Life on the Kongo

■**«^s";

-3r-

THE KONGO, NEAR BAYNESTON STATION.

i<\

LIFE ON THE KONGO

BY

REV. W. HOLM AN BENTLEY,

BAPTIST MISSIONARY TO THE KONGO.

REVISED AND ENLARGED.

PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY,

OAKLAND, CAL.,
SAN FRANCISCO, NEW YORK AND LONDON.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year i8gi, by
PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO.,

/;/ the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C

LIFE onthi KONGO

PREFACE.

The great central African region, drained by the Kongo
River and its numerous branches, is in many respects the
choicest portion of the ''Dark Continent." The latest to be
thrown open to the inspection of the world, it is coming to
the front at a pace that bids fair, in the near future, to give
it the most prominent place among the newly-discovered
regions of the world. It is well watered, well timbered,
comprises the richest of soils, and, with the completion of a
couple of railroad lines now in course of construction, will
be easy of access in a commercial way.

The Kongo Free State, otherwise known as the Inter-
national Free State, which includes a considerable portion
of the Kongo country, affords an independent government
favorable to great prosperity. This State is set apart by the
united consent of the European governments which have
been contending for superiority in Africa. Its independence
has the pledged protection of all the governments which
control adjoining territory, and their very rivalry is the best
security their pledge could have. The freedom of the gov-
ernment and of the trade of this vast region renders it a most
favorable territory for missionary work.

Most of the matter contained in this work was written
about the year 1885, but it has been revised and supple-
mented by additional matter gleaned from reports of mis-
sionaries and other explorers of a more recent date. The
information herein contained has the merit of being the prod-
uct of personal observation on the part of the author and
other well-known parties who have themselves traversed the
ground of which they speak.

(vii)

Vlll PREFACE.

Hoping that this little volume will fill the want of a short
and simple, though comprehensive, story of the new-old em-
pire of the wonderful Kongo, the publishers confidently give
it a place in the rank of books for young people. At the
same time many older readers will find much of interest in
these pages that they never have known before.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE.

Discovery of the Kongo n

CHAPTER II.
Physical Features of the Kongo 19

CHAPTER III.
Vegetation and Climate - 30

CHAPTER IV.
The Inhabitants - - 39

CHAPTER V.
Home Life on the Kongo 59

CHAPTER VI.
Religious Ideas of the Natives 74

CHAPTER VII.
Cannibalism, Freemasonry, and Charms 88

CHAPTER VIII.
Missions in Central Africa 105

CHAPTER IX.

Missions on the Kongo River 114

(ix)

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.
Londa Land .-- 136

CHAPTER XI.
Interesting Sketches - - - - - - - 149

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE.

The Kongo, near Bayneston Station - - Frontispiece.

Henry M. Stanley 13

A Woman and Her Load ------ 25

A Scene on the River 37

Ngombe Warrior - - - - - - - -41

Manner of Dressing the Hair 60

Smoking a Pipe - - - 62

Caravan Crossing a River 71

A Village in the Kongo Country 99

The Mission Boat, Plymouth 117

Transporting a Section of the Boat - - - - - 121
Putting Sections of the Boat together - - - - 129
Map Showing Location of Missions in Central Africa in

1885 - 147

CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERY OF THE KONGO.

N 1484 Diogo Cam, a Portu-
guese navigator, first sighted
the mouth of the Kongo
River. Four centuries have
since elapsed, and only now
have we the definite knowl-
edge of the course of that
mighty flood. Seven years
' after the discovery of the
river, an embassy was sent to San Salvador, the
capital of the Kongo country. Roman Catholic
missionaries followed, who in time penetrated some
two hundred and fifty miles into the interior. They
made, however, San Salvador their headquarters
and cathedral city, but were finally expelled by the
governor of Angola some one hundred and thirty
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

(11)-

12 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

in the mouth of the river, but in the interior the
land remained unknown.

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

In 1 87 1 Dr. Livingstone, traveling westward
from the Lake Tanganyika, 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,
on the south of Lake Bangweolo, the upper waters
of the Kongo-Lualaba, in April, 1873.

Lieutenant Cameron was commissioned by the
Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain to
carry fresh supplies and aid to Dr. Livingstone, but
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 Tanganyika, and reached Nyangwe, the
point where Dr. Livingstone 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
Kongo Basin, and reached the west coast at Ben-
guela in November, 1875.

HENRY M. STANLEY.

DISCOVERY OF THE KONGO. I 5

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

In Les Beiges ait Congo, the excellent Christmas
number of Le Mouvement Geograpliique, the official
organ of the International African Association, we
have a sketch of the life of Stanley, the greatest
living explorer. Born at Denbigh, in North Wales,
in 1840, John Rowlands lost his father at two years
of age. He was educated at the parish school of
St. Asaph. At the age of sixteen he worked his
passage to New Orleans, where he obtained employ-
ment in the house of a merchant named Stanley.
He rose rapidly in favor and esteem, until the sud-
den death of his employer destroyed his hopes.
Assuming the name of his benefactor, Henry More-
land Stanley was enrolled in the Confederate army
when the War of Rebellion broke out in 1861. He
was made prisoner at the battle of Pittsburg Land-
ing, in 1862, but effected his escape. Constantly
exposed to arrest as an escaped prisoner, he en-
gaged himself as a sailor in the Federal marine, in
which he obtained rapid promotion, becoming sec-
retary 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 Demo-
crat and the New York Tribune, and later became

1 6 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

traveling correspondent to the New York Herald,
for which he accompanied the British forces during
the Abyssinian and Ashantee wars. When those
wars were over, he made a journey through Asia
Minor, the Caucasus, and Persia to India, thence by
Egypt to Spain, where he received his commission
to find Livingstone.

That successful expedition marked him as the
man to carry on further exploratory work in Africa;
and when the news of Dr. Livingstone's death
reached Europe, fired with the desire 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 cir-
cumnavigated the Lakes Victoria-Nyanza and Tan-
ganyika for the first time, carefully charting them.
Thence he struck across to Nyangwe. In spite of
all the obstacles and difficulties that had hindered
others, his great 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, and the terrible dark forests of Urega
through which they had passed, and told how much
easier 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.

DISCOVERY OF THE KONGO. \J

Clear of these Stanley Falls, they had an uninter-
rupted course for one thousand and sixty miles,
the river widening out in some places to as much
as twenty-five miles in breadth, studded with low,
sandy, tree-covered 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 sev-
enty miles in circumference, which is now named
Stanley Pool, at the western end of which the ex-
plorer heard the thunder of the Ntamu Cataracts.

From this point his difficulties were to be of a
different nature. Along the one thousand 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 por-
terage past these obstacles often involved the con-
veyance of his heavy canoes, stores, provisions, etc.,
seven hundred and one thousand feet up the steep
banks of the river, four or five miles overland, and
down again into the deep gorge. Stores were run-
ning short, food was scarce, canoes were lost in the
rapids, some of his men were drowned, including
2

1 8 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

Frank Pocock, his only surviving white compan-
ion. Privations, sickness, and murderous natives
had 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 Isan-
gila 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 Au-
gust, 1877, in an almost starving condition.

A year of drought and great scarcity of food had
added much to his difficulties. However, the jour-
ney was accomplished, the Kongo 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 an-
nounce his great discovery.

CHAPTER II.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE KONGO.

^OUGHLY, we may describe the basin of the
Kongo as extending from the fifth degree
of north latitude to the twelfth degree of
south latitude, and from the hills skirting the coast
of the Atlantic Ocean to the thirty-first degree of
east longitude, having an area of one million fifty-
six thousand and two hundred square miles.

Along what is known as the southwest 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 three hundred
miles in width. In some parts it attains an eleva-
tion of five thousand or more feet, but the general
altitude near the Kongo is from two thousand to
two thousand five hundred feet 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, or eaten
out, until what was once a rolling table-land ap-
pears as a chaos of hills ; only from a few heights

(19)

20 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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

This plateau belt forms the western watershed of
the Kongo River, 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 employed by M. de Brazza for the French
Government, which has now annexed its entire
basin. It is navigable for some one hundred and
fifty miles for vessels of light draught; but beyond
this 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 Kongo. To the north of the Great
Basin stretches the highlands of the unknown
countries, which form also the watershed of the
Shari and the Nile. Eastward stretches the hill
country to the western slope of Lakes Victoria and
Albert-Nyanza, including in its border Lake Tan-
ganyika, while to the south is the watershed of
the Zambezi.

This great circle of hills probably inclosed 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 the
outlet which we to-day call the Kongo River. The
immense flood thus released, tore out the deep
gorge, which is now one thousand to one thousand

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE KONGO. 21

five hundred 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 Kongo; there are other valleys also present-
ing that appearance, the levels, entrances, and exits
of which would lead one to conclude that such had
been the case.

If a cross section of the Kongo Valley were
taken about the middle of the cataract region, there
wrould be first an ascent from the river of from three
hundred to five hundred feet in about one-third of a
mile, then a much steadier rise of some five hundred
to seven hundred feet in two miles, and then a rise
of another five hundred to seven hundred 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 three hun-
dred yards to one and a half or two miles wide at
mid-flood, while the difference between the highest
water of the rainy season and the lowest in the dry
season varies from forty feet in the most rainy parts
to about three feet on the lower river.

To the geologist the country between the coast
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, un-
like the Nile, has no delta; the next step in the
plateau occurs at five miles west of Mboma, fifty

22 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

miles from the coast, where the tops of the hills are
from five hundred to seven hundred feet in height.
There we find a red clay, yielding copal, above gra-
nitic rocks. The banks grow steeper, and the river
narrows, until at Vivi the first serious obstacle is
met, the plateau level being about one thousand
seven hundred feet, and the river about six hun-
dred 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 disre-
garded by the Kongo. The bed of a cataract must
be of very hard rock, and down this inclined plane,
the river, pressed tightly by the hills, rushes with
fearful velocity, leaping in mad wraves, foaming and
raging at its rocky obstacles. In some of the
milder cataracts it rushes down a swirling 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 to the level of the waters around it.
Fierce up-currents run along the shore at such
points, which would draw boats or canoes into the
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 mad tumult. In a creek three miles below the
Ntombo Cataract we have watched the heaving
waters. The water would flow outwards from the

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE KONGO. 23

creek, then, meeting the impulse of a fresh wave,
would flow back until it would remain stationary
for some twenty seconds, often two feet higher than
what it was a moment before. This backward and
forward flow of the creek occurs about every two
minutes.

At Vivi the country is much eroded; granitic
rocks, schist, mica, gneiss, and quartz are exposed.
The hillsides 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, and other productions.
This is the nature of the country for the next fifty
miles. Near the river is a chaos of hills; further
away is a 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 limestone
crops up with slaty rocks; the main level near the
river is lower, and traversed by straight ridges of
hills running parallel with the coast, and from five
to ten miles apart. Clear of the limestone, the
country is once more a torn plateau ; slate and shale
abound, until at two hundred miles from the coast
occurs a very marked step of seven hundred feet.
Here the country is from two thousand three hun-
dred to two thousand five hundred feet above
the sea, and so continues, the rock being a red
or purple sandstone. Several higher ridges cross

24 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

the country as you near Stanley Pool, and are
cut abruptly by the gorge of the river. Stanley
Pool is a widening out of the river in a weak point
among the hills. This marks the head of the cat-
aract region, the water level being about one thou-
sand feet above the sea. The plateau country con-
tinues for one hundred and fifty miles further, when
hills disappear, and the main level appears to be
about one thousand one hundred feet above the
sea. From Irebu, two hundred and fifty 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, one hundred miles ; cataract region,
two hundred miles (nearly three hundred miles in
winding course); the upper river, one thousand and
sixty miles; or, coast level, fifty miles; plateau level,
four hundred miles ; central level, nine hundred miles,
of which eight hundred 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 one thousand one
hundred miles of unimpeded navigation, while the
main branches of the river are estimated at two
thousand miles; beyond the Stanley Falls stretch
another two thousand miles of riverway. Two of
the branches have been explored, and on each was
found a lake, while the natives speak of lakes on
other affluents. It is highly probable that further
explorations will reveal other lake regions, all avail-

A WOMAN AND HER LOAD.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE KONGO. 2J

able to the steamers and boats on the upper river.

Communications in the interior are certain; but
between the coast and Stanley Pool everything
must be transported on native heads, until there
shall be a railway. The roads from town to town
are mere footpaths over the hills, while the tall,
thick grass is so strong that it must be dug 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
traveling is very largely a series of ascents and
descents, attended by great danger.

Rev. David Charters, in speaking of the extent
of the Kongo Valley, in his address before the
Centenary Conference on the Protestant Missions
of the World, in 1888, said:—

"The river Kongo is now recognized by many
to be the highway into the Soudan and the interior
of Central Africa. On arrival at Banana, on the
west coast of Africa, at the mouth of the river
Kongo, we changed steamers and took passage to
Underhill Station, about a hundred miles up. Not
far from Underhill we came to the first cataract;
and from this point right on to Stanley Pool, a
distance of about two hundred and twenty miles,
the river is more or less impeded by cataracts. I
may here say that a party of engineers are busy
surveying the cataract region; they are prospecting
for a railway to connect the Lower with the Upper
Kongo. Following the Kongo from Stanley Pool,

28 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

we have a clear and uninterrupted course of over
one thousand miles of waterway, varying in width
from sixteen hundred yards to sixteen miles, and
extending to Stanley Falls. Following the afflu-
ents on the left bank, we are able to reach as far
south as five degrees of south latitude. Ascending
the Mobangi on the right bank of the river, we are
able almost to reach five degrees of north latitude.
As we think of the wonderful extent of country
drained by this great river, we also think of the
thousands who have been so long in darkness and
in the shadow of death. To attempt to tell their
numbers or position would simply mean failure."

Rev. George Cameron, of Stanley Pool, gives
the following short description of a scene on the
Kongo: —

"Looking down the river from the corner of
Underhill Gardens, a fine view is had of three or
four miles of its course. Though it is here seven
miles below Yellala Falls — the last of the Living-
stone Falls — the water is still rushing along very
swiftly, perhaps making as many as ten or twelve
miles an hour, when in full flood. Looked at from
the hill, it has a suspiciously smooth, glassy ap-
pearance, but when one is closer it is seen to be
eddying and foaming in numberless whirlpools,
many of them large enough to endanger canoes or
small boats venturing within their reach. It is at
this point scarcely a mile broad, but what it lacks
in breadth is made up in depth, it being so deep as
to be practically unfathomable.

_^ PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE KONGO. 29

"The hills vary from about one hundred and
fifty feet above the water level to three or four
times that height; the hill on which the station is
built is one hundred and seventy feet above the
river, while just opposite is a fine bluff rising up
from the water to a height of about six hundred
feet. When it is added that these hills are rocky
and sterile, and that there are many more such
hills between the lower river and Stanley Pool, it
will be readily understood that the finding of a
proper route for the proposed railroad was a matter
of no small difficulty.

" The Yellala Cataracts are the first of a series of
some thirty-two which render navigation between
Underhill and Stanley Pool an utter impossibility.
When the river is high, the water rushes with
terrific fury through the narrow gorges, and the
scene is wild in the extreme. Nothing but being
there one's self, hearing the roar and seeing the
rush of the waters, can give any true idea of its
grandeur/'

CHAPTER III.

VEGETATION AND CLIMATE.

[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 (pronounced mash-
vide) grass shows the richness 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 cas-
sava 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 coun-
try, grows the giant diadia grass, the stems often
attaining two and a half inches in circumference
and an average height of fifteen feet; there may be
found some of the richest soil in the world. Where
the diadia has been, exists the wildest luxuriance
of vegetation; palms, plantain, Indian corn, 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
(30)

VEGETATION AND CLIMATE. 3 1

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, or fern, in the
glades is the only thing homelike. Rich 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 cruci-
fer of the richest scarlet, bright creepers, pure white
stephanotis-like blossoms, rich lilies, and many
other gorgeous plants and bright berries, not in
such wild, packed profusion that the eye is bewil-
dered with a blaze of beauty, but here and there
with sufficient interval to permit the due apprecia-
tion 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 crimson, are mysteries
of color. On the rocky stream banks and on the
palm stems are graceful ferns, while the lycopodium
climbs the bushes, mingled with the beautiful sela-
ginella. The scenery of the country is described
in an unequaled manner by Mr. H. H. Johnston in
his book, "The River Kongo." Himself an accom-
plished artist, he describes as only an artist can.

32 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

The vegetation suffers from the annual grass
fires which sweep the country. As soon as the
dry season has well begun in June, the burning
commences; in some parts it does not become
general until August. The grass is fired some-
times on a small scale by the children, that they
may hunt their rats, but the great fires oGcur 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,
catching the grasshoppers that seek to avoid the
flames, while smaller birds catch the lesser insects.
The internodes of the burning grass explode with
a report like that of a pistol, and can be heard dis-
tinctly 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, seek-
ing 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 smoke slowly advancing, and filling the air with
a dull haze, which limits the horizon to ten or fifteen
miles.

The climate of the Kongo has been unduly vili-
fied. In common with all intertropical regions,
there is a malarial fever, which has claimed many
victims. It generally assumes an intermittent type,
commencing with an ague "shake;" sometimes it
is remittent, and combines with grave symptoms.
Although the precise nature of the malarial germ

VEGETATION AND CLIMATE. 33

is still unknown, continued study has enabled med-
ical 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. Women in the mission
stations and elsewhere live long on the coast. In-
deed, Dr. Laws, of Livingstonia, has expressed an
opinion that women, 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
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 Kongo should be considered
more unhealthy than India generally. It is cer-
tainly possible to live on the Kongo. The writer,
who was one of the first party of the Baptist Mis-
sionary Society's Kongo 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

3

34 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

temperature is far higher, dysentery and cholera
are annual scourges, and liver complaints far more
common.

The excellent Observations Meteor ologiques of
Dr. A. von Danckelman, of the International Asso-
ciation (Asher & Co., Berlin), gives most interest-
ing statistics of the Lower Kongo. The highest
temperature registered by him at an elevation of
three hundred and seventy-five feet was ninety-six
and five-tenths degrees Fahrenheit, and the lowest
fifty-three degrees, the highest mean temperature
being eighty-three degrees. The general midday
temperature in the house in the hot season is eighty-
degrees to eighty-five degrees, and at night seventy-
five degrees to eighty degrees. On the coast a
cool breeze blows in from the sea from about eleven
o'clock in the morning, commencing somewhat
later in proportion to the distance in the interior.
This same cool sea breeze blows freshly on the
upper river, and even when high temperatures 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 Kongo compares very favorably
with India, and with other parts of the African
coast. On the Kongo a punkah, or fan, is quite
unnecessary at any time, in a house built on a
reasonable site.

The rainy season commences in the cataract re-
gion about September 15, the greatest amount of
rain falling in November and April, with the "little

VEGETATION AND CLIMATE. 35

rains" about Christmastime. The wet season
closes about May 15. The rise of the river from
the northern rains commences about August, reach-
ing its height about January 1 , when it falls rapidly
until April 1. It then rises rapidly a second time
but not so high as before, 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
dull roar strikes the ear. The hiss of rain, with
fierce gusts of wind, is heard, and in a moment the
deluge is upon you. Wild wind, torrents of rain,
incessant peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, are
almost continuous. The whole world seems to be
in turmoil. 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 River 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

$6 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

being the harnessed antelope {Tragelaphits 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 are found in fewer places. The
gorilla is reported some sixty miles 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 over
the district between the Kwangu and the mouth of
the river. Hippopotami are very numerous; three
varieties of crocodile infest the rivers. 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 in the cataract re-
gions. By day they sit on the rocks waiting for the
gleam of a shoal of fish; and when one appears, in
an instant they have divested themselves of their
scanty clothes, and rush into the strong, shallow
water wTith 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.

There is an endless variety of bird life, which, as
the mating season nears, dons brighter and more
striking-colored plumage. One of the most numer-
ous kinds is the grey parrot, great flocks of which
fly home in the evenings, whistling and screaming,
the happiest birds there are.

A SCENE ON THE RIVER.

CHAPTER IV.

THE INHABITANTS.

HE inhabitants of Africa have been divided
into six great races. Their languages form
the basis of such division. Mr. R. N. Cust,
the secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, has re-
cently published a valuable work on the languages
of Africa, and the colored 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 Ashan-
tees are types.

Interspersed among the negro and Hamitic races
are detached peoples, speaking languages of the
Nuba Fullah group, of whom the Massai, among
whom Mr. Thomson has been traveling, to the east
of the Victoria-Nyanza, may be taken as typical of
the rest.

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

(39)

40 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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.

Not very promising was the aspect which the
wild people dwelling on the banks of the Kongo
River presented to Mr. Stanley during his 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 rea-
son, they proceeded to attack the white man with
his little flock.

Fierce, wild savagery, loathsome cannibalism and
cruelty, the densest darkness and degradation of
heathenism — such was the aspect as the two white
men, with some one hundred and fifty followers,
endeavored quietly and peaceably to paddle in mid-
stream past the villages.

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

"Why did you attack the mundele [white man]?"
"We did not, but we were going to."
" Why? Sit down, and tell us all about it."
This we said 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 fore-
head scored with the tribal mark of his master, he

NGOMBE WARRIOR.

THE INHABITANTS. 43

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.
Everyone above us had attacked him for the honor
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
opposite towns, and told us that the white man was
buying food, and giving beads, brass wire, and glo-
rious things. We quickly filled our canoes with
plantain, 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.

It was long surmised that some dwarf races, said
to be scattered through the Bantu countries, were
of this aboriginal stock, but for some time no satisfac-

44 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

tory opportunities were offered for ascertaining the
truth. The doubt of the existence of actual tribes
of dwarfs has, however, been dispelled by Mr. Stan-
ley's latest expedition. He reports having passed
through villages of dwarfs, and describes individual
specimens. He describes a queen who was brought
in to see him, as being four feet four inches in height
and about twenty years old. She was of a light
brown complexion, with broad, round face, large
eyes, and small but full lips. She was adorned
with three polished iron rings around the neck, the
ends of which were coiled like a watch spring, and
three iron rings in each ear. She had a quiet, mod-
est appearance, although but partially covered with
clothing, wThich was of bark cloth.

Another young woman is described as being
about seventeen years of age and thirty-three inches
high. She was a perfectly-formed little colored
lady, with not a little gracefulness and a very inter-
esting face. Her color was about that of a Southern
States quadroon, or nearly that of yellow ivory.
"Her eyes were magnificent, but absurdly large for
such a small creature, almost as large as those of a
young gazelle."

Near one of these dwarf villages, Mr. Stanley's
men captured some of the little people and brought
them into camp. In his book, "In Darkest Africa"
(Scribner's Sons, New York), the great explorer tells
of the incident as follows : —

"We had four women and a boy, and in them I

THE INHABITANTS. 45

saw two distinct types. One evidently belonged to
that same race described as the Akka, with small,
cunning, monkey eyes, close, and deeply set. The
four others possessed large, round eyes, broad,
round foreheads, round faces, small hands and feet,
lower jaws projecting forward slightly, figures well
formed though small, and of a bricky complexion.
. . . The monkey-eyed woman had a very mis-
chievous look, large lips overhanging her chin,
prominent abdomen, narrow, flat chest, sloping
shoulders, long arms, very short lower limbs, and
feet turned greatly inwards. This was an extremely
low, degraded, almost a bestial type of humanity.
" One of the others was a mother, though she
could not have seen her seventeenth year. Her
complexion was bright and healthy; her eyes were
brilliant, round, and large; her upper lip had the
peculiar cut of the Wambutti — the upper edge
curving upward with a sharp angle, with a curl up
of the skin as though it had contracted. . .

The color of the lips was pinkish. The hands
were small, fingers long and delicate, but skinny
and puckered; the feet measured seven inches, and
her height was four feet four inches. So perfect
were the proportions of this girl-mother that she
appeared at first to be but an undersized woman,
her low stature being the result of some accidental
circumstances. But when we placed some of our
Zanzibar boys of fifteen or sixteen years old by her
side, and finally placed a woman of the agricultural

46 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

natives near her, it was clear to everyone that these
small creatures were a distinct race."

One of these dwarfs, a woman, was brought to
England by some African travelers, and on being
taken to Dublin was described in a news item as
being "thirty-six inches in height, of well-developed
body and jet black complexion. She had a pecul-
iarly monkeyish expression, and a nose so flat that
the lower part of the face resembled closely the
muzzle of an animal. She has learned some En-
glish, and is free to talk. One of the first accom-
plishments her civilized captors have taught her is
to smoke cigarettes."

Of the Bantus the Zulu Kaffirs may be the best-
known types, although they have borrowed from
the Hottentots the clicks that so much disfigure
their language. With the exception of the dwarfs,
the inhabitants of the Kongo basin are all Bantus.
Mr. Stanley estimates that there are a thousand
tribes in this basin, most if not all of which have
had a common origin many generations in the past.

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, dif-
fering almost totally from the other races, while
showing the most marked affinities among them-
selves. It would be inappropriate to burden the
present sketch with a lengthy dissertation on the

THE INHABITANTS. 47

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
"Matadi mama ;;/^mpwena //mmpembe //^jitanga
beni: " " These great white stones are very heavy."
Quoting J. R. Wilson, Mr. Cust remarks that "the
Bantu languages are soft, pliant, and flexible, to an
almost unlimited extent. Their grammatical prin-
ciples are founded on the most systematic and phil-
osophical basis, and the number of words may be
multiplied to an almost indefinite extent. They are
capable of expressing all the nicer shades of thought
and feeling, and perhaps no other languages of the
world are capable of more definiteness and precision
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 ex-
ceedingly rich." My own researches fully confirm
these remarks. The question is vary 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 some-
thing inarticulate? The marked similarity 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.

48 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 evo-
lution from something much lower. The Bantu
languages are as far removed from others of the
continent as English is from Turkish or Chinese.
Some earlier writers have endeavored to trace sim-
ilarities, but later research has proved that they do
not exist. The origin of the race 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 can-
not be an evolution from something inferior; they
are a degradation from something superior. Coast-
wards 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 dev-
astated large tracts of country, 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 Kongo, Kabinda, Loango,
and Angola, exerted at one time far more influence
than they do to-day. Indeed, the king of Kongo
is the only chief who maintains his style and title;

*Why is it not more reasonable to trace its origin back to the tower of Babel
and the confounding of tongues by the power of God?— Ed.

THE INHABITANTS. 49

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 Kongo used to receive a tribute from the rem-
nants of the old Kongo empire; but to-day he has
to content himself with levying a mild blackmail
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 control. Few, in-
deed, 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 neighbors. The old Kongo
empire formerly included the countries on the south
bank from the coast to Stanley Pool, and southward
to the Buda-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 one thou-
sand seven hundred feet above the sea, about two
4

50 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

and a half miles long by one mile wide. Broad val-
leys three hundred feet deep surround it, and in
the south flows the little river Lueji, a tributary of
the Lunda-Mpozo.

There are abundant traces of the former impor-
tance of this town. The ruins of a stone wall, two
feet thick and fifteen feet high, encircle it. 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 neighborhood.

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 subur-
ban 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 resistance; 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 forever past. Men-of-war have so closely
watched the coast that the slave . trade has lan-
guished and died, except in Angola, where it exists
under a finer name, the slave being considered a
"Colonial," while Portuguese ingenuity and corrup-

THE INHABITANTS. 51

tion arrange for " emigration" to the islands of San
Thome, Principe, and even to the Bissagos.

While these slave raids in Kongo are in the main
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 neighbors.
It frequently 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 nianga
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 raft-
ers, so that they may stand the strain of the fierce
tornadoes which sweep the country.

Rev. David Charters, the missionary quoted in a
previous chapter, has this to say about the native
inhabitants: —

"One of the most promising and encouraging
features of our work in Africa is the simplicity of
the people of the interior. You try to strike a
bargain with them, and you will find that they are

52 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

as sharp and perhaps sharper than you are; but in
many other respects they are like big children.
True it is that they are somewhat prejudiced in
favor of their charms; but such prejudices are not
nearly so strong as some imagine. It has been my
conviction all along, — and still is, and what I have
seen has strengthened and deepened that convic-
tion,— that wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ has
been preached in sincerity, souls have been con-
verted to God; and, better still, lives have borne
testimony to the genuineness of such conversion.
Compare the Africans of the coast with the Afri-
cans of the interior. In the interior we find wild,
unsophisticated children of nature; on the coast
we have a set of people who have acquired the
vices and evils of the white man, with few of his
virtues. They have been contaminated by coming
into contact with ungodly and unprincipled men.
They have been made ten times worse than they
would have been if left alone."

Another important and reliable testimony in ref-
erence to the inhabitants of Central Africa is that
of Fannie Roper Feudge, of which the following
is an extract: —

" One at all familiar with the condition and ap-
pearance of the mass of boys and girls in the mis-
sion regions before the coming of the missionaries
would scarcely recognize them now, so wonderfully
have they changed. Many of the children who are
now regular pupils in the mission schools had been

THE INHABITANTS. 53

stolen from their homes by the Arab slave dealers,
and when rescued were set down in squads of
women and children in some unsettled grove, with
little food and clothing, and no shelter except such
booths or huts as they were able to make for them-
selves. Their miserable huts were not sufficiently
high to permit them to stand erect, and their only
beds were piles of leaves or- dried grass; and they
had become so utterly disheartened by misfortunes
and ill-treatment that few of them had either energy
or intellect to struggle into a better life.

"Not only the rescued slaves, but nearly all the
people of Central Africa, have been found sunken in
ignorance and sin, debased in their lives, gross in
their tastes, and wholly destitute of any means of
moral or intellectual development. About the only
skill or energy manifest was that shown in barricad-
ing their dwellings and villages against their ene-
mies and in making aggressions on their neighbors ;
for with the native African war is the business of
life, and the warrior who can show the largest num-
ber of skulls of his human victims is the man en-
titled to the highest respect, and becomes an object
of envy among all his countrymen."

Any sketch of the Kongo people would be in-
complete without reference to one of its most prom-
inent representatives. Although not a native of
that region, he has been so long a resident, and so
thoroughly identified with its institutions, as to be
a considerable factor in the make-up of the country.

54 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

The person to whom we refer is popularly known
as Tippu Tib. His real name, says Mr. Herbert
Ward, in Christian at Work, is Hamed-ben-Moham-
mad, — Tippu Tib being a nickname given to him
on account of a peculiar motion of his eyes. His
father was a Zanzibar Arab, and his mother a
Mrima negress. He is at present near fifty years
of age, and is the owner of extensive plantations
and thousands of slaves. He is also an ivory mer-
chant, by which business he has amassed great
wealth. His principal residence is at Nyangure,
on the Lualaba, or Upper Kongo.

All the travelers, from Livingstone to those of
thejDresent day, have had the utmost confidence in
Tippu Tib, and he has all along enjoyed a high
reputation for fidelity, ability, and courage, and
especially for his great hospitality. His great
wealth and acknowledged executive ability have
won for him extended influence, and he is practi-
cally monarch of the region where he operates. It
is said that his subjects and slaves are very proud
of his exploits.

The name of Tippu Tib came prominently before
the civilized world through his connection with Mr.
Stanley's last African expedition. He furnished
the carriers for the expedition, his contract being
for six hundred. In 1877 he had been simply a
conductor of caravan for Mr. Stanley, but in the
succeeding ten years had become a man of much
greater importance. In addition to his wealth, and

THE INHABITANTS. 55

fame as a trader and planter, he had been honored
by the Kongo Free State Government with the ap-
pointment of commissioner of the Stanley Pool
district. In the last expedition, Major Bartelott,
an English officer, was assigned to the command
of Stanley's rear column, the chief of the expedi-
tion going with the advance. The rear column
utterly failed in its part of the great work, and the
major and his friends endeavored to lay the blame
largely on Tippu Tib, who, it was asserted, failed
to fulfill his contract to supply carriers. However,
this is a dispute which it; is not the province of this
book to settle.

Rev. David A. Day contributes the following
quaint explanation of African expressions to the
Lutheran Missionary Journal: —

"After living awhile among these people, we can-
not fail to notice the efforts of these languages to
provide from their own resources names for new
objects which may be brought to their notice. An
umbrella is, literally translated, a 'sun ketch' or
a 'rain ketch;' captain, a 'canoe king;' steamer, a
'smoke canoe;' school, a 'book place;' spectacles,
'look things;' bell, a 'bam bam;' pantaloons, 'leg
cloth;' and rum, 'hot water.'

"Africans have but few abstract ideas, and, like all
uncivilized people, have no words to express ac-
tions of the mind. Identified so closely with na-
ture, they see in any mental process only a reflec-
tion of the world about them, and therefore express

56 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

themselves almost entirely by the use of figures
and parables, some of which are very striking and
exceedingly rich. To speak to these people in-
telligibly one must understand thoroughly these
peculiar expressions and be very familiar with their
modes of thought. The following literal transla-
tions will give an idea of the every-day utterances
of our natives.

" ' Staff talk/ a name given to the speeches made
by anyone in a court of justice, the speaker always
holding a staff, which is handed him when his turn
comes. When he is through, it is passed back to
the presiding officer, who gives it to the next
whose turn it may be to take the floor, but who
dare not open his mouth until he has the stick; a
practice which, if adopted in our church assemblies
and legislative halls, would save the president much
annoyance and avoid the confusion so often seen
at places of that kind.

"'One-leg talk.' When they are pressed for time,
the speaker is often made to stand on one leg, and
is only to have the floor as long as he can keep that
position. A witness may be dealt with in the same
way, especially when inclined to be too talkative.
Audiences and congregations at home may take a
hint from this, and the rule be applied to long-
winded orators.

" ' Put our hands in cold water ' expresses the man-
ner of making peace, all the parties at variance
immersing their hands at the same time in a large

THE INHABITANTS. 57

vessel of cold water, of which each one must then
take a drink.

'"Put a log in the path," to hinder a person by
placing obstacles in his way. * Hands left up,' de-
nying a man's plea for mercy. ' Heart lay down,'
pleased; 'heart get up/ frightened; 'we drink the
same water,' we are at peace; 'hard-headed,' stub-
born; 'woman-hearted' is timid, and when a man
likes to boast, he is said to have the 'big-head.'
Thunder is 'sky talk,' and the crowing of a rooster
is 'chicken talk.'

" The point or edge of any iron instrument is its
' mouth,' as the spear mouth, ax mouth, gun mouth,
etc. A man said to me last wreek when he struck
his ax on a rock, ' Daddy, dat ax he mouf done
bust.' When a man talks to the point he is said
to have 'a sharp mouth,' and when he tells what
may get him into trouble, he has 'spoiled his mouth.'
Anyone talking too much has a 'long mouth/ while
the flatterer has a ' sweet mouth.' Goods that
have been stolen are said to have 'gotten feet/
One of the principal duties of the wife is to warm
water for the evening bath of the husband, hence
marriage is called a ' hot-water concern ' — a term
which might often be applied in other countries
than Africa. The only division of time is that
of moons, which are generally named from some
peculiarity of the weather at that season or the
appearance of the sky. January is the ' big cool
moon,' because of the cool nights ; February, the

58 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

'big smoke moon.' Then there is the ' sky-talk
moon,' when it thunders, and the 'foot-track moon,'
because of the mud.

" It is quite easy to understand how men with no
literature, none of the arts and sciences, and who
have always been cut off from other parts of the
world, fall into these peculiar expressions. With-
out our printed and written language, how long
would it be before one section of the country could
not understand the other? Even as it is, the idioms
and peculiar expressions of one State must be ac-
quired by the strangers from another."

CHAPTER V.

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO.

ERHAPS the home life of the inhabitants
of the Kongo Valley may be best shown 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'stown, when, without the least warning,
a 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 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 there were not
sufficient discomfort for such a time, the house was
literally crammed with women, all shouting vocifer-

(59)

6o LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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.

MANNER OF DRESSING THE HAIR.

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

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO. 6 1

comb his hair. The ladies have been bestirring
themselves, and a morsel of food is ready — a few
roast ground-nuts, or a piece of prepared cassava.

The infants are placed in the care of older babies,
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 calabash 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 careful, his feet
are examined for jiggers. This sand flea, brought
from Brazil 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 cist, or sack, bursts, and they are set
free. If they are not extracted, the jiggers set up
an inflammation, which may even terminate in mor-
tification. 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
body, its little head but inadequately protected by
its incipient wool. No wonder that an African

62 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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
someone in the town.

SMOKING A PIPE.

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 healthful employment,
sufficient to keep them so far out of mischief. We
have seen towns in the neighborhood 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

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO. 63

two in arranging the coiffure of their lord or of a
companion, Laziness is not good for any people,
and where there is so little housework the gardening
is not too severe a tax on the women. Towards
evening they return, bringing some cabbage or cas-
sava leaves, or something to make up some little
relish, and proceed to cook the evening meal. The
men have their own departments of work. They
are great traders.

The Kongo 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 anyone is so dis-
posed. The market-places are in open country,
generally on a hilltop, away from towns. These
precautions prevent surprises.

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, such as cloth, beads, knives, guns,
brass wire, salt, gunpowder. Palm wine, native beer,
sometimes gin and rum are found in abundance.
Native produce, such as palm oil, ground-nuts,
sesamum, india rubber, crates of fowls, bundles of
native cloth, meal sieves, baskets, hoes, etc., are also
found in these markets.

64 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

Stringent laws are made to protect the 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 for
all these offenses 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 in these mar-
kets, and many natives spend the greater part of their
time traveling 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, and further trade, have meanwhile increased
his stock in trade. When he grows older, he ac-
companies a caravan to the coast; he gets a nice
present to carry food for his uncle; on his way to
and from the coast his ideas of trade are enlarged.
He commences to buy india rubber, and brings back

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO. 6$

with him next time salt and cloth, a gun and some
powder, a knife and a plate. And so by degrees
he is encouraged to fresh effort, until he has suffi-
cient 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 mis-
fortune, or against his death, that he may be buried
in a large quantity of cloth., It is a great ambition
among all to be thus buried. You will hear it said
that so and so was buried, and that he was wound
in two hundred fathoms of cloth, and that fifty guns
were buried with him, and so on. The Kongo
natives consider this as great a privilege as an En-
glishman would to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

The girls help 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 install-
ments completing the price demanded by the girl's
maternal relatives. The amount is often heavy —
reckoned by Kongo 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. " Pa-
lavers," or conferences and disagreements about
women are a fruitful source of war.

Children are considered the property of the wife's
5

66 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

relatives; the father has little or no 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 hav-
ing 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 serv-
ants for the time being. 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 my two
attendants and I might sleep there to save trouble,
as I must be off again at daybreak. " Oh, you are
Ingelezo [English], 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

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO. 6?

was kindly spoken; so, stooping through the low
doorway, 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 fowl, a small bell worth about three
cents, 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. Next morning, giving them the
bell and three strings, I thanked them, and so we
parted.

The boys of the mbonge are well attended to by
the people of the village ; for to get the name of
" stingy" is the first step towards the terrible rumor
of witch.

The constant activities of trade tend to develop
the intellectual faculties of the people. There are
many sharp, long-headed men, who, having no ac-
count books or invoices, possess wonderful memo-
ries and ask you many sensible questions; and if
you can speak their language, an hour's chat with
them may be as pleasant as with some whiter and

68 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

more civilized people. If you wish to make a bar-
gain with them, you need all your wits and firm-
ness; for if they are stronger than you, or have no
reason to respect you, they are sure to have their
way.

They are possessed of much constructive skill.
They are clever in the manufacture of pottery and
metal work; they make hoes and knives, cast brace-
lets, anklets, and even bells from the brass rods of
trade, and beat out brass wire and ribbon. They
strike you at once as being savages of a superior
type.

We might draw another picture. There are
some districts where there seems to be no energy
in the people. Take, for instance, the Majinga or
the Lukunga Valley, as we knew them some time
ago. Here the natives live in the midst of plenty,
for the soil is not to be equaled in richness. The
proceeds of a goat sold on one of the markets will
supply a large family with palm-fiber cloth for a year,
while a crate or two of fowls will provide salt, gun-
powder, 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,
and then a wife; but, that accomplished, he has
practically nothing more to learn or live for. He
sleeps or smokes all day, unless perhaps about Sep-
tember, when the grass is burnt and there is a little

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO. 69

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

The women are often satisfied with but a rag for
clothing. Their adornments are still more curious.
They wrear a grass stem three inches long through
the nose, and a dirty rag for an earring. The hair
is matted with a mixture of oil and vegetable char-
coal; and if a woman happens to be in mourning,
the same filthy compound is smeared over her face.

The public roads are simply footpaths, some-
what similar to those made by the American In-
dians. Some of them are very old, having been
traveled over for centuries. They are so worn
down in many places as to resemble a winding
gutter. On rolling ground the rain has helped to
wash them out to a greater depth. Mr. Stanley
remarks that they are unnecessarily winding, and
many times one-third of the distance could have
been saved by straighter paths. In this respect
they are unlike the American Indian trails, which
are always remarkable for their directness of course.

The natives, as a rule, know but little of the
country beyond their own immediate surroundings.
They do not travel far from home. Of course they
are learning more, through being employed by va-

yO LIFE ON THE KONGO.

rious kinds of expeditions as carriers. But, owing
to their superstitions regarding what is beyond
their knowledge, it is often difficult to get them
to go far outside of their own limited range, and
many will desert when confronted with unusual
scenes and future uncertainties.

Mr. Stanley tells about starting out on one of
his expeditions, having given a native the position
of guide. The position of " foremost man" was
deemed one of great honor, and the fellow was real
proud — ''the proudest soul in the column" — and
wore a conspicuous headdress. The following
short extract from " In Darkest Africa" will illus-
trate the point : —

'" Which is the way, guide?' I asked.

"'This way, running toward the sunrise,' he re-
plied.

" ' How many hours to the next village? '

" 'God alone knows,' he answered.

"'Know ye not one village or country beyond
here?'

" ' Not one. How should I ?' he asked.

"'Well, then, set on in the name of God, and
God be ever with us. Cling to any track that leads
by the river until we find a road.'

'"Bismillah! ' echoed the pioneers; the Nubian
trumpets blew the signal of 'move on,' and shortly
the head of the column disappeared into the thick
bush beyond the utmost bounds of the clearings of
Yambuya."

HOME LIFE ON THE KONGO. 73

With the advent of white men old-time features
have begun to change. The Livingstone Inland
Mission (American Baptists) and the International
Association have stations among them; their trans-
port 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., and 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 favor-
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 not
long since 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 brighest hope. Give them the gospel, and
with it the advantages of education, and books to
read, quicken within them tastes which will render
labor 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 mis-
sions are no experiment. We have to deal with a
vigorous race, that will repay all that Christian
effort can do on their behalf.

CHAPTER VI.

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES.

T cannot be said that there is a religion
throughout the whole region of the Kongo.
There is no idolatry, no system of wor-
ship ; there is nothing but a vague superstition, a
groping in blindness; there is the deepest, saddest
ignorance and darkness, without a hope of light.
The people have the name of God, but know noth-
ing further about him. Their idea is not, however,
of an evil being, or they would wish to propitiate
him or win his favor. A mild and gentle chief gets
little respect or honor. A man who is hard and
stern, reckless of life, is feared and respected. Hence,
as they fear no evil from God, they do not trouble
themselves about him in anyway — never even pray
to him. Perhaps it may be because they regard
him as beyond their reach and knowledge, or think
that he is 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
portion, while the Bayansi of the upper river use
also Molongo, which is the same as Mulungu and
(74)

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 75

Muungu of the east coast. Of the derivation of
Nzambi we cannot speak definitely or even approx-
imately. Suffice it to say that the word has a
sense of greatness, and conveys a definite idea of a
Supreme Being. It cannot be connected with a
vague notion of sky, having nothing common with
the word " ezulu" (heaven).

There is a decided idea of personality, and the
Kongos 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 means by which to reach them. 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 you seen Nzambi?" " Does he live in the
white man's land under the sea?" " How did you
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

y6 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 anyone
dies, they think that someone, living or dead, has
established a connection with the unseen world, and
somehow, and for some purpose, has "witched
away" the deceased.

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 rel-
atives 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

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. ' JJ

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 things
which their superstition prompts them to do.

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
doctoring. If the disease does not yield to such
treatment, other doctors are called in; and as mat-
ters become more serious, they consider that it is
evidently not a simple case of sickness, for it will
not yield to skillful physicians; it must be a case of
witchcraft. The sufferer now becomes terribly anx-
ious, 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 prescribe accordingly. Or, if he deems it really
serious, he declares it to be a case of witchcraft.

78 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

He professes to be able to ascertain who is "witch-
ing" 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
(pronounced ri-shim-bi)} to let his patient alone, to
let him live. " Does he not know that this wicked
course will bring its desserts? 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 rogue,
and has his secret agent, who ascertains whether
anyone is in special disfavor, or whom it will be
safe to declare a witch. He may decide haphazard,
or he may ascertain that the deceased man dreamed
of someone. He consults nganga-a-moko. At
early dawn the sound of his ding-winti drum startles
the town. Who knows whether he may not be ac-
cused 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 de-
clares him or them to be guilty of the devilish
crime. The excitement culminates ; the victim de-

RELIGTOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 79

clares 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 to pass through before the individ-
ual is condemned. He must take the ordeal poison,
and a market day is appointed when this shall be
done. On the day decided, all the people of the
district assemble in vast crowds, as they used to do
in England before executions were performed in
private.

The poor victim believes his innocence will be es-
tablished, and fearfully, but still generally willingly,
he drinks the poisonous draught. His 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 he 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

80 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

same principle ruiis 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 he is called at
the death of the person, sometimes even in the case
of a baby's death. A serious accident — as drowning,
a fall from a palm 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 were 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?"

"O 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!"

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 8 1

"But what does a witch 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 would check them? "

You cannot get much further than this with
young people or common folk; all accept the word
of the nganga without question. Indeed, many of
them have been accused, and have been fortunate
enough to reject the poison. Those who may es-
cape by vomiting the draught are generally con-
firmed in the truthfulness of the ordeal that estab-
lished 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 being 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 grew large.

"The other old chiefs, instead of pushing their
trade, grumbled that I got so much. They would
6

82 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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.'
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 laborers are men thus
obtained, and often when they go to trade, look
anxiously about for dead relatives. Sometimes

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 83

when we are traveling, they look on with wonder
and disgust as we open our canned provisions,
''calculating" 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
that ships coming 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 seem to
emerge from the ocean. Travelers 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 people.

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 spirits, 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
idea has come about that real crocodiles will not
eat men; but if such a thing occurs, it is proof

84 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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, the
answer is, "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 recog-
nized by the townsfolk. Yet they told me that the
crocodile could not 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.

The Ngombe people told us that once on the
market near their town some travelers halted to
buy palm wine, 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

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 85

was poured into the tusk, there was a sound of
drinking, and after rest the travelers passed on.
Everyone believed the story, but I could never see
anyone who was present. It was of course believed
to be a spirit on the way 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 will 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 witch; then, throwing down a
little blood which 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 destruc-
tion of the witch, begged to remain, and while the
doctor was busy digging, he found a bundle under
the bed, and took it out. It was the doctor's
charms, and among them he found the gizzard of
a fowl full of blood. He took it to the chief, who
examined it, and the doctor, discovering his loss,
came out 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,

86 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 someone 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 peo-
ple then broke his arms and legs to make sure of
him, and threw him down again; and such is now
the course pursued toward like criminals.

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,
that is, to throw such influences around a person as
will injure or destroy him in spite of all he may do.
Others say that an evil spirit takes up its abode in
a man to accomplish his ruin. 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

RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE NATIVES. 87

forest land; but how the spirits live, and what they
do, is not known, since no one has ever returned to
tell the story. But ghouls and evil spirits are said
to lurk about in the neighborhood 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
thereby — there is no thought of having sinned
against God.

CHAPTER VII.

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS.

ANNIBALISM is not met with on the
Kongo 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
horrible vice. It is only a report; we have no evi-
dence of the fact. From Bolobo (two degrees
south latitude) 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
enemies that they may gain their strength and

(88)

^ CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. 89

courage, and it is probable that some such notion
underlies the custom on the Upper Kongo.*

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 with-
out attendants in the spirit world. Truly, as the
prophet says, "The dark places of the earth are
full of the habitations of cruelty."

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

In the practice of Ndembo, the initiating doctors
get someone to fall down in a pretended fit, and in
this state he is carried away to an inclosed place
outside the town. This is called " dying Ndembo."
Others follow suit, generally boys and girls, 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,

*The practice of eating human flesh is fast disappearing, especially as the
people come in contact with the white race. So far as this contact has been
strong enough to make the power of civilized nations felt, the custom has been
abandoned. Explorers have found that interior tribes which have not known
the white man by actual acquaintance have heard of him, and see:n to know of
his hostility to cannibalism. These tribes, on the approach of an exploring party,
if they were very anxious to be friendly, would say that they did not eat men,
but that some neighboring tribes did.

90 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

according to custom, from three months to three
years, it is arranged that the doctor shall bring
them to life again. The custom is not only degrad-
ing, but extremely mischievous in its results. So
bad is it that, before we reached San Salvador, the
king of Kongo had stopped the custom in his town,
and others had followed suit in neighboring dis-
tricts, giving the reason that it was too vile to be
continued.

When the doctor's fee has 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 good that
anyone 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 pretense 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 cata-
ract region.

The Nkimba custom is an introduction from the
coast of comparatively recent times. An initiatory

-— CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. 9I

fee of about two dollars in cloth and two fowls is
paid, and the novice repairs to an inclosure outside
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 pipe clay, and speak-
ing a mysterious language. Only males are ini-
tiated into this rite, which is more like Freemasonry.
Living apart for a period, varying from six months
to two years, he acquires the mysterious language,
and at the end of his time he is reckoned a full
brother, mbwamve anjata, and all Nkimbas in all
districts hail him as a brother, help him in his bus-
iness, give him hospitality, conversing freely with
him in the mystic language. It is no gibberish, as
that attempted by the Ndembo fraternity, 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
characterized by the system of alliteral concord.
Some words are slight changes of ordinary Kongo,
and others bear no resemblance.

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 ap-

92 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

proach. 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 fine
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, in the absence of
something better, useful. It is making its way in
from the coast, and may be found interiorwards on
the south bank for one hundred and seventy-five
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 j utting
into the river near Vunda would be a more advan-
tageous site for a base of water transport on the
piece of river between Isangila and Manyanga. We
were then using the wild river there because the
road by land was blocked. We had carried over-
land for fifty miles our steel sectional boat, the Ply-
mouth. Landing on the promontory, 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 ap-

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. 93

peared,and they determined to go themselves. As
they neared the towns, all was in the wildest excite-
ment; 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
head man who was a Nkimba, and, seeing the dan-
gerous state of affairs, he rushed forward, uttering
the Nkimba trill; this was replied to, and all was
quiet. The missionaries were received 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. Some of our best native scholars
are called away sometimes to be initiated into
Nkimba.

As the natives of the Kongo Basin know of no
mean's of communicating with Nzambi (God), they
take to charms. A Kongo boy grows up, and sees
everyone 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, charms 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
discover theft. From very babyhood a child hears
the word "nkixi" (pronounced ri-kisli-i) frequently
uttered; no wonder, then, that, as he grows up, he
thinks that there must be something in it. He

94 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 hop-
ing that it will do all that the charm doctor has
promised, 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.

1 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; he would
then rummage in his bundles, and find some mysteri-
ous nuts, or something strange, scrape a tiny frag-
ment 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 peo-
ple think him a great man.

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. 95

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
their number, who boasted much of his rain charms,
to avert the coming storm. He worked hard \vTith
his charms, but, notwithstanding, it rained hard on
the shelterless people nearly all night. The medi-
cine man said that his charms would not work with
white men about.

Among our hired laborers 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 workfellows.
They were 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 would 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 payments
would mostly be made after they had received 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 type. Those
nearest to "civilization" are far more superstitious,

96 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

or, rather, make more use of superstitions, than the
natives of the interior. But everywhere the same
principles work in a variety of forms.

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
and America, 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
these enlightened lands.

There is an infinite variety of charms in Kongo;
almost everything may go towards their composi-
tion,— dry leaves, snakes' heads, hawks' claws,
feathers, elephants' skin, stones, seeds, nuts, beans,
the horns of the smaller antelopes, but with all a
quantity of red ocher. Pipe clay 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 Kongos often make
hideous, rudely-carved little images, 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
who weaves certain spells and makes certain articles

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. g1/

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 Dcdede'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, consisting,
perhaps, of a dirty image and charms, bespattered
with blood and chewed cola-nut.

So strong is the belief in the discerning powTer 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
curse the thief with disease if the articles were not
restored by the next morning. The things appeared
in due course, and were found lying in front of the
door, having been returned during the nights

7

98 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 de-
picted in a recent work on the Kongo, of a native
prostrate, praying to his fetish image, is altogether
due to imagination and a graphic pen; such a thing
wre have never heard of, and it is contrary 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, 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 degra-
dation and satisfy the yearnings of their hearts.

Circumcision is largely practiced 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-

H
X
M

o

o
o

n

o
d

H

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. IOI

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 cere-
mony, and libations of palm wine 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 maybe pleased at the sight of the
blood, which will recall to him past times. Perhaps
it is thought that the spirits of dead chiefs can, in
some way, enjoy a libation of the palm wine, to
which they were once so addicted.

In concluding this sketch of native customs and
superstitions, it may be well to note one or two
which help us to express some of our religious
ideas. When sleeping in a town on my last jour-
ney down from Stanley Pool, I heard at midnight a
woman screaming and calling out the name of a
fetish, or charm. This lasted for some time, until,
not understanding the customs, I felt apprehensive
lest some might think that I had bewitched her.
I learned, however, that all was right, and in the
morning a new phase of fetishism was explained to
me. This woman had placed herself under the pro-
tection of a charm. She had been to a doctor, who
wove mysterious spells, drummed, sang, and danced,

102 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 cer-
tain fetish influence or spirit had entered into her,
which would bring her luck, would protect her
from evil influences, and which, should a witch ap-
proach 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 wild 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
Spirit, who will dwell within us to be our guard
and guide, to warn us against wrongdoing, to pro-
tect us from our spiritual foes, and to purify our
hearts. That woman's dream gave us words to
express most graphically and intelligibly the great
truths of which they in their darkness still had a
shadow.

Another custom helps us. When a slave has a
bad master, who ill-treats him, and who may, per-
haps, intend to sell him on the coast, the slave will
run away to a chief who has a good name in the
country, and tell him that he has come to be his slave.

CANNIBALISM, FREEMASONRY, AND CHARMS. IO3

If the chief is willing, he orders a goat to be killed;
the chief and the slave eat goat together; the cov-
enant 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 obtained 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, we can urge the dear
lads of our schools to take refuge with the Saviour,
who will redeem them from a more terrible bond-
age, 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 neighboring district,

104 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 re-
demption, 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 legitimate trad-
ers and missionaries, each working in his own
sphere. Trade will but seem to elevate to a certain
point. The gospel only will work 'the radical cure.

The children, passing in numbers through our
schools, understand many of the evils which de-
grade and enthrall their fellow-countrymen, and de-
plore 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. But it all
means steady, persistent work.

CHAPTER VIII.

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

NTIL the missionary explorations of Dr.
Livingstone had given us the knowledge
of the interior of Africa, nothing could be
done towards the evangelization of its teeming pop-
ulations; all effort was confined to the coast.* The
Church of England Missionary Society were carry-
ing on their work at Mombasa, commenced in 1844
by Dr. Krapf, and after the early decease of Bishop

"In a discourse delivered before the American Colonization Society, January
ijQ, 1890, E. W. Blyden, LL.D., made this remarkable statement : —

" In the fifteenth century the Kongo country, of which we now hear so much,
was the scene of extensive operations of the Roman Catholic Church. Just a
little before the discovery of America thousands of the natives of the Kongo,
including the most influential families, were baptized by Catholic missionaries ;
and the Portuguese, for a hundred years, devoted themselves to the work of
African evangelization and exploration. It would appear that they knew just
as much of Interior Africa as is known now after the great exploits of Speke
and Grant and Livingstone, Baker and Cameron and Stanley. It is said that
there is a map in the Vatican, three hundred years old, which gives all the
general physical outlines and the river and lake systems of Africa, with more or
less accuracy ; but the Arab geographers of a century before had described the
mountain system, the great lakes, and the source of the Nile. But just about
the time that Portugal was on the way to establish a great empire on that con-
tinent, based upon the religious system of Rome, America was discovered, and
instead of the Kongo, the Amazon became the seat of Portuguese power."

But the work of the Roman Church at that time nor subsequent could hardly
be called evangelical.

(105)

106 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 endeavored, single-handed, to solve these 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
marvelous 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 England, it
was felt to be a call to the Christian church for a
new and worthier effort for the evangelization 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 Scot-
land, 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 together at the
Kongone mouth of the Zambesi, they ascended as

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. IO7

far as the Murchison Cataract on the Shire River.
There the steamer was again taken to pieces, trans-
ported, in seven hundred loads, past the cataracts,
reconstructed, and, in October, they steamed into
the Lake Nyassa; a week later the foundation of
the Livingstonia settlement commenced. There
are now several stations on .the lake, school work
is being energetically carried on, the New Testa-
ment has been printed 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 Com-
pany has been formed for commercial purposes,
seeking to develop 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 England as far as the northern end
of Lake Nyassa, from which point the Stevenson
Road is in process of construction, to the southern
end of Tanganyika. This work has been delayed
in consequence of the death of Mr. Stewart, the
engineer in charge; and Mr. McEwen, who went
to take his place, also succumbed to the climate.
It is to be hoped that before long some society will

108 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

be able to undertake mission work on the head-
waters of the Kongo, reaching Lake Bangweolo by
way of Lake Nyassa, and so on to the Luapula and
the Lualaba.

A letter from Mr. H. M. Stanley, which appeared
in the London 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 coun-
try. A few days later, an anonymous friend offered
$25,000 to the Church of England Missionary So-
ciety, towards the establishment of a mission on the
Victoria Lake. A similar offer of $25,000 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 Rubaga, 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-

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. IO9

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 Mom-
basa, 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 $25 ,000 by Mr. Robert Arthing-
ton, of Leeds, undertook mission work on Lake
Tanganyika. They now occupy Urambo, in Unyan-
yembe,- and Uguha, on the western shore of the
lake, also Liendwe, at the southwestern end, where
they constructed their steamer, the Good Tidings.

The Arabs have so harassed the districts round
the lake that mission work is very difficult and try-
ing; but when the steamer is complete, a station
will be built at the southeastern corner of the
lake, which will be the terminus of the Stevenson
Road. In the meanwhile, progress is being made
in acquiring the language.

Thus, in spite of toil and difficulty, privations
and losses, the continent has 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 so-
cieties is far apart from the other, but so arranged

IIO LIFE ON THE KONGO.

that between them the best points and most prac-
ticable lines have been taken.

The same policy was 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 by the harsh
and arbitrary action of European governments.

Several years ago the French governor of the
Gaboon made a law that there should be no in-
struction in the native language. Everything was
to be on the lines of the French normal schools;
other harassing restrictions were made, 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 other-
wise 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. They treated the Baptist
missionaries in a shameful manner; 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-
manize their new colony so long as the English

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. I I I

missionaries were present who had reclaimed it
from savagery, they determined to drive them away,
and the mission had to be abandoned. This arbi-
trary action on the part of the civilized govern-
ments rendered hopeless any attempt to reach the
Kongo Basin from the west coast by any route
other than the great river itself, which, happily, has
been declared open and unrestricted to missiona-
ries and traders.

Before giving particulars of the two missions on
the Kongo, it will be best to note the other missions
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 Wissmann'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 sta-
tion is built it can become self-supporting. We
have reason to fear that the hardships of the pioneer
work will lessen this brave band, and prove spe-
cially trying to the women and children; but the self-
supporting idea could only be entertained by those
ignorant of African life and circumstances * This

*Althcugh some of the leading explorers coincide with this opinion of the
author, there are evidently good arguments in favor of self-supporting missions.
True, some of the missionaries connected with the expedition referred to did

112 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 rein-
forcements and supports, their grand scheme will
be carried out. Such a party as twenty missiona-
ries, with wives and families, must be very unwieldy
and difficult to provide for, arriving, as they did, on
the coast without any previous experience or friends.
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 minimize risk and difficulties.

suffer great hardship, yet the self-supporting theory cannot, therefore, be set
down as a failure. The writer of this note heard Bishop Taylor, in 1890, relate
some of his African experiences, and he was then quite sanguine of the success
of the plan of self-support, — of course after the stations should be fairly equipped
and set to work.

In a fertile, well-watered, well-timbered country, capable of producing almost
anything that grows, why should not a mission, after getting a start, support it-
sel: ? The choicest sp ts are the most-thickly inhabited, and the e is where
stations are generally planted. How was it with early missions among the
western Ind'ans of America, before the government began to support them ?
The Shawnee, the Iowa, and the Pottawatomie missions, and various others,
were not only self-supporting in a short time, but became wealthy institutions.

Faith in God is the true idea of missions. Not to be a burden upon others
is one of the first practical lessons of Christianity. Following that is the idea
that "freely ye have received, freely give." Those to whom the message
comes should early be taught the duty of burden-bearing, and the privilege of
being co-laborers with God. The doctrine that missions are to be carried by some
wealthy society will not inculcate the sense of self-denial on the part of converts,
especially converts reared amid the innate indolence of savages. It is rather a
bid for them to follow the Master for the loaves and fishes. Means raised for
missions should be made to reach out to new stations and new fields as far as
possible.

At the end of the chapter on " Missions on the Kongo " is a report of Bishop
Taylor to the Africa Conference, which incidentally touches upon this subject.

MISSIONS IN CENTRAL AFRICA. I 1 3

The next point occupied along the coast is Ben-
guela, whence the missionaries of the American
Board had extended their operations as far as Bihe
(Ovihe). The intrigues of Portuguese traders re-
sulted in their being driven away from Bine 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
Kongo Basin may be evangelized by that agency.

So the various societies are attacking the conti-
nent from the west coast at points about four hun-
dred miles apart. Roman Catholic missions have
been established in the Gaboon territory, also at
Loango, Landana, on the Kongo as far as Stanley
Pool, in the Portuguese possessions south of the
Kongo, and on the Cunene River.

On the east coast they are at Zanzibar and Baga-
moyo; also on the Victoria Nyanza and Tangan-
yika Lakes, and on the Zambesi River,

CHAPTER IX.

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER.

[OW as to the Kongo River, and the Protes-
tant missions established there. When the
fR^I missions had been established on the great
lakes, Mr. Arthington, of Leeds, wrote to the com-
mittee of the Baptist Missionary Society, offering
them $5,000 if they would undertake mission work
in the Kongo country, and in districts east of An-
gola, where there had been Roman Catholic mis-
sions 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 Kongo, having traced the
course of the river from Nyangwe, and thus dis-
covered 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
England to confer with the committee and to seek
(114)

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER. I I 5

for help in this enterprise. While these preliminary
investigations were being made, a party arrived on
the river to found the Livingstone (Kongo) Inland
Mission (undenominational).

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 Kongo country, about seventy miles south
of the highest navigable point of the Lower Kongo.
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, in spite of all we told them of our
errand, steadily and persistently refused to allow us
to go to the Pool. "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, crockeryware and knives,
cloth, and all the fine things we get now? No, we
will never let you pass our towns ; and if you per-
sist, you will be killed." They could not conceive
of people who were not traders.

We built a stone house, and prospered nicely in

Il6 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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

Then followed long palavering, and at last the
road was declared open. Meanwhile, we learned
that Mr. Stanley had returned to the Kongo, and
was engaged in making a road from Vivi, on the
north bank of the Kongo, from the point where
the river ceased to be navigable. He was said to
be acting for the king of Belgium, and to have in-
structions to open up communications between the
coast and Stanley Pool. This was good news in-
deed. Next we learned that a M. de Brazza, who
had for a long time been exploring inland from the
Ogowe River, near the equator, had come down
onto the Upper Kongo, 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 Hartland should once
more try it, while Mr. Crudgington and I should
attempt the north bank. The south-bank party
met with a repulse in a few days, but 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

THE MISSION BOAT, PLYMOUTH.

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER. I 19

must have kept some distance from the river, for
we, who kept close to the stream, were soon among
people who had never seen a white man. There
was, however, so little intercommunication between
the people that no one knew of Mr. Stanley's ap-
proach 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, resting in quiet places, and traveling rapidly in
this way, we were able to reach the Pool, and vis-
ited Ntamu, where now Leopoldville and our
Arthington Station are established. Having ac-
complished all that we desired, and ascertained the
correct geographical position of Stanley Pool, we
returned. It was a risky, adventurous, anxious
journey, but we accomplished 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 Kongo, about eighty
miles from Vivi.

Mr. Crudgington then went to England to con-
sult with the committee of the society, and to get
a steel sectional boat according to Mr. Stanley's
advice. He hoped to be able to navigate a reach

120 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

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 Association at Manyanga.

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

Some months after, the Livingstone Mission ar-
rived, 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 willing to carry. We
therefore, gladly relinquished the cataract water,
and now all is conveyed by land from Underhill,
our first station on the south bank, nearly opposite
Vivi, to Stanley Pool, a distance of about two hun-
dred and twenty-five miles.

Everything is carried on men's heads from station

TRANSPORTING A SECTION OF THE BOAT.

MISSIONS OX THE KONGO RIVER. 1 23

to station. The Baptist Mission has four stations
between the coast and Stanley Pool inclusive. The
fifth station, San Salvador, is off the line. The
Livingstone Mission has six stations up to the Pool.
A Portuguese Roman Catholic mission soon fol-
lowed 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, went
to England to superintend the construction of a
steamer for the Upper Kongo. It was called the
Peace. The whole expense was generously met by
Mr. Arthington. The Peace was built by Messrs.
Thornycroft & Co., of Chiswick; she ran her trial
trip on the Thames. The vessel is built of galvan-
ized 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 Kongo in that state.

Arrived at Underhill, she was transported over
the two hundred and twenty-five miles to the Pool,
on men's heads, and everything reached there
safely; of the thousand 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 England, 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

124 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

riveting. Having placed a part in position, they
drove the rivets, and did their work so carefully
and skillfully 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 Reed, built by Messrs. Forrest.
She, too, was transported in the same manner, and
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 Kongo, 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
Kongo, and in the valley of the Niadi Kwilu. It
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, one thousand and sixty miles, explor-
ing several branches, 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 es-
tablished 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 consequence of

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER. 1 25

this. There were difficulties in reference to Angra
Pequena, the southeast coast, and the Niger; there
were troubles between the French Government and
the International Association. Portugal proposed
to annex the mouth of the Kongo. 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 Association
to explain its position, and to seek a recognition of
its acquired rights.

When the news of Mr. Stanley's great journey
" across the Dark Continent'' reached Europe,
King Leopold, of Belgium, conceived the idea of
opening up the vast newly- discovered regions to
the benefits of civilization and commerce. It was
felt that such a work could not be accomplished
unless the whole region could become a free State.
It was rightly feared that, as soon as the impor-
tance of the basin became known, France or Por-
tugal might annex the mouth of the river, and thus
destroy all hope of future development. In their
colonies near the mouth of the Kongo, both France
and Portugal so hampered trade writh heavy duties
and restrictions that comparatively little could be
done. Then, again, there could be no future for
the Free State without a railway to convey the prod-
uce 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

126 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

Europe. Were a single company to attempt this,
it would soon be ruined by the greed or false econ-
omy of France or Portugal. Quietly, but energet-
ically, therefore, the association acquired sovereign
rights, until France and Portugal threatened to an-
nex. 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 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 Kongo
Basin should be thrown open to the commerce of
all nations.

Since Europe had thus declared herself, the dis-
trict was scarcely worth so much in the eyes of
France. Accordingly, she consented to recognize
the sovereignty of the association, on condition that
large tracts on the right bank of the Kongo 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 five degrees south lati-
tude, thencefollowing the line of the Chiloango River
to its northernmost source, whence the line strikes
the Kongo a little above Manyanga ; the river then
becomes the boundary until near the equator, after
which the eastern watershed of the Likona is the
limit.

Portugal was very obstinate, and an identical note

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER. \2J

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 Kongo 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
Kwangu River, including, also, a small piece of
coast line near the French frontier.

The other powers readily recognized the Free
State, which had thus a coast line of twenty-three
and one-half miles. The conference had, meanwhile,
decided that the whole of the Kongo Basin should
be thrown open to free trade without any restric-
tion, and added to the region a coast line from
Setta Cama to Ambriz. Avoiding the watersheds
of the Nile and the Zambesi, it is extended to the
Indian Ocean. The north bank of the Zambesi to
five miles above the confluence of the Shire is in-
cluded, 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 favor and protec-
tion 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 re-

128 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

suit. Those who have been watching the develop-
ment of affairs can but wonder at the marvelous
providence which has guided all. Now, with such
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 Kongo {I Etat Inde pendant
du Kongo).

The Livingstone Mission has, since the first 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 over
the whole length of the river to Stanley Falls, ex-
ploring several affluents, a journey of over four
thousand miles, one-third of the voyage being in
waters never before visited by any European. One
of the affluents, the Mobangi, he traced for four
hundred miles as far as four and one-half degrees
north latitude, and when he turned back, it was still
a great river, and navigable probably for a long dis-
tance. It is believed to be identical with Schwein-
furth's Welle, and if so, we have a highway to the
Southern Soudan.

PUTTING SECTIONS OF BOAT TOGETHER.

MISSIONS OX THE KONGO RIVER. I 3 1

The Baptist Missionary Society intend, as soon
as possible, to place ten stations, say one hundred
miles apart, along the one thousand and sixty miles
of clear waterway to Stanley Falls, each in the best
strategic position, which will be centers for further
operations on the great branches of the Kongo and
the surrounding districts. Mr. Arthington pre-
sented the mission with a further donation of $10,-
000, on condition that, as soon as practicable, its
operations should be extended as far as the Lake
Muta Nzige (about two hundred and fifty miles),
where we hope, before many years have elapsed, to
join hands with our brethren of the Church Mis-
sionary Society, working westward from Rubaga in
Uganda (distant about two hundred miles), and our
brethren of the London Missionary Society, work-
ing northwards from Lake Tanganyika (about one
hundred miles).

There must be much patient work before that
be accomplished; but the time is by no means dis-
tant when the workers from the east and those from
the west shall join hands in the center of the conti-
nent. 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, planning,
guiding, strengthening, and sustaining. Cost what
it may in life or treasure, we must not abate our ef-
forts until all parts of Africa have heard the gospel
of Christ.

In 1890 Bishop Taylor, of the Methodist Epis-

I32 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

copal Church, submitted a report of his missionary
charge in Africa, of which the following is the part
referring to the Kongo District: —

"A march of about one thousand miles from
Malange [in the Angola District] brings us to Lu-
luaburg, in the Bashalange country, near the head-
waters of the Kasai. William R. Summers, M. D.,
one of our Angola pioneers, made this march in
1 876. On my application the governor-general of
the independent State of Kongo gave him permis-
sion to found a mission at Luluaburg. He accord-
ingly put up three mission buildings and was pro-
ceeding with great zeal in his varied work when,
near the end of 1887, he was stricken down by wast-
ing consumption.

"I have conditionally appointed our superintend-
ent at Kimpoko, Bradley L. Burr, and Lyman B.
Walker to succeed Dr. Summers, if they can get a
passage up the Kasai. We must not only hold that
fort, but we must fulfill our promise to the kings
and chiefs of the densely-populated regions of the
Upper Kasai and Sankuru countries, and plant mis-
sions there as fast as the Lord shall lead us.

"From Luluaburg we make a journey of one
week on foot to the junction of the Lulua and Luebo
Rivers, and thence descend the Kasai by steamer
eight hundred miles to its flow into the Kongo,
thence down the Kongo seventy-five miles to our
station at Kimpoko, on Stanley Pool. James Har-
rison, M. D., is now in charge at Kimpoko, assisted

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER. 1 33

by Hiram Elkins and Roxy, his wife. In March of
last year I received a report from this station [from
Bradley L. Burr, then in charge] extending from
July, 1887, just before I left, to March, 1889, from
which I make the following extract: —

'"An English school (no English children) has
been in operation from the first. The station chil-
dren have attended regularly, but the village chil-
dren only at rare intervals. Dr. Harrison has
charge of the school work. Three of our boys
have given up their fetishes and made a profession
of having faith in Jesus. They join in all our social
meetings, and we believe them to be sincere. With
our very imperfect knowledge of the language, Mrs.
Elkins, Dr. Harrison, or myself have been quite
regular in visiting the villages and in endeavoring
to instruct the people.

"'In times of sickness Dr. Harrison has been in
the habit of visiting the farther villages, more than
a mile distant, twice a day, attending on all who
asked for his services. Nearly all the people in
this neighborhood have been vaccinated by him,
and thus the smallpox, which has been raging in
other villages, has been comparatively light here.
In regard to every-day station work, Mrs. Elkins
has managed the household affairs and assisted in
the school work.

"'I have had a general oversight of the station
since January 1, 1889. We have been self-support-
ing, besides paying out quite a sum for transport.

134 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

[And they have later built a new mission, fifteen
by eighty feet.] The plantation, though small, has
been a great factor in reducing our living expenses,
while the sale of dried .meat has kept us in ready
money. We have built a house twelve by thirty-
six feet for the boys and for a shop, and repaired
both the other houses. Though we have had our
share of trials and failures, the Lord has given us
blessings and victories not a few; so we thank God
and take courage.'

"Leaving Kimpoko, we go by boat twenty miles
to Leopoldville, at the lower end of the Pool. Then
we walked by caravan trail one hundred miles to
Manyanga; thence down the rapids in a freight-
boat eighty-eight miles, to the lower end of the
middle passage of the Lower Kongo at Isangila,
where we have a transport mission station, with
seven acres of land bought of the Kongo Govern-
ment. Our missionary there is William Rasmussen,
who is preaching in the Kongo language in many
of the surrounding villages.

"A walk of fifty-four miles brings us to Vivi, the
old capital of the Kongo Government. Being a
high and dry plateau, I presumed that we could
produce but little, hence bought twelve acres of
ground, including our mission buildings. It is,
however, proving fruitful, and gives promise of
early and ample self -sup port.

"A hundred miles by steamer will bring us to
Banana, at the mouth of the Kongo, and two hours

MISSIONS ON THE KONGO RIVER. 1 35

by canoe or boat lands us at our mission at Na-
tombi, in sole charge of Miss Kildare, an accom-
plished Irish lady, who paid her own passage to
Kongo for the pleasure she has in giving her effi-
cient labors and her life to help save the perishing
people of this great continent.

" The families of the Kongo Liberians which
emigrated thence last year were settled by the
Kongo Government at Natombi, near our station,
and twenty of their children attend Miss Kildare's
school. We bought of the natives, and then of the
government, ten acres of ground, and built an iron
house with wood frame, twenty-four by twenty-two
feet. Miss Kildare preaches in the villages in the
Kongo language.

"Two days by steamship northwest will bring us
to Mayumba, and then eighteen miles by boat up
the Laguna will land us at our mission station,
called Mamby, in sole charge of Miss Martha E.
Kah. We have there, by purchase of the natives,
recognized and registered by the French Govern-
ment, one hundred acres of good land, an old house,
and a new house nearly finished. The French Gov-
ernment limits our labors there to what may be
done in the French language; hence our work is
crippled and not promising, but Miss Kah believes
that the Lord wants her to wait and work at Mamby;
so we must pray for our dear heroic sister, and let
her work out the problem."

CHAPTER X.

LONDA LAND (ULUNDA).

* ONDA LAND is a region in the more
southern Kongo country, and is inhabited
by what are known as the Balonda (Ba-
Londa) tribes. These include a great number of
smaller tribes.

Rev. J. G. Wood, who has written much con-
cerning the peoples and country of Africa, says
there is considerable variety of color among the
Balonda tribes. Some are of a pale chocolate hue,
while others are as black as the blackest negroes.

The men are of a rather pleasing appearance
generally, although not free from the ordinary vices
of savage life. They are far less cruel and treach-
erous than many other natives of the "Dark Con-
tinent." The women are also exceedingly lively,
and spend much time in social chattering. Both
men and women go very sparingly dressed, and
quite commonly without any clothing at all. As
to the matter of keeping warm, however, very little
covering is necessary, as their country extends
little if any more than ten degrees from the equator.

It is related that one woman, a chief named
(136)

LONDA LAND. I 37

Manenko, carried out the extreme of her country's
fashion by appearing before Dr. Livingstone with
no covering whatever, excepting a few ornaments
around her neck and a complete coloring of bright
red ocher. This attire she seemed to regard as the
height of dignity.

However, the introduction by traders of Euro-
pean dry goods has, to some extent at least,
changed their ideas of dress. But the mania for
fancy calicoes is not begotten so much of a desire
to be respectably covered as to present a gaudy
appearance. A very small quantity of cloth goes a
good way in displaying the wealth of the wearer.
It may be explained that the wealth of the individ-
ual is mainly indicated by the ornaments on the
person.

The women, like most savages, will purchase
fancy cloths and trinkets at extravagant prices.
Half a yard or a yard of calico, for which many
times its value has been paid in some kind of trade,
will be simply tied around the neck, or in some
way fastened upon the body. Such decoration
gives the wearer quite an aristocratic air, and she
feels as thoroughly dressed as would a European
city belle in a silk or satin of the latest style.

Having been reared to go without clothing, even
the coolest evenings of their equatorial region do
not appear to make them uncomfortable. Their
whole bodies are as much accustomed to contact
with the weather as are the hands and face of peo-

I38 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

pie who are used to clothing. If extra heat be de-
sired at night, it is supplied by keeping, up a fire.
Even little babies are as much exposed as the older
people.

The Balonda mother has a very simple mode of
carrying her infant. A belt of plaited bark, some
four to six inches in width, is hung over one shoul-
der and under the other. In this the child is
seated, face inward, with its little arms and legs en-
twining its mother's body. But the women are
cunning enough to appeal to the sympathies of
traders and missionaries by holding up their naked
babies, and making them a pretext for begging
pieces of cloth. But when such appeals have gained
the desired object, it has often been noticed that
the cloth was used as an ornament for the mother
rather than as a covering for the child.

The desire for ornamentation is conspicuously
shown in the various modes of dressing the hair.
The hair of the Balonda, although quite "kinky,"
grows to a considerable length, and many are the
ways in which it is "done up." Sometimes on
either side in front it is braided or woven and then
fastened into the shape of buffalo horns, the back
part hanging in curls. Sometimes all the front
hair is braided in one tuft, and twisted and fastened
in the shape of a unicorn's horn, the back hair fall-
ing in curls. Still others dress the hair into ring-
lets all over and around the head. But the most
striking style is the wheel. The basis of this mode

LONDA LAND. 1 39

is a hoop, which encircles the head in an upright
position, passing under the chin; all the hair is
made into a line of small braids over the top of the
head from ear to ear; then these are spread out
and the ends fastened to the hoop, giving the ap-
pearance of the spokes of a wheel. Some think
this style is designed to imitate the rays of light
which apparently dart out from the sun.

The dress of the men, when they dress at all,
has more of wrhat civilized people call modesty than
that of the women. Yet it is extremely simple,
being a girdle around the waist, to which is sus-
pended a piece of dressed skin in front and behind.

A work entitled "The Uncivilized Races of
Men" (J. B. Burr & Company, Hartford) gives
many interesting facts about the Balonda people.
Speaking of their fondness for ornamentation, the
author says: "The Balonda men are as fond of
ornaments as their wives, and, as with them, the
decorations chiefly belong to the head and feet.
In some places they have a fashion of dressing
their hair in a conical form, while they commonly
show their foppery by braiding the beard in three
distinct plaits." Having a considerable quantity of
thick, woolly hair, they dress it in various fantastic
styles.

It is said that throughout a large part of western
Central Africa there is one type of knife, which
varies somewhat in different districts, according to
the skill of the manufacturers. This knife is very

I4O LIFE ON THE KONGO.

large in the blade, requiring a large sheath, which
is often highly ornamented. Every man who can
afford it supplies himself with a knife.

Heavy rings of copper and sometimes other
metals are much in vogue. The men wear them
on their wrists and ankles, and, as stated in regard
to the ornaments of the women, the wealth of the
individual is indicated by the number and size of
his copper rings. A rich Balonda man will have
half a dozen or more large rings on his ankles,
weighing a pound or more each. The walking
gait of such a man is necessarily very awkward, as
the feet have to be planted widely apart to keep
the great rings from interfering. But, as in our
own country, the poor try to mimic the rich, and
even this awkward style of walking is imitated by
those who have no need to do so on account of the
greatness or number of their rings. For instance,
a young man who is worth only a couple of rings,
weighing but a few ounces, will affect the labored
strut, with his feet wide apart, as though he could
hardly walk for the weight of his jewelry.

Another ornament much prized is a certain kind
of shell, from which flat portions are cut and sus-
pended by a string around the neck. These shells
are used as emblems of rank, and Dr. Livingstone
tells of having received one from King Shinte as
the highest token of friendship in his power to be-
stow.

The matter of salutations is a remarkable feature

LONDA LAND. I4I

of social life. There are several modes of saluting
each other, varying according to the rank of the
individuals. If a man of low rank should meet a
superior, the former immediately drops on his
knees, picks up a little dirt, rubs it on his arms and
chest, and then claps his hands until the great man
has passed. Even great, chiefs go through the
motions of rubbing the sand, but only make a pre-
tense of picking it up. When one desires to be
exceedingly polite, he carries with him some white
ashes or powdered white clay in a piece of skin,
and, after kneeling, rubs it on his chest and arms.
The white powder is a conspicuous proof that the
salutation has been properly performed. He then
claps his hands, stoops forward, lays one cheek
and then the other on the ground. Sometimes in-
stead of clapping the hands, one will beat his sides
with his elbows.

Dr. Livingstone, writing of a trip through the
country, says: —

"One could detect, in passing, the variety of
character found among the owners of gardens and
villages. Some villages were the picture of neat-
ness. We entered others enveloped in a wilder-
ness of weeds so high that when sitting on an ox-
back in the middle of the village we could only see
the tops of the huts. If we entered at midday, the
owners would come lazily forth, pipe in hand, and
leisurely puff away in dreamy indifference. In
some villages weeds were not allowed to grow;
cotton, tobacco, and different plants used as relishes
are planted round the huts; fowls are kept in

142 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

cages ; and the gardens present the pleasant spec-
tacle of different kinds of grain and pulse at various
periods of growth.

" Every village swarms with children, who turn
out to see the white man pass, and run along with
strange cries and antics, some running up trees to
get a good view. All are agile climbers in Londa.
At friendly villages they have scampered alongside
our party for miles at a time. We usually made a
iittle hedge round our sheds, and crowds ofwomen
would come to the entrance of it, with pipes in
their mouths and children hung to their sides, and
stand there gazing at us for hours. The men,
rather than disturb them, would crawl through a
hole in the hedge. It was common to hear a man
running off say to them, 'I am going to tell my
mamma to come and see the white man's oxen.'"

It is charged against some of the Balonda people
that they have a very clever but rather mean way
of extorting money from travelers. When they
ferry a party over the river, they purposely drop
some article in the canoe, and watch for someone
to pick it up. If anyone does so, he is immediately
seized and charged with theft, and the party must
pay for his freedom. One of Dr. Livingstone's
party once fell a victim to this trick, and had to be
redeemed before he was allowed to proceed.

The greater chiefs, however, are said to be above
such treatment of travelers, and are disposed to
show them marked favor. Dr. Livingstone de-
scribes a grand reception tendered to him and his
companions by King Shinte. The royal throne
was spread under a large banyan tree, and covered

LONDA LAND. 1 43

with a leopard skin. The king had disfigured him-
self with a check shirt and a green baize kilt; be-
sides these he wore many brass rings and other
native ornaments, and a headdress adorned with a
large plume of feathers. Three pages stood near
him, and a company of women, headed by his chief
wife, sat behind him.

In many other parts of Africa the women would
have been excluded altogether from a public cere-
mony, but in Londa the women take part hi such
meetings. On this occasion Shinte often turned
and spoke to them as if asking their opinion.
Chief Manenko's husband, Sambanza, introduced
the party in the usual manner by saluting with
ashes. After him came representatives of the va-
rious tribes, headed by their chiefs in the order of
their rank, each of the latter carrying ashes and
saluting the king in behalf of their tribes.

After these came the soldiers, who dashed at the
white visitor in a savage manner, shaking their
spears and swinging their shields in a most threat-
ening way. This is their customary mode of doing
honor to a visitor, after which they saluted the
king and took their places. Then followed speech
making, native music, and other ceremonies.

The food of the Balonda is mostly vegetable,
and consists largely of the manioc, or cassava,
which grows in great abundance. There are two
varieties of manioc, one sweet, and one bitter, or
poisonous. The latter is most used, because it is

144 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

of quicker growth. It is soaked in water several
days, when the skin is readily pealed off and the
poisonous matter is easily extracted. The half-
rotten mass is then dried and pounded into a kind
of meal. This is cooked into a mush by boiling in
water, and has the appearance of common starch
when prepared for use. Although the natives are
very fond of this mess, Dr. Livingstone says that
"to a European it is simply detestable."

That the Balonda do not eat much flesh meat is
not because they do not like it, but because they
do not have it. Some of them have cattle, and
those who have take great pride in them. They
are very fond of flesh, and will even eat mice and
other small animals with their manioc porridge.
Fowls, eggs, and fish are eagerly devoured when
opportunity offers. During an overflow of the river,
they fix traps and nets in convenient places to
catch the fish as the water recedes. In this they
are quite expert and successful.

In some respects they are extremely particular
in regard to their eating. They will not partake of
food which has been cooked by strangers, but
will gratefully accept the uncooked food and go by
themselves to cook it. When Dr. Livingstone
killed an ox and offered some of the cooked meat
to some Balonda lords, they would not eat it, al-
though very hungry for meat. They did, however,
accept some raw portions, which they carried away
to cook after their own fashion.

LONDA LAND. 1 45

One tribe was found which would not eat beef at
all, because they said that cattle were like men and
ought not to be killed for food. There are some
other tribes who will not keep cattle, because they
say their enemies would make war upon them in
order to get their cattle. But they have no scruples
about eating the flesh of oxen if it be given to
them.

Like many other African tribes, the Balonda
make a peculiar kind of beer, which has more of a
stupefying than intoxicating effect, and those who
drink it are often seen lying flat on their faces fast
asleep. A stronger liquor is a kind of mead, which
some of them think is to be a cure-all medicine,
notwithstanding its manifest opposite effect. King
Shinte recommended it to Dr. Livingstone as being
good to drive out fever.

There is a curious custom of leaving a home
when either the husband or head wife dies. No
matter how much labor may have been bestowed
to beautify or fortify the place, the custom in such
case is to utterly abandon the place. An occasional
visit is made in order to make offerings to the
dead. This custom accounts for the great number
of deserted houses seen by the traveler in passing
through Londa Land.

During a funeral ceremony, a continual deafening

clamor is kept up. The popular notion is that the

louder the noise the greater the honor bestowed

upon the dead. Loud wailing, piercing cries, and

10

I46 LIFE ON THE KONGO,

the constant beating of drums will be continued
without ceasing all night long. Oxen are slaugh-
tered for a feast, if the friends can afford it, and
much beer or mead is drunk by the attendants.
Funerals are, therefore, very (fostly affairs, as it is
thought to be a point of honor to expend much
wealth in honor of deceased friends.

Missionaries find it quite difficult to make much
impression upon the minds of the Balonda, because
of their varied and peculiar notions. They seem to
believe that men live after the death of the body, in
some way or other, either in the form of some ani-
mal or among the deities which they call Barimo.
They will admit that there is a Supreme Being,
and some will admit that the Son of God became
a man, and some other points which are popularly
taught as the Christian religion. Then they will
suddenly stop and say that may be all well enough
for the white men (who they believe all come up
from under the sea), but the black men are alto-
gether different, and do not want to go away to
some unknown heaven ; they want to stay near
their old homes.

Perhaps if they were shown the Bible doctrine
that the home of the redeemed will be this earth
made new, in which all 'may have an inheritance
through faith in Jesus Christ, it would appear to
them more reasonable than the mythical theory of
immaterial souls with no tangible resting-place.
There is no doubt that the truth will yet make
some of them free.

CHAPTER XI.

INTERESTING SKETCHES.

'REPORT of the American Baptist Mis-
sionary Union, in 1889, says: —

"In August, 1886, there was a remark-
able movement among the people on the Kongo, who
threw away their idols and professed Christ. Great
numbers received the gospel at Banza Manteke, and
though only two hundred have been baptized, one
thousand professed to believe Christ. The readiness
of the people at that place and at Lukunga to hear
the gospel indicates what we may expect in time to
come, judging from their religious condition and
the nature of their beliefs. The probability is that
they will yield as readily to the pure faith in God
and Christ as did the islanders of the sea and the
Karens in Burma.

"The great awakening at Banza Manteke in 1866
has been followed by a steady harvest, and a sure
increase of the Christians in the grace and knowl-
edge of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the new con-
verts were, of course, almost entirely ignorant of
the principles of the Christian religion, and the re-
quirements of a Christian life, the missionaries were

(149)

I50 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

cautious not to receive large numbers to baptism at
once, but to place them under a course of instruc-
tion.

4 * These converts are very aggressive Christians,
and persons have been surprised to come upon peo-
ple who had heard the gospel where no missionary
had been, — to learn that they had been visited by
these Banza Manteke Christians. The Upper Kongo
offers a promising field in the Bolobo tribes, speak-
ing the common language of the tribes south of the
great bend of the river. The steam yacht, Henry
Reed, affords means of communication among the
stations."

In a recent review of the situation in Africa, the
Baptist Missionary Magazine gives the following
interesting statement: —

"In the Kongo region we find, perhaps, the
greatest center of development and promise. The
French are acting vigorously in the exploration of
the large and attractive territory which has fallen
to their share to the north and west of the Kongo;
and the French Evangelical Missionary Society, as
well as the Roman Catholics, are engaged in the
missionary work. The Portuguese seem to be do-
ing little in an official way to open up their terri-
tory, but its natural advantages are attracting ex-
plorers and traders. The Kongo Free State is by
far the most influential factor in the future of the
Kongo Valley. The surveys for the railroad from

INTERESTING SKETCHES. I 5 I

the navigable waters of the lower Kongo to Stanley
Pool, at the head of Livingstone Falls, are com-
pleted, and a practicable way is found at some dis-
tance south of the river, avoiding the numerous
ravines which make the present route of travel so
difficult.

" There are already ten or eleven steamers on the
Upper Kongo, with headquarters at Stanley Pool.
Two of these are missionary vessels belonging to
the English and American Baptists, who have inter-
esting and successful missions in the valley. One
belongs to the French Colonial Government, and
the others are about equally divided between the
Free State and commercial companies — English,
Dutch, and American. Companies have recently
been formed for establishing general stores on the
Kongo, where everything required for life in Africa
may be purchased, and also for conducting a regu-
lar transport service between the Lower Kongo and
Stanley Pool, pending the construction of the rail-
road. In the Upper Kongo Valley the natives are
realizing the benefits of the improved facilities for
commerce, and are bringing the products of that
immensely rich territory to the trading stations in
increasing quantities. The officers of the State are
continuing the exploration of the territory, and
every fresh expedition reveals new riches in prod-
ucts and people."

Miss Hamilton, a missionary of one of the north-
ern stations on the Kongo, says in a recent letter: — ■

152 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

"I wish you could see and hear the Christian
boys here; they are such fine fellows. They en-
joy fun as well as any boys I ever saw, but they
are thorough Christians. They go about with us
as interpreters when we try to speak to the people,
and they enter most heartily into the work, and are
always ready with a testimony for the Master.
Just now several of them are spending the evening
in my rooms, and seem to be very happy. They
especially enjoy our photograph albums ; and the
children here all seem so fond of pictures that I
often wish we had a much larger collection for
their benefit."

Another missionary relates that " since the death
of the old king of Palaba, the people are much more
ready to listen and be instructed. They often have
nearly a hundred children and young people come
together in the little schoolhouse, where the meet-
ings are held, eager to be taught; and even the
children are not afraid to pray in public. Their
prayers, though short and simple, seem to come
from the heart, and are full of praise to God for
having sent them the knowledge of Christ. They
understand where the money comes from to sup-
port the mission, and they do not forget to ask God
to bless all those who send it."

A little story, published in the Missionary Her-
ald, shows that the old martyr spirit still abides,
and sometimes in very youthful bodies: —

INTERESTING SKETCHES. I 53

"A little slave boy, only twelve years old, sur-
prised the missionaries one day by praying in the
boys' meeting. He had not been counted among
the converts, and no one seemed to know anything
of his previous history. A few days later a feast in
honor of some traditional departed spirit was held
at his village, and the chief, observing that this boy
did not drink beer, commanded him to do so. The
resolute little fellow refused, and remained firm,
though the chief tried threats and taunts of all sorts.
As a last resort the boy was tied and cruelly beaten,
and the chief threatened to sell him away from his
people to a notoriously hard master. Some of the
old men then interfered, and the lad was released,
when he came directly to the mission.

"'Did they make you afraid?' asked the mis-
sionary.

"'No,' he replied, 'there was no fear in my
heart. Jesus gave me strength. They may tie and
beat me, or sell me, but they cannot make me drink
beer.' "

A Kongo chief, named Essalaka, told the follow-
ing touching story to an explorer named Captain
Coquilhot : —

"You know the big island near my town," he
said. "Well, yesterday, soon after the sun came
up, one of my women and her little boy started for
the island in a canoe. The boy is about twelve
years old. He says that while his mother was pad-
dling, she saw something in the water, and leaned

154 LIFE 0N THE KONGO.

over to look at it. Then he saw a crocodile seize
his mother and drag her out of the canoe. Then
the crocodile and the woman sank out of sight.

" The paddle was lying in the canoe. The boy
picked it up to paddle back to the village. Then
he thought, i Oh, if I could only scare the crocodile
and get my mother back ! ' He could tell by the
moving waters where the crocodile was. He was
swimming just under the surface toward the island.
Then the boy followed the crocodile just as fast as
he could paddle. Very soon the crocodile reached,
the island and went to land. He laid the woman's
body on the ground. Then he went back to the
river and swam away. You know why he did this ?
— He wanted his mate, and started off to find her.

"Then the little boy paddled fast to where his
mother was lying. He jumped out of the boat and
ran to her. There was a big wound in her breast.
Her eyes were shut. He felt sure that she was
dead. He was strong, but he could not lift her. He
dragged her body to the canoe. He knew the
crocodile might come back any minute and kill him,
too. He used all his strength. Little by little he
got his mother's body into the canoe. Then he
pushed away from the shore and started home.

"We had not seen the boy and his mother at all.
Suddenly we heard shouting on the river, and we
saw the boy paddling as hard as he could. Every
two or three strokes he would look behind him.
Then we saw a crocodile swimming fast toward the

INTERESTING SKETCHES. 155

canoe. If he reached it, you know what he would
do ? He would upset it with a blow, and both the
boy and his mother would be lost. Eight or nine
of us jumped into canoes and started for the boy.
The crocodile had nearly overtaken the canoe, but
wre reached it in time. We scared the crocodile
away, and brought the canoe to the shore. The
boy stepped out on the ground and fell down, he
was so frightened and tired. We carried him into
one of my huts, and took his mother's body in
there too. We thought she was dead.

"But after a little while she opened her eyes.
She could whisper only two or three words. She
asked for the boy. We laid him beside her on her
arm. She stroked him two or three times with her
hand. But she was hurt so badly ! Then she shut
her eyes and did not open them nor speak again.
Oh, how the little boy cried ! But he saved his
mother's body from the crocodile.,,

Rev. O. Watkins, of Mahamba, South Central
Africa, tells this incident of a witch doctor, who
came to hear the gospel in 1885: —

"She came to the service, but sat on the floor
close to the doors so that she could go away at any
moment. During the service someone touched her,
and at once she ran away. Next day Daniel and I
went to visit a heathen kraal some two miles distant.
There was a great feast, and crowds of people had
come from all the country round to celebrate the

I56 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

coming of age of the chiefs daughter. This female
witch doctor had been sent for to perform certain
heathen rites and go through her incantations to
make the girl lucky and to keep away from her all
evil spirits.

" These rites had been performed before our ar-
rival. When we got there, the great heathen dance
had just begun. All the women and girls danced
first, and afterward the men and youths. I have
only to deal with the female dance. They were
all in their heathen finery, and each had an assegai
and dancing shield. At the head of the dance, and
leader of the whole, was the female witch doctor.
She gave the step, and led the chant, which they all
sang as they danced, recounting the beauty and vir-
tues of the chiefs daughter, the glory of her father's
house, and the happiness of the man who should
lead her to his kraal as his bride.

" The witch doctor was decorated beyond all the
rest. Her body was smeared with red clay, and her
hair done into long bags which hung all round her
head and face. On her arms and legs she had rings
of beads and wide rings of brass. In one hand she
held a battle-ax and in the other a shield. But what
made her so awful in the eyes of the heathen was
that around her neck and waist hung all those dread
charms used in witchcraft, by which they believed
she could discover every secret thing, from a lost
child to a murderer.

"As she jumped and leaped and shouted, as she

INTERESTING SKETCHES. 157

changed the chant and step of the dance, she seemed
like one possessed of devils. As I gazed upon her,
I wondered if it was possible to save a woman like
her. My heart went up to God that his divine
Spirit might draw even her to Christ.

"A few days afterward, when the people came to
salute me, I noticed one woman was very much af-
fected when I spoke to her, and then Daniel told me
this was the witch doctor, now sitting at the feet of
Jesus, clothed, and in her right mind. The divine
Spirit had indeed come upon her, and she could not
keep away from the services, and she often came
privately to Mrs. Daniel to tell of the burden upon
her heart.

"She tried to pray, but said when she did so, it
seemed as if evil spirits were dragging her away.
Often when trying to pray for mercy in the prayer
meeting, she would rush away to the solitudes of
the mountains, and there wander about like an un-
quiet spirit. Little by little more light came to her
dark mind, and at last she was able to trust in
Christ, who saves to the uttermost.

"She was at once transformed, and her life was
changed. The red clay of heathenism was washed
away, and she dressed as a Christian woman, with
her head covered. All her charms and implements
of witchcraft she burned with fire; she would not
throw them away lest others should find them and
thereby work wickedness. Her witchcraft had
brought her great gain, but she gave up all for
Christ.

I58 LIFE ON THE KONGO.

"She had been living with a man who was not
her husband even by native customs; she at once
left him and came to Mahamba with her little boy.
She is now very poor, but very happy, and she
works in a little plot of ground where her mealies
(maize) grow, and so provides for herself and child.
At her own special request she was christened
'Mary Magdalene/ and, like that other Mary, she
loved much because much had been forgiven.

" Her conversion confounded the heathen people
who knew her; in their eyes the success of the gospel
was assured; nothing could withstand it. In many
a distant heathen kraal to-day the story is being
told by heathen lips to wandering heathen ears, and
many will come to Mahamba to know if these
things are so."

YOUNG PEOPLE'S | IBRflRY

♦£♦ •£♦ ♦£♦ ♦£♦ ♦£♦ ♦£♦

The Following are
the Volumes com-
prised in

SERIES ONE

FIJI AND SAMOA,

Jottings from the Pacific No. 1.
JACK, THE CONQUEROR,
SAVONAROLA,

The Florentine Martyr.
THE TONGA ISLANDS AND OTHER GROUPS,
Jottings from the Pacific No. 2.
LETTERS FROM THE HOLY LAND,

AMONG THE NORTHERN ICEBERGS.

Each volume is illustrated, contains 160 pag-es, and is neatly bound
in cloth. The set of 6 volumes in a box sent postpaid for S3. 60.

SERIES TWO.
LLFT WITH A TRUST,

TWO CANNIBAL ARCHIPELAGOES,

Jottings from the Pacific No. 3.
JOHN OF WYCLIFFE,

NATIVE LIFE IN INDIA,
MARTIN LUTHER,

LIFE ON THE KONGO.

Each volume is illustrated, contains 160 pag-es, and is bound in cloth.
Tha set of 6 volumes in a neat box sent pos'paid for $3.60. Sing-le
volumes, in cloth, 60c each. A few sing-le volumes left in paper bind-
ing at 3 OC each. Address, PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO.,
Or, 43 Bond St., New York. Oakland, Cal.

The Yoang People's liibfary

Is the general title of a uniform series of elevating,
instructive volumes adapted to minds from twelve to
twenty years of age (and even older). This Library
covers a wide range of topics and territory, being didac-
tic, descriptive, biographical and historical. While the
books inculcate the purest morals and are not anti-
christian, they are absolutely n on -sectarian.

A brief description of the first six volumes (now
ready) will give a better idea of what the books con-
tain.

FIJI AND SAMOA.

Jottings from the Pacific No. i, is a graphic and
interesting description of the Fijian and Samoan Is-
lands, their geographical position, their government
and religion, their social and physical peculiarities,
the wonderful productions of these islands, the coral
formations of the Pacific, cannibalism, the curious tra-
ditions of the Islands, the past and present funeral rites, cylones in the coral seas, and
many other things of interests 4D,

JACK THE CONQUEBEB; or, Overcoming Difficulties,

And other stories. These are not light, trashy, improbable tales, but they present some
of the real difficulties which nearly all boys and girls are compelled to encounter, and
point out the best way to meet them, so as to make the difficulties aids to higher attain-
ments instead of hindrances. The book will not only interest but benefit the young.

SAVONABOLA.

The life of this great preacher of Florence. The scene of the book is of course that
land of romance and song and heroism, Italia, where the Apostle Paul and other wit-
nesses of the truth finished the " good fight of faith." The little volume is a graphic
sketch of the most prominent events of the preacher's life and experience, the monasti-
cism of the fifteenth century, the iniquities that prevailed, the political influence of Savon-
arola, his trial and death.

THE TONGA ISLANDS AND OTHEB GBOUPS—

Jottings from the Pacific No. 2. This volume is for the Tonga Islands what "Jottings
from the Pacific No. 1 " is for the Fijian and Samoan Groups. But there is no sameness
between the two. The islands, people, customs and products are sufficiently varied to
make another volume equal to or exceeding in interest the first.

LETTEBS FBOM THE HOLT LAND.

This book carries us from the newly discovered and explored Pacific to that of the
oldest of all lands in story and song— the land of Palestine. It is very instructive, illus-
trating many customs and practices, peoples and things, so different from those of our
own land. The reading of the book will make much more intelligent and interesting the
study and reading of the Word of God. It contains a large number of illustrated chapter
headings and full page cuts.

AMONG THE NOBTHEBN ICEBEBGS

Ivays before us an entirely different scene. From the tropic heat of the Coral Islands of
the Pacific, from the sunny land of Ita y, and the historic and mild little Palestine, we are
\aken to the northland where King Frost reigns supreme, releasing only for a little time,
now and then, his icy grip that he may more securely fasten upon those helpless mariners
who wander within his domain. The book gives most interesting sketches of the Arctic
expeditions of England and our own land in the nineteenth century. The rising genera-
tion will appreciate the reading of this account second only to those who read the graphic
narrations at the times of their occurrence. It is an interesting and instructive book.

Bach volume is fully illustrated and contains 160 pages. The set, therefore, has nearly
1,000 pages, and will certainly be a valuable addition to any library and especially to that
of a youngpersou.

The set of 6 books neatly bound in fancy cloth, embossed in jet and gold, and
enclosed in a box, SENT POST-PAID, $3.G0.

Address all orders to PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY,

Oakland, Cal.

Or, 43 Bond Street, N. Y.

...

as