Part 9 (1/2)

One of the tribes in the Kongo Valley is called the Bangala tribe. The men are tall and strong and fierce. They are always fighting with other tribes. This makes the other tribes very much afraid of them.

The negroes of this tribe have a strange way of making friends with a white man. They will do him no harm if he is willing to be their ”blood brother.”

This is the way they make a white man their blood brother. The black man takes a limb of palm tree which has two branches. With one branch in his hand, he falls on the ground before the white man. The white man takes hold of the other branch. Then the black man splits the limb into two parts with his knife.

After this is done, an old man of the tribe comes to the white man and the black man. He puts the white man's arm over the black man's arm.

When their arms are together, he makes a small cut in each arm. He makes this cut to draw blood. Then the old man puts salt and the dust of banana leaves into the blood, and rubs both arms together. The black man and the white man are then blood brothers.

These people have also a strange way of taking care of their canoes.

When they are not using them, they keep them under water. They say that the canoes will last longer if kept under water.

THE AMAZON VALLEY.

Perhaps you have heard of the Amazon River. It is the largest river in the world. It is four thousand miles long, and more than fifty miles wide where it flows into the sea. This river is in Brazil. Brazil is far south of us.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Amazon Indians.]

There are great forests along the banks of this river. They run back from the river for hundreds of miles. They are the largest forests in the world.

A great many kinds of trees grow in these forests. Some of the trees are very high. Often the trees are covered with vines on which beautiful flowers grow.

Wax-palm trees, breadfruit trees, and rubber trees are found in these forests. Wax is taken from the leaves of the wax palm.

We make rubber from the rubber tree. A cut is made in the side of the tree with a knife. From this cut a white juice flows. This juice is like milk. It is caught in a cup. After a while the juice gets hard.

Then it is rubber.

A great many strange animals and birds are found in these forests.

There is the sloth, which lives in the trees. It has hooked claws for holding on to the branches. It hangs on to a branch with its back downward. When it goes to sleep, it rolls itself up like a ball. It moves very slowly, and that is why it is called the sloth.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Sloth.]

These forests are full of monkeys and parrots. Perhaps you have seen a parrot. I dare say you have not seen more than two or three parrots at one time. But in these forests there are flocks of parrots. They fly from tree to tree, and are very wild.