Part 18 (2/2)

You get some idea of the hazards that confronted the American pioneers when I say that when they set forth for the Kasai region, which is the southwestern part of the Congo, late in 1907, they were accoian officers Often they had to fight their way before they could take speciion hitherto uninvaded by the white es and a pitched battle followed In inforeh Ball did no running As recently as 1915 one of the Forminiere prospectors, E G Decker, was killed by the fierce Batshoks, the roup, which was the first of many expeditions, remained in the field more than two years and covered a wide area

Up to this tiold and copper were the only valuable o and the Americans naturally went after them Much to their surprise, they found diamonds and thereby opened up a fresh source of wealth for the Colony The first dia Water,” a considerable waterfall discovered by Livingstone This region, which is watered by the Kasai River, becao Dia and financial enterprise in Central Africa On a wooded height not far fro Americans established a post called Tshi+kapa, the name of a small river nearby It is the capital of Little Ale and therefore becao journey

[Illustration: A BELLE OF THE CONGO]

[Illustration: WOMEN OF THE BATETELAS]

III

Kinshassa is nearly a thousand et there I had to retrace o as far as Kwamouth, where the Kasai empties into the parent streae boats at Diins the jungle road to the diamond fields

Up to this tio could supply in the way of transport Now I faced a trip that would not only try patience but had every eleo a,” one of the Huileries du Congo Belge steamers, was about to start for the Kwilu River, which branches off froh to order it to take me to Dima, which was off the prescribed itinerary of the vessel

On a brilliantat the end of June I set forth Nelson was still my faithful servant and his se in hia_ had visibly increased Somebody had told him at Kinshassa that the Kasai country tee one of the world's cha eaten himself I promised him an extra allowance of food and a khaki uniforreed to take a chance

Right here letquickness to grasp things I do not refer to his light-fingered propensities, however When we got to Kinshassa Nelson knew scarcely a word of the local dialect When we left a week later, he could jabber intelligently with any savage he met On the four weeks' trip froh French to make himself understood The Central African native has an aptitude for languages that far surpasses that of the average white a,” which had been reconstructed for Lord Leverhulo in 1914 I occupied the suite installed for him and it was my last taste of luxury for many a day The captain, Albert Carrie, was a retired lieutenant in the British Royal Navy, and the chief engineer was a Scotcho River seemed like an old friend as we steamed up toward Kwamouth As soon as we turned into the Kasai I found that conditions were different than on the main river There was an abundance of fuel, both for o was relieved by duck and fish The Kasai region is thickly populated and I saw a new type of native, lighter in colour than elsewhere, and ent

The woo

This applies particularly to the Batetelas, who are of light brown colour From childhood the females of this tribe have a sense of modesty that is in sharp contrast with the nudity that prevails elsewhere throughout the country They swathe their bodies froaily coloured calico I am often asked if the scant attire in Central Africa shockedthat the contemporary feminine fashi+on of near-undress in America and Europe made le were almost over-clothed!

The fourth day of my trip was also the American Fourth of July Captain Carrie and I celebrated by toasting the British and American Navies, and it was not in Kasai water This day also witnessed a somewhat remarkable revelation of the fact that world economic unrest has penetrated to the very heart of the pri fuel at a native post, Carrie and I went ashore to take a walk and visit a chief who had once been in Belgiuot back to the boat we found that all the natives had suspended work and were listening to an impassioned speech by one of the black wheelmen All these boats have native pilots This boy, who only wore a loin cloth, was urging his fellows not to work so hard A food and takes a big sleep in theThe company that owns this boat has es”

Carrie stopped the harangue, fined the pilot a week's pay, and the men went back to work, but the poison had been planted This illu episode is just one of the ency that I found in Africa fro district, for exaitators and it probably will not be long before Central Africa has the I W W in its e numbers

This essentially o native disclosed Another was the existence of powerful secret societies which have codes, ”grips,” and pass-words Soe in huh Central Africa is a land where the husband can stray froht” is thus available as an excuse for domestic indiscretion

The most terrible of these orders is the Society of the Leopard, for of enemies The members wear leopard skins or spotted habits and throttle their foes with a glove to which steel blades are affixed The victie its spots To round where the victim has lain is marked with a stick whose end resembles the feet of the leopard

The leopard skin has a curious significance in the Congo For occasions where the white e steps over one of these skins to swear fealty If two chiefs have had a quarrel and make up, they tear a skin in two and throw the pieces into the river, to show that the feud is rent asunder It corresponds to the pipe of peace of the Ao is the Lubuki, whose initiation oat seem like a childish amusement The candidate is tied to a tree and a nest of black ants is distributed over his body He is released only after he is nearly stung to death A repetition of this jungle third degree is threatened for violation of any of the secrets of the order, the raft on non-members for food and other necessities

In civilized life theby telephone or letter In the Congo they are haled by the toe dru power The beats are like the dots and dashes of telegraphy All the native news of Central Africa is transe in this way

I could continue this narrative of native habits and custoa” On board was a real character He was Peter the capita In the Congo every group of native worknated a foreman in this country Life and varied experience had battered Peter sadly He spoke English, French, Gero dialects He learned Ger team that performed at the Winter Garden in Berlin His German almost had a Potsdam flavour He told me that he had danced before the former Kaiser and hadthat stood out most vividly in his hed for it daily

Six days after leaving Kinshassa I reluctantly bade farewell to Peter and the ”Lusanga” at Dima Here I had the first piece of hard luck on the whole trip The little steamer that was to take me up the Kasai River to Djoko Punda had departed five days before and I was forced to wait until she returned Fifteen years ago Dile I found it a model, tropical post with dozens of brick houses, a shi+pyard and machine shops, avenues of palm trees and a faro

I had a brick bungalow toDirector, Monsieur Adrian Van den Hove He knew no English and ed French was pretty bad Yet we met three times a day at the table and carried on spirited conversations There was only one English-speaking person within a radius of a hundred lish books

I vented , for I covered at least fifteenfilled both the Belgians and the natives with astonishment The latter particularly could not understand why a man walked about the country aimlessly Usually a native will only hen he can move in the direction of food or sleep On these solitary trips I went through a country that still abounds in buffalo Occasionally you see an elephant It is one thing to watch a big tusker doing his tricks in a circus tent, but quite another to hear hie branches of trees as hehat seems to be an incredible speed for so heavy an anilad Sunday--it was my thirteenth day at Dima--when I heard the whistle of the steamboat I dashed down to the beach and there was the little forty-ton ”Madeleine” I welco-lost friend and this she proved to be The second day afterwards I went aboard and began a diverting chapter of my experience The ”Madeleine”

is a type of the veteran Congo boat In the old days the Belgian pioneers fought natives from its narrow deck Despite incessant cos and swift currents--all these obstructions abound in the Kasai River--she was still staunch In coo, and he had been on these waters for twenty years with only one holiday in Europe during the entire tie room that all these boats must furnish in case an important State functionary wants to travel My fellow passengers were two Catholic priests and three Belgian ”agents,” as the Congo factors are styled I ate alone on the main deck in front of my cabin, with Nelson in attendance