, and there are generally over a thousand
present. They bring sheep, goats, pigs, Muscovy
ducks, and fowls for sale or barter, the fowls most
carefully packed in long wicker cages, fastened
between two stout poles conveying at each end.
Eggs are usually carried in large finely-plaited
baskets; indeed some of their basket-work is so
tightly made that it will hold water. At the
markets between Isangila and Manyanga five
hundred eggs may be bought at a time. The
natives also sell fresh vegetables, pumpkins, sweet
potatoes, and even a wild cabbage, bananas, plan-
tains, pine-apples, ground-nuts, sugar cane, maize,
kola-nut tobacco, and “ Kikwanga.” Kikwanga
needs a word of special, mention, it is such an impor-
tant article of consumption in the Congo dietary.
The root of the manioc,* or cassada, a very ancient
introduction from Brazil, is taken and pounded into
a fine white pulp. This is left to soak for about

* Manihoi utilissima.118

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONOfO.

twenty-four hours in running water (possibly to rid
the substance of a certain acid poison attributed to
the root), and is then allowed to ferment. When
worked up into a consistence of stiff dough it is
divided into portions, and each portion is wrapped up
in a large green leaf until wanted for cooking.
Kikwanga tastes and looks like sour dough, but it is
highly nutritious. The best way of eating it is to
cut it into very thin slices, and to fry these in butter,
or if butter be not procurable, in ground-nut oil,
easily extracted from Arachis hypogcea. Perhaps a
simple receipt for doing so might interest intending
African travellers who are reading these pages.
Take a bushel of ripe ground-nuts that have previously
been dried in the sun, pound them to a pulp, and
put them in a cauldron of boiling water. The oil
will rise to the surface, and can easily be skimmed off
and put apart into a vessel. The residue is excellent
fattening food for fowls, and the oil itself is almost
indistinguishable from the best olive in taste. Indeed
most of the olive-oil we use in Europe is nothing but
the oil of ground-nuts, which are exported largely
from West African ports to Marseilles, to be there
manufactured and flavoured into various salad oils
christened by different names. This oil of ground-
nuts is excellent as a kitchen grease and as a lamp
oil. I will even give-you another recipe in which this
substance may be advantageously employed. Take
a quantity of sugar-canes, some nine or ten sticks,
peel them, cut them up into small" cubes, and mashISANG1LA TO MANYANGA.	119

these to a pulp, straining off the abundant liquor
into a large pot; put this over the fire to boil, and at
the end of an hour and a half you will rejoice to find
the sweet syrupy liquor reduced to a considerable
quantity of gluey barley-sugar. If you find yourself
as I did for several months without any other form
of saccharine matter, this will make a useful addition
to your daily fare, and when mixed and cooked with
the right proportion of ground-nut oil will give you
a most toothsome toffee. Little expedients and shifts
like these serve considerably to lighten the explorer’s
lot, and to render palatable many forms of native
food.

An African market with so many commodities to
sell and so many eager sellers and loungers, is a most
animated scene. The din of voices may be heard
afar off, and when you enter the great open square,
where, under the shade of great trees, perhaps a
thousand people are disposed in little chaffering
groups round their heaps of wares, it is worse than the
parrot-house at the Zoological Gardens. The women
are the keenest traders, they haggle and scream and
expostulate, and chuckle aside over their bargains,
whilst the hulking men lounge about in good-hu-
moured listlessness, or squat in rows stolidly smoking.
Although the strife of tongues is great, few real
quarrels occur. There is in most cases a chief of the
market, perhaps an old Fetish man, who regulates
all disputes, and who so heavily fines both litigants
that all are chary of provoking his arbitration. This120

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

babel lasts but one day, and then for the rest of the
“ week ” or “ fortnight ” the market-place is void and
desolate; only the old wicker baskets, banana-skins,
corn-shucks, feathers, and egg shells remain to witness
to the great assemblage which has taken place. Of
such a kind is the great market near Isangila, and
there are similar gatherings at Manyanga, Lutete,
and in proximity to most of Mr. Stanley’s stations.

Before I leave the subject of Isangila to proceed
with my description of the river, I might mention
that this was almost the farthest point reached by
Captain Tuckey’s expedition, and was called by them
“ Sangalla.” Some of them did, indeed, penetrate
nearly as much farther as about where “ Baynesville,”
a station of the Baptist mission, is situated, but the
general researches of the expedition may be said to
have been arrested at Isangila. Poor Captain Tuckey
here thought that the greatest difficulties were van-
quished, and imagined that the comparatively tranquil
stream which he saw before him indicated the absence
or unimportance of further cataracts. Had he not
broken down and died at that time would he possibly
have been able to struggle past the greater difficulties
beyond, with a fiercer population opposing his
advance ? I think not, and his expedition appears
from the very first, hopelessly and sadly foredoomed
to those who read its records with the fuller know-
ledge of to day.

The journey * to the next station, Manyanga, may
* A distance of about 86 English miles.1SANGILA TO MANYANGA.

121

be made by water, 'the rapids on this part of the
Congo being just passable in a stout boat, or by land
along the north bank of the river; but this route is
most fatiguing, and occupies at least eight days,
whereas by water it is only four or five. I left
Isangila on January 16th with my three Zanzibaris,
to go up this part of the Congo in a little steam-
launch the “ Royal,” now removed to the upper river,
and forming part of Mr. Stanley’s flotilla. The
scenery along this section of the Congo is at first
very pretty. A fine papilionaceous tree, Baphia sp.,
was abundant, and its blossom sent forth a delicious
fragrance. The banks were generally richly forested,
and masses of creepers overspread the riverside trees.
Sometimes they appeared like a green cloth thrown
lightly over the foliage, showing its masses and
forms distinctly marked underneath. Sometimes
they formed a delicate green cobwebbery, or seemed
great walls of vegetation, looking as if carefully
trimmed into uniformity of surface, but often scarcely
a foot in thickness. I can hardly give a just idea of
these beautiful examples of vegetable architecture.
Often these creepers would stretch out as it were a
fresh series of , constructions, their long, straight
lianas acting as scaffold poles. Then would come the
horizontal, interlacing arms, which soon formed a
giant lattice-work, and on this foundation the beauti-
ful and uniform foliage breaks out, until soon great
walls and enclosures are made, generally round some
monster tree. How lovely these arbours seemed to122

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

rest in! What an idyllic life one might fancy it possi-
ble to lead amid these fairy mazes like tenderly veiled
transformation scenes, where the brilliant, glaring
sky and its rudely positive white clouds are so crossed
and recrossed by the boughs and liana ropes that the
glory of daylight seems to shine afar off beyond the
meshes of our fairy realm, where the sun’s rays filter
through the leaf-masses in varying intensity of green-
ish golden light. Beautiful indeed it is, where the

the giant kingfisher (GeryU maxima).

monotony of verdure is enlivened by the mauve , con-
volvuli with crimson centres, by the pale yellow
flowers of the creeping cucurbits, whose orange-red
gourds shine like little lamps amid the diapered
foliage. The giant-speckled kingfisher and his
little active black and white brother haunt the
secluded creeks that these walls of upright vegetation
enclose; and on the gaunt, bare branches, forcing
their way through the tender interlacing creepers
like wild protesting arms trying to rid themselvesISANGILA TO MANYANGA.	123

of a clinging and deceitful embrace, on these gnarled
and whitened boughs tbe fishing-eagles perch, greet-
ing our approach with cheerful boisterous screams.
A “ giant ” heron, too, sat on a branch amid sombre
shade, where he would have remained quite undis-
tinguishable from the grey boughs and boles around
him, but overcome with a spasm of tardy fear, he
flounced out from his retreat, nearly knocked against
the funnel of the steamer, and flapped his huge
wings with frightful strivings to get away'.

Here and there the Congo became strewn with
rocky islets, sparsely crested with trees ; and in and
out of these the stream was whirling and eddying
and bubbling over the hidden rocks. We stopped
at one of these islands, and at this spot the lighter
we had been hitherto towing had to be made fast
alongside the steam-launch, for together we were to
cross a formidable whirlpool. When we turned the
island we saw the vortex with great flakes of foam
like balls of cotton-wool dancing madly in a per-
petual round. Full pressure was put on, and in we
went—-wurra !—and out again, almost at right
angles, .so that some of the balls of . foam, like
bewildered captives in an enchanter’s magic circle,
are set free by our sudden breaking through the
meshes and go gaily floating down the stream.

Sometimes there are long stretches of low rocks in
the river, looking like rows of slates in a builder’s
yard; and on the shore of the stream and along the
island beaches would show banks of dazzling white124

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER OONGO.

sand, apparently above flood-mark, since numbers of
pratincoles had made their nests there. These pretty
little birds, called scientifically Glareola* are really
small waders allied to the plovers, with, perhaps, even
a far off relationship to pigeons and sand-grouse;
but to a superficial observer they seem merely large,
stout swallows, and certainly resemble these birds by
the way in which they pursue the insects over the
surface of the water, flying low and catching their
prey in mid-flight. On the Congo, between Isangila
and Manyanga, they are found in flocks of over a
thousand at a time, absolutely covering the isolated
rocks on which they perch.f Perhaps their presence
in such, large numbers is the reason why in this
stretch of the river mosquitoes are so happily
absent.

In the broader parts of the Congo, groups of trees
stand in the very middle of the river, stemming its
rapid flood. They must mark the sites of rocks and
banks uncovered in the dry season, or, more probably,
of newly submerged islands, for otherwise the seedling
tree could hardly have attained sufficient growth in
one dry season to withstand the river’s flood. Some
distance beyond the Itunzima Falls, which are not

* Probably G. Nordmani.

| In the “Last Journal of W. A. Forbes,:” wbo is one of the
latest and saddest victims to a love of scientific research, I find
the following extract referring to his journey up the Niger (p.
514, “ Ibis,” Oct. 1883). u On one of the banks, Glareola cinerea
in thousands, with a few of a darker one ( ? Nordmani), one of
which I got. ...”ISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

125

very striking, the Congo broadens greatly; but
nearing Manyanga, the scenery of the river becomes
in the highest degree commonplace. Low red hills,
streaked and spotted with dull yellow-green, and
fringed at their bases with scanty forest, border the
great watercourse, which itself seems to have
renounced all its high spirits and to have assumed a
wearisome platitude of expression.

Groups of natives on the south bank are squatting
on the sand, with their fishing-nets put up to dry.
Their dogs are prick-eared and spotted yellow and
white, exactly like those in a Noah’s ark. They
salute us with loud cries of “ Mbote',” a frequent polite
salutation (pronounced in English, “ Mbawtay ”),
which means “good,” “well,” “smoothly,” and, in
fact, all sorts of conciliatory things, and is commonly
used along the Congo, between the coast and . the
Equator. “ Mbote ” is a most useful term to acquire,
and only practice can teach the different meanings
which varied modulations of the voice may give to
it. On the Upper Congo, beyond the Pool, when
entering a strange village, and seeing rather suspi-
cious looks directed at my uncanny white face, I
would say in enquiring tone “ Mbote, Mbote?” and
then the natives would either relax into a grin and
repeat the word volubly, or in obstinate cases scowl
more determinedly, and yell “ Mbote ve, Mbote v6! ”
(ve, pronounced vay, means “ No ”). It can be made a
very pretty word; and when a smiling native says
to you rapidly, “ Mbote, Mbote', Mbote,” it is like126

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER OONOO.

patting you on the back, and is, indeed, often accom-
panied by that caressing action.

On the morning of the fifth day after leaving
Isangila we arrived at Many an ga. This station is
decidedly “ a city set upon a hill,” and people with
weak lungs or unsteady hearts may well stand
appalled at such an ascent as lies before them up
that winding red road, nay, even hesitate as to
whether they will not sooner seek hospitality at the
snug little Baptist Mission which lies embosomed in
trees by the water side. But generally the hospit-
able chief of Manyanga station descends from his
eyrie to meet his guests, and, aided by the stout
alpenstock which is lent you, and beguiling the steep
ascent with a pleasant interchange of question and
answer, you forget to murmur at its steepness, and
find yourself quite unexpectedly before the verandah
of the principal dwelling-house.

I had pleasant days at Manyanga whenever I
stopped there. Its chief, Lieutenant Nilis, was a
charming and an intellectual man, who knew
how to make life at his station most agreeable for
his guests.

To his initiative the entire present construction
and arrangement of the buildings are due. There
are three houses for Europeans, many capacious
brick-built stores, and quite a large “ coloured ” town
of Zanzibari, Kabinda, and other native huts. The
making of sunburnt-bricks from the surrounding soil
has turned out very successful, and the bricks thusISANQILA TO MANYANG A.	127

made are better adapted for the construction of
durable buildings than wood, which is so liable to
the attacks of white ants, or stone which is both
costly and damp-retaining.

Manyanga has been the scene of the only serious
disturbance which has as yet taken place between the
expedition of Mr. Stanley and the natives. While
the former was away at Stanley Pool, dragging his
boats to the upper river, the numerous natives of
this well-populated district picked a quarrel with
the little garrison of the station in the hope of find-
ing it an easy prey. The dispute is said to have
first arisen in a “ question de pores.” That is to
say, that the natives complained that the pigs
of the station played havoc with their fields of
manioc and maize ; perhaps they did, but the chief of
the station (the predecessor of Nilis) was quite
willing to indemnify the natives for any harm his
pigs may have occasioned to their crops had they
not taken the law into their own hands and carried
off the pigs. It was, in fact, for them nothing but
an excuse for a general plunder they had long been
meditating; for we are no longer in the district of
the “Congo ” people proper—the gentle, indolent race
of Vivi and Isangila—but in the country of the much
fiercer and more energetic Ba-sundi, the country of
“ Sundi ” heard of by Tuckey, a tribe who long stood
between the races of the interior Congo basin and
the traders of the coast. However, they in this case
found out their mistake. The besieged garrison128

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

sallied out with spirit, drove away the host of attack-
ing natives, and burnt down their villages in re-
prisals. Then the natives, quickly recognising the only
thing they bow to—superior force—came to terms,
and paid fine in land imposed on them as a war
indemnity. Three months afterwards they were the
best of friends with the white man, and were the first
amongst the Congo tribes to furnish of their own
free will hired porters to transport the goods of the
expedition. Now Manyanga is so entrenched and
fortified that probably none but a European army
could capture it, and its communications with the
Congo are so admirably arranged that the river acts
as a continual basis of operations, whence supplies
may always he obtained by steamer from Isangila.

Manyanga is built on a narrow plateau sur-
mounting a precipitous hill of perhaps four hundred
feet in height. There is a slight bay, or inlet, of
the Congo at its base where boats can be safely
moored in a little backwater of the Congo. On
either side of the hill is a deep ravine with nearly
precipitous sides, so that it is nearly impregnable on
three sides, and only the narrow neck of the
level plateau which connects with the hills of the
interior has to be defended. Through the ravine on
the right hand of the station tumbles a little stream
of clear water, much haunted by crocodiles in its
lower course. On the further side of the stream, at
a much lower level than the station, is situated the
Baptist Mission, very bright and pretty in outwardK

THE RIVER CONGO SEEN FROM THE PLATEAU AT MANYANGA.ISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

]31

appearance, embowered in fine groves and close to a
charming little creek of the river, but for all this
unhealthy, I believe. It is one of the few places
where I have heard of dysentery on the Congo. One
of the Baptist missionaries recently died from that
disease, contracted at the mission station of Manyanga.
On the other hand the sanitary reputation of the
plateau is undoubtedly good, and there is a freshness
and breeziness in the air that you miss down below
by the river side. I am convinced Mr. Stanley has
done wisely, apart from strategic reasons, in placing
all his stations on the highest ground attainable.

Manyanga is a great food centre. I have already
hinted at its abundantly supplied markets, where
eighty or ninety fowls, fifty goats, troops of sheep,
and hundreds of eggs may be purchased at a single
time. The favourite medium of exchange here is
blue glass beads, and handkerchiefs and stuffs will
scarcely be taken at any sacrifice. Indeed it is quite
a false idea to entertain that you can go anywhere in
Africa with any sort of bead and any kind of cloth.
Each district has its peculiar tastes and fancies to con-
sult, and you might starve in one place with bales of
goods that would purchase kingdoms in another. In
one part of the Congo basin red is the favourite
colour, in another blue, in a third green, and I have
come across some tribes where white cloth far out-
valued coloured or patterned stuffs. Between Yivi
and Isangila you will find red handkerchiefs, striped
cloth, brass “tacks,” gin, and wire useful. At

K 2132

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Manyanga blue beads rule the market; at Stanley
Pool brass rods. On the Upper river, besides most
of the articles already mentioned, “ cowries ” come
into use, and are used freely as small change.

At Manyanga, owing to the abundance of native
food, and the scarcity of nearly every European
article of diet which then existed, we were able to
test the possibility of living solely on the products of
the country, a state of affairs which, owing to the
expense and difficulty of transport, is very likely to
occur, and must eventually largely influence the con-
ditions of colonisation. On the whole I had little to
complain of. We had no tea, coffee, cocoa, wine,
sugar, butter, or bread, it is true, but with a little
ingenuity substitutes were found for many of these
adjuncts to European living. The goats gave plenty
of milk, and we drank it hot, and u made believe ” it
was tea. Palm wine was our only intoxicant, and
“ Kikwanga ” in some way took the place of bread.
Palm-oil fried our meats, enriched our stews, and
fed the lamps that lighted up our evening meal. We
had superb desserts of massive pine-apples, bananas
made puddings that were richly sweet, and plain-
tains took the place of potatoes. I never ate with
better appetite and rarely lived more happily. The
daily arrivals of natives at the station were always
an amusement. Sometimes they would come with a
baaing and protesting goat or sheep for sale. One
day a party of men arrived with a very stout lady
of whom they wished to dispose for her value inISANGILA TO MAN YANG A,

133

blue beads. She was quite the thing for me, they
were convinced, and would make an excellent lady-
help for my next expedition. There was no end to
her catalogue of graces and accomplishments. She
wore moreover a handsome nose-ring, which would
be given in to clench the bargain. Unfortunately
the price asked was quite beyond my means, nor
was Nilis able or willing to acquire her services, so,
in common with some goats and fowls we had also
declined, she was reluctantly returned to her rela-
tives. There is no doubt that if the native porters
can be induced, as is not infrequently the case, to
bring their women with them, these latter prove a
valuable adjunct to the expedition. They carry
burdens nearly as heavy as those borne by their
husbands and brothers, and carry them much more
cheerfully. They wash and cook better than the
men, and have a way of preparing manioc for food
that seems beyond masculine knowledge or skill. In
steady hard work and endurance of fatigue they
certainly excel the other sex; they ask less pay, they
eat less food, and, .in short, I should seriously recom-
mend the utilization of female labour in the forma-
tion of all African expeditions. Many Zanzibari
women accompanied their husbands across Africa in
Stanley’s great journey, and he writes, touchingly,
in the ‘ Dark Continent,’ respecting their patient en-
durance and dogged perseverance.

The fact is, woman in Africa has not emerged
from her proper status—her proper African status,m

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

i mean. When this great continent is fairh’
civilized, is traversed by railroads, and intersected
by canals, when all the rough, hard, coarse battling
with natural obstacles is over, then man—African
man—can afford, if he will, to indulge in a more
delicate and fmer-natured spouse, who is worthy
to be conceded the privileges which chivalry grants

MLONGO-MLAKO, KING OP DANDANGA.

to the artificial weakness of her sex. At present
the women lead a harder life than the men, and
they are consequently inferior to the better-nurtured
males in mental development and physical beauty.
Conscious of their lower grade in society, they are
thus ever anxious to merit by their assiduity in
well-doing the approbation of the nobler sex.ISANG1LA'TO MANTANGA.

135

There are several native “kings” round
Manyanga. One of them was a constant visitor
at the station, and a terrible beggar, always on the
look-out for cloth and beads. His name was
Mlongo-Mlako, and he was chief of a town or district
called Dandanga. Shortly after my arrival, he
made a call on us, avowedly to see the new white
man, and probably also with- the idea that there
might be a little “ cloth ” to be given away. His
majesty of Dandanga nearly fell a victim to the
superstitions of his people a short time ago. A
wife of one of his sub-chiefs fell ill and died; and,
as is always the case in this country, the medicine-
man was called upon to say who had “ bewitched ”
her. He assembled a sort of coroner’s inquest,
and they came to the unanimous conclusion that
King Mlongo had killed the woman with his
sorceries. The wretched monarch would have had
to take “ poison-water ” had not an English mission-
ary opportunely arrived at his village, and laughed
the people out of their foolish superstition. To
please the white stranger, the king was pardoned
by the fetish man, but pardoned reluctantly, for
his real sin was not having bewitched a woman,
but being a terrible miser. Avarice amongst these
people is considered the blackest of crimes, and had
king Mlongo been in the habit of freely lavishing
his gin and his cloth on his subjects, his loving
people would not have fixed upon him as a sorcerer,
nor the heir-apparent have been so active in the136

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

prosecution. He was very little grateful to his
benefactor, however, and immediately presented
himself at the mission, not to thank its head for
saving his life, but to demand a piece of cloth because
his life was saved. On the occasion of this particular
visit to the station, he was accompanied by the
widowed chief whose wife he was supposed to have

WIDOWED ONE. ’

THE

bewitched. They were now on the most amicable
terms, and the widowed one, having daubed his ugly
face with charcoal in sign of mourning, gave himself
up to unlimited merriment, and was thinking, he told
me, of marrying again.

Above Manyanga all further navigation of the river
ceases, and there are quite close to the station the
great falls of Ntombo Mataka, where the successiveISANGILA TO MANYANGA.

137

descents of the Congo, as nearly as anywhere,
approach cascades in appearance. Seen from the
heights above, these falls appear like two great
“steps” of water, and the river here descends
perhaps some thirty feet in all. The roar of the
cataract can he heard miles off, and the backwater
it creates is so powerful, that at the sides of the river
the water persistently flows with a strong stream in
the reverse direction to the central current. It
needs some care to cross the river near the station
lest the boat he drawn into the backwater, to be
carried forcibly up into the cataracts, whirled round
and dashed to pieces.

To reach Stanley Pool therefore,* from Manyanga,
you leave the Congo, and follow the native roads
either to the north or south of the river. The southern
route is by far the easier and safer to follow, as the
hills are less steep, and the natives are pleasanter and
kindlier people to deal with than the cantankerous
Ba-bwende to the north. In either case the distance
to be walked on foot is about one hundred miles.

Some few miles behind Manyanga, one of the
much-used native tracks passes from Stanley Pool
to the upper waters of the Niari and its tributary
the Ludima, and thence to the sea. This useful
alternative route has been thoroughly mapped and
surveyed by Mr. Stanley’s agents, who have
founded a chain of stations along its course.CHAPTER VI.

MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL)*

Road to Lutete—The Chief Lutete—Ravines on the. Road
to Stanley Pool—the Edwin Aenold Rivee—A sudden
Stoem—Kindness of the Zanzibaeis—An Oegie of Pine-
apples—Trapping Bats—A Eetish-House—Ceossing the
Inkissi — A Leopard’s Footprints— Caeved Logs—The
Wa-mbuno — Ngoma — Leopoldville — The Missions — The
Food Question—The Future of Leopoldville.CHAPTER VI.

MAN YANG A TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL).

As usually
happens
this country—
whenever you
have got every
thing ready for
a start — the
morning I was
preparing to
Manyanga for the
Upper river with a
hastily formed caravan of
Zanzibaris, the rain came pelting

A WILD PINEAPPLE.142 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

down, and kept us waiting vainly for its cessation.
At last, towards evening, just to make a start, I
availed myself of the kind offer made by the Baptist
missionary then in residence at the little Mission below
the hill, and packed the men, the goods and myself in
the large and roomy Mission boat, while the mission-
ary himself steered us over the difficult passage. I
camped out that night opposite Manyanga, intending
to start by the early dawn along the southern road to
Stanley Pool, via Lutete. The weather was mise-
rably wet, and the ground on which the tent was
pitched became a sort of morass, into which the
iron legs of my bed gradually sank under my weight,
so that I found myself and my bedclothes nearly
. level with the muddy grass. However, I arose the
next morning with nothing worse than a severe
sore throat, which the continuous exercise of the long
day’s walk quickly dissipated.

The general scenery on the road to Lutete is
interesting in character, and offers many beautiful
landscapes, which, however, are all of tire same type
and grow somewhat monotonous in feature. A
great stretch of valley, filled with rich forest, with a
sounding stream that is seen flashing through the
trees, is bounded by boldly-shaped hills, between
each of which lesser valleys lie, that seem, as it were,
tributaries of the great one, some of them mere
crevasses in the mountains, but each with its tiny
stream, its cascades, and its velvety woods. Occa-
sionally, especially near Lutete, patches are clearedSCENERY NEAR LTJTETE.MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 145

in the valleys, and the rich soil which the rain is
always washing down from the hills is planted with
manioc, tobacco, ground-nuts, and bananas. This
gives, at times, a strangely civilized look to the
country, and suggests the idea that in the future,
when colonists flock to occupy the Congo territories,
these lowlands will become true golden valleys,
bringing forth all the products of the tropics; while
their hill-sides, terraced and planted with vines, will
be surmounted by many a fine-built habitation, from
which the Neo-African may complacently look down
on his rice-fields and his gardens, or his plantations
and his sugar-brakes, which lie basking under an
equatorial sun, irrigated by a never-failing stream.
And what a future studying-ground for scientific
men ! When people have conquered their unreason-
able fear of the Congo climate, and some medical
man has deigned to study the local hygiene, and so
instruct us as to what we should eat and drink, and
how we should live that we may best become accli-
matised—when transport is facilitated and communi-
cation with the outer world easy and assured, then let
the scientist come and found his botanical garden in
one valley, and his vivarium in another, whilst in his
comfortable brick-built house, built of the bricks that
are locally made, and exposed to the dry and healthy
breezes that assail the hill-tops, he may prepare his
specimens, and arrange his accumulated facts as much
at his ease as if he were in Kew or the British Museum.

The rounded hills that encircle these luxuriant

L146

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

valleys are covered with strong coarse grasses of
several sorts, of which the flower stalks often attain
the height of fifteen feet, and with gnarled and
stunted trees, bearing leaden-coloured, almost un-
eatable fruit. I should omit the qualifying “ almost,”
were it not that I have seen the Zanzibaris occasion-
ally gnawing them. These trees are spread in a
sparse manner over the hill-side, and give it from a
distance a spotted appearance. This difference in
richness of vegetation that exists between hills and
valleys in this part of Africa is not due so much to
the relative abundance of moisture as to the pre-
vailing grass fires in the dry season. These sweep
over the hills at times, destroying all the finer trees,
so that only these stunted shrubs and the rank grass
spring up from their roots anew and flourish for a
season. Therefore it is that around the villages
whose plantations are protected from the ravages of
the flames, as far as may be possible, rich forest in-
variably exists, and their presence may be infallibly
detected in this country by the groups of fine trees
and patches of purple forest growing isolated on the
many hill-tops. Again, in all shut-in valleys and
river-courses, where the fires are choked, there
vegetation of the most wonderful character riots in
all the wild luxuriance of its unchecked growth. I
have already alluded to this subject in my descrip-
tion of the villages u,t Yellala, and shall make some
further remarks in treating of the forest region
beyond Stanley Pool.MANY Am A TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY , POOL.) 147

Lutete is a pleasant little station, situated about
eight miles from the Congo, on a high plateau, and
commanding the great ivory route which runs from
Stanley Pool to Sao Salvador and-Ambrizete. This
important native road gradually diverges from the
Congo to the south-west. Already at Lutete it is
over eight miles in a direct line from the river bank.
The bit of connecting road between Lutete and the
landing-place opposite Manyanga, has been wholly
or partially constructed by Mr. Stanley’s assistants.
That, and the short bit of road between Yivi and
Isangila, round the Ngoma falls, are all the
engineering his expedition has at present under-
taken, although with time and men Mr. Stanley
hopes to construct a carriageable road from Vivi to
Stanley Pool, to be perhaps followed by a railway.

Lutete station takes its name from a powerful
young chief in the neighbourhood, who has built
a large village, and named it, as is the custom, after
himself. His town contains finer-built houses than
any native settlement for miles round, and Lutete
himself is a most enterprising young fellow, often
accompanying his caravans of ivory down to
Ambrizete, on the coast, whence he returns with
all sorts of trophies of civilization, such as coloured
plates from the ‘ Graphic ’ and bottles of soda-
water. The latter, he is half frightened of, and
calls them “ devil water; ” but he generally
makes a present of them to the chief of the station,
who, of course, handsomely acknowledges the gift

l 2148

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

with more than its equivalent in cloth. The
coloured pictures from our wide-spread illustrated
papers are proudly stuck up in the chief’s own
house. Whenever Lutete wishes to impress some
uncouth savage chief from the interior, he takes him
into his palisaded hut and shows him Cinderella
with her broom, or c Gfoody Two Shoes,’ telling him,
of course, bombastically, that they are special
presents from “ Mputo ”* (beyond the sea), and the
wondering savage goes away much impressed by the
power and influence of Lutete. Shortly after my
arrival Lute'te, who was ill, sent his head wife to call
upon me instead, and she brought me a large jar of
palm wine as a present. This lady was extremely
plain, but she was Lutete’s favourite wife because she
has borne him many children.

Having passed one day at this station to rest, I
again started with my caravan of thirty men to
journey on towards Stanley Pool. The country we

* “Mputo” literally means, “agitated water,” and is in that
sense primarily applied to the rapids of the Congo,-where they
seethe and foam. Then further it is used to describe the sea
with its troubled billows, and in a still wider sense means all
that comes from the sea. The natives of the Lower Congo believe,
or used to believe, that all white men came up out of the sea, and
that our clothes were made of the skins of sea animals. Conse-
quently, “ Muene Mputo ” means “ chief of the sea ” viz., chief
of all the white men, and not, as the Portuguese would have us
believe, “ the King of ‘ Puto ’ or Portugal.” If the natives
wished to say “Portugal” they would call it “Poltogale,” not
“ Mputo.” Further up the Congo, beyond the Pool, the natives,
knowing little or nothing of the sea, call us “ Sons of the Sky,”
or “ Sons of Heaven.”MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 149

passed through, immediately before and after leaving
Lutete, was of rather a peculiar appearance. Here
and there were deep gullies, ravines, gulches, can-
yons—I know not what to call them—huge clefts in
the land, either made or modified by water eating
into the soft red soil. They are similar to the same
strange valleys and ravines round about Loanda, in
Portuguese Africa. Their depths, however, here are
filled with the richest, most fantastic forms of vege-
tation, and to judge from the cries and noises that
ascend out of the gulf of green, these glorious
forests are peopled with many birds and monkeys.
Any one of these ravines would be a rare hunting
ground for the naturalist.

Some distance after leaving Lutete, on attaining
a high plateau which is traversed by the native
path, a grand view may be obtained of the Edwin
Arnold River, as it comes leaping in tremendous
cascades into the Congo. The waters of this tu-
multuous stream look exactly like a white cloth laid
at intervals over the purple-wooded hills, for the
distance at which you are standing does not permit
you to see the motion of its stream, and the sheet
of white spray is apparently as still and picture-like
as if photographed.

The second night of my journey a disaster occurred
to me, but one of such a common type in African
travel that I venture to retail it to you here, so that
you may take the good with the ill, and not imagine
a Congo traveller’s experience all sunshine and150

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

brightness. We were camped in a village as usnal,
and my tent was to all appearance carefully and
correctly pegged out. I had eaten a well-cooked
little dinner with keen appetite, and then had
enjoyed the unwonted luxury of a novel over a
cup of coffee. When at length I grew tired of
reading, I got into bed, leaving my book open, and
most of the things lying unpacked and in disorder.
I reckoned that there would be plenty of time to
pack up in the morning. As I lay on my
comfortable bed, soothed by a delicious sense of
repose, I heard the rain beginning to pat down on
my tent in great drops, while the rising wind
soughed mournfully through the neighbouring
trees ; but this dismal state of the weather out-
side only accentuated the sense of comfort and
security within the snug tent, and I was quietly
falling asleep in a self-satisfied mood, when suddenly
the wind rose like an angry devil, and puff! my
tent was whipped up over my head, and laid flat
on the ground a few yards off. In a second all was
changed, and I was being brusquely awakened from
my reverie, and half-drowned by the drenching rain,
which was mercilessly streaming down on all my
treasures. My. bed-clothes were soaked, my novel—I
remember it was Alphonse Daudet’s ‘Les Rois en
exil ’—was reduced in no time to yellow pap, every-
thing was going to ruin and dissolution—the rain
even beat the ground up into thick mud which
engulfed most of the smaller articles; and all thisMANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 151

time I was too paralysed by the sudden shock and
the cold douche of rain to call for help. At last,
however, I found my breath, and applied it lustily
to a small whistle round my neck. In a minute the
Zanzibaris had rushed from an adjoining cottage, and
seizing me up in their arms, carried me swiftly into
shelter. Here by the side of a blazing fire, I dried
myself and my bed-clothes, and slept soundly on a
native bed of matting. It was really wonderful the
number of things that were saved from the wrecked
tent and dried by the fire, and my losses were
limited to the novel afore described, and some
trifling odds and ends too mixed up with the mud
to be detected. However, in future I always
endeavoured when passing the night in a native
village to borrow a house to sleep in. It is much
more comfortable than sleeping in a tent, as you
have greater space and freer ventilation, a tent
always being abominably hot and close, whereas
the chinks between the matting in the sides of the
house allow of a thorough circulation of air. Then,
too, the roof is rain-tight, and cannot, except in very
rare circumstances, be blown away by the wind, and
you have a perfectly dry and hardened floor.

I more than ever appreciated after this catastrophe
the admirable qualities of the Zanzibaris, who are
never at a loss, and who are the most truly unselfish
servants perhaps in the world. It quite touched me-
to see, when I staggered into the hut where they
were sleeping, how one man gave up his bed,152

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER OONQO.

another his mosquito-curtains, and a third his
blankets, in order that the “ Little Master ” might
not catch cold while his things were being dried,
and this not only from my own men, between whom
and myself a real attachment subsisted, hut from
Zanzibaris I had only seen and known for three
days. The Arab mixture in the Zanzibari men
has not only given them finer features and more
refined manners, but it has also implanted in them
an unselfishness which can never be found in the
true negro.

The succeeding day, a bright sun dried up the
remaining dampness in the ground and atmosphere,
and we trudged along merrily through beautiful
scenery. We are here following the great trade
route from Stanley Pool to the coast, and the sides
of the way are strewn with the top leaves of
pine-apples, which, when the fruit is eaten, are
thrown away, and, taking root in the rich red soil at
the side of the path, serve to spread this plant along
the whole route between Lutete and Stanley Pool, in
some places, especially in the dank, moist ravines,
forming an almost impenetrable hedge on each side
of the narrow path. The inhabitants come to these
narrow valleys, and fill their long wicker-baskets
with the beautiful golden fruit which forms now so
large a part of their diet. In one village we came
to, there was a perfect orgie of pine-apples going
on. The people were too indolent and careless
even to sell them, and one lady, with whom, fromMANYANQA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). lfS

pure habit, I was disputing' the price of her basket-
ful, said in a languid way to Faraji, “ Here, take
them; as he does not want to pay he can have them
for nothing.” The dog;s, the cats, the pigs, the goats,
the fowls, and the children, all lived on pine-apples.
The very people had a golden tinge about them, as
if from the absorption of such quantities of mellow
fruit, and the fowls I bought here had a flavour that
was quite inexplicable save for this theory of an
exclusive pine-apple diet. Here it was quite impos-
sible to resist halting; we arrived at about eight in
the morning, and for two whole hours we sat
and ate pine-apples. A few brass rods paid for
the entire feast, and the generous natives, moreover,
brought us a heaped-up basketful to carry on our
journey. However burdened the men might be,
this was an extra load they never refused.

Everywhere along the road here, are what seem
to be rude imitations of telegraph posts, tall straight
poles, with lines of fine string stretched from pole to
pole ; but from these strings descend numbers of
loops or nooses, with a slip-knot. These I took to
be for catching birds, as you sometimes see in
English orchards similar traps for catching fieldfares
and other fruit-eaters ; but on inquiry I found they
were set for bats, which fly against them in the dusk
and are thus frequently caught to be eaten by the
natives. Whether a bat is good for food I certainly
doubt, the insect-eating ones would not seem to be
so, and those that only subsist on fruit have an154

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

offensive smell of musk. But the people here seem
to appreciate them. About this region the bracken
fern, apparently of three or four varieties, becomes
very abundant, absolutely covering large tracts of
land. Where the region is at all marshy, along
the banks of streams, this is rivalled by beautiful
lycopodiums of most exquisite fern-like shape, and
sometimes with a bluish tinge about their fronds.
Curiously enough, the natives, who have very fair
elementary notions about natural classification, do
not recognise the bracken as a fern, but on the other
hand, include the lycopods in that order, to which, in
their language, they give a generic name, “ Man-
selele ” (plur. of Nselele).

In the midst of the forest we came across a little
fetish house. It was built of a framework of laths
and the roof was thatched. On the projecting stakes
of the roof plates and dishes of European manufac-
ture were “ spiked,” that is, by some ingenious means
a hole had been roughly pierced through their
centres, and they were hung on the end of the sticks
protruding from the thatch of the roof. Inside the
hut was a circular mound of worked clay, on which
many different patterns and designs had been traced
by means of various coloured pebbles, white stones
and even beads. On each.side of this mound stood
two statues about four feet high, representing sepa-
rately, in the frankest manner possible, the male
and female principle. The sex of either figure was
so much en evidence, that according to our views theyMANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 155

would be decidedly obscene, though there was noth-
ing intentionally indecent about them, and they
merely represented to the native’s mind in a crude
manner the, to him, mysterious power of generation
or creation. The great resemblance these figures
bore to native men and women, and the clever
manner in which they were carved and painted,
testified to the wonderful artistic faculties of this so-
called savage people. At the feet of these statues
were mugs, plates, and specimens of native crockery.
All these articles were slightly broken, either to
disable them for future use, and thus prevent tempta-
tion to rob the sanctuary, or, as seems more probable,
with an idea that a broken plate or vessel “ dies, ”
and so goes appropriately to the land of the spirits.*
About noon on the third day of our journeying
we came to the banks of the Inkissi, and had to cross
that swift, rolling, turbid stream in native canoes.
The natives always land much lower down the river
than where they embark, for the current is so swift
that it is impossible to entirely withstand its influence.
It is here about as broad as the Thames at Windsor,
and probably rises in the mountains eastward of Sao
Salvador. For navigation it is quite useless, owing
to its furious current and many falls ; on the further
side of the Inkissi, the woods are beautiful, and the
path winds through enchanting scenery, over little
brooks where green mossy rocks stem the impatient,
foaming little streams, and under the grandly over-
arching trees, festooned with mazy creepers and

* See chap. xvi.156

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

beneath whose shade the humid soil is covered with a
carpet of ferns. On the little sandy shore of one
brooklet, where the restrained water, quitting its
barrier of velvety-green stones, whose severity is
tempered by the tenderest covering of moss, spreads
itself out with pride to twice its previous width, on the
crisp white sand were deeply imprinted the foot-
marks of a leopard. Perhaps but a few minutes before
he had come there to slake his thirst; he had stolen
from his lair amid the dense brushwood to this quiet
bay of the brook, where he stood in soft grey-green
shade lapping the stream near where it fell in white
streaks over the moss-carpeted stones. Long sprays
, of maidenhair tickled his forehead, great knotted
lianas bumped against him as the slight breeze
swayed these vegetable ropes backwards and for-
wards.. Little poeocephalus parrots mocked at him,
and yellow-vented fly-catchers shrieked out his
crimes ; still he laps' on with greedy thirst, soothed
by the soft-whispering shade of trees and ferns in
which he stands, with a background of intensely
vivid sunlit verdure, where the forest breaks open to
the sky. But the distant sound of men’s voices has
disturbed him, and as they push their noisy way
along the woodland path, crunching the dead twigs
under foot and swishing back the pendent boughs,
he softly slinks away into the untracked solitudes of
dead sombre green, and leaves but the trace of his
footsteps on the sandy shore of the little brook to
attest his recent presence.

Again the forest lies behind us, and we toil upMAN YANG A TO' LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 157

the hill path as the sun is sinking, and enter a fine
large village, some five hours’ march beyond the
Inkissi river. Here you get a good idea of Central
African life. There is a general aspect of tidy
prosperity, and the people are unusually sportive and
merry amongst themselves. I even witnessed what
is rarely seen amongst these races—amorous toying
and loving caresses between a fine stalwart husband
and his plump little wife. Children, pretty little
children, were playing together and making dirt-pies,
one child looking on, and carrying a baby as big as
itself. One infant had the whooping cough, and
another was playing with a beautifully made rattle.
A hen and chickens, with that steadfast obstinacy
that is so characteristic of fowls, would insist on
retiring for the night in the house which had been
assigned me as my lodging; so two capable little
hoys caught the ten chickens tenderly and conveyed
them to a place of safety, the old hen naturally
clucking and protesting behind. An immense
quantity of pumpkins, with the ripe fruit and the
great yellow blossom growing on the same plant,
and the waving fields of manioc which I saw in the
bright morning light, lent an air of prosperity and
plenty to the tidy groups of houses. In this village,
in front of many of the habitations, lay huge logs of
wood, roughly trimmed tree-trunks. At one end
they exhibited but little handling from the operator,
but at the other they terminated in a rudely carved
and painted head, executed with little finish indeed,158

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

yet the few strokes that wrought the semblance to
humanity had been given with a certain decision
and skill. There was, in fact, a good deal of
character and expression in this sketch ed-out face,
which, besides, bore much resemblance to the pre-
vailing type of man in that neighbourhood.
Whether these logs, of which many were lying
prone before the cottage doors, were “ house-idols ”
in disgrace, or merely ornamental settles, I could not
ascertain; but when I mentioned the word for
“ idol ” and pointed towards them, the men and
women gathered round and laughed contemptuously.
I might mention that the natives here call them-
selves “ Wa-mbuno.” The plural prefix “ wa ” again
replaces the more classical “ ba.”

Beyond this village all was magnificent, grandoise
forest. The path goes down, down, down into its
depths, and the tree-tops shut out the sky. The long
straight lianas, like plumb-lines and scaffolding de-
pending from the branches, sketch out a sort of
fantastic architecture. Large white jasmine flowers
shine out like stars in the gloomy depths of foliage,
and down at the bottom of the deep ravine a brown
stream catches a few glints of green light as it
hurries along.

On the evening of the fourth day, after leaving
Lutete, we stopped at the village of Ngoma.* Hero
an old fetish-man and some young disciples were

* Ngoma means “drum” It is a word often applied to a
sounding fall of water.MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE {STANLEY POOL). 159

performing a sort of dance, in which they hopped
about like frogs, squatted on their heels, and waved
their hands downwards from the heavens. I was
told they were calling down the rain—surely a
most superfluous appeal to the clerk of the weather,
who took care to souse us every day. Other
of the inhabitants, more indolent, or conscious of
the inutility of supplicating Providence, were
reclining in different postures in lazy ease, having
their hair dressed by women.

Prom ISTgoma it was a trying march of fifteen
miles to Leopoldville, and as I was suffering badly
from an ulcer on the ancle, the road seemed doubly
long; and when at length I limped into the station,
I was in need of the kind reception accorded me.
A late breakfast was soon got ready, and they gave
me a splendid cucumber grown in the station
garden.

You do not get a glimpse of Stanley Pool until
you are quite close to Leopoldville, and it is then,
on turning round the hill-side, that the magnificent
prospect of it bursts upon your view.

Leopoldville, like most of Mr. Stanley’s stations,
is placed on rising ground, hut it does not occupy
for its site the exact summit of the hill, being built
on what may he called a semicircular ledge round
the slope which faces the expanding Pool.

The principal edifice of the station is a large two-
storied house made of wood, bricks, and a sort of
mud plaster. The roof is of thatch, for the sake of160

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

coolness, and all the framework of the house is
composed of huge beams of wood, apparently of
great strength, hut really a source of weakness, as
the wood is being constantly eaten through by the
white ants and other insect pests, so that frequently
a beam gives way, and is renewed only just in time
to save the structure. This house contains a large
dining-room, a store, and three bed-rooms on the
ground-floor ; and on the first story a long, low-
pitched chamber, which is generally Mr. Stanley’s
private sitting-room when he comes to Leopoldville.
In his absence, it is occupied by the chief of the
station. Behind the house, and apart from it are
the kitchens and domestic offices, and in front
spreads a fine open porch, as I may call it, for want
of a better word, which is really a large open
apartment, in addition to the dining-room, project-
ing on to the esplanade, and forming a delightfully
airy spot in which to sit during the day-time. In a
row with this big house are two other buildings.
One has a series of apartments for the white men,
and the other a large supplementary store. Both
above and below these European dwellings are
many little houses for the Zanzibaris, and the
natives attached to the station. Beneath the es-
planade, which runs along the front of the “white”
part of Leopoldville, and leading down towards the
port, the Zanzibaris’ houses make quite a neat and
orderly looking town, each cottage having its garden
and enclosure round it. The esplanade, which IMANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 161

have already mentioned, is really a flat terrace cut
artificially in the slope of the hill, and is in con-
tinuation with the road arising from the interior.
From this promenade views of great beauty may
be obtained over the distant Pool and the neigh-
bouring forest, and in the cool evening-time it forms
a pleasant walk to stroll on whilst waiting for
dinner. Here, too, in the early morning, the chief
of the station passes all the Zanzibaris in review.

A quarter of a mile away, on the top of the hill,
is the little Baptist Mission, which enjoys, perhaps,
the finest situation of any building in Leopoldville,
the view from its verandah embracing almost the
whole extent of Stanley Pool. The Baptist mission-
aries have, besides, a large garden down near the
banks of the Congo, and they rent altogether from
the Expedition about two-and-a-half acres of land,
paying for it the merely nominal sum of £10 per
annum.

In the wooded valley below Leopoldville the
Livingstone Inland Mission is just commencing
building operations,* Dr. Sims and a Danish mission-
ary having been recently established there as tenants
of the Expedition.

Above, below, and around the station are exten-
sive gardens, banana groves, and plantations of
manioc. They already begin to furnish no incon-
siderable amount of food both to the black and the
white inhabitants of Leopoldville, and of course in

* Their houses are, I believe, now finished (December, 1883).

M162

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

future, together with the stock-breeding establish-
ments for goats, fowls, sheep, pigs, ducks, and
pigeons, onght to completely nourish the station and
its normal number of residents, so that only what
may be termed “ luxuries ” need he introduced from
Europe. There is no reason why many even of
these should not be produced and prepared on the
spot. The sugar-cane, for instance, is largely grown
by the natives, and its pulp may in the simplest,
most elementary way be boiled and strained down into
a thick toffy-like sugar, quite suitable for all ordinary
sweetening purposes without further refinement.
Then, as we know, coffee is indigenous to most parts
of tropical Africa, and if it does not actually grow
wild on the Congo, it would certainly yield on these
fertile slopes around the Pool, the finest results
under cultivation.

It is the food question that is the real difficulty of
Congo exploration. Though the soil is richly pro-
ductive, the natives grow only just enough to live
upon in plenty themselves, but are not equal to a
sudden drain on their resources. Mr. Stanley has
long since understood the necessity of making his
Expedition self-supporting, both from the expense and
difficulty of importing preserved provisions from
Europe, and from the inability of the natives to
adequately supply anything like the amount of food
which is daily needed for the nourishment of each
station. Consequently, almost before he built houses,
he laid out gardens, he planted bananas, and com-MANYANGA TO LEOPOLDVILLE (STANLEY POOL). 163

menced the cultivation of manioc, and whenever he
made an inspection of a newly-founded station or
revisited an old one, his first care was the local
husbandry.

Leopoldville boasts of a convenient little harbour
in front of the station, protected by a spit of wood-

THE PORT OF LEOPOLDVILLE.

land which projects into the Congo. Here all the
falls are over, or, rather, following the course of the
stream, have not yet begun—the first takes place
close to Leopoldville, a little behind the station—-
so that navigation from this port is open and un-
checked for nearly a thousand miles eastward up the164

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

Congo. In fact Leopoldville, situated at the western
entrance to Stanley Pool, is destined to be the great
Empire city -of Central Africa. From its shores
there are, according to Stanley’s calculations, 4,520
miles of free navigation north, and south, and east,
into the heart of Africa. It will one day he the
terminus of a railway from the coast and the starting
pioint of a river journey half across Africa. The
ivory, copper and iron; the spices, the wax and the
gums of the interior will meet in its marts the
costumes of London and Paris and products of the
manufactories of the old world. Or, in another
sense, the raw material which is poured into
Leopoldville from the interior will return to it from
the exterior in other forms. Its sugar will come
hack in the daintier shape of Parisian bonbons, its
india-rubber will he reimported as highly necessary
goloshes and waterproofs. Congo spices will be
mingled in the sought-for and quaintly-named sauces
of America, and over the counters of its toilet shops
the merchant enriched in the ivory trade will pur-
chase ivory-handled brushes which are made in
England from the tusks that his firm has exported.
Who knows, even, that the only note-paper in use
amongst the fashionable world of Leopoldville may
not some day be manufactured from the very papy-
rus which so thickly grows around the woody islands
and the reedy shores of Stanley Pool ?CHAPTER VII.

STANLEY POOL.

Scenery of the Pool—Dover Cliffs—Brazzaville—Kallina
Point—Death of Lieutenant Kallina—The Chiefs round
Stanley Pool—Ngaliema—Boat Voyage to Bolobo—A Kin-
shasha Village — A Conversazione — Hyphjsne Palms—
Smoked Fish—An African Rain-storm—Importance of
Diet—Hippopotami—G-rey Parrots—Kimpoko—A climbing
Palm.lands of some

the Calamus palm in different
stages; with fruit.168

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

note, the largest of them being thirteen miles in
lengtn. Many sand-banks strew the waters of the
Pool, alternately covered and uncovered, according
to the season of the year, and there are also
floating reed and papyrus islands, formed of these
masses of aquatic vegetation, which are so strongly
interknitted by their fibres and roots that a man
can stand on them. These floating islets are occa-
sionally of some extent, and may be taken for real

FLOATING REED ISLAND ON STANLEY POOL.

islands until their motion with the current is observed.
White egrets and many waterbirds frequent them,
and the hippopotami play round their reedy shores.
The large islands* are resorted to by elephants and
buffaloes, which creatures swim backwards and

* These vary in size and number according to the season. In
the rainy months they are subdivided into two or three each,
with shallow channels between. In the dry season the number
of islands is much diminished by the retreating waters.STANLEY FOOL.

169

forwards from the mainland with ease. Innumerable
waterbirds, storks, pelicans, cormorants, herons,
egrets, sacred ibises, spur-winged and Egyptian
geese, terns and plovers, frequent the thick tangles
of high grass and the many sand-banks, where they
form strange groups with the crocodiles, who are
wont to lie basking in the sun in a state of semi-
conscious beatitude.

The Pool forms, as it were, a great cup-like basin,
with an incomplete rim formed by sierras of peaked
and picturesque mountains, ranging on the southern
side from 1,000 feet to3,000 feet in height. The banks
of this great expanse of water offer considerable variety
in character. At the northern, or north-eastern end,
where the Upper Congo enters it through a some-
what narrow passage, the scenery is very beautiful.
High woods rise so steeply above the water that,,
as you sail beneath their shade, they seem to mount
indefinitely towards the sky. It is a wall of forest.
Then, almost opposite, following the northern bank,
are the “ Dover Cliffs,”* their scarped sides white
and glistening, and their crowns being covered with
soft green grass. They more resemble, however,
the scenery round Lyme Regis, in Dorset and
Devon, than the harsher and more rugged cliffs of
Dover. Then on both sides of the Pool, the shores
dwindle down into flat forest land, the encircling
girdle of mountains trending off towards the

* Their geological formation is a white, sandy, somewhat
crumbling soil, not chalk.170 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

interior, and when you reach Mfwa or “ Brazza-
ville,” the coast is low and nearly on a level with
the water. It is here that De Brazza claims to
have .sectored a cession of territory to the French
Republic, nine miles in length. As you may see
by the illustration, u Brazzaville ” consists of a very
few native huts, half buried in bananas, and backed
by thick forest. On the left hand side, facing the
Pool, there is a small creek, which might he
developed into a tiny harbour, and there is a fine

and fertile island, as yet uninhabited, save by chance
fishermen, which might be successfully developed by
the French; but save these two advantages, not
rare anywhere in Stanley Pool, it is difficult to
discover any favourable point in this situation, or
even to avoid the conclusion that it is a badly
chosen site for a station. About this low-lying part
of the Pool, ague is prevalent, and in the rainy
season I should say Mfwa would become a rheumatic
swamp. Had De Brazza fixed his intended stationSTANLEY POOL.

171

anywhere on the high and breezy “ Dover Cliffs,”
he would have done well, and, remember, the whole
basin of the Pool was open to him when he first
arrived, for he reached it long before Mr. Stanley
had been able to transport his goods and his men
thither to found a station, so that the Franco-Italian,
as it were, had the first choice of a site. I can only
suppose that, in spite of the affection the natives
bore him, they did not place much ground at his
disposal, and that De Brazza fixed on Mfwa because
he could not get anything better. He may also
have looked across at Kallina Point, and hoped to
secure that some day, and then be able to shut up
the mouth of the Pool if necessary. This promon-
tory is a red cliff, rising abruptly some fifty feet
from the water, nearly opposite Mfwa, on the
southern bank of the expanding river. Kallina
Point might from its commanding situation be called
the Gibraltar of the Pool, as from its easily fortified
summit artillery could sweep the narrowing end of
this lake and render the further descent of its waters
by an enemy well-nigh impossible. Of course in
conjunction with “ Brazzaville,” its possession by a
hostile party could completely interrupt water com-
munication between Leopoldville and the upper
river.

A fearful current races round this cliff, difficult to
stem even in a steamer, but really dangerous for
native canoes going against the stream. Here, in
December, 1882, Lieut. Kallina, an Austrian member172 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

of the Expedition, was drowned. He would insist on
ascending the Congo in a small native canoe, being
too impatient to explore the mysteries of the un-
known to wait for the departure of the monthly boat
which revictuals the stations of the upper river.
As he was a very tall man, and for some reason
chose to seat himself on a large chest in the stern,
he rendered the balance of the canoe very unstable.
The little craft was hadly steered, met the rush of
the current broadside as it whirled round this point,
and was instantly capsized. Lieutenant Kallina was
drowned, and his name has since been given to this
redoubtable headland, which, I may mention, up to
the present time still remains in the possession of its
original holders, the chiefs of Kinshasha, who as yet
have not decided to cede their claims either to Stanley
or De Brazza.*

The people inhabiting the shores of Stanley Pool
belong to the Ba-teke race, but they would seem to
he comparatively recent arrivals, and to have dis-
possessed the older inhabitants and driven them into
the interior or absorbed them as slaves. Where the
Ba-teke have settled, on the south or eastern bank
of the Congo, they form merely riverine colonies, and
never extend their settlements many miles from its
banks.

The principal chiefs round the Pool are Bab Njali,
De Brazza’s landlord, who rules over Mfwa and the

* Since writing this I have just heard from Mr, Stanley that
he has been permitted to build a station here.STANLEY POOL.

173

lower course of the impetuous Gordon Bennett or
Jue river; Ngaliema, the chief of Ntamo and the
territory round Leopoldville ; three more important
chiefs at or near Kinshasha, of whom one, Bankwa,
is very averse to Europeans ; and finally there is a
great chief, fortunately of another way of thinking,
at Kimpoko, where the Expedition possesses a
flourishing station. Ngaliema is the chief with
whom Mr. Stanley has come most into contact, for
Leopoldville is built on land bought from him, and
he is the nearest, and not the most agreeable neigh-
bour of the station. At first he tried to act the
bully, until he saw how inadequate his strength of
one hundred and fifty guns would prove in any
attack on Leopoldville. Now he is by turns a
whining suppliant, a sulky neighbour or a crafty
intriguer. He is a man of rather strong character
and decided will, having raised himself from the
position of a mere slave to that of a powerful chief
of slaves. This town of Ntamo or Kintamo (the
prefix Ki rather implies “ district”), was founded and
colonised by him, and he has since enriched himself
immensely by ivory trading. Nearly all the ivory
brought down by the Ba-yansi traders from the
Equator (whence they receive it from the Ba-ngala,
who in their turn get it from some still more remote
tribe) comes to his market, and passes through his
hands to Lutete and Sao Salvador.

I left Leopoldville, towards the end of February,*
* The -height of the rainy season.174

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

in a large lighter or whale-boat, rowed by a sturdy
crew of Zanzibaris, to ascend the Congo as far as
Bolobo, a large native village about 220 miles
beyond Stanley Pool, where the last station of the
Expedition had recently been founded.

Our departure, as usual, was signalised by a down-
pour of rain that was almost exceptional in its
force and duration, and which quickly showed me
how ill-prepared we were for the exigencies of a
tropical rainy season. In a large open boat, with
absolutely no shelter but a hastily-slung sail which
merely received pools of rainwater in its bosom to
launch them on our heads when the violent wind
gave it a twist; with no place of dry stowage for
the luggage which just lay about in the bottom of
the boat, or if floatable, floated here and there in the
rain-water that in spite of the men’s efforts of
constant baling lay often 6 inches deep in the middle
of the lighter; circumstanced thus we had no course
when it rained but to stop rowing, run the boat
aground, and seek for some temporary refuge where-
in we and such of the cargo as was likely to spoil by
constant soaking could await in shelter the return of
fine weather. In this instance, we had scarcely
rounded Kallina Point wdien the torrential rain
forced us to make for the southern shore of the Pool,
where the villages of Kinshasha were situated. The
Zanzibaris, knowing well the indications of the
weather, and foreseeing an entire day of rain, wished
me to descend here, and seek refuge in a native hut,STANLEY POOL.

175

but miserable as I felt, with the rain streaming down
my mackintosh and my feet an inch deep in water,
I hesitated, for here, only a few days before, the
chief of Leopoldville, come on a friendly mission and
camped out in the village, had been obliged to leave
in the middle of the night, turned out by hostile
natives who regarded the arrival of any white man
in their district with irritable suspicion. Would
they greet me any better, much less afford me a
refuge from the rain ? I asked myself, and supposing
they not only refused us hospitality but even
ventured to rob and attack us, should we be in a
position to resist ? However, my scruples soon
ended. The prospect of quietly soaking all day and
getting rheumatic fever, or else returning humiliated
to Leopoldville, was more disagreeable than adventur-
ing myself amongst the capricious natives, who
perhaps themselves might be depressed and softened
by the weather. So I left the boat, took a few
necessary articles of luggage, and walked up through
the long wet grass to the village, where to my
pleased surprise the natives received us most
hospitably, and at once invited me into an inhabited
hut where I could remain and dry myself until an
unoccupied dwelling could be found and placed at
my disposal. The other inmates of the house, ex-
cepting the many and constant visitors, were a
middle-aged man, with his hair en chignon, his
wife, suckling a baby, whose forehead was orna-
mented with a band of scarlet pigment, and an old176

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

man, who might have been a poor broken-down
uncle of the family.

After the drenching rain and sodden dampness
outside, the dry warmth of this interior was a most
pleasant contrast, and I sat down on a large raised
bed of matting with a sense of comfort and resig-
nation. There was a wood fire in the centre of the
floor which served to dry my clothes, hut the smoke
coming from the burning wood made my eyes smart
considerably.. Seeing this, the woman removed the
burning brands and only left the clear bright ashes
on the hearth. The house was clean and tidy, and
round the walls were ranged many neatly-made
articles. There were long pipes with little howls, a
clarionet, a white mug (these last presents from
“ Mputo ”), a musical instrument like a guitar, but
with five strings, a collection of skilfully made little
pouches containing I know not what, hippopotamus
harpoons, fishing nets, horns, and a multitude of
odds and ends, only to he classed under that con-
venient term etcetera.

I opened my case of provisions, laid the cloth on
the bed, and sat down with considerable appetite to
a frugal repast. The sight of the tinned condiments
excited a considerable amount of half-fearsome
interest on the part of such natives as watched
my proceedings. They tapped their mouths with
their fingers—a favourite mode of expressing
surprise—when they saw Faraji cut with a “ tin-
opener ” into what they imagined a solid block ofSTANLEY POOL.

177

steel, and produce little fish (sardines) floating in
oil. But when I offered them some to taste they
withdrew affrighted. It was “ Nkissi ” magic, white
man’s food—poison, and some of them were so
alarmed at my proffering part of my lunch that
they hurriedly left the hut. But curiosity soon
called them back, and visitors were continually
flocking in. Many children, some of them pretty
little things, had made friends with me, and were
wonder-stricken at my ticking watch, which they
fully believed to be a little animal imprisoned in
a cage. Then to this paradise of rest and calm
came the tempter, a wicked old gentleman with a
wife and two marriageable daughters. He was
most anxious I should become his son-in-law,
“ moyennant ” several “ longs ” of cloth. Seeing
my hesitation, he mistook it for scorn, and hastened
to point out the manifold charms of his girls, whilst
these damsels waxed hotly indignant at my cold-
ness. Then another inspiration seized their father
—perhaps I liked a maturer style of beauty, and
his wife, by no means an uncomely person, was
dragged forward while her husband explained with
the most expressive gestures, putting his outspread
hand before his eyes and affecting to look another
way, that, again with the simple intermediary of a
little cloth, he would remain perfectly unconscious
of whatever amatory passages might occur between
us. However I evaded these embarrassing proposals
as delicately as possible, and hinted with many smiles178 A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

and “ Mbotes,” that were I otherwise circumstanced
an alliance with one of the first families of Kinshasha
might have been within my means. As it was, the
honour seemed too costly. However we parted
excellent friends, and the elder lady, with the
practical-mindedness of mature affection, presented
me with a fine large fish, which came in very
handily for my dinner, whilst her younger com-
panions brought such girlish offerings as eggs, corn-
cobs and bananas. I, in my turn, presented them
with gaudy handkerchiefs, and general satisfaction
reigned.

Seeing that the hopeless downpour would never
cease, I made arrangements for the loan of a house to
pass the night in, and one was soon found—dry, clean,
and spacious, in which I and my impedimenta were
quickly established. It was then proposed—evidently
by the village notables—that an evening conversazione
should be held in my apartment, and the proposal
was carried unanimously. Consequently, to my
secret annoyance, an ever-increasing number of
able-bodied people pressed into the little house, the
men gravely seating themselves on the floor, each
with his long pipe, quite prepared to spend a cheer-
ful evening, and the women, as became their inferior
position in society, standing about the doorway,
and effectually blocking up all ventilation. A
resolution was forthwith carried and presented to
me by one who appeared to be the chairman, that
my watch should be again exhibited to the ladies andSTANLEY POOL.

179

gentlemen assembled. Sorry as I was to disappoint
these harmless souls, I felt an effort must be made to
secure a little quiet and repose, especially as my
dinner was nearly ready; so I managed to convey
to them the idea * that the white man was tired,
hungry, and wished to be alone. The men then
rose most courteously and quietly, shook hands with
me, each one in turn, and with many “ Mbotes ” left
the house, pushing the protesting women before
them, so I was practically once more in the solitude
I loved. I took off my wet boots, made myself
comfortable, and turned with pleasure to the dinner
and the novel that Faraji had just placed on a large
chest which served me as a table. The mosquitoes
here, however, were very abundant, but trumpeted
despairingly round my mosquito-curtain. As the
village sank to rest, the weird noises from the river
rose into prominence, with the grunting of hippo-
potami and the cries of night-birds.

The next morning I left my Kinshasha friends,
and again pursued my journey across the wide
waters of the Pool, which now began to open into
all its magnificent breadth. On many islands the
Hyphcene * palms were growing, apparently a
different species from the Hyphcene Guineensis of the
coast and the lower reaches of the Congo. This
Hyphcene was a most beautiful and majestic palm,
from thirty to sixty feet in height, with broad fan-
shaped fronds of glaucous green, and clusters of
* Hyphoene ventricosa (Kirk ) ?

N 2180

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

bright orange fruit. Just below tbe crown of leaves
there is a curious swelling or bulging of tbe stem,
a not uncommon characteristic of Borrassine or
Hyphcenoid palms, and which adds strangely to the
grace of the pillar-like stem.

The vegetation which clothes the shores of these
islands is rich and pleasing in colour. It is
brightened by masses of yellow cucurbit flowers,

HYPHCENE PALMS.

lilac-coloured papilionaceae and mauve convolvuli.
Beautiful scarlet seed-vessels of a Cnestis form
blazing clusters of gorgeous effect amid the tender
green foliage. Immense numbers of grey parrots,
small flocks of them going together, flutter and play
about the tops of the tall trees, whistling and scream-
ing joyously all the time, while on the many snaggs
that rear their withered branches above the water-STANLEY POOL.

181

side, numerous little birds have for safety’s sake
hung their pendent nests of grass, and there is thus
a constant twittering and fluttering of dainty
forms round the gnarled old trunks and whitened
twigs.

At one of the many islands, we stopped to eat
some breakfast. The remainder of the fish presented
to me by the lady of Kinshasha was re-cooked in a
stew with some sweet potatoes and manioc and turned
out delicious. Whilst this was being done by Mafta,
I endeavoured to make the tour of the island, but
as more than half of it was marsh, this was hardly
practicable. Everywhere the soft soil was imprinted
by the hoof-marks of the hippopotami who at present
were occupied with their mid-day bath. Their
loud grunting might be distinctly heard, and as we
sat in the boat eating our breakfast, many an
uncouth head was raised with a snort and a jet of
spray to regard our proceedings. There was little
of note to see in this particular island. The
hippopotami and the circling kites had it pretty
well to themselves. There were, however, some
fine groves of the large and handsome papilionaceous
tree, a species of Baphia, (which I have already
mentioned and illustrated in Chapter Y.,) and the
strong fragrant scent from their white blossoms made
the whole island fragrant. In front of us, on a
sand-bank, some natives were smoking their freshly-
caught fish over a wood fire, preparatory to dispos-
ing of them in the markets of the Ba-teke. In all182

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

probability these men were Ba-yansi, for this tribe
does an immense trade in smoked fish between the
Equator and Stanley Pool. As they descend the
river with ivory and other articles of trade, they
spend much time fishing on their way, and fre-
quently stop at a sand-bank or island to smoke what
they have captured. The fish thus treated last a
long time in good condition, and are in some
request amongst all the riverine natives as an article
of food.

I have sometimes found them excellent—I might
almost say delicious—white of flesh and flaky, with
few bones, and retaining from the smoking pro-
cess a faint but very pleasant flavour. On the other
hand, at times the natives have palmed off on me
some that were evidently stale, for on breaking
them open, they were a mass of wriggling worms
within.

Hitherto, throughout this morning, the day had
been glorious, and all the time I sat at breakfast,
watching the hippopotami and the fishermen, the
sky was radiantly blue, blue as it only is during the
rainy season in Africa, for in the rainless months
the sky is mostly covered with a whitish haze ; but
now, distant mutterings of thunder were heard from
time to time, and threatening clouds began to
shadow the broad face of the still Pool, which ere-
while reflected nothing but unsullied azure. Then
rose suddenly a fearful inky black mass, rendered
more weird by two flecks of pallid white cloud thatSTANLEY POOL.

183

seemed the eyes of the storm-fiend. ' Vivid zigzags of
pink lightning played over the still water, and the
thunder rumbled and tumbled as if they were moving
colossal furniture in heaven. Yet the storm did not
immediately burst on us, but rather crept round
and round the horizon, as if playing with its victims.
At one time I had lost all fear of it, thinking it
seemed quite resolved to gooff to the west; when,'
suddenly, a puff of wind sprang up in the opposite
direction to the prevailing breeze, and in two
or three minutes the cruel clouds ■ were swept
upon us, and a deluge of rain was hissing down.
Useless to put up a sail shelter, the scornful wind
whipped it off, and we could only sit patiently and
soak.

This is the dreary part of an African rain-storm.
The first beginning of the tempest is most awe-
striking and impressive. One is half inclined to
think that some great natural catastrophe, some
appalling conflict of physical forces is at hand. The
purple-black clouds that rise in fantastic masses,
which an imaginative eye could resolve into un-
earthly beings overshadowing the earth and its
frightened children; the dazzling snowy-white of
their colossal heads rising up into the blue zenith
and accentuating the inky darkness round the
horizon; the jagged lightning, the first skirmishing
attack of the storm, and the sudden bursts of roaring,
deafening thunder—all this is grand and imposing,
and fascinates the attention while it lasts. This is184

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

the “ stagey ” part of a tropical storm, and one which
scarcely any book treating of the tropics fails to
describe. But what does not seem to be equally
noticed after the wonderful effects of thunder and
lightning have had their due description, is the
dreary persistent downpour which ensues, when the
sky becomes a uniform drab and the rain descends
for hours, not in “ bucketsful,” nor in “ sheets,” nor in
any interesting or exceptional manner, hut in a
steady soaking drizzle with little hope of inter-
mission. I have frequently known it to rain for
twelve hours at a stretch in Tropical Africa, and
on this particular occasion the rain lasted continu-
ously for an even longer space of time.

We repaired to a sandy island, landed, and erected
the tent. Never had I felt more miserable in Africa.
It took an hour before the wet wood could be coaxed
into a blaze; and as the gloom of evening fell, with
its dark mists and dismal obscurity, bands of hellish
mosquitoes, worthy subjects of Beelzebub, king of
the flies, swarmed round us, rendering it impossible
to keep oneself in immobility. The poor Zanzibaris
went stamping about on the sand and swearing in
a meek way. As for me, I hastily swallowed some
soup and a timely nip of brandy, and sought refuge
in bed beneath my mosquito-curtains. Here, amid
damp rags and clammy coverings, I passed a
miserable night, fighting the hosts of mosquitoes
that managed somehow to penetrate my muslin
“ moustiquaire.”STANLEY POOL.

185

The next morning I arose, feverish and ill. After
a little hot soup, however, and some coffee, I began
to feel better and to forget the dismal impressions of
yesterday. And here I would pause to recommend
to all intending African travellers the desirability
of taking nourishment as soon after rising in the
morning as possible. It is an excellent plan to save
some of the soup or bouillon of the night before, and
have it heated in the early morning, and drink it
before leaving the tent. So much ill-health is
incurred in Africa by carelessness as to nourishment,
and by what is still more idiotic, an idea that it is
more heroic to conduct yourself like a martyr,
undergo long periods of fasting, and generally pay
little attention to how much or how often you eat
and drink. On the contrary, the whole question of
success in Africa depends on regularly and amply
nourishing the body with as good food as can be
got. Let nothing, if you can help it, interfere with
your meals: eat whenever you are hungry and
abstain when you are not. Moreover, do not forget
that in Africa a cosy cup of tea or coffee and a little
light refreshment often comes in most opportunely
and soothingly in moments of despondency and
trouble, and that it “ keeps people up ” somewhat as
our proverbial cake and wine is supposed to do
before a funeral.

As we left our sand-bank camp of the night before,
the sun shone in but a half-hearted manner and
more rain fell, but I was expecting momentarily to186

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONQO.

arrive at the newly founded station of Kimpoko,
near the north-western end of Stanley Pool, where,
at least, we should find rest and shelter for an hour
or two. We saw many bands of hippopotami this
morning, nine or ten generally going together. They
approached the boat with a boldness and confidence
which showed they had been little shot at by white
men. However, the natives here hunt them as-
siduously with the harpoon. Indeed in one creek,
where the hippopotami were indulging in their
uncouthest gambols, we ourselves saw a group of men
some twenty yards from their prey, actively pre-
paring for the chase. The tameness of these huge
beasts is wonderful; one could almost fancy oneself
in the enclosure of some vaster Zoological Garden;
and when they opened their huge mouths, from time
to time, displaying their glistening tusks, I sought
involuntarily for the bun of my childhood to deftly
throw into the pink chasm that yawned before me.

Flocks of grey parrots* flew across the sky,
alternately screeching and whistling melodiously.
I have seen it stated erroneously that the grey
parrot never whistles in a wild state; on the
contrary, it does so very sweetly and with a great
variety of note.

* These birds are found in incredible quantities on Stanley
Pool. If Cross or Jamrach established themselves here, parrots
would soon be advertised in England athalf-a-crown a-piece. I
earnestly hope they may not, and that the Expedition, in acquir-
ing such control over these territories, will extend to the wild
things of nature the same protection from rapine as they
promise to the indigenous men and women.STANLEY POOL.

187

The newly-appointed agent at Kimpoko had seen
us coming from afar and had prepared a welcome
breakfast. Underneath a roughly-made awning, in
the middle of a grove of Hyphoene palms, with a
circle of natives eagerly watching our strange
doings, we sat down to a meal which proudly
exhibited the resources of the Kimpoko commissariat.
First of all, as a pick-me-up, a good glass of malafu,
made from the sugar-cane; then fried fish not unlike
grey mullet, a splendid eel
with creamy flesh and a
very delicate flavour; then
various meats skilfully
cooked with native sauces,
followed by a banana pud-
ding and pine-apples. This
was not a meal to be grum-
bled at anywhere, and many
a similar one may be enjoyed
in Africa if the traveller
cares to forage for its com-
ponent parts. How many
people residing on the Congo take the trouble to
fish for themselves? And yet what sport they
might have! No, they languidly dawdle about their

AN INHABITANT OF KIMPOKO.

verandahs and leave it to native enterprise to
occasionally provide them with a fish course to their
dinner. And if no natives come, then they are
content to live perpetually on tinned provisions, a
most costly form of nourishment and one that is only188

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

excusable in barren places like Kinsembo, where
hardly any native food is to be got, and where there
is no interior transport to be paid for. The people
of Kimpoko that surrounded us during our meal
were good-humoured and well-behaved. They had
a great variety of modes in dressing their hair,
which is certainly much longer and more abundant
than in the coast races. The chief of Kimpoko
paid us a visit after breakfast. He seemed a very

gloomy, haughty person, and,
I believe, was rather offended
at my many questions through
the interpreter, and my constant
habit of sketching the attendant
wives who were with him. It
is sacrilege, seemingly, to see
the king drink, so before satis-
fying his thirst he shrouds his
face in his mantle, gives a few
quiet gulps behind it, and re-
turns the glass empty as if he
had been performing a conjur-
ing trick. The chief seemed to think this ceremony
would a little impress me, and looked out of the
corners of his eyes to see if I was attending, but I
felt in an irreverent mood, and let him know that I
had frequently seen chiefs perform just the same
precautions against sorcery or poison when about to
drink. Indeed the peculiar rites and observances
which attend the act of drinking among the chiefs

A QUEEN OF KIMPOKO.STANLEY POOL.

189

of certain African tribes are very complex and
curious, as will be seen in a future chapter, but their
origin is, I confess, somewhat obscure, and the ex-
planations offered by the natives are improbable
and inadequate.

As one approaches the farther—the northern—
end of Stanley Pool, the scenery really becomes very
beautiful. On the left-hand side is a range of bold
and picturesque heights, their sides clothed with
purple woodland. In the middle distance are groups

THE NORTHERN END OF STANLEY POOL.

of fine and spreading trees, standing out well against
the blue hills, in all their vivid summer green; and
here and there the always graceful fan-palm seems
to balance itself on its slender stem above the water,
so symmetrical in shape that it appears planted for
artistic effect. On the right hand, the narrowing
stream is shut in by splendid hanging forests, rising
to a great height sheer above the banks of the river,
and casting their sombre reflections on its placid190

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

surface, where a white line of ripples becomes a
positive relief to the eye. But as to relief in this
study of purple and green, what can be finer than a
flock of egrets crossing the river with their fanciful
irregular flight! Their plumage of perfect white,
which gains them the qualifying name of “ candidis-
sima,”* their yellow beaks, and their graceful forms
tell out so strongly against the sombre forest, that
an effective picture is formed at once.

; The banks here begin to be most markedly fes-
tooned and trellised with a curious Calamus or
climbing palm, the fronds of which are prolonged
into a bare creeping stalk, furnished with curiously
reversed hooks, so that once the frond falls against a
branch it attaches itself securely by means of these
recurved thorns, and thus climbs higher and higher,
often fringing the top of the forest with graceful
heads of swaying fronds which with their waving
whip-like terminations point straight skywards as if
seeking for greater heights to climb. The motto of
this palm should certainly be “ Excelsior,” and it
might also be taken as a vegetable type of ambition.
Beginning in the lowliest form—the young palm
looks like a broad-leaved bamboo with divided leaves
—suggesting strongly its poorer and simpler rela-
tions, it soon begins to aspire, and from being first a
ground-growing shrub, it throws out a long flexible
stem rising far above the first humble set of fronds,

* I find this is the name of the American species; it is, how-
ever, quite as applicable to the egrets of Africa.STANLEY FOOL.

191

and by means of its sharp hooks making use of every
support in its way to climb higher and higher. Soon
the leaves or fronds become more elegant. They
split up from their previous bifid condition into
many filaments, and at length the once lowly, feeble
thing, by making use of everything that comes in its
way and.can give it a lift, looks proudly forth from
the top of some giant tree, and, for a while content
with the attainment of its ambition, has time to
pause and throw out its flowers, which turn to
bunches of scarlet dates. Its fruit has a thin
sweetish pulp around it which seems harmless, at
any rate to man, but I have never noticed any bird
or beast devouring it. The colour of the leaves is a
yellow-green, and it forms a decidedly bright addition
to the river landscapes. The curious thing is that it
is nowhere to be seen on the Congo between Stanley
Pool and the coast. With the rapids it comes to an
end, and therefore, as one of the first striking addi-
tions to the flora of the Congo which is met with on
Stanley Pool, I have chosen it to illustrate the
heading of this chapter.

We camped out after leaving Kimpoko in a beauti-
ful spot near the end of the Pool, in a forest clearing.
Unfortunately the mosquitoes swarmed to such a
dreadful degree that all comfort was out of the
question, and I had to take my meals as hastily as
possible, stamping and swearing meanwhile at each
successive bite; and with reason, for whether these
mosquitoes were distinctly venomous, or whetherL92

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

my impoverished blood was easily poisoned, either
for one. reason or the other every bite turned to an
ulcer, so that my ankles and neck were in a few
days covered with disagreeable little sores, remain-
ing comparatively painless, but quite incurable until
I left the coast of Africa. It was little use, even, on
this occasion to seek shelter inside my mosquito-
curtains, for somehow or other many blood-suckers
contrived to enter and I passed a miserable night.
The myriads of disappointed mosquitoes which
remained outside kept up a continuous and sonorous
humming, so irritating in its unvarying tone, that
the occasional snorts and grunting of the hippopo-
tami in the neighbouring grass-fields proved quite
an agreeable interruption.CHAPTER VIII.

STANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.

Native Canoes—Butterflies—Flora and Fauna of the River-
banks— Banana-cooking — Ngui— Narrow Escape from a
Hippopotamus—The Birds—The Native Dogs—Lieutenant
Janssen — Msuata — A Bayansi Village — Native Hair-
dressing— Personal Decoration — A Sacred Tree — Mys-
terious Slaves.

0STANLEY POOL,

I TO THE WABUMA.

Some extracts
from the
diary kept
%\ during my
j fortnight’s
V voyage up
the river
beyond
Stanley

Pool will perhaps most exactly give the impressions

o 2

Wl i Mi

Hyphoene ventricosci.196

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

made on me at the time by the aspect of things
on the Upper Congo.

February 2‘Srd, 1883.—I rose early, as soon as the
least diffusion of cold light was observable, and left
my bed and tent precipitately. ' The mosquitoes

HIGH-WOODED BANKS OF CONGO.

rendered one’s toilet a maddening torture, and I was
thankful to repair to the boat and eat some fried
bananas there over a pleasant book. As we left the
great expansion of the Pool and entered the narrower
Congo, the forest scenery became extravagantly rich,STANLEY POOL TO TEE WABUMA.	197

and many vegetable wonders were displayed before
our eyes. Further on, the face of this wild African
nature has a little changed. On the north, or more
properly on the western, bank, the high wooded
hills continue, but along the other side stretches flat
and sandy woodland, with occasional tiny rills of
delicious water that is much preferable to that of the
Congo for drinking purposes. A little while before
sunset, we suddenly see some native canoes ap-
proaching, heavily loaded with goods. There is now
some hope of fresh food, and my threatened regime
of tinned provisions will be averted. As the boat
rounds a little spit of sand, we come upon a consider-
able concourse of people, who welcome us in a most
friendly manner, with much clapping of hands and
crying of “ Mbote.” Unfortunately, there is little to
be had after all in the way of provisions. I buy
some dried fish and a large jar of malafii, and am
grossly cheated in both, for the fish is rotten, and the
malafii has been filled up with muck and the refuse
of the sugar-cane. However, this is not discovered
until afterwards, and we part on the best of terms.
These people are all coming from Bolobd, and are
bringing ivory to sell to Ngaliema at Stanley Pool.
I camped out rather late this evening, and fortunately
hit upon a very pleasant spot in which to pass the
night—a little clearing surrounded by the forest, with
a pellucid stream of water running on one side of it
to the Congo. Not a mosquito was to be seen.
Thank Heaven ! I dined comfortably and afterwards198

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

took a little walk along the river-shore by moonlight.
The hippopotami, though not visible, were snorting
loudly, the fishing-eagles were screaming at some-
thing that displeased them; goat-suckers and other
night-birds were uttering their plaintive cries, and
every now and then there was the sound of a splash
and a swish in the water as some big crocodile had
slid off the bank, startled at the crunching of my
footsteps on the sandy beach.

Feb. 24#A.—A delicious, dreamless night. Why
should there be no mosquitoes here, and such incred-
ible myriads a few miles lower down ? The sur-
roundings are apparently the same. The morning
breaks lovely, and the day promises to pass without
rain. We stopped about eleven o’clock to do some
necessary washing and cooking. The spot chosen
was a long stretch of sand, backed by thick forest.
On the moist, smooth shore were hundreds of butter-
flies, many of most beautiful colours, azure blue and
brilliant leaf-green. They collected in numbers
round little patches of calcareous earth, where, in
common with many bees, wasps, and dragon-flies,
they seemed to find something so attractive that they
never even moved at our approach, and one could
catch them tranquilly by the thorax and pinch their
life away before they could collect their airy
faculties. The forest rising above the sand-bank was
intersected with paths made by the buffaloes coming
down to drink; and farther towards the interior was
an open space trampled with their footmarks, theSTANLEY POOL TO TEE WABUMA.

199

whole place having a strangely farm-yard look and
smell. In the forest were many cnestis hushes with
bright scarlet seed-vessels, and others with orange
pods, so that the masses of green leaves were quite
enlivened by these points of colour. We met some
canoes this afternoon going down to Stanley Pool,
filled with ivory, but with this exception there was
no sign of man for some distance after leaving
Kimpoko. The country, especially on the western
bank, appears quite uninhabited,* and is a beautiful,
uncultivated waste, with verdant slopes like natural
meadows, clumps of shady forest and numberless rills
of water. The vegetation overhanging the river is
of a very rich character, and endlessly varying and
ever-charming effects ; above all, when it is mirrored
in some tranquil bay, where the deep green of the
foliage becomes enhanced by a brilliant shore line
of yellow white sand, and the tender grace and the
fanciful forms of the many parasitic creepers contrast
with the whitened snags and fallen trees which rear
their gnarled limbs out of the placid water. On
these snags are perched many water birds. Little
jewel-like kingfishers, smalt-blue and verditer, with
scarlet beaks; queer little bitterns, scarcely distin-
guishable by their modest grey coats and angular
bearing from the branch on which they are posed,
and an occasional black-and-white vulture or a sacred
ibis. These spots offer a continual succession of
little pictures with a never-ending natural charm,
* Through recent internecine wars on the part of the natives.200

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

whether in diversity of composition or colouring.
The sun has set and night has fallen ere we land at
a village which as yet bears no name known to white
men. It stands a little distance back from the river,
but some natives fortunately come down and sell us
fowls and bananas. I did not dine this evening until
ten o’clock, but when Mafta at length announced
the meal ready, I found it most enjoyable, for I had
gained a great appetite and the dinner happened to
be well cooked, one fowl being turned into soup and
the other roasted. Moreover Mafta has got into the
way of making delicious “ competes de bananes. ”
He takes half-a-dozen of the small, sweet bananas,
those that the French call “ bananes d’argent,” boils
them in a little water to a pulp, puts in a spoonful
of butter, the juice of a lemon, two or three drops of
brandy (to replace sherry), stirs the whole vigorously,
and turns out what seems to me an irreproachable
addition to our African cuisine. These little plump
bananas are intensely sweet, so much so that no
sugar is ever needed in cooking them. 'They,
indeed, make up to me for the present want of sac-
charine matter which I am enduring. I have to
drink my coffee without sugar, but the fried banana
cakes quite atone for this want.

During my repast, I enjoyed the aesthetic delights
of bright moonlight shining in softened radiance
through the overarching forest, while numberless
fireflies, like little points of electric light, whiz
round the thick bushes. There are no mosquitoes.STANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.

201

here, and with the tranquil peace that pervades our
little encampment, the perfect health that I enjoy,
I feel that there are moments in Congo travel when
a life of civilization is little to be envied.

February 25 th.—This morning a number of people,
men, women and children, flocked down to see us
and to sell fowls and other articles of food. The
chief, a decidedly good-looking man of about thirty,
came also, and one of his attendant wives spread
a leopard-skin for him to sit on. He had two little
bells hung round his neck, with a multitude of teeth
and beads; the teeth, which were of monkeys and
leopards, being strung into fantastic necklaces. He
was pleasant and affable, and both he and his wives
roared with laughter when, in order to ascertain the
name of leopard in their dialect I leapt and snarled
to imitate that animal. They call him here Ngui,
a word which under slightly changing forms is
common to many Bantu tongues. In Kiswahili it
is Chui. A curious point about the Bantu languages
is that the name for lion varies greatly, while that
for leopard, and, above all, dog, is comparatively
unchanging. The people at this village had ground-
nuts (.Arachis liypogcea) for sale, a thing I have not
seen for some time on the Congo. In the river here,
hippopotami are as abundant and impudent as usual.
Shortly after we had set off this morning, I was
startled considerably, and my breakfast went flying
out of my lap at the sudden and unexpected bump
which a big hippopotamus gave to the bottom of202

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

the boat. If we had been in a canoe he would, of
course, have wrecked us; as it was, although he did
no great harm, yet, on afterwards examining the
keel we found a decided dent in it where he had
struck the iron. I felt so cross at having my nice
breakfast scattered over the luggage, that I seized
my Winchester, and fired it at his head as the great
creature lifted it from the water a few yards off to
see what damage he had done. I don’t think I
killed him, but his struggles in the water and the
streaks of blood appearing round the spot showed
that he had been sharply warned not to molest
travellers again.

On a sand bank where I stopped to bargain with
some natives, there was an even greater number
of butterflies collected than yesterday. They seemed
to be drinking with intense pleasure from the wet
shore, and I caught ten of them in no time by simply
laying hold of them by the thorax.

The natives on this island were all seated in trees,
perhaps for the sake of shade, but they looked
terribly like gorillas. The commonest birds along
the river, which hereabouts has an average breadth of
800 yards, are Egyptian geese, Gfypohierax vultures,
grey parrots, jacymas,* darters,f and the chocolate-
brown Scopus umbretta. I also saw, but failed to
shoot, Lophotibis, a curious dun-coloured species
of ibis, with greenish wings, and a relatively short

* Parra Africana.

f Plotus levaillanti.STANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.	203

bill, very deep at the base, the general contour
of the bird recalling the above-named Scopus um-
hretta.

February 26th.—-The scenery is becoming really
picturesque. Ordinarily the Congo .is beautiful in
detail, unimposing as a whole. Indeed for a river
of its magnitude it would need Alps to form suitable
cliffs for such a breadth of water. In this portion,
however, some of the general effects are strikingly
impressive. A splendid expanse of stream reflects
on its placid surface the blue sky and creamy-white
clouds above it; on one side are green hills and.
purple woods, and on the other the inimitably
graceful Hyphoene palms which in rows and groups
rise on their- slender trunks high above the low
green shrubs, and crown majestically the long spits
of white sand that launch themselves boldly into the
shining, all-reflecting river.

The Zanzibaris having found a fine fish just
caught in one of the native basket-work traps, ask
permission to stop at some sand-bank and cook it.
This is accorded, and we are soon alongside a long
reach of sand, on which some Ba-yansi are already
seated. Of course our reception is cordial, and
whilst the Zanzibaris are commencing their cooking
I go off to see the native village close by, called
Mbila. It is a pretty, contented, quiet-looking spot,
embosomed in great groves of bananas, and sur-
rounded by plantations of manioc. At the time I
enter it, except a few women who are attending204

A JOTJRNET UP THE RIVER CONGO.

to their household duties, every one is absent on the
beach, chaffering with the Zanzibaris, therefore I
have it pretty much to myself; but my arrival
causes much excitement among the fowls and dogs,
who apparently are frightened at my white face, and
fly in all directions. The fowls cackle and screech,
but the dogs are too awestruck to make any noise;
indeed in this country they never seem' to have
acquired the power of barking. In front of several
dwellings are the signs of domestic vocations being
actively carried on. Large jars and other vessels of
pottery are standing to dry in the sun, and basket-
work in all its stages is lying about. The houses
are well constructed and well kept, and the people,
who are now flocking back to the village, look well
fed and prosperous. Involuntarily the thought
comes to me, “ What a contented, peaceful sort of life
this is! ” Few wants, and those easily supplied ; no
luxury, and no starvation; no yearnings after the
unknown, no vague, unsatisfied aspirations, and no
heart-breakings: everything thoroughly positive,
well-ordered, and material. How will this meet the
shock of advancing civilization—of the approach-
ing contact of black and white ? The natives tell
me I am the first of my colour who has set foot in
their village, and they seem proud and pleased at
my visit. May they never look back to it with
sorrow, as marking the advent of a new and trou-
blous change in their hitherto peaceful annals! The
chief of Mbila presented me ere leaving with aSTANLEY POOL TO TEE WAB11MA.

205

fleeting souvenir of the village in the shape of the
biggest plantains I have ever seen. They mea-
sured twenty inches in length and were very eatable.

Now the sky began to threaten. Fearful peals of
thunder resounded over the distant hills, and flashes
of lightning played against the sombre grey clouds.
Yet we escaped for a long time the threatened down-
pour, whilst the storm rolled half round the horizon,
but at last we could hope no longer for immunity,
and I strained my eyes anxiously to see the station of
Msuata, which the Zanzibaris were already able to
descry with their practised vision. Great drops
began to fall, and when we at length landed on the
clayey shore a tremendous sheet of rain was hissing
through the air, hurrying the still lingering twilight
into darkness.

The chief of the station was absent at the time I
arrived, but his men showed me the most prompt
attention, and I was soon installed in a comfortable
bedroom, able to wash, change my clothes, and
ascertain the damage my luggage had sustained—an
almost daily occupation.

. February 27/A.—When I had risen this morning
I found that Lieutenant Janssen (the chief of
Msuata Station) had arrived late the night before
from a visit to a great chief across the water, Mpumo
Ntaba (the “ goat ’’ chief), Makoko’s successor. He
was, however, already up, and gave me a very
kind welcome when I went to meet him in the
salle a manger, where an appetising breakfast had206

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

been prepared. It consisted—if you are not tired
of continually perusing African menus—of mugs
of goat’s milk flavoured with a little tea, roast
chickens, and “ kikwanga ” fried in ground-nut oil.
(“Kikwanga” is, as I have already told you, the
root of the manioc or cassava pounded, soaked and
fermented, somewhat sour and “ gluey ” in taste.
There is the ordinary article, called here by the
natives Bingolo, and a superior kind more carefully
prepared, with little air-holes in it like a Gruyere
cheese. This is Luku, and it faintly resembles
muffins when hot and eaten with butter).

M. Janssen is one of the most practical and sen-
sible members of the Expedition* His talent for
making the best of limited resources is wonderful,
and Msuata, purely through his energetic and
enterprising labours, has become one of the most
comfortable stations on the route. He has con-
structed a swimming-bath by damming up a little
river, he has made a large and a small gridiron out
of the barrels of damaged guns, a table and benches
from the planks of old canoes, and an oven of sun-
dried bricks. He has planted a kitchen-garden
which produces all manner of vegetables; has
organised a well-stocked poultry-yard, containing
over eighty fowls, with a house for their numerous
eggs to be laid in; four or five of his goats are
always in milk; and amongst other discoveries he

* He is since unhappily dead ; drowned by the upsetting of a
canoe* on the Congo, July, 1883.STANLEY POOL TO TEE WABUMA.

207

has learnt to make native salads and sauces, and to
extract an excellent oil from the ground-nuts, which
at once serves for cooking purposes and for lighting
up the lamps lie has manufactured to use when his
candles give out.

Around the station of Msuata, the commonest
birds are little u bishop ” finches, or more properly,
weaver-birds, with scarlet and black plumage ; huge
plantain-eaters,* blue-green in colour, with a violet
crest; large bee-eaters, kites, egrets, and cuckoos.
On the northern bank of the river the lion is said to
be known, and the chief Makoko received De Brazza
seated on the skin of one of these animals. If jFells
leo is really found in this part of the Congo region it
is curious, as he is not a forest-loving animal, and
moreover would not find in these countries the herds
of big game which are and have been the raison
d'etre of this great cat.

The natives on the northern bank opposite Msuata
profess to know the gorilla, and certainly describe
it accurately, but say it is found far inland, and does
not reach to the banks of the Congo. A curious
roller-bird, Eurystomus, is found here, and in small
numbers mobs and chases fiercely the hawks and
fishing-eagles of the river.

The country in the neighbourhood of Msuata is
thickly populated, in fact we are beginning to enter
the densely-peopled basin of the Upper Congo.

The villages hereabouts belong principally to
* Schizorhis gigantea.208

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

the Ba-teke men, and the Ba-yansi people that one
meets with are mostly traders and not as yet settled
in any permanent colonies. Farther up the Congo,
these two races are strangely intermixed, the villages
being often alternately of either nationality. Still,
while the Ba-teke seem to have their real home and
origin to the FT.W. and towards the Ogowe, the
Ba-yansi come from further up the river, and border
on the (so-called) savage Ba-ngala of the Equator.

February 28th.—We started this morning for the
mouth of the Wabiima River, fifteen miles from
Msuata, where I intended to stop the night in a large
village. On our way we passed the curious pro-
montory of Ganchu—a long spit of land advancing
into the river, which seems to alternate between
island and peninsula. Here is situated the village of
Ganchu, ruled by an important and powerful chief
of that name, who, like Lutete and other minor
potentates on the Congo, gives his name to his
residential town. The houses of this village are
mostly built on piles, evidently, as the ground is
low, to minimise the dangers and inconveniences of
a flood. It was this village that Stanley, on his first
and celebrated descent of the Congo, imagined to
be. inhabited by river pirates, misunderstanding the
peaceful intention of the inhabitants, and it is to
this day, I believe, marked “ Piraten Dorf” on the
German maps.*

* It is not altogether certain that Stanley may not have had
excellent reasons for his first designation of Ganchu’s village.STANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.	209

At the mouth of the Wabuma River (which
parenthetically, I might mention flows from Lake
Leopold II., joins the great Kwango from Angola,
and enters the Congo about 3° 20' S. latitude*) is a
large and populous Ba-yansi village, the first fixed

Having had in later days the honour of an intimate personal
acquaintance with Ganchu, I can quite conceive he could do
a little quiet pirating on a weak passer-by. It is all very well
for him now, in 1883, to profess undying brotherly love for
the great and powerful “ Bula Matadi,” now that he is able, if
necessary, to repel attacks; but I am not so sure that in 1877,
when the harassed, half-starved Stanley rushed down the un-
known Congo, that Ganchu may not have been disposed to try
on a little piracy. However, let bygones be bygones—Ganchu
is now a most virtuous, respectable, law-abiding person, quite
fit to be a churchwarden, with a leetle leaning, perhaps, to a
gorgeous' ceremonial—but most anxious to give to any “ Mwana
Bula Matadi,” any “Child of Stanley’s,” a hospitable and
friendly reception.

* The Wabuma-Kwango stream at its juncture with the
Congo is about as broad as the Thames at Westminster. The
landscapes and riverscapes along the banks of this affluent are
pretty, being mostly shadowy water and rich forest, but other-
wise, considering the bulk of this mighty river, it is unimposing.
The mouth of the Wabuma-Kwango is not very well adapted
for navigation, there being a long sand-bank on one side, and a
line of rocks on the other, only a tortuous passage lying between,
while the force of the current through this channel is very
strong. The upper course of the Wabuma much resembles the
Congo in appearance. Issuing from Lake Leopold II., an
expansion of water about seventy miles in length, it broadens
out greatly in a flat country of dense forest, and is covered with
many islands. It narrows again where it receives the great
Kwango, and the embouchure of these two great rivers united
is somewhat insignificant. Their waters flow for some time side
Ty side without mingling with those of the Congo.

P210

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

settlement of this enterprising tribe to be encountered
on a journey up the Congo. It is exactly at the
confluence of the Wabuma and the Congo, and is
very picturesque as seen from the. water, a broad
lane leading up to a grove of oil-palms and bananas,
with compact and tidy-looking bouses interspersed
among them ; but the favourable impression is rather
spoilt on landing by the horrible black fetid mud,
strewn with decaying offal, that one has to cross.
The people, of course, are assembled to greet us, and
the chief is there, clad in a rusty red garment and
looking not half such a fine fellow as many of his
subjects. These people here are a finer-looking race
than any I have yet seen on the Congo. Some of
the men are perfect Greek statues as regards the
splendid development and poise of their figures.
They all have pleasing faces because of the good
humour which enlivens their features. Another re-
markable point about them in their comparatively
great development of hair, on the head especially,
hut also at an early age all over the body, although
arrived at maturity their persons are quite hairless,
for, like most negroes, they dislike extremely all
growth of hair on the body, and pluck out every hair
that makes its appearance, scarcely liking even the
beard to grow. However, en revanche, the hair of
the head is much encouraged, and really attains to
an astonishing length, and though crisp and curly, is
tortured and twisted by its possessors into all sorts
of fantastic coiffures. The men wear it usually inSTANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.	211

horns, either on the top of the head, or in a pigtail,
or depending on each side of their cheek; also
in a sort of “ chignon.” The women sometimes
just frizz it up round the head, or comb it out
smoothly and strain it over pads in a manner much
resembling a hideous style in vogue with us some
fifteen years ago; or they will plait it into an
infinitude of little rat’s tails that, from their stiff-
ness, stand up all round the head in a bristling
manner.

A red dye, which is got from the bark of a certain
tree, probably the “camwood,”* is used to a great
extent for colouring their nails, and often their bodies
and clothes, with a warm tinge of red. They also
further decorate themselves with white, yellow, and
black patterns, made respectively with calcareous
earth, yellow-ochre, and burnt wood. There is much
diversity in these designs. Sometimes they will
draw a white line round their eyelids and down the
bridge of their noses, with a line of yellow straight
down the body from the throat to the navel, and
black patches on the cheek-bones; but the variety of
patterns and designs is too numerous to catalogue.
They also practise largely a curious mode of deco-
ration by cicatrisation, scoring the cheeks with
parallel lines, and forming eccentric designs, with
raised weals or lumps of skin all over their bodies.
The cloth they wear is nearly all of native manu-

F 2

* BajpMa nitida.212

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

facture (made of woven grass), and is largely dyed
and tinged with the favourite maroon dye. Did
they know it, these home-made stuffs are far more
tasteful than the staring Manchester cottons which
they are just beginning to covet. The women are
always more clothed than the men, from the time
that they are nubile, but as children, and in ado-
lescense they are generally free from even a scrap
of clothing, whereas the little boys never seem
unprovided with a tiny apron. The women do not
attempt, as in some tribes, to hide their breasts;
perhaps for the reason that their busts are modelled
and developed to a much more artistic degree than
is usual among African races.

Some of the young girls are charming little
creatures, with their tidily dressed hair, their small
hands and feet, and their budding forms of woman-
hood. Until they reach a marriageable age, they
run about gaily in all the beauty and innocence of
perfect nudity, the sole attempt at—what shall I
say?—clothing, or personal adornment, being a large
brass collar round the neck, and copper anklets.
There was ope such child that I shall always re-
member with affection in this village at the mouth
of the Wabuma. We took a mutual fancy to one
another, and she constituted herself my little guide,
taking my hand with the greatest confidence and
leading me through the village to show me the
sights. Seeing me gather flowers to preserve, she
afterwards presented me with an armful which sheSTANLEY POOL TO THE WABUMA.

213

had laboriously plucked, and later on she pressed
into my hand three new-laid eggs, warm from
the nest, from which she had probably robbed
them.

One word for the babies: they squall terribly, and
are endowed with plentiful crops of hair, which is
finer in quality and less curly than that of their
grown-up parents.

The people here have a regular craving for salt,
and the chief was enraptured with the bestowal of a
handful; one gentleman brought his wife, or one of
his wives, and wished to exchange her for a moderate
quantity of the precious condiment.

There was a fine and handsome tree in the centre
of a broad square here, covered with large yellow
blossoms of graceful shape and delicate vanilla-like
perfume. It was evidently regarded by the natives
with some veneration, for I could see they did
not like me to gather the flowers, and after I
had picked one or two sprays, they asked me to
desist, offering me yellow pumpkin flowers as an
equivalent.

I slept this night in a comfortable and cleanly
house, divided into three rooms, which might be
described as kitchen, parlour, and bedroom. The
more we advance into the interior along the Congo,
the higher in social science the natives seem to
stand; the houses, their furniture, decoration and
orderly comfort; the utensils, the pottery and the
work in metal: all seem to undergo a material214

A JOURNEY UR THE RIVER OONOO.

improvement and development in proportion as we
leave the coast behind ns.

March 1st.—We hid adieu to our friends this
morning with many* protestations of mutual regard,
and they came down to the slimy shore and shouted
“ Mbote ! ” until we were out of sight. I was hardly
in a state to reciprocate their boisterous friendship,
for an insidious attack of fever was creeping over
me. It began, as usual, with a great increase of
mental activity. One is too excited to stop and
write down one’s thoughts, although you feel that
had you done so, some very brilliant things might
have been preserved. But all exertion is disagree-
able to the fever’s victim, and he feels content to sit
and compose chapters of novels and disquisitions
on Natural History problems in his whirling brain,
without attempting to commit the fleeting kaleido-
scope images to paper. This first stage of the fever
is by no means disagreeable. One enjoys the same
sensations as those produced by a sufficiency of good
champagne; but, unfortunately, the phase of utter
weariness and melancholy that follows is a bitter
contrast to the preceding elevation and excitement,
and the brilliant images of heretofore now seem
trite stupidities.*

We advanced but little to-day beyond the Wabuma,

* However, I was singularly lucky in Africa. These fleeting
touches of fever, rarely lasting more than a few hours, and
scarcely worthy to be chronicled, were the only form of indispo-
sition I ever had during my sixteen months passed in the Dark
Continent.STANLEY POOL TO TEE WABTJMA.

215

for continuing to feel poorly, I stopped the boat at
noon and had my tent put up on the eastern shore,
so that I might go to bed and get rid of the fever.
We were here nearly opposite to the embouchure of
some large river flowing in on the western bank of
the Congo.* The country is so populous hereabouts'
that it is impossible to camp anywhere without being
near a village, consequently we were soon sur-
rounded by crowds of noisy though good-tempered
natives. I noticed this afternoon among the people
that came to look at me a curious type, quite different
from the rest, a small youth (or a young man ?) with
rather long, curly, and yellowish hair, arranged on
his scalp in separate tufts, floconne, as the French
would call it, having, moreover, a savage and wild
expression on his features, and a general tournure of
body recalling the hushmen whom I have seen in
South-Western Africa. Curiously enough, there
was an old woman, also with yellowish hair, and
stunted in form, in the last village we passed.
“ Yellowish ” is perhaps not quite accurate enough.
I might rather say a dirty dun-colour like the skins
of these queer beings. I made inquiries through
the Zanzibaris as to who they were in each village,
but beyond learning that they were slaves and came
from the East, I ascertained nothing further, nor
could I find out whether they belonged to a tribe of
dwarfs or not. The little boy with his bow and

* De Brazza’s Alima. The “ Lawson ” Kiver of Stanley.216

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

arrows and his savage face and gestures was a
strange and striking type, utterly different to the
grinning, good-tempered children round him, who,
by contrast, appeared quite black, so pale in colour
was his skin.CHAPTER IX.

to b6l6b6.

Mbongo—French Flags at Mbamo—Embe—Yalue of Salt—
Footprints of Hippopotami — Sand-banks and Islands —
Bolobo—The Great Chief Ibaka—The Mosquitoes—A Royal
Visit—A Drinking Ceremony—Ibaka’s peculiar ITat—Houses
at Bolobo—A Sketching Adventure—The Fetish Man—
His Duties and Occupations — Herds of Elephants and
Buffaloes — Animals of the District — Metals — Monkoli
- Topaz.CHAPTER IX.

to b6l6b6.

March 2nd.—The
forest scenery is be-
coming richer and
more “ tropical look-
ing ” the further we
advance towards the
Equator, that is, I

Pistia stratiotes.

mean, that the vegetation is
assuming the
same lnxurian
charac-
ter, the
wild
exube-
r a n t
growth which are
usually associated
with aspects of nature
| under an equatorial
sun and a zone of con-
stant rain. The stream
of the Congo is at the220

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

present time thronged with masses of a brilliantly
green water-plant, Pistia stratiotes, common to most
tropical rivers. The recent floods have detached it
from the little inlets and quiet reaches, where it
ordinarily grows, and have brought it down in great
quantities with the stream, and are also the cause
of the many floating logs and torn-up trees which
frequently block the navigation.

There are many rocks along the river’s bank and
stretching out some distance into the current, sug-
gesting the idea of their being the remains of ancient
cataracts. Indeed when one says that the falls of
the Congo do not begin until below Stanley Pool, it is
hardly correct. The only difference between the
upper and lower river is this, that above Stanley
Pool the rapids are never sufficiently serious to
hinder navigation.

About four o’clock, the men wanted to stop at
a large and populous village, the natives of which,
to the number of nearly a hundred, were assembled
along the sandy beach imploring us to land and
pass the night in their town. They vaunted the
abundance of fowls, kikwanga, and other victuals,
but I would not yield, for we had yet two hours of
daylight which it was imperative not to waste, and I
felt sure, as all this eastern side of the river is thickly
populated, that we should be likely to find another
village further on. We did so an hour and a half
later, but there was a furious rapid to cross before
we could reach it—one that had to be attemptedTO BOLOBO.

221

twice before we could struggle past the rocks.
Unfortunately, the men broke two oars here, and,
therefore, for the rest of the journey we shall have
lost two rowers. Once we had landed, I felt pleased
at having opposed the wishes of the Zanzibaris, -
because I had gained two hours of daylight, passed
the formidable rapids, and chosen for our night’s
sojourn the nicest little village I have met with on
the Congo. Its name is Mbongo. The people were
very kind and courteous. They spread grass mats
for me to sit on, brought me fresh malafu to drink,
and seeing I had a feverish attack, left me in peace
in my tent with many expressions of sympathy.
Later on in the evening the chief arrived with a
present of four fowls, a calabash of malafu, and, most
welcome of all, some new-laid eggs. The malafu
here is made exclusively from the juice of the sugar-
cane. The fermented drink made from the wine
palm (Raphia vinifera) or the oil-palm (Elais
guineensis) is unknown, though in each village many
of these trees are growing. Strange that the sugar-
cane, another of the many gifts from rich America to
needy Africa, should have spread so quickly and so
far inland, and have become so identified with the
habits and customs of its new cultivators. Though
this cane was originally an inhabitant of Eastern Asia,
and was introduced by the Arabs to Europe, and by
the Europeans to America, still Western Africa
received it from the latter continent in the seven-222

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

teenth century through the hands of the Portu-
guese.*

March 3rd.— I obtained this morning a basket-
work fish-trap from a boy, with a few curious fish in
it. Most of them were too damaged to be of any use,
but one, fortunately just caught and still alive, was
in excellent preservation, so I set to work and drew
it as we went along in the boat. Just as I was
finishing the sketch we approached a village called
Mbamo, where two or three tattered French flags
were flying. At first the natives answered civilly
our questions, and told us that Malamine (Malamine
was a Senegalese sergeant of De Brazza’s) had given
them the tricoloured banners of France; but after-
wards, when we proposed landing to cook the lunch,
they began to grow very insolent and menacing—
they yelled and shrieked at us in gradually increasing
wrath, and, whilst the women and children fled into
the village, the men got their guns and began
cramming stones into the muzzles. They were very
near firing, but the Zanzibaris showed their Sniders
opportunely, and at the same time rowed out into
the stream, and we passed the place without break-
ing the peace. Curiously enongh, on rounding a

* Since writing this, I find on examining the subject by
means of Cameron’s and Stanley’s books, together with other
authorities, that the sugar-cane seems to be cultivated right
across Africa from east to west. Possibly, therefore, the West
Africans owe it to the Arabs, who brought it to the east coast a
thousand years ago, whence it has spread all over the continent.TO BOLOBO.

22.3

little point of rocks, and arriving at another village,
we found the people there perfectly friendly and
pleasant. They waded out to the boat and shook
hands, and looked at my sketch-book with screams
of delight. The chief here, at this village of Embe,
had a most unusual crop of hair. These Ba-yansi
are, indeed remarkable for the abundance and glossi-
ness of their “ chevelure.” In the next village (the
eastern bank of the river has become a continuous
series of hamlets) I
saw a woman with an
even more magnificent
head of hair. Her
locks were combed out
in a sort of “ aureola ”
round her well-shaped
head. This race of the
Ba-yansi, and, indeed,
all other highly devel-
oped types of Bantu
peoples, remind me so
much, with their high-
noses and
bushy hair, of the
Papuans, as one may judge of them from the
descriptions and photographs of Wallace and other
travellers. The banks of the Congo are here and
for some distance further back strewn with great
masses of rock, seemingly of igneous origin. Inter-
spersed among these craggy blocks are patches

THE CHIEF OF EMBE.224

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

of silvery sand, and the natives run along the banks,
jumping from rock to rock to try and keep up with
the boat. Some of them, generally women carrying
babies, will get far ahead, and station themselves on
some little promontory, thence hailing our approach
with deafening screams and laughter. The villages
are very prettily situated amid majestic groves of
oil-palms and bright green bananas, with a back-
ground of deep purple forest.

The neatly made houses, often quite yellow in
colour from the sun-burnt grass with which they are
thatched, overhang the river on the edge of a slight
plateau, and form a pretty contrast against the
dark green vegetation. Numbers of grey parrots
are here, and they seem to rather seek than avoid
the society of man, for in every village they flock
to the oil-palms, where they squawk and whistle all
day long.

Now the Congo begins to open out into truly
splendid breadth. Right before us is a clear
horizon of water and sky, only broken by one
wooded islet that stands right in the middle of the
stream. The river is as broad or broader here than
Stanley Pool. A traveller viewing the Congo from
this direction, and knowing nothing of what was
before him, might well believe he was entering upon
some great lake or inland sea.

The day is magnificent; and, towards the close
of a tranquil afternoon, when the sky assumes a
faint golden tone, the great smooth sheet of waterto bol6bo.

225

of the same rich colour, stretches away towards the
horizon, where it melts indistinguishably into the
warm sky. Save one or two ripples that look like
blue scratches on its surface, there is nothing to
disturb its glowing calm, and the very hippopotami,
who but a short while before were playing, splash-
ing and snorting so obstreperously, seem awed into
quietude by the perfect air of peace that envelopes
everything. The foliage of the great forest trees
that tower above the shore, where the tiniest of
wavelets are lapping the golden sand, is unmoved by
the slightest breeze, and the few salmon-coloured
clouds that have mounted the horizon are arrested
in their flight, and hang motionless in the mel-
low sky. It is a harmony in the palest pink and
the palest gold, to which the Zanzibaris are quite
insensible, for they interrupt my musings by asking
if they may stop for the night at a large and
populous village which we have just reached, and
their request is seconded by the natives on the
shore, who offer us the most vociferous greetings
and entreaties to honour their village with our
presence. However, it is only four o’clock, and we
have two hours more daylight, so I will not yield,
and the Zanzibaris with a very bad grace put their
oars into the water again. They rowed for about an
hour, but did not make much progress, for there
were several rapids to cross, and the men were, or
affected to be, tired, and patted their stomachs
lugubriously, predicting “ no chop and natives

Q226

A JOURNEY UR TEE RIVER CONGO.

plenty bad ” at the next village we meet. They
are fairly right, for when we direct our course
towards some huts embosomed in palm trees at the
end of a pretty little creek, the inhabitants rush
down to the beach and ask us in African phrase-
ologj just to wait until they can get their guns, and
then they will give us a warm reception. Even
the little boys imitate the action of putting a gun to
the shoulder with their tiny lances, and the women
shriek, and laugh, and utter all sorts of derisive
things. I suspect it was more than half of it “ show
off,” as, had there been any prospect of a real conflict,
the women and children would have been sent away
to the bush. However, as it was only five o’clock
and there was sure to be another village round the
distant point of rocks (we could already distinguish
its bananas and palm-trees) it was decided that we
should leave these inhospitable savages to themselves.
We were soon in front of the next hamlet, whence a
friendly greeting reached us over the water, but
between us and them stretched a terrible line of
rocks and breakers that took us a whole hour to
cross, the men having to get into the water and
drag the boat along by main force. Our landing
was momentarily delayed by the arrival of a deputa-
tion from the preceding village, which had followed
us quickly along the shore. They met the friendly
natives and entreated them not to let us land, but
the timely waving of some bright coloured pocket-
handkerchiefs and the jingling of brass rods decidedTO BO LOB 6.

227

all hesitation as to our reception, and the hostile
natives beat a swift and ignominious retreat, followed
by the taunts of the friendly ones. We landed at
dusk, and were met with a clamour of greetings that

THE FRIENDLY VILLAGE.

was perfectly deafening. Fowls and eggs were
brought for sale, and, though rather dear, I bought
them to strengthen our mutual friendship, for there
is nothing like commerce to inspire confidence and
lull suspicion. When I gave one man a handful of

Q 2228

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

salt, which they call “ Mpongwe,” his yells of delight
were quite painful, whilst each of his comrades
repeated after him, with an hysterical, and a falsetto
voice, “ Mpongwe, Mpongwe ! ” Therefore, being on
terms of such cordiality, I took the liberty of
asking them to go away and let me eat and sleep
in peace, which to my relief, they promptly did,
telling the Zanzibaris before leaving that I must
indeed be a great chief to possess two whole bottles
of salt.

March Ath,—-What a miserable morning \ One can
hardly believe oneself in the same world as yesterday
—a sky filled with fearful storm-clouds and a thick
rain falling. It required some resolution to start,
and the Zanzibaris suggested our remaining till noon
where we were, but right or wrong I insisted on
going on. I don’t think I stood very well in the
men’s graces this morning. Yesterday I gave them
two hours more work than they wanted, and to-day
I made them start in the rain. Two or three smart
showers followed up the storm, then a burst of
furious wind which lashed the Congo into waves
and rocked our boat as if we were on the sea; then
a dead calm and, at last, our faithless friend, the
sun, veiling himself with white clouds, appeared in a
half-hearted, shame-stricken manner. About noon,
the orb now shining brightly, we stopped at a little
island, one of the many that dot the surface of the
vast river, to give the men time to cook their
bananas. It was not remarkable for much beyondTO BOLOBO.

229

footprints in the moist soil. I drew several of these
impressions in my sketch-book, as they gave an ex-
cellent idea of the “ artiodactyle ” foot in an incipient
stage. Here too, and on other neighbouring islands,
was growing a papilionaceous plant new to me,
having leaves and a thorny stem like the mimosas,
with flowers of a gaudy orange.

Towards sunset we halted at a sand-bank, or sandy
island, in the middle of the Congo, half a mile in
width and perhaps a mile long. On arriving, a
multitude of water birds were in possession, but at
our approach they flew off to other haunts. There
only remained large flocks of red-billed terns, which
circled and screamed round our heads as if demand-
ing compensation for being turned out of their own
property.

Here, .on this island, it seemed like the land of a
visionary. A gorgeous sunset, with glowing masses
of golden-red clouds irradiated the west, and re-
peated its glories with almost undiminished brilliancy
in the vast sheet of tranquil water. On one side of
us fantastically wooded, palm-crested islets floated in
reflected gold, with every branch and frond of their
tree-tops telling out against the shining sky. Long
lines of weary birds flew low over the water, with
faint cries of greeting to each other as they neared
their shelter for the night. On the other side of the
island, and so close as almost to overshadow us,
great masses of waterside forest rose into the sky,
tinged with the warm yellow light of the opposite230

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

sunset, and filling with their long and clear reflections
the strait of water that lay between them and our
sandy shore.

The grey parrots were in high spirits to-night, as
they flew home across the river. They seemed to he
telling each other “ good things ” as they passed over
our heads in little bands, for their exulting screams
and chuckling whistles were full of wild merriment.
Whenever the grey parrot appears to be in a good
temper flying home it is a sign, according to my
observation, that the morrow is going to he a fine
day, as also when he is out on his travels early in
the morning.

At length the glowing - sunset died away, and 1
had, half reluctantly, to turn from this dreamland,
where somehow thoughts of home seemed insensibly
mingled with the clouds, the birds and the shimmer-
ing water, and attend to the necessities of the
moment. Without my personal superintendence
dinner would be an uncertain result, so the chest of
provisions had to be unpacked and its contents dis-
tributed ; and whilst Mafta, the Zanzibari cook, my
pupil in the culinary art, was killing a lean fowl,
first reverently saying, “ In the name of Allah” as
he cut its throat, I sat on a camp-stool dealing out
the preserved vegetables, the lemon-juice, the flour,
butter, rice, bananas, salt and pepper, that were to
go, together with the fowl bouillon, to make a
perfect soup. The flesh has to be cut off from the
fowl bones, and is put with them into the pot toTO SOL OB 6.

231

simmer slowly. Then the liver and gizzard are
chopped up fine and thrown into the savoury
bubbling broth, and tbe result is an appetising and
soothing soup, in which a great amount of nourish-
ment may be commodiously swallowed. The pre-
paration of this meal, however, is somewhat lengthy,
and ere it is served to me on my impromptu table of
chests and boxes, the dusky drowsy night has
swallowed up the beauties of the twilight. How
utter is the feeling of isolation here! There is
nothing to alarm or sadden, on the contrary, the
girdle of darkness round our little island gives it a
cosy feeling of security and peace, but we seem here
so remote from everything but the stars.

March. 5 th.—We started by the early dawn in
order to reach Bolobo by the evening if possible.
The river, in this part of its course, owing no doubt
to its great breadth, appears to be very shallow, and
the boat is constantly running aground on sand-banks ;
nor do the natives’ canoes that are round us escape
entirely this contrariety, however slight their draught
of water may be. It has a very extraordinary effect
to see men walking halfway over a great branch of
the river, with water only up to their ankles, tracing
the course of some hidden sand-bank.

The high hills and downs that have hitherto
bordered the Congo begin to grow more and more
distant, and finally disappear into blue obscurity.
One last range comes into view and terminates
abruptly in a solitary peak, somewhat picturesquely
jagged, and then the great basin of central Africa232

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

begins, and splendid forests take possession of the
banks of the river, woods of such a magnificent
character that I think I have never seen richer
growth of vegetation in Africa.

There are here so many islands that it is difficult
to see the mainland, except at rare intervals. One
of them alone is ten miles long.

A great concourse of people, and an almost con-
tinuous series of villages on the east bank, show that
we are entering the very populous district of Bolobo.
At the principal assemblage of houses, in a pictur-
esque and leafy spot, the Zanzibaris stop rowing, for
the great chief of all this district, Ibaka, 44 Roi de
Bolobo,” as he is called in the Expedition, is seen
wending his way down to the beach, accompanied
by many women, to greet the white man who has
entered his territory. He wears a hat as famous as
that of Chumbiri in Stanley’s 4 Dark Continent.9
Ibaka comes down to the water-side, leans over the
boat and shakes hands cordially, after which, with
many 44 Mbotes’’—magic word !—we continue our
route on towards the station, while Ibaka shouts out
an equivalent to 44 an re voir.” We can now descry
our destination on a distant headland, but, in spite of
the utmost efforts on the part of the Zanzibaris, we
don’t arrive until nightfall, for we are constantly
sticking on sand-banks and running upon sunken trees.

Bolobo station* is situated on the summit of a bluff

* This establishment was the farthest settlement of white
men on the Congo at the time of my visit, but now (December,
1883,) there are other stations founded far beyond it.TO BOLOBO.

233

rising directly from the river. The place consists of
one large stockaded building, at once a residence for
the white man, and a citadel of resistance in case of
attack, and a series of little habitations clustered
round the centre, where the Zanzibaris and the.
Krumanos* live. This little station and its tiny
garrison were very nearly having to fight for their
lives a short time before my arrival. Some relative
of King Ibaka’s wishing to get up a little diversion
which would redound to his glory, proposed to his
followers to loot the station and massacre the whites.
Fortunately, when all were preparing for the struggle,
King Ibaka intervened, and matters now looked very
smooth, the fortifications however remained to show
through what .a time of anxiety the station had
passed.f

There are three Europeans here, Lieut. Orhan,
the chief of the station ; and two commercial agents,
a Frenchman and a Belgian.

Bolobo has one terrible disadvantage. Mosquitoes
abound to such an incredible degree that after dark
it is torture to have to sit at dinner, for they bite
through your trousers and socks—your hands, too,

* “ Krumanos,” a Portuguese corruption of Kru man or Kru-
boy, is conventionally used on the upper river to indicate the
indigenous carriers and servants who work for hire. On the
lower river it means “ slaves.”

•j* Since I left Bolobo, war actually took place, and the
besieged garrison were only relieved by the opportune arrival
of Mr. Stanley, who quelled the disturbance without firing a
shot.234

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

are soon swollen and poisoned. Consequently all
pleasant conversation at Bolobo is impossible after
the cloth has been withdrawn ; and you hasten off to
bed to put a mosquito-curtain between yourself and
your enemies. There was one great and unaccus-
tomed treat I enjoyed at 'Bolobo, which, after my
long deprivation, seemed to compensate for all other
things lacking—plenty of coffee and good goat’s
milk. Food generally is scarce, and what there is
consists of the same unchanging fowls, goats, and
kikwanga.

March Qth.-—This morning early, King Ibaka
attended by a numerous and distingushed suite,
arrived to pay us a visit. After the palaver of
ceremony was over I asked permission to take his
portrait, which was accorded, but he had not the
slightest intention of sitting for it, and moved about
at will. At length Orban hit on an excellent ex-
pedient for inducing the King to give me. a chance
of successfully portraying his features, and at the
same time of exhibiting to me a curious native
custom. So he proposed to Ibaka a solemn drink-
ing bout of malafu. “ Le Boi de Bolobo ” willingly
assented, and certain hirelings were told off to go
and fetch some large jars of freshly drawn palm-
wine.

Long, long ago, in the legends of the Ba-yansi,*

* This is one of the many local explanations of these curious
drinking customs, but it will not suffice to explain them all, nor
to account for their wide-spread existence in Western Africa.TO BOLOB6.

235

a King of Bolobo was drinking malafii at his ease
one day when a leopard stole np behind him un-
awares, jumped on his back, and strangled him
before the King could cry for help. To avoid such
a catastrophe in future, the following ceremony was
instituted by his successor. Before the King is
about to drink, he imposes silence on the people
assembled by snapping his fingers towards them and
crying “Ma” (“ma” is an exclamation to call
attention to anything: it is used to dogs). A wife
is crouched behind him, a little boy on his left hand.
The wife then also calls “ Ma,” and clasps her lord
tightly round the stomach with both hands. The
little boy covers his face with one hand, and claps
the other continually on his extended leg. Then
the King, sticking the first finger of his left hand
into his throat, below the ear, with the right hand
raises the glass and drinks. After he has quenched
his thirst he passes his hand across his mouth, and
then points with his first finger in the direction
where he next intends to levy war. When he has
not any quarrel immediately on hand, he simply
points his finger upwards; then snaps his finger,
says “ Ma” again, and the ceremony is at an end and
talking is resumed. All the details of this tiring
performance were carefully gone through whilst Ibaka
drank the malafu in our presence ,• but I should
think the constant repetition of this ritual every
time he drinks must be very wearying to the flesh.
Orban tells me, however, that on occasions of hurry or236 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CON00.

emergency there is a sort of shorter service, when it
suffices the King to be in absolute darkness, like a sen-
sitive “ negative,” to quench his thirst without going
through the more elaborate ceremonies observed
on other occasions. Ibaka’s hat is a very remarkable
one, as you may see in his portrait. There is literally
more in it than meets the eye, for within this
capacious receptacle much “ cloth ” and all his most
special and private valuables are stored. This ex-
traordinary structure,* which is made out of plaited
grass, never leaves Ibaka’s head more than once a
twelvemonth, “ for our annual cleaning,” and he
wears it day and night. “ Uneasy lies the head
that wears a crown.” The decorations of Ibaka’s
hat are of exotic origin. The lizards are cut out of
tinfoil, and manufactured, possibly in Birmingham,
and that curious plaque in the centre is the label of
the first and only champagne bottle which ever
reached Boldbd, and which, was drunk on the birth-
day of the King of the Belgians. Ibaka attended
the banquet, but declined any champagne, asking,
however, for its glittering label.

These curious wicker-work, or plaited-grass hats,
are common to all the great chiefs in this part of the
Upper Congo.

The civilization of the natives of Boldbd, who are
Ba-yansi people, is of a higher order than is usually
met with in savage Africa, and it is certainly purely
indigenous. Their houses, arms, and household im-
* See frontispiece.TO BOLOBO.

237

plements are constructed with skill and taste, and
the people generally exhibit a considerable amount
of savoir faire et vivre. They are great traders, and
travel many hundred miles up and down the river,
engaged in trafficking their ivory, slaves, and smoked
fish.

In the afternoon, to-day, I went into one of the
neighbouring towns, some two miles distant, where I
wished to draw a house, for the dwellings here differ

HOUSE IN BOLOBO.

considerably in design and construction from those
further down the river, and to study the way of
living of its inhabitants. The natives received me
very well, and took great interest in my work ;
too much interest, in fact, for certain officious friends,
in their anxiety to keep the course clear, showed an
ill-judged severity towards the unwitting persons
who came between me and my object. They beat a
woman, who beat a boy, who threwa stone at some-238

A JOTJBNEY UP TEE BIVER CONGO.

body else, and soon there was a general row, in the
middle of which I thought it best to retire in case
the excitement which was surging amongst them
should be turned against the white man who had un-
wittingly brought discord into their peaceful village
with his sorcerish practices of “ scratching images
on white cloth with a piece of stick.” Indeed, had
I doubted as to the propriety of retiring to fresh
fields and pastures new, my hesitation would not
have lasted long, for a friendly young man, who had
in a measure constituted himself my guide, took
my sketch-book with an apologetic “ Mbote,” closed it
gently, and taking me by the hand led me out of
the crowd. Fortunately my sketch of the house
itself was finished, and I was only obliged to leave
incomplete a group of natives in the foreground. I
tried to make my retreat seem as little like one as
possible, and stopped frequently to play with children
and admire the arms and spears of the natives who
were closing up behind me. All the same, I felt
myself being as politely as possible ejected from the
village, and the smiling natives insisted on accom-
panying me until I was well out of the precincts of
their place, and on the road to the station. After
all, I think they behaved very well in not assaulting
me. I was alone, unarmed, and completely in their
power. It was the first time a white man had ever
visited that spot, and then he must needs signalise
his visit by doing such uncanny things as making
sketches and collecting plants, from either of whichTO BOLOB6.

239

mal-praetices any sensitive negro might have been
justified in accusing him of witchcraft, and excused
for wishing to break the spell by shedding his blood.'

However, shortly after my return to the station
King Ibaka arrived, with the most profuse apologies
for my ejectment by his subjects ; in fact, he said he
felt so bitterly the slight which had been offered to
one of his friends, that he could only be assured of
the restoration of our former good relations if, just
as a form, I wrould give him a present of some blue,
cloth. I paid this debt to friendship, but King Ibaka
received evasively my request to come and visit him
chez lui, although I did afterwards make a sort of
formal tour of a little village, being walked round
the place by the King himself, but not allowed
to stop anywhere and sketch.

A few pine-apples are found at Bolobd between
the station and the native towns, but the fruit
appears to be rare elsewhere in the vicinity, and
we are evidently here on the confines of the district
over which “ Ananassa sativa ” has spread with such
wonderful vigour and rapidity. Another American
introduction of a much later date and of decidedly
different bearing towards mankind—the horrible little
“ jigger ” or burrowing flea—has just reached B&]obo
from the coast, though so recently that the natives
are only just beginning to be conscious of its presence,
and have not yet given it a name.

This evening was passed like most others at
Bolobd. We held out against the mosquitoes just240

A JOURNEY UP THE RIV,ER CONGO.

long enough to eat our dinner, and then hurried off
to bed and the relief from these tortures that is only
to he found within.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON B<5l()B<5.

The people inhabiting the banks of the Congo
in this district are, as has already been stated,
Ba-yansi, but this race seems limited to little more
than a strip of land bordering the river, and does
not extend its settlements far from the banks. On
the eastern side of the Congo the race of the
interior is the Ba~nunu, who seem to live on
friendly terms with the Ba-yansi. At Boldbd there
is no local fetish-man or doctor, and the people
there have to depend on the Ba-nunu to supply
one when necessary. This personage is required
for many purposes—to perform certain rites and
ceremonies such as circumcision, to heal sicknesses,
and to decide legal disputes or judge criminals.
The fetish-man’s decisions on all knotty points
of law, and his general perspicacity in judicial
investigations, are much thought of among the
Ba-yansi. When the Mu-nunu is called upon to ex-
amine into some case of theft or crime, he subjects
the implicated persons to a most rigorous question-
ing before arriving at a discision. The “ costs ”
exacted by this gentleman are tremendous, and act
effectively as a prevention against undue litigious-
ness on the part of natives.TO BOLOBO,

241

Ibaka, the paramount chief of Bolobo, is one of
the few potentates of the Western Congo that can
be said, in any way to be a ruler or kinglet of
importance. His sovereignty is hereditary, and his
family is considered royal even in its collateral
branches. He rules over a thickly inhabited strip
of the river about seventy miles in length, of uncer-
tain width, and with a population of from forty to
fifty thousand. Beyond his own subjects, however,
his influence is widely felt throughout the Ba-yansi
tribes, and he occupies perhaps the same position
towards that people as Mpumo Ntaba, the successor
of Makoko, does towards the Ba-teke.

The country in the vicinity of Bolobo is a low
table-land covered with dense forest. We are here
in the central basin of Africa, through which the
course of the Upper Congo lies, and the forests owe
much of their luxuriance to the abundant rain-fall
and to the short duration of the dry season.

Owing to the dense population and the prevalence
of cultivated districts even in the forest, many wild
animals seem to shun this country; still there are
large herds of elephants and buffaloes which are
little interfered with by the natives, whose sporting
proclivities are not very strong, and whose ivory is
all received from tribes further up the river, and
not procured from the herds of proboscideans which
range these forests. In the same way,, although the
red buffalo’s skulls and horns may be constantly seen
in the villages, I never heard of the people taking

R242

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the trouble to hunt it; they seem rather to content
themselves with gathering these relics whenever
they meet with them, doubtless after the feast of
some lion or leopard, and depositing them among the
half-sacred curiosities of their villages.*

The lion, leopard, striped -hyaena, black-backed
jackal, and civet cat are known here, and the gorilla,
or some kindred anthropoid ape, is described by
the natives as inhabiting the northern or western
bank of the Congo. The red river-hog,f which the
natives call by the same name as their domestic pig
—ISTgulu-—is very common, and although often killed
and eaten by the natives, does not seem to shun
their villages. I even have reason to believe that in
parts it lives in the same half-domesticated state as
noticed by Schweinfurth among the Nyam-nyams.

Iron seems to be largely worked in the interior,
and the Ba-yansi of Boldbd shape it into many beauti-
ful knives, axes, and spear heads. Copper they also
possess, largely, but I cannot say whether it is locally
found and melted.

The natives speak of a kind of topaz which they
call “ Monkoli.” It is described as either pale blue
or yellow in colour, and abundantly found in the
interior of the country.

* In Ki-yansi, the name for buffalo is ng'ombu, a classic term
in most Bantu tongues for “ox.” The Ba-yansi have no
domestic cattle.

| Potamocheerus.CHAPTER X

MSUATA.

Return from Bolobo—Itimba—A Burial Scene—A Village

DECORATED WITH SKULLS — EUPHORBIAS — MbONGO AGAIN-

Mukemo—The Outlet of the Lawson—Join Lieutenant
Janssen—Life at Msuata—The Haunt of the Elephant—
Tee Blue Plantain Eater—Birds and Crocodiles—The
Clouds—The Storm—A Visit to Gobila—Makole under
Treatment—A Trap for the Leopard—His Death.Euphorbia Her men ti ana

CHAPTER X.

M STJAT A.

I left Bdldbo, after a few days’
stay, to return to Msuata, the
station near the confluence of
the Wabuma-Kwango river. I had hoped to pursue
my journey farther up the Congo, but with the
paucity of men at my disposal and the somewhat
turbulent character of the natives, I thought it better
not to do so, just at that time, fearing to throw diffi-
culties in Mr. Stanley’s path, should I involve myself246

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

in an altercation with the natives, when he was
trusting that everything would go smoothly, with
time, patience, and a pacific bearing towards these
impulsive Congo tribes.

I had intended, however, to spend some two months
at Bdlobo, and use it as a centre for collecting and
making observations on anthropology ; but various
considerations impelled me to prefer Msuata for these
ends, especiallj7 as that spot, from its position, is just
at the meeting-place of three interesting races, the
Ba-yansi, the Ba-teke, and the Wa-buma, while at
Bdlobo you have merely Ba-yansi. Then also, at
Bdlobo the food supply was scanty and variable,
whereas at Msuata the commissariat was more skil-
fully managed; and finally—and perhaps this was
the reason that most affected my choice—the mos-
quitoes at Bdlobo rendered life unbearable, and
Msuata, happy place, was exempt from this plague.
So I finally decided to return in the boat which had
brought me, and which was making its way back to
Stanley Pool. Lieut. Orban, the late chief of Bdlobo
station, wras my travelling companion as far as I
went, and our short journey together of three days
to Msuata—we took just half the' time descending
the river that we had taken to ascend—proved most
agreeable, and amusing.

On the first evening after leaving Bdlobo we
stopped at a village called Itimba, a little below
Chumbiri’s town near the point where the Congo
begins to narrow down from a breadth of nine or tenMS UAT A.

247

miles to a few hundred yards. Here, at Itimba, we
found the people just about to proceed to the obsequies
of a dead fellowr-townsman, an old man, apparently
of some standing. The chief and his subjects were in
great perplexity. Of late years it has become 44 de
rigueur,” since guns were introduced into the Upper
Congo regions, to fire a salute over the body of a
defunct person, especially if he be of any distinc-
tion ; and the inhabitants of this village, possessing
only one pitiful old flintlock amongst them, and that
terribly out of repair, were hesitating, when we
arrived, as to what course they should pursue —
whether they should charge and fire this one dilapi-
dated gun and, risk its bursting, or whether the
deceased should be allowed to wend his way to the
land of spirits unhonoured and unsaluted. Seeing
their perplexity, Lieutenant Orban volunteered to
fire a round of twenty cartridges from his 64 Win-
chester.” The chief and people were delighted.
Could there be greater honour for the deceased than
to receive his farewell salute at the hands of a white
man, with his wonderful gun from Mputo—the
mysterious region beyond the sea—the unknown—
perhaps heaven itself ?	(“ for are not these white

men sons of heaven ? ”) So thought the old chief, as
he led us to see the corpse, with an earnest, pleading
tone, he took our hands in his, and said, 44 Oh you,
who are going home! ”—and he pointed to the pale
and peaceful evening sky—44 you will send him back
to us, will you not ? you will tell him his hut is248

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

waiting for him, his wives will prepare his manioc
white as cotton-cloth, and there shall be nialafu in
plenty, and a goat hilled. You will send him back
will you not?” This expression of feeling quite
took us by surprise. Ordinarily the African chief is
so stolid, so thoroughly material, that one never
expects from him anything like sentiment or poeti-
cal ideas. We tried as gently as possible—for he
appealed to both of us in his distress—to explain at
once our utter inability to reanimate this hideous
corpse with the breath of life, and to encourage him
with vague hopes that all was not in vain, but he
shook his grizzled head sadly at the confession of our
powerlessness face to face with death.

The body of the dead man had been previously
smoked and dried over a slow fire, so that the flesh,
except upon the hands, was shrunken and reduced to
a leathery covering round the gaunt bones. The
face had been gaudily painted with scarlet, yellow
and white pigments, and the whole body was en-
crusted with the red dye of the camwood tree.
Round the nose and mouth was wrapped a band of
cloth, and gay-patterned cottons swathed the body.
For some reason the hands were quite plump and
well covered with flesh, as if in life. The dead man
had been placed in his grave in a sitting posture,
many layers of native cloth lying under him, and
ready to cover him up on the top were piles of cotton
stuffs received in trade from the far-off coast, and
representing to these natives a considerable amountMSUATA.

249

of wealth. In the vague, half-determined notions
which the people here have conceived as to a future
existence, everything in the Spirit World is supposed
to he a pale copy of things existing on the earth, so
that for this reason they put cloth, vessels of pottery,
and, in the case of a chief, dead slaves into the graves,
in order that the deceased, on arriving in the land
of shades, may not appear unprovided with the
necessary means of making a fresh start in a new
life.

The grave in which this man was buried had been
dug in a hut, and the head of the corpse was not
more than two feet below the surface. We could not
ascertain whether the hut, or rather house—for it
was a substantial building of poles and thatch—-
would be abandoned or not. I fancy not, as it is
only in the case of a chief that this is done ; and the
man that was dead, although he died rich and influen-
tial, was, after all, only the favourite slave of the
chief.

In this village many skulls were stuck on the top
of the houses. They were those of mis-doers, we
were told, who had been slain by the fetish-man for
their crimes, and their skulls were thus exposed for
the admonition of others. If this was' the sole ex-
planation of an epidemic of cranial adornment which
seemed to have broken out all over the village, on
every house, then there must have been a correspond-
ing epidemic of crime amongst the inhabitants ; but
I think there were other causes, such as recent wars250

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

which would help to account for these grim appur-
tenances to house decoration. One man, indeed,
admitted to me that the two skulls he possessed were
those of two slaves whose throats he had cut for some
grievous offence on their part.

Out of mere fun, we asked if they would sell us
some of these crania, knowing the horror that these
people have of parting with any human remains, and
expecting a decided refusal. To our surprise, how-
over, they immediately asked a certain price, which
was afterwards reduced to three brass rods for each
skull, at which rate two were soon bought, and more
might probably have been procured if we had cared
to stop and bargain, for now that the people found
their osteological collections of any value they
hastened to realise them, and brought us, besides
skulls, all manner of odds and ends of bones, few of
which, however, were of any value. Many would
have jumped to the conclusion that we were here in
some cannibal country, merely because of the abun-
dance of human remains in this village, but I do not
think there is the slightest foundation for such an
accusation. In many villages—in fact in nearly all
the villages hereabouts—there are bones of animals
or men stuck about under the trees or in the fetish
huts for various complicated reasons of religion, of*
boastfulness, and perhaps also fear—fear of the
avenging manes of the departed who might wreak
vengeance on his slayers, did they not hold his
bones as a security for good behaviour. When weM8UATA.

251

got on terms of intimacy with the natives of Itimba
—it takes a very short time to win the confidence of
these simple people—I asked some of them confi-
dentially if they ever eat man, proffering the inquiry
with assumed carelessness, so that if they might feel
any false shame in admitting this addition to their
diet, they would be reassured by my freedom from
prejudice, and confess. At first, however, they did
not clearly understand me, but when, by more
vigorous pantomime and better chosen terms, I had
made my meaning plainer, they repelled the sugges-
tion with the utmost horror, replying to my interro-
gation an emphatic 6i Ve, vi, ve,” (“ No, no, no, ”), and
then adding a timid inquiry, 66 Na Baio ? ” (“ And
you ? do you ? ”)

Ere this excitement about the skulls was over,
fresh objects of interest arrived in the shape of some
splendid fish that had just been caught. We bought
the lot, and I sat down by candle light to make a
drawing of the biggest. He measured 3 ft. 7 in. in
length, and a fuller description of him will be found
in Chapter XIII.

Round this village, Itimba, there were many fine
clumps of Euphorbia growing, probably Euphorbia
Hermentiana, apparently protected and encouraged
#by the inhabitants, who appear to have some supersti-
tious, or perhaps practical liking for these curious
prickly plants. It is strange that although these
Euphorbias are found in nearly all West African
villages, they should yet, as far as I have noticed, be252

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

absent from tbe wild uncultivated country. Can
they be a semi-domesticated species that is carried
from village to village, either from some superstitious
preference, or to form protective hedges, or because
they furnish some useful product, such as a poisonous
juice, or a fibrous matter ?

The next morning we stopped at that pleasant
little village called Mbongo, where I had been before
so well received. The people greeted me quite

THE SHOKE AT MUKEMO.

enthusiastically, and although there was no malafu,
they brought sugar-cane in abundance. I obtained
here a curious little river tortoise, a species of
Trionyx provided with a soft and flexible shell and a
quaint little proboscis.

We camped out for the night at a village of
Ba-yansi, called Mukemo, or “ the Little,” though it
must have evidently changed since its name was
first given, for it was large, spacious and populous.M8UATA.

253

The houses were well built, and the open squares
clean and swept, and garnished with handsome
trees. The people were in the best of tempers, for a
drinking-bout of malafu had just taken place, and
though the chief was nearly dead drunk, his subjects
had merely taken sufficient to raise their spirits and
set their tongues going. They led us up to the
place where the chief and his principal men were
sitting on mats, with jars of palm wine round them,
and slaves serving it out into a cracked tumbler and
a battered tin. We were obliged to drink two
glasses each as a testimony of good-will. I say
“ obliged,” though the obligation was by no means
unpleasant, for the malafu, made from the sap of the
Hyphcene palm, was most delicious and refreshing,
and, moreover, as strong as good beer. The chief
here possessed a cat, which was regarded somewhat
as a curiosity by the natives. It was the first I had
ever seen in a Ba-yansi village, although I believe
this local scarcity was merely accidental, for the
domestic cat is fairly abundant in West Africa,

Many of the children in this place were suffering
from whooping cough, and during the night made
much disturbance with their screaming coughs and
fretful cries.

The next day we passed the tortuous outlet—much
blocked by sand-banks—of the Lawson or Alima*
river, on the western bank of the Congo, and then

* It was down this river that De Brazza came when he
journeyed from the Upper Ogowe to the Congo.254

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

came in view of the great Wabuma, finally passing
the point of G-anchu, and its dangerous current, and
arriving at Msuata towards noon. Here Janssen
gave us his usual hearty welcome and good cheer,
and here I proceeded to settle down with my three
Zanzibaris into comfortable quarters, looking for-
ward to a long rest after my tiring journeys. Orban
bade us farewell at Msuata. He was going on in
the boat to Stanley Pool, and intended to regain the
coast in order to recruit his health. Msuata has
many advantages as a centre of study, as a place to
spend a few months of research in Natural History
subjects. It is very healthy, well provided with
good native food—eighty fowls can, if necessary, be
bought in one day from the surrounding villages—
the scenery in the environs is pretty and accessible,
while the kindly natives leave nothing to desire
either for amiability or gentle demeanour.

Life was pleasantly monotonous, but although the
programme of my day was almost unvarying in its
arrangement, the details of each branch of study
offered continual novelty and change, and, in the
same sense that “ happy are the people who have no
history,” so, although no wonderful adventures or
marvellous occurrences happened to me here, I yet
look back on these six weeks passed at Msuata as
the very happiest time I have known in Africa.

“ Les jours secoulent et se ressemblent,” and the
detailed description of the way one day was spent at
this station will serve as a history of the remainingMSUATA.

255

forty one, with the few rare or exceptional incidents
inserted.

My daily life begins at about half-past five, when
I become dimly conscious that the curtain covering
the doorway of my room is no longer opaque, hut
that a cold bright light is filtering through. Then I
notice the strange silence : the crickets have sud-
denly ceased their exasperating “ creek, creek creek ”
which has been going on all night, and there is a
slight pause in nature between the noises of darkness
and light. The silence does not last long, for the
turtle-doves begin to coo in the adjoining woods, and
a flock of grey parrots passes over my roof with loud
whistles and gay chuckles of merriment. A shrill
chorus of twittering weaver-birds and wax-bills
arises from the grass fields, the cuckoos laugh from
tree to tree, and up from the river comes the metallic
cry of the spur-winged plovers. It is day, and a
thin streak of sunshine steals in through the gap
between the curtain and the door-post, and cuts
right across my mosquito curtain like a golden
sword. I hesitate no longer; the sloth of night has
passed, and I impatiently long for freshness and
eager work. Lifting off the muslin which has
secured me immunity all night from mosquito bites,
I somewhat ungratefully fling it into a corner, and
pulling aside the curtain which has veiled my door-
less doorway, I step out into the fresh, even chilly
morning air, and call loudly “ Faraji we ! ” Faraji,
who is just winding his turban round his head and256

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

putting on his slight raiment after the river bath
which has left him glistening, comes with docile haste
to my roonr, and helps me to perform my hasty
toilet. Then the curtain is looped up over the wide
doorway, and the yellow sunlight fills the room, and
shows up all sorts of queer creatures that have been
my near companions in the night. Large blue-
black velvety spiders are revealed on the clay wall, a
pretty lizard darts under the bed, while all around
on the matted floor, on the walls, on the boxes are
seated the odious grylli, the crickets whose chirping
has so wearied and annoyed me in the hours of
wakefulness. However I leave Faraji to disperse and
slay these creatures—always excepting the lizard,
who is quite unobjectionable, and the spider, who eats
so many flies—and I go to the breakfast table in the
next room—our salle a manger—to await the arrival
of my host, Janssen. Suddenly he comes in, not from
his bedroom but from the outer piazza. There is
rage in his face mingled with a fierce longing for
vengeance. I divine the truth—Another leopard
has been whilst we slumbered, and another milch
goat is robbed from the fold—No, it is worse, three
of our four milk-providers have been strangled, and
the fourth is going about bleeding at the neck and
baaing piteously. This is indeed a disaster, but
after all it has occurred several times before, so we
sit down to our breakfast and discuss with resigna-
tion the best mode of setting a trap for the depre-
dator. When the meal is finished, Janssen goes toMSUATA.

257

review the men and settle the routine of work for the
day, and I, with Faraji, Mafta, and Imbono, start for
a morning’s ramble in the river-side forest. Perhaps
for that end I cross the Congo, for on the northern
bank the country is almost an uninhabited wilder-
ness, wholly given up to nature in parts. We go,
then, to the clayey shore, below the station, and loose
from its moorings, a native canoe, a “ dug-out, ” per-
haps fifteen feet in length and three feet in its
greatest width. But before embarking the sky is
carefully scanned to ascertain the probable state of
the weather for the next few hours, for should a
storm be threatening it would be madness to adven-
ture ourselves on the river. If the verdict be “ set
fair,” we enter the canoe, the men take the paddles,
and the wobbly craft, with a disagreeable rocking
motion from side to side, that brings either edge in
turn on a level with the water, proceeds to make way
laboriously up-stream. We coast along past the
landing-place of the village of Msuata, or Grobila as
it is sometimes called, after its chief, where all the
natives’ canoes are drawn up on the beach or fastened
to piles rising out of the water, and where many little
children are playing the innocent, imaginative games
common to all childkind, while a few of their elders
are fishing or making ready to set out on a journey;
past the banana groves skirting the groups of yellow-
thatched houses, then along the great river-fronting
wall of forest, where the sprawling, untidy calamus
palms clamber up over the noble eriodendron trees,

s258

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

untidy and irregular in their means of ascent, but
endowed with an indefatigable ambition to be at
the top of everything. Then we reach a certain
dead tree lying prone on the shore, with its leafless
branches stretching upwards almost pathetically,
crowned with small water-birds, and here, turning
at this land-mark, we proceed to strike away across
the Congo for a little cove or inlet nearly opposite
Msuata. Owing to the force of the current we have
to row a mile and a half up-stream to be able to land
at the place desired, and allow for the “inevitable
descent of the canoe. When we leave the shore to
cross as rapidly as may be the broad Congo, it is
always a time of some anxiety. Before we are out
of the shallows a hippopotamus may come and wreck
us, or once in the terrible mid-current, where the
waves are leaping over each other, a wind storm may
suddenly capsize our unstable bark. However, the
further shore comes nearer and nearer, and we at
length enter the quiet little bay for which we have
steered, where there is a placid backwater shielded
by a spit of forest. Here the canoe is tied to a fallen
tree, and the tent is put up on the beach to protect
the heavier baggage, and our batterie de cuisine from
the sun, whilst we, leaving Mafta behind to com-
mence preparations for the mid-day meal, with eager
haste on my part leave the open beach of white sand,
and following an elephant path, plunge into the cool
forest.

In England I am a fire-worshipper; in the tropicsM8UATA.

259

I adore the trees. My heart goes out to the erring (?)
Jews of old who “ built them high places and images
and groves, on every high hill and under every
green tree,” and who, in spite of occasional icono-
clastic or “ dendroclastic ” rulers who arose and cut
down the groves, relapsed repeatedly from their
harsher, sterner, desert faith—the faith of Job
and the modern Bedouin—into the softer cult of
towering, shade-giving trees. The Forest is most to
be appreciated in the Lands of the Sun, where its cool
green gloom contrasts so soothingly with the hard,
white heat in the open. So we follow the elephant’s
track with careful steps and slow, avoiding crackling
twigs and thorny branches and ant-infested shrubs.
The less noise we make in this arcana of wild things,
the more shall we see of its higher life. Sh !—listen,
what was that ? A series of crashes in the forest
follow my query, then a rustling of leaves. Faraji
pulls me by the sleeve and whispers, “ Tembo, bwrana,
tembo.” Then in the direction in which he points I
see through the stems and the creeper-stalks a grey
mass. It is an elephant, who, whether he hears us
or no, calmly goes on feeding. We somewhat
tremblingly continue on our road amid the noise of
creaking, breaking boughs and swishing leaves,
quite resolved to leave the elephant alone; for of
what avail would my little bird-gun be against his
hide or bony skull ? Here the path becomes pitted
with great round water-holes where the elephant’s
feet have sunk into the soft soil and the rain has

s 2260

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

filled the depressions. Already these pools of a day
swarm with life. Little striped toads squat on
their margins, myriads of glancing water-beetles and
water-spiders skim the surface, and in the muddy
depths there seem to be many wriggling indefinite
creatures. Another warning pull from Faraji. I
look up above my head and see a dark blot in the
maze of twigs. It is some big bird, so I fire my
little “collector’s” gun and down it comes with
many a flop and a temporary stoppage in the forks
of branches, until it falls an inanimate lump in
the herbage at my feet. It is a great prize—the
beautiful Blue Plantain-eater,* a bird remarkable for
lovely plumage and high comestible qualities. Follow-
ing the report of the gun, is a momentary panic
among the denizens of the woods. The elephant is
heard retreating through the forest alleys, many birds
call loudly and indignantly from their unseen posts
of vantage-—the fishing-eagles giving vent to almost
hysterical screams and the cuckoos cynically laughing
—and for a while the spell of peace is rudely broken.
But crimes are soon buried and forgotten in the
forest, and everything after the momentary pause of
surprised attention goes on feeding, fighting, or
making love.

Slowly we traverse this belt of woodland until we
have crossed the little peninsula that divides us from
our landing place. Now we emerge quietly on a

* Schizorhis gigantea; for illustration of head and crest, see
chapter xiv.LANDSCAPE ON THE UPPER CONGOMSUATA.

263

tiny bay or sound between two promontories that
end in a green, grassy headland. Here is a study to
make which repeats itself throughout the Congo
scenery. A line of forest reflected in the still water,
an old, gnarled, and withered tree-trunk in the fore-
ground, half in the ooze, half high and dry above,
on the white sand. If yon do not approach
too near, you may see the crocodiles lying under the
boughs of the fallen tree, their mouths gaping open
from sheer listlessness, and their bodies motionless
in the warm shallow water, or basking and baking in
the open sunlight, the whole creature revelling in
the pleasure of dolce far niente. Then above, about,
and around them, a multitude of lovely forms,
water-birds and waders standing fearlessly pluming
themselves regardless of the crocodiles, with whom
they must make a compact, a mutual • alliance. The
crocodiles agree not to eat the birds, and the birds
keep a good look out to warn the crocodiles by loud
cries when their only enemy, man, is coming. I
have observed this strange intimacy between these
very dissimilar creatures on all African rivers. How
the advent of man must have re-acted on the relations
between many of the higher forms of vertebrate life,
compelling them almost to subordinate their own
pre-existing fears, quarrels and rapacities to the
common dread of the universal enemy! Whom
could the crocodiles have feared before this ab-
normal ape took to slaying instead of being slain ?
From the day that the first Protanthropos flung a264

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

stone at, or jabbed a sharp reed into a crocodile’s eye,
this strange intimacy for mutual defence must have
sprung up between the crocodile and the shore-
frequenting birds* So, on the withered tree-trunk,
and on the many twisted snaggs that rise above the
water, perch the egrets, the bitterns, the herons, and
the darters. Fat pelicans lounge on the oozy margin
of the river’s wavelets, spur-winged and Egyptian
geese stand in little groups on the sand, and Zikzak
plovers, with yellow wattles and spurs to their
wings, hop on the crocodiles’ bodies, and, if they do
not, as some suppose, pick the teeth, they at any rate
linger strangely, and, as one would think, rashly,
round the jaws of the grim saurians.

Ah ! Faraji, you have broken the spell! Startled
by a sudden inroad of black ants over his unprotected
skin, he has loudly smacked a limb that has been
smartly bitten by the great mandibles of these head-
strong insects. The charm has vanished, the picture
is dispersed. The egrets and the herons are flying to
far-off shores, the pelicans flop into the water, and
thence scutter away, half swimming, half flying, till
they are out of sight, while the outraged plovers,
with their loud, almost human cry, wake up the croco-
diles, and, having seen their friends glide smoothly
into the deep, they address a few more invectives to
our party, and then flap their black-and-white wings
over the water to a point further along the shore,
where they fold their attractive pinions under
modest grey wing-coverts, and strut about the beachMSUATA.

265

in self-satisfied conceit at having baulked the
slaughterous propensities of those odious men. How-
ever, the surroundings of this bird and crocodile
grouping still remain, and are worth studying in
themselves. There is the fallen tree in the fore-
ground, in sharply contrasted light and dark, and
beneath it the yellow sand and green ooze. Then
the stretch of tranquil water, reflecting first the
variegated sky with its cloud effects of iron-grey
and snowy white dappled Avith patches of bright
blue—the tone of the red sandy bottom shining
warmly through this reflection in the shallows—and
beyond, the glassy reproduction of the wall of forest
in the middle distance, which but for the occasional
scratches of silvery white where the light breeze
ruffles the water, Avould seem as real as the reality
above it. In the actual forest, although it is separated
from you by a few hundred yards of river, much
detail may be observed in the clear noon-day sun-
light. There are the purple depths of shade and the
gloAving masses of yellow-green foliage ; there are
the white skeletons of dead and leafless trees and the
fanciful trellis-work of emerald-green calamus palms,
trailing their disorderly fronds over the water’s edge
and curving their prying, impertinent heads into
every gulf of vegetation, and peeping over the tops
of the highest trees. Beyond the forest, the back-
ground is the sky, and what a heaven it is to gaze
at! In Africa, during the rainy season, the cloud-
scapes are pictures in themselves. Those noble266

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

masses of vapour which begin in tiny shapes of blue-
grey over the sharp horizon of the Congo, gradually
lift themselves up, throw out wings and limbs, and
while their dark bellies stretch away in exaggerated
perspective till they vanish into haze, their great
snowy heads and shining arms expand over the
heavens as if they would, in their rapacity, conquer
and swallow all the cerulean blue. Then in their
moments of proudest development they break up like
unwieldy empires. One province after another
deserts and floats away into independence, and the
one great cloud that erewhile occupied three-quarters
of the sky gives birth to many cloudlets, each with a
dark grey body and a white border, and these in
their divisions and separations let the sunlight pierce
their ranks through and through with many darts and
broad-swords of gold, and thus, thoroughly disorgan-
ized and disunited, the cloud titans are swept from off
the blue heavens by their fickle friend, the wind, and
for a while the sky is empty and serene. But not
for long: as I am eating my lunch under the shade
of the palm groves, the air becomes stifling; over
the water is a shimmering reverberation of heat, the
crocodiles on the distant banks positively gasp for
breath with expanded jaws, the flies forget to bite,
the birds and the insects cease their chirping—there
is an awful silence. Something is going to happen,
and everything animate, is conscious of the suspense
and the impending struggle. Faraji comes to my
retreat, and, pointing to the line of open water whereMSTJATA.

267

the Congo meets the sky, his finger indicates a faint
purplish nehula or haze which is shapeless and yet
has limits to its small extent. It is the avant garde
of an awful army, the real trained hosts of the
storm-fiend, who in his struggle for the empire of
the sky now puts forth his utmost strength. The
former clouds were but a light skirmishing force
in comparison, and the Zanzibaris, my weather
guides, paid no attention to their movements, but
now they all come to me, although the sky is a
hard, unsullied blue, save for the purplish stain
near the eastern horizon, and say with emphasis,
“ Rain is coming.”

Fearing to be cut off from Msuata by the approach-
ing storm for the remaining hours of daylight, and
perhaps have to pass a night in the damp and drip-
ping woods, our one thought is to take advantage
of a brief spell of immunity and cross the Congo
before the elements can hinder our progress. So the
sketching materials are hastily put together, the tent
is taken down and rolled up, the remainder of the
lunch is left to the ants and birds, and rapidly
unmooring the canoe, we paddle out from our little
tranquil harbour into the open Congo. How the
storm grows ! In five minutes the haze has become
a black, densely packed ridge of clouds along the
horizon. The extreme edge of the water tells out
against the dark cloud-bank in ominous white : still
there is time. We paddle with feverish energy—
yes, we, for I, too, strive to increase the speed with268

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

measured strokes. Shall we never cross the mile-
wide stream ?

See, the artillery is beginning. It flashes and
blazes fitfully in the far distance. As yet all is still.
We see the lightning but do not hear the thunder.
The water is like solid glass ; to our right it is still
smilingly, vacuously blue, but storm-wards, it has
become a sullen grey, ever deepening in tint. Ah,
there is the thunder, beginning in a low muttering
with occasional isolated pops and reports like single
shots. A third of the sky is now filled with a pall of
uniformly black-grey cloud, quite unbroken save by
one small, whitish fleck that to a fanciful eye might
seem a general on a white horse directing the
movements of the vast compact hosts. The edge of
the storm-cloud is torn, irregular, harried, and is fast
stretching with disordered outline, over our heads.
Now comes a splendid coruscation, a dazzling blaze
of lightning over the face of the cloud, followed
by a perfect roar of thunder that makes us uncon-
sciously tremble.

The hour of danger is fast approaching, but, save
for the steady advance of the storm, nothing moves in
nature. The water is unruffled, the foliage of the
nearer shore is unstirred by any breath of air. We
have done three-quarters of the journey, can we
accomplish the rest unharmed ? Ah, no ! too late—
the Wind is coming, and Faraji, catching sight of
the distant waves, says under his breath, u Oh Mu-
hammad, Oh Prophet of God, save us.” It is onMS UAT A.

269

us, it is here ! The men lie down cowering in the
boat that they may offer no resistance to the fearful
blast which all but overturns the canoe, and hurls on to
us the white-capped waves which leap one over the
other in their anxiety to swamp us. Still, from their
crouching posture the men dig the paddles into the
water, and seem to carve a way to the fast-approach-
ing shore, aided somewhat by the wind which is
sweeping us thither. Shall we escape ? It seems
unlikely. A great hissing wall of rain advances
towards us over the river, envelopes, surrounds and
well-nigh overwhelms us. I feel crushed by the
mass of water, my breath is gone, I am beaten into
the trough of the canoe where the men lie ex-
hausted, without other feelings than stolid resigna-
tion.

I can distinguish nothing in the blinding rain,
but I think I hear a despairing voice quite close.
Suddenly we bump on a log and find ourselves
stranded on the shore, driven thither by the wind,
and at last in safety. The men jump out with expres-
sions of devout thankfulness to their prophet, and
Janssen is clutching me by the hand to drag me up
the slimy bank, full of congratulations at our escape.
All is well that ends well. In Africa dangers
incurred are soon forgotten. When I have changed
my clothes and had some hot coffee, I feel nothing’
more disagreeable than a glow from the dousing of
cold rain, and almost forget that half an hour ago I
thought myself doomed to feed the crocodiles of the270

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Congo. As I am sipping my coffee, too, and chat-
ting with Janssen about the leopard of last night
and the means of shooting him, I notice in the
glimpses of sky that are framed by the windows
indications of approaching peace. The storm-fiend,
raised by the sun, is conquered by that luminary,
and his ragged battalions, torn and rent, are being
driven off by the changeable wind, a fickle co-
adjutor that ever turns against you in the hour of
defeat. Soon there is calm. The sun glancing
radiantly in the rain-pools, lights up a somewhat
tearful scene, and the ground is strewn with leaves,
branches, debris of the forest carried hither and
thither by the wind.

The later afternoon is mellow and fine. There is
a delicious freshness in the air, the sky is a pale
washed-out blue, and the descending sun brings out
all the forest background in exaggerated relief.

We put on our thick boots and set off on a walk
to the village. The path is not only marshy in
parts, but even crosses positive lagoons, through
which the Zanzibaris carry us on their backs. This
watery condition of the route is owing to the recent
heavy rainfall. As we enter the village and the
first few people catch sight of us, the whole popula-
tion is soon around us, shrieking out a welcome,
“ Susu Mpernbe wa Bui; ”* they scream, announcing

* The “ white fowl” and the “ spider,” the native names of
Janssen and myself. Janssen was called the “ white fowl,” for
some obscure reason, and I was nicknamed the “ spider,” “ be-
cause I was always catching insects.”MSUATA.

271

us to their chief, Gobila, who is seated in front of
his house, in a little private square, picking over the
remains of an old flint-lock gun. Gobila greets us
with many grins and Mbote's, and extends a fat paw
to be shaken. He is a man of about forty, but looks
older. His figure was once fine and stalwart, but
latterly, owing to a more slothful existence and good
living, he has become too fat. His face is not un-
handsome. He has good clear eyes, a straightish
nose, perfect teeth, save for the artificial chipping
of the two middle incisors, a slight moustache and
a peaked beard. His bull-neck is a column of
strength, but there are wrinkles of fat in the nape.
His arms are immense and tempt you to pinch them,
a pleasantry which makes him—for he is of a sunny
nature—roar with laughter. Gobila has almost
pendant breasts like a woman, a thing constantly
seen in these middle-aged men, and his thighs are
somewhat misshapen with obesity. But for this full
habit of body he appears a stately man, and in spite
of his love of joking has a certain dignity of manner.
Gobila does not like me very much—not half as
much as Janssen. He can’t understand why I am
always asking questions, why my black “ stick ” is
always making marks on pieces of “ cloth ” (writing),
why I gather herbs (unless for magic), and why I am
anxious to take his portrait. This latter attempt has
been a great source of contention between us. When
I first visited the chief of Msuata, I took advantage
of the impression produced by my “ present ” to272

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

extract from him an unwilling promise to sit to me
as a model. I arrived on the succeeding- day with
all my implements of magic, and poor, fat, trembling
Gobila had to sit in immobility before me on a
square of matting. The constant lifting of my eye
from the paper and the wayT I scanned bis features
so disconcerted him, that after the first few minutes
of the sitting he became quite miserable and
implored a momentary release. Then he got two
of his wives to sit on either side of him and
mitigate by absorption the effect of my evil eye.
Thus flanked he sat out bravely a whole half-hour
but ever averted his head from my gaze, in such
fashion that after many futile attempts to reproduce
bis features, I gave up tbe attempt in despair.
Gobila was radiant at my defeat. His fetish was
stronger than tbe white man’s. Nevertheless he
shirked any other contest of our psychic forces,
and I never persuaded him to give me another
chance. However on this occasion we avoid any
such disagreeable subject. The note-book is kept in
hiding, and we attempt to draw Gobila out in a most
innocent manner. Lest my queries should arouse his
suspicions, Janssen is primed with the necessary
questions to be put. Gobila is asking about guns—
a good idea—Janssen carelessly inquires how long
is it since the Ba-teke have known this weapon.
The chief replies, after stopping a moment to think,
that his father fought with bows and arrows and
spears, and knew not guns, which were only intro-MSUATA.

273

duced towards the close of his life, when Grobila was
a little boy.*

“ Can he ever remember to have heard speak of
the time when there were no pine-apples, oranges,
maize, manioc or sugar-cane ? ”	“ No ; were not

those things always with us ? ” he replies inquir-
ingly. Grobila answers several more questions and
then begins to yawn, so we take the hint and leave
him, going off to make a round of visits in the
village.

A friend of ours, Makole, whose name is phone-
tically the same as our great English historian’s,
sends word to say he is ill, will we come and see
him ? Approaching his residence, we see that
something very special is taking place. The pali-
saded compound round Makole s huts is festooned
with great palm branches, interlaced at times so as
to form arches of greenery across the pathway. The
entrance to the principal house, where the ceremony
we have been invited to see is going on, is a

* Gobila is not tbe real name of the present chief of Msuata.
It is the name of an elder brother who was formerly chief, but
who suffered from occasional fits of madness, or melancholia, in
which he cut off too many of his liege’s heads. Consequently
he was quitted by almost the entirety of his people and slaves,
who crossed the Congo under the leadership of Gampama (the pre-
sent Gobila) and established themselves at Msuata. Gampama-
Gobila is also called “ Mbuma ” by the Ba-yansi, either because
he lives near the Wa-buma people, or because he is originally of
that race. 44 Gampama ” is Ki-buma for cat. The real original
Gobila still lives on in his ancient seat, 44 thinning ” the few
subjects that remain, and becoming a bye-word for ferocity, and
a bogy to frighten naughty black children.

T274

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

veritable bower, so thickly do the upright palm
fronds cluster about it. Thirty-nine people are
crammed into the interior, which is about twenty-
feet by ten. They are all playing on drums,
“ marimbas,” and a rude sort of lyre, and singing at
the top of their voices, their nearly naked bodies
streaming with sweat, for in addition to the
exhausting nature of their occupation there is a
roasting fire burning in the centre of the hut, and its
smoke mixes with the steam from the human bodies
and produces a thick mist through which various
details of the interior can but dimly be discerned.
At one end of the hut, however, we can see Makole,
who is sick, seated under an overarching canopy of
palm branches, with the soles of his feet turned
towards the blaze. On one side of him a wife
crouches over a dish of food that she is preparing.
All this time her husband, a stout, well-made man
in the prime of life, remains perfectly motionless and
silent, the perspiration streaming down his body,
and we are informed that it is an important condi-
tion of the cure that he should not give utterance to
a sound while the charm is working.

At length there is a pause for refreshments, and
all the occupiers of the hut, musicians, wives, and
patient, turn out into the open, panting, laughing,
and tviping the sweat from their glistening bodies.
Jars of sweet and pleasant-tasting palm wine from
the Malehu, or Hyphoene palms, is brought in by
slaves, and all present, including ourselves, take aMSUATA.

275

drink, Makole participating freely. Although he is
bound to keep silent, he makes uf) for want of verbal
welcome by the most effusive grins : in fact his face
is wreathed in fatuous smiles, for he is evidently
highly self-conscious, and imagines himself to be an
interesting figure to the white men who have come
to witness his “ cure.” His friends tell us he is suffer-
ing from headache, and to corroborate this, he him-
self points to his temples and forehead, which are
painted with white pigment. But probably the
whole affair is got up to serve as an excuse Tor a
bout of malafii drinking and a grand function.

We return to the station by canoe, going down
stream merrily and at a great rate.

The sun is very near setting as we arrive, so
Janssen goes off to the goat’s paddock to set a trap
for the leopard in the little time of remaining day-
light. He arranges a sort of narrow “ boma,” or
three-sided structure of high stakes, at the end of
which a bleating kid is tied to the triggers of three
loaded guns, which are so placed that they command
the only exit from the trap. The leopard, in the act
of seizing the kid, will discharge the contents of the
muskets into his body, and ought to die then and
there from the effect.* Whilst ^Janssen is doing
this, I am watching the sunset from the verandah.

* On this occasion the creature did receive the whole charge
of the three guns, "but nevertheless afterwards managed, though
riddled with bullets, to leap the ten-foot-high fence with kid,
guns, and all, and drag itself to die in an adjoining field.

T 2276

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

It is a beautiful scene, and one that makes me indig-
nantly contradict certain writers who maintain that
the tropics, both in flower-shows and fine sunsets,
are inferior to the temperate zones.

■ To-day the sun’s career has been somewhat troubled,
like that of many an earthly monarch. His rule at
first was tranquil and undisputed. Then came the
fearful mid-day battles and convulsions, terminating
in victory for the luminary, who throughout the
afternoon of his reign ruled in peace. Now, as he
declines, his enemies revive, and his sinking is
marked with bloody, troublous signs in tbe west.
The twilight that succeeds his immolation is some
half-hour in length,* and the sky slowly changes
from fiery red to orange and pale green. The ex-
panse of river sympathetically follows these dying
changes, and the whole scene is vast and mystic, and
one to sit and dream over until dusky night sets in
with its dismal obscurity. Then it is pleasant to
turn one’s head away from the riverward aspect and
greet the glow of cheery lamplight which shines out
from the open door of our dining room. The sun is
dead ; long live the lamp ! Let us to our dinner.
The cook comes in with the great tureen of soup,
staggering under fits weight, and having changed our
outgoing clothes and brightened up our somewhat
dowdy persons, we sit down to assist at that almost
religious ceremony of the white man. One of the

* The shortness of equatorial twilights is much exaggerated ;
night never sets in until half-an-hour after sunset.MSUATA.

277

courses deserves notice—the plantain-eater I shot
this morning is roasted on a spit and served up with
fried kikwanga. It is delicious, and its large breast
rivals a woodcock’s in delicacy.

When the meal is over, we sit and discuss the
events of the day and form plans for the morrow.
About ten. we retire to our respective rooms, and
soon, tucked up within mosquito curtains, dreams of
the coming night begin to interweave themselves
with the occurrences of the day. . . . Bang, bang,
bang!—I start up—am I still dreaming, or did I
really hear the guns go off? Whilst I am still in
doubt, Faraji comes in to say the leopard is shot.
Taut mieux ! we will skin him in the morning; and,
sinking once more into my little bed, I fall into a
sleep which terminates another day at Msuata.CHAPTER XI.

HOMEWARDS.

he Start for Stanley Pool—A Floating Mimosa Branch—
A Troop of Elephants—Ba-yansi on the March—A Blood -
brother—Chased by Hippopotami—Juma brings News from
Home—The Hills at Stanley Pool—Their Trees and
Flowers—Ooquilhat’s Welcome at Kimpoko—Arrive at
Kinshasha—A Palaver—Dualla, Stanley's Prime Mini-
ster—Bankwa's Speech—My Stay at Leopoldville—Man-

YANGA AGAIN—BOAT-VOYAGE TO THE SEA---WELCOME AT

Boma—Arrival at Banana—Parting with my Zanzibaris—
Back to Civilization.CHIN I'M ZELAN1CIM.

CHAPTER XL

HOMEWARDS.

It was with considerable reluctance that I left
Msuata to return once more to Stanley Pool. But
the thought that I was now on my homeward route
somewhat alleviated the regret with which I badeHOMEWARDS.

281

good-bje to the Upper Congo. On a bright Sunday
morning towards the end of April, I set out on my
journey down the river with two good-sized native
canoes, paddled by my three Zanzibaris and some Kru-
manos that Janssen had lent me. The first canoe
was fitted up with an awning for the sun, and grass
cushions to repose on, and the second contained my
heavy baggage and the things I could best afford to
lose in case of untoward accidents. In my own canoe
I had a few small cases containing such remains of
my natural history collections as were spared me by
the ants and the rainy season; also my note-books
and sketches, which I always carried in a box by
my side, fearing to lose these results of my obser-
vations if I entrusted them to the care of the men.

Janssen stood on the fast-retreating shore of
Msuata, as our canoes went six miles an hour down
the stream. We shouted au-revoir to one another
without any presentiment that it was never “ to
the seeing again.” Three months later my kind
host of Msuata was drowned opposite his station.
But I did not foresee this sad end to a bright career,
so my parting was blithe and light-hearted. Every-
thing seemed propitious to my journey. The sun
shone brightly out of a pale-blue sky, unspotted by
the slightest cloud, and his heat was tempered with
the tenderest breeze blowing from the west, seeming
to me like a message from the sea I was longing to
greet. There was a general sense of bright activity
in all things. The king-fishers and the bitterns had282

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

never sported with such activity, nor squeaked so
lustily at every capture. The grey parrots were
starting for their day’s excursion, and whistled
melodiously as they whirred over our heads. Even
the very fish leapt in glad silvery shoals round the
prow of the advancing canoe. The men sang and
the paddles clove the water so energetically under
their vigorous strokes, that my contentment was at
times disturbed by the occasional showers of spray
they flung over me and my goods. But I could not
check their exuberance. It was too consistent with
my own joy at being homeward-bound. Sometimes
we raced the floating islands of arums and reeds,
and heat them; but they were resigned to that,
seeing they would easily catch us up in the night;
sometimes we passed triumphantly poor staggering
trees, torn up by their roots, with whole retinues of
ferns, grasses, and parasitic plants attached, which
were quite bewildered by the impetuous current that
whirled them round and round, tossed them from
side to side, rolled them over, and hurried them
along, like miserable captives that they were, in its
cruel clutch. One of these torn-up trunks was a
species of mimosa, and its boughs were still in rich
leaf and decked with beautiful yellow blossoms.
Moreover, it carried quite a little population with it
along its course. I noticed three lizards running
up and down the branches, some butterflies settled
on the fragrant blossoms, and two water wagtails
sunning and pluming themselves, as if they hadHOMEWARDS.

283

chosen the floating tree-stem as a temporary home.*
I began to think my day’s journey was to be de-
liciously tranquil, forgetting that in Africa agree-
able anticipations are rarely realised. Towards
noon, clouds began to collect in the east, from which
quarter the rain always seems to come in this part of
the Congo region. The wind was certainly blowing
from the opposite direction, but this had little effect
on the approaching storm, now fast covering the
heavens with a blue-black pall, for storms in Africa
are too imperious to care for the direction of the
prevailing wind. They carry with them in their
black bosoms a hurricane of their own, which goes
before them in awful gusts and bellowings, and
utterly silences the timid breeze that was feebly
keeping back the rain. So, when the eye of the
storm, a whirling mass of grey cloud round a purple
centre, rose before us, we prudently put into the
bank, tied the canoes to some stont trees, and then
resignedly bent our heads to the tempest that roared
over us. The storm was finished in a brief half-hour,
but not so the rain, which dripped and dripped in-
cessantly ; yet I was too impatient to delay any
further for this, and made the men take to their
paddles once more. In spite of the wet weather, we
achieved considerable progress. At about half-past
five, we were coasting beside a very long and
narrow island, in search of a camping-place, when I

* On many rivers these floating trees must serve as a great
means for the diffusion of species.284

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

saw, not ten yards off, a large elephant, with mode-
rate-sized tusks, standing amongst the high grass
at the water’s edge. He looked superb against the
graceful glaucous-green Hyphoene palms which
afforded such an artistic back-ground. I did not
shoot at him; firstly because it would have spoiled
the picture, and secondly because a bullet from a
Winchester rifle could do him but little harm. We
stayed and watched the mighty beast some five
minutes, he not taking the least notice. His colour
told out quite greyish-white (the ridge of his back-
bone was particularly light in tone) against the
foliage, and the whole effect of the grouping made a
very pretty composition. We heard other elephants
in the interior of the island, breaking down trees and
branches, and, curiously enough, round this solitary
creature on the beach were several Hyphoene palms
laid low, torn down by the voracious elephant for
the sake of their round, yellow fruit, of which he is
so ravenously fond. That troop of elephants must
have reached the island by swimming, as even in the
dry season there is water between it and the main-
land—a broad channel, in fact. The island is of
some magnitude, and is covered with over a thousand
palm-trees.

We landed a short distance from the place where
I had seen the elephant, and camped out for the
night on a very small space of sand, which was
unfortunately all on a slant, so that during the night
I was constantly gliding, feet foremost, off my bed.HOMEWARDS.

285

Add to this myriads of mosquitoes, and it will seem
as if the prospect appeared dismal; nevertheless I
passed a fairly agreeable evening. The soup was an
immense success, and then Janssen had given me
some delicious wild honey, which very pleasantly
varied the repast.

On the morning succeeding the storm, rain-clouds
still sullied the sky, but the sun soon overmastered
them, and the day became fine and hot. Towards
noon, the men asked to stop a little while at a large
village on the south bank of the Congo to buy pro-
visions. I gave them a quarter of an hour to effect
their purchases, and disembarked myself to go and
visit some travelling Ba-yansi who were encamped
on the shore. They were the same party that had
visited Msuata a few days ago to trade, and when I
landed they rushed forward with loud cries of recog-
nition. Indeed their greeting was quite affectionate.
They patted my back, shook hands with me vigor-
ously, and led me to look at their encampment.
These people certainly understand how to journey
comfortably according to the best of their means.
A number of little—what shall I call them ?—tents,
hovels, huts, were constructed out of matting, im-
penetrable.to the rain, and in shape something like a
small archway, or a somewhat flattened half-circle.
The ground underneath this shelter was. also neatly
covered with matting, and inside the hut was the
owner’s “ fetish ” or little house-idol, his pipe, his
head-rest or pillow, his gun—if he had one—and286

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

various little odds and ends, all neatly done np in
skins of animals or native cloth. I bought a head-
rest of one man for a tattered old shawl which I had
meditated tossing into the Congo as worthless just
before.

The people here were handing round salt to each
other in a large leaf. They eat it alone and with
extraordinary gusto. One of these Ba-yansi men
that I had previously met at Msuata became so affec-
tionate after I had given him a few pinches of table-
salt—to them an indescribable delicacy—that be im-
plored me to become his “ blood brother.” I half
laughingly consented, and he took his knife and,
with the point of it, gently scratched my skin (on
my fore-arm) as if he were going to vaccinate me.
When a few drops of blood had appeared on the
scarified flesh, he greedily sucked them, and then,
repeating the same process on his own arm, invited
me to apply my lips to the wound. I made a show
of doing so, and the ceremony was then concluded
by our exchanging presents and mutual protestations
of eternal friendship. I have never seen this blood-
brother of mine from that day when I left him
smiling at me as our canoes glided off from the shore,
and I confess I should be curious to know whether
he would remember me, should we ever meet again.

Shortly after we had quitted this place, and
rounded a little promontory, we came very abruptly
on a group of hippopotami, sunning themselves on
a sand-bank. Three of them deliberately gave chaseHOMEWARDS.

287

to us in the first canoe, but we merrily out-distanced
them, then they turned about, and, seeing the
baggage canoe coming on behind, swam towards it.
For a moment I was anxious for my baggage, but
the men put out into the open, and the hippopotami,
finding a stern chase beyond their powers or incli-
nations, desisted and returned to sun themselves. It
is true that in taking to the middle of the river the
men ran a risk of encountering whirlpools, but by a
little skilful steering these were easily avoided, and
it was fun to see one of the pursuing hippopotami
caught in a foam-flecked vortex, wherein he went
whirling round until he was thoroughly giddy, no
doubt. Hippopotami are so hold and undisturbed
on the Congo that they are a real source of danger
to the canoes. One never knows whether to shoot or
not. If you hit and do not kill the beast outright,
he will come for you with a vengeance; but at the
same time, if you do not shoot, he may wreck you
from a spirit of pure mischievousness.

We rowed long and far to-day. The weather
was so fine, the water so smooth, and the scenery so
lovely, that as I lay back on my grass cushion in the
prow of the canoe, and watched the groups of
Hyphoene palms and the hanging woods deploy
before me, a beautiful, if somewhat monotonous
panorama, the disquietudes and risks of canoe travel-
ling seemed very trifling and the pleasure great. I
was also able to observe no less than three separate
storms, north, east, and south, going on at once, and288

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

to watch their great curtains of rain deluging the
sky and literally streaming themselves out, becoming
at last a thin veil, through which the distant land-
scapes might be observed as a picture that is seen
through a veil of double gauze. We fortunately
escaped without a wetting, which was exceptionally
lucky.

Towards five o’clock that afternoon we stopped
and disembarked on a strip of sandy beach, sur-
rounded by high grass and stunted trees, with the
fine hills on the opposite shore rising above the
water, thickly wooded, as on the borders of some
Scotch lake. The river narrows strangely here, and
seems shut in with hills. I sat down on the beach
to sketch, when I heard the men calling out that
“ Juma ” was coming. Juma was a Zanzibari whom
Janssen had recently sent to Leopoldville with letters
to Mr. Stanley, and was now returning to Msuata.
I had but little hope of news, having been so often
disappointed, so I was proportionately pleased when
Juma came and placed a large packet in my hand
which contained such, to me, priceless treasures.
Letters from Europe I had not had for many months,
and here there were dozens in my lap. Graphics,
Punches and Telegraphs stared at me from their
battered postal covers, as if surprised to find them-
selves, probably for the first time, on the Upper
Congo. I passed consequently a very happy evening,
and so did my men, for I had given largesse with an
ample hand in consideration of my good fortune.HOMEWARDS.

289

Our journey the next morning* was comparatively
uneventful. The flies were peculiarly annoying,
especially a large brown one that gives a very cruel
bite. They seemed to increase in numbers as we
approached the Pool.

I stopped for a short time to draw some white
lilies* that grew by the borders of the river in great
numbers, and were very noticeable at this season of
the year, with their tall clusters of delicate white
flowers. We rowed into the Pool towards the after-
noon, and I was more than ever struck with its im-
posing aspect. I can quite imagine that Stanley, on
descending the Congo in 1877, must have thought
himself entering here on some great lake or inland
sea, as he saw the clear horizon of water expanding
before him.

The vegetation which clothes the precipitous
shores on the south side of Stanley Pool, near the
entrance from the Upper River, is one of the most
magnificent spectacles the Congo offers. Rising
nearly perpendicularly from the water, the forest
climbs the hillsides, higher than the eye can reach,
without a single break in its luxuriance. The
variety of colours, too, at this season, when most of
the trees are in blossom, is particularly striking.
One tree-top will be covered with scarlet flowers
scattered with a liberal hand; another has pendulous

* Crinum zelanicum. A common lily in equatorial Africa
giving a most fragrant scent, and much thronged by the flies
and bees.

TJ290

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

flowers of a pinky-white hanging gracefully by their
long stalks amid the sombre masses of foliage; while
errant creepers in exuberant growth trail their yellow
and purple blossoms over the victims they entwine.
There is every note struck in the gamut of green,
and the trees that form this mass of foliage may
vary in tone from blue-green to greenish-yellow, and
from greenish-white to russet-red, and they will
differ equally in form and aspect. While some are
compactly massed in their leafage, others grow er-
ratically and in disordered tufts. Beautiful mimosas
dominate their fellows, clothed in foliage of dark
green velvet; dracoenas raise their spiky heads here
and there from out of the soft verdant mass. The
large flat leaves of a fig alternate with the feathery
palm fronds, while many stems are completely dis-
guised by the network of graceful creepers which
masks them like a vegetable cobweb. The calamus
palm makes a sort of lattice-work fence, rising
straight up from the water’s edge, and seems effec-
tually to forbid trespassing in these fairy forests,
while along the river’s brim lines of white lilies
stand like sentinels to see the barrier is not passed.

Before evening we had arrived at Kimpoko, a
newly-founded station at the northern entrance to
Stanley Pool. Here the pleasant face of Lieutenant
Coquilhat was greeting me as I landed, and after
four months’ absence from anything connected with
the outside world this return to the outskirts of
civilization (which, owing to Mr. Stanley, StanleyHOMEWARDS.

291

Pool has now become) completely prevented my
sleeping till a late hour in the night, and I kept up
poor Coquilhat talking all the time, and discussing
the European news of half a year.

The following day I again set out on my journey
towards Leopoldville, and voyaged for three hours
amid the islands and sand-banks, and the great placid
waters of the Pooh The “ Dover Cliffs ” glittered
in the morning sunlight in all their chalk-like
brilliancy, and, with the soft green grass that
crowned their scarped summits, looked singularly
English. I arrived at Kinshasha towards mid-day,
and saw there the “Royal,” and quite a fleet of
other boats. Stanley was here, they told me,
conducting a palaver. I landed, and walked up
through the tall, luxuriant grasses, and past the
many native houses, deserted by their inhabitants, to
the focus of attraction, which was a large enclosure
between high palisades, where, under the shade of
splendid baobabs, and amid a green tracery of palm
fronds and creepers, a most imposing palaver was
going on. A rough circle or amphitheatre of human
beings was formed, those of the inner ranks seated
and attentive, and they whom an inferior grade
in society relegated to a less prominent position
standing up, their arms round each others' waists
and necks in the limply caressing way so natural to
these people. But seated opposite to each other in
the circle were two important groups which attracted
alternately supreme attention. All that was chiefest

u 2292

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

in Black and White was engaged in earnest delibe-
ration. On two superb leopards’ skins sat the two
principal kinglets of the neighbourhood. One, an
old man, with sunken jaws, but a refined-looking
face ; the other, a very heavy, vulgar-looking person,
who spoke but little, and whose stolid silence

THE ISLAND OPPOSITE KINSHASHA.

evidently covered a want of mental force. In face
of them was “ Bula Matade,” looking his most chief-
like, with his resolute face and grey hair, and the
sword of state at his side. On his left sat a young
Belgian officer, awaiting the favourable result of the
palaver to found a station at Kinshasha ; and atHOMEWARDS.

293

Stanley’s feet Dualla, prime minister, interpreter
and counsellor, argued, persuaded, and cajoled the
black brothers of the w Stone-Breaking ” chief into
concordance with his wishes. When I had ex-
changed a hasty greeting with Stanley, and taken a
seat by his side, the palaver, which I had momen-
tarily interrupted, went on again. Banlcwa, a chief
who was opposed to Stanley’s building and founding
a station at Kinshasha, rose to his legs and made a
lengthy speech, strongly advising the two chiefs on
the leopard-skins to have nothing to do with white
men. “ To-day,” he said, “they will send one white
man here, but next year twenty more will come, and
because we have given land to one, we must do so to
all the others; and so, soon, Kinshasha will belong
to the white man, as Kin tamo (Leopoldville) does
already.” There was a great deal of truth m
Bankwa’s remarks, but unfortunately he could not
look beyond the immediate present, and conjure up
from his inner consciousness a picture of the material
advantages that would accrue to the people of
Kinshasha from the settlement of civilization in its
midst. However, his opposition was overnded, and
the result of the palaver was favourable to Stanley,
permission to occupy land and build a station being
given. Then presents were interchanged, and we
left the delighted people shrieking “ Mbote ” at the
departing steamer till they were hoarse.

Once more Kallina Point rose before my eyes, and
further on I saw the many buildings of Leopoldville294

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

and the Baptist Mission surmounting the hill ot
Ntamo. As I landed with Stanley at the little port
of the station and walked up the steep ascent through
the Zanzibari’s village, and the beautiful banana
groves, the whole place had a tender, homelike look
about it, bathed as it was in the soft afternoon
sunlight, and surrounded by so many evidences of
comfort and civilization, strange to my eyes, so long
accustomed to the wilderness. But all was not the
same as when I had left Leopoldville in the early
part of the year to ascend the river. New buildings
upraised themselves, new faces looked out on me, and
many old ones were gone from the scene.

I stayed with Stanley for nearly ten days at
Leopoldville, and enjoyed his hospitality to the full.
With plenty of books, good food, and a most enter-
taining host, the time passed hut too quickly, and I
really felt quite lonely as I once more set out on
my journey to the coast.

We took five days returning to Manyanga, and
here I paused again, to rest under the roof of my
good friend Nilis, for the climate was beginning to
tell a little on my health, and a few days of continuous
travel brought on great lassitude and fatigue. It
took us two days to descend the Congo in a whale-
boat to Isangila, where I met many old friends and
new arrivals en route for the Upper River. Here
too, was the charming and intellectual Abbe Guillot,
the pioneer of the Franco-Algerian missions on the
Upper Congo, who a few months later was drownedHOMEWARDS.

295

in the fickle stream in company with poor Janssen.
I left Isangila after a night’s rest, and set out for Vivi,
the last stage of my journey to he done on foot.
Though we were now in the month of May, the rainy
season was still in full vigour; and the first night
after leaving Isangila there was a terrific downpour.
I had but a few miserable carriers, beside my three
faithful Zanzibaris, and these former were sluggish
and obstinate Kabindas. When the rain began they
quietly stepped out of the path, made themselves
shelters of branches, and proceeded to rest for the
night there, with my baggage, while I had gone on
in front; consequently I was obliged to pass the
night with little shelter from the rain, and no food
whatever. However, I reached Vivi ultimately after
three days’ walking, with no more serious complaint
than exhaustion arising from fatigue; and the quiet
weeks of continuous rest that I passed there soon
restored me to a fair amount of strength.

Whilst stopping at Vivi I visited the Falls of
Yellala, as described in Chapter III., and made a few
other excursions in the neighbourhood. Then, as the
time for meeting, the ocean steamer drew nigh, I em-
barked on board a whale-boat belonging to the station
(the little river steamer of the Expedition being
temporarily disabled), and, with a crew of Zanzibaris
and Kruboys, made my way slowly down to the
sea. This journey, usually lasting nine or ten hours,
took me three days, and, owing to a continued attack
of rheumatism, was not over-agreeable. The first296

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

night we had intended to reach Boma at sundown,
but, owing to difficult complications, we were still
painfully straggling along the broadened stream and
threading an uncertain course through the sand-
banks at ten o’clock at night.

At length the red and lurid moon arose, having
lost a quarter, and looking like a Dutch cheese with
the top cut off, and showed us more clearly our
course amid the wooded islets that stud the middle
of the river. We landed at the first house to be seen
on the outskirts of Boma, which fortunately turned
out to be a factory of Messrs. Hatton and Cookson’s.
Here I received, though utterly unknown to the
inmates of the house, a most kindly reception, such
as I have ever met with from English and Anglo-
Portuguese houses in Africa. Although the night
was far advanced, the cook was roused from his
slumbers, and the gentlemen of the house bestirred
themselves to make me comfortable. I went to bed
first, as an attack of fever was menacing ; but, later
on, the delicious meal of fragrant tea and cold wild-
duck, which was spread by my bedside, banished
the preliminary shivers, and I afterwards found in
sleep a sweet restorative. The next day I break-
fasted with M. Grillis, a Belgian merchant of Boma,
and then proceeded farther on my way to Ponta da
Lenha. Here also I arrived late at night, but this
time our way was strangely illuminated by the great
grass fires which covered the distant hills with
sheets of vivid flame.HOMEWARDS.

297

Soon after leaving Ponta da Lenha the mangroves
begin to attest the commencement of brackish water,
and the river widens till its opposite bank is well-
nigh invisible, and many islands troop in long
succession, often seeming to be the mainland on the
other side. Then we pass Kissange rapidly, carried
on by the current, and, lastly, a whiff of fresh breeze
blows the sea smell into our nostrils, and in the far
distance the white houses of Banana are seen, and
beyond the open horizon of the Atlantic Ocean.

I spent three days at Banana, waiting for the
Portuguese steamer, and passed my time in choosing
presents for my three Zanzibaris out of the stores
at the Dutch house. Each man received a blanket,
a pipe, a roll of tobacco and a tobacco-pouch, a
pocket-knife, a pair of scissors and a looking-glass;
and then I further bestowed a little gift of money,
with strict injunctions that it was to be kept and
spent only on their return journey to Zanzibar.

I received much kindness during these few days
at Banana from M. Sartou of the French factory,
and from my old acquaintances at the Dutch house ;
nevertheless, the approaching return to civilized
countries, and the slight foretaste of civilization to
be got at Banana, did not strike me as being so
enviable as I had hitherto supposed. I felt a positive
regret for the quiet, simple life of Msuata and the
Upper Itiver, and grew saddened at the approaching
separation from my three faithful followers, with
whom my later African wanderings had been so298

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

inseparably and happily associated. Ever since the
day when I first saw these men in the porch of
Stanley’s house at Yivi, there had sprung up between
us a real sympathy of feeling. These men were to
me more than servants ; they were friends and
confidants, who shared in my mirth when I was
gay, bore meekly my ill-humour when I was cross;
nursed me when I was sick; washed for me, cooked
for me, mended my clothes; watched over my
interests, never robbed me of a penny’s worth nor
told me an untruth. If Faraji, Mafta, and Imbono
may be taken as fair samples of the Semito-negroid
population of East Africa, then I think this hybrid
race is destined to largely help in the opening-up
of Africa. The mixture of Arab blood and Arab
culture gives a stability and manliness to the
Waswahili which is lacking in even the finest race
of pure Negro < origin. The Congo peoples, for
instance, are usually amiable and soft-mannered, but
at heart they are seldom to be depended on. There
is something so eminently childish in the Negro’s
character. A love of talking, a desire to thrust
himself forward in every matter, a naivete of
manner which is at times very amusing, but which
becomes somewhat wearisome when you are no
longer content to be amused, and seek for something
more reliable than mere simplicity of thought. All
these traits are found in the black races of Africa
that are of purely Negro or Bantu stock; but in
the Semiticised people of Zanzibar you find menHOMEWARDS.

299

of thought and reflection, whom you may use
as counsellors and confidants ; men who are really
capable of zealous service, of disinterested affection,
and to whom gratitude is a concept neither foreign
to their intelligence nor their tongue.

Arrived on board the mail steamer “ Portugal,”
I found myself, after many months’ absence from
civilization, once more among people that were
fashionably dressed. Fresh from Europe, and touch-
ing at the African continent for the first time on
the voyage, they regarded me curiously as I walked
about the deck in my tattered garments and cumbrous
boots, and I felt myself morbidly sensitive to their
scrutiny. Faraji, Mafta and Imbono had said their
last good-byes, and the boat which bore them back
to the shore was disappearing fast from my view in
the evening mists that swathed the swampy coast;
the Krumen who had accompanied me from Yivi had
also gone, in haste to spend the little money-
presents I had given them ; I felt singularly and
sadly alone—somewhat like a ^fallen potentate.
Here were people who, far from shrinking from my
frown, glared at me unmoved, and calmly reviewed
my idiosyncrasies through their insolent eyeglasses.
The stewards were anything but deferential, and
asked pointedly to see my first-class ticket. How-
ever, I ransacked my weather-stained trunks and
found in them some remnants of respectable clothing,
such as might befit the decent poor ; but when I sat
down at the end of a long table cl’hote with the spick-300

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

and-,span Portuguese officials and their wives, who
were carrying with them into their African exile as
much flavour of fashionable Lisbon as they could
wear on their persons, I felt myself to be a great bar-
barian, and almost wished to be back in the centre
of Africa, where I should once more lead the ton.
At last, after two days’ steaming, the beautiful Bay
of Loanda opened out before us, and I knew myself
to be among friends. I walked hurriedly up
through the sandy streets, to a blue-and-white house
situated on an eminence overlooking the town, from
whose roof the Union Jack rose proudly into the
still air. The consul was looking out of his study
window, and thought I was either a beggar or a
“ degredado ” come to solicit work; but when I
looked up at him and laughed, he welcomed me as
one come from the dead (perhaps more heartily than
in that case), and under his hospitable roof I had a
happy foretaste of an English home.CHAPTER XII.

CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

The Unhealthy Districts — Drinking-water — Precautions
against Sunstroke—How to live on the Congo—The Ex-
cessive Moisture—The Rainy Season—“ Smokes ”—“ Little
Dries ”—The Dry Season—Thu African Spring—Early
Summer—Violence of the Storms—The Harvest—Geology
of the District—Metals—Flora and Fauna—The River

NOT A NATURAL BOUNDARY — BOTANICAL ORDERS CHIEFLY

represented—The Palms—List of characteristic Specimens

COLLECTED—COLOUR AND FRAGRANCE.CLIMATE AND NATURAL DISTORT.

303

CHAPTER XII.

CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.—BOTANY.

The climate of the Western Congo naturally varies
in different degrees of healthiness and temperature,

CAMOENSIA MAXIMA.

according* to
the regions
through which
the river
passes, but on the whole it may be said to be infi-
nitely superior to that of the Niger or the Grold
Coast. The great absence of low, marshy ground304

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

about its banks is doubtless the cause of less virulent
fever, and the regular cool breezes from the South
Atlantic greatly reduce the tropical heat. The river
probably is least healthy between Boma and the sea,
owing, no doubt, to the mangrove swamps that
inevitably attend the widening out of the embou-
chure. Boma itself is decidedly insalubrious. It is
the hottest place on the Congo, and surrounded by
many marshes. Towards Yivi it becomes decidedly
cooler, owing to the greater elevation; and the
higher you proceed up the river the healthier the
climate becomes. One aid to, salubrity is the magni-
ficent drinking water that may be had everywhere
above Boma ; not the water of the Congo—which,
though wholesome, has a disagreeably sweet taste—
but the water from the unnumbered rills and rivulets
which are everywhere trickling, wet and dry season
alike, all the year round. Consequently dysentery
is almost unknown above Yivi. The most prevalent
form of sickness is the ordinary African fever from
over-exposure to the sun and sudden chills. The
most dangerous malady is bilious fever, the “ febre
perniciosa” of the Portuguese, but this is rarely
incurred without much previous neglect of one’s
health. Beyond Stanley Pool, I can only call the
temperature delightful. It ranges, at such a place
as Msuata for instance, from 87° in the shade at noon
to 60° at two in the morning, and this in the rainy
or hot season. The highest temperature I have ever
observed at Yivi was 98° in the shade, on a very hotCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

305

day. It is quite possible to walk about all through,
the middle of the day and not feel the heat dis-
agreeable, provided you wear a helmet and carry an
umbrella; but when you see, as I have seen, young
men newly arrived from Europe exposing themselves
to the noonday sun with nothing but a smoking-cap
on their heads, you will hardly be surprised that
occasionally deaths from sunstroke take place. And
then the relatives of these victims of their own im-
prudence write to the papers, especially in Belgium,
and speak of the cruel African Minotaur and its meal
of white flesh! The fact is that under a tropical
sun much greater prudence and care are needed to
regulate one’s mode of living in accordance with the
surrounding conditions than in the temperate zones,
where the effect follows less rapidly on the cause.
In the hot regions, more especially in the countries
that are hot and moist, the agencies of nature are
somewhat sudden and violent in their action. Every-
thing is “ forced ” and hurriedly urged on to a
climax. What in Europe would be a mere im-
prudence, only causing a serious effect if long per-
sisted in, becomes under an African sun a grave
danger. You over-eat yourself, for instance (an
excess both common and excusable when entailed by
the violent, unhealthy appetites which the climate
often promotes); and, instead of being quit with an
ordinary attack of indigestion, you find yourself laid
up with a sharp attack of bilious fever, and perhaps,
before you or your companions have time to check

x306

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the rapid growlh of the malady, other complications
set in, and in two or three days you are dead. Yet it
is possible to enjoy excellent health on the Congo,
if only it be borne upon one’s mind to use moderation
in all things. Abstain from nothing that is pleasant
and innocuous, but abuse no form of enjoyment.
Eat, drink, and be merry, and remember that meagre
abstention is as harmful as riotous excess. Let
every man judge for himself and follow implicitly
within due bounds the dictates of his stomach—that
is when he has no reason to believe he is prompted
by unhealthy cravings. If you conceive a great
love for jams and sweet biscuits, indulge in them till
satiety begins to take the edge off your greediness,
and in all probability this desire for “ sweets ” is
prompted by a necessity for sugar in your system.
Avoid alcohol as much as you can. It is almost a
case in which abstention is excusable, for wine and
brandy are dangerous adjuncts to a healthy man’s
repast in Africa. On the other hand, alcohol is
simply invaluable as a tonic when weak from fever
or other causes. Beer, in my own case, proved
beneficial and agreeable, but with others it provoked
biliousness. Wash in warm water rather than cold,
dress warmly and sleep well covered; satisfy all
reasonable and natural desires, and you will find
life on the Congo both healthy and enjoyable.

The great fault of the climate lies in the exces-
sive damp. Even in the dry season there is great
moisture in the air, for, though there is no downrightCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

307

rain, yet the mornings and evenings are ushered in
by dense white mists, like low-lying clouds, which
incessantly filter through the clammy atmosphere a
drizzling vaporous spray that descends over every-
thing like a heavy dew. This is the “ cacimbo ” of
the Portuguese colonies and the “ smokes ” of the
Guinea coast. These morning and evening mists are
characteristic of the rainy season, and during the
rainy months they disappear, and the beginning
and closing of the day is generally bright and
clear.

The relative length of the rainy season varies as
you advance from the mouth of the Congo towards
the equator. Near the sea there are about four
months of rain—November, December, February,
and March, with an intermediate dry season in the
month of January ; but ascending the river you find
this gradually altering, and on Stanley Pool the
rains commence in October and continue till about
the 20th of May, thus leaving four months of dry
season. There is also here no interval in January,
no “ little dries,” as they are called. Higher up the
river still, approaching the equator, the natives tell
me it rains often in June, August, and September, so
that this may be called a true equatorial climate,
where rain is seldom absent, and consequently, as we
find at Boldbd, this is the region of perpetual forest.
The reason this forest belt does not extend more fully
over Africa is that, where there is a continuous dry
season of four, five, or six months, there is time for308

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the long grass to become thoroughly tindered by the
sun, and the natives can then more easily set going
the great bush-fires, in which they delight, which
clear the ground for their plantations, and at the
same time sweep the forest from the hills. In the
equatorial regions of perpetual moisture this is
impossible, and so the forest country there, with
its somewhat peculiar fauna and avi-fauna, continues
to represent a condition of things which probably
existed more widely over Africa before the advent of
man, or, rather, before the period when man first
began to give some effect to his growing dissatisfac-
tion with the arrangements of Nature, and to take
the law into his own hands. I am sure that the
arboreal life of our species dates very far back in its
development, and that, like our cousins the baboons,
we had, whilst we were yet mere monkeys, begun to
prefer the rocks and caverns* and the knolls of
observation in an open country to the dense woods in
which our degraded relations the gorillas and orangs
still skulk in sullen shyness. As a rule man is an
enemy of the forest, and has done much to circum-
scribe his future supplies of coal, but perhaps on the
whole he is unconsciously right. The open country is
far healthier and brighter than the gloomy mysterious
forest depths, and the higher forms of mammals—
those that are strongest in intelligence and widest in
range—seem to have been evolved from the breezy
plateaus and rolling plains.

* Early paleolithic man is constantly associated with caves.CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

309

It seems to be hardly realised how wintry is the
aspect of the dry season in the tropics. Many more
of the trees in Africa are deciduous than we often
imagine in our conjured-up mental visions of a fair
tropic land, where perpetual verdure reigns, and the
vegetation is a vague, indefinite mixture of limp
palms, with fronds like ostrich-feathers, and rampant
bananas raising their florid greenery above the
masses of formless creepers. But nevertheless, when
about a month has elapsed after the last rains are
over, the aspect of an African hill-side has much of
the cheerless desolation of winter about it. The once
imposing baobabs, whose masses of verdure were
fair to see, are reduced to mazes of leafless twigs;
the ground is covered with a brown carpet of fallen
leaves; many trees, though retaining their foliage,
put forth no fresh shoots, and are yellow and seared
with the hot sun; here and there an evergreen
stands out, like an English yew or holly, in almost
heartless contrast of dark cold green amid its faded,
withered fellows, and next to it, perhaps, is a white
skeleton of what was a short time since a tufted tree.
The tall herbs, erewhile gay with gorgeous flowers,
show now nothing but yellow stalks and shrivelled
seed-vessels, in which perhaps there still lurks a point
of colour in the red or orange seeds that gleam from
under the brown husk. The many tiny flowerets,
the mosses and fungi, are scarce to find; only certain
repulsive plants—things with fleshy, mutilated limbs,
weirdly swollen, distorted and covered with malicious310

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

prickles—stand forth in disagreeable prominence,
screened from view no longer by the fair and deli-
cate creeping ferns and clambering lycopodiums, and
seeming to stand unchanged and prosperous when
all else fades and dies. In the great meadows
through which the path meanders the waving grasses
are laid low, and in their place are dismal tracts of
black ashes where the bush fires have just swept by.

But the dry season is hardly death as much
as recuperation. It is a short pause—a sleep in
which the expended forces of Nature are once more
gathered in. Just as the earth in its summer sol-
stice spins out from the sun’s control like a restless
child, and then, wearied with its wilfulness, lets itself
be slowly drawn in again to run its sober winter
journey, so its tiny children, who have rioted in all
the exuberant excesses of spring and summer, need
the repose of the slack months to restore their
energies. The birds put away their fine clothes, the
“ season ” being over, and go into villegiature in plain
suits of every-day garments. The whydah-bird
especially, who all the summer long was the veriest
rake, and flaunted his long plumes wantonly before
the eyes of his lady friends in a manner quite
disastrous to their virtue, has now lost his good
looks, and assumes the bearing of a cynic wearied
with excess of love and easy conquests, dropping his
beautiful deportment and rich dress, and assuming a
costume that is strictly plain and almost shabby. He
also has to economise for his past expenditure, but itCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

311

is also with the view of having u another good time ”
by and by.

Whether life’s cycle has had a beginning, and will
have an end, we know not, but to our finite compre-
hension it seems eternal. Out of life comes death,
which is inactivity, and out of this springs active
life again. The perennials die down to their roots,
exhausted with their late display of vigour, but
when the returning rains once more soften and cool
the dry, cracked soil, up spring the bright young
shoots from the old stock to flourish anew and live
their life. And if the annual dies, has it not scat-
tered round it germs from which a hundred children
rise to carry on its pedigree and spread its race ?
So, if there is a winter in Africa, there is also a
spring, full of hope and promise and cheerful activity.
The first rains are seldom, violent or long continued,
but they effectually moisten the soil and cause the
dried-up brooks to flow and the rivers to swell.
Then a myriad flowers blow, the sternest, woodiest
shrubs evince an unsuspected tenderness; spiteful
euphorbias, prickly acacias, apopletic baobabs show
that some poetic feeling lurks beneath their forbid-
ding exterior and finds a vent in innocent and
fragrant blossoms. A wealth of colour fills the
woods, the plain, the swamps, and e’en the harshest
rocks and mountains. Tall orchids spring up by the
river-side, proud of their matchless beauty. Cannas
and amomums lurk in all the damp, luxuriant
glades. The largest trees—stern, sober and business312

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

like all the rest of the year—display a fortnight’s
blaze of blossoming in a sudden and abrupt manner,
as if ashamed of the weakness. The very flowering
of the grasses tries to be feebly pretty; and, as they
have no petals to boast of, they show their purple
stamens apologetically. The birds build. The
weaver-birds hang their pendent nests on all the
grass stalks that border the streams. The coarse,
boisterous fishing-eagles furbish up their dirty, un-
tidy eyries, and carry on and quickly conclude a soul-
less courtship; the “ am’rous doves ” begin their
sickly-sentimental cooing in every shady tree, and
bright, practical couples of parrots may he seen
bustling round the hollows in many a trunk that
contains their intended breeding-place.

About this season the natives will bring you many
young animals—perhaps the cubs of a black-backed
jackal, or the sweet little kittens of a genet cat. In
the still reaches of the river, on some quiet evening,
you may see the mamma hippopotamus leaving the
water in a leisurely manner, accompanied by her
fine pink baby; they are intending to sleep on shore
for greater security from those nasty spiteful croco-
diles, whose young ones, by the bye, are just emerg-
ing from the egg and running the gauntlet, not only
of their natural enemies, the storks and ibises and
ichneumons, hut, I am sorry to say, of their unnatural
papas, who don’t approv.e of large families.

So the spring advances till it is summer, and then
come a few short weeks of delicious monotony, whenCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

313

the rain diminishes, and Nature in the acme of her
beauty stands still in a sweet content. But on con-
tent there follows a burst of riotous excess. The
air is charged with electricity. The storms recom-
mence with a fury and violence which never marked
them heretofore. The thunder roars, the wind howls,
and the rain descends in disordered floods that are
no longer the gentle revivers of a thirsty world, but
the reckless destroyers of fragile beauty. Against
the piled-up hanks of sullen cloud the lightning
blazes in silent, vivid wrath, or, moved to greater
vehemence of anger, tears in zigzags over the hill-
sides and deals out sudden death. Between these
stormy outbursts come intervals of tearful repentance.
The battered flowers lie low, branches and leaves
strew the rain-pitted strand, the sky is a pale ex-
hausted blue, and Nature, like a passionate woman,
seems disposed to regret her violence, and perhaps
through the voice of some small piping bird falters
out her repentance over the disordered scene. But
she is excited by the ardent sun, who is always
imbuing the hot air with a feverishness of unas-
suaged desire. There is a lustfulness now in most
things. The crocodiles hoarsely roar at night with
strange love promptings. The heavy hippopotami
pursue their mates at sundown with amorous grunt-
ings, crashing through the high rank grass. The
very grass itself, once, when the rain first came, a
tender green and timid bladelet, creeping above the
ashes of its predecessor, is now become an insolent314

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

obstruction, with strong and knotted stem andrazor-
bladed leaves, thrusting its many flower-heads in
your face, a very upstart in vulgar pride. Man
himself seems swayed by this time of orgie. The
crops are gathered in, the sugar-cane is cut, and,
from its juice a heady spirit is made which furnishes
the cause and excuse of many a wild debauch. It
is time that Nature put a check upon her riot; the
wanton world must be purified with fire. Then the
rain ceases, the ground dries, the river shrinks.
Submerged islands reappear, and cut-off pools stag-
nate. The always-shining sun is quickly preparing
the fiery purification. One day a native throws a
lighted brand among the withered herbage. The
wind springs up, and an awful blaze roars before it,
sweeping rapidly over the hills, so rapidly that, while
it reduces the grass to tinder, it does little more than
scorch the trees. Then, with the increasing drought,
life resumes its soberness. The bull hippopotami
skulk in groups of celibates apart from their mates,
who, with the presentiment of a future maternity, lead
a quiet and regular life. The doves relax in their
cooing, and devote themselves to a gluttonous repast
on the mpiy seeds which are now scattered broad-
cast on the soil. The baobabs shed their leaves, and
everything once more re-enters the winter state of
repose and recuperation.

The rain on the Congo not only falls with con-
siderable force and persistance, the downpour some-
times lasting continuously for twenty hours, but alsoCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

315

seems to possess some chemical quality which aids it
in disintegrating the hard metamorphic rocks, and in
forming the deep red surface soil. The action of
water, both falling from the sky and coursing in
torrents down the hills, has largely modified the
surface in the Congo lands. Strange hollows and
ravines are scooped out by the rain wherever it finds
a weak spot, and, after every heavy thunderstorm,
the water rushing down the hillsides in temporary
brooks carries with it quantities of the friable soil,
and cuts great channels which in course of time
become accentuated and deepened till their sides fall
in, and thus the mountain or hillock is slowly but
surely being levelled and the valley filled up. Here
and there in the hilly cataract region great isolated
blocks of quartz lie about, either washed out from
the hillside by rain-made landslips, or forming in a
plain the last relics of a bygone hill that has long
resisted disintegration. In the bed of the river there
are many rocks of clay slate. Basalt also enters into
the geological formation of the country, and on the
river above Stanley Pool the rocks appear volcanic.
Iron is abundant throughout the Congo basin—
many of the rocks are streaked with ferruginous
stains—and is known and used by the natives,
who call it mputo. Neither silver nor gold are
known by the Congo people. When shown gold
by a European they take it for inferior copper.

Topazes are said to be found near Bolobb, as I have
mentioned in my account of that place. I have316

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

never, however, seen any precious stone of any kind
in the possession of the natives ; flakes of mica 1
have noticed among some of their charms.

The fauna and flora of the Congo region between
the Stanley Falls, which lie almost in the centre of
the continent, and the coast, are by no means uni-
form, and may be said to offer three distinct aspects,
caused by the character of the regions through which
the Congo flows.

What may be known as the first region extends
from the sea-coast some eighty miles at most inland,
and belongs to the marshy forest belt that stretches
all along the western littoral of Africa from Cabe<ja
de Cobva, fifty miles south of the Congo mouth, to
the river Gambia in Upper Guinea. This swampy
area, where mammals and birds are remarkable for
their peculiar forms rather than for richness in spe-
cies, prevails along the lower river uninterruptedly
from the coast as far as Ponta da Lenha, about fifty
miles from the sea, and further extends, somewhat
modified in character, to Boma and beyond, where it
insensibly mingles with the next, or “ cataract ”
region, which is characteristic of the parallel moun-
tain chains extending from the Upper Ogowe right
down the continent into Southern Angola, and sepa-
rating the central plateau or basin of tropical Africa
from the strip of low-lying coast-land bordering the
sea. In this mountain district, which commences
some little distance beyond Boma, and may be said
to include all the cataracts or rapids of the Congo asCLIMATE AND NATURAL BISTORT.

317

far as Stanley Pool, the fauna and flora are of a more
generalised type than those of the first and third
regions, and partake more of the fauna and flora pre-
vailing in Angola or Lower Guinea. Finally, the
influence of this somewhat poor region of stony hills
and rocky boulders fades away before the splendid
richness of the central plateau, and at Stanley Pool
new forms characteristic of Central equatorial Africa
make their appearance; and so abrupt is the change,
that the upper end of Stanley Pool more resembles
the regions of the Welle and the western littoral of
Tanganyika in its natural history, especially in its
flora, than the tract of country twenty miles off, which
begins with the first cataract at the lower end of the
Pool. Though I have not myself penetrated farther
than about 2° 30' south of the equator, yet, by com-
paring my observations with those of Stanley along
the Upper Congo, and Schweinfurth on the Welle,
I have arrived at the conclusion that there is no
sensible difference in the fauna and flora throughout
the great basin in which the Congo flows between
Stanley Pool and the Stanley Falls; nay, that over
that vast tract of country there is more uniformity iu
forms of life than between the cataract region and
the coast.

Before describing the most striking features of
Congo Natural History, I would like to remove as
far as possible the erroneous idea that the Congo is a
natural boundary in the distribution of certain forms,
or that it even acts as a limitation southwards of the318

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

so-called West African region. I have read in many
works on Africa, or on the distribution of plants and
animals, that the Congo was the southern boundary
of the habitat of the grey parrot, the anthropoid apes,
and the oil-palm (Elais guineensis). Now the grey
parrot reaches perhaps its great development in
Malanje, a district of Angola nearly 300 miles south
of the Congo, and, together with the oil-palm, con-
tinues to be found as far as the tenth degree south of
the equator; while the anthropoid apes can hardly
be said to be limited southward in their distribution
by the lower course of the Congo, for they do not
reach even to its northern bank, or approach it
nearer than Landana, 100 miles away. Near the
equator it is possible that gorillas are found both
north and south of the Congo, and we know that a
species of anthropoid ape is fouud to the west of the
Lualaba at Nyangwe. Again, the harnessed ante-
lope (Tragelaphus scriptus) and the red buffalo (Bos
Irachyceros), both supposed to be purely West
African or “ Cis-Congo ” forms, are found on the
Quanza river, which lies from 200 to 300 miles
southward of the Congo, while other West African
species do not extend beyond the equator, and there-
fore are unknown along the Congo in its lower
course. There are, besides, many West African
plants which stretch right away from the Gambia,
across the Congo, into Angola on the south. In
short, I have never seen any difference between the
fauna and flora of the northern and southern banksCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

319

of this great river; nor do I believe that it acts in
any way as a limitation to the range of species.

I will conclude this chapter with a slight sketch
of the Botany of the Western Congo, first noting a
few striking (not rare) genera which form general
features in the landscapes. The Leguminous order is
especially prominent, as represented by its sub-orders
Papilionacece, Ccesalpinice, and Mimosece. Among
the most noticeable genera of Papilionacece may he
mentioned Lonchocarpus, with its ground masses of
mauve blossoms (A. sericeus), Rhyncosia, with bright
red flowers; Cajanus indicus, Baphia, and the really
beautiful, poetical Camoensia, aptly named, of which
an illustration heads this chapter. Among the
Ccesalpinice, the genus Erythrophlceum, represented
by a towering tree, sometimes 60, 70, and even
100 feet in height, is remarkable for its intensely
poisonous bark. The Mimosece are of course abun-
dant. In this sub-order the genera Parkin and
Acacia furnish many fine forest trees. Another
large tree is Parinarium excelsum, a member of the
Rosacece, which possesses fruit that are just edible.
Among the Connaracece, Cnestis stands out promi-
nently, with its brilliant scarlet or orange seed-vessels.
The beautiful Musscenda is a large and well-repre-
sented genus of Rubiaceous shrubs, and the large
order of Composites offer many striking floral dis-
plays. The Mallows can exhibit such remarkable
genera as the far-spread Adansonia, the gandy-
flowered Hibiscus, and the great forest trees, Erio-320

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

dendron and Bombax. Among the Monocotyledons,
the orchid group finds a splendid representative in
the genus Lissochilus, which grows abundantly in
the marshy regions of the Lower River, and in a
modified form over a portion of the cataract country.
As it is the most magnificent member of the Congo
flora I have chosen it to illustrate the cover of this
book, and it also heads Chapter II. The Lilies are
not very noticeable on the Congo. Their most
striking example is Crinum zelanicum (see Chapter
XI.). Among the Commelynacece, Commelyna is one
of the commonest genera, displaying everywhere its
beautiful deep-blue flowers, and more rarely a white-
petalled form. Aloes are abundant, and here and
there a fine form of Dracoena, D. sapochinowhi, is
seen. Costus and Amomum offer their delicately-
coloured flowers constantly to the view, those of the
former being surrounded with many scaly bracts, and
the inflorescence of the latter appearing, without any
accompanying leaves, just on a level with the soil.
The Banana, which is so abundantly cultivated by
the natives, represents the genus Musa, but I doubt
whether it is indigenous to Africa, or this part of
Africa. There is no truly wild species on the
Congo, and all the cultivated ones produce no seed.

Among the Palms seven genera may be met with
— Cocos, Bor asms, Hyphoene, Phoenix, Raphia, Elais,
and Calamus. Cocos, the Cocoanut-palm, is possibly
not indigenous to South Africa, though it is abun-
dantly found along the coast. It never penetratesCLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

321

more than a few miles inland. The Borassus palms
(B. flabelliformis) are also confined to the estuary of
the Congo ; farther inland they are replaced by
Hyplioene guineensis, though the difference between
these two is hardly enough to warrant their separa-
tion of genera. In the cataract region proper there
are no Borassine or Hyphgenoid palms, but at Stanley
Pool a new Hyplioene appears, differing materially
from H. guineensis of the Lower river, and probably
identical with H. ventricosa of the Upper Zambesi.
It has a swollen stem, bluish-green fronds, and
yellow fruit about the shape and size of a large
apple, with a thin sweet pulp surrounding a hard
ivory-like stone. Of this fruit the elephants are
immoderately fond. This palm is illustrated at the
commencement of Chapter YIII. The genus Phoenix,
rendered celebrated by its distinguished representa-
tive the Date-palm,* is only present on the extreme
Lower Congo in the form of Phoenix spinosa. Paphia
vinifera is met with all along the river, but is not so
abundant or largely used by the natives for wine-
making as in Western Africa farther north. On the
other hand, the sap of Elais guineensis, the graceful
Oil-palm, is largely drunk by the Congo peoples, and
is called by the same name throughout the Congo
basin, from Nyangwe to the sea: viz. “ malafu.” f
A somewhat similar name, “ ma-lebu ” or “ ma-rebu,”

* P. dactylifera.

| Vide Stanley, ‘Dark Continent,’ pp. 77 et seq.; and
Chapters III. and IV. of this booh.

y322

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

is given to the sap of the Hyphoene. Both these
words are plurals, and the singular forms—“ ilafu,”
and “ irebu ” or “ ilebu ”—are given to the tree itself.
Finally there is the genus Calamus, which only
appears on the river Congo at and above Stanley
Pool. The species there found is Calamus secundi-
floris. It is illustrated in all its stages of growth
and fruiting at the commencement of Chapter VII.

Amongst the Graminece there are many important
genera, too numerous to describe in detail. Andro-
pogon, Olyra, Pennisetum and others are noticeable
from their abundance. The Papyrus is found in
quantities on Stanley Pool and in all the quiet
reaches of the river. Pistia stratiotes, a member of
the order Lemnacece, abounds, as on most tropical
streams. Lastly, among the Filices there are tree-
ferns (I do not know what genus) to be seen in the
cataract region, and the bracken (.Pteris) is omni-
present.

I append further a list of all the plants I have
identified among the Congo flora. Most of them are
the names of specimens which I brought home and
sent to the Kew herbarium. Others have been
named from my drawings.

Banunculus pinnatus (?), Clematis sp. inc., Cleome ciliata,
0. polanisia, Nymphesa lotus, Brasenia peltata, Capparis tomen-
tosa, Alsodeia cymulosa, Portulaca oleracea, Hibiscus vitifolius,
H. crassineryius, H. calycinus, Gossypium sp., Sida cordifoliee,
Adansonia digitata, Bombax sp., Eriodendron anfractuosum,
Sterculia tragacantha, l)ombeya rotundifolia (?), Dombeya sp.,
Grewia sp. inc., Triumfetta rhomboidea, Glyphoea grewioides,CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

323

Acridocarpus corymbosus, Corcborus sp., Ocbna sp., Celastrus
sp., Yitis tenuicaulis, Crotalaria senegalensis, Desmodium
lasiocarpum, Cnestis ferruginea, C. oblongifolia, Camoensia
maxima, Dalbergia sp., Eriosema glomeratnm, E. cajanoides.
Rhyncosia sp., Bapbia nitida, B. pubescens, Loncbocarpus
sericeus, Cajanus indicus, Yigna sp., Indigofera birsuta, Ery-
tbropbloeum guineensis, Abrus precatorius, Cassia mimoso-
ides (?), Parkia sp.,. Acacia sp., Drosera sp., Parinarinm sp.,
Ammannia senegalensis, Jussisea pilosa, Wormskioldia betero-
pbylla, Rbizopbora mangle, Adenopns breviflorus, Homalinm
africanum, Momordica sp., Mollugo glinus, Gardenia sp.,
Musssenda elegans, M. erytbropbylla, M. grandiflora (?), Oto-
meria lanceolata, Oldenlandia decumbens, Spermacoce ruellias,
Etbnlia conyzoides, Yernonia podocoma, Ageratnm gariepina,
Adelostigma, Helicbrysum anriculatnm, H. pacbyrrhizum,
H. argyrospbserum, H. subglomeratum, H. fulgidnm, Acbro-
cline batreana, Jaumea, compositarum, Melantbera sp., Bidens
pilosa, Spbserantbus sp., Emilia sagittata, Gynura cernu'a, No-
toina sp., Dicoma sp., Lobelia sp., Cepbalostigma perrottetii,
Plumbago zelanica, Euclea divinorum, Heliotiopium indicum.
H. sp. inc., Aniscia uniflora, Ipomoea sp., Jacquemontia capi-
tata, Convolvulus burkei, Solanum melongena, Halleria lucida
Diclis sp. nov., Bucbuera sp., Striga forbesii, Mimulus gracilis,
Utricularia diantba, U. reflexa, Sesamum sp., Hygropbila
longifolia, Barleria sp., Acantbacea sp., Selago alopecuroides
sp. nov., S. jobnstonii sp. nov., Clerodendron spinescenti, Plec-
trantbus sp., Jasminum sp., Euphorbia bermentiana.JatropEa
multi fida.

Aneilema sinicum, Commelyna nudiflora (?) Palisota tliyrsi-
flora, Aloe sp., Dracoena sapocbinowki, Crinum zeylanicum,
Asparagus africanus, Lissocliilus giganteus, Canna sp., Amo-
mum sp., Cnstus sp., Musa sp. div. (cultivated), Morsea textilis,
Hypoxus obtusa, Cyrtantbus, Haemantbus multiflorus, Juncus
sp., Eriocaulon sp., Cyperus mariscus, Papyrus antiquorum,
Scirpus sp., Scleria, Pennisetum bentbami, Olyra breviflora,
Andropogon sp., Scbmidtia sp., Eragrostis nutans, Elytropborus
articulata, Triodia sp., Pistia stratiotes.

Davallia speluncae, D. elegans, Adiantum caudatum, A. capillus324

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

veneris, Pteris longifolia, P. cretica, P. aquilina, P. currori,
Pellsea geranisefolia, P. calamelanos, P. consobrina, Asplenium
furcatum, A. sylvaticum, Nephrodium helypterns, N. molle,
N. pallidiaenium, N. subquinquefidum, Polypodium n. sp.,
Notocblaena sp., Acrostichum viscosnm, Osmunda regalis, O.
var. japonica, Opbioglossnm vulgatum var.,Lycopodium cernuum,
Chara vulgaris, Marsilea diffusa.

The above list does not pretend to give a twentieth
—a hundredth—part of the list of Congo flora. I
merely thus single out the few most striking or most
common forms that the traveller meets with in the
Botany of this region.

On the whole, the flora of the Lower Congo is,
as one might imagine, half-way between that of
Upper and Lower Guinea. The mountainous cataract
country between Vivi and Stanley Pool is almost
identical with Angola, while the low-lying marshy
district near the coast is like the littoral of Senegam-
bia and the Niger delta. The Upper Congo between
Stanley Pool and Nyangwe is much of the same
character, like the Gold Coast and the great forest
best of Western Africa which stretches northward
to the Upper Shari, the Binue, the Kong mountains
and the Gambia. Although the Congo offers nothing,
as we yet know, that is unique as genus or family,
yet probably nowhere in Africa are there such
magnificent displays of colour formed by the con-
spicuous flowering trees and plants. Here, at any
rate, no one can maintain that the temperate zone
can offer anything equal in the way of flower-shows.CLIMATE AND NATURAL HISTORY.

325

Many of the blossoms also exhale strong odours,
sometimes very offensive, but also, I am glad to say,
in many cases fragrant and delicious. Few perfumes
are more pleasing than the clove-like smell of the
Camoensia, or the balmy scent of the Baphias.CHAPTER XIIL

NATURAL -HISTORY.

Entomology of the District—Lepidoptera—Their easy Capture
—Butterfly Bait—List of Species most common—Beetles—
Locusts—Ephemerdxe—The Mason Wasp—Ants—The Jigger
— Elies — Spiders — M ollusca—Crustacea—Ichthyology—
Batr achians — Reptiles — Crocodiles — The S pur - wi sged
Plover—Tortoises—Lizards—Snakes.NA TUBAL HISTOB Y.

329

CHAPTER XIII.

NATURAL HISTORY.

One of the prettiest sights as you voyage up the
Congo, and coast some sandy bank or smooth low-

lying shore, is to see
s&S®-1 hill the moist ground
covered with my-
riads of brightly-
coloured butterflies,
clustered, like beautiful blossoms in some parterre,
round the more humid depressions in the soil, settling
there apparently to suck up the moisture and quench

A PYTHON.330

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

what appears to be a perpetual thirst. So absorbed
are they in this occupation that they seem well-nigh
unconscious of possible danger, and you may walk
quietly up to them, and, selecting your victims, seize
them by the thorax, pinch and pop them into your
collecting box; by the time this is done the other
butterflies, momentarily disturbed by your incursion,
will have settled again, and you can pursue your
work of slaughter. Or, if you like a more wholesale
mode of capture, you can drop your net down on a
cluster, and secure about twenty butterflies at once.
This, however, has its inconveniences. Not only is
it difficult to prevent the agitated insects from dam-
aging themselves as they all struggle together, but
you may also include in your netful a number of nasty
little wasps or big droning bees, that will spitefully
sting you through the gauze of the net when you are
trying to carefully secure the best of the butterflies.
Of course many of the Lepidoptera rarely settle on
the ground, and are hoplessly high flyers, never
pausing for rest, save on the topmost boughs and
flowers of the high trees. Others, though flying low,
haunt intricate brushwood, where the net can only be
manipulated with great difficulty, if at all. This
locale is very characteristic of a most magnificent
crimson moth, a day-flying insect, which I have seen
many recurring times, but never have been able to
secure, for the reason that it enters a tangle of thorny
bush where capture is impossible. Here it sits com-
placently, not fearing to attract attention by theNATURAL HISTORY.

331

magnificent carmine of the upper side of the wings,
although their underside is leaf-brown and “ pro-
tective ” in colour, and, if the creature liked, would,
when closed, render it quite indistinguishable from
the dead and scrubby foliage it haunts.

There is one “bait” for butterflies which attracts
the proudest and shyest amongst them — blood.
Sprinkle the gore of a newly-slain animal over any
cleared space, and you will soon reap a rich result
in the way of butterflies. They also flock to most
decaying substances, animal or vegetable, and the
deposits of elephants’ dung in the forest will be the
frequent resorts of these lovely insects. The genus
Papilio is of course well represented, and by some
very beautiful examples. There is Papilio Antheus,
tailed, black, with green spots and stripes; Papilio
Bromius, large and black, with broad bluish-green
stripe crossing both wings (this last is dotted on the
underside with dead-gold spots); and Papilo Tyn-
darceus, a very scarce species, black and apple-green,
a very handsome insect.

A list of the most prominent species of Lepidoptera
to be met with in the Upper and Lower Congo I here
give. Most of them are represented in my own
collection, a few others have been added from a col-
lection of butterflies from the Lower Congo in the
possession of my brother. I might remark that
nearly all the species and all the genera here cited
have a wide range, being found on the Gfold Coast,
the East of Africa, and even in Natal. The butter-332

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

flies of the Upper Congo, above Stanley Pool, seem
however to be more purely West African in their
range than those of the Lower river, which extend
southwards and northwards and right across the
Continent, reappearing at the Cape, on the Zanzibar
coast and in Senegambia. One curious instance of
wide distribution is the little species Eurema JELecabe,
which is found all over Africa and India, specimens
from Southern India and the Congo being identical
in size and markings.

Besides the Lepidoptera catalogued below, there
are many day-flying moths observable in the Congo,
most of which are Bombycidce. There is also a
curious genus (Paradoxa ?) with delicate, whitish,
semi-transparent wings, which frequents the densest
forests.

LIST OF COMMON CONGO BUTTERFLIES.

Family I.—Nymphalidae.

Danais limniaciae, D. Chrysippus, Amauris Damocles, A,
Niavius, Ypthima Asterope, Gnophodes Parmeno, Melatanio
Leda, Mycalesis Safitza, Elymnias Phegea, Acraea Zetes, A.
Serina, A. Gea, A. Euryta, A. Egina, A. Pseudegina, Atella
Phalanta, Junonia Coenio, Precio Pelarga, P. (? species),
Hypanio Ilithya, Cyrestes Camillus, Hypolemnas Misippus,
H. dubius, H. Anthedon, Catuna Crithea, Neptio Agatha,
Eurephene Sophus, E. Cocalia, E. Plantilla, Enphoedra Elens,
E. Eavola, E. Ceres, E. Themis, E. Medon, E. Xypete, Aterica
Tadema, A. Afer, A. Cupavia, A. (? species), Cymothoe Theodata,
C. Theobene, C. Coenio, Nymphalis Ephyra.

Family III.—Lycaenidae.

Liptina Acraea, L. undularis.NATURAL HISTORY.

333

Family IV.—Papilionidse.

Pontia Alcesta, Eurema Brigitta, E. Hecabe, Traehyrio S^ba,
T. Sylvia, T. Agatbina, Catopsilla Florella, Papilio Leonidas,
P. Tyndarseus, P. Demoleus, P. Policenes, P. Antheus, P. Nireus,
P. Pylades, P. Bromius, P. Merope, P. Echeroides.

Family V.—Hesperidas.

Isme Florestan, I. (? species).

Amongst the beetles the Longicorns are well repre-
sented, and there appears to be a genns allied to or
identical with the Xenocerus of Malaysia. There are
many species of Gryllidce, some of them with antennae
six inches in length, and all possessing alike in the pupa
and imago stages most complicated arrangements for
making a hideous noise. There are some of these
creatures on the Upper river that absolutely prevent
your sleeping with the shrill strident whistle and
“ skreeking ” that they make.

The Blattidce are too well represented. Whether
one of them, that is most distinctly Blatta orientalis
(our black-beetle), has been introduced from the East
or is indigenous, I cannot say, but this disgusting
insect is everywhere numerous. Fortunately the red
ants make it their mission in life to eat these disa-
greeably odorous pests, and many lizards also make
them an article of diet.

Locusts of many species abound, and are often very
beautiful in colour. Of course the Mantidce are well
represented, and some of them are frequently of great
size and fierceness. One small species is a beautiful
insect, having on the lower part of each wing a large334

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

eye or spot, black and pink, on a green ground, and
seeming as if painted in body colour. Walking-stick
insects of every size are found, all of them marvellous
in their imitation of twigs. The dragon-flies of
course are beautiful, and many species of Calepteryx
(Demoiselles) are banded with chocolate or blue-green
on their wings.

. In certain places, and on certain nights, there are
myriads of Ephemeridce dying round you in such
quantities as to cover the surface of everything. In
their efforts to die gloriously they completely put
the candles out, crowding round the wick and causing
it to splutter itself away. I detest these insects—
there is something so inane about them. Their pale-
green bodies and stupid black eyes have a “ cheap ”
look in their appearance, and give you the idea that
so many are turned out by contract that the manu-
facturers cannot be particular as to finish.

There are many honey-making bees, and wasps of
every size and nearly every colour abound, some
making paper nests, others, like the mason wasp,
building their habitations and storehouses with clay.
This mason wasp is, of course, very abundant (as it
is everywhere in West Africa), and builds its clay
cells on any available support that it can find, especi-
ally preferring to place them between the projecting
covers of books and in the sleeves of unworn gar-
ments. Here it stores away the green caterpillars
and little spiders that its newly hatched wasplings
feed on in the larval stage. To those who keepNATURAL HISTORY.

335

insect-eating birds these storages of the mason wasp
are very convenient, as you can always find in their
clay cells a constant supply of insect food ready
gathered to your hand. The male of this species has
for a long time remained undetermined, many sup-
posing it to live parasitically on other insects. I
believe, however, that I have seen it in a very tiny
black wasp, so small as to be taken for a black fly,
but perfectly capable of stinging if caught, and much
resembling the female in miniature. The white Ter-
mites are of course as prevalent here as everywhere
in tropical Africa, and work the same mischief to all
wooden buildings.

Amongst the ants is a species of P oner a (perhaps
P. grandis) and a terrible red ant, called by the
Zanzibaris “ maji moto ” or “hot water,” from the
terrible scalding sensation its bite produces. When
a great army of these ants takes a dwelling-house
in its line of march it is wiser to clear out and
leave them the road free. At the same time, a
cordon of hot wood ashes does a great deal to make
them turn from their roadv Many species of small
ants work terrible mischief amongst one’s collections,
devouring dried plants, entomological specimens, and
skinned birds with equal relish and despatch. Fatal
also is it to leave your sugar or sweet things open
and unprotected; once you do so, you must be con-
tent to throw them away, or eat them under the form
of compote de fourmis, for the masses of gluttonous
ants find sweet suicide in these saccharine pitfalls.336

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

I am glad to say that the common flea is unknown
on the Upper Congo, or anywhere on this river; in
fact, where Portuguese influence has not spread.
But, lest this exemption from such an odious pest
might make Central African man too contented with
his mundane existence, kind Providence has intro-
duced from America into these too happy regions a
terrible creature—the “ jigger,” “ chigoe,” or “ bur-
rowing flea” (Sarcopsylla penetrans). Making its
first appearance on the West African coasts at
Ambriz in 1855, this horrible little jigger has spread
all over Western Africa from Sierra Leone to Mos-
samedes with, astonishing rapidity. Its progress
inland, though as certain, is less speedy than along
the coast. However, it has now mounted the Congo
nearly as far as the equator, and was beginning
already to be a well-known pest at Bdldbo at the
time of my arrival there, although as yet the suffer-
ing natives had hardly given it a name. The
“jigger,” which is scarcely bigger'than a pin’s
head, burrows under the skin of the feet and hands,
and there in its little cell surrounds itself with a sack
of eggs. Its presence is soon made evident by the
pain and itching it occasions, and it is visible as a
small blue point in a circle of white under the skin.
If removed soon after discovery it occasions com-
paratively little inconvenience, but should you delay
the eggs will hatch, and a multitude of little fleas
will honeycomb your flesh. Neglect may cause the
whole foot to rot away and mortify. The jigger isNATURAL HISTORY.

337

best removed by a sharply pointed piece of wood, and
care must be taken in so doing not to break the egg
sack, lest the eggs escape into the wound, and, hatch-
ing there, cause it to fester.

There are many fine cicadas on the Congo, espe-
cially about Stanley Pool, where one large species
is eaten by the natives. This insect is four inches
in length, and has “ drums ” near the base of the
abdomen in the male.

Many species of flies add to the small plagues of
the Upper river. One, very little and black, sucks
the skin until a point of blood as large as itself comes
to the surface. Another big dun-coloured fly gives
a very painful, itchy bite, especially on the hand.
When I was painting studies and sketches in oil-
colours this fly annoyed me dreadfully, for it would
creep on to the palm of the left hand, which held the
palette, and sting or rather probe me so violently
’‘with its proboscis that, with my start of pain and
surprise, I would often dash the palette away. Other
flies that do not bite annoy you fully as much by
continually buzzing about your ears and neck, and
resisting all your efforts to drive them away.

As a corollary to the abundance of flies are the
numerous spiders. I always rather enjoyed seeing
a spider kill a fly in England—the spider is so
thoroughly cool and practical, and the fly so very
weak-minded—but my enjoyment was much enhanced
on the Congo, and I looked upon the spiders as my
personal friends. Curiously enough, the nickname

z338

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the natives gave me was “Bui,” or “The Spider,”
not, I think, from any physical resemblance, but
“ because I was always catching flies and other
insects.” There seem to be several species belonging
or related to the genus Mygale, and some of these
are very large and often very beautiful. One big
mygaloid spider was velvety blue-black in colour. I
also observed many specimens of Lycosa, of Cinijio (?),
of Scytodes, and the terrible Solpuga or Galeodes. I
nowhere saw or heard of true scorpions in this part
of Africa.

Centipedes (Seolopendra) are most abundant and
very poisonous. They haunt dry wood, and in the
crevices of the logs that the natives collect to make
their fires many of these creatures lurk, and sting the
native as he drags the wood along. The innocuous
millipedes (Zephronia T) are also very common.

Of the molluscs I have little to say, except that
some of the snails have most beautifully-decorated*
shells, and would well repay a collector, and that
some of the slugs assume very brilliant tints of
orange and scarlet, doubtless because they are nasty,
and can afford to be bold and showy to warn off
possible devourers. There is a kind of fresh-water
shrimp in the Lower river much liked by the natives,
by whom they are caught, cooked, pounded up in
a mortar with salt—shells and all—and used as a
seasoning with various forms of vegetable food.

Land crabs are numerous near the estuary of the
Congo, especially inhabiting the mangrove swampsNATURAL HISTORY.

339

along the tidal river. They are amongst the weirdest
things on a tropic shore, as they emerge from their
holes in the black mud and march forth in armies
after the retreating tide, rushing at the garbage
strewn upon the ooze, and devouring everything
devourable with unflagging appetite. Then, as the
step of a human being approaches, they scuttle back
to their many burrows of divers size and depth, and
appear and disappear so rapidly that they seem like
some formal illusion of the “ zoetrope.” It is great
fun to intercept an unfortunate land-crab on the way
bade to his burrow. He knows perfectly well wbicli
is his, and would immediately make for it; but if you
urge and exasperate him, and poke him up with
your stick (not carrying your humour so far as to
hurt the poor crustacean), he will in despair try to
enter the retreat of one of his fellows, who will so
smartly and spitefully repel him that you may out
of pity stand aside, and let him race off to his own
hole and pop down it in a trice. Sometimes a large
crab pursued will make for too small a burrow, and
get stuck at the opening, in which case, brought to
bay, he uses his unequal-sized claws like a boxer,
shielding himself with one and nipping with the
other.

A river like the Congo naturally abounds .in fish,
but very little is as yet known about its ichthyology.
It seems, however, from the data we possess, to re-
semble greatly the Upper Nile, and to offer many
identical species and genera. There are many

z 2340

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

clupeoid, cyprinoid, and percoid forms. The siluroid
group is represented by several species, among them
the huge “ bagre ” * of the Portuguese, a fish with
a smooth, shiny skin and a large flat head, in which
the eyes, very small and colourless, are placed wide
apart. At each corner of the mouth there is a long
reversed tentacle. Also a ganoid, Polypterus, very
common and very spiteful. I give an illustration
here, engraved from my original study. This fish
had the lower part of the back armed with nine

erectile spines,f joined together by a web, and with
the fins marked by zebra-like stripes. Then there
was one superb creature, a fish with great tusk-like
teeth—teeth that resemble in shape, but are some-
what larger than, a dog’s canines. This fish is
figured in Stanley’s ‘ Dark Continent ’ under the
name of the “ Livingstone pike,” although I do not
myself think it bears any resemblance or affinity to
the pike family, but rather approaches Hydrocyon,J
and offers many points in common with Serrasalmus

* Bagrus sp.

t The number is variable.

| Possibly it may belong to this genus.NATURAL HISTORY,

341

piraya or Erythrinus macrodon—fish belonging to
the rivers of Gruiana and other portions of the west
coast of South America. This particular specimen
of the Congo was a rosy-pink over the upper part of
the body, greyish-white below, and was 3 ft. 7 in. in
length.* Another curious Congo fish has the jaws
prolonged into a sort of proboscis, with a sucker at
the end.

Finally, I have often heard of Protopterus from Euro-
peans, who averred they had seen it, but although I
searched in many a muddy stream and pool I was
to the end unrewarded by its capture or discovery.

Of the Batrachians I saw but few examples. The
African bull-frog is occasionally noticed (Touropterna
adspersa?), and I have also observed Rana fasciata,
Cystignathus senegalensis, and a species of Discog-
lossus. Amongst toads there are Bufo tuberosus,
Brachymerus bifasciatus (the pretty little two-striped
toad), and others which I could not name or identify.

When you come to consider the Reptiles of the
Upper Congo, the crocodile is the first to attract
your attention, because he is the member of that
class with which you most come into contact, and
also because he is one of the principal dangers in
river travelling, being continually on the look-out
for a meal when there appears to be any likelihood
of a boat accident. The natives say that when the
fearful wind storms or tornados take place on the
Congo during the rainy season, the crocodiles follow
* See illustration, p. 348.342

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

closely in the wake of the wave-tossed canoes, hoping
that, ere they can reach the shelter of the bank, the
wind, as it often does, may blow them over with
their human freight, and throw a choice of limbs in
the crocodile’s way. It is curious that the crocodiles
in this river rarely do more than lop off an arm or a
leg from their human victims in the water, leaving
the rest of the unhappy creature to attain the shore,
if he still live, minus the loss of an arm or leg; that
is to say, unless he has to run the gauntlet of other
crocodiles and become a limbless trunk. But I do
not know so much that it is a curious custom on the
part of these monsters as that it indicates a con-
siderable amount of common sense. Half a loaf is
better than no bread, and I think the crocodile does
wisely to lop off a limb with his steel-trap-like jaws,
and go away quietly with his bonne bouche, rather
than struggle for the whole body in a fatiguing
contest, during which either the native might (as
they are traditionally supposed to do) plunge his
thumbs into the eyes of his foe, and thus force him
to relinquish his hold in agony, or stick his knife
into the crocodile’s belly; or his friends, having had
time for reflection, might decide to interfere and beat
off the crocodile with their spears or paddles. Of
course if a man is thus maimed he very rarely
reaches land alive; hut I once saw an individual
who, after leaving an arm in a leviathan’s jaws,
did not succumb to the shock or the rapid current,
but reached the shore and lived to tell the tale.NATURAL HISTORY.

343

When the sun shines brightly, and the day is still
and hot, then the crocodiles by preference leave the
water, and repair to some sand-bank or open beach,
where they lie and bake, rather than bask, in the
sun, its fierce heat soon drying up their wet scales,
and completely changing their colour from a dark
green-brown, tree-like in tone, to a light dust-
grey, precisely the colour of the boulders of rock
that strew the sandy shore. Indeed, the croco-
dile’s power of assimilation to his surroundings
stands him in wonderful stead to deceive his victims
and to mislead his only enemy-—man. When he lies
listlessly floating on the surface of the tepid water,
half dreamily enjoying the sun’s warmth and his
slow motion with the current, it is hard to take him
for aught but another of the many torn-up logs and
branches that are being carried along by the river;
for, like them, he submits to be gently rolled over
and over as if an unresisting victim, and he too is
dark greenish brown, and somewhat jagged in
aspect. It is only when the too regular serration of
his back and tail are noticed, or that he attracts your
attention by a sudden' motion, that you distinguish
in him a more interesting and dangerous object than
a mere floating log. Again, when the crocodile is
lying on the sandy shore, he seems merely a ledge of
rock, grey and rough, like the fragments of stone
around him. When this reptile lies on the sand he
has a way of so tucking his limbs into him and
lying prone and flat, with so little variation in his344

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

outline that it is small wonder that you take him for
an inanimate object; nor does movement on his part
quickly undeceive you, for he glides so smoothly
towards the water that, before you realise that the
“log” is taking itself off, a splash and the wave of
a serrated tail enlighten you as to the real character
of the phenomenon. The tail of the crocodile is, as
you know, a terrible weapon. With it, if effectively
employed, he can stun or kill a man in the water, and
unwary victims who stand too near the bank may be
swept into the water by a sudden sweeping fling
of it. I remember on the River Quanza, in Angola,
meeting with an illustration of this. The river
steamer on which I was travelling was moored close
to the shore, and a plank laid just over the water
between the deck and the river bank, over which the
“krumen” went backwards and forwards with cargo.
Towards dusk one of these niggers was crossing the
plank with a load on his head, when a hitherto un-
seen crocodile whisked up his tail and swept the
unhappy wretch into the water. He was recovered,
for the crocodile himself seemed rather frightened at
his own boldness, and abandoned the man after a
brief struggle; but the poor wretch had all his
bowels crushed by one grip of the crocodile’s jaws,
and barely lived to reach the shore.

It is really true that the crocodile is accompanied
and “ protected ” by a little wading bird, which
utters a shrill warning cry if its mailed friend,
sleeping with a peaceful grin of satiety lurkingNATURAL HISTORY.

345

about his cruel jaws, is menaced by approaching foes.
This little bird, the spur-winged plover, Lobivanel-
lus albiceps (known in Egypt as the zic-zac), lives
on terms of the greatest intimacy with the crocodiles,
and, when they lie basking on the sand-flats, the
birds perch on their backs and hop freely about the
recumbent monsters. What return they receive at
the hands of their strange allies for the vigilant care
they take of them when ashore I cannot say. It
used to be supposed that the zic-zac plover was
allowed the privilege of acting as the crocodile’s
toothpick ; and other travellers, who thought this a
somewhat repellent office, asserted that the bird
merely removed the worms and leeches that crept
into the soft parts of the crocodile’s jaw. I can only
say for my part that, although the spur-winged
plover is with the crocodile during all the time it
spends on land, I have never yet witnessed it taking
a meal from out of those formidable jaws.

Before I leave the crocodiles, I might mention that
the ordinary and most common species is the common
African crocodile (Crocodilus vulgaris), but I have
seen some species which, from their great concavity
of forehead, appeared to be C. marginatus. I also
once saw, near Bdlobo, the half-decayed head of an
African gavial with a narrow snout, possibly Mecis-
tops Bennettii.

Land tortoises are rarely seen on the Congo ; but
a curious aquatic species of Trionyx, possibly T. nilo-
ticus (the so-called soft turtle), is commonly found.346

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

This is a very curious tortoise, possessing a droll
proboscis, which has rather a perky turned-up look.
When the animal is in the water he generally sinks
entirely below the surface, leaving only his nostrils,
at the end of this proboscis, above the water; thus
he may remain concealed for a long time ready to
pounce on his victims, which may either be insects
flying low over the water, small aquatic birds, or
even, they say, young crocodiles emerging from the
egg. I had one of these curious creatures given me
once by a native on the Upper river, and I kept it
in captivity during several months, until it became
quite tame, and distinctly increased in size, for when
I first received it it was only four inches in length.
It fed on worms and decaying meat, and throve so
well that I fully hoped to bring it back with me to
Europe, and had, indeed, started with the trionyx on
my homeward journey. One day, however, he had
disappeared from my canoe, and, on making inquiries
among the men, I found to my horror that one of
the krumen, impelled by some unnatural burst of
hunger, had roasted and eaten him ! Not even the
hearty “ whacking ” I gave the delinquent could
console me for the loss of this interesting creature.

The fine monitor lizards are well represented on
the Congo. Apparently the two principal species
are Monitor niloticus and Regenia albogularis. This
latter is a really handsome creature, brightly pied
with dark-brown and white, and is often six feet in
length when adult. The young specimens appearNATURAL HISTORY.

347

to be much brighter in colour than the adults, the
white spots being yellowish and the brown markings
greenish black. They are often captured by the
natives, despite their ferocity, and brought for sale.
Even when quite young they require to be fed on
live fowls. Though, fortunately, these lizards are
not provided with- any serious means of attack, they
prove really redoubtable foes in a contest with men
or dogs, using the pliant tail as a terribly efficient
swish, and biting savagely with their small teeth.
They are capable of killing a dog, and of stripping
the skin from a man’s leg. In a wild state they eat
small mammals, birds, frogs, and insects. I found
in the stomach of one that I shot the remains of
three squirrels. Amongst other lizards on the Congo
may be remarked the following genera, passing
over an immense number of species I have been
unable to identify : Acanthodactylus, the pretty little
spine-foot; Eremias, Zonurus cordylus, Ptyodactylus
gecko, Tarentola capensis, Uroprastix spinipes, and
Agama; also a very common and handsome lizard
of which I do not know the name, gaudily blue and
red in colour, with a short and brittle tail, which is
left in your hands should you capture him by that
organ. Chameleons are, of course, very common,
and exhibit many different species.

Snakes, on the other hand, are decidedly rare, and
it is quite possible to voyage right up the Congo and
return to Europe without the glimpse of a serpent.
I did, however, in the course of my travels along348

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

this river, meet with three specimens. One was a
beautiful species of Hortulia, a Borne snake, quite
harmless, and brilliantly marked with brown, yellow,
and black rings, over which played a purple bloom
or iridescence that faded after death. Then I saw a
small specimen of the black African python, and a
species of puff-adder, belonging* probably to the
venomous genus Clotho.CHAPTER XIV.

NATURAL HISTORY—ORNITHOLOGY.

The Fin-foot—Frigate Birds—Gannets—Pelicans—Aquatic
Birds at Stanley Pool—Gypohierax Vultures—Hawks—
Rails and Ployers—The Crocodile’s Friend—A Plover
Family — Pigeons — Parrots — Rollers — Crows — List of
Birds noticed on the Congo.NATURAL HISTORY.

351

CHAPTER XIY.

NATURAL HISTORY—ORNITHOLOGY.

The first bird of any note that I saw after arriving
at Stanley Pool was a fin-foot (Podica). This
curious creature, which is a type of one of those

\ SCHIZORHIS GIGANTEA.

intermediary families from which, as it were, many
more specialised forms diverge, is not common in352

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

West Africa. I have never observed it but once on
the Congo, and that at Stanley Pool; and have only
seen it elsewhere on the little Chiluango river, near
Landana. The specimen that I examined at Leopold-
ville (Stanley Pool) had been shot by a surly German
gardener attached to the expedition, who spent his
spare time in collecting birds for certain museums.
He had no notion what the bird was ; but, seeing I
prized it, not only refused to sell it to me, but would
not even let me draw it, or dissect its carcase after it
had been skinned, fearing lest I might forestall him
in the discovery of a new species. Consequently,
I am unable to do more than give a superficial
description of its appearance. The general colour of
this Podica was a dark mottled brown with green
reflections on the whole of the upper surface, while
on the throat and belly it was a dirty white. Just
above the eye was a streak of light colour, running
from the base of the upper mandible to the ear, and
beneath this a broader band of dark brown parallel
with it. The breast was spotted with dark brown,
and there were a few streaks of the same colour on
the belly. The tail was about four inches long, and,
at the time I saw it, was slightly expanded, and
resembled very much in general shape the tail of the
darter (Plotus Levaillanti). On the central tail-
feathers were a few faint white lines, running trans-
versely. The beak and the feet were bright orange.
The beak resembled very much in shape the beak of
the darter, and was very sharp at the point. TheNATUBAL HISTORY.

353

feet were much like a grebe’s, each toe being lined
with a membrane a quarter of an inch in width.
The general appearance of the bird recalls at once
the darters, the herons, the ducks, and the grebes.
When swimming it lies somewhat low in the water,
and the neck, which is rather long and 46 kinked,”
moves slowly backwards and forwards, as if poising
the head to dart at a fish. On the river Ohiluango,
where I have seen it swimming among the mangrove
stalks, little more than the neck was visible as it
swam, and my companions in the boat took it at first
for a snake raising its head from the water. The
44 darter ” (P lotus Levaillanti) is one of the commonest
birds on the Congo. It affects every piece of water,
either forming cataracts, tranquil pools or stagnant
marshes. A small cormorant is also frequently seen,
but is not so universally abundant as the darter.
About the Congo region, whether on the Upper
river, the estuary, or the neighbouring coast, types
of all the genera of the sub-order Pelicani may be
met with. The frigate-bird (Fregata aquila) is not
uncommonly seen off Banana Point, and the tropic-
bird (Phcethon oethereus) is of even more frequent
occurrence. As this latter breeds on the island of
Sao Thome, he is not so far from home, off the
Congo mouth. Then there is a gannet, Sula capensis,
which occasionally visits the estuary of the Congo in
myriads; and, finally, the darters and cormorants are
also represented on the river, together with the
pelican. This giant member of the family is very

; 2 A354

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

partial in his distribution ; sometimes you find him
in great quantities, as on Stanley Pool, and about
the broadened stream at Bolobo, at other times he
will be absent or unheard of over a hundred miles of
river. On an unapproachable island above the Falls
of Yell ala, a colony of pelicans, apparently Pelicanus
onocrotalus, has established itself, and made the
island—which, owing to the rapids, one could only
reach by balloon—a great breeding-place, the shores
of which are white with guano. "While I was
stopping at the Baptist Mission at Angu Angu, and
afterwards at Yivi, two places nearly opposite to one
another, a strange mortality seemed to exist among
the young pelicans, birds of one year old, and many
of them came floating down the river, and were
washed ashore dying or dead. There was no cause
easily ascertainable, and this mortality among them
reminded me of a similar thing that occurs on the
South-West African coast with the gannet (Sula cap-
ensis), sometimes called the whale-bird, which is often
washed ashore dead in incredible quantities. In theBay
of Loanda I have counted often twenty dead gannets
round the ship at a glance, and many of them are
thrown up on to the beach both at Mossamedes and at
Banana, the mouth of the Congo. After an epidemic
like this, the sand is strewn with the carcases of
these apparently uninjured birds, which in a few
hours are almost consumed by the land crabs and the
scapulated crows.

Stanley Pool is a great place for aquatic birds.NATURAL HISTORY.

355

On the many islands that stud this beautiful expanse
of the Congo you may see numbers of crowned
cranes, marabou, saddle-billed and common storks,
Scopus umbretta, sacred ibises, giant herons, egrets,
bitterns, darters, cormorants, spur-winged and
Egyptian geese, pratincoles, and large terns with
scarlet beaks. Mr. Stanley maintains that he has met
with Baloeniceps rex, the whale-headed stork, on
the upper Congo,* and, as he describes the bird very
accurately, I see no reason to doubt that he is correct
in his assertion. In this case it would certainly
extend the habitat of this curious Ardeine bird,
hitherto supposed to solely inhabit the waters of the
Upper Nile.

A curious feature in Congo ornithology is the
absence of all the vultures common to other parts
of Africa. Perhaps this may be accounted for by
the comparative scarcity of big game, and yet, for all
that, there is plenty of animal refuse along the river-
side to keep going more than the one species of
vulture—if vulture he be—that the Congo possesses.
This latter bird is known scientifically as Gypohierax,
and is sometimes called the Angola vulture, although
he is found equally and quite as abundantly in Sene-
gambia or anywhere in West Africa between the
Kunene and the Senegal. I certainly believe
Gypohierax to be a true vulture, although he may
be a less extreme type than his more vulturine
relations. He is no means a mere scavenger, but
* Vol. ii., pp. 293, ‘ Dark Continent.’

2 A 2356

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

goes in ordinarily for a more refined and respectable
line of life, though it is true that he adapts himself
to all circumstances and places, and can, if neces-
sary, get through very dirty work. On the Congo
Gypohierax is extremely abundant, and here this
accommodating bird has become a most accomplished
fisherman, being much more deft in catching fish
than the proper fishing-eagles (Haliaetus), who are
■ to the manner born. May Gypohierax prosper !
He has all my sympathy. He is one of those
clever, adaptable creatures, like the rat among
mammals and the crow among birds, that can turn
their hands, or rather their stomachs, to anything,
and consequently are never at a loss for a living.
It always annoyed me to see the way in which
Europeans on the Congo massacred poor Gypohierax.
He is a bold bird, conscious of well-doing, and in his
mature black-and-white plumage (the young birds
are dun-coloured) offers a very good mark to the
neophyte’s rifle. Consequently, scarcely does a party
of newly-arrived Europeans ascend the river without
“ popping ” at the poor vulture as he sits on the
topmost hough of a dead tree. The white-headed
fishing-eagle is more often heard than seen. His
vociferous, boisterous screams greet the rising and
the setting sun; hut these birds will also screech
loudly at night or in the day, if anything occurs to
arouse their suspicion.

Amongst noticeable hawks is a very common
species of Milvus (M. migrans), a large dark-plumagedNATURAL HISTORY.

357

bird found everywhere on the Congo. Also remark-
able is a small and very pretty Astur (A. sphoe-
nurus?), hardly bigger than the common kestrel,
and a dove-coloured grey all over.

Curiously enough, Helotarsus emudatus, the Bate-
leur eagle, is entirely absent from the Congo,
although he is such a common bird in Angola.

Machoerhamphus Anderssoni, that curious to-eating
hawk first discovered in Ovampoland and afterwards
(an allied species) in Malaysia, has been shot at Yivi
on the Lower Congo, and a specimen may be seen in
the Museum of the African International Association
at Brussels. In spite of its curiously modified beak,
wide gape, and other peculiarities, I think all its
affinities are with the accipitrine group. We should
certainly admire it for its original taste in food, and
one would imagine that it had few emulators in the
chase, for bats do not seem to be a favourite article
of diet.

There are many plovers and rails found on the
Congo, but, in common with most of the wading and
water birds, they affect rather the broad stream and
many islands of the Upper and Lower river than
the straitened region of the cataracts. Of course
the species of this great pluvialine group are very
numerous. Among them, however, deserve to be
noticed certain birds which, from their great abund-
ance and bold demeanour, are common features in the
river foregrounds. Such are Pluvianus JEgyptius, a
pretty little shore-frequenting bird, whose portrait358

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

appears on the title-page, and the spur-winged plover,
whom I have frequently mentioned as the “ crocodile’s
friend.” A drawing of him appears at the close of
this chapter, but I will also add a word or two of
verbal description, so that all my readers who may
come across him may recognise him and spare his
life, for several reasons : firstly, because he is not at
all good to eat; secondly, because he is a bold, in-
dependent creature who always speaks or shrieks his
mind; and, thirdly, because he is exceedingly common,
and it is very wicked to kill a bird unless it is good
to eat or new to science. The spur-winged plover,
Lobivanellus albiceps, is about the size of an ordinary
lapwing ; has long greenish legs with only three
toes ; a pendant yellow lobe or wattle, one inch in
length, on each side of the head; strong sharp spurs
on the “shoulder” or carpal joint of the wings, and
is coloured as follows: a large white band runs
along the top of the head, from which comes the
sub-name albiceps; the face, throat, and tail co-
verts are dove-coloured, merging into fawTn on the
shoulder; the back and the secondaries are jet-
black, and the belly and the pinions snowy-white.
The beak is yellow with a black tip, and suggests
an affinity to (Edicnemus, the “ thick-kneed ” plover.
This latter genus is also another common pluvialine
bird. Then there is Glareola cinerea and Nordmani.
I found the young of G. cinerea once on a little bare
piece of rock, only rising a foot above the water and
not more than a few inches square ! I used to noticeNATURAL HISTORY,

359

(it was near Msuata) as I crossed the river every day
that a pair of these Glareoloe were always perched
on this little ledge of rock, and moved not, however
near the canoe approached. One day however,
through careless steering, the canoe was driven right
up against the rock by the current, and, in putting
out my hand to break the shock of encounter, I put
it on something soft and warm. Looking down, I
saw two little Glareoloe, about a week old, pressing
themselves flat against the rock. They were covered
with blackish down, and were quite invisible when
crouched against dark surroundings. There was no
sign of a nest, merely a slight concavity or “ scoop ”
in the morsel of rock, which could have retained the
eggs. The parents all this time flew round me so
close to my head that I made several ineffectual
efforts to catch them with my hand. Taking pity on
their distress, I left one little one, and took the other
home to examine. It was about the size of a day-
old chicken, was covered with the aforementioned
blackish down, and its legs were rather clumsy. The
little bird generally rested on its tarsi, with the toes
outspread like a squab-pigeon, but it could make an
effort to balance itself on its “ feet” and shuffle along.
It seemed quite unable to feed itself, though it took
flies from the hand. As I felt the difficulty of
rearing it, and having no spirit to preserve its little
carcase for ultimate examination, I took it back the
next morning to its rocky nursery, where it nestled
down beside its little brother or sister with perfect360

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

equanimity, as if nothing particular had happened. I
continued to take great interest in this quaint little
family, isolated on a point of rock in mid-stream, and
paid them several subsequent visits, placing an
offering of raw meat (to attract the flies) from time
to time in their home. My eventual departure from
Msuata terminated this interesting acquaintance.
There are no true bustards on the Congo, although
certain species are found not far south in Angola ;
there are, however, a few small otidine forms, one of
which I noticed near Isangila, looking like a very
tiny bustard, with some resemblance to a closely-
allied family, the coursers. It is a most delicately-
coloured little bird—cream, fawn, black, and white.
I do not yet know its generic name ; but there is a
specimen in the Museum of the African International
Association at Brussels.

Guinea-fowl are not common on the Congo. I
have only met with them to any extent near Bolobo,
where the species present was Numida cristata.
Prancolin may be shot from time to time, and make
a most agreeable supplement to the traveller’s frugal
meal.

Among the Pigeons (Treron), a common genus,
represented by 1\ calm, a fruit pigeon, with green
or greenish-grey body, and feet that are very nearly
zygodactyle. A beautiful bird, found in the forests
all along the Upper river, and in the neighbourhood
of Stanley Pool, is the great blue plantain-eater
(Schizorhis giganiea;), with a general plumage ofNATURAL HISTORY.

361

verditer-blue, relieved by a yellow-green stomach,
chesnnt thighs, and a violet crest. This bird is
difficult to shoot, as it is very shy and hides much
among the thick foliage of the great trees ; but on
one occasion I managed to bag him, and, after taking
off his beautiful skin, we roasted him for dinner, and
his flesh was most juicy and delicious. He feeds
principally on wild figs, and the scarlet dates of a
species of Calamus palm. A young Belgian officer
tried to keep one of these birds alive on bananas, but
he refused to eat anything but the above-mentioned
fruits, and, the supply of these being scanty, he
sickened and died. This bird may be said to be the
only one of his group that has the toes distinctly
arranged three in front and one behind. All the
other plantain-eaters and touracos are either distinctly
zygodactyle, or else, as in Schizorhis concolor, the
toes are what one might call “ undecided.” Colius,
as we all know, can turn its toes any way ; but
Colius, according to the late Professor Garrod, ought
to be separated entirely from the Musophagidce, and
be placed in a group by itself approaching the
Cuckoos. Curiously enough, though there are several
species of touracos ( Corythaix) in Angola, that genus
is unrepresented on the Congo, the only other mem-
ber of the Musophagidce group, besides the above-
mentioned ScMzorliis, being the beautiful violaceous
plantain-eater (Musophaga violacea) which is occa-
sionally met with on the Lower river, especially
between Vivi and Isangila. Colies (Colius) are most
abundant everywhere.362

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

On the islands of Stanley Pool, and indeed every-
where on the Upper Congo, the grey parrot is present
—well, it is a moderate estimate to say—in thou-
sands. The high trees are covered with them, and
their red tails are always enlivening the foliage with
bits of scarlet colour. It does not seem to be gene-
rally known that the grey parrot has a great variety
of note in a wild state. Its whistling is most melo-
dious, especially of an early morning, when the birds
fly out from the forest for an airing. The little
Poeocephalus parrot is common on the mainland
round Stanley Pool, and seems a quarrelsome
and noisy little bird. It is always quarrelling,
more particularly with a species of roller (Eury-
stomas') that appears to invade its haunts and seek
unnecessary disputes. The natives say this Eury-
stomus attacks the nests of Poeocephalus in the
hollow cavities of the baobab-trees, and eats the
callow young. If so, this noisy little parrot may
have some excuse for its screeching. The species of
roller to which I refer is a bird with a large yellow
hooked beak, somewhat broad and flattened, and
weak toes armed with powerful claws, with the
hinder toe directed somewhat forward or a inward,”
so that the toes appear nearly all four in a row. Its
colours are beautiful. The head, back and mantle
are rich chocolate-brown ; on the breast this changes
to a lovely mauve, while the belly and outer tail-
feathers are a pale sea-blue. The quills and central
tail-feathers are ultramarine. I wounded one of theseNATURAL HISTORY.

363

birds once, and kept it alive during over three
months (having set its broken wing), and, although
it never grew tame, it fed voraciously from the hand
the moment it was caught. These rollers fly in small
flocks, and are much given to mobbing falcons and
scapulated crows.

The scapulated crow, one of the commonest of
African birds, almost if not entirely disappears in
the cataract region of the Congo, and only makes its
reappearance at and beyond Stanley Pool. Is it
because the bird really dislikes mountainous regions,
or that in this poor country there is too little for it
to eat ? But this last can hardly be the reason. It
is a bird of most accommodating appetite, and would
certainly find a means of living round the native
villages, especially those near the banks of the river,
where there is much fish refuse. On the Upper river
he generally builds his nest in the Hyphoene palms,
and often falls out with a large kite who chooses the
same tree for his eyrie.

I subjoin to this brief description of the more
noticeable Congo birds a list of the genera and species
which I have actually come across during my stay
on the river. It does not pretend to be anything
like a complete catalogue of the entire avifauna of
the district, but rather to present a list of the most
common characteristic and striking birds to be seen
by any one who is passing through the country.364

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

LIST OF BIBDS NOTICED ON THE CONGO.

Order I.—PASSEEES.

Where observed.

Family 1.—Turdidse.

Turdus pelios (?)

Crateropus bi color
Pratincola rubetra
Phylloscopus trochilus
Acrocephalus turdoides
Cisticola erythrops
Motaeilla vidua (?)

Family 2.—Pycnonotidse.

Pycnonotus capensis
Criniger barbatus

Family 3.—Dicruridse.
Dicrurus Ludwigi (?)

Family 4.— Campojphagidse.
Campophaga phoenicea

Family 5.—Laniidse.

Lanius badius (?)

Laniarius barbarus
Dryoscopus gambensis
Prionops plumatus

Family 6.—Muscicapidse.

Bradyornis sp.

Terpsiphone eristata

Family 7.—Hirundinidm.

Hirundo melanocrissa (?)
Cotyle riparia

Yivi.

Cataract region.

All over.

Lower Congo.

Cataract region.

A common riverine bird.

All over

Between Yivi and Isangila.

Most parts of Congo.

Landana: doubtful.

Most parts.

Common on Lower liver.
Everywhere.

Upper river.

Lower river.

Upper river.

Most abundant in cataract

region.NATURAL HISTORY.

365

Where observed.

Family 7.—Hirundinidae (cont.').

Cecropis striolata	Vivi; vide Museum of the

	African International Asso- ciation at Brussels.
Family 8.—Nectar iniidae.  Nectarinia pulchella  Cinnyris gutturalis „	splendidus  Zosterops sp.	Everywhere.  Vivi.  55  Lower river.
Family 9.—Fringillidse.  Passer ocoidentalis  Crithagra chrysopyga Fringillaria septemstriata „	flaviventris	Lower river.  Most parts.  Cataract region.  55
Family 10.—Ploceidae.  Hyphantornis textor  ,,	capitalis  „	anrantius  „	castaneofuscas  Pyromelsena flammiceps „	franciscana  Coliostruthus macrurus  Vidua principalis „ regia  Spermestes cucullata  Estrelda melpoda „	cinerea	Most parts.  55  r>  55  55  55  Vivi.  Everywhere.  5»  55  55  55
Family 11.—Sturnidse. Lamprocolius purpureus	Everywhere on Lower river.
Family 12.—Corvidae.  Oorvus scapulatus	Near the coast and on Upper river. Absent or rare in cataract region.366

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Order II.—PICARLZE.

Where observed.

Family 1.—Picidse.	
Deudropicus sp.	Lower river and coast.
Yerreauxia sp.	
Family 2.—Megaleemidse.	
Pogonorhyncus eeogaster	Common on Lower region,
Trachyphonus sp.	
Family 3.—Coraciidse.	
Coracias spatulata	Occasional in cataract
Eurystonms sp.	gion.  On Upper river.
Family 4.—Caprimulgidse.	
Caprimulgus lentiginosus	Everywhere.
Cosmetornis sp.	Cataract region.
Family 5.—Cypselidse.	
Cypselus sp.	Occasionally seen on river.
Family 6.—Strigidee.	
Scotopelia peli	Most parts.
Syrnium sp.	Reported to be seen.
Strix sp.	5?
Family 7.—Meropidse.	
Merops apiaster	Common.
„ rubieoides	Rare; observed at Vivj.
Melittopbagus pusillus	Common.
Family 8.—Halcyonidse.	
Halcyon ^engalensis	Lower river.
„	albiventris	
Corytbornis cristatus	Everywhere.
Alcedo sp. inc. [with black beak"	)
and larger than C. cristatus;	> Upper river.
white ear-spot]	'	
Ceryle rudis	Everywhere.
„ maxima	>>NATURAL HISTORY.

367

Family 9.—JBucerotidse. Tockus melanoleneus (?)  ,, semifasciatus Berenicornis sp. (?)  Family 10.— Ujpupidse.  Upupa sp.  ,, nana (?)  Irrisor cyanomelas	Where observed.  Most parts.  ?»  Lower river.  Cataract region.  55
Family 11.—Cuculidse. Centropus snperciliosus „ * monachns Chrysococcyx sp.	Everywhere.  55  Lower Congo and coast.
Family 12.—Coliidse.  Colius senegalensis „ lencotis (?)	Everywhere.  55
Family 13.—Musophagidse. Musophaga violacea  Sekizorhis giganteus	Lower river.  Upper river.
Okder III.-	-PSITTACI.
Family 1.—Psittacidse. Agapornis pnllaria	Not often seen on Congo; when observed generally in Lower river.
Poeocephalus robustns „	Riippelii  Psittacus erythacus	Lower river.  Everywhere.  Everywhere; most common.

Order IV.—GALLINACEA.
Family 1.—Phasianidse.

Cotnrnix histrionica Francolinns capensis „	afer  Nnmida cristata „	cornuta	Lower river and coast. Interior.  Most parts.  Upper river.  55368

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Order V.—PLUVIALES.

Sub-Order I.-

Family 1.—Otididse.
(Edicnemus sp.

Family 2.—Phoenicojpteridse.
Phoenicopterus antiquorum

Family 3.—CJiaradriidw.
Lobivanellus albiceps

iEgialites sp. (?)	Forbesii (?)	)

„	tricollaris (?) f

Pluvianus iEgypfcius
Tringoides hypoleucus

Sub- Famil y 1.—Parridee.

Parra africana

Family 4.—Laridse.

Sterna caspia	)

Ehyncops sp.	f

Sub-Order	II.

Family 1.— Columbidee.

Treron calva
Turtur vinaceus

„ semitorquatus
Cbaleopelia afra
„ puella

GrRALLiE.

Where observed.

Cataract region.

(I have seen wings of this
bird, and feathers, in pos-
session of the natives.)

Everywhere in water-
courses.

Common on Upper river.

Everywhere common.

Cataract region.

Abundant on most parts of
river.

Common on Upper river.

-CoLUMB-ZE.

Most parts.

Everywhere.

>5

Sub-Order III.—Rall^e.

Family 1.—Gruidse,

Balearica pavonina	t Stanley Pool and Upper

Grus carunculata	I river.NATURAL HISTORY.

369

Family 2.— Ballidse.  Porziana sp. (?)  Hydrornia Alleni (?)  Porpliyrio sp. (?)	Where observed.  Vivi; Isangila marshes.  Stanley Pool and many broad parts of Congo.
Family 3.—Fulicidse.  Fulica cristata	Stanley Pool and many broad parts of Congo.
Family 4.—Podicidde.  Podica sp.	Stanley Pool, Lower Congo and coast.

Sub-Order IV.—Anseres.

Family 1.—Plectrojpteridse.  Plectropterus gambensis	1  Chenalopex iEgyptiaca	1	i Stanley Pool, and all broad l	parts of river, lagoons, &c.
Family 2.—Anatidse.  Anas xanthorhyncns	Stanley Pool, and all broad parts of river, lagoons, &c

Sub-Order V.—Pelicani.

Family 1.—P^ialacrocoracidse.  Plotus Levaillanti  Phalacrocorax minimus (?)	Everywhere.
Family 2.—Sulidee.  Snla capensis	]  Phaethon aethereus	|	j> Mouth of river and coast.
Family 3.—Pelicanidse. Pelicanns onocrotalus	Most parts.
Family 4.—Fregatidse.  Fregata aqnila	Neighbouring coast.  2 B370

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Sub-Order YI.—Ciconi^e.

Family l.—Ardeidse.
Nycticorax cucullatus
Tigrisoma scmolophum
Butorides africapillus
Ardea purperea
„ atricollis
„ Goliath
„ squacco
„ alba
’C„ bubulcus

Sub-Family 1.—Baloemcepinse.
Baloeniceps rex (?)

Sub-Family 2.—Scopinee.
Scopus umbretta

Sub-Family S.—Ciconinee.

Cicouia alba *

Dissura episcopus
Xenorhyncus senegaleusis
Leptoptilus crumeniferus
Tantalus sp.

Family 2.—Plcitaleidse.
Platalea sp.

Sub-Family 1.—Tbidinse.

Ibis mthiopica
Plegades falcinellus (?)

Where observed.

Most parts by river and
marshes.

Occasionally seen.

Most common everywhere.
Upper river.

Everywhere.

Mr. Stanley says he has
frequently seen this bird on
Upper river, and describes
it accurately.

Everywhere; one of the
commonest Congo birds.

Upper river.

? 5

Most parts.

Stanley Pool.

Stanley Pool.

Upper river.

Upper and Lower river.

* I have.shot this bird in Angola and on the river Kunene.
Is it a migrant ?NATURAL HISTORY.

371

Where observed.

Sub-Family 1.—Ibidinae (cont.)

Lophotibis carunculata (?) [Ibis \
with very short and thick V Upper and Lower river,
beak; plumage glossy green J
and ash-grey.]

Order VI.—ACCIPITRES.

Family 1.—Falconidse.

Sub-Family 1.—GypoMeracinse.
Gypohierax formosus*

Sub-Family 2.—Milvinee.
Milvus migrans

Sub-Family 3.—JButeoninse.

Buteo sp.

Nisaetus sp.

Spizaetus sp.

Haliaetus vocifer

Sub-Family 4.—Circinse.

Circus sp.

„ ranivorus

Sub-Family 5.—Accipitrinae.

Astur sp.

Accipiter sp.

Asturinula sp. (?)

All over.

Very common.

Common in cataract region.
Upper river.

Most parts.

Most parts.

Most parts; difficult to
identify species.

* I venture humbly to change the specific name of Gypohierax
to “formosus” because it is a remarkably bright and handsome
bird, and because, for a creature that ranges from the Senegal to
Damara-land and the Upper Zambesi, “ angolensis” is too re-
strictive a qualification.

2 b 2372

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Sub-Family 6.—Falconinse.
Tinnunculus sp.

Where observed.
Upper river.

Sub-Family 7.—Machoeramphinee.
Macboerampbus Anderssoni	Yivi.CHAPTER XV.

NATURAL HISTORY—MAMMALS.

Monkeys—Mandrills—The Gorilla—Lemurs—The Leopard—
The Lion—Tiger-Cats—Hyaenas—The Ciyet Cat—The
Genet Cat—Jackals—The Manatee—The Elephant—Size
of Tusks—The Hippopotamus—A Rogue Hippopotamus—The
Rhinoceros—The Buffalo—Antelopes—List of Mammalia
noticed on the Congo.NATURAL HISTORY.

375

CHAPTER XY.

NATURAL HISTORY-----MAMMALS.

It is strange that a region like the Lower Congo
basin, so richly forested, should be so poor in monkeys.
On the river Kwilu, a little to the north, and on the

A- /

Quanza to
the south,
the Simice are abundant-
ly represented, and the
surrounding conditions
of nature are much the
same. Nevertheless,just
as with the snakes, you
might journey up the Congo from the coast to
Bolobo and not see a single monkey. The only

A GALAGO.376

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

times I ever came across them myself—that is to
say, in a wild state—were in the uninhabited Inga
country, between Yivi and Isangila, in which district
I have frequently seen a large brown Cercopithecus,
whose species I could not determine, that makes a
great unwieldy nest or platform of sticks on the
higher branches of the trees, and sits on it, watching
the passer-by. I have also been able to identify the
existence of several well-known West African species
by skins worn by the natives, or brought for sale.
In this way I have ascertained the presence of the
beautiful Diana monkey,* the Pluto,f the grivet,J
the sooty mangabey,§ and the Colobus. j| It is possible
that all West African genera are represented on the
Congo, but they certainly do not show themselves in
any abundance. About the mouth of the Congo, in
the marshy forest country, monkeys seem to be much
more common than up the river, to judge by the
numbers brought for sale by the natives. Here I
have seen in captivity many mandrills (Cynocephalus
mormon) and drills (C. leucophceus). At the Dutch
House in Banana there is, or was at the time of my
visit, an admirable collection of West African mon-
keys, including some very fine male and female
mandrills. At Stanley Pool I have heard of baboons
being seen, and the natives of Ki-mpoko tell strange
tales of large man-like apes in the interior. The

* Cercopithecus Diana.	f C. Pluto.

{ C. griseo-viridis. § Cercocebus fuliginosus.

I] Colobus	% Probably Cynocephalus.NATURAL HISTORY.

377

gorilla and chimpanzee, which are entirely absent
from the Lower Congo, probably approach, the Upper
river above the falls. Certainly some large anthro-
poid ape is known to the Ba-teke and Ba-yans , for
they recognised with loud cries an engraving of the
gorilla, and said frequently that he was found on the
north bank of the river. This has been repeatedly
told me by natives of Boldbd (who in speaking of the
anthropoid ape used the word “ngina”) by chance
visitors at Msuata, and also at Ki-mpoko and other
places on Stanley Pool. The Baptist missionaries at
Leopoldville have also heard of the gorilla from their
pupils, who pick out his picture at once in Wood’s
Natural History. I think, therefore, it is probable
that the gorilla, chimpanzee, or both, or some kindred
anthropoid ape, is found on the Upper Congo, and is
possibly the same as the “ soko ” of the Lualaba.

Periodicticus potto and arctocebus are curious
tailless lemuroids which are also found about the
Lower Congo. The former is constantly brought for
sale by the natives at Banana Point. Parenthetically
I might remark that there is no better ground for a
collector than this latter place. Possibly its vicinity
is no better provided with wild creatures than many
other parts of the Congo, but here the natives are
accustomed to capture and bring for sale everything
they can lay their hands on.

The galago lemur is very common about Stanley
Pool, and the natives make “ karosses ” out of many
of its skins joined together, with a fringe of tails.378

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

These are very handsome, but the natives resist every
temptation to sell them unfortunately, or they would
be very beautiful and costly souvenirs to bring home.

On the Congo the leopard is the best-known and
most dreaded of the Felidce. The natives often call
him u great lord,” and when a leopard is killed or
caught in a trap a day of public rejoicing is kept in
the neighbouring villages, during which the slaves
are absolved from all work.

The lion, entirely absent from the coast region
between the Congo and Sierra Leone, begins to be
heard of at Stanley Pool; and farther into the interior
there is no doubt that he exists. Some of the more
influential chiefs here have lions’ skins. Makoko,
the chief of the Batteke, received De Brazza seated on
one of these, which has now, with other insignia of
royalty, passed to his successor. The natives describe
his appearance and imitate his roaring so well that
there is no doubt that they have come into contact
with the king of beasts. I have seen several villages
on the north or western bank of the Congo barricaded
carefully against the probable attacks of lions, and
every night the live-stock was regularly driven into
this stockaded fortress. Further, the Zanzibaris
aver that once when they went to buy fowls from a
village nearly opposite the Wa-buma, called G-anchu,
they crept into their canoes at night and preferred
to sleep on the water, because the lion roared so
loudly in their proximity.

Two or three species of tiger-cats are common,NATURAL HISTORY.

379

and destroy much poultry. One appears to be Felis
serval; the others 1 have not had means of iden-
tifying.

The hyaena is often spoken of by the natives, and
is, according to their account, the striped species.
The civet-cat (Viverra) is prized for its scent-bag,
but does not seem to be very common. Genets are
constantly met with, and make charming house-pets.
Their kittens are the most amusing little creatures
imaginable, and exhibit more playfulness when
young than any animal I know.

The only Canis apparently present on the Congo
is C. lateralis, the side-striped jackal. The black-
backed jackal may possibly also be found, but I
have never seen any sign of it. Potamogale, the
curious otter-like insectivore, possibly inhabits the
Upper river, to judge by the skins brought down
by the natives. I have also seen Chrysochlorus, the
golden mole.

The manatee (Manatus) never passes, as far as we
yet know, the cataracts of the Congo, but confines
itself to the Lower river. A species of river dolphin,
allied possibly to the Amazon species, is occasionally
found in the Lower Congo and about the estuary.
I have seen a skull alleged to belong to it.

The elephant is very abundant on the Upper
Congo; and every morning, as you ascend the river,
traces of their last night’s devastations may be seen,
for they seem to have a tendency towards wanton
destruction and waste, being like parrots and380 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

monkeys in only eating about a quarter of the food
they procure, and scattering the rest right and left
with wanton caprice; So, on the islands of the
Upper river, where the graceful borassus palms grow
in their thousands, each blue-green palm with its
cluster of orange fruit, the elephant is to be con-
stantly seen—sometimes in broad daylight, but more
often towards sunset—breaking his way through the
pillar-like clusters, destroying many a beautiful palm
for the sake of those orange-coloured stony dates of
which he is so strangely fond. You may also see
them, as I have, in the short hour of tranquil
twilight, walking out in Indian file from the shelter-
ing forest into the shallow parts of the river, where
they squirt streams of water over their dry heated
skins. Ordinarily it is at night-time, and above all
when there is a moon, that the elephants come down
to drink and bathe. Moreover, they are much more
commonly seen on the Congo during the dry season,
as then the many little forest brooks are likely to be
dried up, and the elephants are compelled to incur
greater publicity in their bath by seeking the great
Congo. Although elephants are much more fre-
quently met with above Stanley Pool, still in certain
districts of the Lower river they are common, especi-
ally in the cataract region. In the country opposite
Isangila elephants have often been shot by members
of Mr. Stanley’s expedition, and at the Livingstone
mission station of Banza, Manteka, fifteen miles
from the south bank of the Congo, elephants have atNATURAL HISTORY.

381

times trooped in long succession past the door of
the mission-house, whilst the awe-struck missionaries
shut themselves up securely within.

The largest tusk I have yet seen on this river
■weighed 93 lb., and one from an elephant killed at the
station of Msuata, by one of the Zanzibaris, weighed
79 lb. Of course I have heard of tusks of immense
and almost fabulous weight, 180 lb. and 1921b. being
modestly cited as examples of these prodigies ; but I
require to see them weighed before believing such
statements. The largest tusk I have ever seen in
West Africa (at Old Calabar) weighed 140 lb., and
looked a monster. Although the elephant is so
abundant all along the Congo, from Stanley Pool
towards the interior, yet the natives, as far as I have
yet ascended the river, never dreamt of attacking
him, but received all their ivory from the Bangala of
the equator, who are also reported by the Ba-vansi
to get theirs from a yet more distant tribe; so
that I should not he surprised to learn that the
same central region that sends its ivory to the
Congo also supplies the merchants of the Shari and
the Nile.

The hippopotamus, as will have been gathered
from the many previous references to its abundance,
is one of the commonest, or at least one of the most
noticeable, of the Congo mammalia. During the
day-time this great amphibian prefers to frequent
the large submerged sandbanks or “shallows” so
common in the river. Here he generally stands382

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

upright, with his head and backbone rising above the
water, and with many of his companions in a line.
They yawn constantly, and the huge jaws are lifted
in this action high above the water, displaying a
pinky chasm of palate and throat. The grunting
noise they make, and their great sighs of content-
ment as they relapse into the tepid water after a
momentary inspection of the advancing canoe, may
be heard for a long distance across the stream. Hip-
popotami are distinctly reddish in colour as seen in
the water. They generally go in herds of nine and
ten together, apparently consisting of one mature
bull with four or five cows and their respective calves.
The act of coition is said by the natives to take place
invariably at night-time, as with pigs. Certainly
the activity of the hippopotamus is very much
greater after the sun has set, for it is then that he
leaves the water and goes to feed amid the great
rank grass-fields, where he remains until after sun-
rise; indeed, if you are smart, you may intercept
him there, cut off his retreat, kill him easily, for he
offers a huge mark, and then go tranquilly to your
breakfast, having first spoilt his. As to shooting
them from a canoe on the water, it is a question the
utility of which it is difficult to decide. If you do
not fire at Hippo, he may come and just wreck you
in a spirit of pure play; on the other hand, if you
hit and do not kill outright, he will certainly make
for you with a vengeance. Fortunately they do not
swim very fast, and may easily be out-distanced by aNATURAL HISTORY.

383

skilfully-paddled canoe. The female hippopotamus
is passionately attached to her young, and during the
first few weeks of its life lives almost isolated from
her fellows, generally on land; I imagine that this is
because the baby hippopotami at an early age might
form an easy prey to the voracious crocodiles. The
males are much given to quarrelling even in the day-
time, and, when fighting, utter strange boar-like
squeals and grunts. It very often happens that an
unfortunate bull, unable to obtain a mate, turns
rogue, and lives a solitary life, seeking to wreak his
spite on whatever may come in his way. There was
one such beast that haunted the neighbourhood of
Msuata. This malicious creature was the terror of
the natives in the adjoining villages, for he would
lie in wait, amid the rushes, for the canoes returning
home with the fishermen at dusk, and then swim out
silently under water and wreck them. When I was
staying here we sent a canoe with letters to Stanley,
who was farther down the river. The canoe started
at early dawn, was wrecked close to the station by
the demon hippopotamus, and one of its occupants
was carried off by a crocodile. On the whole, the
hippopotamus may be called the most dangerous
animal to man on the river Congo.

The rhinoceros is nowhere heard of in this district,
nor is he, properly speaking, found in West Africa
at all, merely penetrating into Southern Angola from
the Zambesi and South African regions. The red
river-hog (Potamocherus) is common, and its flesh is
greatly appreciated by the natives.384

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

I have seen a skin of Hyomoschus, so apparently
its range extends to the Congo.

There is only one buffalo on this river, the red
species, Bos* brachyceros. He is much inferior in
size to his larger relatives, the buffalos of Central
and Southern Africa, but he seems ordinarily quite
as fierce, although at times he shows an opportune
mildness of demeanour, as may be judged from the
following incident which happened to Mr. Stanley
when travelling between Yivi and Isangila. He was
at the head of his caravan, and had been ascending'
a nearly precipitous hill under a hot sun. When he
arrived at the top, panting and ready to throw him-
self down on the grass with fatigue and exhaustion,
he suddenly found himself face to face with a red
buffalo, who was staring at him in much astonish-
ment. The buffalo lowered his head, and Mr. Stanley
fired; but, although he was within a couple of yards
of his mark, he was so agitated that he missed. The
buffalo, however, merely turned round, and trotted
off quietly. As the road in this country is continually
taking you up and down abrupt hills, I always used
to dread lest, on arriving at the top of some eleva-
tion, utterly sick and faint with want of breath, I
might find myself in a like predicament, and the
buffalo less considerate.

The Congo is very poor in antelopes, as compared
with the less forested regions north and south.
There are no true gazelles; Cervicapra and Nanotra-
gus are found, and frequently go under that name.

* Bub a Us 9NATURAL HISTORY.

385

There are several species of Cephalophi, and the
large C. sylvicultrix is occasionally seen on the Lower
river. Cobus antelopes are fairly common every-
where, especially on the borders of streams. I give
the head of one here, that I do not identify as yet
with any of the numerous species of this large genus.

A COBLS ANTELOPE.

The hoofs of this Cobus do not offer any great pecu-
liarities, except that they are perhaps somewhat long
and wide apart. There is a Tragelaphus found on
the Congo, T. gratus apparently, which has hoofs
nearly six inches in length and very pointed. This
creature, which is a dark dun-colour in the male,
with white spots and stripes, inhabits the marshes

2 c386

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

and small streams, being much more at home in the
water than on land. The horns are much used by
the natives as trumpets (see illustration, p. 433).
Other members of the Tragelaphidce are the kudus,
which I have seen near Yivi, the harnessed antelope,
common everywhere, and probably also the derbian,
or striped eland.

A porcupine is found all along the Congo, and its
quills are used for many purposes by the natives.
The Ba-yansi call it “ nkake ” or “ thunder,” from the
noise it makes rattling its quills in anger. A large
rodent, Aulacodes, is occasionally captured and eaten
by the natives. Small side-striped squirrels abound
in the woods, and an infinitude of murine species
are met with, one of them a small black rat infesting
the native villages.

The curious Edentate, Manis, is also one of the
Congo mammalia, though very rare and shy.

I add to this short description of the mammals of
this region a list of the species and genera either
commonly met with or known to exist on the Congo,
also inserting the names, with a query attached, of
some forms of which the presence may be inferred,
though as yet it cannot be proved.

, , t	Order I.—PRIMATES.

Where observed.

Family 1.—Simiidtie.

Sub-Family 1.—Anthropoidse.

Troglodytes gorilla (?)	l Forest lands about Stanley

Antbropopithecus chimpanzee (?) ) Pool and Upper Congo (?)NATURAL HISTORY.

387

Sub-Family 2.—PitTiecoidx.

Cynocephalus mormon i
„	leucophoeus j

„	sphinx

Cercopitherus griseo-viridis
„	Diana

„	Pluto

„	talapoin

„	petaurista

„	ruber

Cercocebus fuliginosus

Where observed.

Common in country round
extreme Lower Congo.

All over district.

77

77

77

77

77

77

Lower Congo, below falls.

Order II.

Family 1.—Lemuridee.
Galago monteiri

Family 2.—Loriidzel

Perodicticus potto
Arctocebus calabarensis

LEMUKS.

Upper Congo and coast.

Swampy forest land round
Lower river below Boma.

Order III.—CHIKOPTERA.

Sub-Order I.—Megachiroptera.

Family 1.—Pteropodidse.

Cynonycteris collar is	Most parts.

„	torquata	„

„	straminea	„

Epomophorus monstruosus	Mouth	of	Congo	and	coast.

„	gambianus

Sub-Order II
Family 1.—Bhinolophidse.

Rhinolophus Landeri

„ -ZEthiops (?)

Sub-Family 1.—Phyllorhinse.

Phyllorhina Cyclops (?)	Stanley Pool.

2 c 2

.—Microchiroptera.

Yivi.

?>388

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Sub-Family 2.—Megaderminse.
Megaderma frons (juv. ?)

Sub-Family 3.—Nyderinse.
Nycteris hispida (?)

Family 2.—Vesjoertilionidse.

Yesperugo sp. div.

Vespertilio sp. div.

Kerivoula africana

Family 3.—Emballomridse.
Taphozous sp.

Where observed.

Blown on to ship off Ka-
binda.

Yivi.

All over.

Stanley Pool and Upper
river.

Banana.

Order IY.—INSECTIYOBA.

Famil y 1.—rErinaceidse.
Eiinaceus sp. div.

Family 2.—Eotamogalidse.
Potamogale velox

Family 3.—Soricidse.
Sorex sp.

Family 4.—Talpidse.
Chrysochloris capensis ?

Common in cataract region.

(Skins resembling those of
this animal worn by natives
of Upper river.)

Yivi, Msuata, &c.

(Skin apparently of this
creature seen at Noki, in
cataract region.)

Order V.—CABNIVOBA.

Family 1.—Felidse•
Felis leo

(Eeported to be present along
Upper river. Native chiefs
possess skins.)NATURAL HISTORY.

389

Family 1.—Felidse (cont.).
Felis pardus

Felis serval
Felis servalina

Felis chrysothrix

Family 2.— Viverridee.

Viverra oivetta
Genetta pardina
Nandinia binotata

Herpestes fasciatus
Crossarchus obscnrus

Family 3.—Hysenidx.

Hyaena striata (?)

„ crocuta (9)

Family 4.—Canidse.
Canis lateralis

Where observed.

All over district; very com-
mon.

Upper and Lower river,

(Observed skins at Msuata,
but doubtless common else-
where.)

Upper river.

Everywhere.

Mouth of river and coast,
piobably also Upper river.

All over.

Observed in cataract re-
gion.

(Both of these are mentioned
from native reports.)

All over.

Order VI.—EDENTATA.

Family 1.—Manidse.

Manis tricuspis	(Portion of skin seen at Ba-

nana.)

Order VII.—SIEENIA.

Family 1.—Manatidee.

Manatus africanus	Lower river.

Order VIII —PEOBOSOIDEA.

Family 1.—Elephantidse.
Elephas afiicaiius

In certain parts of Lower
river, and abundant on and
above Stanley Pool.390

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Order IX.—HYEAOES.

Where observed.

Family 1.—Hyracidse.
Hyrax sp. (?)

At Landau a, on coast; and
on northern bank of Lower
river. Qy., Hyrax genus?

Order X.—KODENTIA.

Family 1.—Sciuridse.
Sciurus erythropus

Family 2.—Muridse.

Cricetomys gambianus
Mus sp. div.

Family 3.—Octodontidse.
Aulacodes swindernianus

Family 4.—Hystricidse.

Hystiix cristata
Athenusa africana

Upper river.

Lower river.
Everywhere.

Upper and Lower river.

Everywhere.

Bolobo and Upper river.

Order XL—AETIODACTYLA.

Fa mily 1.—Hijppojpotamidse.

Hippopotamus amphibius

Family 2.—Suidee.

Potamochoerus pencillatus

Family 3.—Tragulidee.
Hyomoschus aquaticus

Family 4.—Cavicornidoe.
Sub-Family 1.—Bovinse.
Bubalis brachyceros

Everywhere in fresh water.

Common on Upper river and
met with on Lower river
near the coast.

Marshy country about lower
river.

All over.NATURAL HISTORY.

391

Sub-Family 2.—Tragelaphidse.

Tragelaphus scriptus
„	gratus

„	kudu

Oreas Derbii ?

Sub-Family 3.—Oazellidse.

Cephalophus Maxwellii
„	sylvicultrix

Neotragus sp. (?)

Cervicapra sp,

Cobus sp.

Where observed.

All over.

Forest country above and
below falls; almost entirely
aquatic.

Seen near Yivi and heard of
on Upper river.

(From horns shown in native
villages and description
given, perhaps found on
Upper Congo.)

Common everywhere.

(Skin seen at Boma on Lower
Congo.)

(Skins seen on Lower
Congo.)

Common everywhere.CHAPTER XVI.

THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

The Dwarf Race—The Upper Congo Races—The Mushirongos—
The Bakongo—Conduct and Morality—Phallic Worship
■—The Nkimba—The Sacred Language—Art of Medicine—
Domestic Life—Hairiness of African Races—Early Man
■—Clothing — Cicatrization — Hairdressing — Features —
Character—Ceremonies—Education—Marriage—Burial—
Food—Domestic Animals—Crops—Houses—Musical Instru-
ments—Population—Progress.CHAPTER XVI.

THE PEOPLE OP THE CONGO.

The races of man that inha-
bit the basin of the Congo
throughout its entire course
—certainly in all that part
of it that I have visited-—
belong almost exclusively to
that great Bantu family which,
when seen in its purest exemplars, the Ova-hererd and
0 va-mpo of the South-west, the tribes of .the Zambesi,

]. MU-YANSI. '
2; MU-TEKE.

3. MTJ-SHI-KONGO.396

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

the people of the great lakes of Tanganyika and
Nyassa, and the western shores of Yictoria Nyanza,
and finally of the Upper Congo, is so distinct
physically and linguistically from the divers negro,
negroid, and Rami tic populations to the north of it,
and from the Rottentot-Bushman group to the south.

I have just written that the inhabitants of the Congo
basin belong “ almost ” exclusively to this great
homogeneous Bantu family. The qualifying “ al-
most ” is introduced for two reasons. Firstly, because
we know that about the Upper Congo and Lualaba
there are certain dwarf races, encountered both by
Stanley and Wissmann ; and besides this I have
certainly seen myself two specimens of a dwarf type
living as slaves among the Ba-yansi, and differing
wholly from their masters in physical appearance.
Still it is not quite certain that these dwarfs may
not turn out to be a greatly degraded Bantu tribe.
Language is of course by no means a true guide, as
it may often be imposed upon a conquered or inferior
race by stronger immigrants. Still it is curious that
the only recorded words spoken by a specimen of the
Wa-twa, the dwarf race to the west of the Lualaba
that Stanley encountered,* should be pure Bantu in
character. He is reported by the great traveller to
have said, “ Mabi! mabi! ” for “ bad,” “ ki-rembo-
rembo” for “lightning,” and “Firi Niambi” for
“ God.” Now “ mabi ”—meaning bad, poisonous,
wicked—is used right down the Congo as far as
* See Stanley’s ‘Dark Continent,’ vol. ii. pp. 172-3.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

397

Stanley Pool. It is pure Ki-teke, for example, and
is one of the commonest words employed. “ Ki-
rembo-rembo ” seems to resemble certain Central
African terms for “ finger,”* and by “ Ki-rembo-
rembo, firi Niambi,” the dwarf probably meant
“the finger of God,” for in using “Niambi” to ex-
press “ God,” he simply employed the same word as
the “Nyambi,” “Njambi/’ “ Ndyambi,” “Ndambi,”
“ Nzambi,” of Angola, the Western Congo, and the
Gaboon. The dwarf-tribes are reported as being, in
the interior, very hairy. Now hairiness is a feature
strangely absent from the Bushmen and Hottentots
of the South, with whom it has been imagined that
these dwarf races might have some distant relation-
ships ; and, on the contrary, the Bantu tribes of the
Congo are very hairy naturally, although most of
them seem smooth-skinned, owing1 to artificial depila-
tion. However, there is no doubt these dwarf races
sufficiently differ from their neighbours to justify the
qualification I have introduced into my assertion;
and, besides this first reason, there is another,, in that
the Congo tribes, nearing the coast, begin to lose
their distinctive Bantu character, either through the
degradation the coast climate seems to entail, or be-
cause on their migration westward from the north-east
Bantu focus, they originally met and mixed with, in
the low-lying coast-lands, an earlier negro population.
This latter supposition sometimes strikes me as being
the true one, for the reason that, in such a littoral
* Levibo, mu-liemo, remo, in divers Congo tongues.398

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

tribe as the Kabinda or Loango people there are
distinctly two types of race. One—the Bantu—a fine,
tall, upright man, with delicately small hands and
well-shaped feet, a fine face, high, thin nose, beard,
moustache, and a plentiful crop of hair; the other
an ill-shaped, loosely made figure, with splay feet,
high calves, a retreating chin, blubber lips, no hair
about the face, and the wool on his head close and
crisply curled. The farther you go into the interior,
the finer the type becomes. Such men as the Ba-
yansi of Bdlobd are perfect Greek statues in the
development and poise of their forms, and two points
about them contrast very favourably with most of the
coast races, namely, their lighter colour—generally a
warm chocolate—and their freedom from that offen-
sive smell which is supposed, wrongly, to charac-
terise most Africans. Many other details show the
comparatively high status of the Upper Congo races:
their small hands and feet, their well-shaped legs
with full calves, and their abundant heads of hair.

The principal tribes to be encountered in ascend-
ing the Congo to the equator are,' commencing at the
mouth, the Ka-kongo (Kabindas and others),- -Mug
shi-rongos, Ba-kongo, Ba-sundi, Ba-bwende, Wa-
buno, Ba-teke, Wa-buma, Ba-nunu, and Ba-yansi.
Of these the Kabindas or Ka-kongo people have been
already touched on ; and I might mention further
that they are the Krumen of the south, hiring them-
selves out in all directions as servants, sailors,
labourers, and affecting more particularly the Por-399

THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

tuguese colonies, which they overrun as far as
Mossamedes, invariably returning home after a time
to spend their earnings. The Kabindas in their
dealings with the Portuguese much resemble the
relations between the Krumen of the Liberian coast
and the English. Both races are largely influenced
by their intercourse with the white people, and
though in neither case has there been any conquest
or previous occupation of territory, yet, on the one
hand, every Kabinda knows more or less Portuguese,
and few—I might almost' say no—Krumen of the
coast are ignorant of English. I think the recent
attempt of the Portuguese to establish themselves
on the Ka-kongo coast, whatever may be the view
taken by the great powers, will meet with the
approval of the natives, who have so long served
under their new masters abroad that they will take
kindly to their dominion at home.

On the southern bank of the Lower river, opposite
the Kabinda people, the little-known country of
Sonyo or Songo is inhabited by the Mu-shi-rongos,
as the Portuguese call them—or more properly by
the Ba-shi-kongo,* a degraded branch of the great
Ba-kongo race which stretches in reality, though
it undergoes some variations, from Kabinda to
Kinrembo on the coast, and from Stanley Pool to
Banana along the river. The Ba-kongo group is
split up into several separate tribes, all of which,

* The natives here frequently call themselves Ba-shi-wmyo,
rongo being a corruption of Icongo,400

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

however, speak more or less the same tongue, which
is sometimes called Fiote (meaning “ the common peo-
ple ”), and more correctly Ki-shi-kongo. Amongst the
Ba-kongo peoples, or inhabitants of the river along its
lower course from Stanley Pool to the sea, there are
the Ba-shi-kongo already mentioned, who probably re-
present the van of the Bantu invasion in this direction,
mixed with an antecedent negro population ; then the
Ba-kongo proper, who have their centres about Sao
Salvador and Pallaballa, the Basundi, the Sa-
fa wende, and the Wa-buno. In the names of all these
tribes but one, it is curious to notice that the old plural
prefix, “ Ba,” is retained, whereas in the spoken
tongue it has degenerated to “ Wa” and even “A.”
The only exception is in the case of the Wa-buno,
who are probably a later subdivision from the main
stock. The Ba-kongo proper were once the ruling
race over all this district, and founded the great
Congo empire, which was discovered by the Portu-
guese at the height of its prosperity, when its ruler’s
sway extended far beyond the bounds of the Congo
districts. Now a small amount of territory between
Sao Salvador and the river is all that remains of a
once powerful kingdom. The King of -Congo still
reigns at Sao Salvador, and though he is not pre-
cisely a Christian, he vacillates between the-teachings
of the Baptist missionaries at his court,: and the
dogmas of the Church of Rome, who has once more
tried to resume her bygone sway over the Congo
peoples. The Ba-kongo tongue, or more properlyTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

401

the Ki-shi-kongo, is spoken in greatest purity at Sao
Salvador, and also about Pallaballa, and the southern
bank of the river opposite Yivi. It is one of the
most beautiful and flexible of the Bantu languages
having all the softness of Italian, the precision o
French, and the flexibility of English, three qualifica-
tions, by-the-bye, well represented in the Portuguese,
a language which is for some reason much more easily
acquired by African races than any other European
tongue. Portuguese has considerably influenced
the vocabulary of Kongo, as might be imagined from
the four centuries of intercourse between the two
peoples. All things of new and exotic origin are
expressed by slightly altered Portuguese words,
such as meza for “ table ” (Port., meza), di-lalanza
for “orange” (Port., laranja), sabol.a for “onion”
(Port., cebola), and so on. This Portuguese inter-
mixture is much greater at Sao Salvador and on the
coast, and diminishes in proportion as we advance
into the interior; still some Lusitanian words have
strayed far into the continent from the western
coast, and, like the four old muskets that Stanley met
with in Rubunga, have taken centuries to enter the
vocabularies of tribes to whom Portugal is utterly
unknown. Thus, beyond Boldbo, the pine-apple, a
Portuguese introduction from Brazil, is called bi-nasi
or bi-nanasi, a corruption of the Portugo-Brazilian
name, “ananas.” On the coast the pine-apple has
been established a sufficient time for it to have
changed and varied its name, but among the

2 B402

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

. Ba-yansi the old term has slowly journeyed onward
with the extension of the plant.

The Ba-kongo of Pallaballa are a finer race than
the degraded negroid Mu-shi-kongo or Mu-so-rongo
of the coast. Yet they do not display an entirely
Bantu type, such as one sees in the Ba-yansi of the
Upper river. Their skin, however, is not the dead
coal-black of the coast tribes, but is often a warm
chocolate or ruddy brown. They do not practise
much personal adornment, either by cicatrization,
tatooing or painting the skin with divers pigments.
They are naturally a hairy race, especially about the
face—some of the chiefs wearing copious beards,
whiskers and moustache—but on the body the pile
is plucked out from the age of puberty, otherwise
their bodies would be partially covered with short
curly hair. The two front incisor teeth in the upper
jaw are occasionally chipped, but this is not a regular
custom, as it is farther up the river. Also among
the Ba-bwende of Manyanga and the surrounding
district large nose-rings are passed through the
septum of the nose, and earrings are frequently worn.
Circumcision is everywhere practised on the males,
and will be treated of in its place as a semi-religious
rite.

In character the Ba-kongo are indolent, fickle,
and sensual. They dislike bloodshed as a general
rule, and, save for certain superstitious customs, are
rarely cruel, showing kindness and gentleness to
animals. When their passions are excited, however,THE PEOPLE OF TEE CONGO.

403

by fear of witchcraft or a wish to revenge grave
injuries, they can become very demons of fanatical
rage ; and the people, that in their calmer moments
will shudder at an abrasion of the skin in a friend or
neighbour, will, when he is convicted of sorcery, leap
and shout with frenzied joy around his fiery stake
while he frizzles alive. Witch or wizard-burning
(as a rule there are more witches killed) is very
common among the debased tribes of the coast, and
the poison-ordeal, already mentioned in Chapter III.,
prevails largely over the Lower Congo lands. In
fact, in many a Ba-konga village, life must be
rendered miserable by the constant accusations of
sorcery. At Pallaballa, for instance, for every one
—child, woman, or man—who dies, somebody is sus-
pected of having caused the death by supernatural
means, and the horrid old nganga or “ medicine
man,” who holds the inquest over the corpse, is called
upon to detect the guilty person, and generally fixes
upon those possessed of worldly goods, in order that
they may buy him off from his fell accusation.
Should the accused however, either through poverty
or the force of public opinion, be unable to evade the
charge, he or she is compelled to take the casca, the
infusion of a poisonous bark; and according as the
potion is regulated in strength by the nganga, so
the suspected tamperer with witchcraft either vomits
up the poison and recovers, dies at once from its
effects, or retains it on the stomach and does not die,
in which latter case the natives have rare sport in

2 d 2404

A JOURNEY IP THE RIVER CONGO.

hacking the ill-doer to pieces with their blunt knives,
or in “ cooking ” their victim over a slow lire. And
yet when the fears and passions of these people are
not roused they are gentle and effeminate, with
many expressive words with which to caress and
sympathise.

I have said just now that they are immoral—or,
at least sensual—but this is hardly to be taken in the
same sense as the word is applied to vicious European
communities. Their immorality rather arises from
excess of uxoriousness than from a love of vice.
Unnatural crimes are unknown among them where
they have not come under European influence, and
they have no word in their language to correspond
with what is a common term of almost playful
opprobrium among the English lower classes.

Adultery is not uncommon, and its penalties vary
from capital punishment to a trifling fine, according
to the station of the offender or the district he lives
in. The women have little regard for their own
virtue, either before or after marriage, and but for
the jealousy of the men there would be promiscuous
intercourse between the sexes. Among the Ba-kongo
women it is thought something honourable and
praiseworthy to merit the position of a white man’s
mistress, and a woman thus distinguished from her
sisters is regarded with respect and consideration by
her fellow countrymen. Moreover, though the men
evince some marital jealousy amongst themselves,
they are far from displaying anything but satisfactionTHE PEOPLE OF THE OONGO.

405

when a European is induced to accept the loan of a
wife, either as an act of hospitality or in consideration
of some small payment. Unmarried girls they are
more chary of offering, as their value in the market
is greater ; but it may be truly said that among these
people womanly chastity is unknown, and a woman’s
honour is measured by the price she costs.

On the Lower Congo as far as Stanley Fool, over
a region extending slightly beyond the domain of
the Ba-kongo proper, phallic worship in various
forms prevails. It is not associated with any rites
that might be called particularly obscene ; and on the
coast, where manners and morals are particularly
corrupt, the phallus cult is no longer met with. In
the forests between Manyanga and Stanley Pool it is
not rare to come upon a little rustic temple, made of
palm-fronds and poles, within which male and female
figures, nearly or quite life-size, may be seen with
disproportionate genital organs, the figures being
intended to represent the male and female principle.
Around these carved and painted statues, as described
in Chapter VI., are many offerings of plates, knives,
and cloth, and frequently also the phallic symbol may
be seen dangling from the rafters. There is not the
slightest suspicion of obscenity in all this, and any
one qualifying this worship of the Generative power
as obscene does so hastily and ignorantly. It is a
solemn mystery to the Congo native, a force but,
dimly understood; and, like all mysterious natural'
manifestations—like the great rushing river that406

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

upsets his fishing canoes and has the power to drown
him—like the blazing lightning, the roaring thunder
and the shrieking wind, it is a power that must be
propitiated and persuaded to his good.

Connected, no doubt, with this phallic worship
are the Nkimba ceremonies which are met with on

the Lower Congo between
Isangila and the coast, and
which in varying forms
may be traced among
the “ manhood-initiation ”
rites found among most
Bantu peoples.

The Nkimba are in all
probability males under-
going circumcision and an
initiation into the rites of
marriage, and this secret
confraternity is generally
composed of youths oi va-
rying ages, between twelve
and fifteen years. Occasion-
ally older men may be seen
amongst them, who for some reason have possibly
evaded the initiation at an earlier age. These cere-
monies last for two native years (twelve months), and
there are three or more stages of initiation, said to be
marked by changes in their grass coverings. They
chalk themselves all over a ghastly white with some
argillaceous earth, and do not wash once during their

A NKIMBA.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

407

six months’ probation, though they often renew the
white colouring. During the whole period of their
initiation they live like the lilies of the field, being
sustained at the common expense of the village or
community. The Nkimba in a great measure live
separately from their fellow townspeople, and seem
to avoid coming into contact, above all, with the
females and children of the community, whose pre-
sence, from the fact of their being without the arcana
of sacred mystery, is considered undesirable and
contaminating. Consequently, when the Nkimba
are on the road they announce their presence by a
sort of drumming noise like “ dur-r-r ! ” and then
all strangers—all who are not members of their
freemasonry—are obliged to clear out of the road.
Should they decline to do so they are set upon by
the Nkimba, and soundly beaten with the wands
these ugly creatures carry. Ugly creatures indeed
they are, and they prompt the constantly-recurring
question—“ Why does man so often make his re-
ligious ceremonies frightful ? ” In addition to the
white chalky covering or paste which covers the
naturally sooty skins of the Nkimba novitiates, they
also decorate their heads, whenever they can aff'01 d
it, with a curious wicker crown or cage, to which
little gaudy strips of scarlet cloth or the feathers of
bright-coloured birds are affixed. Then round their
waists is a wide wooden hoop or girdle, often quaintly
decorated with incised patterns, and from this de-
pends a long and dense skirt of dried grass reaching408

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

nearly to the ankles, and being often extended from
the body by means of an inner framework like a
crinoline. Sometimes there are also tufts and sheaves
of grass hanging from the shoulders or the neck, but
this addition, I believe, marks the attainment of an
advanced grade in initiation.

A curious part of these semi-religious rites is the
acquiring of a sacred mysterious language, which is
taught by the nganga, who presides over these cere-
monies, to the disciples who are being circumcised
and gathered into the confraternity. This language
is never taught to females, and as yet no European
has been able to examine its nature. I have heard
men discoursing in it, as they do freely, and there
were most of the Bantu prefixes and concords recog-
nisable in their speech, though the actual words
were unfamiliar. - It might possibly be some older
and more archaic form of Bantu language conserved
for religious purposes—like the Sanskrit, the old
Sclavonic, and the Latin—or it may be nothing more
than an arbitrary transmogrification of words such
as is found in the Mpongwe,* or in such artificial
dialects as the Ki-nyume of Zanzibar, j

* “ Among the elders of the tribe there is a form of speech
called the ‘ Ewiria, or Dark Sayings/ which cannot be under-
stood by the uninitiated, although the council may be held in
open assembly. It is formed by changing words in an arbitrary
manner, and to no one is the secret confided who has not reached
twenty-five years, and then under an oath of secrecy.”—Vide
Cust’s ‘Modern Languages of Africa/ p. 419, vol. ii.

f Vide Steere’s ‘ Handbook to the Ki-suahili Language.’TEE PEOPLE OF TEE CONGO.

409

A Nkimba before initiation is called “ Mungwala,”
and afterwards “ Tungwa.” I cannot guess at the
etymology of these terms in any way, unless a sug-
gestion of a far-off relationship with “ Longwa ”—•
to be-taught, to learn—be of any use.

These Nkimba are not met with among the
Congo tribes farther inland than Isangila. Between
the latter places and Manyanga there are many
eunuchs in the large villages, who seem to be
attached to a vague phallic worship, with which
is intricately connected a reverence for the moon.
When the new moon appears, dances are performed
by the eunuchs, who sacrifice a white fowl, which
must always be a male—in its honour. The bird is
thrown up into the air and torn to pieces as it falls
to earth. I was told that in former days a human
victim was offered up on these occasions, but that in
later times a white fowl had been substituted.

Naturally, with an imaginative people that refers
the explanation of all physical problems to the action
of anthropomorphic spirits, diseases are supposed to
be due to the malice of demons, who are represented
materially, as the embodification of the malady they
incite. There is a small-pox bogey, a fever-spirit,
and in certain temples about Manyanga you may
come across a loathsome representation of the foul
demon who is supposed to have inflicted syphilis
on the unhappy natives, who bring offerings to his
shrine with a view of appeasing his cruel ravages.

Little or no notion of the healing art is present;410

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

medicines are represented by vague potions and
powders, delivered without any reference to their
antiseptic qualities, but merely in regard to their
hidden potentialities of magic. The patient under-
goes such heroic treatment at times that he may be
cured on the principle that one ill drives out another.
His friends also, by offering at the shrine, by the
intercession of the nganga, by loud wailing supplica-
tions, seek to appease the disease demon’s malice ;
while on the other hand, with the instinctive feeling
that it is “ somebody’s ” fault and that u some one ”
ought to be punished, they seek to find out who has,
by foul witchcraft, egged the evil spirit on to this
untoward manifestation of his power. The nganga
is of course foremost in this research, and the culprit
he fixes on is either mulcted of a heavy fine or, in
serious cases, where the accused is poor, is compelled
to pass through the “ poison ” ordeal with varying
result. These Ba-kongo people do not seem to suffer
from disease to a greater degree than most uncivilised
races. Nature is still allowed to exercise a happy
selection in the survival of the fittest, and if a child
is weakly no efforts are made to save its life. The
result is that the physically strong are in the
majority, while, en revanche, the most cunning secure
the greatest number of wives and leave the largest
families.

The nganga of every community is generally a
mean-looking, perhaps puny man, but a glance at
his sharp eye will show you that he excels his moreTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

411

brawny neighbours in mental capacity; ergo, the
“ medicine-man ” of the village has a large harem,
and leaves many descendants.

The daily life of these people must be marked by
terrible uniformity. They keep no calendar, and
their vague traditions are perpetuated by word of
mouth. It is almost like the life of the forest;
great calamities, sudden shocks are soon hidden and
forgotten, and profound emotions exist not, while
fleeting troubles and joys leave little impression on
the vacuous mind, which lives and thinks and acts
but for the hour.

Before the dawn they begin to grumblingly
awake from their sleep, and stir the deadened ashes
of the fire into a warming glow. Then they sit on
their haunches, with their hands crossed over their
shoulders for the sake of warmth, the early morning
being the coolest time in Africa; and, whilst the
men yawn and rub their eyes at the growing light,
the women smack their babies, scold their bigger
children, and open their minds on many disagreeable
subjects to their lords and masters. Sunrise, that
eternal resurrection that gladdens the most brutish
soul in Nature, puts an end to these peevish col-
loquies. The women issue from the huts with
morning greetings to their neighbours, and set about
their household duties, while the men polish their
weapons and implements of the chase, and set out to
visit their bird-snares and fish-traps; or they pack
their goods for a neighbouring market, and trudge412

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

out to their destination ere the sun shall have risen
high.

When they have their regular meals it is hard to
say. The children always seem to he gnawing
something, and the women are constantly preparing
food. I fancy the adults mostly feed at about an
hour after sunrise, and just take snacks during the
day, perhaps finishing up with another meal at night.

After the morning repast the women go out to
cultivate the fields or turn their hands to some
industrial employment, such as weaving, making
pottery, or constructing coops for their hens and
chickens. At noon-time all rest in the shade of
their verandahs and indulge in tobacco-smoking,
or pass the sultry hours in hair-dressing, personal
decoration and friendly gossip. As the sun declines
some form of active work is resumed, and after sunset,
when the men have returned to the village, dancing
and drinking of palm-wine begin, and are kept up,
failing other amusement—such as burning a person
suspected of scorcery—until a late hour of the night,
when all retire, with considerable hilarity and loud
talking, to .the slumber from which they will wake
up very cross the next morning.

I have given a brief description of the tribes
inhabiting the Lower Congo from Stanley Pool to
the coast. At Stanley Pool however, just as one
uueets with new forms of butterflies, birds, and
plants, so there is a decided change in the type of
man and in the-language he speaks.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

413

On the northern bank of the river the Ba-teke
extend their range beyond the Pool westwards, to
the Jne or Gordon Bennett river, and perhaps even
farther into the confines of the Ba~bwende, a tribe
speaking a dialect of the Kongo language of the
Lower river; bnt on the south bank of the river the
Ba-teke colonies do not commence until we arrive at
the district of Ki-ntamo, on the western shores of
Stanley Pool.

:		idSsfcx
		
		
		

A M-BTTMA.	A M U-Y ANSI.

The Ba-teke, Wa-buma, and Ba-yansi, all tribes of
the Upper river,* though they differ each from
the other in certain characteristics, and markedly in
tongue, yet offer so many mutual points of resem-
blance and of dissimilarity to the Ba-kongo people
below Stanley Pool that they may well he described

* By Upper and Loiver river I always mean the Congo above
and below Stanley Pool.414

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

together in their general features and separated in
this description from the races of the Lower river.

These upper Congo people betray little or no
intermixture of “ negro ” blood. They are pure
“ Bantu,” and consequently greatly resemble other
unmixed races of the same stock, such as the
Ova-mbo, the Ba-lunda, and the people of Tan-
ganyika and Niassa. They differ from the more
negroid Ba-kongo in having skins of a chocolate
brown, and, above all, in their abundant growth of
hair. The beard, whiskers, and moustache are always
present, but are generally, in common with the hair
of the eyebrows and the eyelashes, plucked out, from
a prejudice against cultivating hair anywhere hut on
the top of the head. Only in chiefs, as a rule, is the
heard allowed to grow, and that only partially. So
also on the body, the pile, which would naturally be
abundant, and in parts even thick, is remorselessly
pulled out by the roots, these people assiduously
cultivating that nakedness of skin to which mankind
has ever been so partial.

As a fact, most African races are disposed to be
hairy, especially on iheir bodies,* but in so many
tribes does the practice exist of rigorously pulling
out every hair that makes its appearance, that one
conceives the idea that Africans are devoid of hair

* This may be said quite as much of the true negro as of
the Bantu. I have seen Krumen on the Gold Coast whose
bodies were quite covered with fine curly pile, especially on
the breast, stomach, thighs, and back.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

415

on their bodies. The only races I know of4n
which I have failed to detect any trace of pile, or
even beard, without being able to explain their
absence by the reason that the people prefer naked-
ness, are the Bushmen and Hottentots; and yet
these are supposed to be the lowest types of man in
Africa. It would be interesting to know how this
would be explained.

Man in all ages and climes seems to have
cultivated a bare skin as a personal attraction. The
ancient Greeks and Romans practised the same
depilatory processes that are in vogue amongst
Africans of the present day. Priests have thought
it pleasing to their gods to live smooth-shaven ; and
the courtiers and counsellors of many an earthly
sovereign have trimmed their free-growing beards
and curtailed their locks, to acquire a greater air of
grave and stately bearing. It is indeed curious that
hairiness has always been considered as a sign of
ferocity and brutal force, and that soldiers should be
allowed to wear the moustache which a rigid fashion
might deny to a civilian.

Human nakedness in incipient in the baboons, and
in their relative the gelada monkey. These crea-
tures expose their naked parts with evident pride,
turning them with complacency to the gaze of foes
and friends ; not, as has been thought, in a spirit of
insult, but rather as the peacock erects his train and
rattles his quills to ravish and overawe the looker-
on. So in bygone ages the females of incipient man416

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

contemplated with, satisfaction the growing nakedness
of their husbands, much in the same spirit as the
she-gelada monkey admires and strokes with a tender
touch the great bald patch on the breast of her mate.
The hands and feet and face are naked in most
monkeys of the old world, the hinder parts in ba-
boons are bald and brilliant. Thenceforth, as some
aspiring ape struggled on towards humanity, it was
rather a gradual diminution of hairiness that super-
vened than absolute nakedness, for few men’s bodies
and limbs in a natural state are devoid of hair.

When man had lost all or nearly all the hair which
in so many mammals becomes developed into striking
ornaments in the male sex, he had attained a suffi-
cient degree of intelligence to abandon the slow
workings of nature, and to call in the aid of art or in
ministering to his inherent vanity and in decorating
his person so as to render it ntore attractive in the
eyes of his women. The beard and moustache,
though already existing in less pronounced forms in
the higher apes, received a slight ulterior develop-
ment in man, but beyond this there was little attempt
made to secure any striking physical attraction or
any analogous development of epidermal colour or
excrescence such as we meet in many monkeys.#
On the contrary, man seems to have rather degene-
rated into physical uniformity and insignificance.

* As for instance the bine-ribbed cheeks of the mandril, the
brilliantly-colonred genital organs of other baboons, the mane
of the gelada and colobns, &c.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

417

Looked at from the point of view of an antlered
stag or a graceful leopard, a naked man seems a
poor sort of creature. The higher beauty of his
well-moulded form, and his marked adaptation to
his career, is only perceptible to the aesthetically-
educated minds of his most highly developed
examples.

In the very early days of the history of our genus,
during that great struggle, not only for existence,
but at the same time for dominion, from which some
one of the many great apes emerged as man, there
must have been little desire or leisure to originate
physical adornments by sexual selection. All our
energies were at that period directed to the bare
necessities of life, to the procuring of food, shelter
from enemies, or withstanding the adverse effects of
altered climates by artificial means. As, however,
these pursuits had the effect of developing and vastly
strengthening man’s faculties of thought and reflec-
tion, so when he had attained such a position of pre-
dominance that his existence as a species was assured,
the development of physical charms had less attrac-
tion for him than it possesses for the lower mammalia.
Sexual selection henceforth was applied more pro-
minently to mind than to body, and the most cunning
men secured the greatest number of wives. At the
same time, though it has lost its old predominance,
bodily beauty still exercises, and has exercised greatly
in the past, an influence on the minor physical
characteristics of mankind. The role of arbiter in

2 e418

A JOTJBNEY UP, TEE RIVER CONGO.

such matters somewhat changed hands. It was the
men that began to choose the women, and not the
women, always, who had the power of selecting their
husbands. The result of this has been that, in one
or more of the highest varieties of man, a sort of
feeble attempt on the part of the weaker sex has been
made to develop attractive facial colouring, and a
greatly exaggerated occipital mane. But men or
women alike, in their efforts to secure admiration and
to satisfy their personal vanity, have had impatient
recourse to artificial means of making themselves
attractive, awe-inspiring, or ridiculous. Clothing
was first adopted as a means of decoration rather
than from motives of decency.

The private parts were first adorned with the
appendages that were afterwards used by a dawning
sense of modesty to conceal them.* Clothing also,
under climatic influences, derived a greater develop-
ment than would have arisen from mere motives of
decency alone; and, further, the love of adornment,
with the desire of producing an attractive or imposing
appearance superadded, has induced man at various
times to make himself a very human jackdaw arrayed
in the borrowed furs and plumes of his fellow-
vertebrates. The ermine of a Lord Chancellor may
seem a long way removed from the monkey-skin

* Among certain savage races of man at the present day—
to wit, the negroes of Portuguese Senegambia, the New Cale-
donians, and certain Papuan tribes—the virile member is
conspicuously decorated with bands of bright cloth or small
shells.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

419

caps and mantles of an old African “ medicine-man/’
just as the ostrich feathers worn by a court beauty
in England appear to have nothing in common
with the parrot-plumes that a Ba-yansi girl sticks in
her hair, but all these extraneous decorations are
prompted by the . same motives. Amongst the
natives of tropical Africa, however, clothing is
irksome and out of place. A scrap of grass-cloth
suffices for the claims of the most prudish modesty.
Skins and feathers and shells, ivory, metal, and
wood, are all pressed into the people’s service to
decorate their persons, and still an amount of naked
skin remains uncovered and unadorned. Con-
sequently on the .Upper Congo, where aesthetic
taste is more developed than among the less sensitive
tribes of the Lower river and coast, there exist many
contrivances for supplementing the insufficiency of
nature with the finish of art. The skins of the
Ba-teke, Ba-yansi, and Wa-buma are frequently
ornamented with broad lines and patterns of pigment,
the designs generally following the contours of the
body. The colours used are generally white, yellow,
red, brown and black, which are obtained respectively
from lime, ochre, “ camwood ” and charcoal.

This-w camwood,” which I have already mentioned
as the bark of one or more species of Baphia (illus-
trated on page 113), also supplies the Congo people
with a red dye like henna, with which their nails,
hair and entire persons are occasionally crimsoned.
Besides this coloration of the skin the surface of the

2 e 2420

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

epidermis is often varied with incised marks. These
are principally tribal in character. Thus the
Ba-teke are always distinguished by five or six
striated lines across the cheek-bone, while the Ba-
yansi scar their foreheads with a horizontal or vertical

AN EXAMPLE OF CICATRIZATION.

band. In the portrait of King Ibaka, at the begin-
ning of the book, it may be noticed that there is this
line on the forehead, and, besides, a broad band of
white paint across the cheek.

The Wa-buma do not seem, as a rule, to mark the
face with any scars, hut, in common with most of the
Upper Congo tribes, they practise “ cicatrization,”THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

421

which means raising lumps or wheals of skin by
slitting it with a knife and rubbing some irritant
into the incision. This circatrization is practised
right along the course of the Congo up to the Stanley
Falls. I give here an illustration of the torso of a
Mu-ngala from the equator (the only specimen of his
race I have ever seen) who had nearly the whole of
his body thus ornamented.

The Upper Congo people also spend a great deal
of time and trouble in dressing their hair. Some-
times the head is shaved all but a small portion of
the occiput, on which the hair is allowed to grow
long and luxuriantly. On the fore part the chevelure
is mixed with clay and grease, and is flattened down
to the shape of the cranium, while behind is a fuzzy
mane like an aureola round the head. But the
infinitude of modes in hair-dressing is a subject that
demands too much space for detailed description, so,
merely noting that the hair is finer and less crimpy
in the newly-born children than in the adults, and
that it is generally more abundant in men than in
women, I will pass on to other physical features
worthy of note.

In the Ba-teke the brow is often prominent, and
the frontal ridge very slightly marked. The nose is
generally flattened, and always very broad at the
nostrils; occasionally, however, one meets with an
individual of this tribe possessing a high-bridged,
somewhat hooked nose.

The Ba-yansi have as a rule better-shaped noses422

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

than either the Wa-buma or the Ba-teke. The mouth
in all these people is a variable feature. Sometimes
there are thin, well-shaped lips, at other times the
mouth is a regular “ nigger’s,” with a wide gape and

everted lips. The teeth
are always perfect as
regards shape and white-
ness. There is absolute
regularity in their den-
tition. The canines never
project beyond the other
teeth.:

The chin, like the
mouth .and the nose,
varies greatly in indi-
viduals, but there is a
great predominance of
strong firm ones over
those of a w7eak and re-
ceding type.

The eyes are much
“ clearer ” than in most
African races, and the
white is less bloodshot.
The ears are rather large.
The figures of these peo-
ple are admirably modelled and developed, so that
many of them, with their shining glossy skins and
their simple nakedness, seem like antique statues
cast in bronze. In certain examples the arms areTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

423

very lo-ng, as in this Ba-teke woman here illus-
trated, hut it is not a universal characteristic of
the race.

The women usually have better-shaped busts than
in the Coast people, and in many of them the nipples
have a curious tendency to turn up, and not hang
down. The hands and feet are small and well
proportioned. . The second toe is the longest.

In character the races of the Upper Congo are
kindly, lighthearted and full of sensibility to beauty.
They are fond of colour and of music, and indulge in
dancing that has much meaning and grace. They
are decidedly amorous in disposition, but there is a
certain poetry in their feelings which ennobles
their love above the mere sexual lust of the negro.
Husbands are fond of their own wives, as well as of
those of other people, and many a pretty family
picture may be seen in their homesteads, when
the father and mother romp with their children,
or sit together in a munching group round the
supper-pot.

The absence of gloominess in these pleasant folk
may be partly accounted for the absence or dearth
of vexatious superstitions. Among them there is, as
far as I can ascertain, no ordeal for witchcraft, they
are not pestered with initiative ceremonies, indeed,
these people are positively lacking in “ medicine
men ”—in the “ nganga,” of almost universal sway.
Whenever this personage is needed for the per-
formance of a few obligatory ceremonies, or for424

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER OONQO.

the adjudication of disputed legal questions, he is
borrowed from the tribes of the interior. The Ba-
yansi, for instance, generally make use of the ngan-
gas of the Ba-nunu, a tribe to the south of them.

Jn fact these people may be said to be almost
without religion. They still retain a mild form of
ancestor-worship, and they have a shadowy idea of
a god, but, when you ask his name, they always
employ a term that is identical with heaven or sky.

They have a vague idea of life after death, and
the slaves that are slain at a dead chiefs grave are
intended to serve him as an escort on his mysterious
journey.

When a child is born no particular ceremonies
take place. The mother some three months before
its birth has lived apart from her husband, and when
the time of delivery approaches she is attended by
the old women of her acquaintance.

Circumcision is performed twelve days after birth
by the “ medicine-man,” or in his absence by the
chief. Hot water is applied continuously to the
part till the wound is cicatrized. Occasionally
circumcision is avoided in early youth, either
through the caprice of the mother, or because there
is no doctor to perform the ceremony. But sooner
or later the individual is obliged to submit himself
to the operation, and in this case, if he be more or
less adult, he is placed close to an immense fire after
the excision has been made, and remains crouched
before the heat for two or three days until hisTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

425

wound is healed. Circumcision is performed with
a sharp knife.

The child is not often weaned until it is two or
three years old and all its teeth have come through
the gums. All the time it is being suckled the
mother remains apart from her husband.

When the child is quite young it is taken down to
the river and taught to swim by its parents. If it is
a girl it is early instructed in the management of
household affairs, and learns to cook and otherwise
assist its mother, while the little boys make small
bows and arrows, paddle miniature canoes, and
ambitiously imitate all the pursuits of manhood.

Marriage is a mere question of purchase, and is
attended by no rejoicings or special ceremony. A
man procures as many wives as possible, partly
because they labour for him, and also because soon
after one wife becomes with child she leaves him for
two or three years until her baby is weaned.

It is impossible to reckon with any accuracy their
average duration of life, but, judging from the
experience of missions long established on the coast,
I should think the people aged quickly, and that few
lived beyond sixty or sixty-five years.

When a slave dies, he is “ chucked ” without
more ado into the river or the bush; but when a
person of any consequence departs this life, he is
generally buried under the hut he lived in (which is
afterwards abandoned), and in his grave are put
quantities of cloth, beads, plates, knives, cowries,426

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

and other tilings to enable him to start afresh in a new
life. The plates are generally broken, and the knives
bent, in order to 64 kill ” them, so that they too may
“ die,” and go to the land of the spirits. When a
great chief dies four or more slaves are laid trans-
versely in his grave, and his body is placed on the top.
The slaves are not buried alive, but are hung first.
After the death of a married man, his widow or
widows are shut up in his house (underneath which
he is buried) for a period of fifty days, during which
time they keep their faces blackened with charcoal.

The food of the Upper Congo people is more
mixed in character than that of the natives on the
Lower river. While their diet is largely vegetable,
and bananas, ground-nuts, manioc, Indian corn, and
sweet potatoes are staple articles of food, yet other
elements vary their repasts. A river like the Congo
naturally abounds in fish, and the riverine natives
consume quantities of a food at once appetising and
easily procured.

One tribe on the Upper Congo makes quite a
traffic in smoked fish, which they sell to the resident
tribes along the banks or a little way in the interior.
It is a most common sight to see a group of these
Ba-yansi people established temporarily on a great
sandbank in the middle of the river, smoking the
newly-caught fish over immense wood fires. I have
often bought and eaten these smoked fish (which are
generally large specimens of the Percidce family), and
I can only say, provided you get one that is notTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

427

about a year old and riddled with worms, they
are delicious—yes, emphatically delicious—for the
smoking over some fragrant cedar-like wood lends a
flavour of its own to the solid white flesh. Some-
times, too, the natives seem to soak them in brine
before submitting them to the smoking process, and
this gives an agreeable taste of well-cured haddock
to the already appetising fish. The natives generally
fish with a kind of seine of different shapes. Some-
times there is a net like a huge butterfty net, only
with a more oblong aperture and a very stout handle,
but this is only used for small fry, while monster fish
are usually speared. The Ba-teke, who do a little
amateur fishing in a lazy way, row out to one of the
many floating islets of grass and water-plants, round
which the fishes congregate, and, poising well their
little lances, harpoon the fish as they nibble at the
roots just below the surface, gobbling the larvae and
water insects that cling to them. The little Ba-teke
boys fish from the hanks with prettily-made rods,
lines, and floats. Then there are the most ingenious
basket-work traps of every size, and it is with these
that the majority of the fish is caught. Also the
mouth of every narrow bay is netted, so that the fish
in the dry season cannot escape, hut fall easy victims
to omnivorous man.

Snares are made for birds, and the smaller
mammals are not despised as food, rats especially
being sought for; hut they are chary of hunting
large game. The hippopotamus is occasionally428

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO. '

pursued and harpooned, hut more out of revenge for
the mischief lie wreaks on their canoes than from
a liking for his flesh.

The domestic animals of the natives also supply
them with food, but they are not so meat-eating as
the tribes of Eastern or Southern Africa, who possess
their great herds of cattle. On the Upper Congo
the ox is unknown, and his old classical Bantu name,

A CONGO SHEEP.

“ ng’ombu,” or “ ng’ombe,” is applied by the
Ba-yansi to the buffalo. The sheep is rarely met
with beyond Stanley Pool; still it is known and
named. It belongs to the Central African type—a
hairy sheep, with small horns, and a magnificent
mane in the ram, which extends from the chin to the
stomach, and greatly resembles the same appendage
in the aoudad, or wild, sheep of Northern Africa. ITHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

429

do not believe, however, that this domestic sheep of
Central Africa had its origin in the “mouflon a
manchettes ” of Algeria. On the contrary, the ewe,
which has no mane, and the young maneless rams,
exactly resemble certain breeds of Persian sheep,
like which they are pied black and white in colour.
The goat of the Congo is a little compactly built
animal, short on the legs and very fat. The
females make excellent milch goats, and their milk
is a most delicious and wholesome addition to one’s
diet. Unfortunately, they run dry after three
months’ milking, and the only way to keep up a
constant supply of this grateful fluid is to keep four
or five of them at once, and arrange that they all
kid at different times. The natives, however, never
take this precaution, as they think it disgusting to
drink milk.

The general type of the dog on the Upper Congo
(on the Lower river it is much mixed with European
races introduced by the Portuguese) is simply the
pariah dog of India and the East over again, with a
look of the dingo and the wild dog of Sumatra
superadded. It has a foxy head, prick ears, a
smooth fawn-coloured coat, and a tail slightly
inclined to be bushy, and is to my thinking a very
pretty creature. They have one admirable point in
their character in that they never hark, giving vent
only, when very much moved, to a long wail or howl.
Towards Europeans they are disposed to be very
snappish and uncertain, but the attachment between430

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

these dogs and their African masters is deep and
fully reciprocated. They are considered very
dainty eating by the natives, and are indeed such a
luxury that by an unwritten law only the superior
sex—the men—are allowed to partake of roasted
dog. The cats on th.e Congo are lean, long-legged,
and ugly, and offer every diversity and variety of
colour. Tabbies, however, are the most commonly
seen. These cats are splendid mousers, or rather
ratters, and help to rid the native villages of the
small black rats which infest them.

The domestic pig is largely kept, and its flesh
much eaten by the Congo people. I do not agree
with the opinion of those who surmise that the pig
was originally introduced into West Africa and the
Congo regions by the Portuguese. The pig, in a
domestic state, extends among the Bantu races right
across Africa, and everywhere possesses a similar
name. The pig in Ki-yansi is called “ ngulu,” and in
the Ki-swahili of Zanzibar is known as “ nguruwe,”
or “ nguluwe.” It is a black, bristly, high-shouldered
beast, very like the Irish greyhound pig. Like most
African domestic animals, it probably had an Asiatic
origin.

The fowl on the Congo is small and mongrel-like.
It is however very productive ; and, as its eggs are
rarely eaten by the natives, but are. alio wed to be
hatched by the hen that lays them, the domestic fowl
swarms in the villages, and is a never-failing article
of merchandise.THE PEOPLE OF TILE CONGO.

431

The Muscovy duck has penetrated to the Upper
Congo from the coast, where it was introduced by
the Portuguese in the seventeenth century.

Among the most usually cultivated plants and
trees may be mentioned the Cajanus inclicus, the
manioc, the sweet potato, maize, ground-nuts, to-
bacco, the sugar-cane, the banana and the oil-palm.
Among other Portuguese introductions that have
reached them from the West Coast are the pine-
apple, the orange, lime, papaw, and a small degene-
rated cabbage.

It is curious to remark that, while nearly all the
domestic animals of Africa can be traced to an Asiatic
origin, the cultivated plants of this region should in
a great measure be introductions from America. It
is difficult to imagine how the people could have
lived before maize, manioc, ground-nuts, and sweet
potatoes were brought to the coast of Africa by the
Portuguese and other European nations since the
sixteenth century. The discovery of America has
profoundly affected the later history of the Dark
Continent.

The houses in the Upper Congo villages do not
differ materially in design or material from those
already described on the Lower river. They are all
rectilinear and oblong in shape, with slanting roofs
and wide verandahs. At Bolobo they exhibit some
skill in building, and are divided into several rooms
or partitions. In the attempts at furniture, however,
we meet with decided improvement over the Ba-kongo.432

A JOURNEY UP TIIE RIVER CONGO.

Chairs and settees are hewn out of single blocks of
wood without joinery (which art is unknown), and
some of them exhibit grace of form and adaptation
to the purpose for which they are made. Many
pretty little things are carved in wood and ornamented
with brass-work; pillows or head-rests are made,
much like those used by the ancient Egyptians, and
powder-flasks are hollowed out of soft wood and

BA-TEKE CHAIR.

decorated with burnt patterns made with a piece of
red-hot iron. Examples of the pottery are here
illustrated. There is no potter’s wheel in use. All
the utensils are made in basket-moulds or shaped
with the hand.

I have already mentioned the ability these people
display in artistic decoration, and their love of music
is also worthy of notice. Besides the drum, they use
the horns of Tragelaphus gratus, and other trage-
laphine antelopes, as trumpets, from which a fineTEE PEOPLE OF TEE CONGO.

433

resonant sound is produced. The Ba-teke children,
moreover, make trumpets from rolled banana leaves.
For the discoursing of melody, they have a form of

1.	POTTERY ON UPPER CONGO.

2.	AN ANTELOPE-HORN TRUMPET.

3.	A POWDER-FLASK.

“ marimba,” an instrument of widespread range,
which in principle is so many thin slips or keys of
metal arranged along a sounding-board. When

2 F434

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

great

twanged by a practised touch
they yield very sweet sounds.
For real beauty of tone how-
ever, the five-stringed lyre on
the Congo is remarkable, and
the native musicians produce
from this instrument melodies
both quaint and touching. The
pentatonic scale is the one in
use, and the notes run thus :
C, D, E, Gr, A, C, the fourth
and seventh being omitted.

Neither the Ba-teke nor
the Wa-buma appear to be
workers in metal, like the Ba-yansi. These

A NATIVE LYRE.

BA-YANSI KNIVES.

latter people appear to receive their iron mostly fromTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

435

tribes farther inland, at any rate there is no sign of
its being smelted from the ore near the banks of the
Congo, although iron is present in the soil.

The Ba-yansi beat out the iron when red hot, and
fashion it into many shapes of knives, hatchets, and
axes. They sell most of their knives to the Bateke
and Wa-buma.

BA-YANSI CHOPPER.	AXE OF AUTHORITY BELONGING TO

A BA-TEKE CHIEF.

Most of the chiefs, especially among the Ba-teke
use an axe of a particular shape (see illustration) as a
sceptre, or sign of authority. This axe differs entirely
from the ordinary chopper form of the tool in daily
use, and is purely a ceremonial weapon, being quite
blunt at the edges, and useless for cutting. It is
always regarded as a sign of authority, and the actual

2 f 2436

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

weapon that is here illustrated belonged to De
Brazza’s friend Makoko, before he was deposed.

The population all along the Congo above Stan-
ley Pool is very dense. Towards Bolobo there is
scarcely a river-fronting space clear of villages,
and Mr. Stanley reckons from fuller data that the
entire population of the Congo basin may possibly
amount to 49,000,000, or 55 to the square mile!
These masses do not own one great chief or
emperor. There is no analogue to the Muata
Yanvo, or the negro kingdoms further north.
Such chiefs as Ibaka or Mpumo Ntaba * may rule
over a few thousand subjects, but ordinarily every
village or settlement is a little, independent state.
Much has been talked lately about the desirability
of introducing some sort of political cohesion
amongst these tribes—of inducing them to band
together into one great nationality. This idea has
been put forward on high authority, but I must
presume to dissent from its advisability. What has
hitherto made Mr. Stanley’s work so rapid and so
comparatively easy has been the want of cohesion
amongst the native chiefs; he has had no great
jealous empire to contend with, as he would have
had farther north or farther south. If one village
declined to let him settle among them, the next
town out of rivalry, received him with open arms.
There has been no mot d'ordre, and this has enabled
him to effectually implant himself in their midst.

* Makoko’s successor.THE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

437

By banding the native kinglets in union—union
which would inevitably turn- them with race
jealousy against the white man, the entry of civili-
sation into the Congo countries will be hindered,
and this great work made dependent on the ca-
prices of an African despot. The black man, though
he may make a willing subject, can never rule.
These people are well disposed in their present
condition to receive civilisation, but the civilisation
must come not as a humble suppliant but as a
monarch. It must be able to inspire respect as well
as naive wonder, and this is what the expedition as
conducted by Mr. Stanley has succeeded in doing.

To realise this, let us in conclusion consider the
state of the Congo only seven years ago, and com-
pare it with the present state of affairs. In 1876 the
European merchants had penetrated no farther than
Borna, where they were all established. There was
not a single trading station higher up the river.
No one knew anything of the country beyond
Isangila, except that the natives were all cannibals.
Then Stanley, after first descending the river,
returned from Europe in 1879, and in 1880 com-
menced his present work, which, despite the many
natural obstacles in its way and the, at best, luke-
warm sympathy of the African trading companies,
has so far progressed on its mission that life and
property are rendered secure wherever its influence
has spread, and through its workings a European
with the passport of Mr. Stanley’s friendship can438

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

now travel several hundred miles beyond Stanley
Pool without the need of escort or fire-arms.

The merchants of Boma, since Stanley’s advent,
have founded fifteen trading stations between Boma
and the falls at Vivi. There was not a single mission-
ary on the Congo before 1879. Now there are three
flourishing missions, the Livingstone, the Baptist,
and the Roman Catholic, with many stations between
Stanley Pool and the sea. The river Niari has been
explored throughout its course, and a direct route
traced between its mouth and Stanley Pool. Estab-
lishments like Vivi and Leopoldville, which deserve
to be called small towns, have been created, and
other stations, numbering in all some twenty-
one, have been founded; so that now, between
Equator Station, at the mouth of the great Mobindu,
and the coast, there is a distance of over 700 miles
secured to civilisation, and offering no greater risks to
the traveller than those attributable to the elements,
or to the ordinary contrarieties of tropical rivers.

Mr. Stanley has three steamers on the Upper river
and a small fleet of lighters and canoes. The native
chiefs are his active coadjutors. He everywhere
keeps the peace, and is looked up to as the great
umpire in regions where he was once a hunted,
fugitive. In short, whichever way our sympathies
may go—and as Englishmen we ought to sympathise
with this splendid outlet thrown open to our com-
merce—we must at least admit that the work is a
colossal one, and that the man who has undertakenTHE PEOPLE OF THE CONGO.

439

it has the indomitable will of the Anglo-Saxon ; nor
should we fail to remember that the King of the
Belgians, as President of the African International
Association, has an equal share with Mr. Stanley in
the gratitude and admiration of the civilised world.
While there are probably few men who could have
been found to cope with the difficulties and perils of
this undertaking in the way that Mr. Stanley has
done, so nowhere, probably, does there exist a living
philanthropist like Leopold II., who could from pure
love of knowledge and civilisation open up a road
across Africa for the benefit of the world, and
endow munificently from his private fortune an
enterprise for the good of future generations.

That the present King of the Belgians will live
to see the entire realisation of his grand scheme is
improbable, from the very greatness of its scope, but,
in the not far distant future, when Leopoldville is a
prosperous town, and grateful in its prosperity to
the memory of its earliest patron, let us hope that
Leopold II. in marble may look forth from its
sunny terraces and wooded slopes over the broad
waters of the great river which he was destined never
to behold in the flesh, but with whose opening to
civilisation his name will be imperishably connected.A NATIVE OF THE LOAVEE CONGO.CHAPTER XVII.

THE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO.

Kongo—Ki-t^ke—Ki-buma—Ki-yansi.CHAPTER XVII.

THE LANGUAGES OF THE
WESTERN CONGO. .



I conclude this work with a
short glossary of the four lan-
guages spoken on the Western
Congo from the equator to the
sea. The first of these, the
Kongo, or Shi-kongo, is princi-
pally compiled from the Kongo-
English dictionary of Messrs.
Henry Craven and John Bar-
field, of the Livingstone In-
land Mission, but I have added

THE FETISH AND SACKED
LANCE OF GANCHU444

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

certain words and what seemed to be slight correc-
tions from my own note book. The remaining three
vocabularies—Ki-teke, Ki-buma, and Ki-yansi, are
entirely of my own compilation ; and these lan-
guages, with the exception of a dozen scattered
words of Ki-yansi in Stanley’s 4 Dark Continent,’
are quite new to philology. They offer many
curious points for consideration, especially as re-
gards their relationships to other members of the
Bantu group. Each of these languages is fairly
dissimilar to the other. Ki-teke and Ki-yansi stand
closest together, and resemble but slightly the
Kongo of the Lower river, or the tongues of the
West Coast. Probably their place is more with the
central group of Bantu languages. Ki-buma,
spoken by the Wa-buma, stands as yet without near
affinity to any known Bantu tongue, although, in
common with Ki-teke and Ki-yansi, it is purely Bantu
in character, and betrays no extraneous influence,
such as the Portuguese has exercised on Kongo, the
negro tongues on the Diwalla and the Isubu, or
the Hottentot on fhe Kaffir-Zulu.

In spelling these vocabularies I have not adopted,
as I ought perhaps to have done, the phonetic
system of Lepsius, because to most of my readers its
signs and dots would require a separate explanation.
I have used a sort of compromise for spelling these
African tongues phonetically and simply. It is as
follows:—	,

The consonants are all pronounced as in English,THE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO. 445

with the exception that ugh” in italics, represents
the guttural sound of the Arabic “ gh&in” a sound
resembling closely the French r grasseye, or the
Northumberland mode of pronouncing the r with
a burr. Zh, whenever met with, is pronounced like
the French j, or our z in “ azure.”

The vowels have their exact Italian sounds,
occasionally accentuated by accents.

a is pronounced as in 44 half.”

a, a		,,	44 rather.”
e		„ “bet.”
e, e	„	„	“ fete, grey.”
i	5?	„	“ ravine” or ee in “ been.”
0	5?	,,	44 not,” 44 wrote.”
6	55	as a in 44 all,” or aw in 44 bawl.”
6, o-u	55	as o in 44 bone,” or ow in 44 bowl.”
u	55	as in 44 full.”
u	5 5	„	“ rule.”

In all diphthongs each vowel sound is to be dis-
tinctly heard : as a-i = ah-ee ; a-u = ah-oo.

In most cases the accent is on the penultimate. In
a few words, owing to mutilation, it is on the last
syllable.A TABLE OF DERIVATIVE PREFIXES IN KONGO, KI-T^K^, KI-BUMA, & KI-YANSI.

446 A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

m

XI

i—i

W

W

P-4

W

H

t-H

W

s	« , '  a  o	H •  E	cd ,  C3  a	00  i  s	o  rH  l	c4 f  rH I		
Singular.	g  CD  Pm  rH i .	C0	,  2 i	»d ^	<x> i  XI WO	oi ^  1  'w'	rH . rH J		id P  rH  vlo

Plural.	onal 2,  Ba-	4.  Mi-	CD , o3  8	GO	10.  (-)	oi ,  rH		
Jj  P  bO  Q  CO	m  Pi  CD  Ph  rH ES .	, 7"  ggiziA	cd ,  3 i  gs	id I=J  •iU		05  T	rH  rH I	rH CV.	cv*  rH ^ cv. ^	id

rJhe numerals indicate the classes into which all Bantu prefixes are divided in Bleek’s Comparative Grammar,EXAMPLES OF THE ABOVE PREFIXES.

TEE LANGUAGES OF TEE WESTERN CONGO. 447448

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

NOUNS.

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
A				
Adornment		Adiekwena	« • •	Shemuyano
Affection		Ajie		
Age	Nvu (years)	Mivu (years)	Kingame	
		Alama (old age)		
Air	Mpevi			
Animal	Bulu			
)	Belo			
Antelope	>	Nkoko	Ncha	...	Nkani
j	Nka			
Ant	Kimfwetete	Ma-kami		
Anus	Anto			
Ape	hike wo	Kima		
Arm (of body)	Koko pi. moko	Mio	...	Leboko
Arrow	Ntota	Mumburu		Makora
Aunt	Dise pi. mase	Nko		Nkoko
Axe	Mpivi pi. zim-	Ekuu		Ezhumbi
B  Back	Nima, pi. zi-	Mingwo		Mikundo
Badness	Yaibi	Mubi	Mbi	Mobi
Banana (fruit)	Chiba	Manku		Manko? Nkomo
Baobab (tree)	Nkondo, pi.	Mi-kondo^		Mi-kondo
	min-			
Basket	Ntete	Munto	...	Itiba
Bat	Ngembwa	...	Ingiomo	Ngiemo
Bachelor		Mpivi		
Beads	Zin-zimbo	Mi-sha	Mi-sa	Mi-kole
Beard	Zindevu (in	Ndevu	Mfo	Elole, Sali
	plur.)			
Bed	Dibala	ISTtaro	Nta	Ntaro
Bee	Nyumbula			Likunzi
Bell	Diyongolo	Itee	Kentwe	Gunga
Belly		Ndumo	Ifuni	Mwe
Bird	Nuni		Nyonyi	Anuni
Blood	Menga	Makira	Makila	Malungu
Body	Nitu	Nyuru	Nyuru	Njutu
Bone	Yisi	Mafa	Gikop/ioro	Mafa
Bottle	Sangala	Milangi	Mbuo	Milangi
Bow	Nkangi	Ampia	Wutaba mti	Lekuta, Makula
Bracelet	Nlunga	Milunga	Mua	Milunga
Brains	Tomfi		Tuna	
Brass wire or	Lusoka	Bi-njanga	Ikara	Bi-njanga
rods				
Bravery	Kiakala	Bolo		
Breast (woman’s)	Diyeni	Ma-biela	Ma-biela	Ma-biela
Brook	Kinsulu-sulu	Mbwele		THE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO. 449

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Brother	Mpanzi	Mwama	Mboye	#	Ondegu,  Nyangu loko
Buffalo	Mposo, Mpakasa	Mpo	Nyare	Ngombu
Burial-place		Mampieme	Ndjiumo	Lewili
Butterfly	Lubembabemba	Mfuranga		Ukoti
Buttocks	Ma-taku		Iwana mpuli	
c  Gage	Kalanga	Engela		B wen go,
Canoe		Bwatu	Bwaro	
				Lungwe
Cat	Budi	Nganyu	Gampama	Gampamo,
				Mpange
Chair	Kiandu	Mbala	Mute	Nkobe
Chief	Nfumu	Mfumo	Ntore	Mukunji
Child	Leki-leki	Mwana	Mwana	Mwana
Chin	Bevo	Ilelu	Wabo#7ui	Ebeko
Circumcision		Ku-chira	Obogho munsuri	Moketa mun-
				shumba
Civet-cat		Nzobo		Njuli
Cloth	Zimbongo	Wiko	Kipiu	Bilamba
Cloud	Dituti	Cawapini		
Cold	Kiosi	Mfula	Mpio	Mbunge
Concubine		Akalungwele		Mwasi azingula
Copper		Bikuru	Ikari	Binjanga
Corpse	Nvumbi	Mufwili	Azaafwa	Liwili
Country	Nsi	Nchi	Kise	Nchi
Cousin		Nkaka		
Coward	Nkuta	Bwomo		Akutula
Cowry		Gampuru	Mb61e	Mibele
Crocodile	Ngandu	Ngwene	Ngone	Nkoli
Crow		Kwampo  Nkene		Kwampo
Cup	Mbungwa			Nkeni
D  Darkness	Pipa	Miumpiba	Osui-su	Mukollo
Darling  Daughter		Ujia	Nkanka	Elenge
				
Dawn			Mfinu-mfinu	Nantongo
Day	Lumbu	Ishuu	Mpawenye	Mikolo
Death	Kiafua	Ah	Saafwa	Agwi
Devil	Ndoki	Nkita	Nkira	Yunganga, Bi-
				rimu
Dirt	Nvindu	Mataba	Ntoro	Masoto
Disease		Kulua		
Divorce		Mabala mafi		
Dog	Mbwa	Mbwa	Mbwa	Mbwa
? Door	Divitu	Ijuu	Mimonzo	Mayi
Dream	Ndozi	Ndole		see verb

2 G450

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Drum	Ngoma	Ngoma	Ngoma	Ngoma
Drunkard		Agwilimanu		
Dwarf	Yakala	Mufi-muii	' Ufu Ufe	Mu-Kusi
Dye	Lomba	Mwemu		
E				
Eagle	Ngoazula	Ukwangu	Njuri	Kumambele
Ear	Kutu	Ma-chui (plur.)	Itui	Itui, Li-tuyi
Egg	Diaki	Ike	Kile	Ike
Elephant	Nzo	Njoo	Nzo	Nzoko
Enclosure		Kati		
Enemy	Mbeni	Yu sura		
Epilepsy		Nganku		
j Eunuch		Mpolo	Muntsure	Mpolo
Euphorbia	Ndiza			Dilanga
Evil	Yaibi	Mubi	Mbi	Mubi
Excrement	Tuvi	Chibi		
Eye	Disu	Ishu	Diu	Lishuu, Disu
„ lashes	Nse	Nse		
F				
Fable		Kumoka		
Face	Luse	Nsu		
Falsehood	Diambu	Mpia	TJwugha wenka	Likuta
Family		Nkanalemu		Bi-buti
Famine		Ikala		
Fat	Mazi		Udzuenene	Mune
Father	Sa, Tata	Tara	Ita	Sangu
Fear	Wonga	Bwomo		Mbangu
Fever		Ibaa	Uzhoghe iba	Mowewe
Fight	Nuana	Yita	Wan an a	Etumba
Finger	Lembo	Miliemu	Mi glib	Moshe, Misseyi
Fire	Mbazu	Mba	Mbo	Mea
Fish	Mbizi *	Nchwi	Ntu	Ncliui
Flag	Dimbu	Nch an ga		
Flea	Ngina (louse	Nchina	Mafa	Ncliisa
Flower	also)  Nvuma	Mbumi		
Fly	Nzinzi			Linga
Fool	L6	I ■j ui	Mukop/ioro	Ilimu
Foot	Kulu (leg)	Ita	Lulu	Likulu, Litambi
Forehead			Ndui	Elengi, Mutu
Foreskin		Isulu		Munshumba ?
Forest	Nfuida	Mshuru		
Fowl	Nsusu	Nsusu	Nkop/io	Nsusu
Friend	Nkundi		Mumbaana	Ndigo
Frog-	Kimbondia	Koro		
Fruit		Yimporo		*

This word means food, meat, as well.THE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO 451

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
G  Garden	Divia	Nchenu		
Ghost		Mufu	Mufu	Ilimu (?)
Gift		Ngolo		
Girl		Mwana Mukaru		
Glass		Ntare	Gelia	Tala-tala
Goat	Nkombo	Ntaba	Ntaba	Ntaba
God  Gonorrhoea	Nzambi	Njambi  Entere	Nzambi	Nzambi
Grandchild  Grandfather	Ntekolo	Nko	Nkap7ia	Nkoko
Grandmother			Nangami	
Grass	Chichi	Ncholo	Mishiri	Ncholo
Gronnd-nut	Nguba	Njuu*	Ntere	Njuku*
Guinea-fowl		Nkaa		
Gun	Nkeli	Wuta	Buta	Mata
Gunpowder	Zinfula	Mbaa (fire, heat)	Mbo (fire)	Meya (fire)
H				
Hair	Lusuki		Mfu'	Nzui
„ (of the head)  „ (of the body)		Mfuu  Ikee		Nzozo
Hand	Koko		Nzala (?)	Mi she
Hatchet	Mpivi			
Hawk	Diyimbi	Ukole		
Head	Ntu	Muchwi	Mutu	Mutu, Mali
Heart	Nchima	Mokolo	Mukolu	Muluku
Heat	Mungula	Mbaa	Mbo	Meya
Heaven	Dizul u	Kunzulu	Unge	Likolo
Heel	Lingi) i	Echeno		
Hill	Nzanza	Mankiu	Ikuli	Nkeka
Hippopotamus	Ngvu •	Mvubu	Ntobe	Ngubu
Honey	Nyusi	Niu	NagM	Bwi
Horn	Mpoka,		Masigd	Masheke
House	Nzo	Nzo	Nzo	Ndako
Hanger	Nzala	Nzala	Nzala	Nzala
Husband	Nuni	Mulume	Molume	Mobali
Hyaena	Mbulu	Ibubi	Ndu^ura-ndu-	Gumbulu f
I  Idiot			glimvx	
		Ezliubi		
Indian corn	Disa	Ma-sha (plur.)	Masa	Masangu
Insect	Nvidi		Moinyu	Nkishu
Iron	Lengwa	Mputo	Mwamumfiri	Mputu, Nzondo
Island	Sanga.	Eshia	Kisep/id	Kisanga, Boke
Ivory	Mpungi	Inshemo	Mfu	Mondzo

* Njm and Njulcu also mean “ kidneys,”	f Comp. Ki-t6ke for Jackal.

2 a 2452

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

1  English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Jackal		Ngomburu		
Jar	Mbungwa	Mutiele	Njuo	Mpoto
K				
Kiss	Fibanga		TJnunkara	Mabele
Knee	Dikungunu		Ibo	Ibolongo
Knife	Mbele	Mbiele	Mpule	Botale
L				
Language	Ndinga		Obilandag/ia	Jambi, Zambi
Laugh	Sevanga	Ku-sheba	Oshiele	Bishesho
Leg	Kalu	Milo	Mfuru mill	Likulu
Leopard	Ngo	Ngo	Ngue	Ngoi
Liar				Lukuta
Life	Moiyo			
Light	Kia	Mafulu		
Lightning	Nesezi	Njele		
Lion	Nkosi	Mkwe		Nkoshe
Lip	Bobo kia moa	Ibole	Gilili ghomia	Lebebu
Lizard	Yala	Nduli	Munzunsele	Nkutu
(Monitor)		Mbambi		Lubambi
Louse	Ngina			Nsisa
Love				
M				
Magic	Nkissi (sorcery)		Ngili	
Man	Muntu	Mburu	Muru	Muntu
Market	Dizandu	Eboko	Nsui mpiu	Liboko
Marriage			Ubagha molume	
			(to take a man)	
Master	Nfumu	Mfumo	Nkumo	Mokunji
Mat	Teva		Kitumi	Manzi
Meat	Mbizi	Mbizi	Nturu	Ebwele
Medicine-man	Nganga	Nga	Nga	Mulo
M idwife		Mpala	Mpala	M ulima
Milk	Mamvumina	Mabiele	Mabiele	
Monkey	Nkewo	Kima	Nkima	Nkima
Month and	\	Ngondi	Nchiu	Ndindugdto	Nchungi,
Moon	j				Nsun gi
Morning	Nsuka	Pale-pale	Mpinu-mpinu	Ntongo-ntongo
Mosquito	Lubu	Ma-tubu (plnr)		Nkutu
Mother	Mama, Mbuta	Ngu	sNna	Nyangu
Moustache	Ndevo	Ndevu	Lule-lule	Minjembe
Mouth	Nua	Munwa	Mia	Munwa, MuyaTHE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO. 453

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
N				
Nail (finger)	Nzala	Manjara (plur.)	Kebaa	Ma-njara
Name	Dizina	Nkumo		Edina
Needle	Ntumbu	Nuo	Ndo	Lendongo
Net	Dikondi	Mishia	Mishia-mishia	Ngoli
Night	Fuku	Mpiba	Ashue-sliu	Mokolo, Mpoko
Noon	Ntangwa		Mpamwamje	
Nose	Lnzunu	Azhnln	Idzuln	Nzulu
0  Oil	Mazi	Mali	Mare	Nchali
Orange	Dilalanza	Ilalanza		
Ox	Ngombe			
r  Pain	Tanta		Udale mpwara	
Palm-tree	Duja			Mobira
(Hyphoene)		Muliwo		Irebu
(oil-palm)		Mnliwo		
(wine)	Malavu	Malafu	Malafu	Malafu
Parrot (grey)	Nkusu	Nkusu	Nkusu	Nkusu
Path	Njila	Njia		
Peace		Man do mafi		
		(strife dead)		
Penis	Mvia	Mpulu	Mpulu	Nyama
Pig	Ngulu	Ngumbili	Ngombile	Ngumbili, Ngulu
Pine-apple		Yintu	Mbampuru	Binasi
Pipe	Su	Ibu	Genwa	Nkouongo,
				Nkanangi, Kisu
Place	Chini	Mbwiru		
Plantain	Dinkondo	Inko		Manko
Plenty	Kia-kingi	Bikami	Bi-i-i-i-!	Bayiki
Poison	Ndikila	Wuti	Muti	Wunganga
Porcupine	Ngumba			Nkake
Pot	Luenga	Muntiele		
Potatoes (sweet)	Mb ala (?)			Bishungu
Pumpkin  n	Dilengi	Mbulangapari	Ngapare	Nganzo
Quietness	Anapi	Pi-i-i!	Pi-i-i!	Bblobo
R				
Eain	Nvula	Ngawa	Ngawa	Ngawa
Eat	Mpnku	Bikaba	Mpugf/m	Mpuku
Eiches	—sina (?)	Mufuli	Aganzimu	Mufuli
Eiver	Nzadi, nzulu	Njare		Nzali
Eoof	Ludi, Mwanzu	Nkenkele	Isaendzo	Shangkangu454

English.

Saliva

Salt

Sea

Semen

Shadow

Sheep

Shoulder

Sister

Skeleton

Skin

Sky

Slave

Sleep

Small-pox

Smoko

Snake

Son

Soul

Spear

Star

Stomach

Stone

String

Sugar-cane

Sun

Sweat

Syphilis

Testicles

Thief

Thing

Thirst

Throat

Thunder

Tobacco

To-day

Toe

Tomb

To-morrow

Tongue

Troth

Tree

Twin

A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO.

Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Mungwa.	Mate  Mungwa		Mpougwe, Mok-
Mwanzo, Mbu	Mputo  Malibu	Mavunya	wa
Kini	Ajilajili	Kimjini	
Dimeme	Ma-meme (plur.)		Mbata
Divembua  Mbunzi	Viso  Nkere	Mboye	Mkename
Yisi a visi	Mafvva	Ikop7mro	Lipfuba
(all bones) Nkanda	Ibana	Kikobo	Ikutu
Dizulu	Kuuzulu		Ikuru (Lekolo?
Muai	Muintu	Muru	Heaven ?) Muntamba
Tolo		Ilelaaza	Ku-tutuma(verb)
Kingeya	Maburi (plur.)	Wenge	Lekutu ( ?)
Mwisi	Mokuma mbu	Muzhia	Mijia
Nyoka	Ntare	Mpili	Mushwema
Mwana	Mwana	Mwana	Mwana
Lunzi  Dionga	Mkolo  Mazhuo	Izliua	Kongo, Likongo
Mbueteti	Mpulumwero	Mwere	Moto
Ditadi	Ndumo  Itare		Ma-bwa (plur.),
	Mpuo	Wundigi	Mbila  Ndimba
Mwisi	Mishu	Mishuo	Nkuku
Ntuba, ntaugwa	M atere	Itere	Ndembe, Birisa
Kyufuta	Nchoro	Mwanyi	Yangala
	Ngala  Ma-karra	Ma-karra	Ma-kata
Mwivi		Mui	Muibi
Lekwa	Kilo	Kina	Kiloko
Divwina	Mpua manya	Mpiame	Mpusa
Dilaka	Inkiu	Mure	Nkingu
Nvumo	Njere	Wabawa	Njere, nkake
Nfuama	Ma-kaya (plur.)	Ikaa	Lekaya
Wunu	Bubu	Bubu	Lelo, Chachawa
Nlembo  Mbazi	Mpieme  Musua	Mbare	Lovi, lobi
Ludimi	Lilimu	Lilimu	Lilimu
Dinu	Minu (plur.)	Minu (plur.)	Minu (plur.)
JSTchi	Muti	Muti	Mute
Nsimba	Ngubambu	Majia	NgubambuTHE LANGUAGES OF TEE WESTERN CONGO. 455

English,	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi. .
u				
Uncle  Urine		Ngoboro  Maslmba	Maziba	Nyangubwe  Mia
V			s	
Vagina  Virgin  Voice  Vulture  (Gypobierax)	Ndini  Ndinga	Liti  Abuabwewe  Idiono  Ibiu	Mujini-  Ubirawe	Ezhole  Bukoli  Ibild
w				
War  Water  Week *  Widow  Wife (see woman) Wind  Wizard  Woman  Wood	1ST vita  Nlangu  Lumingu  Nkama (?)  Mpevi  Vganga  Nkentu  Lukuni	Manya  Mufwili  Minkulu bali Mfula  Mulo, muloko Mukaru	Unwana  Me  Mukaru  Kingwere  Yga  Mukaru  Muti, Mfe	Letumba  Mai  Lewili  Mwasbi  Mbunge  Muloko  Mwasbi  Kanzu (?)
Y				
Yesterday  Year	Zono  Mimvu (plur. of Mvu season)	Machu  Muvu, Mvula	Bosho, Bwane Ngawa (rains)	Mikole  Mivu
	ADJECTIVES.			
A				
Alike  All	Mpila mosi -onsono	Ifaemo  Bonso	Ifaemot/Zu  Jinso	Lekula, Mpilaya lyiki
B				
Bad  Beautiful  Black  Blue  Blind	-ibi  Mote, Mbote Mpyuki  Mesu mifua (eyes dead)	Mbi  Mubive  Jrnpiri  Ipi  Apfimiu	Mubi  Move  Oletuu  Mpiri  Mimiti	Mubi  Mulamo  Ekoko  Mpiri

* The week is divided into four days.456

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

English.	KODgO.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
c				
Clever	Nduka	Mayere	Mazhele	Mayere
Cunning				5>
D				
Deaf  Dnmb	Fua matu (hear- ing dead) Di-baba	Apfimachi  Mukuknmi	Matiu mafi (hear- ing dead)	Matoi magui (hearing dead)
F				
Fat	Vonga	Mali Makami	Ozuwanene	Mune-mune
Female	Nkento	Mukari	Mnkaru	Mukari
Few  G	-iki	Mike-mike	Elunkunkie	Elenge; gabuyi
Good	-mbote	-bwe	-vuve	-lamo
Great	-neni	-nunu	-numunen^	-nen£
Green  H	-nkunsu	Ngaku	-zaa	Nkoko
Hot	Mbazu	Mba	Mbo	Meya
Hump-backed	Nkuvu	Nkuvn	Ikap/ia	
L				
Little	Ndwelu; Kik6	-nkenke, Mike, -mike	Muki-mukie	Moke; Mokemo
M				
Mad	Lo	Yusuba	Ilarre	
Male	-akala	-lnme	-jiru	-bale
Many	-ingi; kingi	-kami	Bi-i-i-i!	-yiki
N				
■ New	-iva; -va	Wubwo	-bwe	Wubwe
0				
Old	-kulu; -nuna	Elame	Gekukuma	Obika
Other	-anka	Ikima	Ki; Mori ki	EshishuTHE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO. 457

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Q				
Quiet	Anapi	Pi-i-i!	Dzo-o-o-o!	Biu, biu
R				
Raw	Nkunsu	Ibisho	Kethva	Ibisho
Red	-mbuaki	Ibe	G-elebile	Ngindu; -leke
Ripe	-yelele; lubele	-bie	Gebio	-sosola
S				
Sick	Mbevu	-bielo	Ozhogf7io	Mputu
Strong	Ngolo	Mpino	Nsumo	Yukuti; Okala
Sweet	Zenza	Ebie	Gebio	
T				
Thick	Nkatu .	-nene	Gepaba	
Thin	-kilikisi	Mike-mike		
V				
Yain		Ekwene		, Ekwene
w				
Weak		Mpinu we	Nsum’ we	Ukutite
		(not strong)	(not strong)	
White	-mpembe	Nduno	Sase	Bue-Bue; Binza
Y				
Yellow		Ndobo	Ndobo	Ndobo
Young	Mwana	-keka	Lekee	Mpiu
		NUMERALS.		
1	M5si	Mo	More	Moko ; Loko
2	Ole	-bole	-pe	-bali
3	-tatu	-tatu	-saru	-satu
4	-iya	-’nne	-’nni	-’nne
5	-tanu	-tano	-tano	-tauo
6	-sambanu	Shyem	-shamo	Motuba
7	Sambwadi	Nshambu	Kisale	Nsambu
8	Nana	Mpomo	Inana	Moambi458

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
9	Evwa	Bwa	Iva	Libwa
10	Kumi	Kumi	Jomo	Zhumo
11	Kumi i Kimosi	Kumi na mo	Jumi mori	Zhumo na loko- moko
12	„ iole	„	„ zhole	„ pe	„	,, ball
13	,, itatu	,,	,, tato	,, saru	,,	„ satu
14, etc.	,, iya, etc. Maku'mole	„	„ bine  Makumi-mole	„ inne	,,	,, ’nne  Makwa bali
20			Mware	
21	Maku'mole e	Makumi-mole na	Mware nag ha,	Makwa bali na
	mosi	mosi	more	moko
22, etc.	,,	e iole, etc.	,,	na zhole,  etc.	„	„ ve-pe	bali
30	Maku' matatu	Makumi-matiiu	Msaru	Bweli
40	,,	rnaya	Makumi-manne	Munni	Yu-minezi
50	„	matanu	„ nuitano	Mutano	Yu-mitano
60	,,	inasam-  bime	,, mashyem	Siiiamo	Yu-mutuba
70	Lu so mb wadi	„ mashyam	Kisaali	Yu-minsambu
80	Lunana	„ mampomo	Inana	Luassi
90	Luvwa	,, mabwa	Ioa	Mubwa
100	Nkama	Mkama	Nkama	Munkama
200	Nkama zole	Mkama zhole	Makama mipe	Munkama mibali
300	„ tatu	,,	tatu	,,	misaru	,,	misatu •
400	,, aya	,,	hme	,,	mi-nne	,, min lie
500	,,	tanu	„	tano	,,	mi-tano	,, mitano
600	„ sambame	„	shyem	„	shiamo	,,	raotuba
700	Lusambwadi  luankama	„	nsnambu	,,	kesaali	„ minsambu
800	Lunana dia ukama	Mkama mporno	Makama inana	Munkama  moamb
900	Luv wa dia nkama	„ bwa Funda	„	iva	Munkama bwa
1000	Kami dia nkama, or  Nzundi			Nkutu; Funda
Half	Nlambu	Mupa	Kitini	Ituma
Quarter		Kisulu	Kifia^ka	Mupa (?)
First	-vita	-Kulange		Eyambu (?)
Second	-nzoli	Wakati		Mbiza (?)
Third, etc.	-ntatu, etc.	| -ngwele  PERSONAL PRONC		)UNS.	Ntanti (?)
I	Mono	’Mine	Mie	Ngaye
Thou	Ingeya	Nje	Njuo	Yowu; iyo; yeu
He	Yandi	Nde	Nde	Yuna
We	Yetu	Bin	Virantso ?	Bisu
You	Yenu	Bee	(thou and he joined)	Baio (Ba-yeu, Ba-yo; viz.,  ‘ Thou ’ plu- ralised)
They	Yau	Bo?Binu?  I	Bebaa	Bangui (?) ‘ I ’ pluralised ?TEE LANGUAGES OF TEE WESTERN CONGO. 459

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS OR PRONOMINAL AFFIXES.

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki bun]a.	K!-yansi.
Mine	Ami	In Ki-tehe, the possessive pronouns		In Ki-yansi, the possessive pro-
Thine	Aim	seem to be merely the personal		
His	Yandi	forms with the concord added—		nouns and the
Oar	Etu	as 4 Eshia Ki-	-erne ’ my island,	pronominal suf-
Your	Enu	‘Mfumo Mu-nie’ thy master,		fixes are also
Their	Yau	&c.		merely the per-
		In Ki-buma, the	same thing seems	son al forms.
		to prevail, except that a form		
		4 -aku ’ occasionally makes its		
		appearance for	4 thine,’ 4 thee.’	
DEMONSTRATIVE RELATIVE PRONOUNS,				ETC.
This	The concord pre-			
	fix is used to express 4 this ’	-na (with pre-		
		fix)	Ndese ?	Ndi
That	-na (u-nn, mi-f	-huu	Ndesegf/mu	?
	na, etc.) .	\	-na		
These	The	concord			
j	plural prefixes, sometimes re-			
	duplicated, are used for these,’ also in certain cases abbre-			
	viated perso- nal pronouns	-na (with plur. prefix)		
Those	-na (with plu-			
	ral prefix re- duplicated as : Mama - na,			
	Tuatu-na)	-na (with plur.		
Who?	)  Which?	/		prefix re-du- plicated)		
	Nani ?	Nani ?	Nande ?	
What?	Inki?	Inki ?	Mbi ?	Nke ?
Whose ?	Nani with the			
	preposition -a prefixed	Nani with the		
		preposition -a prefixed		
Who?	\	-na, 	 -o	Same as Kongo		
Which ?	/	(Ex. Yandi wna			
as relatives	yo) (‘He who broke it ’ [the			.
	table])			!460

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

ADVERBS, etc.

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Yes	Inga  Ye			
No		Ye; we	We	Ve; we
How many	)  How much	>  How	)	Wove?  Ikwa ?	Kwe?	ve, ufe ?	Bigue
Much  When ?	Kingi  Ana; Inki?	Mashu Kwe ?	Masho ve ?	
				
		(Times, how many?)		Ebume ?
				
Why?	Inkiama?			
Where ?	Kwevi ?; Kwe ?	Ande?	Ndelonko?	
	ve; kasovana			
Here	Ave; okwe	Awu	Pipa	Jala bwa
These	Ovana; vovo;	Uku	Kukane	Peno we (?)
	oko, etc.			
Yonder	Kuna; Kunaa-	Awuna-a-a !	Alekuna-a-a!	Kuna-a-a!
	a-a-a			
Now	Wau; Lelu			
With ; and; etc.	-a, -o'	Na	Na</fta	Na
In	Muna			
To ; from ; for	Kuna	Kuna		Kuna
Again	Hiaka			
Almost	Meni	VERBS.		
A				
To be Able	Lenda-ku	Nzabe		
Aim	Teza-ku	Dyulemo		Loko
Answer	Kamba-ku	Akiu-ku		Ayamba
Arrive	Suaka-ku	Shiema-ku		Shema-ku
Ask	Lomba-ku			
Awake	Temuna-ku	Avu-ku		
B				
Bake		Maku-ku	Maj’oko	Maku-ku
Bark	Woka-ku	Lila-ku		Lila-ku
Bathe	Yunga-ku	Woba-ku	Azuba	Ediba
Be			Abuma	
Beat	Yeta-ku	Beta-ku		Beta-ku
Bewitch		Mulo-ku	Achajina	Moloke-ku
Bite	Tachika-ku	Achua-ku		Achi-ku
be Born	Wutuka-ku	Abuli-ku		Buti-ku
Bring	Bonga-ku	Yakiu-ku	Zakiu; zhakiu	Ayamba
Burn	Kwika-ku	Adiumba-ku	Asirumbo	Adika-ku
Bury	Zika-ku	Zika-ku	Nchemano	Akunda .
Buy	Lumba-ku	Luma-ku	Ashuma	Lumba-kuTEE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO. 461

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
c  Call *  Can  Carve  Castrate  Climb  Come  Cook  Copulate  Cough  Cut	Bokila-ku  Lenda-ku  Kaiya-ku  Yokula-ku  Ruma-ku  Wiza-ku  Lamba-ku  Kwela-ku  IKofula-ku  Basa-ku	Twambile-ku  Saba-ku  Akuuomo  Amara makara Akuma  Zha-ku; Za-ku;  Ya-ku  Lamba-ku  Alai a mbu  Nkoro  Ckira-ku	Zakune (?) Azhiba  Azala  Azhua makara Obana  Zakune  Ulamba  Abila mukaru  Okoye; koye Waba^f/m	Agubianga  Yiba-ku  Yaka  Lamba-ku Siba-ku; Tutu- ma-ku  Uketa
D				
Dance  Depart  Die  Do  Dream  Drink	Kina-ku  Katuka-ku  Fua-ku  Vanga-ku  China-ku  Nua-ku	Wukina  Enda-ku  Fwa-ku  Sa-ku  Nwa-ku	Ukuni-kina  Alaghsi  Asa; Afa  Sap7mna  Olorondzore  Ako	Bina-ku  Kie-kie  Agwi; awa  Nwa-ku
E				
Eat	Dia-ku	Ja-ku	Wanuna	Akusakula;
To be Enough		Aluli	Nzadogf/mra	munyamu  Ayuta
F				
Fall  Find  Fire (set on fire)	Yoluka-ku  Bonga-ku  Yika-ku	Bwa-ku  Ntole ? Fela-mba-ku	Avumonchi  Nzantore  BupTm-mbo	Akita  Alungula  Tmnba-me-ku
G				
Give  Go	Yana-ku  Enda-kw	Yana-ku  Ayene	Saapa  Alap7ia	Bampe; ompe Ake; ukiawe
H				
Hear  Hit  Hold  Hunt	Owa-ku  Yeta-ku  Simba-ku  Y eta-ku	Aju-ku  Nkolo  Shimba-ku  Ayene mukila (to go hunting)	Zanzoup7z.a  Ate ; apapTiara Atampi  Alap7ia mukila (to go, etc.)	Akuyukae  Abete  Kata  Ake zhamba462

A JOURNEY UP TEE RIVER CONGO.

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yan.-i.
I  Be 111	Yela-ku	La-ku	Ajogho mukali	Kanza-ku ^
K				
Kill	Yonda-ku	Chira-ku	Abap7ia	Kefa-ku
Know	Zaia-ku	Saba-ku	Azhiba	Iba-ku; nyeba
L				
Laugh	Seva-ku	Cheba-ku	Ashele	Shere-ku
Look	Tala-ku	Tala-ku	Akee	Abo
Love	Tonda-ku	Nji-ku	Okuenee	
M				
Make	Vanga-ku	Tunga-ku	Utua	Bete-ku
Mourn		Lila-ku	Olila	Lila-ku; buleli
0				
Open	Bundula-ku	* Nyono	Upala	Pusula
P				
Paint	Kusa-ku	Atamampira	TJkap7iana	Atamampira
Place	Tencheka-ku	Tula-ku	Gila	Tika
Play	Sakana-ku	Tama-ku	Utama	
Promise	Ikila-ku			
Pull	Tantika-ku	Okoo	Oko gho	Bindika
Q				
Quarrel		Mpuru	Adzama	Nkanda
R				
Rain	Noka-ku	Ngawa and	Ngawa anopTm	Etumba
Rest	Yunda-ku			
Run	Zola-ku			
s				
Say	Yova-ku	Liela-ku	ObilandapAa	Asakula
See	Tala-ku	Tala-ku	Ksaumona	Tala-ku
Sell	Teka-ku	Teka-ku	Ntap7ia	Teka-ku
Sew	Ta-ku	Obama	Atuma	Tunga-ku
Shoot	Sika-ku	Ta-ku	Abogho (to aim ?)	Ta-kuTHE LANGUAGES OF THE WESTERN CONGO. 463

English.	Kongo.	Ki-teke.	Ki-buma.	Ki-yansi.
Shut	Zika-ku	Kura-ku	Ukaa	Kanga
Sleep	Leka-ku	Lala-ku	Ubira	Tutuma-ku;
				Ngoli
Sneeze	Tenkishya-ku	Kesha-ku	Usac/7ia	
Speak	Y ova-ku	Liela-ku	Ubi'la	Asakula
Steal	Yia-ku	Muivi	Oya	Muyibi
T				
Take	Zonzola-ku	Awole	Nzole	Akwi
Think	Banza-ku	Abara .	Abilandap/ia	Abwaki
Throw	Loza-ku	Tilibwe	Ubagffea	Wakangi
Tie	Kanga-ku; Yika-	Bundika	Akule	
	ku			
Touch	Simba-ku	Sua-ku	Oshua	Sua-ku
u				
Untie	Kutula-ku	Any ono	Ukuru	Pusura
Urinate		Shuba-ku	Onyena	On eke
w				
Wait	Yinga-ku	Sakana	Kala dzo	
Walk	Kiya-ku	Awila	Yak eglie	Atambula
Wash	Sukula-ku	Sukula-ku	Oshuwi	Upunga
Weave		Okuba	Okuba	Matanda
Whistle	Sika-ku viosi	Mwelo	Obero	
Wish		Ajii	Nkuni juo	Alinga
Work	Sala-ku	Sala-ku	Usala	Sala-ku
Y				
Yawn	Mwoiya-ku	Mwa	Mwaye	Mwa(	465	)

INDEX.

African Station, a representative,
50

Agriculture, 431

Alcohol, its use and abuse, 7, 306
Ambriz, 4
Ambrizete, 16

Animals, the distribution of, 316
Antelopes, the, 384
Anthropoid apes, the, 13, 376
Anthropology, 395
Ants, the, 335
Apprentices and slaves, 27
Axes, Ceremonial, 435

Babies, the, 213
Ba-bwende, the, 400
Ba-kongo, the, 400
Banana Point, 22, 297
Bankwa’s speech, 293
Ba-ntu, the, 395
Baobabs, the, 16
Baphia, the, 181
Barbets, 37

Ba-shi kongo, the, 400
Basundi, the, 400
Bat snares, 153
Bat-eating hawk, the, 357
Ba-teke, the, 172, 413
Batrachians, the, 341
Ba-yansi, the, 398, 413
„ village, a, 209
Beads as currency, 131
Bee-eaters, the, 105
Beetles, the, 333

Belgians, the King of the, 439
Belgique, the, 44
Bird life in the lagoons, 37
Birds of the Congo, the, 351
„ list of, 363
Blood-brother, a, 286
Blossoms, brilliancy of the, 289
Bolobo, 232
Boma, 41, 296
Books as against brandy, 8
Botany, 303, 319
Brass tacks as currency, 131
Brazzaville, 170
Brickmaking at Manyanga, 126
Brother-in-blood, a, 286
Buffalo, the, 241, 318, 384
Bula Matade at home, 46

„	„ origin of the name, 106

Bundi, the, 99
Burial ceremonies, 247, 425
Bush-fires, value of, 308
Butterflies, 198, 330
„ list of, 332
Buzi, the, 98

CABEgA da Cobra, 19
Cacimbo, the, 307

Calamus, or climbing palm, the, 190

Calemma, the, 9

Camoensia, 94

Camwood dye, 211, 419

Canoe, a native, 257

Cat at Mukemo, a, 252

Cat, the domestic, 430

2 H466

INDEX.

Centipedes, the, 338
Chiefs at Stanley Pool, 173
Children at play, 157
Children’s welcome, the, 92
Chimpanzee, the, 377
Christianity at Pallaballa, 69
Chrysochlorus, the, 379
Cicatrization, 211, 420
Circumcision, 406, 424
Civet-cat, the, 379
Climate, 303
Cloth as currency, 131
Cloth, native, 212
Clothing, origin of, 418
Cnestis, seed pods of the, 180
Coffee, 242

Colours most favoured, 131
Congo, its colour, 21
„ its delta, 21

„ its peoples, character of, 298
„ not a natural boundary, 317
„ Empire, the, 400
Conversazione, a, 178
Cooking for travellers, 118
Coquilhat, Lieutenant, 290
Cowries as currency, 132
Creepers, luxuriance of the, 121
Crocodile, the, 263, 341

,, adventure, with a, 40
Crocodile’s friend, the, 344, 358
Crow, the scapulated, 363
Crows at Banana, 25
Cucurbits, the, 70
Currency on the Congo, 131
Customs, 188, 235, 411

Dandanga, the King of, 135
Darter, the, 353
Deciduous trees, 309
Demon hippopotamus, the, 383
Denudation of the rocks, 315
Deserts bounding the tropics, 15
Development of man, 416
Diet at Manyanga, 132
Diet, necessity of judicious, 305

Dinner fare in Africa, 6, 55
Distribution of animals, the, 316
Dogs, the native, 125, 429
Dolphin, the, 379
Domestic animals, 428
„	life, 411

Dover cliffs, 169
Dracoenas at Yellala, 76
Drinking customs, 188, 235
Dry season, the, 309
Dualla, 47, 293
Dwarf race, the, 396

Edwin Arnold River, 149
Elephant, the, 241, 379

,,	a pale coloured specimen,

284

Elephants feeding, 259
Embe, 223

Entomology of the Congo, 330
Eunuchs, worship of the, 409
Euphorbias, 251

Fairs on the Congo, 117
Falls at Isangila, 115
„ at Itunzima, 124
„ at Ngoma, 106
„ at Ntombo Mataka, 136
„ at Yellala, 72
Faraji, 90

Farming at Msuata, 206
„ at Pallaballa, 63
Fauna, distribution of the, 316
Female labour in Africa, 133
Features of the people, 421
Fetish house, a, 154
Fetish man, the, 240
Finfoot, a, 352
Fiote language, the, 67
Fires, value of, 308
Fish, smoked, 182, 426
Fishes, 339

Fishing appliances, 427
Fishing at Yellala, 83
Fishing-eagles, the, 356INDEX.

467

Flies, the, 337
Flora, the, beauty of, 97
Flora, description of the, 319
Food question, the, 162, 185
Food of the people, 426
Fowl, the domestic, 430

„	as a pet, 95

„	how to make fowl-soup, 230

French flags at Mbamo, 222
Frigate bird, the, 353
Fruit-pigeons, the, 104
Funeral, a native, 247
Furniture of the household, 432

GaNCHU, 208
Giannet, the, 353
Gazelles, the, 384
Genet cat, the, 379
Gin as currency, 131
Girls, the native, 212
Glareolse, the, 358
Goat, the, 429
Gobila, 271
Gorilla, the, 376

„ its distribution, 318
Grass, luxuriance of the, 96
Grasses, the, 322
Ground-nut oil, 118
Guillot, Abbe, 294
Gypohierax, the, 355

Hair of the Ba-yansi, 223
Hair-dressing, 210, 421
Hairiness, 397, 402, 414
Hammock travelling, 5
Handkerchiefs as currency, 131
Hats, curious, 236
Hawks, the, 356
Health, how to retain, 185
Hell’s Cauldron, 43
Hippopotamus, the, 180, 186, 381

„ adventure, a, 201, 287
Hornbills, the, 105
Houses, the, 431

Houses at Pallaballa, 64
Huts of the Ba-yansi, 285
'Hyaena, the, 379
Hymenoptera, the, 334
Hyphoene palms, 10, 179

Ibaka, King, 232
Ibaka’s kingdom, 241
Ichthyology, 339
Imbono, 91
Inkimba, the, 69
Inkissi, the, 155

Insects on the Upper Congo, 198

Intoxicants, abuse of, 7, 306

Iron, 242, 434

Isangila, 113, 294

Itimba, 246

Itunzima Falls, 124

Ivory road, the, 18

Jackals, the, 379
Janssen, Lieutenant, 205.
Jasmine, species of, 20
Jigger, the, 336
Juma, arrival of, 288

Kabindas, the, 398
Kai, 75

Kallina Point, 171
Ki-buma vocabulary, 446
Kikwanga, 117
Kimpoko, 187, 290
Kingfishers, the, 122
Kinsembo, welcome at, 5
Kinshasha, 291

„ village, a, 174
Kintamo, 173
Kissange, 32
Ki-teke vocabulary, 446
Kiyansi vocabulary, 446
Knives, native, 434
Kongo Mpaka, 70
Kongo vocabulary, 446
Kruboys, 26
Krumanos, 26468

INDEX.

Lagoons, life in the, 36
Land-crabs, the, 338
Languages, 444
Lawson, the, 215
Lemurs, the, 377
Leopard, the, 378
Leopard trap, a, 275
Leopard’s footprints, a, 156
Leopold It. and African exploration,
439

Leopoldville, 159, 164, 294
Lepidoptera, the, 330
Life of the natives, 411
Lion, the, 207, 378
Lissochilus at Kissange, 35
Little Dries, the, 307
Lizards, 346
Loa, valley of the, 93
Loanda district, the, 13
Locusts, the, 333
Loge, crossing the, 5
Lufu, the, 71
Luku, 206
Lulu, the, 102
Lutete,. 142
Lyre, the native, 434

Mafta, 90

Makol£, his illness, 273
Malafu, sugar-cane, 221
Mammalia, the, 375
„ list of, 386
Man, arboreal, 308
„ original hairiness of, 415
„ his early struggles, 416
Manatee, the, 379
Mandrills, the, 376
Manioc bread, 117
Manis, the, 386
Manyanga, 126, 294
Marimba, the, 433
Market-day on the Congo, 117
Mbamo, French flags at, 222
Mbila, 203
Mbongo, 221

Mbote, its meanings, 125
Medicine, 274, 410
„ Man, the, 403
Metals, the, 242, 315
Metal working, 434
Mfwa, 170

Mimosa branch afloat, 282
Mission at	Manyanga, 128

„	at	Pallaballa, 67

„	at	Stanley Pool, 161

„	at	Underhill, 42

Mlougo-Mlaka, 135
Mollusks, the, 338
Monkeys, the, 104, 375
Monkoli topaz, 242
Morality of the Ba-kongo, 404
Mposo, the, 66
Msuata, 205, 245, et seq.
Mukemo, 252
Mushirongos, the, 21, 399
Musical instruments, 432
Mussera, pillar at, 11

Natives in trees, 202
Native medical practice, 274
Natural History, 303, 329, 375
Ndiza, the, 77
Ngaliema, 173
Nganga, the, 403, 410
Ngoma, 158

„ Falls, the, 106
Nguvi Mpanda, 73, 92
Night in Kinshasha, a, 176
Nilis, Lieutenant, 126, 294
Nkimba, the, 406
Ntamo, 173
Ntete Mbongo, 77
Ntombo Mataka, 136

Orban, Lieutenant, 233
Orchids at Kissange, 35
Ornithology, 351

Palaver, a, 291
Pallaballa, 62INDEX.

469

Palm, a climbing, 190
Palm-stems as a building material,
44

Palms, the, 10, 320
Parrots, the, 362

„ grey, 180, 186, 230
„ distribution, 318
Pelicans, the, 354
People of the Congo, the, 395
Personal decoration, 418
Pets, the trade in, 38
Phallic worship, 405
Phytography of South-Western
Africa, 12
Pig, the, 430
Pigeons, the, 360
Pistia stratiotes, 218
Plantain-eater, the Blue, 260
Plants, list of, 322
Plover, the spur-winged, 345, 358
Plovers, the, 357
Ponta da Lenha, 49, 297
Population, the, 436
Porcupine, the, 386
Portugal, reception on the, 299
Portuguese, influence of, 401
Potamogale, the, 379
Pratincoles, the, 124
Presentation plates at Lutete, 148
Progress on the Congo, 437

Rain, effect cf the, 315

Religious ceremonies, 69, 405, 423

Reptiles, the, 341

Roads to the coast, the, 116

Rocks, the, and the rain, 315

Rollers, the, 362

Royal, voyage in the, 121

Sacred Language, the, 408

Sadika Banza, 95

Salt, value of, 213, 227, 286

Sangalla, 120

Service at Pallaballa, 67

Sheep, the, 428

Sketching adventure, a, 238

Skulls, as a decoration, 249

Slavery on the Lower Congo, 27

Slaves, curious, 215

Smoked fish, 182

Smokes, the, 307

Snakes, 347

Snaring bats, 153

Soil in the valleys, the, 145

Soko, the, 377

Sorcery among the Ba-kongo, 403
Spiders, the, 337
Spirits, belief in, 409
Spring, the, 311

Stanley, Mr., first meeting with, 46
„	„	at a palaver, 291

„	„	his achievements, 437

Stanley Pool, 159, 294

„	„	its ornithology, 354

Storm at night, a, 150
Storms, the, 183, 313
Sugar-cane confectionery, 118
Superstitions of the Ba-kongo, 403
Surf boats at Kinsembo, 9
Swimming taught, 425

Tattooing, 211, 419
Tents of the Ba-yansi, 285
Tiger-cats, the, 378
Tillage at Pallaballa, 62
Toffee from sugar-cane, 119
Topaz, 242, 315
Tortoises, 252, 345
Trade roads, the, 116
Trade at Manyanga, 131
Trap for leopard, a, 275
Tree, a sacred, 213
Tree-duck, a, 105
Tribes of the Congo, the, 398
Trionyx, a, 252
Tropic bird, the, 353
Tuckey’s expedition, 120
Tusks of the elephant, the, 381

Underhill mission station, 42470

INDEX.

Vivi, 45, 295
Vocabularies, 446
Vultures, the, 355

Wa-buma, the, 209, 413
Wa-buno, the, 400
Whooping-cough at Mukemo, 253
Whydah bird, the, 310
Wire as currency, 131

Witch-burning, 403

Woman among the Ba-kongo, 404

W omen as labourers, 133, 412

Yell ala,, the Falls of, 72

Zanzibaris, my, 90, 297
Ziczac, the, 345

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