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X\xt Ilwolojjffj,/

PRINCETON, N. J.

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Purchased by the Hammill Missior.ary Fund.

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,■647

Number.

A CATARACT OF THE CONGO, FROM THF. BAYNESTON STATION.
From an Original Sketch.

LIFE ON THE CONGO

BY THE

REV. W. HOLMAN BENTLEY

Of the Baptist Mission

g^itk an Intrnbuction

BY THE

^REV. GEORGE GRENFELL

Explorer of the Upper Congo

LONDON

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY

56, Paternoster Row ; 6s, St. Paul’s Churchyard ; and
164, Piccadilly.

COHTEKts.

CHAP.

Introduction ....

I. The Discovery of the Congo .

II. The Physical Features of the Congo
m. Vegetation, Climate, and People

IV. Home Life on the Congo

V. The Religious Ideas of the Natives .

VI. Cannibalism, Freemasonry and Charms

VII. Missions in Central Africa

VIII. Missions on the Congo River

PAGE

109

INTRODUCTION.

LTHOUGH only four years have elapsed since my

colleague penned the accompanying chapters,
yet events have followed each other so fast that
another short chapter seems to be needed to bring
them up to date. During this brief interval, our
knowledge of the geography of the country and the
distribution of its waterways has been considerably
extended; important political events have trans-
pired on both the eastern and western boundaries
of the Congo Free State ; commerce has seriously
undertaken the task of exploiting the resources of
the interior ; and missions also have been moving
onward, and at the same time have succeeded in
strengthening their old positions.

The length of navigable waterway accessible from
Stanley Pool has already been proved to be more
than 5,000 miles ; and there are several important
rivers which flow into the Congo, still to be traced
to their ultimate points, besides tributaries of

INTRODUCTION.

which we know nothing, save that their volumes
promise long navigable channels into the interior.
These unvisited waterways at a very moderate
estimate will add another 1,000 or 1,500 miles to
that wonderful system of natural canals which is
destined to prove such an important factor in the
civilization of this portion of Central Africa. So
important are the facilities afforded by the Congo
water system that, notwithstanding the increased
distance involved, Mr. Stanley has taken ad-
vantage of them in making his attempt to relieve
Emin Pasha, who is encamped at Wadelai on
the Upper Nile ; and if the proposed railway
for connecting the Upper with the Lower Congo
does but become an accomplished fact, these water-
ways will be the usual routes for communicating
with the Central Soudan, Lakes Albert, Muata
Nzige, and Tanganika, as well as with Nyangwe
and the empire of the Muata Yamvo.

The political event of importance which has
transpired on the western boundary has been the
delimitation of the frontier between the French
territory and that of the Congo Free State, ex-
tending between to sea-coast and Manyanga, and
also the bringing of the dividing line between the
two from 17° East longitude to the right bank of
the Mobangi. These disputed boundaries were

INTRODUCTION.

matters with grave possibilities in their wake till
the signing of the treaty settled the questions in-
volved and removed all uneasiness. On the eastern
side the loss of Stanley Falls Station and its occu-
pation by the Arabs was for some time the source
of great anxiety, but a treaty has been entered into
with the principal Arab chief, and if its stipulations
are but observed (and it will be to the interest of
the Arabs to observe them), the result will by no
means be so disastrous as was feared.

The interest which the commercial world is
taking in the Congo is manifested by the operations
of three separate enterprises — one Belgian, one
Dutch, and one French. Their energies are di-
rected to the purchase of ivory, making use of the
waterways to reach the far-away markets, and even
the districts where, as yet, ivory has no commercial
value. With this end in view, the Belgian enter-
prise has already launched a fine steamer on the
Upper Congo, and the other competitors are pre-
paring to follow their example. The trade at
present is only limited to the supply of carriers for
the transport of barter goods. The cargo brought
up country by large caravans is exchanged in a few
hours for the ivory, which even as low down as the
Pool, seems to be always waiting for buyers. Under
these circumstances the competition for carriers is

INTRODUCTION.

very keen, and neither the State nor commercial
houses, nor the missionaries are able to meet their
wants. The need for a railway is very seriously
felt, and already three separate lines of survey are
being run up country with a view of determining
the best possible route. This is an enterprise
which has the best sympathies of everyone, and if
realised will speedily produce wonderful changes in
the very heart of Africa, — changes, however, which
will not all prove to be unmitigated blessings, as
the facilities which will be afforded for the intro-
duction of strong drink will undoubtedly result in
much evil.

At the present time there are seven missionary
organizations at work on the Congo : these are repre-
sented by about seventy-five missionaries, occupy-
ing twenty stations. Three of these organizations
are Eoman Catholic, and four are Evangelical.
The French Society, Du Sainte Esprit, has two
stations on the lower river, — one in the cataract
region, and one on the upper river, about a
hundred miles beyond Stanley Pool. The Por-
tuguese Mission has a station on the lower river,
and one at Salvador. The Algerian Mission, under
the direction of Cardinal Lavigerie, has one station
on the upper river. At these various stations
there are some seventeen or twenty missionaries.

INTRODUCTION.

1 1

Of the fifty-five Evangelical missionaries, five or
six belong to the Swedish Missionary Society, which
has one station in the cataract region, nine belong
to Bishop Taylor’s (American Methodist Episcopal)
Mission at Stanley Pool, and the remaining forty or
so are about equally divided between the American
and English Baptists — the former possessing six
stations, and the latter five. These two Societies
also possess valuable auxiliaries in the shape of
steamers on the upper river, which furnish ready
access to vast populations scattered over ten degrees
both of latitude and longitude.

Bishop Taylor’s Mission also possesses a steamer
larger than either of the others ; but as yet it is not
at its destination, being on its way up country past
the cataracts, in the shape of plates, frames, and
portions of machinery, which will have to be put
together at the Pool.

Besides these seven distinct enterprises, and
that of the London Missionary Society, which has
reached from the east coast the far-away waters of
the Upper Congo, at the point where the Lukuga
river leaves Lake Tanganika to flow to the Lualaba,
another mission has entered the field. This mission
is represented by Mr. F. S. Arnot, who, after a
series of perilous wanderings, and after enduring
many hardships, has established himself at Kagoma,

INTRODUCTION.

about 250 miles north-west of the point where
Livingstone died.

The Swedish Society has published a translation
of the Gospel according to John. The American
Society has printed the Peep of Day in Kilolo (the
language spoken on the Equator for about six de-
grees of longitude), and has one or two Gospels in
Kishi-Congo ready for the press.

A dictionary and a grammar have been published
by the Livingstone Inland Mission (the j)recursors
of the A.B.M.U.), and also Iviteke and Kiyansi
vocabularies. A grammar and dictionary is being
published by the Baptist Missionary Society, and
the Eeligious Tract Society has published the Peep
of Day in Kishi-Congo.

Not only are agencies for good being increased,
but gratifying results are following the efforts that
are made. At Mukimbungu, Lukunga, Banza
Manteka, and San Salvador, native Christian
churches have already been formed, and the sin-
cerity of the change of heart which is professed by
the members is attested by the self-denial and con-
sistency of their lives. At other points besides
these the good seed is being persistently sown, and
there are evidences manifesting themselves which
encourage the missionaries to hope that it is taking
root, and that the harvest will ere long follow in
these places also.

CHAPTEE I.

(Ef?c Discoperg of tf?e (Congo.

IN 1484 Eiogo Cam, a Portuguese navigator, first
sighted the mouth of the Congo Eiver. Four
centuries have since elapsed, and only now have

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

we the definite knowledge of the course of that
mighty flood. Seven years after the discovery of
the river, an embassy was sent to the capital of the
Congo country, known as San Salvador; Eoman
Catholic missionaries followed, who in time pene-
trated some 250 miles into the interior. They
made, however, San Salvador their head-quarters
and cathedral city, but were finally expelled by
the Governor of Angola some 130 years ago. They
appear to have kept away from the river ; what
records of their work remain throw no light as to
its course. The slave trade flourished in the mouth
of the river, but interiorwards the land remained
unknown.

In 1816 Captain Tuckey was commissioned by
the Admiralty to endeavour to solve the mystery,
and was instructed to ascertain whether there was
any connection between the Niger and the Congo.
This ill-fated expedition penetrated to a distance
of 150 miles from the coast. And this was the
extent of om- knowledge of its lower course until
recently.

In 1871 Dr. Livingstone, travelling westward
from the Lake Tanganika, discovered a great river
flowing northward, called by the natives Lualaba.
After three and a half months he returned to the
Tanganika, and finally striking south, died at Ilala,

THE DISCOVERY OF THE CONGO. 15

on the south of Lake Bangweolo, the upper waters
of the Congo-Lualaba, in April, 1873.

Lieut. Cameron, commissioned by the Eoyal
Geographical Society to carry fresh supplies and
aid to Dr. Livingstone, met his dead body being
conveyed to the coast by his faithful servants.
Continuing his journey with the material he hoped
to deliver to the Doctor, he crossed the Tanganika,
and reached Nyangwe, the point where Dr. Living-
stone had first sighted the Lualaba. He would
have followed the course of the mysterious river,
but was unable to induce his men to attempt the
solution of the problem, and striking southwards
skirted the lower edge of the Congo Basin, and
reached the west coast at Benguela in November,
1875.

In 1874 the Daily Telegraph and New York
Herald combined to send Mr. Stanley to Africa,
to complete the geographical discoveries of Dr.
Livingstone.

In Les Beiges au Congo, the excellent Christmas
number of Le Mouvement Geographique, the official
organ of the International African Association, we
have a sketch of the life of the greatest living ex-
plorer. Born at Denbigh, in North Wales, in 1840,
John Eowlands lost his father at two years of age ;
he was educated at the parish school of St. Asaph.

1 6 life on the CONGO.

At the age of sixteen he worked his passage to
New Orleans, where he obtained employment in
the house of a merchant named Stanley. He rose
rapidly in favour and esteem, until the sudden
death of his employer destroyed his hopes. As-
suming the name of his benefactor, Henry More-
land Stanley was enrolled in the Confederate army
when the War of Secession broke out in 1861. He
was made prisoner at the battle of Pittsburg, in
1862, but effected his escape. Constantly exposed
to arrest as an escaped prisoner, he engaged him-
self as a sailor in the Federal Marine, in which he
obtained rapid promotion, becoming secretary to
the Captain of the Ticonderoga, and later held the
same position under the Admiral.

He accompanied his vessel on a European cruise,
and obtained his discharge at the end of the war.
He was next correspondent of the Missouri Democrat,
and the Neiv York Tribune, and later became travel-
ling correspondent to the New York Herald, for
which he accompanied the British forces during
the Abyssinian and Ashantee wars. After those
he made a journey through Asia Minor, the Cau-
casus and Persia to India, thence by Egypt to
Spain, where he received his commission to find
Livingstone.

That successful expedition marked him as the

THE DISCOVERY OF THE CONGO.

man to carry on further exploratory work in Africa ;
and when the news of Dr. Livingstone’s death
reached Europe, fired with the desme to carry on
the work of the great Doctor, he gladly accepted
the commission of the Daily Telegraph and New
York Herald.

Starting from Zanzibar November 17, 1874, he
circumnavigated the Lakes Victoria Nyanza and
Tanganika for the first time, carefully charting.
Thence he struck across to Nyangwe. In spite of

the obstacles and difficulties that had hindered

others, his immense determination, his resources,
and knowledge of the Swahili language, enabled
him to induce his men to follow him down the
river.

He recalled to their minds the long weary
marches, the terrible dank forests of Urega, how
easy it would be to sit in canoes, and paddle down
this great river, which must flow into the sea.
They agreed, and met the first serious impediment
to navigation at the Equator, where a series of
seven cataracts in forty miles caused them to trans-
port their canoes overland round these obstacles.

Clear of these Stanley Falls they had an uninter-
rupted course for 1,060 miles, the river widening
out in some places to as much as twenty-five miles
in breadth, studded with low sandy tree-covered

l8 LIFE ON THE CONGO.

islands. As he neared the end of this grand reach
of .waterway, hills appeared, the river narrowed,
and the banks grew steeper until they towered a
thousand feet above him. The river widened out
once more into a pool some seventy miles in cir-
cumference, which is now named Stanley Pool, at
the western end of which the explorer heard the
thunder of the Ntamu Cataracts. From this
point his difficulties were to be of a different
nature. Along the 1,000 miles of clear waterway
which he had just passed, he had been exposed
to the constant attacks of wild, fierce savages,
now he had to struggle with a wilder, fiercer
river. The next one hundred miles occupied
four months. Dragging his canoes overland, past
the Ntamu Cataracts, he took once more to the
water, only to find another cataract a few miles
lower down. This was his constant experience,
while the porterage past these obstacles often in-
volved the conveyance of his heavy canoes, stores,
etc., 700 and 1,000 feet up the steep banks of the
river, four or five miles overland, and down again
into the deep gorge. Stores were running short,
food was scarce, canoes were lost in the rapids,
some of his men were drowned, including Frank
Pocock, his only surviving white companion.
Privations, sickness, and murderous natives had

THE DISCOVERY OF THE CONGO. ig

thinned his ranks, but he struggled on. Clearing
the Ntombo Mataka Falls, he found a reach of
ninety miles of very bad, but navigable water, and
at the end of which were the great Isangila Falls.
There, learning that he was within a few days’
journey of factories and white men, he left the
river, and his weary company toiled over the steep
quartz hills and reached Mboma in August, 1877, in
an almost starving condition. A year of drought
and great scarcity of food had added much to his
difficulties. However, the journey was accom-
plished, the Congo River had been traced, the
highway into the heart of Africa had been explored.
Taking his people down the last quiet sixty miles of
the river, he arranged for their return to Zanzibar,
via the Cape of Good Hope. Having seen them
safe home again, and rewarded their devotion and
toil, he reached England to announce his great
discovery.

CHAPTEK II.

pi^gsical features of i\)z (Congo.

ouGHLY we may describe the Basin of the

Congo as extending from the 5th degree of
North, to the 12th degree of South, latitude, and
from the hills skirting the coast of the Atlantic
Ocean to 31st or 32nd degree of East longitude.

Along what is known as the South-West Coast
of Africa, from the Gulf of Biafra southwards,
stretches a ridge of hill country. It commences
about fifty to seventy miles inland, and is about
300 miles in width. In some parts it attains an
elevation of 5,000 or more feet, but the general
altitude near the Congo is from 2,000 to 2,500
above the level of the sea. It is really a belt or
elevated plateau ; rich soil is to be found on the
summits of the ‘hills,’ but the whole has been
torn and worn by the rains ; little streams have in
time cut out deep gorges, the sides of which are
being further eroded, until what was once a rolling
table-land appears as a chaos of hills ; only from a

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE CONGO. 21

few heights can one gain a fair idea of the nature
of the country.

This plateau belt forms the western watershed
of the Congo Kiver, and on its seaward slopes
gives rise to many unimportant streams, of which
the Cameroons, Gaboon, Ogowai, Kwilu, Chiloango,
Mbidiji,[(Ambrize),'Loje, and Kwanza are the prin-
cipal. The Ogowai is the most important, and has
been explored by M. de Brazza for the French
Government, which has now annexed its entire
basin. It is navigable for some 150 miles for
vessels of light draught ; but beyond its course is
much impeded by cataracts.

This water-torn plateau country, with its little
useless rivers, has presented a formidable obstacle
to exploration, and has served to throw all interior
water into the Congo. To the north of the Great
Basin stretches the high lands of the unknown
countries which form also the watershed of the
Shari and the Nile. Eastward stretches the hill
country on the west of the Victoria and Albert
Nyanza, and on the east of Tanganika, while to
the south is the watershed of the Zambesi.

This great circle of hills probably enclosed at
one time an immense fresh-water lake, of an area
of a million and a half square miles, which at
length, overflowing at its weakest point, formed

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

the outlet which we to-day call the Congo Eiver.
The immense flood thus released tore out the deep
gorge, which is now 1,000 and 1,500 feet below the
main level. There are signs in some parts of
changes in its course, one notably in the Bundi
valley, thirty-five miles from Vivi, which was at
one time undoubtedly a channel of the Congo ;
there are other valleys also presenting that appear-
ance, the levels, entrances, and exits of which
would lead one to conclude that such had been
the case.

If a transverse section were taken about the
middle of the cataract region, there would be first
an ascent from the river, almost perpendicular, of
from 300 to 500 feet in about one-third of a mile,
then a much steadier rise of some 500 to 700 feet
in two miles, and then a rise of another 500 to 700
feet in eight miles, with a further steady rise for
five miles, so that the actual valley in the cataract
region might be estimated roughly at from twenty
to thirty miles in breadth. The river itself varies
from 300 yards to one-and-a-half or two miles wide
at mid-flood ; while the difference between the high-
est water of the rainy season and the lowest in
the dry season, varies from forty feet in the worst
parts to about three feet on the lower river

To the geologist the country between the coast

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE CONGO. 23

and Stanley Pool is best studied along the river.
The first low hills approach near to the mouth of
the river, which is about seven miles wide, and
devoid of a delta; the next step in the plateau
occurs at five miles west of Mboma, fifty miles
from the coast, where the tops of the ‘ hills ’ are
from 500 to 700 feet in height. There we find a
red clay yielding copal above granitic rocks. The
banks grow steeper and the river narrows, until
at Vivi the first serious obstacle is met, the plateau
level being about 1,700 feet, and the river about
600 yards wide. Just above this is the fierce
Yelala Cataract ; indeed, nowhere can you properly
speak of falls ; a drop of fifty feet, which would be
a fine scene on an ordinary river, is almost dis-
regarded by the Congo. The bed of a cataract
must be of very hard rock, and down this inclined
plane, the river, nipped tightly by the hills, rushes
with fearful velocity, leaping in mad waves,
foaming and raging at its rocky obstacles. In
some of the milder cataracts it rushes down a swirl-
ing mound of water, which projected into the
quieter low level at the foot of the cataract, races
on as a heap of waters for nearly half a mile,
before it consents to swirl about at the lower level.
Fierce up currents run along the shore at such
points, which would draw boats or canoes into the

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

swirling current, while along the edges of these
counter-currents are great whirlpools, giving way
to each other, disappearing, and breaking up into
‘ caldrons,’ the whole surface heaving and seething.
In a creek three miles below the Ntombo Cataract
we have watched this heaving. The water would
flow outwards from the creek, then meeting the
impulse of a fresh heave, would flow back until it
would remain stationary for some twenty seconds,
often two feet higher than what it was a minute
ago. This flows backwards and forwards in the
creek, recurring every two minutes or minute and
a half.

At Vivi the country is much eroded, granitic
rocks, schist, mica, gneiss, and quartz are exposed.
The hill-sides are rock strewn, and the country
is wild and desolate, covered with weak grass and
stunted gnarled trees. In the more level spots
rich soil has collected, and the natives cultivate
there their cassava, ground-nuts, etc. This is the
nature of the country for the next fifty miles.
Near the river a chaos of hills, further away
rolling plateau, covered with strong grass and
stunted trees. The tops of these nzanza, by Mr.
Stanley’s careful survey, vary but fifty feet over
stretches of forty miles. Above Isangila lime-
stone crops up with slaty rocks, the main level

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE CONGO. 25

near the river is lower, and traversed by straight
ridges of hills running parallel with the coast, and

A LOAD.

from five to ten miles apart. Clear of the lime-
stone, the country is once more a torn plateau,
slate and shale abound, until at 200 miles from

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

the coast occurs a very marked step of 700 feet.
Here the country is from 2,300 to 2,500 feet above
the sea, and continues so, the rock being a red or
purple sandstone. Several higher ridges cross the
country as you near Stanley Pool, cut abruptly by
the gorge of the river, and continued on beyond.
Stanley Pool is a widening out of the river in a
weak point among the hills, which marks the head
of the cataract region, the water level being about
1,000 feet above the sea. The plateau country
continues for a further 150 miles, when hills dis-
appear, and the main level appears to be about
1,100 feet above the sea. From Irebu, 250 miles
above the Pool, to Stanley Falls, the banks are
forest-clad. The country then divides itself into
three regions between the coast and Stanley Falls.
The lower river 100 miles, cataract region 200
miles (nearly 300 miles in winding course), the
upper river 1,060 miles. Or coast level fifty miles,
plateau level 400 miles, central level 900 miles, of
which 800 miles are forest-clad banks.

The cataract region is the obstacle that has kept
so long secret this great highway ; but that passed,
on the upper river there are 1,100 miles of un-
impeded navigation, while the affluents are esti-
mated at 2,000 miles ; beyond the Stanley Falls
stretch another 2,000 miles of riverway. Two of

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE CONGO. 27

the affluents have been explored, and on each was
found a lake, while the natives at the mouths of
other affluents speak of lakes. It is highly probable
that further explorations will reveal other lake
regions, all available to the steamers and boats on
the upper river.

Communications interiorwards are certain ; but
between the coast and Stanley Pool everything
must be transported on men’s heads, until there
shall be a railway. The roads are mere footpaths
over the hills from town to town ; while the tall
thick grass is so strong that it must be hoed up
and the bushes cleared before any wheeled carriage
could be used. Then again the country is so torn,
and streams in their deep gorges so abundant, that
travelling is very largely a series of ascents and
descents.

CHAPTER III.

Vegetation, (Climate, anb People.

HE vegetation is very varied in the rock- strewn

sides of the ravines, in the granitic and
quartzose regions it is very bare and weak. But
where the plateau level has been less disturbed,
the thick maxinde grass (x = sh) shows the rich-
ness of the soil ; while the carefully tended farms
near the towns, beautiful with the rich green
of the ground-nut, thickly tangled with sweet-
potatoes, or jungled with cassava bushes, show
what can be done with the soil, by clearing and
a little scratching with the hoe.

In the broader valleys, where the streams are
smaller, or have done less destruction to the
country, grows the giant diddia grass, the stems
often attaining two and a half inches in ckcum-
ference and a mean height of fifteen feet ; there
may be found some of the richest soil in the world.
Where the diddia has been exists the wildest luxu-
riance of vegetation ; palms, plantain, Indian corn.

CONGO VILLAGE.

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 31

ground-nuts, yams and all garden produce are at
their best, and ever at the mercy of the elephants,
who rejoice in such choice selection. In the
Majinga country the native houses have to be
scattered through their rich farms, and morning
and night the people shout, scream, and beat their
drums to frighten off these giant marauders.

It is not a forest country. Strange clumps of
trees grow on the tops of the hills, which mark the
ancient plateau level, but the rich soil beside the
streams and in the snug valleys is generally well
wooded. The vegetation presents an altogether-
tropical appearance, the bracken in the glades is
the only thing home-like. Eich creepers drape the
trees, beautiful palms lend their rare grace, and
in their seasons an endless succession of beautiful
flowers, from huge arums to a tiny crucifer of the
richest scarlet, bright creepers, pure white stepha-
notis-like blossoms, rich lilies, and many other-
gorgeous plants, and bright berries, not in such
wild, packed profusion that the eye is bewildered
with a blaze of beauty, but here and there with
sufficient interval to permit the due appreciation
of their several lovelinesses. The beauty of the
leaf-forms is alone a pleasure ; while the tints from
the darkest green to soft yellow, delicate pink,
bronze, chocolate, and bright crimsorr are nrysteries

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

of colour. On the rocky stream banks and on the
palm stems are graceful ferns, while the lycopodium
climbs the bushes, mingled with the beautiful
selaginella. The scenery of the country is described
in an unequalled manner by Mr. H. H. Johnston
in his book, The River Congo. Himself an accom-
plished artist, he describes as only an artist can.

The vegetation suffers from the annual grass
fires, which sweep the country. As soon as the
dry season has well set in (June) the burning
commences; in some parts it does not become
general until August. The grass is fired sometimes
on a small scale by the children, that they may
hunt their rats, but the great fires occur when the
natives of a district combine for a grand hunt. For
days the fire steadily sweeps along, the game flee
before it, hawks wheel above the line of fire, catch-
ing the grasshoppers that seek to avoid the flames,
while smaller birds catch the lesser insects. The
internodes of the burning grass explode with a re-
port like that of a pistol, and can be heard distinctly
a mile distant. Women and children follow on
the line to dig out the rats ; and in the holes may
be found rats, mice, snakes, and lizards, seeking
common protection from a common danger. At
night the horizon is lit up by the zigzag lines of
fire, and in the daytime are seen the thick columns of

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 33

smoke slowly advancing, and filling the air with
a dull haze, which limits the horizon to ten or
fifteen miles.

The climate of the Congo has been unduly vilified.
In common with all intertropical regions there is
a malarial fever, which has claimed many victims.
It generally assumes an intermittent type, com-
mencing with an ague ‘ shake ; ’ sometimes it is
remittent, and combines with grave symptoms.
Although the precise nature of the malarial germ
is still unknown, continued study has enabled
medical men to grapple much more successfully
with this great enemy. So long as it was the
custom to treat the fever with bleeding and calomel
it was no wonder that Africa was ‘ the white man’s
grave ; ’ that was not so much the fault of Africa
as the white man’s ignorance.

Traders on the coast have generally fair health,
and many live to old age. Ladies in the Mission
stations and elsewhere live long on the coast.
Indeed, Dr. Laws, of Livingstonia, has expressed
an opinion that ladies, as a rule, stand the climate
better than the men.

In these matters we are far readier to count up
the misfortunes than to note the large proportion
of those who live long and do good work in Africa.

New missions and scientific expeditions have
D

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

paid the penalty for ignorance and the difficulties
of pioneering ; but where the experience of others
can aid, and due precautions are observed, there
is no reason why the Congo should be considered
more unhealthy than India generally. It is cer-
tainly possible to live on the Congo. The writer,
who was one of the first party of the Baptist Mis-
sionary Society’s Congo Mission, and has had five
years’ pioneering work, had not a single fever
during the last two and a half years. This is rather
exceptional, but speaks well as to the possibilities.
Indeed, there are many reasons why the climate
of India should be considered worse. The Indian
temperature is far higher, dysentery and cholera
are annual scourges, and liver complaints far more
common.

The excellent Observations Meteorologiques of Dr.
A. von Danckelman, of the International Associa-
tion (Asher and Co., Berlin), gives most interesting
statistics of the Lower Congo. The highest tem-
perature registered by him at an elevation of 375
feet was 96-5® Fahr., and the lowest 53®, the
highest mean temperature being 83®. The general
midday temperature in the house in the hot season
is 80® — 85®; and at night 75®— 80®. On the coast
a cool breeze blows in from the sea from about
eleven o’clock in the morning ; commencing some-

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 35

what later in proportion to the distance in the
interior. This same cool sea-breeze blows freshly
on the upper river, and even when high tempera-
tures can be taken in the sun the air is cool.
Very frequently thick clouds cover the sky and
temper the heat. In this respect the Congo
compares very favourably with India, and with
other parts of the African coast. On the Congo a
punkah is quite unnecessary at any time, in a
house built on a reasonable site.

The rainy season commences in the cataract
region about September 15, attaining the maxima
in November and April, with a minimum (the ‘ little
rains’) about Christmas time, and ceasing about
May 15. The rise of the river commences about
August, for the northern rains, culminating about
January 1, when it falls rapidly until April 1. It
then rises rapidly to a second but lower maximum
about May 1 ; it then steadily falls until August.
These dates may vary a fortnight, or even three
weeks; that is to say, they may occur so much
earlier, but seldom later.

The rain generally falls at night, often with a
violent tornado soon after sundown. Heavy clouds
appear on the horizon, the tornado arch advances,
the wind lulls, and with breathless suspense every-
thing prepares for the onslaught of the storm. A

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

dull roar is heard. The hiss of coming rain, fierce
gusts of wind, and in a moment the deluge is upon
you. Wild wind, torrents of rain, incessant peals
of thunder, flashes of lightning every few seconds.
The whole world seems to be going to rack and
ruin. After an hour or two the fury of the storm
is spent, and heavy rain continues for a while.

Considering the intensity of the electric disturb-
ance, accidents by lightning are rare. One or two
cases only have been noted thus far : the mission
boat on the Cameroons Kiver was struck, and three
people on board killed ; a house of the International
Association was fired ; the same thing occurred in
a native village. Occasionally a tree is struck.

Game is not by any means abundant. Several
species of antelope are found, the most common
being the harnessed antelope {Tragelaphiis scriptus).
Elephants are numerous in some parts, but are
very seldom hunted. Leopards are found through-
out the country. There are two species of buffaloes
on the upper river ; west of Stanley Pool they are
less numerous, and more confined in their distribu-
tion. The gorilla is reported three days north of
Stanley Pool. The chimpanzee has been heard of,
but not seen. Many monkeys inhabit the woods.
The jackal is not uncommon ; but the lion, which
was common until fifty years ago, has disappeared

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 37

over the district between the Kwangu and the
mouth of the river. Hippopotami are very numer-
ous ; three varieties of crocodile infest the rivers.

A SCENE ON THE CONGO.

Fish in great variety are caught by the natives
in traps and nets, and by hooks and spearing.
Whitebait fishing affords occupation to many men

38 LIFE ON THE CONGO.

in the cataract regions. By day they sit on the
rocks waiting for the gleam of a shoal ; and when
one appears, in an instant they have divested
themselves of their scanty clothes, and rush into
the strong shallow water with their nets — not
unlike a shrimper’s net — each one a little beyond
the other, and often are well rewarded for their
trouble. Their take is then dried in the sun and
sold in the market.

The grey parrots fly home in the evenings in
great flocks, whistling and screaming, the happiest
birds there are. There is an endless variety of
bird-life, which as the mating season nears dons
brighter and more striking colouring.

Not very promising was the aspect which the
wild people dwelling on the banks of the Congo
River presented to Mr. Stanley during the first
journey through these unknown regions. As he
approached a village, the great war drums and
horns thundered through the woods, canoes were
manned, and, apparently without the remotest
reason, they proceeded to attack the white man
with his little flock.

Fierce, wild savagery, loathsome cannibalism,
cruelty, the densest darkness and degradation of
heathenism — such was the aspect as the two white
men, with some one hundred and fifty followers.

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 39

endeavoured quietly and i^eaceably to jjaddle in
midstream past the villages.

NGOMBE WARRIOR.

We have talked with these folk about this
humiliating phase of humanity.

‘ Why did you attack the mundele (white man) ? ’

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

‘ We did not, but we were going to.’

‘ Why ? Sit down, and tell us all about it.’

This to a Zombo slave of the Bayansi of Bolobo,
who had been sold by his countrymen for ivory,
when scarcely more than a baby. His forehead
scored with the tribal mark of his master, he was
in bearing and speech a thorough Mubangi, but
remembered his old language, as there are many
such slaves on the upper river.

‘ The news reached us,’ he said, ‘ that a white
man and his followers were coming down the river.
Every one above us had attacked him for the
honour and glory of having fought one of the
mysterious whites we hear of, and for whose cloth
we trade. We could not let the opportunity pass ;
had we done so, we should have been behind the
rest, and become the ridicule of the river. When
we went to trade, and joined the dance in friendly
towns, the girls would sing how their braves had
fought the white man, while the Bolobo people had
hidden in the grass like women. We manned our
canoes, and hid behind the long point above our
town ; but a little above us the white man crossed
to the other side of the river. We waited to see
what would happen, and soon one of our people
came from the oi^posite towns, and told us that
the white man was buying food, and giving beads.

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 41

brass wire, and glorious things. We quickly filled
our canoes with plaintain, cassava pudding, fowls,
etc., and hurried over, and so we did not fight
after all.’

That was the beginning of better days for Mr.
Stanley. The story as we heard it at Stanley
Pool explains in a measure the persistent savage
attacks.

Since November, 1882, there has been a station
of the International Association at Bolobo ; and
the Congo Mission is hoping shortly to occupy that
populous district.

The inhabitants of Africa have been divided into
six great races. Their languages form the basis of
such division, klr. K. N. Gust, the Secretary of
the Eoyal Asiatic Society, has recently published
a valuable work on the Languages of Africa, and
the coloured map accompanying it presents the
distribution of races very graphically to the eye.
To the north we find the Semitic race. In the
Sahara, on the Nile, in Abyssinia and in Somali
land, a Hamitic race, speaking languages allied to
Ethiopic. From Gambia to the mouths of the
Niger the Negro race, of whom the Ashantees are
types.

Interspersed among the Negro and Hamitic races

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

are detached peoples, speaking languages of the
Nuba Fullah group, of whom the Masai, among
whom Mr. Thomson has been travelling, to the
east of the Victoria Nyanza, may be taken as
types.

To the south of all these is the great Bantu
(=men) race. A line drawn eastward from the
Gulf of Biafra to the Indian Ocean will mark
roughly the boundary of this greatest of the African
races. Near to the Cape of Good Hope are found
the Hottentot Bushman, a degraded race, who
appear to have been the aborigines, but now driven
to the remotest corner, are still yielding to the
stronger Bantus.

It is surmised that some dwarf races, said to be
scattered through the Bantu countries, may be of
this aboriginal stock, but no satisfactory opportu-
nities have yet offered for ascertaining the truth.
These dwarfs are always a little beyond the coun-
tries visited by travellers, a few specimens, said to
belong to them, have been seen, but their country
is ever elusive. It is likely that they may prove
to be degraded tribes of the races among whom
they dwell, just as the Niam Niams are believed
to he Nuba-Fullahs.

Of the Bantus the Zulu Kaffirs may be the best
known types, although they have borrowed from

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 43

the Hottentots the clicks that so much disfigure
their language.

With the exception of these hypothetical dwarfs,
the inhabitants of the Congo basin are all Bantus.

As before stated, language is the basis of such
classification. With the other races they have
nothing in common. In roots, grammatical con-
struction and all distinguishing features of language,
the Bantu dialects have a marked individuality,
differing almost totally from the other races, while
showing the most marked affinities among them-
selves. It would be inappropriate to burden the
present paper with a lengthy dissertation on the
peculiarities of the Bantu languages. The most
marked feature is the euphonic concord, a principle
by which the characteristic prefix of the noun is
attached to the pronouns and adjectives, qualifying
it, and to the verb of which it is the subject. Thus
jaatadi mama ??irtmpwena j/iampembe 7/ic'jitanga
beni: these great white stones are very heavy.
Quoting J. E. Wilson, Mr. Gust remarks that ‘ The
Bantu languages are soft, pliant, and flexible, to
an almost unlimited extent. Their grammatical
principles are founded on the most systematic and
philosophical basis, and the number of words may
be multiplied to an almost indefinite extent. They
are capable of expressing all the nicer shades of

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

thought and feeling, and perhaps no other languages
of the world are capable of more definiteness and
IH’ecision of expression. Livingstone justly remarks
that a complaint of the poverty of the language is
often only a sure proof of the scanty attainments
of the complainant. As a fact the Bantu languages
are exceedingly rich.’ My owm researches fully
confirm these remarks. The question is very
naturally raised, Whence do these savages possess
so fine a language? Is it an evolution now in
process from something ruder and more savage or
from something inarticulate? The marked simi-
larity of the dialects points to a common origin ;
their richness, superiority, and the regularity of
the individual character maintained over so large
an area, give a high idea of the original language
which was spoken before they separated.

Heathenism is degrading, and under its influence
everything is going backwards. We are led by the
evidence of the language to look for a better, nobler
origin of the race, rather than to consider it an
evolution from something infinitely lower. The
Bantu languages are as far removed from others
of the continent as English is from Turkish or
Chinese. Some earlier writers have endeavoured
to trace similarities, but later research has proved
that they do not exist. The origin of the race

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 45

must ever remain a mystery. What, when, and
where, cannot be ascertained, for no memorials
exist in books or monuments. The Bantu race
and languages cannot be an evolution from some-
thing inferior ; they are a degradation from some-
thing superior. Coastwards there are traditions of
change and movement on the part of the people ;
in the east and on the south marauding tribes and
slave-hunters have devastated large tracts of coun-
try, but there is no sign of general movement on
the part of the Bantus.

The traditions of countries along the coast where
white men have long settled speak of much greater,
more powerful kingdoms in the past ; and after due
allowance has been made for exaggeration, it is too
evident that the kings of Congo, Kabinda, Loango,
and Angola, exerted at one time far more influence
than they do to-day. Indeed, the King of Congo
is the only chief who maintains his style and title ;
the others have become extinct during this century.
We find then the whole country in a state of dis-
integration ; every town a separate state, and its
chief, to all practical purposes, independent.

Makoko, the Teke chief with whom De Brazza
made his famous treaty, is said to have levied taxes
on the north bank people near his town. The
King of Congo used to receive a tribute from the

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

remnants of the old Congo empire ; but to-day he
has to content himself with levying a mild black-
mail on passing caravans, and receives a present,
when he gives the ‘ hat ’ and the insignia of office to
those who succeed to chieftainships over which in
olden times the kings exercised suzerainty. Few,
indeed, of those acknowledge him to-day even to
that extent.

These independent townships group themselves
into tribes and tribelets ; it is, however, a matter
of great difficulty to learn the tribal names, which
are best obtained from neighbours. The old Congo
empire formerly included the countries on the
south bank from the coast to Stanley Pool, and
southward to the Bunda-speaking people of Ngola
(Angola), while homage was rendered by the kings
of Loango and Kabinda. To-day the influence of
the king is merely nominal outside his town. He
is respected, however, in a radius of thirty or forty
miles, but seldom if ever interferes in any matters.

San Salvador is situated on a plateau 1,700 feet
above the sea, about two-and-a-half miles long by
one mile wide. Broad valleys 300 feet deep sur-
round it, and in the south flows the little river
Lueji, a tributary of the Lunda-Mpozo.

There are abundant traces of its former import-
ance. The ruins of a stone wall, two feet thick

VEGETATION, CLIMATE, AND PEOPLE. 47

and fifteen feet high, encircle the town. The ruins
of the cathedral are very interesting, and show it
to have been a very fine building. The material is
an ironstone conglomerate, while the lime was
burnt from rock in the neighbourhood.

Amid the strong rich grass that covers the
plateau exist ruins of some twenty-six buildings,
which are said to' have been churches, while
straight lines of mingomena bushes mark the sites
of suburban villas and hamlets. The story runs
that the old kings kept up the population of the
Mbanza (chief town) by raids into the country.
The natives of a town forty miles away would wake
up in the morning to find themselves surrounded.
As they came out of their houses they would be
killed, until there was no further show of resist-
ance ; then those who remained would be deported
to the capital and be compelled to build there,
while many would be sold to the slave-traders on
the coast. These days are for ever past. Men-of-
war have so closely watched the coast that the
slave trade has languished and died, except in
Angola, where it exists under a finer name, the
slave being considered a ‘ Colonial,’ while Portu-
guese ingenuity and corruption arrange for ‘ emi-
gration ’ to the islands San Thome, Principe, and
even to the Bissagos.

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

While these slave raids in Congo are things of
the past, a mild domestic slavery exists among the
natives. In most cases the slaves are more like
feudal retainers or serfs. A man of means invests
his money in slaves, and thereby becomes more
independent, for his slave retainers can support
him in difficulties with his neighbours. It fre-
quently happens that he builds a stockade at a
little distance from the town in which he has been
brought up, and this becomes the nucleus of a new'
town. In the latter end of the rainy season and
the beginning of the ‘ dries,’ they will cut nian^a
grass, the long six-foot blades of which spring up
out of the ground, and have no stem or nodes.
This grass is dried and used for the covering of
the huts. Stems of palm fronds are also trimmed
and split. Papyrus is brought from the marshes,
and strips of its green skin twisted into string, with
which they tie together securely the posts and
rafters, so that they may stand the strain of the
fierce tornadoes which sweep the country.

MANNER OF DRESSING THE HAIR.

i CHAPTEE IV.

i^omc £ife on i\)z (Congo.

Perhaps the home life of the Congo folk may
be best depicted if some familiar scenes are
described.

While engaged in the transport^, service of the
, mission, I was sitting quietly in my tent in Sadi
' Kiandunga’s town, when without the least warning

1a volley was fired at less than a hundred yards
from my little camp. The men shouted, the
women screamed, the wildest commotion ensued.
Was it an attack upon the town? What had

. ■

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

happened ? As a man ran past the tent, I inquired
the cause,

‘ Oh, nothing,’ he said ; ‘ it is only a baby born,
and everyone is glad and shouting out their joy at
the safe birth ; they have fired a feu-de-joie : don’t
you do so in your country ? ’

The house where the little stranger had arrived
was very small ; a fire was burning inside, filling it
with strong wood smoke ; and as if that were not
sufficient discomfort for such a time, the house was
literally crammed with women, all shouting vocifer-
ously, showing in this well-meaning but mistaken
manner their sympathy in the mother’s joy.

The people rise at daybreak, and the fire, which
has been kept smouldering all night, is replenished,
or, if it has gone out, fire is obtained from another
household. The wife clears up the ashes from the
hearth, and sweeps out the chips and husks that
remain from last night’s supper.

The husband, if a tidy man, sweeps his com-
pound. Negro toilet operations then ensue. A
calabash of water is taken behind the house, and
filling his mouth with water Ndualu (Dom Alvaro)
allows a thin stream to flow over his hands as he
carefully washes them, also his face ; then cleaning
his teeth, he goes to sit in front of his house to
comb his hair. The ladies have been bestirring

HOME LIFE ON THE CONGO. 51

themselves, and a snack of food is ready — a few
roast ground-nuts, or a piece of prepared cassava.

The infants are placed in the care of older bahies,
and the women and girls of the town wend their
way to the village spring, where they bathe and
gossip until all the calabashes being full they
return with the day’s supply of water. One cala-
bash is for the baby, who is brought outside, and
carefully washed, squalling lustily as the cold
douche is poured over him. If the mother is care-
ful, his feet are examined for jiggers. This sand
flea, brought from Brazils some twenty years ago,
is a great pest. Burrowing into the feet often in
the most tender parts, the insect swells until its
eggs are mature, when the little cyst bursts, and
they are set free. If they are not extracted the
jiggers set up an inflammation, which may even
terminate in mortification. It is very common to
see one or two toes absent from this cause.

The preliminaries of the day being over, the
women start for the farms. Taking with them in
the great conical basket a hoe, a little food, and a
small calabash of water, the baby is carried on the
hip, or more often made to straddle its mother’s
back, and tied on with a cloth dexterously fastened
in front. So the poor child travels often through
the hot sun, bound tightly to its mother’s reeking

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

body, its little head but inadequately protected by
its incipient wool. No -wonder that an African
baby who has survived the hardships of babyhood
grows up to be strong, and able to bear great strain
and fatigue. The weaklings are early weeded out,
and often poor mothers, wringing their hands, wail
and deplore the loss of the little darling, whose
death is due to their own lack of care, rather than
to the supposed witchcraft and devilish malice of
some one in the town.

The men will sometimes help in the farms when
trees have to be felled, but otherwise the women
perform the farm work ; and as the ground does not
need much scratching to produce a crop, the hoeing
and weeding afford them healthy employment,
sufficient to keep them so far out of mischief. We
have seen towns in the neighbourhood of Stanley
Pool where the women do no farm work, living on
the proceeds of their husband’s ivory trade ; they
gossip, smoke, sleep, and cook, or spend an hour
or two in arranging the coiffure of their lord or of
a companion. Laziness is not good for any folk,
and wdiere there is so little housework the garden-
ing is not too severe a tax on the women. Towards
evening they return, bringing some cabbage or
cassava leaves, or something to make up some little
relish, and proceed to cook the evening meal.

HOME LIFE ON THE CONGO. 53

The men have their own departments of work :
they are great traders. The Congo week consists
of four days ; Nkandu, Konzo, Nhenge, Nsona, and
every four or eight days they hold their markets.
As they have many markets within a moderate
distance, and occurring on different days of the
week, there is generally a market to attend on
each day, if any one is so disposed. The market-
places are in open country, generally on a hill-top,
away from towns. These precautions prevent sur-
prises. ,

On the appointed day large numbers of men,
women, and children are to be met carrying their
goods. There is cassava in various forms, dried,
in puddings, or as meal; plantain, ground-nuts,
and other food-stuffs ; pigs, goats, sheep, fowls and
fish; dried caterpillars on skewers; dried meat;
wares from Europe; cloth, beads, knives, guns,
brass wire, salt, gunpowder. Drink in abundance,
palm wine, native beer, sometimes gin and rum.
Native produce, such as palm oil, ground-nuts,
sesamum, india-rubber, crates of fowls, bundles of
native cloth, meal sieves, baskets, hoes, etc.

Stringent laws are made to protect these markets.
No one is allowed to come armed, no one may
catch a debtor on market-day, no one may use a
knife against another in a passion. The penalty

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

for all these offences is death, and many muzzles
of buried guns stick up in the market places to
warn other rowdies against a like fate. Between
the coast and Stanley Pool beads are the currency;
above the Pool brass rods take their place. A man
wishing to sell salt and to buy india-rubber, first
sells his salt for beads, and with the beads buys
the rubber. Large profits can be made on these
markets, and many natives spend the greater part
of their time travelling from one to another for
the purpose of trade.

Children commence trading very early. A five-
year old boy will somehow get three or four strings
of beads, and with them will buy a small chicken.
After a few months of patient care, it is worth
eight or ten strings, and his capital is doubled.
He is soon able to buy a small pig, which follows
him about like a dog, and sleeps in his house until,
by and by, it fetches a good amount on the market.
The proceeds of rat hunting, barter among the
town boys, axrd further trade, have meanwhile
increased his stock in trade. When he grows older,
he accompanies a caravan to the coast, he gets a
nice present to carry food for his uncle ; en route
his ideas of trade are enlarged. He commences to
buy india-rubber, and brings back with him next
time salt and cloth, a gun and some powder, a

HOME LIFE ON THE CONGO.

knife, and a plate. And so by degrees he is en-
couraged to fresh effort, until he has sufficient to
pay for a wife or two. Continuing still in trade, he
buys and sells, investing his property in slave
retainers, and hiding some in reserve, in case of
misfortune, or against his death. For it is the
ambition of all to be buried in a large quantity of
cloth. Then the report goes that so and so was
buried, and that he was wound in 200 fathoms
of cloth, and that 50 guns were buried with him,
and so on. This sort of burial is a Congo West-
mmster Abbey.

The girls helj) their mothers in farming and
housework until they arrive at a marriageable age.
In some places they are betrothed very early ; the
intended husband paying a deposit, and by instal-
ments completing the price demanded by the girl’s
maternal relatives. The amount is often heavy —
reckoned by Congo wealth — but varies much ac-
cording to the position of the girl’s family or the
suitor’s wealth. It is altogether a business matter.
Should the wife die, her maternal relatives have to
provide another wife without further payment;
and as frequently they have spent the sum paid
in the first instance, they are landed in difficulties.
Palavers about women are a fruitful source of war.

Children are considered the property of the wife’s

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

relatives, the father has little or uo control over
them. The right of inheritance is from uncle to
nephew, thus a man’s slaves and real property go
to the eldest son of his eldest sister, or the next of
kin on such lines. A wise nephew will therefore
leave his father!s house, and go to live with his
uncle, whom he hopes to succeed. His uncle also,
knowing that his nephew is to inherit his goods,
while his own children . belong to his wife’s clan,
cares more for his nephew than his own children.
The evil of the system is recognized by many, but
they cannot see how the necessary revolution is to
be brought about.

At the age of five or six the boys do not stay
longer with their mothers. Some bigger boys
having built a house, the small boys just breaking
loose from parental restraints go to them, and beg
to be allowed to live with them. They in turn
promise to find them in firewood, and to be their
little retainers pro tern. These boys’ houses are
called mbonge. I turned up late at night (eight
o’clock) in a native town, having made a' forced
march. I had never visited there before, and not
liking to rouse the chief at such an hour, I went to
the mbonge, and asked the boys whether I and my
two attendants might sleep there to save fuss and
trouble, as I must be off again at daybreak. ‘ Oh,

HOME LIFE ON THE CONGO. 57

you are Ingelezo, are you ? come in ; yes, we are glad
to see you, so often we have heard of you, and
now we see you. We are very pleased.’ This was
kindly spoken ; so, stooping through the low door-
way, I entered a roomy house. Some ten boys had
just finished supper, and squatted round a smoky
fire. I was glad to stretch'out on the papyrus mat
they gave me, keeping low down, to avoid the smoke
which otherwise almost blinded me. I had with
me half a fowlj a small bell (l^d.), and three strings
of beads. A boy spitted my » fowl over the fire,
while my attendants dozed, for they were worn out
with the long march of the day. I begged some
plantain, and a lad went to the door, and shouted,
‘ Bring some plantain to the mbonge.’ A kindly
woman brought some. When my meal was ready
I asked for a pinch of salt and some water ; they
shouted' for these, and got them. Having finished
my meal, I-' coiled up in my blanket; and next
morning, giving them the bell and three strings,
thanked them,' and so we parted.

. The .boys of the vihonge are well attended to ;
for to get the name of ‘ stingy ’ is the first step
towards the terrible rumour of witch.

The constant activities of trade tend to develop
the intellectual faculties of the people. Cute, long-
headed men, with wonderful memories, having no

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

account books or invoices, they ask you sensible
questions ; and if you can speak their language, an
hour’s chat may be as pleasant with them as with
some whiter and more civilised folk. If you have
a bargain to drive with them, you need all your
wits and firmness ; while if they are stronger than
you, or have no reason to respect you, they will
have their way.

Clever in pottery and metal work, making hoes
and knives, casting bracelets, anklets, and even
bells from the brass rods of trade, beating out
brass wire, and ribbon, they strike you at once as
being of a superior type.

We might draw another picture. There are
districts where there seems to be no energy in the
people. Take, for instance, the Majinga or the
Lukunga Valley, as we knew them two years ago.
Here the natives live in the midst of plenty, for the
soil is not to be equalled in richness. The proceeds
of a goat sold on one of the markets will find a
large family in palm fibre cloth for a year ; while
a crate or two of fowls will provide salt, gunpowder,
and an occasional hoe or plate.

A boy grows up in this rich country, and for a
while his intellect expands as he learns about the
little world around him. As he grows older, he
may bestir himself to find means to buy a gun.

HOME LIFE ON THE CONGO.

and then a wife : that accomplished, he has prac-
tically nothing more to learn or live for. He
sleeps or smokes all day, unless about September
the grass is burnt and there is a little hunting,
though a war or a palaver may sometimes break
the monotony. Otherwise, his wife cultivates the
land, and feeds him ; he eats and sleeps. Living

A CONGO NATIVE SMOKING.

such an animal life, his intellect stagnates, he
becomes quarrelsome and stupid to a degree almost
hopeless. Dirty, he is contented to see his hut
fall to pieces almost over his head.

The women are content often with a rag for
clothing. They wear a grass stem three inches long
through the nose, and a dirty rag for an earring.

6o life on the CONGO.

The hair is matted with a mixture of oil and vege-
table charcoal and if' a lady happen to be in
mourning the same filthy compound is smeared
over her face.

With the advent of white men this sad picture
has begun to change. The Livingstone Inland
IVIission (American Baptists) and the International
Association have stations among them ; their
transport and that of the Baptist Missionary Society
(English) passes through the country. The people
are coming forward as carriers ; they sell their
goats, fowls, etc., are getting cloth ; and in this
short time a change for the better is apparent.
Here lies all the difference between the degraded
and the higher types of the African. The intellect
of the one is stagnant, while ' the other has every-
thing to quicken it.

As children the better class will compare favour-
ably with English boys ;< bright, sharp, anxious to
learn, they push on well with their studies. Our
schools are full of promise. . At Stanley Pool the
other day the boys were much concerned because
a new boy had mastered his alphabet the first day.
They all felt that he was too clever.

The future of these interesting people is full of
the brightest hope. Give them the Gospel, and
with it the advantages of education, and books to

HOME LIFE ON THE CONGO. 6 1

read ; quicken within them tastes which will render
labour a necessity and a pleasure ; give them some-
thing high and noble to work and live for ; and
we shall see great and rapid changes. Christian
Missions are no experiment. We have to deal with
a vigorous race that will repay all that Christian
effort can do on their behalf.

CHAPTER V.

'Heligious J6cas of tf?c ITatioes.

There is nothing that can be said to take the
place of a religion throughout the whole
region of the Congo. There is no idolatry, no
system of worship ; nothing but a vague supersti-
tion, a groping in the dark, the deepest, saddest
ignorance, without a hope of light. The people
have the name of God, but know nothing further
about Him. The idea is not, however, of an evil
being, or they would wish to propitiate him. A
mild and gentle chief gets little respect or honour.
A man who is hard and stern, reckless of life, is
feared and respected. Hence, as they fear no evil
from God, they do irot trouble themselves about
Him in any way — never even invoke Him. Perhaps
it may be because they regard Him as beyond their
reach and ken, or careless of them.

Nzambi, or some slightly modified form, such as
Nyambi or Anyambie, is the name by which God
is known over the explored regions of the western

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 63

portion, while the Bayansi of the upper river use
also Molongo, which is the same as Mulungu and
Muungu of the east coast. Of the derivation of
Nzambi we cannot speak definitely or even
approximately. Suffice it to say that the word
has a sense of greatness, and conveys a definite
idea of a Supreme Being. It cannot he connected
with a vague notion of sky, having nothing common
with the word Ezulu (heaven).

There is a decided idea of personality, and the
Congos generally speak of Nzambi-ampungu, the
Most High (Supreme) God. The name of God is
all that they know, and certainly they have no
notion of any means of communication between
God and man. They regard Him as the Creator,
and as the sender of rain, but would never under
any circumstances think of their voice being heard
in heaven. So, having no helper, they betake
themselves to charms to avert evil and for general
protection.

The knowledge of the name of God gives us a
good basis to work upon. We can tell them that
we bring them a message from Nzambi Himself,
not a story of a white man’s God, but their God
and ours, and at once we get a ready and deeply
interested hearing.

‘Have we seen Nzambi? Does He live in the

64 life on the CONGO.

white man’s land under the sea? How did we
hear this news ? Such are the questions they are
ever ready to ask.

On one occasion, at Stanley Pool, a lad from the
far upper river sold by Zombo traders to the
Bayansi, asked me, ‘ But, Mundele, all joking
apart, what do you really come here for if you do
not want to trade ? Tell me truly.’ I told him
that we had been commissioned with the message
of good news from Nzambi, and that was our real
and sole business. ‘ What ! Nzambi, who lives in
the heavens? (Nzambi kun’ Ezulu).’ As he said
this he pointed up into the • sky. ^ Poor boy ! I
wondered how he knew that there was a God, and
that he so instinctively pointed up to the blue sky. I
saw him once or twice after that. . He soon returned
to his distant home, but could ' tell his people that
he had seen white men, who were coming soon to
bring them a good message from Nzambi.

They have a very decided idea of a future state,
but as to what and where the opinion is much
divided. Indeed, there is not the remotest notion
that death can be a cessation of being. If any
one dies they think that some one, living or dead,
has established a connection with the unseen
world, and somehow, and for some purpose, has
‘ witched away ’ the deceased.

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 6$

When a man is sick he first resorts to bleeding
and simple remedies. If no relief is obtained, a
native doctor is called. The man’s friends and
relatives help him to pay the fee, if large. Having
agreed as to the fee, the doctor may fetch aromatic
or bitter leaves from the woods, and make a decoc-
tion of them, wring them in water, or in some way
extract their properties. Perhaps he may add a
small scraping of a snake’s head, of a few nuts
or seeds, or of some mysterious articles in his
bundle of charms. There is an endless variety
of procedure.

Mr. Comber was recently watching a ‘ doctoring ’
at Ngombe. A chief, Lutete, was sick, and the
people were very anxious about him. The doctor
called for a fowl, a string was tied to its leg, and
the other end to Lutete’s arm. After some myste-
rious actions, and placing some white marks with
pipeclay upon the body of the sufferer, he pro-
ceeded to push the complaint from the extremities
into the body, from the body into the arm, and
finally succeeded in drawing the disease down the
arm, through the string, and into the unfortunate
fowl, which doubtless was little the worse for its
vicarious position, until the doctor had it killed for
his evening meal.

There is far more knavery than skill in all their

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

doctoring. If the disease does not yield to such
treatment, other doctors are called in ; and as
matters become more serious, it is evidently not
a simple case of sickness, for it will not yield to
skilful physicians ; it must be a case of witchcraft.
The sufferer now becomes terribly anxious, and
Nganga-a-moko (the charms doctor) is called in.
His duty is to tell what and why the patient ails.
He may say that it is a simple sickness, and pre-
scribe accordingly. Or if he deems it really serious,
he declares it to be a case of witchcraft. He pro-
fesses to be able to ascertain who is ‘ witching ’ the
sufferer ; but as it is not his business to mention
names, he does not do so, neither do people inquire.
Having made thorough diagnosis, he shouts to the
witch, who is spoken of as Nximbi (x = sh), to let his
patient alone, to let him live. ‘ Does he not know
that this wicked course will bring its deserts ? If he
persists in destroying his victim the witch doctor
will surely find him out.’ Then all the people join
in calling upon the unknown Nximbi to relinquish
his victim. The agony of mind of the sufferer, and
of those dear to him, can be imagined.

If in spite of all the man dies, in grief and rage
the family call for the witch doctor, Nganga-a-
ngombo. Space prevents a detailed description
of his methods of procedure. He is a cunning

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 67

rogue, and has his agent, who ascertains whether
any one is in special disfavour, or whom it will be
safe to declare a witch. He may decide hap-
hazard, or he may ascertain that the deceased man
dreamed of some one. He consults Nganga-a-moko.
At early dawn the sound of his ding-ivinti drum
startles the town. Who knows whether he may
not be accused of the crime ?

After working people into the wildest frenzy by a
protracted series of dances and mystery, the doctor
at last selects one or two of those present, and
declares him or them to be guilty of the devilish
crime. The excitement culminates ; the victim
declares his innocence and ignorance ; but the
rascally doctor tells a long story of the way in
which the crime was accomplished, till all feel the
guilt fully established, and would like to tear the
witch to pieces on the spot.

However, there is a regular course of things, and
a market-day is appointed when the ordeal poison
shall be taken. On the day decided, all the people
of the district assemble in vast crowds, as they used
to do in this country before executions were per-
formed in private.

The poor victim believes his innocence will be
established, and fearfully, but still generally wil-
lingly, he drinks the poisonous draught. His

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

stomach may reject the noxious compound. If he
vomits, the man is declared innocent, and the
witch-doctor loses his fee — indeed, in some parts is
heavily fined for a false charge. More often, if he
has not avoided the risk by referring the death
to some charm, or to some person recently dead, he
does his work too surely. His victim staggers and
falls. With a wild yell the bystanders rush at him
and beat him to death ; shoot him, burn or bury
him alive, throw him over a precipice, or in some
way finish the terrible work, with a savage ferocity
equal to their deep sense of the enormity of the
crime with which he is charged.

One could gather hundreds of terrible stories of
the like kind with much variety of detail ; but the
same principle runs through all. We heard of a
case where, on the Nganga making his declaration,
the witch-man went into his house close by, fetched
his gun, and shot the witch-doctor dead on the spot.
He had to pay twenty slaves to the friends of the
Nganga ; but no one ventured further to trouble
that witch.

Sometimes, and in some places, the witch-doctor
is called in in case of sickness only, and witches are
killed to stay the sickness ; and again at the death
of the person, sometimes even in the case of a baby.
A serious accident — as drowning, a fall from a palm-

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 69

tree, or the death of a chief — is considered the work
of several witches ; one alone could not accomplish
such a thing. Six men of the Vivi towns were
drowned through the upsetting of a canoe in the
rapids, and three witches w^ere found for each man ;
eighteen victims had to suffer for the death of those
six men — twenty-four deaths in all.

Even when the victim vomits, and should be free,
they sometimes find an excuse to finish the work.

‘ But why,’ you ask, ‘ did you kill Mpanzu ?
What did he do to the man who died? Did any
one see him do it ? ’

‘ Oh, Mundele ! why do you ask such questions ?
Did not Nganga-a-ngombo ascertain by his witch-
charms ? Did he not tell us how he did it ? And
when he took the ordeal and swooned, was not his
guilt proved? "Why, we should all say that any
one who dared to question such a decision must be
himself a witch ! ’

‘ But what does a wdtch do — how does he do it ?

‘ How do I know ? I am not a witch. Why, if
we did not kill our witches we should all die in no
time ! What w'ould check them ? ’

You cannot get much further than this with
young people or common folk, all except the dictum
of the Nganga ex cathedra. Indeed, many of them
have been accused, and have been fortunate enough

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

to reject the poison. Those who may escape by
vomiting the draught are generally confirmed in
the truthfulness of the ordeal that established
their innocence.

However, I have never discussed the matter
privately with an intelligent native who did not
acknowledge the wickedness and deplore the
custom. The fear of beipg dubbed a witch
compels generosity, and here lies the strength of
the custom.

Nga Mbelenge, one of the chiefs of the district of
Leopoldville, Stanley Pool, has told me how it fared
with him.

‘ I had a town of my own when quite young.
You know how the Bayansi sell to the Bakongo, and
we act as middlemen, and interpret for them. I
pushed business, and many traders came to me
because they had so much trouble with the other
old chiefs about here. I soon became very rich,
married several wives, bought many slaves out of
my profits, and my town gi-ew large.

‘ The other old chiefs, instead of pushing their
trade, grumbled that I got so much. They would
say, “ Look at young Nga Mbelenge; how rapidly
he is growing rich ! It seems only yesterday he
was a boy, and now to-day look at his town, see
how rich he is ! No doubt he is selling souls also.”

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 71

Without any warning or trial, they came down on
me suddenly, accused me of witchcraft, and in my
own town compelled me to drink the ordeal poison.
I vomited, and thus my innocence was established.’
He acknowledged that the whole custom is very
wicked. ‘ But what am I to do ? If I say that I
will have no more of it in my town, my people will
say that I am myself a witch, and therefore I do
not wish further execution for witchcraft. If I try
to stop it, I bring it upon myself.’

As a sequel to this, I learned that a fortnight
after, another man was killed in his town as a
witch.

The question is naturally asked. What is this
crime of witchcraft? Those people who do any
trading imagine that a witch is able by means of
some fell sorcery to possess himself of the spirit of
his victim. He can then put the spirit into a tusk
of ivory, or among his merchandise, and convey it
to the coast, where the white men will buy it. In
due course, if not at the time, the ‘ witched ’ man
dies. Then the white man can make him work for
him in his country under the sea. They believe
that very many of the coast labourers are men thus
obtained, and often when they go to trade look
anxiously about for dead relatives. Sometimes
when we are travelling they look on with wonder

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

and disgust as we open our tinned provisions, ‘ cal-
culating ’ that that at least must be one of the uses
to which we put their dead relatives.

The notion of the land under the sea has its
origin in their faculty of observation. They see
ships coming in from sea appear, first the mast,
then the hull ; and thus at a decent distance out,
so as not to reveal the trick, we white men emerge
from the ocean. Travellers love to enlarge upon
the wonders they have seen, and so the story grows,
and the people have been brought up in the belief
that away under the sea their relatives make cloth,
etc., for us white folk.

This is, however, a new idea, comparatively.
The old notion still prevails in many parts, that
away in some dark forest land departed spirits
dwell. The witches, they think, have some interest
in sending away their fellows to the spirit land.
Perhaps they get pay from the sj)irits, no one
knows or questions why. Who can know a witch’s
business but a witch ?

Even if a man dies in war, or is taken by a wild
beast or crocodile, it is witchcraft. To such an
extent is this believed, that people will bathe in
streams where crocodiles abound. So long as
there are plenty of people together, the cowardly
reptiles are not likely to attack. In this way the

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 73

idea has come about that real crocodiles ^Yill not
eat men ; but if such a thing occurs it is proof
positive that either a witch has transformed him-
self into a crocodile to obtain his victim, or induced
the reptile to do it for him. If you ask how, ‘ I do
not know ; I am not a witch.’ At Lukunga, Mr.
Ingham, of the Livingstone Mission, shot a huge
crocodile which came out at night after his pigs.
In the stomach of the reptile were the anklets of a
woman, which were at once recognised by the
townsfolk. Yet they told me that the crocodile
cannot have eaten the woman.

‘ But how about those anklets ? ’

‘ Very likely crocodiles have a fancy for such
things. You see what a lot of stones he had in his
stomach. Perhaps he took off those anklets when
he had done as he was told to do.’

This was no ghastly joke. I discussed the matter
further, and asked a more intelligent companion
whether he could really believe as he asserted. He
replied that the man was not joking.

A lad, who was for some time a scholar at our
school at Underhill Station, died in his own town a
month or two after leaving us. The people said
that our Mr. Hughes had stolen the boy’s soul, and
sent it away to the white man’s land to be con-
verted into Krooboys to work for us.

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

The Ngombe people told us that once on the
market near their town, some travellers halted to
buy palm wane, and all the people heard a hoarse
voice proceed from a tusk of ivory, ‘ Give me a
drink of wine, I am fearfully thirsty.’ Some wine
was j)Oured into the tusk, there was a sound of
drinking, and after rest the travellers passed on.
Everyone believed the story, but I could never see
any one w'ho was present. It was of course a spirit
in transit to the coast.

Witch doctors are up to all manner of tricks in
their wicked business. Sometimes they declare
that a dead man is the witch, and wall dig in the
grave, and as they get near the corpse suddenly
tell the people to get out of the way. The doctor
is going to shoot the watch, then throwing down a
little blood w'hich he has secreted, he fires a gun
and points triumphantly to the blood of the escaped
witch.

One of our boys told us how he had helped to
unmask one of these tricks. His mother was ill,
and the doctor said that there was a witch in the
ground under the head of the bed on which she
slept. The people all went out of the house ; but
the boy, who was anxious to witness the destruction
of the witch, begged to remain, and while the
doctor was busy digging, he found a bundle under

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 75

the bed, and took it out. It was the doctor’s
charms, and among them he found the gizzard of
a fowl fuU of blood. He took it to the chief, who
examined it, and the doctor, discovering his loss,
emerged to say that the witch had been too sharp
for him ; he was obliged to run away, the people
were so angry with him for trying thus to deceive
them. It might seem too much to believe that,
once discovered, he would venture the same trick
again ; yet some time after he was sent to inquire
as to the death of a man in the town, and declared
that there were two witches, one he pointed out,
the other was a dead man. He proceeded to dig up
the dead witch, and the chief, remembering at once
the old dodge of this very man, sent some one to
fetch his bundle, which he was more carefully
watching. There was another gizzard ready. This
was too much for them. They seized the wretched
man, and, breaking his arms and legs, threw him
over the precipice, the fate intended for his victim.

There is a story which explains the cruelty of
breaking the arms and legs. A man had been ac-
cused of witchcraft, and thrown down into the great
chasm, a distance of over one hundred feet. He
fell into some soft mud at the bottom, and was
able the next day to return to the town. The
people broke his arms and legs, to make sure of

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

him, and threw him down again ; and such is the
rule now.

Witch stories without end there are, but they
still leave unsolved the question. What is a witch ?
Some say a man who knows how to weave the spell ;
others that an evil spirit takes up its abode in a
man to accomplish this ; in either case, it is held
to be an imperative duty to kill the men. The
spirit world is either under the sea or in a dark
forest land ; but how the spirits live, and what
they do, is not known, since no one has ever re-
turned to tell the story. But ghouls and evil
spirits are said to lurk about in the neighbourhood
of graves and uncanny places.

There is a natural fear of death — the spirit world
is an unknown land — but there is no apprehension
of meeting Nzambi, nor is there a burden of sin.

There is a sense of right and wrong. To steal,
to lie, or to commit other crimes is considered
wrong, but only a wrong to those who suffer there-
by— there is no thought of God in it.

CHAPTER VI.

(Cannibalism, Sreemasonrg anb Cf^arms.

ANNiBALisM is not met with on the Congo until

we ascend almost to Stanley Pool. The first
tribe of the Bateke — the Alali — on the north bank,
are said to eat human flesh sometimes, but only
those who have been killed for witchcraft. The
Amfuninga, or Amfunu, the next tribe of Bateke,
are also credited with the same vice. It is only a
report ; we have no evidence of the fact. From
Bolobo (2® South lat.) upwards it is known to be a
custom. White men have had to witness the
cutting up of victims, being powerless to prevent
the act. When remonstrated with, the natives
have replied, ‘ You kill your goats, and no one finds
fault with you; let us kill our meat then.’ When
eating their ghastly meal, the parents give morsels
of the cooked flesh to the little ones, to give them
the taste for such food.

Why they eat human flesh it would be difficult to
say. Tribes towards the east coast eat their

78 LIFE ON THE CONGO.

enemies that they may gain their strength and
courage, and it is probable that some such notion
underlies the custom on the Upper Congo. We
hope to settle among these folk soon, and may get
to understand the reasons.

It is customary on the upper river to bury —
sometimes alive — slaves or wives of a deceased
chief. This is done that he may not appear
without attendants in the spirit world.

‘ The dark places of the earth are full of the
habitations of cruelty.’

There are two customs which prevail through
the country — Ndemho, and another, very much like
Freemasonry, called Nkiinba.

In the practice of Ndemho, the initiating doctors
get some one to fall down in a pretended fit, and in
this state he is carried away to an enclosed place
outside the town. This is called ‘ dying Ndemho.'
Others follow suit, generally boys and gu'ls, but
often young men and women. Most feign the fit ;
but sometimes, when it has become the fashion,
others will be attacked with hysteria, and so the
doctor gets sufficient for a wholesale initiation,
twenty or thirty, or even fifty.

They are supposed to have died. But the parents
and friends supply food, and after a period varying,
according to custom, from three months to three

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 79

years, it is arranged that the doctor shall bring
them to life again. The custom is not only de-
grading, but extremely mischievous in its results.
So bad is it, that before we reached San Salvador
the king of Congo had stopped the custom in his
town ; and others had followed suit in neighbouring
districts, giving the reason that it was too vile to
be continued.

When the doctor’s fee had been paid, and money
(goods) saved for a feast, the Ndembo people are
brought to life. At first they pretend to know no
one and nothing ; they do not even know how to
masticate food, and friends have to perform that
office for them. They want everything nice that any
one uninitiated may have, and beat them if it is
not granted, or even strangle and kill people. They
do not get into trouble for this, because it is thought
that they do not know better. Sometimes they
carry on the pretence by talking gibberish, and be-
having as if they had returned from the spirit
world. After this they are known by another
name, peculiar to those who have ‘ died Ndembo.’
There seems to be no advantage accruing to the
initiated, the license and the love of mystery seem
to be the only inducements. We hear of the custom
far along on the upper river, as well as in the
cataract region.

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

The Nkimba custom is an introduction from the
coast of comparatively recent times. The initiatory
fee is paid (about two dollars of cloth and two
fowls), and the novice repau'S to an enclosure out-
side of the town. He is given a drug which stupefies
him, and when he comes to himself he finds his
fellow Nkimbas wearing a crinoline of palm frond-
lets, their bodies whitened with pipeclay, and
speaking a mysterious language. Only males are
initiated into this rite, which is more like our own
Freemasonry. Living apart for a period, varying
from six month to two years, he acquires the
mysterious language, and at the end of his time he
is reckoned a full brother, Mhivamvu anjata, and all
Nkimbas in all districts hail him as a brother, help
him in his business, give him hospitality, conversing
freely with him in the mystic language. It is no
gibberish, as that attempted by the Ndembo folk,
but until quite lately no white man could get any
collection of words. I have, however, been able to
get over two hundred words and forty sentences ;
and while still unable to understand thoroughly the
principles on which it has been made up, it is
evident that it has been made. The vocabulary is
limited, and is characterised by the system of al-
literal concord. Some words are slight changes of
ordinary Congo, and others bear no resemblance.

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 8 1

‘ Lusala, a feather, is Lusamwa.

Vana, to give, is Jana.

Kwenda, to go, is Diomva.

Masa, maize, is Nzimvu.’ — (qy. from Ngemvo, the
beard of maize).

The common people are given to understand that
the Nkimba know how to catch witches. In the
daytime they wander in the grass, and dig for
roots, and gather nuts in the woods, often beating
people on the roads who do not run away on their
approach. At night they rush about screaming
and yelling and uttering their wild trill. Woe to
the unfortunate man who ventures out of his house
in the night for any purpose, a beating and heavy
tine will surely follow.

There is no other nonsense to add to the mystery
and fear, but the whole raison d’etre is the estab-
lishment of this fraternity or guild, for mutual help
and protection ; and the period of separation is for
the acquirement of the useful mystic language.
Ndembo is an unmitigated abomination ; Nkimba
is comparatively harmless and useful. It is making
its way in from the coast, and may be found in-
teriorwards on the south bank for one hundred and
seventy-tive miles.

An instance of the usefulness of Nkimba is sup-
plied in the story of the founding of our Bayneston
Station. It was decided that a promontory, jutting

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

into the river near Vunda, would be a most ad-
vantageous site for a base of water transport on the
piece of river, still used by Mr. Stanley, and lying
between Isangila and Manyanga. We were then
using the wild river there because the road by land
was blocked.

We had carried overland for fifty miles our steel
sectional boat, the Plymouth. Landing on the pro-
montory, Messrs. Comber and Hartland pitched
their tents for the night, sending a message to the
towns on the hills by a fisherman that they would
like to see the chiefs in the morning. Up to eleven
o’clock no one appeared, and they determined to go
themselves. As they neared the towns all was in
the wildest excitement; no white man had ever
been there before. The women had been sent into
the woods, and the men advanced in the grass with
their guns to fight the intruders. The missionaries
had with them a headman who was a Nkimba, and
seeing the dangerous state of affairs, he rushed
forward uttering the Nkimba trill ; this was replied
to, and all was quiet. The missionaries were re-
ceived by some of the principal men, who agreed to
let them have the headland, and, a fortnight later,
they signed the contract, selling the land to us, in
consideration of a fitting present. Although some
of our best scholars are called away sometimes to

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 83

be initiated into Nkimba, we do not regard it as an
unmixed evil.

The natives of the Congo basin are not idolators,
and as they know of no means of communicating
with Nzambi (God), they betake themselves to
charms. A Congo boy grows up, and sees every
one with his charms. One man boasts that he has
a charm that will make him rich, and he ties to it
a little strip of every piece of cloth he buys; others
have charms to keep away witches, against theft or
sickness, to stop or to bring rain — charms which
enable them to cure sicknesses, or to perform the
office of witch-doctor, of Nganga-a-moko, or to dis-
cover theft. From very babyhood a child hears
the word Nkixi (a charm, x = sh) frequently uttered;
no wonder, then, that as he grows up he thinks
that there must be something in it. He knows a
man, who for a consideration, will teach him to
make a charm, or perhaps will sell him a little
image and bundle of mysteries. Fondly hoping
that it will do all that the charm-doctor has pro-
mised, he always keeps it with him, and perhaps
believes that his own life is in the thing, and if
any one got possession of it he could cause his
death ; he dare not sleep without it near him, and
so the falsehood works until he becomes its slave.

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

I have watched a chief on market-day weaving
his spells. He would bring out his charms and
spread them on a mat, take a little red powder,
work it into a paste, and put some on his image
and on each side of his own forehead ; then rum-
mage in his bundles and find some mysterious
nuts, or something strange, scrape a tiny fragment
and put it into his mouth, nibble it, and spit and
sputter over his image and charms ; then take a little
gunpowder, and mix a little mystery with it, and
burn it on a stone. Next, chewing some cola-nut,
he would spit and sputter it over the charms, burn
more powder, rummage further among his charms ;
and finally, making some marks on his temples
and forehead, he would be ready to go to market.

Such a man is feared. Who knows what he
could do with all those charms ? His air of mys-
tery, the fuss he makes, his boasts — these, with a
large amount of knavery, make the common people
think him a great man.

On one occasion, in the early times of the mission,
Mr. Comber was forbidden to sleep in a town on
the road. He was compelled to sleep out in the
grass with his people without shelter. There was
some sign of rain, so the carriers begged one of
then’ number, who boasted much of his rain-charms,
to avert the coming storm. He worked hard with

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 85

his charms, but notwithstanding it rained hard on
the shelterless folk nearly all night. The medicme-
man said that his charms would not work with
white men about.

Among our hired labourers from the coast and
elsewhere, we have often had in our gangs rascals
making much fuss about their charms, and in con-
sequence much feared by all their work-fellows.
They w'ere consulted by their mates in sickness,
and demanded heavy pay for their advice. Then,
because they were supposed to have such great
powers for evil as well as for good, they would
borrow money or goods, and no one dare refuse, or
make them repay. They w'ould need to be con-
stantly propitiated, and thus one scoundrel would
get eventually a large share of the wages of his
mates. We could never get direct evidence or
proof, and could not interfere ; and as the pay-
ments would mostly be made after they had re-
ceived their wages, and were beyond our reach, we
had to know of the evil, but were powerless to
check it.

This, however, is more a coast t}^pe. Those
nearest to ‘ civilization ’ are far more superstitious,
or rather make more use of superstitions, than the
natives of the interior. But everywhere the same
principles work in a variety of forms.

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

There are doubtless many simple folk who be-
lieve it all ; many must, however, be consciously
imposing on their fellows. To-day, even in England,
there are people who would hesitate to take down
the horseshoe which was put up over the doorway
‘ for luck.’ Others still believe it unlucky to pass
under a ladder. Dream-charms and fortune-
telling have not yet disappeared from this Chris-
tian land.

There is an infinite variety of nkixi in Congo,
almost anything may go towards their composition.
Dry leaves, snakes’ heads, hawks’ claws, feathers,
elephant’s skin, stones, seeds, nuts, beans, the
horns of the smaller antelopes, but with all a
quantity of red ochre. Pipeclay also plays an im-
portant part.

Images have been mentioned, not that they
are idols, or more personal than bundles of
mysteries ; but just as children playing with clay
would think first of making a little man, so
Congos, often make little images, hideous, rudely
carved, with perhaps a piece of looking-glass on
the chest.

In some towns there may be seen a great image,
under a sheltering roof, which represents the charm
that protects the town. Children are placed under
its protection by the payment of a fee to the Nganga,

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 8/

who weaves certain spells and makes certain articles
taboo. In some places it is nlongo (taboo) to eat
an egg, or a fowl, goat’s head, hippopotamus flesh,
pork, yams, antelope flesh, rats, bananas. This
taboo must be observed to insure the protection of
the fetish; to break it would entail disease and
death. Sometimes a town possesses an image-
charm which will enable its doctor to find out
thefts, and in consequence the people are afraid to
steal. Talking with a man once about this ‘ thief-
medicine,’ he positively declared the truthfulness
of the oracle. ‘ Why, I was found out myself once,’
he said ; ‘ I went to Dedede’s town, and stole a
piece of cloth from a man’s house. No one saw
me, or had any means of knowing that I did it ;
and yet the thief-doctor found me out at once.
What can you say after that ? ’

Often in the houses of the sick, the ‘ medicine ’
may be seen in one corner of the room, a dirty
image and charms, bespattered with blood and
chewed cola-nut.

So strong is the belief in the discerning power
of these charms, that a thief will sometimes return
what he has stolen, rather than incur the disease
that might follow. I know a case in which a man
lost something in a town. He paid a small fee to
the thief-doctor, who arranged with his charms to

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

curse the thief with disease if the articles were not
restored by the next morning. The things appeared
in due course, and w’ere found lying in front of the
door, having been returned during the night.

These charms are sometimes addressed and often
scolded when they do not act as they ought ; but
even the images in no way take the places of idols,
neither are they regarded as personalities or sen-
tient beings. Any such address is only by way of
apostrophe or ill-temper. Such a scene as that
depicted in a recent work on The Congo, of a
native prostrate praying to his fetish image, is
altogether due to imagination and a graphic pen ;
such a thing we have never heard of, and it is con-
trary to radical principles.

A fetish, of whatever kind, is but a charm, and
imports no more than is conveyed by that word.
It is an appeal to the black art for protection and
help, as they know nothing of a God who loves
and cares for them, and with whom there can be
any communication. The gospel of the love of
God in its fullest revelation in Christ, and brought
to bear upon their hearts by the gracious influence
of the Holy Spirit, is the only power which can
lift these poor people out of their darkness and
degradation, and satisfy the yearnings of their
hearts.

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 89

Circumcision is largely practised in some parts,
and is generally performed early, but is by no
means universal. It is not a religious rite. The
customs of Ndembo and Nkimba are in no way con-
nected with it. It is simply a custom supposed to
have some advantages.

There is something which approaches to a sacri-
fice, although very imperfectly. Blood is some-
times used in the weaving of a spell ^ or charm,
whether for medicine or any other purpose. The
victim slaughtered is called kimenga, and the blood
used in the charm or smeared on the nkixi is
called nzabu a menga. Sometimes the blood of a
beast slain in the chase is poured out on the grave
of a great hunter to insure further success. This
ceremony, and libations of palm wane poured out
(very rarely) on the graves of great men, are the
only traces of ancestral worship, and are not worthy
of being thus dignified. The spirit of the dead
hunter visiting his grave may be pleased at the
sight of the blood, which will recall to him past
times. Perhaps the spirits of dead chiefs can, in
some way, enjoy a libation of the palm wine, to
which they were once so addicted.

' The expression ‘ to weave a spell ’ is the literal translation of
vanda onkixi ; vanda = to weave or plait.

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

$=!

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS. 91

out the name of a fetish. This lasted for some time,
until, not understanding the customs, I felt appre-
hensive lest some might think that I had bewitched
her. I learned, however, that it was all right, and
in the morning a new phase of fetishism was ex-
plained to me. This woman had placed herself
imder the protection of a charm. She had been to
a doctor, who wove mysterious spells, drummed,
sang, and danced, gave her something to drink,
made certain articles of food taboo, and behaved
in such a wild and strange manner that he was
able to persuade her that a certain fetish influence
or spirit had entered into her, which would bring
her luck, would protect her from evil influences,
and which, should a witch approach her to do her
harm, would arouse her to a sense of her danger.
On the night in question the poor woman had
a bad dream, and waking with a sense of horror,
believed that her good fetish spirit had made
known to her the approach of a witch. So,
rushing out in wdld excitement, she screamed and
shouted to the fetish, and thus tried to frighten
the witch.

We can use their phraseology to explain how we
may be brought under a higher, holier, and more
blessed influence. They can the better understand
how our Heavenly Father will give us His Holy

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

Spirit, who will dwell within us to be our Guard
and Guide, to warn us against wrong-doing, to
protect us from our spiritual foes, and to purify
our hearts. That woman’s dream gave us w'ords
to express most graphically and intelligibly the
great truths of wdricli they in their darkness still
had a shadow.

Another custom helps us. When a slave has a bad
master, who ill-treats him, and w’ho may, perhaps,
intend to sell him on the coast, the slave will run
away to a chief who has a good name in the coun-
try, and tell him that he has come to be his slave.
If the chief is willing, he orders a goat to be killed ;
the chief and the slave eat goat together ; the
covenant is made, and the new slave is called a ‘goat.’
His old master hears that his slave is with the
other chief, and comes with bluster to demand him
back. The new master refuses to give him up in
spite of all threats, and finally the old master is
obliged to accept a fair price. Slaves thus ob-
tained are much esteemed, for they are generally
faithful, and having thus made their choice, are
not likely to run away again. Sometimes free
people in trouble will thus become slaves for
protection.

So, borrowing their terms, w^e can urge the dear
lads of our schools to take refuge with the Saviour,

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, CHARMS, 93

who will redeem them from a more terrible bondage,
and deliver them from the power of the evil one ;
a Saviour who will be their protector, and who will
take them to live with Him, a Master in whose
service is truest freedom. We have reason to be-
lieve that some of our lads have taken the Saviour
thus to be their Lord and Master, and trusting in
Him for pardon, rejoice to consider themselves His
‘ goats.’

Our couriers came in one day and told us that
they had seen a man killed on Mbimbi market. A
chief had caught a man for debt on market-day ;
and as there is a stringent law to provide perfect
security on market-day, the chiefs sentenced the
offender to death. He was allowed to find a substi-
tute, and bought a slave in a neighbouring district.
This poor innocent man was beaten to death on the
market in the place of the chief. We have thus
words and ideas to aid us in telling the story of the
loving Saviour, through whose blood we have
redemption, pardon, and reconciliation.

Trade and commerce appear only to increase the
wickedness and cruelty, for while their influence
quickens the intelligence, activity, and industry of
the people, it can have no moral and spiritual
effect. It is best that there should be both legiti-
mate traders and missionaries, each working in

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

their own sphere. Trade will but elevate to a cer-
tain point. The gospel only will work the radical
cure.

The children, passing in numbers through our
schools, understand many of the evils which
degrade and enthral their fellow countrymen, and
deplore them. When they grow up they will form
a party, which will in time make itself heard ; and
as the young people have much influence in a town,
changes may take place fairly soon. It all means
steady persistent work, which must in the end
prevail.

CHAPTEE VII. ,

TTiissions in (Central Africa.

UNTIL the Missionary Explorations of Dr.

Livingstone had given us the knovpledge of
the interior of Africa, nothing could be done to-
wards the evangelisation of its teeming populations ;
all effort was confined to the coast. The Church
Missionary Society were carrying on their work at
Mombasa, commenced in 1844 by Dr. Krapf, and
after the early decease of Bishop Mackenzie, of the
Universities Mission, Zanzibar became the seat of
the Bishop of Central Africa.

The whole burden of the work rested on Dr.
Livingstone’s shoulders. For him the end of the
geographical feat was the commencement of mis-
sionary enterprise ; misunderstood by most people,
he endeavoured, single-handed, to solve those geo-
graphical problems which must be mastered before
Christian missions could be commenced on practical
and comprehensive lines.

The salient points were ascertained, while his

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

marvellous journeys drew attention to the peoples
and their needs. He went to open the door to
Central Africa, he flung it open wide, and when the
news of the Doctor’s death reached this country, it
was felt to be a call to the Christian Church for a
new and worthier effort for the evangelisation of the
Dark Continent. From that time commenced that
development of Missionary Enterprise which is now
steadily and surely overcoming the difficulties which
kept Africa so long secret ; and already we are not
far from the time when chains of Mission Stations
will cross the continent.

The first to move was the Free Church of
Scotland, followed at once by the Established
Church. In May, 1875, the first party started to
ascend the Zambesi, and by way of the Shire to
reach the Lake Nyassa. They took with them in
pieces a steam launch, the Ilala ; putting her to-
gether at the Kongone mouth of the Zambesi, they
ascended as far as the Murchison Cataract on the
Shire Eiver. There the steamer was again taken
to pieces, transported, in 700 loads, past the
cataracts, reconstructed, and in October they
steamed into the Lake Nyassa ; a week later the
foundation of the Livingstonia Settlement com-
menced. There are now several stations on the
lake, school -work is being energetically carried on.

MAP OF MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

C.M.S. Church Missionary Society. L.M.S. London Missionary Society. Univ. M. Universities Mission.

Sc. M. Established Church of Scotland. Sc.M. (Fr.Ch.) Free Church of Scotland. U.Meth. United Methodist Mission.
B.M.S. Baptist Missionary Society. A.B.M.U. American Baptist Missionary Union. U.P. United Presbyterian.
A.P. American Presbyterian Mission. A.E.M. American Episcopal Mission.

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 99

the New Testament has been printed this year in
Chinyanga by Dr. Laws, and everything is full of
promise.

The Established Church of Scotland has its mis-
sion at Blantyre, near to the Murchison Cataracts ;
and lately the Universities Mission has undertaken
work at Chitesi’s, on the eastern shore of the Lake
Nyassa ; they have also a steamer.

Beside these societies, the African Lakes Company
has been formed for commercial purposes, seeking
to develope the resources of the country and the
industry of the natives, and while carrying on trade
on a sound business basis, to do so on Christian
principles.

To-day they are prepared to book passengers and
goods from this country as far as the northern end
of Lake Nyassa, from which point the ‘ Stevenson
Road ’ is in process of construction, to the south-
ern end of Tanganika. This work has been de-
layed in consequence of the death of Mr. Stewart,
the engineer in charge; and at the end of last July,
we learnt, with regret, that Mr. McEwen, who went
to take his place, has also succumbed to the climate.
It is to be hoped that before long some Society
will be able to undertake mission work on the head
waters of the Congo, reaching Lake Bangweolo by

lOO

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

way of Lake Nyassa, and so on to the Luapula and
the Lualaba.

A letter from Mr, H, M. Stanley, which ap-
peared in the Daily Telegraph of Nov. 15, 1875,
giving an account of his visit to Mtesa, the power-
ful king of Uganda, on the northern shore of Lake
Victoria Nyanza, spoke of Mtesa’s earnest desire
that Christian teachers should be sent to his
country. A few days later, an anonymous friend
offered ;£5000 to the Church Missionary Society,
towards the establishment of a Mission on the
Victoria Lake, A similar offer of ^£5000 followed a
day or two after. The offers were accepted, and in
the middle of the following year the pioneer party
of the Mission reached Zanzibar. A line of stations
has now been established between the coast and
Kubaga, the capital of Uganda, at Mamboia,
Mpwapwa, Uyui, and Msalala. Although the mis-
sionaries have experienced much difficulty from the
first, and since Mtesa’s death a fierce persecution
has raged, still the Mission has steadily advanced ;
some eighty natives have been baptized, including
one of Mtesa’s daughters. Schools and translation
work have had a good influence, and the blood of
the martyrs at Uganda, as elsewhere, is proving
‘ the seed of the Church.’

The old Mission at Mombasa, Kisultini, and
Frere Town, is still being carried on, and is extend-

BAYNESTON, ON THE CONGO.

' TM

A/ISS/ONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 103

ing its operations into the interior. It is hoped
that soon a shorter route to the lake may be opened
up from Mombasa, by way of Mount Kenia, on the
lines of Mr, Thomson’s recent journey.

The Universities Mission has its headquarters at
Zanzibar, whence its operations are carried on
on the mainland opposite, in the district behind
Mombasa, and on Lake Nyassa.

The United Methodist Free Church has also a
mission in the interior, behind Mombasa.

In 1877 the London Missionary Society, aided by
the generous gift of .=£5000, by Mr. Robert Arthing-
ton of Leeds, undertook mission work on Lake
Tanganika. They now occupy Urambo in Unyan-
yembe, and Uguha, on the western shore of the
lake ; also Liendwe at the south-western end, where
they have been constructing their steamer the Good
Tidings, which has been conveyed to that point by
the African Lakes Company. The steamer has
been launched, and by last advices she was waiting
for some heavy parts of her machinery, which were
delayed on the road.

The Arabs have so harassed the districts round
the lake, that mission work is very difficult and
trying ; but when the steamer is complete, a station
will be built at the south-eastern corner of the
lake, which will be the terminus of the Stevenson

104 CONGO.

Road. In the meanwhile, progress with the lan-
guage is being made.

Thus, in spite of toil and difficulty, privations
and losses, the continent is been attacked from
the east coast, and in less than ten years the best
strategic points have been occupied.

Neither has there been any crowding of several
missions on one spot. The field is large, and each
of the great societies is far apart from the other,
but so arranged that between them the best points
and most practicable lines have been taken.

The same policy is being carried out on the
south-west coast. The Baptist Missionary Society
have been established in the Cameroons district
since 1845 ; and four hundred miles further to the
south, the American (North) Presbyterian Church
carries on the mission founded in 1842 at the
Gaboon. Neither of these missions have been able
to make much progress into the interior, and each
has been lately brought almost to a standstill b}'^
the harsh and arbitrary action of Euroj>ean
Governments.

Three years ago, the French Governor of the
Gaboon made a law that there should be no
instruction in the native language. Everything
was to be on the lines of the French normal
schools; other harassing restrictions were made.

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 105

calculated to close the Protestant schools, and the
utmost has been done to drive out the American
missionaries, and indeed all foreigners (traders,
etc., other than French). The schools have been
closed ; but otherwise the foreigners have not been
driven away. All are hoping for a better, more
reasonable policy.

In 1885 the German Government, in quest of
unannexed lands on the African coast, took posses-
sion of the Cameroons. Their shameful treatment
of the Baptist missionaries is fresh in the memory
of all, and need not be recounted ; suffice it to say
that the policy of the French in the Gaboon has
been followed, with greater determination and
energy. Feeling that it was impossible to Ger-
manise their new colony so long as the English
missionaries were present who had reclaimed it
from savagery, they have determined to drive them
away, and the mission will have to be abandoned
at an early date. This arbitrary action on the
part of civilised governments renders hopeless any
attempt to reach the Congo Basin from the west
coast by any route other than the great river itself,
which, happily, has now been declared open and
unrestricted to missionaries and traders.

Before giving particulars of the two missions on
the Congo, it will be best to note the other missions

io6

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

along the coast. In 1885, Bishop Taylor, of the
American Episcopal Methodist Church, started
with a party of twenty missionaries, intending
to enter the continent by way of Loanda and the
Kwanza river, to establish a chain of stations as
far as Nyangwe, on the line of Pogge and Wiss-
mann’s recent journey. At Nyangwe they hope to
meet with a like party starting from the east coast
— a grand idea, and by no means impracticable.
Many of the missionaries are accompanied by
their wives and families, and there is an idea that
after a station is built it can become self-support-
ing. We have reason to fear that the hardships of
the pioneer work will lessen this brave band, and
prove specially trying to the women and children ;
but the self-supporting idea could only be enter-
tained by those ignorant of African life and cir-
cumstances. This will be a matter of painful
experience ; but as the mission comes face to face
with the difficulties and realities, we may expect
that more practical lines will be adopted, and that,
with the necessary reinforcements and supports,
their grand scheme will be carried out. Such a
party as twenty missionaries, with wives and fami-
lies, must be very unwieldy and difficult to provide
for, arriving, as they did, on the coast without any
previous experience or friends.

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 107

We would not criticise, but only suggest that, in
these days, when so much information about Africa
may be obtained, it is well for those who contem-
plate founding new missions to use every precaution
to minimise risk and difficulties.

A few months ago, a Faith-healing Mission, a
party of four men, sent by Mr. Simpson’s church
in New York, started for the Congo. They held
this same notion of self-support, and of being able
to establish mission work far into the interior
with a small sum of money. I saw the leader
of the party, gave him the fullest information,
and more advice than was agreeable. They
reached the Congo, and, ignoring medicine, the
leader died in a week or two, the rest were obliged
to abandon their principles, and the mail of May
brought a message from them that they wish
they had followed my advice. They had come to
the end of their means, differences of judgment
had arisen ; without money enough to return
home, they were hoping to get some employment
on the coast, and thus to earn sufficient to return.
Such a story needs no comment, but certainly
ought to be known.

The next point occupied along the coast is Ben-
guela, whence the missionaries of the American
Board had extended their operations as far as

Io8 life on the CONGO.

Bihe (Ovihe) . The intrigues of Portuguese traders
resulted in their being driven away from Bihe and
Bailunda, and nearly all the party returned home.
We hope, however, to hear shortly that the work,
which commenced with so much promise, has been
resumed, and that the southern districts of the
Congo Basin may be evangelised by that agency.

Further south we find the Ehenish Missionary
Society in Namaqualand ; but there we are beyond
the limits of the Congo Basin.

So the various societies are attacking the con-
tinent from the west coast at points about four
hundred miles apart. Eoman Catholic Missions
have been established in the Gaboon territory,
also at Loango, Landana, on the Congo as far as
Stanley Pool, in the Portuguese possessions south
of the Congo, and on the Cunene Eiver.

On the east coast they are at Zanzibar and
Bagamoyo ; also on the Victoria, Nyanza, and
Tanganika lakes, and on the Zambesi Eiver.

THE PLYMOUTH AFLOAT.

CHAPTEE VIII.

TlTissions on (Congo Hiner.

Now as to the Congo Eiver, and the two
Protestant missions established there.
When the missions had been established on the
great lakes, Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, wrote to

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

the Committee of the Baptist Missionary Society,
offering them ^1,000 if they would undertake
mission-work in the Congo country, and in districts
east of Angola, where there had been Eoman
Catholic missions in time long past. The Society
accepted the offer, and sent instructions to two
missionaries at the Cameroons to prepare for a
preliminary journey in the region to be occupied.

Scarcely had these steps been taken, when the
news reached this country of Mr. Stanley’s arrival
at the mouth of the Congo, having traced the
course of the river from Nyangwe, and thus
discovered a water highway into Central Africa.
At once the field of the new mission became
enlarged almost indefinitely. In January and
April, 1878, journeys of exploration were made
by Messrs. Grenfell and Comber, and the latter
returned to this country to confer with the
Committee and to seek for help in this enterprise.
While these preliminary investigations were being
made, a party arrived on the river to found
the Livingstone (Congo) Inland Mission (unde-
nominational).

In June, 1879, Mr. Comber returned with three
helpers, of whom the writer was one. We made
our first station at San Salvador, the old capital
of the Congo country, about seventy miles south

A//SS/OJVS ON THE CONGO RIVER. in

of the highest navigable point of the Lower Congo.
The natives of the upper river bring their ivory
and produce in canoes to Stanley Pool, and there
all has to change hands, as the river is not further
navigable. The natives of the cataract region buy
at the Pool, and convey to the white men on the
coast. One of the great trade routes passes close
to San Salvador, and we hoped that these traders
might carry our stores and help us to Stanley
Pool. They, however, steadily and persistently
refused to allow us to go to the Pool, in spite of
all we told them of our errand. ‘ No,’ they said ;

‘ you white men stay on the coast, we will bring
the produce to you there ; but if you go to the
Pool you will know our markets and buy where
we do ; our trade will be lost ; then how shall we
obtain our guns and powder, beads and brass,
crockery-ware, and knives, cloth, and all the fine
things we get now? No, we will never let you
pass our towns ; and if you persist you will be
killed.’ They could not conceive of people who
were not traders.

We built a stone house, and were getting on
nicely in our work at San Salvador, but beyond
the king’s territory we were blocked by the native
traders. Thirteen attempts were made, first on
one road and then on another, until Mr. Comber

I 12

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

was attacked, and shot. He was able to escape,
and the slug was extracted.

Then followed long palavering, and at last the
road was declared open. Meanwhile, we learned
that Mr. Stanley had returned to the Congo, and
was engaged in making a road from Vivi, on the
north bank of the Congo, from the point where
the river ceased to be navigable. He was said to
be acting for the King of the Belgians, and to
have instructions to open up communications be-
tween the coast and Stanley Pool. This was good
news indeed. Next we learned that a M. de
Brazza, who had for a long time been exploring
inland from the Ogowe Kiver, near the Equator,
had come down on to the Upper Congo, thence
to Stanley Pool, and by the north bank to the
coast. As the south bank road was declared open,
it was determined that Messrs. Comber and Hart-
land should once more try it, while Mr. Crudging-
ton and I should attempt the north bank. The
south bank party met with a repulse in a few
days ; on the north bank we were more fortunate.
We found that Mr. Stanley’s steamer road ex-
tended as far as Isangila, a distance of about fifty
miles from Vivi. There we found his advanced
party; beyond was unknown land. De Brazza
must have kept far from the river, for we were

MISSIOI^S ON THE CONGO RIVER. 113

soon among people who had never seen a white
man, while there was so little intercommunication
between the people that no one knew of Mr,
Stanley’s approach a day’s march beyond his
camp. We were therefore able to take the people
by surprise ; and when we reached the districts of
the ivory traders, they were bewildered at our
sudden, unexpected advent, not having any idea
of white men trying to reach the upper river;
they had not recovered from their astonishment
before we had passed on. So, sleeping in quiet
places, and travelling rapidly in this way, we were
able to reach the Pool, and visited Ntamu, where
now Leopoldville and our Arthington Station are
established. Having accomplished all that we
desired, and ascertained the correct geographical
position of Stanley Pool, we returned. It was a
risky, adventurous, anxious journey, but we ac-
complished it in safety, and were thus the first
who had made the journey from the coast to
Stanley Pool.

We found that our brethren of the Livingstone
Mission had established their advanced post at
Mbemba, on the banks of the Congo, about eighty
miles from Vivi.

Mr. Crudgington came to this country, to con-
sult with the Committee of the Society, and to

1 14 life on the CONGO.

get a steel sectional boat, according to Mr.
Stanley’s advice. He hoped to be able to navi-
gate a reach of about ninety miles of the cataract
region, from Isangila to Manyanga, a distance of
only eighty-five miles from Stanley Pool ; he
advised us to do the same. Mr. Crudgington
brought out the boat, the Plymouth, which we
transported to Isangila, and then were able to
establish ourselves beside the International Asso-
ciation at Manyanga.

After a few months Mr. Stanley kindly offered
us a fine site at Stanley Pool, which we gladly
accepted and occupied in the autumn of 1882,
calling it Arthington Station.

Some months after, the Livingstone Mission
arrived, and obtained a site from the International
Association. Thus far, the two missions are ar-
ranged alternately along the line. Each manages
its own transport service, which is a severe task
on those who have to attend to it — so severe,
indeed, that we cannot arrange ourselves so that
each might help the other, although we should
like to do so ; but, as it is, we can find sufficient
carriers, and maintain the transport in an effective
manner. When the natives saw that we were
transporting by water, and thus avoiding their
opposition, they opened the roads, and were

SECTION OF THE MISSION BOAT PLYMOUTH.

MISSIONS ON THE CONGO RIVER. \\J

willing to carry. We therefore gladly relinquished
the cataract water, and now all is conveyed from
Underhill, our first station on the south bank,
nearly opposite Vivi, to Stanley Pool, a distance of
about 225 miles.

Everything is carried on men’s heads from
station to station. The Baptist Mission has four
stations between the coast and Stanley Pool in-
clusive. The fifth station, San Salvador, is off the
line. The Livingstone Mission has six stations up
to the Pool. A Portuguese Koman Catholic mission
soon followed us to San Salvador, but they have
not been able to do much to trouble us.

As soon as the transport service was working
properly, Mr. Grenfell, of the Baptist Mission,
came to this country to superintend the construc-
tion of a steamer for the Upper Congo. The
whole expense was generously met by Mr. Arthing-
ton. The Peace was built by Messrs. Thornycroft
and Co., of Chiswick ; she ran her trial trip on the
Thames. The vessel is built of galvanised steel, is
seventy feet in length, and propelled by twin
screws. After her trial trip she was taken to
pieces, and sent out to the Congo in that state.

Arrived at Underhill, she was transported over
the 225 miles to the Pool, on men’s heads, and
everything reached there safely ; of the thousand

ii8

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

and one parts that go to make up a steamer,
nothing was missing. Two engineers were sent
out to reconstruct her, but they died of fever
before they arrived at the Pool. When the news
reached this country, another engineer was sent
out. He, too, died on the road up.

Mr. Grenfell had then to build the steamer him-
self, and, having great engineering ability, he was
able to instruct his native assistants in the art of
riveting. Having placed a part in position, they
drove the rivets, and did their work so carefully
and skilfully that, when the time came to launch
the Peace, she was found to be a perfect success —
no leaks — as nicely riveted as if European workmen
had put her together.

The Livingstone Mission has also a stern wheel
steamer, the Henry Peed, built by Messrs. Forrest.
She, too, was transported in the same manner,
was reconstructed after the Peace was launched,
on the same stocks, by Mr. Billington, of that
Mission.

Mr. Stanley has also three steamers on the
Upper Congo, and a fourth had by the last mail
nearly reached the Pool. The International Asso-
ciation had by this time acquired sovereign rights
over large districts in the cataract region of the
Congo, and in the valley of the Niadi Kwilu. It

I'UTllNG SECTIONS

M/SS/ONS ON THE CONGO RIVER.

I2I

had also established itself at the Equator, beyond
which Mr. Stanley had continued the work, over
the whole length of the navigable river, to the
Stanley Falls, 1060 miles, exploring several affluents,
upon which he found two new lakes. Treaties were
made with chiefs over the whole length, stations
and military posts were placed among friendly
people, and a station was established at the
Stanley Falls.

While this was going on, various circumstances
were bringing Africa very prominently before the
eye of Europe. Germany was annexing freely
along the coast. Complications arose in con-
sequence of this. There were difflculties in
reference to Angra Pequena, the south-east
coast, the Niger ; troubles between the French
Government and the International Association.
Portugal proposed to annex the mouth of the
Congo. An annexation fever was in the air. To
prevent the breaking out of serious trouble, a
Conference of the Great Powers of Europe was
called.

It was now time for the International Associa-
tion to explain its position, and to seek a recog-
nition of its acquired rights.

When the news of Mr. Stanley’s great journey
‘ across the Dark Continent ’ reached Europe,

122

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

King Leopold of the Belgians conceived the idea
of opening up the vast newly-discovered regions
to the benefits of civilisation and commerce. It
was felt that such a work could not be accom-
plished unless the whole region could become a
Free State. It was rightly feared that, as soon
as the importance of the Basin became known,
France or Portugal might annex the mouth of the
river, and thus destroy all hope of future develop-
ment. In their colonies near the mouth of the
Congo, both France and Portugal so hampered
trade with heavy dues and restrictions that com-
paratively little could be done. Then, again, there
could be no future for the Free State without a
railway to convey the produce from Stanley Pool
to the coast. With such a means of transport, the
whole country, with its vast [resources, would be
placed within easy reach of Europe. Were a
simple company to attempt this, it would soon be
ruined by the greed or false economy of France or
Portugal. Quietly, but energetically, therefore,
the Association acquired sovereign rights, until
France and Portugal threatened to annex. When
the Conference commenced to sit, these two Powers
each made large demands.

European jealousies, however, prevailed to
thwart this greed. The other Powers saw no

MISSIONS ON THE CONGO RIVER. 123

advantage in allowing either France or Portugal
to annex, and keep for herself, this newly-found
continent ; so, first, they agreed that the whole
region of the Congo Basin should be thrown open
to the commerce of all nations.

Since Europe had thus declared herself, the
district was scarcely worth so much in the eyes of
France. Accordingly, she consented to recognise
the sovereignty of the Association, on condition
that large tracts on the right bank of the Congo
were ceded to France. It was an unsatisfactory
bargain, but it was either that or nothing for the
Free State. Accordingly, the French boundary is
extended from the Gaboon down to 5° S. latitude,
thence, following the line of the Chiloango Eiver
to its northernmost source, whence the line strikes
the Congo a little above Manyanga; the river
becomes the boundary until near the Equator,
then the eastern watershed of the Likona is the
limit.

Portugal was very obstinate, and an identic note
from England, Germany, and France was necessary
to bring her to terms. It was finally arranged that
the Portuguese boundary should be extended to the
south bank of the Congo as far as Wanga Wanga,
a distance of ninety-five miles; then to follow a
line, due east, on the latitude of Noki, as far as the

124

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

Kwangu Eiver, including also a small piece of coast-
line near the French frontier.

The others Powers readily recognised the Free
State, which had thus a coast-line of 235- miles.
The Conference had meanwhile decided that the
whole of the Congo Basin should be thrown open
to free trade without any restriction, and added to
the region a coast-line from Setta Cama to Ambriz.
Avoiding the watersheds of the Nile and the Zam-
besi, it is extended to the Indian Ocean. The
north bank of the Zambesi to five miles above the
confluence of the Shire is included, also the basin
of the Shire, and the Lake Nyassa. Thus both the
Scotch Missions and the African Lakes Company
are safe.

Beside the most rigid injunctions enforcing free
trade, absolute religious liberty and freedom of
worship are guaranteed; special favour and pro-
tection is provided for all missionaries and religious
and scientific enterprises. The slave trade also is
not to be tolerated in any 'part. King Leopold of
Belgium will assume the sovereignty of the Free
State.

We cannot fail to see the hand of God in this
result. Those who have been watching the develop-
ment of affairs can but wonder at the marvellous
Providence which has guided all. Now with such

MISSIONS ON THE CONGO RIVER, 125

a sovereign, and such a Charter of Freedom, we can
but look forward with the fullest hope to the future
of the Free State of the Congo {I’Etat InMpendant
du Congo).

The Livingstone Mission has, since the 1st of
January, 1886, been transferred to the American
Baptist Missionary Union. The best understanding
exists between the two societies on the field ; there
is room for all the energy and force that each can
bring. Although on the line of transport we are
compelled to keep near to each other, on the great
upper river we must keep far distant, if we would
wisely and thoroughly occupy this vast field. As
to its openness and readiness for missionary effort,
let the last news received speak. Mr. Grenfell had
recently returned from a voyage in the Peace
(B.M.S.) over the whole length of the river to
Stanley Falls, exploring several affluents, a journey
of over 4000 miles, one third of the voyage being
in waters never before visited by any European.
One of the affluents, the Mobangi, he traced for
400 miles as far as 4.30® N. lat., and when he turned
back it was still a great river, and navigable probably
for a long distance. It is believed to be identical
with Schweinfurth’s Welle, and if so, we have a
highway to the Southern Soudan.

The Baptist Missionary Society intend, as soon

126

LIFE ON THE CONGO.

as possible, to place ten stations, say 100 miles
apart, along the 1060 miles of clear waterway to
Stanley Falls, each in the best strategic positions,
which shall be centres for further operations on
the great affluents and surrounding districts. Mr.
Arthington presented the Mission last year with a
further donation of £2000, on condition that as soon
as practicable its operations should be extended as
far as the Lake Muta Nzige (about 250 miles),
where we hope, before many years have elapsed, to
join hands with our brethren of the Church Mis-
sionary Society, working westward from Kubaga in
Uganda (distant about 200 miles), and our brethren
of the London Missionary Society, working north-
wards from Lake Tanganika (about 100 miles).

There must be much patient work before that
be accomplished; but the time is by no means
distant when the workers from the east and those
from the west shall join hands in the centre of the
continent. If so much has been accomplished in
ten short years, what may we not look forward to
in the future ? Our Great Master is with us, plan-
ning, guiding, strengthening, and sustaining. Cost
what it may in life or treasure, we must not abate
our efforts until we have won Africa for Christ.

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