Part 13 (1/2)

[Illustration: CONGO WOMEN IN STATE DRESS]

CHAPTER V--ON THE CONGO RIVER

I

Two days ht us to Ponthierville, a jewel of a post with a setting of alht on the boat and early the followingboarded a special train for Stanleyville, which is only six hours distant by rail Mide crossed the Equator

Thirty miles south of Stanleyville is the State Experimental Coffee Farm of three hundred acres, which produces fifteen different species of the bean This institution is one evidence of a coian Government The State has about 10,000 acres of test plantations, mostly Para rubber, cotton, and cacao, in various parts of the Colony

One corowing a the natives Under ordinary circumstances the h ian idea is to encourage co-operative farion iun to plant cotton over a considerable area At Kongolo I saw hundreds of acres of this fleecy plant under the sole supervision of the indigenes

Stanleyville marked one of the real mileposts of my journey Here came Stanley on his first historic expedition across Central Africa and discovered the falls nearby that bear his name; here he set up the Station that marked the Farthest East of the expedition which founded the Congo Free State Directly south-east of the town are seven distinct cataracts which extend over fiftywhirlpools

Stanleyville is the head of navigation on the Congo and like Paris, is built on two sides of the river On the right bank is the place of the Vice-Governor General, scores of well stocked stores, andavenues of paliven over to the railway terinal plan was to live with the Vice-Governor General, Monsieur de Meulemeester, but his establishment was so taxed by the deed with Monsieur Theews, Chief Engineer of the Chemin de Fer des Grands Lacs, where I was alow that commanded a superb view of the river and the town

At Stanleyville the Minister of the Colonies had a great reception Five hundred native troops looking very smart were drawn up in the plaza On the platform of the station stood the Vice-Governor General and staff in spotless white uniforms, their breasts ablaze with decorations On all sides were thousands of natives in gay attire who cheered and chanted while the band played the Belgian national anthe spectacle not without its touch of the barbaric, and a sht have seen at Delhi or Cairo on a fete day

I was onlyWhat concerned me most was the swift, brown river that flowed alo, which, with the sole exception of the Ahtiest streaht of Stanley and his battles on its shores, and the hardshi+p and tragedy that these waters had witnessed

Stanleyville is not only the heart of Equatorial Africa but it is also an important administrative point Hundreds of State officials report to the Vice-Governor General there, and on national holidays and occasions like the visit of the Colonial Minister, it can e

Monsieur Franck's presence inspired a succession of festivities including a garden party which was attended by the entire white population nu about seventy-five There was also a for clothes for the first and only time between Elizabethville and the steaarden party Monsieur Franck raceful speech in which he said that the real missionaries of African civilization were the wives who accompanied their husbands to their lonely posts in the field What he said made a distinct impression upon me for it was not only the truth but it emphasized a detail that stands out in the memory of everyone who visits this part of the world I know of no finer heroines than these women comrades of colonial officials who brave disease and discoive the native a new respect for his o are called ”mamma” by the natives

The use of ”mamma” by the African natives always strikes the newcoe It is a curious fact that practically the first word uttered by the black infant is ”mamma,” and in thousands of cases the final utterance of both adult male and female is the sao the native mother frequently refers to her child as a ”piccannin” which is almost the same word employed by coloured people in the Ae is only equalled by her econoreat ivorythe last two years this activity has undergone fluctuations that al the war there was very little trafficking in ivory because it was a luxury With peace ca demand and the price soared to more than 200 francs a kilo The ordinary price is about forty One trader at Stanleyville cleaned up a profit of 3,000,000 francs in three months

Then came the inevitable reaction and with it a unique situation In their mad desire to corral ivory the traders ran up the normal price that the native hunters received The ulate their purchases accordingly The native, however, knows nothing about the law of demand and supply and he holds out for the boom price The outcome is that hundreds of tons of ivory are piled up in the villages and no power on earth can convince the savage that there is such a thing as the ebb and flow of price Such is cole

Northeast of Stanleyville lie the old mines in the Colony The precious ravel of small rivers west of Lake Albert, and near the small towns of Kilo and Moto Four mines are noorked in this vicinity, two by the Government and two by a private coe of considerable development which has just been resumed At the time of my visit all these mines were placers and the operation was rather pried white staffs will come a pretentious exploitation The Governold every year Shortly before old nugget ever discovered was found in the Kilo State Mine It weighed twelve pounds

Stanleyville has a significance for me less romantic but infinitely o River After long weeks of suffering from inefficient service I sacked Gerome and annexed a boy naed a young Belgian as on his way hoes and could always convince theNelson was his servant He was born on the Rhodesian border and spoke English I could therefore upbraid him to my heart's content, which was not the case with Gerome Besides, he was not handicapped with a wife In Africa the servants adopt the nalishnohtest doubt that he now masquerades under mine Be that as it may, Nelson was a model servant and he remained with ium-bound boat at Matadi

Nelson rero than any other one that I saw in the Congo He was almost coal black, he smiled continuously, and his teeth onderful to look at He had an unusual capacity for work and also for food I think he was the chao The _chikwanga_ is a glutinous dough made from the pounded root of the manioc plant and is the principal food of the native It is rolled and cut up in pieces and then wrapped in green leaves The favorite way of preparing it for consuh it is often eaten raw Nelson bought these _chikwangas_ by the dozen He was never without one He even ate as he washed o native is in a continuous state of receptivity when it comes to food Nowhere in the world have I seen people who ate so e just after he had apparently gorged himself and he ”wolfed” it as if he were fae meal a day On this occasion every ht Then the crowd lays off until the following day All food offered in the ratuity or otherwise is devoured on the spot

In connection with the _chikwanga_ is an interesting fact The Congo natives all die young--I only saw a dozen old men--because they are insufficiently nourished The _chikwanga_ is filling but not fattening

This is why sleeping sickness takes such dreadful toll From an estienes have dwindled to less than one-third this nuh the natives have chickens in abundance they seldom eat one for the reason that it is more profitable to sell the, therefore, that the Congo native suffers froe s ards it as just another for stories in connection with e a dozen effective pills, for exaht, he usually ss them all at one time and then he wonders why the results are disastrous A sorcerer in the Upper Congo region once obtained idely acclaiot out of a tin It developed that he had stolen a can of potted beef and was using it as ”medicine”

[Illustration: CENTRAL AFRICAN PYGMIES]

Stanleyville was called the center of the old Arab slave trade While the odious traffic has long ceased to exist, you occasionally meet an old native who bears the scars of battle with thetales of the cruelties they inflicted

The slave raiders began their operations in the Congo in 1877, the same year in which Stanley made his historic o It was the great explorer who unconsciously blazed the way for the man-hunters They followed him down the Lualaba River as far as Stanley Falls and discovered as to thehted the country, carrying off tens of thousands ofthousands in addition This region was a cannibal stronghold and one bait that lured local allies was the proian pioneers in the Congo who co-operated with the late Baron Dhanis who finally put down the slave trade, have told oing off to their villages with baskets of human flesh

They were part of the spoils of this hideous warfare